Page 40 of Look What You Made Me Do

The whistle blew and she dragged her attention away from Jake, forcing herself to concentrate on the game. And what an amazing half it was. The rejuvenated Demons left it all out on the field catching up until, two minutes out they ran one over the end zone, putting them one behind their opponents.

Then ten seconds before the whistle, Cameron kicked the ball toward the post. “He’s going for the field goal,” Simon said.

“How much is that worth?” Ella demanded.

“Three points.”

Oh God. Ella couldn’t bear to watch. If he botched this he might never recover. With her heart thundering in her chest, she buried her face in her hands and crossed her fingers.

Seconds later Rosie was screaming and Simon was yelling, “He did it! He did it!”

Amidst a cacophony of clapping, cheering and stomping from Deluca supporters in the bleachers behind, Ella was dragged to her feet by Rosie who hugged her and shouted, “He did it!”

Pulling out of Rosie’s grasp, she turned in time to see Cam being picked up by his teammates and lifted high on their shoulders and Ella thought her heart was going to burst right out of her chest. She’d never seen such excitement and accomplishment on her students’ faces before.

And she’d never seen Cam this… happy.

“We really won?” she shouted to Jake over the hubbub as the Deluca supporters surged onto the field, greeting their conquering heroes.

Miranda and Trish were in the crowd along with Cerberus, yapping excitedly as he ran between people’s legs. Daisy and Iris were still clapping wildly from the bleachers.

Jake grinned. “We really won.”

Hot tears pricked at Ella’s eyes. She’d been waiting for someone to jump out and shout, You’ve been punked. Nothing much had gone right in the last two years – why should this be any different?

Suddenly, a huge weight had been lifted from her chest.

“Thank you,” she mouthed to him as he was dragged into the maelstrom of jubilant, hyped-up teenagers. He touched two fingers to his forehead in a small salute to her before he was swallowed into a mass of sweaty bodies.

Her earlier state of arousal roared to life as she watched him laughing and joking, basking in the celebration.

Rosie sidled up to her. “Cam was awesome.”

Ella stared at Cam who had not stopped smiling, a lump in her throat as big as the football field. “Yes.”

“So was Jake,” she murmured suggestively.

Shifting her gaze back to Jake, Ella watched as he shook hands with his players, clapping each of them on the back, laughing and smiling, making each kid glow.

And hell if that wasn’t wildly sexy.

Rosie leaned in as she nudged Ella with her shoulder. “You want to do him, don’t you?”

“Absolutely not.” Although she absolutely did.

“Oh well.” Rosie shrugged. “I doubt he’ll be short of offers tonight. I’m pretty sure every woman here wants to jump his bones.”

Ella sucked in a breath as the thought dug hot talons in her gut. Over her dead body.

9

A couple of hours later, at The Touchdown, Jake joined Rosie, Simon and Ella at their booth. He’d been caught up at the bar, helping Pete out with a rush, but had kept up a steady supply of drinks to their table.

Bringing another round with him, he handed the Piña Coladas to the women and passed over a beer to Simon. He claimed the last beer for himself as Ella scooched over for him to slide in beside her.

“You guys look deep in conversation over here,” he said as he took a swallow of his Corona, trying to ignore the surge in his pulse and the hum in his veins as his thigh skimmed Ella’s in the close confines. “What are we all talking about?”

“The game,” Ella said, very matter of fact.

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