Page 213 of The Surprise Play

Resting her hand on my chest, I cover her short fingers with my large ones as she softly says, “You confused me. At first, yes, I guess I was hurt, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that you must have done it for a reason. Because… I’m fucking amazing, right? You made me promise to believe that.”

My lips twitch, then rise into a slow smile, which I press against her fingers the second I raise them to my mouth.

“You are fucking amazing,” I whisper.

She watches me, her gaze burning with that silent question:“Why?”

Releasing a heavy sigh, I ignore the pain in my knee and lean forward anyway, wrapping my hand around her hip and pulling her closer to me.

She tucks her legs up beneath her, careful to avoid my injury, and rests her head against my shoulder.

“My parents don’t know about you,” I admit.

“Yeah, I got that part.” Her tone is rueful, and I take it as forgiveness.

Kissing the top of her head, I thread our fingers together and continue, “The reason I didn’t tell them is because they have this idea in their heads that girls are a distraction. They don’t seem to mind me messing around and having fun, but anything serious is gonna hinder my career. They’ve been so set on me getting established in the football world and really making a name for myself. In their minds, falling in love will only stop that from happening. They’re convinced I’ll be distracted. It’ll be a split-focus situation, and that’ll affect my game and my training.”

“Do you think that’s true?” Her voice is small.

After a long pause, I finally admit the truth with a sigh. “To some degree.” I kiss her head again, assuring her that this isn’t a breakup speech. “I guess when they got here and asked who you were, I was worried that if it all came out, they might accuse you of getting in the way. I was just trying to protect you, but I wasn’t able to explain it, and my phone’s died, and I’ve been lying here hating myself and worried sick that you were thinking I don’t want you. Because I do.” I squeeze her against me. “You’re my woman, and I just… I need you here with me. And I fucking hate that I let my dad dismiss you. I should have said something. I should have?—”

“Shhh.” She calms me, rubbing a hand over my stomach, then up to rest on my chest. “It’s nice that you wanted to protect me.” She kisses my pec before nestling her head back down again. “But you can’t always do that. I need to be strong enough to stand up for myself. And we could have faced your parents together.” She lets out a soft sigh. “I probably should have said something when you introduced me as your tutor.”

I grunt, resting my cheek against her head and refusing to let her take any of the blame for this. “It was my fault, Satch. I played it all wrong.”

Wrapping her arm around my waist, she holds me a little tighter, then lets out a soft giggle.

“What?” I shift my head at the same time she does, leaning back so I can look at the cute smile on her face.

She looks… proud as she licks her lips, then tells me, “I played something right tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… I think you’re gonna be really proud of me.”

“Oh yeah?”

Her smile grows, and then she proceeds to tell me exactly what went down outside Buckley Hall.

At first, I tense up, my muscles coiling with fury at the thought of those girls ambushing her outside her fucking dorm! A place she’s supposed to feel safe. A place to rest and study and?—

But then she tells me what she said to them.

“Really?” I interrupt her to clarify a few details, and she’s right.

I amsofucking proud.

She stood up to those girls. She put them in their place, and she?—

“I don’t know if they’ll come at me again, but at least I know how to handle them next time. I’ll just keep up that ‘your words are vapor’ mantra, and if they try to step things up a notch, then I’ll?—”

“There won’t be a next time,” I growl.

“Wily.” She sits up to look at me. “There might be. And you can’t always be there to stop them.”

Shit. I hate that she’s right, especially if I go to this private training camp. I won’t be around to protect her, and it’s weighing on me big-time.

My expression must be giving this all away, because she gifts me a sweet smile before pecking my lips.