Page 11 of Offside Rule

ARIANNA

"Did I hear right that he called you a bitch?" Rosa, the second referee of today’s game, asked. I furrowed my brow and bit my lip as I marched toward our locker rooms. "And that Xavier Kevalle stood up for you? What's going on?”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at the woman. She had too many questions, and I was too tired. All I wanted was to get back to my hotel room and sleep until it was time for my flight in the morning. I was going to see my daughter again tomorrow, and couldn't wait.

“Look, I’m just trying to make sure you’re not taking the wrong path in your career. The board won’t take a player-referee relationship well; it’s against the rules. Plus the fact that you’re a woman—it might bring even more attention to this kind of favoritism.”

My mouth parted at that. I could take the media accusing me of favoritism, but a person who was close to me on the field? She had to know that wasn’t true, and still … her assumption matched the public opinion.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Great match, Rosa," I told her, before taking a different path.

Sure, I was now taking a longer route, but as long as I didn't have to be subjected to her judgment, I would manage.

She’d not only suggested I favored Xavier, but she had implied something else—that I was in some kind of relationship with him.

Was there some truth to what they were all saying?

He was much younger than me, and I’d never let it slip that there might be more to it than the obvious—that he's a football player and I'm just a referee.

Was I turning into an enamored teenager every single time I thought about him? Yes. But people weren’t supposed to see that; they weren’t supposed to know I secretly had a crush on him.

It turns out that I’d hidden it better from myself than from everyone else.

As if I’d summoned him with my thoughts, Xavier stepped in front of me. He was dressed in casual grey sweatpants and a blue Sandridge Bay United T-shirt with the number nine on the back. I was expecting to find his usual playful grin resting on his face, but instead his eyes zeroed in on me in worry.

"Are you okay?" he asked in his throaty voice.

I swallowed, twisting the whistle between my fingers. What kind of divine entity had given him that kind of power over me from his mere presence?

My knees weakened at the honest concern in his voice. "Yeah. I wouldn't be worried about me. He's the one who won't get to play this championship." I shrugged.

He nodded and glanced at his shoes as a smile rose on his lips. The action was so contagious that my lips copied his without even knowing what he was smiling about.

“What?” I asked.

Xavier’s eyes met mine, and the joy I found in them sent a buzzing feeling through my chest. The happiness he was carrying was so pure, and I wanted a taste of it.

"Go out with me tonight,” he said so simply, as if the world surrounding us had disappeared, and our jobs had never existed. The determined look on his face made me believe that he had only one priority—taking me out on a date.

I opened my mouth, but stopped short. Part of me begged to scream the loudest “yes” on Earth, but I shoved the thought back, closing it behind the door of my common sense.

Still, the door wasn’t locked.

My mind flew to what Rosa had said. It was enough to make me return to my levelheaded self.

"I have a flight to catch tomorrow morning.”

Why do I sound like I’m apologizing for having a flight and not being able to go out with him?

Xavier curled his fingers around my elbow. A jolt of electricity shot through my body, and I was tempted to step away from the intensity of the touch, but his palm was so warm and comforting.

This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair he felt this good when he was off-limits.

“Just tonight. And you can run away from me in the morning." He smiled with one corner of his mouth, a challenge glinting in his eyes.

I scoffed. “There’s nothing to run from.”

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