Page 8 of The Interception (Southern Sports Sweethearts #2)

Chapter Six

Ender

Feelings…I hate them. And I definitely got them while carrying Layne to the team doctor’s office.

Not big feelings, obviously. We just met and our partnership did not start off on the right foot.

Carrying a woman like Layne is bound to make any guy get a little…

what’s the word? I don’t know what to call the feeling, but I know I’m in trouble if we have to work closely together for the next couple of weeks.

I need adult supervision whenever I’m around her, no question.

Practice is finishing up when I return to the field.

The guys are all headed to the locker rooms, ready to shower and get home to their own families, wives, girlfriends, or whatever occupies them when we’re not at work.

None of them will want to stay around to supervise me while I test recipes with a completely gorgeous woman who, against my better judgment, elicits feelings I can’t yet define.

Who can I call to ensure I don’t let Layne lure me into more of them?

Sarah Beth. I’ll message my sister and ask her to come by, taste-test the food, pretend she’s doing us a favor when in reality, she’s making sure I don’t make a fool of myself. I yank my phone from my bag and hammer out a message.

I need help. My cook-off partner is here. We’re supposed to use the kitchen in the stadium to test some things, but I for sure need supervision with her around.

While waiting for her reply, I drag my things back up to the building and head for the locker room.

I need to shower. Fortunately, I didn’t have time to get too sweaty and gross before Layne showed up, but I still smell a little awful.

My phone vibrates in my hand, bringing my attention back to the crisis at hand.

With a quick glance, I realize I’m going to have to talk my sister into this.

Sarah Beth

I think you should be focused on the competition and not a woman right now.

I’m trying to, hence my plea for you to join us.

Please, please let my sister show up to supervise me. Without her present, I might say or do things, like staring into the abyss that is Layne’s eyes, that I most certainly should not do.

Sarah Beth

I think you can be a big boy without your sister there.

I’m in the process of explaining why that is more difficult than one would expect when another message comes through.

Sarah Beth

Wait, I searched her social pages. She’s gorgeous. You absolutely cannot be left alone with her. I’m on my way.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Thanks, big sis.

If anyone knows about my failures with dating, it’s my sister.

I tend to fall for the wrong women, get hurt, and end up with my bleeding heart in my hands.

What Sarah Beth doesn’t know is that guilt eats me up when I think about dating while she’s grieving.

She would be supportive if it’s what I really wanted, but the last thing I need right now is a broken heart.

At least with Sarah Beth present, I won’t do things that will make Layne think I’m flirting with her or romantically interested in her. Which I am not.

Except I so am. She showed herself to be a sweet, funny person last night.

Also forgiving and, if I’m frank, a little too hard on herself.

I’m sure I didn’t help that with my behavior.

Once the apologies were made, our conversation on the back porch was nice.

Unlike anything I’ve had with a woman in a long time, maybe ever.

None of that matters though. She’s my cook-off partner, probably already taken, and there are more important things to focus on than her pretty face. And her sparkling personality. And what are probably killer skills in a kitchen.

I shove my way through the doors and into the locker room before I have to pretend to be the big boy my sister claims I am.

Perhaps I’ll get lucky and Layne will do something so gross, I can’t help but gag when I think about her.

Not likely. Frankly, even if she does, I’m pretty sure this feeling will remain.

That undefinable, fluttery feeling in my chest that makes me want to carry the woman everywhere, if only so I can figure out what it means.

The locker room is bustling, but everyone is in a hurry to get out and relax.

Coach has been drilling us hard lately, trying to prove to Quade Dawson that we deserve to exist as a team.

He’s not wrong for pushing, but it’s hard on a body.

I drop my stuff and head to the showers when my phone vibrates again.

I grab it off the bench and find another message from my sister.

Sarah Beth

Sorry, En. I can’t make it. Lula has a tummy ache, and I’m afraid if we leave the house explosive things will happen. Besides, you have the truck. I’d have to call a car, and I hate doing that with her. Forgive me?

Drat. I’m going to have to be a big boy. I don’t want her to drag little Lula all the way here if she isn’t feeling well.

Of course. It’s fine, SB. No worries. I’ll do my best to behave like a mature, responsible adult man.

Sarah Beth

Um, good luck with that. Whatever you do just…don’t look at her. Don’t get too close to her. Just be polite but professional. Love you.

Yeah, that’s the plan. Love you too. Give Lula snuggles for me.

Leo nods my way and tosses his dirty laundry into his bag. “Is your partner okay?” he asks and brushes his wet black hair from his face.

“About as good as any woman can be after getting tackled. She seemed okay when I dropped her off with Doc.”

“Any ideas what you’ll make for the first round?

” Leo has been a good friend through everything.

He’s picked up for me when I’ve had to miss practice to help Sarah Beth, even helped us move her things into a storage building.

Of everyone on the team, he’s the one I’m closest to, even though we aren’t what one would call best friends.

Actually, he’s probably the only guy on the team I have a personal relationship with at all.

“No clue. I know she’s a trained chef and she’s Italian, so I’m assuming we’ll infuse some Italian flair into whatever we make.” I shrug and head toward the showers.

“Bring me some to taste-test when you’re done. I’ll be in the weight room for a while,” he says.

“After that practice you want more punishment?” I ask, pausing to glance his way. The guy is buff as can be already. He blows most of us away every practice.

“I need to work some things out. Better to take it out on the weights, yeah?” He doesn’t expound on what he needs to work out but slings his bag over his shoulder and nods a goodbye. “Good luck, Langley.”

I should probably ask him what’s bothering him, but it’ll have to be another time.

I have to shower and book it to the kitchen.

The entire time I’m in the shower, all I can think about is how I’ll manage to get through this without doing something stupid like developing actual feelings for Layne.

Maybe I can get Leo to forgo his trip to the gym and supervise us instead?

No, that’s dumb. I’m a big boy, as my sister put it.

I can buckle down, focus on winning the contest—which I need to do if I’m going to help Sarah Beth—and get through one afternoon alone with Layne Rossi.

By the time I head to the kitchen, my stomach is growling.

I could cram down a protein bar, but that will only hold the beast off for so long.

Better to get a decent meal made and kill two birds with one stone.

I pass Dr. Anderson in the hallway, looking a bit confused, but he doesn’t slow to speak to me.

In fact, I’m not even sure the guy notices me passing by.

He’s so caught up in staring at his shoes, he walks right past me and turns down the hallway leading to the exit.

Oh well. Ahead, the telltale sounds of prep echo down the hallway.

The banging and clanging of cookware and utensils only make my stomach growl louder.

I turn into the kitchen to find an array of things already on the table, along with the grocery bags I’d put in the fridge when I arrived.

They’re basic staples we agreed on last night, but I’m not positive we can do much with them.

“Hey, what was the verdict?” I ask. “You feeling okay?”

Layne’s head pops up and she smiles. “I’ll live to tell the tale, but I’m starving. Shall we get started?”

“Reading my mind. What do you have going here?”

“Well, you said last night that your barbecue meatballs are a big hit. I wanted to keep that concept going but add a twist, right?” I nod, keeping up.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I brought a few things of my own.

” She pushes the tote bag she’d been carrying toward me.

“My homemade sauce—Nonnie’s recipe, of course—spaghetti, parmesan and—”

“Spaghetti?” I interrupt. I don’t mean to, but I’m intrigued.

“Mmm-hmm. I thought, what if we make stuffed meatballs?” She bites her lower lip and waits for me to shoot it down. I’m too confused to shoot anything down.

“Can you elaborate?”

She takes a deep breath and unloads her pitch. “Okay, we take your famous meatballs, but instead of using barbecue sauce, we stuff them with cooked pasta and cheese, then use my sauce instead.”

This isn’t what I had planned, but my meatballs can only get me past the first round so many times. A little change-up might be in order. Still, I’m not so sure this is tailgating food. “I don’t know. I mean, it sounds good, don’t get me wrong, but wouldn’t it be a bit too messy for tailgating?”

She bites her lip again. “Yeah, maybe. I guess it would be hard to manage something like that cooking out of the back of a truck.” The light leaves her face and her entire being just…

deflates. She leans against the table and chews on her lower lip.

I avert my eyes because they have no business looking there. “I’m out of ideas then.”