Page 6 of Spring Awakening

He turns, his eyebrows high. It’s not playful, and she regrets asking him for anything at all. Her gaze slips down his body like it did this morning. He’s not in training gear anymore. He has slightly baggy jeans on, and a sweatshirt, and he looks unfairly good. Like, she has to swallow so she doesn’t audibly sigh good. God, men that dress well should come with a warning sign. When Mali finally looks back at his face, he speaks.

“What’s up, bro?” His face is serious, like he’s not joking about calling her bro. It makes her laugh. Just a small, slipped straight through her lipslaugh. “Wait,” Zach says, looking around the office. “Where is everyone?”

“I was hoping you might know,” she says. She can put her pride to the side for a moment. He can laugh at her, and he still might help her.

“Well, who have you been talking to all day?”

She plays with the ends of her sleeves. “It’s only twelve thirty.”

“No one has been here?” he asks, looking around. Mali thinks he might be concerned. It is ridiculous to start a job with no one here to greet her.

“No.”

He smiles. Predatory. A little sexy. Mostly frustrating. “Man, burnt those bridges right up, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t burn anything,” she replies. “I just called you out.”

“And now you want my help?”

“I didn’t actually ask for your help.”

“You said Zachariah.” A shiver runs through her body at the way he says his own name. Ridiculous. Mali will blame it on the fact she hasn’t found the heating controls yet and it’s March.

“I was going to tell you that you had something on your back,” she replies, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to hide the shake of her body.

Zach steps closer. “Are you cold?” His eyes roam over her hips, and the heat starts in her chest, but it’s not enough to warm her to her toes. So, yes.

“I’m fine.”

He shrugs. “’Ight.” He turns to leave, and she curses the way she traces the muscles in his shoulder. How can she see them through a jumper? He’s so unreasonable.

“Wait.”

“What’s up, bro?” he repeats, and she laughs again, but manages to keep it more to herself this time.

“We got off on the wrong foot,” she says, then, “bro.” Her nose scrunches with the word. It’s painfully clear Mali has never called someone bro. She carries on before he can call her out on it. “Though I do stand by everything I said.”

Zach raises one eyebrow, and she almost sighs but then remembers herself.

“Is it?” he says.

“Yes. I also have numerous thoughts about your playing techniques and interview skills,” she replies, with a shrug. She flips her hair over her shoulder and wonders if the way he watches it move is because he thinks she’s unprofessional. Prick. “I just wish it wasn’t the first conversation we ever had.”

“I don’t talk to other players, let alone staff,” he says, though she truly thinks his heart isn’t in it. She doesn’t know him well enough to have any idea about him, but there’s something in the set of his jaw and the way it takes him a moment too long to respond—as if the words are forced and not as snappy ashe hopes—that makes her think he’s faking it. “So, don’t worry about it.”

She squints at him as he once again turns to walk away from her.

“I’m going to make you do an erectile dysfunction campaign.”

Zach stops his movements, then drops his bag and moves closer. Fuck, he is tall. And he’s gotta be what, nineteen stone? He’s one of the leaner rugby players on the team, and he’s still bigger than anyone she’s ever seen up close. Could she ask him? She might need to know, for sponsorships and other things she could make up.

“You’re the PR girl?”

She rolls her eyes. “Well, I’m twenty-six, so not a girl, but sure.” He squints again, and she takes a deep breath of his cologne.

“You can’t make me do that, right?”

Mali smiles, leaning closer, even though the movement means she has to look up at him. “I can make you do anything.” Zach looks nervous, she thinks. Something settles deep between his eyebrows, and she feels bad for making a joke out of something he could be suffering with. It’s not in her nature, so she quickly follows up. “No, Zachariah, I can’t force you to do anything. If there are things you’d like to avoid completely—topics, people, brands, whatever—you can tell me. Or email if you don’t want to tell me directly.”

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