Imaginary Lines (New York Leopards 3)

Mduduzi nodded. “Is it weird, or are you happy?”

For a drawn moment I stood there, and then a smile spread out, so wide my cheeks hurt. “Oh, trust me. I am very happy.”

That evening at the dark and lush venue, we bypassed the normal lines and walked straight for the VIP entrance, roped off by a velvet strand. A young woman who looked almost fancier than we did—her hair certainly seemed important, at least in height and gloss—checked us in and unhooked the rope.

I’d never been in the VIP section of anything before.

Black and blue lights flooded the large sub-basement, casting dark shadows throughout the room. Along the walls photographs of different acts hung: women dangling from aerial hoops and flying down Spanish ribbons, men leaping and flipping in fantastical costumes and across elaborate sets.

We checked in and were handed lanyards with passes. None of us were reporting tonight, so we headed directly to the bar. A bored-looking bartender poured us half-filled glasses of wine, which we took with slightly too much enthusiasm before heading over to the buffet.

Sweet cheese and fig jam wrapped in baskets of filo dough. Asparagus with Parmesan and minced garlic. Miniature burgers that could be held between two fingers. I tried not to salivate, but also noticed that I wasn’t the only one piling my plate high. Almost all the press seemed to have converged on the buffet.

We took our plates and headed off to the side of the room, talking idly to each other and several of the other reporters we were on casual good terms with. I kept scanning the room for Abe, but couldn’t find him.

“Hey!”

At the indisputable sound of a football player’s greeting, I turned with a wide grin, hoping to find Abe among them. Instead, it was a group of the other, younger guys. Dylan and Keith and Jensen and TJ. If men were masonry, these would be ashlar.

Jensen grinned at me, all cocky daredevil. “You clean up good.”

“What about the rest of us?” Jin drawled.

We moved slightly so the four players joined our group. My hand tightened around my glass and my nerves ramped up. I half-felt like we should all start snapping our fingers at any second.

Everyone knew each other by sight, even if the Leopards didn’t all know my friends’ names. Dylan nodded at all of us. “You guys all at Sports Today?”

My friends nodded warily.

And then Jensen saved us all by being oblivious. He held up one of the miniature burgers. “Are these seriously supposed to fill us?” He popped it in his mouth.

I rolled my eyes, and then grinned at Dylan when I saw him doing the same. “I think you were supposed to eat.”

“Yeah, I did. But I was kinda expecting second dinner.”

Dylan looked at me apologetically. “We’re still working on him.”

“Whatever, man.” Jensen popped two more burgers in his mouth and spoke around them. “You’re just bitter you lost the hot dog—eating contest.” He grinned at me, looking strangely chipmunk-like with the food in his cheeks. “I won.”

I laughed. “I’m sure you were a champ.”

Then I felt a warm hand on my lower back and the scent of spice and soap washed over me. I turned slightly and smiled. “Hi.”

Abe smiled down at me in a way that made the whole world vanish except for us. Nothing existed except his hand on the small of my back and the dark depths of his crinkled eyes and the private curves of his lips. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you. So do you.”

His gaze locked on mine.

“Yo, Krasner, how about the rest of us?”

Keith’s words jolted me and I turned back to seven curious faces. I swallowed. Hard. Abe greeted his teammates while I snuck a look at my coworkers. They looked back at me. Then we all stood there a minute while I tried very, very hard not to freak out about my worlds colliding.

Carlos, thank God, helped me out by turning to Keith with a question about next week’s game, and the world continued to spin. I let out a shaky breath. Abe squeezed my waist.

I quietly lifted my face to his. “So we’re doing this?”

The smile that broke over his face was strong enough to light the entire room, and I couldn’t have looked away if the world had ended around us. “Yes.”