“I promise. It’s going to be perfect,” she replies.
I shut the door and watch as she pulls away. My phone dings again, and this time I ignore it and go over to my own car before pulling out and rushing to the stadium. I should have gotten her number. I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight, but it’s too late now.
All I can do now is hope and pray that she shows up and I get to see her again. I want her. Seeing her, touching her was like a kick to the gut, and I know I need to see her again.
I get to the stadium, and even though I’m already late, I pull up my alarm app on my phone and check it. She hasn’t had time to get there yet, but that doesn’t stop me from looking at the camera function just in case she’s already sitting in my driveaway. I turn notifications on so that as soon as someone pulls in it notifies me. Coach is just going to have to deal today. I’m bringing my phone to practice.
It seems like hours go by before my phone vibrates in my waistband pocket. I keep running and finish the drill before I walk to the sidelines with my phone out. The app opens, and immediately I see her. She’s walking cautiously up the walkway as she looks all around. She’s got her arms full of grocery bags, and my heart starts to pound knowing that she’s going to be in my house, in my kitchen, preparing my food. I’ve never been one for that type of thing, but fuck if it doesn’t make my heart pound in my chest. I haven’t even tasted one morsel of her cooking, but I know I’d eat it every day if it meant I would get to come home to her.
“Chambers. You too good to practice? Get it together.” The coach is yelling as he jogs across the field. When he stops next to me, I’m still staring down at my phone. I’ve moved to the indoor cameras, watching her in my kitchen. She’s smiling, and I swear she looks like she’s singing. Coach looks over my shoulder. “Well, fuck. Is that your house? Here it goes. I’m telling you, Chambers, this better not get in our way. We have games coming up, and I need your head on straight.”
I laugh because Coach is a good guy, but he sure is melodramatic sometimes. “Yeah, that’s my new girlfriend. But no worries, Coach, I’m good.”
“Girlfriend.” He smirks. “Yeah, right. If Josh Chambers had a girlfriend, it’d be all over the news by now. I don’t think so.”
I take the ball from his hands. “I’m telling you, Coach. She’s mine.”
3
Violet
I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I mean, I’ve never done anything crazy like this. Going to some stranger’s house and cooking dinner... I mean, that’s off the wall. Obviously, I don’t know how to handle time off. But as I sit around the table eating with Josh and his guests, I’m finding that this has been the best night I’ve had in a long time.
The meal was an easy one to make and it’s all comfort food. We’ve been eating and talking for over an hour, and I get up to serve the cake. It’s good, because I need to put some distance between Josh and me. Watching him with Trevor makes me like him even more. The fact that he invited Trevor and his mom over for dinner still astounds me. I spent part of the afternoon googling Josh, and everything I read tells me he’s a good guy. He’s all about giving back to his community and helping those in need. The only thing that bothered me at all was all the women that he’s photographed with. The last image I looked at was an article about the Eagles winning a game and the players were at an afterparty. The headline read Who is Josh Chamber’s catch this week? and the picture was him holding a football in one hand and his arm around a beautiful, model-looking woman. I quit looking after that. That right there tells me that even though he is a good man, he’s definitely one I should avoid. I’m not interested in being anyone’s catch of the week. But damn, watching him all night, talking with him... he’s hard to resist.
“You doing okay in here?” Josh asks.
I didn’t even hear him walk into the kitchen. I grab the knife and start slicing the cake. “Yeah, I got lost on my way here,” I tell him with a smirk.
Josh’s house is huge. I mean huge. And I’ve made a few jokes about getting lost while I’ve been here.
“Har, har. Funny. I always wanted a big house with a big family to fill it,” he says as he walks up behind me. I can feel his warmth at my back, and it’s either that or his talk of family that I can feel myself weakening as I lean back into him. His hands go to my shoulders, and damn it’s been this way all night. He’s constantly touching me. At first it was innocent pats on the back, or his hand would brush mine on the table. But as the night has gone on, it’s become more. His arm around the back of my chair while his hand played with my neck. His hand on my thigh giving me a squeeze every now and then to let me know he was thinking of me. At first I thought I should put a stop to it, but now it’s like I crave it.