Page 88 of Out of Bounds

I sighed. "How do I get down to the field?"

34

Kassie

Mission Accomplished

One of our campus security officers escorted me down to the field. A field overrun with football officials, happy teammates, and a swamp of folks wearing blue jerseys. I was corralled back and forth, embarrassed to even be out there.

What the hell am I going to do?

How was I supposed to compete with a gaggle of topless bleacher bunnies?

"Hey?" I got the officer’s attention. "If you just won a football game, what would you want your girlfriend to do?"

He chortled. "I can’t say it out loud."

I rolled my eyes. "I mean in public."

"Sure. That works too."

No fucking help.

Ducking around three referees discussing together, I almost bumped into Coach Lawson, and the ten or twenty people that always trailed after him. His eyes lit up when he saw me.

"Ms. Ragar," he boomed. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you too, sir," I replied, barely able to get my voice heard above the noise. "Everybody did so great. That was something, for sure—"

"Wedid great," he corrected me, patting my shoulder as he passed. "Welcome to the Romans, Ms. Ragar."

Doesn’t he know about the fake relationship?

I glanced after him, confused, but the crowd broke beyond him and I could finally see exactly who I was searching for.

Ryan.

Number four stood in front of a dozen cameras and reporters with microphones. He towered above all of them. Without his helmet on, his curls were damp with sweat and my eyes trailed down his body, down his broad shoulders, his muscles, hisassin those pants—

Oh my god. Get it together.

Reluctantly, I trailed after the security officer who pushed through the rest of the crowd and stood about two feet behind Ryan. This was his big moment. And I had to ruin it. I gazed up at him, mind spinning with what I needed to do.

"Kassandra!" one of the reporters shouted and Ryan shifted back, glancing behind him.

For a moment, I could see the Ryan that he put together for the cameras. The set jaw, the furrowed eyebrows, a complete look of concentration while he carefully selected what to say in front of an audience. Once he saw me though, his face cleared.

"Kassie?"

I swallowed. "Hi—hey…baby."

Oh god.

"What are you doing down here?"

I crept up behind him, not comfortable with anything about this. Cleo had put me through media training but the consultants had gotten more than they bargained for with me. It was an entire workout not to tell reporters to back the hell up. They were too close.

"You were…" I struggled with my words, keeping as quiet as possible. "You were amazing. You had seconds counting down, and I sure as shit thought—"Stop cursing. "Sorry, I thought we were going into overtime but you were sofast."

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