I may have put my search for her on hold after my talk with the guys a couple of weeks ago, but if she sought me out, then I’ll do whatever it takes to find her. To see if our chemistry is still as explosive as it was that night.
He quickly focuses on his security system, and I round the desk so I can see what he sees. He pauses the video, and my heart starts racing as an energy I haven’t felt in a long time pulses through me. I couldn’t stop the smile that forms on my face even if I tried.
It’s her. Lexi came back.
Hope and excitement fills my chest so completely, but then like a leaky balloon, it disappears the longer I watch the tape. Her expression falters while she stares at Lewis. His back is to the camera and there’s no sound, but it’s clear that something happened—that he said something that bothered her—when her mouth turns down into a frown and her shoulders sag with defeat. Even from the slightly grainy video, the heartache is written all over her beautiful face.
“What happened? Why does she look so upset?”
“Uh…” His hesitancy turns any excitement I feel into pure dread and anger.
“Lewis,” I say, my tone sterner than I knew I was capable of. “What did you say to her?”
He licks his lips, not making eye contact with me as he stumbles over his words. “I…uh, I might’ve told her not to come back.”
“You what?!” I shout. It’s impossible to stop the way my body is itching for a fight in this moment. She was here. She was so close, while I was right upstairs, and he sent her away.
“Why would you do that without consulting me?”
His only saving grace is the remorse that’s clear as day on his face. “I’m sorry, Mr. Russell. I thought she was another of those jersey-chaser women that have come here over the years trying to get to you. You always give me a heads-up if you’re planning for company. You didn’t have anyone on your list, so I figured you weren’t expecting her. I thought she was just an overeager female fan. I’m so sorry, sir.”
I don’t look away from him as I point to the screen. “If she ever comes back, you let her up, no questions asked. Do you understand me? She is never to be turned away again.”
“Yes, sir.”
My phone beeps, and I pull it out of my pocket more forcefully than it deserves, but I’m seething and barely keeping my anger restrained.
“I gotta go, but I mean it, Lewis. If she’s given any more trouble, you’ll be out of a job. Am I clear?”
I don’t know that I can actually get him fired, and I’ve never thrown my weight around like that in the years I’ve lived here, but the look on her face is already haunting me, and I refuse to let her feel like she doesn’t belong here.
“Crystal, sir.”
Jaw clenched, I move back around the desk and out the side doors leading to the garage. By the time I get to Gabe’s house for our family barbecue, I’m still riled up and righteously pissed off.
She was there. Right there. I was in the building. I could’ve talked to her, slid my hands through her silken black hair I’ve dreamt about since our night together. I could’ve asked her to come to this get-together and meet the guys and their women. They might not be family by blood, but they’re my family all the same. I’m as close to Gabe, Dom, and Romel as I am my own brothers, Tanner and Taron.
Fuck. I wouldn’t blame her if she never wanted to come back again. The stricken look on her face from today is seared into my memory just as clearly as the feel of her body underneath me and the way she cried out my name as she squeezed my dick so tight I saw stars.
No woman’s memory has stayed with me as long as she has. Not even my ex, and I thought I could be falling in love with her. But maybe subconsciously I always knew she was just using me.
But Lexi wasn’t.
Maybe that’s why it seems so easy to feel this way after one incredible night. I was real with her in a way I haven’t been able to be with other women since I got drafted.
There’s a loud banging on my driver’s side window that nearly sends me into cardiac arrest, and I glance out to see Dom, bent over laughing his ass off. I open my door and get out.
“Hardy har har, asshole. Hey Alayna,” I say to his wife.
God, that’s fucking weird. Never in a million years would I have expected that Dom, of all people, would get married before me, but sure enough, the fucker realized his best friend was the love of his life—about damn time—and they didn’t want to wait. I was honored to be invited to their small beach wedding they had this summer before preseason started.
“Hey Ty. How’s it going?” she asks. She’s too sweet for Dom, but it’s clear they love each other. And I can’t deny she’s brought out a softer side to him. I have to admit, I like this version of him a lot better than the party boy he was before.
“Could be better,” I admit, and that stops Dom’s laughter instantly.
“Everything okay?”
And this is why he’s one of my best friends—my brother from another mother. He might be an asshole sometimes and a jokester, but I know when shit goes down, he always has my back.