Page 20 of Tackle

Did her voice sound breathless? God, he hoped so. “Yes.”

She licked her lips. Their faces were so close, it would take nothing to kiss her. But that wasn’t his plan so he bent his head and placed his lips on that tempting bit of skin exposed by her blouse instead.

She lost her grip on the bowling ball.

With quick reflexes, he caught it mid fall.

“Holy shit. Good catch.”

“Good thing too. It’s heavy enough to have broken your foot if it landed on it.”

Her eyes widened as if she hadn’t thought of that.

“Is that your phone?”

“What?” she said, still a bit stunned.

He pointed to her ass and the source of the noise. “I think your phone is ringing.”

“Oh!” She fumbled her cell from her back pocket, then looked at the screen. “Hang on, it’s Leslie.” She brought the phone to her ear. “Hello?” A little furrow appeared between her brows. “No, it’s okay. I understand. I can be back in about fifteen minutes. Twenty, tops.”

“Everything okay?” he asked after she disconnected.

“She got a call from her babysitter.” Emerson shoved her phone back into her pocket. “Her daughter is running a fever and she needs to go home.” She took the step that separated them and placed a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry we have to cut our date short.”

“No need to be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

“I still feel horrible. You went to so much trouble to close this place down and you were looking forward to trying that new Thai place.” She looked up at him and he could see true regret in her eyes. “And I was having a good time.”

He gently cupped her cheek. “I was too. Maybe we can try again next week. Same time, same place?”

She smiled. “I’d like that.”

But things hadn’t gone as planned. Leslie couldn’t cover for her the following Tuesday and because they had a Thursday game making it a short week, even with having the home field advantage, his coach had worked the team extra hours to prepare. To give their relationship a fair chance, they needed to find a way to spend more time together as a couple that didn’t involve mopping a floor but until one of their schedules cleared, he didn’t see that happening.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Good game today. I was able to catch most of it while working. I was biting my nails there for a while, but you guys really turned it around in the second half.”

It was Thursday night, after the game and Oz was alone with Emerson in the pub, helping her with closing duties. Picking up a table for her to mop under, he felt a pull, wincing as he moved it.

“What’s wrong?”

Oz rolled his shoulder. “Got tapped today. Nothing a little ice won’t fix.”

She threw the mop down, the handle clattering to the floor. “Let me see.”

“It’s nothing.” He didn’t want her making a fuss.

“Well,nothinghad your face twisting in pain.” She slid a chair over. “Sit.”

He wouldn’t argue if she insisted, secretly liking her bossiness on his behalf. He plopped onto the seat.

“Take your shirt off.”

He hid a grin as he slipped his bad arm through the sleeve before pulling the tee over his head and letting it fall down his other arm to puddle on the floor.

She gasped and he twisted his head to see Emerson staring at his shoulder with a hand covering her mouth. “My God, that bruise is huge.” Her fingertips hovered over the injured area before softly brushing the outskirts of the purple and blue skin that encompassed most of his upper arm and shoulder.

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