Page 70 of Unstoppable Love

He spit out the last with a glare in Bryce’s direction and turned, slamming the front door on his way out.

“Damn,” Bryce said. “He can’t get over it.”

“He doesn’t like what you’re doing?”

“Pretty sure he’s hoping to see me fail.”

“That’s not true,” Jenny said. “Dalton doesn’t like change, never has. It messes with his spreadsheets and logical order. He couldn’t even handle new seating arrangements in classrooms.”

Lydia chuckled.

I turned to Bryce. “How about I stop out this week and we can talk?”

“Look!” Josie cried. “Uncle Cameron looks mad. Big mad!”

She was right. Cameron was on the screen, lips pressed together. It was strange to see his beard still there, but it was shaved now. His lips were pursed, and his eyes were shooting arrows at whatever he saw on the field.

But when he licked his lips? I pressed my thighs together.

That angry, mad face was soon coming in my direction.

And I wasn’t nearly ready.

Next to me, Emily lifted my glass until it was pressed to my lips. “Better drink up,” she whispered. “Seems like someone might be feeling a bit vicious.”

Chapter 21

Cameron

Overtime. I almost lost my mind when my team tied the game with only a minute left instead of going for the touchdown. It was preseason. Our backups were in. The game meant nothing in terms of ranking for the regular season, and now was the time to push it, to see what we could do when time was on the line.

Partly, I was pissed at my coach for not trusting Potter to get the job done, whether we won or lost.

Mostly, I was pissed. It meant it’d be a half hour later than planned when I could get to New Haven, pull into Ava’s driveway, and then pull off her clothes.

We won. I should have been thrilled about it. Potter’s nerves were gone at the start of the third quarter when he went in ten points behind Arizona. I’d played most of the first half due to the game being close, but it didn’t matter how great our offense played, our defense was having a hard time getting their timing down. All that led to penalties and more yards for Arizona, but I had to give credit to Potter. He didn’t falter once in overtime when our team moved the ball quickly down the field. No penalties on our part. No false starts or holding calls. We scored the touchdown and then forced Arizona into a fourth-and-three situation where our defense stepped up and sacked their quarterback.

We looked good out there today. A few errors. Some penalties that could have been avoided for sure, but I had no doubt our team was looking for another championship run come the end of the year and early into next.

Even if our starters were injured, our backups were solid.

The team was looking good.

I was still pissed that it was later than I wanted when I hit the stoplight entering New Haven and turned right.

Main Street was packed. There was a line outside Tom’s Saloon, not unusual at nine o’clock on a Saturday. Families were walking around the square, eating ice cream. Kids were running in the grass and playing hide and seek around the gazebo.

My hands were aching on my steering wheel as I turned another right.

Thirty more seconds, and I’d finally be able to take a full, deep breath since leaving Ava on Wednesday morning.

God, I hoped like hell she was ready for me.

There she was. My front headlights illuminated her as I turned into her empty driveway, which meant her car must have been in the garage.

Ava was sitting on the swinging front porch, her long, thick hair braided and draped over one breast. She had on a short sundress, phone in one hand, a glass of wine in the other.

By the time I parked my truck, she was on her feet, at the top of the stairs.

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