An American Cinderella

I giggled as he winked at me. “Natural grace, huh? Just like how you ran into me was graceful?”

“If you were paying attention, you would have noticed that it was a perfect tackle. My coach would have been proud,” he replied, picking up his sandwich.

I picked up mine and took a bite. Delicious cheese with the sweet hints of pepper filled my mouth. It was perfect as usual. I looked over, curious to see what Henry thought of his first bite.

He took a delicate bite, one that looked almost proper. I half expected him to get up and grab a fork. He chewed carefully, evaluating the flavors.

“I think my childhood self missed out on something,” he told me. “This is delicious. I would have eaten this every day.”

I grinned and took another bite of my sandwich, glad that I had picked a restaurant he liked. There was nothing worse than suggesting a restaurant and having your date hate it.

“So, what sport do you play?” I asked, taking another bite of food. He looked up surprised. “You said your coach would be proud.”

“Oh, right.” He swallowed. “I play rugby.”

“Rugby?” I quickly racked my brain trying to remember which ball was used for that game. I could honestly say that I’d heard of it, but that I’d never seen it played. Or even met anyone who actually played it.

“You can look me up,” he said, smiling as he ate his meal. “I play for the Paradisa Royals.”

That must be what the R on his hat stood for.

“Is that a professional team?” I asked, pulling out my phone. If he told me to look him up, I wasn’t about to wait until later.

“Semi-professional,” he admitted, taking a large bite of his sandwich. “This is delicious, by the way. I don’t know if I mentioned that.”

I giggled as I googled his name. Henry Prescott.

Several team images popped up of the Paradisa Royals. Henry’s grinning face stood out from among the team. Most of the images had him covered in mud.

“Looks rough,” I replied, scanning through his results. It seemed like Henry Prescott was a good player. He was obviously not the best player on the team, but a well-loved one.

Everything seemed pretty normal about Henry Prescott. Most of the information on him was about his rugby career. He appeared to be one of the secondary players, but important to the team. There was more, but it all seemed to focus on his rugby skills. I was going to have to do a little sleuthing on him later.

“Have you ever been to a game?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nope. I can’t say that I have.”

“Maybe I’ll take you to one,” he said, reaching over and popping a tater tot into his mouth with a grin.

“Maybe you will.” I grinned back. I could definitely go for another date with him. I liked the way he smiled at me and the way it made my whole body react. He was like sunshine for my soul.

“Then I’ll need to give you my phone number,” he said. He grinned and held out his hand. “I’ll put it in your phone.”

I pulled up the contacts screen and handed it to him. He quickly added his name and number, making sure to keep my phone screen where I could see what he was doing. He hit save, and handed it back to me.

I took my phone back and pulled up the text message screen. I wrote my own name and texted it to him.

“And now you have mine,” I told him, putting my phone back in my purse. He grinned and reached for another tater tot.

His knee bumped mine under the table, though he seemed not to notice it. The heat from his leg sizzled across my brain and I nearly lost the ability to speak. He certainly had an effect on me.

I was used to flirting. I was used to going out on dates, yet somehow, Henry had me feeling like a high school girl out with the quarterback of the team.

I reached over and took a tater tot as well, more to distract myself than hunger. It was crunchy and salty in my mouth. “Are you in DC for a game?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m out this season.”

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “Did you have an injury?”

He shrugged and shook his head. “Work and duty come first,” he told me.

“What kind of work do you do?” I asked.

“It’s a family business.” He waved his hand through the air. “It’s not very interesting to be honest. Lots of travel. Politics. International trade.”