Dare You to Chase the Soccer Player (Rock Valley High 5)

I glanced over at the field. With the sun beating down on them, the guys already appeared to be sweating heavily. They didn’t need any help in the sweat department.

“What if they’re already sweaty?” I asked, turning back to Alanis.

She rolled her eyes. Apparently, I’d already reached the end of her patience for the day. “Spray them anyway. All over the upper torso and arms. I want them to glisten like Viking warriors swarming ancient battlefields. Do you understand me? Glisten!”

The power of her voice had me stepping backwards as if a gust of wind had pushed me in that direction. I nodded my understanding, then turned toward the field. Normally, approaching a field full of yummy-looking boys would’ve had me squirming with excitement. I’d smile and wave at them, maybe laugh as they showed off for me. But this was different. Today, the only person I wanted to laugh with was totally and completely off-limits.

Just coworkers...

Zane turned toward me when I was only a few yards away. Our gazes met, sending a forbidden thrill down my spine. I couldn’t look away. My face began to burn. I patted my cheek with my hand and wondered if I was getting a sunburn already. Nope. It was all Zane. And just as the tips of his ears flushed in a similar way, he tore his gaze away, and stared down at the ground with an intensity that should’ve started a fire in the grass.

“Okay, boys,” I said with a shaky voice. “Who’s ready to glisten?”

I set the tote on the ground and held up a white spray bottle filled with Alanis’ mixture. A line quickly formed. A line full of muscular, tall, athletically-toned teen boys who all looked at me like they would’ve liked to take a bite out of me, despite the fact that I worked for the wicked witch of the makeup world.

And once again, I didn’t find myself nearly as excited about that as I normally would’ve been.

It didn’t matter, anyway. I was all business. All business and glistening spray. It didn’t take long to get the hang of the spray bottle. The watery mixture really did add a certain gleam on their skin. The camera was definitely going to pick up every crevice in their muscles, every gorgeous angle of their sinewy limbs as they flew down the field in their cleats.

I loved this job.

“Hey, gorgeous.” Freddy wasn’t far back in the line. He shot me a scandalous wink when it was his turn. “We keep meeting like this. I think it’s fate.”

“Fate, huh?” I grinned up at him. “Is that what you say to all the girls? Sounds like a line to me.”

Freddy groaned and squinted at me in the sunlight. “Okay, maybe it’s a line. Is it working?”

I pressed my lips into a suppressed smile and focused on spraying the glistening solution on his shapely pecs. Maybe Freddy held no romantic interest for me, but joking with him was a nice distraction from the boy standing at the end of the line, who I could feel sneaking glances at me. I wished Beth or Charlotte were here. They could’ve pinched me and told me to keep it together.

Zane’s job depended on it.

And my future, too.

“You know, you really should let me take you out,” Freddy said as I sprayed the final bit of his shoulders. “When’s the last time you could say a real-life Hollywood star took you out?”

I put my hand on my hip and fixed him with an amused smile. “Never. Why? Do you know one who can show me a good time?”

The boys standing in line behind him laughed as Freddy rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled.

“You know, you’re feisty, and I like it.” He wet his lips and shot me a flirtatious smile. “The offer still stands. And I’ll bet you’ll change your mind before we wrap up the shoot. No lady can resist this.”

I waved him off and he ran to join the others standing around the director. Laughing to myself, I had to shake my head. They definitely didn’t grow boys in LA with small egos. Yet somehow, Zane was different. The way he flirted was sweet and sincere. It didn’t hold that tinge of suggestion, like with so many of the boys on this shoot. He really was an old soul. I liked that about him.

By the time I realized I’d been allowing my mind to once again be consumed with thoughts of Zane, it was too late. I’d reached the end of the glistening line and the real-life version of my daydreams stood in front of me, his blue eyes watching me with a kind of fascination that was dangerous to a girl.

“Hi,” I said softly, looking around us.

The rest of the boys had gone to surround the director. We were basically alone, standing on the sidelines of the soccer field.

“Hi, Lexi.” His voice was low and quiet.

I began to spray him on the legs, trying to keep my mind on things that didn’t revolve around the smooth planes of his torso, or the weight of his eyes on me. Squeezing my eyes shut for a brief moment, I tried to conjure up the character I’d created in my mind last night.

I was Mighty Lexi—completely professional, on a mission to conquer the makeup world. Men didn’t matter to me. In fact, according to my character, men were useless. They were nothing but a distraction. If I didn’t keep my eyes on the goal, total world annihilation was imminent.

Okay, so that last part was probably a little more dramatic than what Beth had intended, but it helped to feel like a version of a superhero. Superheroes saved the world. They didn’t let little human problems get in their way. Not even if the human was hotter than this day and all the rest of summer combined.

“Is she being nice to you?” Zane asked.