Page 226 of By His Play

He’s shaking his head as he shuts me in.

Exhaustion hits me as we make our way to my apartment building.

“You can borrow my car if you want,” I offer. “I can get an Uber to work tomorrow.”

“It’s cool. I’ll call one now,” he says, pulling his cell from his pocket after killing my engine. “Twenty minutes.”

“You’re not standing on the street for twenty minutes. You might get abducted by a ravaged group of female fans.”

He smirks. “Here’s hoping. Something tells me that my date tonight isn’t going to put out.”

“Aw, poor little Braxton missing out on all the action,” I tease as I lead him toward the elevator.

When he doesn’t respond, I turn around a little too fast to look at him.

“Whoa,” I cry, reaching for the wall for support.

“I think you’re more of a two-cocktail kind of girl,” he mocks.

I chuckle. “We’ve been so focused on my potential love life, we haven’t even touched on yours,” I say, feeling guilty for not paying him more attention.

“That’s because I don’t have one,” he points out.

“What? But you’re a Chief; you must have at least three girls on your roster.”

He laughs again but doesn’t confirm or deny my statement.

The minute we’re inside my apartment, Brax marches to the kitchen and grabs me a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

“Drink,” he demands. “You’ll thank me tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” I say as I take it from him.

Looking up, my eyes meet his, and out of nowhere they start burning while a lump crawls up my throat.

“What? What’s wrong?” he asks, his eyes wide with fear.

I shake my head in an attempt to level myself out.

“Nothing. I’m just…I’m really grateful for your friendship these past few weeks. I need you to know how much I appreciate you.”

He smiles softly, his body shifting as if he’s uncomfortable with the compliment.

It’s weird seeing arrogant and cocky football players being unsure of themselves. It also makes me feel incredibly lucky to be close enough to be able to see it every now and then.

“It’s nothing,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

His phone dings, announcing the arrival of his Uber, and he takes a step back.

“I should go, let you catch up with Kieran.” He waggles his eyebrows telling me exactly what he thinks we’re going to be doing.

My cheeks heat. While I’ll stand firm on the phone sex, I can’t say our upcoming exchange will be entirely innocent.

“Thanks for tonight. It was fun.”

“It was. See you Monday?”

“Monday,” I promise, already excited for our next lesson.

---