Page 10 of Striking Heat

“That would be great,” Nick says, laying on the Mr. Nice Guy act real thick.

“I do not parade around,” I tell him. Although right now, I have a shirt that’s a bit too small draped over my shoulder.

Mac seems to be doing her best to keep her eyes away from me, but I notice her sneaking peeks as she passes the ball with a teammate.

“Thank you.” I take the new shirt from the PR rep when she makes it back and pull it over my chest. This one fits much better. “There, are you happy?” I ask Nick. “Now you won’t have to see my muscular body on display, making you feel inept in your puny little body.”

“Fuck off, asshole. We weren’t all swimmers,” he reminds me. “Plus, I’m fit. I’m just not trying to look like The Rock.”

I punch him playfully in the shoulder. “Any other out-of-date pop culture references you want to throw out there?”

He just laughs and shoots me the finger.

I look down at my new shirt. It’s baby blue and has the navy and yellow logo of the Blaze on it. It’s actually kind of nice. I wonder if this is one of the promotional shirts they’re handing out or if she actually ran and got me a shirt from the merch stand.

“Hey, Mac,” I call out. I have to fuel the hate she’s got building just a bit more. “Thanks so much for ruining my other shirt. This worked out well. I’ve always wanted a Blaze T-shirt.”

“You could have just bought yourself one. You didn’t need to get in the way of my warmups.”

“Is that what I did?” I challenge.

“Yeah, it was.”

I laugh and it only makes her hate me more. I can tell by the way her eyes narrow and her chest puffs out at me.

“Would you two like to get a picture?” Nick smiles and motions for her to come stand near me. “Do you have a minute for that, Mac?”

“She does,” the PR rep says, suddenly appearing beside us.

Mac storms over to her and pulls her slightly away from us. I can’t hear what’s being said, but I imagine she isn’t thanking the rep for volunteering her for this. But she doesn’t win.

“You two get together, please,” the rep says. “We’ll just take one quick picture, and then you can get back to the field.”

Mac comes over and stands beside me. I put my arm around her and lean in close.

“Take your arm off me or you may lose it,” she bites out.

I chuckle. “This takes a better picture. Now smile for Nick.”

Her head whips in my direction, and I see the fire in her eyes. They’re so full of passion, and with her lips parting just slightly, I get the perfect view of their fullness. I’d like to suck on that bottom lip. I wonder if she would moan if I did. There’s something happening here, a tension building, making me want to lean in and see if we could have some truly hot hate sex. She must feel it too, because her chest pushes a bit more in my direction.

Nick’s camera clicks a few times.

“We should get one facing the camera,” I stutter out.

She mumbles, “Yeah, just one more.”

“Great. Smile for Nick,” I say condescendingly, hoping to break whatever spell I’m being put under.

She takes a step and purposely steps on my toe with her cleat. My blue-and-white Nike shoes aren’t enough to protect me from the full weight of the spike.

“Ouch,” I grind out.

“Oh, sorry about that.” Her tone is laced with sarcasm.

“Sure, you are,” I say as I lean in

“Can I have my player back?” a voice from the right of me calls. “She’s gotta warm up some more.”