Page 21 of (La)Crosse My Heart (Sweet Sports Kisses #7)

Clark

“ I can’t believe we made it through all that,” I say, breathing a sigh of relief as we walk out of the filming studio. It was dark when we got there, and it’s dark now, so I guess my exhaustion is valid.

“You did amazing,” Jessa says, all smiles.

Shaking my head, I say, “There’s no way we’d have gotten that done in one day if you weren’t there. And that improv section where you just asked me questions. Brilliant.”

She blushes and glances away. “Well, it’s a good thing it did. I was tempted to call your mom to talk some sense into you if it didn’t work. I knew everyone would be judging you if it got to that point, though.”

“To be honest, I would’ve been fine with the judging. I just wanted to get that all done and make sure I can pay the bills for the rest of the year.”

I lift my hand to hail a cab only to find a bunch of them are already occupied.

“I’m so hungry,” Jessa says.

The large table of food they had during the entire set was good at first, but by the end, I didn’t want any finger sandwiches or little melon balls.

“Me too. Should we go somewhere?” I ask, still trying to flag a car.

“What if we order it to us? Back to the hotel?”

I sigh and nod. “That sounds great. You can come to my room, and we’ll keep watching that show.”

“The paranormal one?” Jessa asks, her eyes going wide with excitement.

When I nod, she says, “That would be even better. I’m so glad you like it.”

We finally get into a cab and the driver weaves through the traffic for over fifteen minutes. We take that long to figure out what to order. Thank goodness for delivery, because I’m exhausted.

The hotel is fairly nice, with several amenities we haven’t had time to take advantage of.

The hot tub would be nice, but I’m too tired to have to change into a swimsuit and then change again after it.

What’s mind boggling is that standing all day as I read lines and try to open myself up for the camera is almost more exhausting than a full lacrosse game.

I won’t admit that to Burton, though.

“I’m going to change and then I’ll knock.” Jessa gives me a small smile before disappearing into her room. I’m next door, so I go in and take the fastest shower of my life, knowing I won’t want to do it later when we’ve watched a few episodes of the show.

The knock I hear first turns out to be the delivery guy from the Chinese food restaurant. Then Jessa knocks a few moments later.

“That smells good,” she says, leaning down and breathing it in.

“Let’s eat. How was your shower?” I ask. It takes a split second before I’m wishing I hadn’t said anything that calls up a visual of Jessa not fully clothed.

“Good after today.” She puts a large blanket on the bed before taking a plate from me.

We dish up the variety of foods from the boxes and sit on the floor to eat.

“What was your favorite part about today?” she asks.

“Definitely when you swooped in and saved me from acting out at least two of those clips,” I say without hesitation.

“What was even better was seeing the director’s face when you answered like you had designed the sticks yourself.”

I grin and lean back against the bed. This is one of those moments where I’m so grateful for the people in my life, most of all Jessa right now. She could’ve let our issues from the past take over, but she dove right into helping me.

We finish up our food and settle onto the large king bed. There’s space between us, which almost feels like the danger zone to cross. It isn’t until she brings it up that I remember the kiss from this morning. A lot has happened since then, okay?

“Did you mean to kiss me in the green room?” she asks while staring at the TV. Luckily, this hotel is equipped with smart TVs, so we can sign into our own streaming services.

My chest constricts for a moment, and I can’t believe I forgot.

“Yes,” I say, the word just above a whisper.

She says nothing for a bit and the suspense is killing me.

“I won’t do it again if you don’t want that to happen. I’m sorry. It was a line I probably crossed and?—”

She reaches over and covers my mouth with her hand. “I just wanted to check that you hadn’t done it because you were nervous or anything.”

Shaking my head, I tug her hand down enough that I can say, “I might’ve been thinking about it since the park.”

Laughing, she says, “I thought you were going to kiss me on my couch.”

“There was some debate at that point, too.”

There’s a moment of hesitation and I lean over, pressing my lips to hers. Her fingers run through my hair as she presses closer.

My brain is both jumping for joy and freaking out that I’m kissing my best friend’s older sister.

A phone rings and we break apart for just a moment before joining lips again. Is this what I’ve been missing out on in my life? Because I will gladly hang out here for days, just to enjoy this.

The phone rings again, and Jessa leans back to look at the screen.

“Oh, no! It’s Daphne.”

“Who’s Daphne?” I ask.

“My boss. The one who hired me to work for Stockton Media.”

I shrug, not sure why she looks as guilty as a kid who’s been in the cookie jar. I don’t mind her stealing cookie kisses.

“Hey Daphne.” She tries to make her voice bright, and then I watch as the smile slips from her face.

“I haven’t seen anything. I was there to help Clark with his endorsements, just like you asked.”

Another long pause and I see her lip tremble.

“Understood. Okay, I’ll be in tomorrow when we fly back.”

She hangs up the phone and silent tears streak down her cheeks.

I scoot over and wrap my arms around her, wishing we could go back to moments ago and not answer the call.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. She turns, so she’s buried her face in my chest, and I increase my hold on her, hoping to take whatever pain she’s feeling and lessen it somewhat.

She finally blows out a long breath and says, “I just got fired. I’m supposed to go in and pick up my final papers tomorrow.”

I push her back just enough to see her face. “They fired you? You’ve done nothing but work your tail off since you’ve been here. What reasoning did they give?”

She leans forward and logs into her own social media account, pulling up a picture of us kissing in the green room.

“You can’t tell that’s us,” I say, waving to the picture. I mean, I’m happy we look that good together, but I don’t want to show it because of what she’s going through.

She swipes to the left and I see another picture of us, only inches apart. You can definitely see it’s us.

“What’s wrong with that?” I ask, trying not to gloat.

She slumps back against the pillows, and I have to turn to see her face.

“She specifically told me not to get into a relationship with you.”

And now I’m speechless.

It takes several moments for my brain to restart. “Your boss told you the day you started you couldn’t date me?”

Her eyes are closed, but she nods, another tear slipping down her cheek.

“Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe to avoid any scandals?”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

She sits up, a sudden fire in her eyes as she says, “Really? I’m just repeating what I assume is the reason for it.”

Leaning back, I say, “Jessa, I didn’t mean that about you.”

Something about my words helps her relax somewhat. I reach over to tug her toward me gently, waiting for her to decide if she wants to accept my hug or not.

“If you want, I can go talk to her. Try to get your job back,” I say.

She shakes her head. “No, it’s no good.”

I’m not sure what else to do to help her. “I could say it was my fault. I’m the one who kissed you.”

She gives a mirthless laugh and says, “I didn’t pull away though, did I?”

“Do you want to fight for this job? Or do something else?”

“I don’t know.” She sits up again and starts folding her blanket. “I think I’m going to go to bed.”

“No, Jessa. Stay a bit. I don’t want you to be alone.”

She gives me a flicker of a smile before she waves and heads out the door.

I’m frozen, looking at the wall for several moments. Who was on set and had access to take those photos?

I might have to do some digging.