“Time to get out before you turn into a prune,” he teased, grabbing a fluffy white towel from the bar to hold it out for me.
After I was dried off—and turned on again, something that happened anytime Jordan touched me…or even looked at me—I was surprised to find a change of clothes waiting for me on the bed. “Where did these come from?”
“I had the personal shopper bring over some stuff for you to keep here.”
“Really?” My gaze darted toward his walk-in closet. “When?”
“After she dropped off the dresses and shoes for the gala,” he explained with a sheepish grin.
“You really were planning on us being real this whole time,” I whispered as I got dressed. It wasn’t that I hadn’t believed him last night but seeing the proof of how serious he was about us made me feel it on another level.
“Damn straight,” he growled, tugging me close to lay another kiss on me.
When he finally lifted his head again, I felt breathless and a little dizzy. So much so that I totally missed what he said. “Could you repeat that?”
Jordan smirked as he replied, “We slept in later than I expected. Prentice and his wife are hosting a barbecue that starts soon. It’s a whole day thing, so they figured they’d kick it off around eleven.”
“Oh.” I hated the idea of being away from him all day, but I couldn’t blame him for wanting to go over to his teammate’s house when he had plans with them. “If they don’t live nearby, maybe you could drop me off on your way.”
“Sorry, no can do.”
My shoulders slumped. “I guess I could grab a rideshare instead.”
“Not a chance.” He pulled me into his arms and brushed a kiss against the top of my head. “You’re coming with me.”
I leaned back to peer up at him, my nose scrunching. “Are you sure? I wasn’t invited and wouldn’t even know anyone else who’s there.”
“Trust me, they won’t mind.” He chuckled and shook his head. “The only thing you’ll have to worry about is Naomi grilling you for all the details about how we got together, and then doing a little victory dance once she realizes that she’s indirectly responsible for us meeting.”
It turned out that Jordan was right, and I was concerned for no reason. His friends from the team welcomed me with open arms when we arrived at their star quarterback’s home. And it wasn’t long before Naomi and Ember—who’d been quick to assure me that she had zero interest in Jordan and was happily involved with Naomi’s brother—cornered me to ask about Jordan and me.
When I finished explaining how it all went down, Ember had to help Naomi stay upright between her baby belly and all the laughing. When she finally pulled herself together, she asked, “So you thought you were Jordan’s fake date to the charity gala while he was busy figuring out how quickly he could get you to move in with him?”
“That’s so romantic.” Ember sighed.
“You better not let your man hear you say that,” Clay muttered as he walked past us. Jordan had introduced us when we first arrived, but I hadn’t gotten much chance to talk to any of the guys with Jordan glued to my side until the girls dragged me away.
“How come?” Ember asked.
Clay paused to turn toward us, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “Because Nixon would lose his mind if he heard you getting all sappy over something romantic that another guy did. Especially Jordan since he’s still butthurt over the blind date that never happened.”
“Good point,” Ember grumbled.
“Hey, that night turned out to be a huge success.” Naomi crossed her arms over her belly and pouted. “I set up two couples with that one blind date.”
“Eh, that’s stretching things a little,” Ember disagreed. “Your brother stole me away from the date, and Wrenley has spent the past month thinking that she was Jordan’s fake date for last night.”
“Did you really?” Clay asked me, chuckling when I nodded. “I’m going to assume you realized how real the date was before Jordan sent me a text telling me to clear out of his place for the night.”
“Clear out of his place?” I echoed, my brows drawing together.
Clay ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I just got traded to the Nighthawks, and Jordan is letting me stay with him until the renovations are done on my new place.”
Jordan must have been paying close attention to me because he joined us, sliding his arm around my shoulders as he asked, “Everything okay over here?”
I nodded. “Yeah, Clay was just telling me about how he’s your roommate.”
“I wouldn’t say roommate, exactly.” Jordan flashed Clay an apologetic smile. “We played football in college together, so I offered him somewhere to crash for the short term.”
“Unfortunately for me, you came back to town before the construction crew gave me the all clear to move in.” Clay scrubbed his hand over his face. “I’ll probably end up crashing at a hotel for the next couple of weeks so you two can have some privacy.”