Page 57 of Love on the Waiver Wire

“You seem a little frazzled.”

I take a second to collect my thoughts. “I don’t know what this is.”

“What do you want it to be?” His hands rest above me on the cabinet, his face moving back, and I miss the proximity.

His dark eyes watch me with curiosity.

“I want this to be real,” I murmur, peeling my eyes from his lips to meet his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt Leo, but I want this to be something.”

I can feel Owen’s breath on my cheek, and I close my eyes, letting him wash over me. Or maybe I just don’t want to look into his eyes anymore. Don’t want to analyze. Don’t want to ask myself questions.

“I want this to be real too,” he responds, moving away. My body turns cold as I realize how much I miss his warmth.

“Then what do we do?”

He grabs the plates, digging into the apple crisp.

“We keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

It feels like ice water was dumped over my head, disappointment swirling in my stomach.

“And not because I don’t want something more. God, I want something more,” he puts the spoon down, turning to me. “But we both respect your brother. I’m find with him hating me. I’m fine with him punching me in the face, even. I’m fine with it as long as we make this work, Isla.”

“I want it to work,” I whisper.

“I do too Peaches,” he reaches for me, pulling me into a hug. I feel his lips on the top of my head, and I sink into the feeling, wishing it would swallow me whole.

“I want to make sure that we’re both serious about this before we jump into it, okay? It’ll all be worth it. Every single argument your brother and I will have. Everything he’ll send my way. But I just,” he sighs into me. “We need to make sure that we’re not jumping into something neither of us can sustain. This needs to be for the long-haul, okay?”

I shake my head, understanding despite desperately not wanting to.

Leo is sensitive. No matter how much he likes to pretend he’s not, he is. And he’s always been protective of me. He doesn’t want anyone to hurt me.

If Owen and I started seeing each other and it ended badly? It would ruin him. And we both know he would be loyal to me over Owen, no matter how professional my brother would act on the field.

But I can’t help but wonder when our breaking point will be.

23

OWEN

The Baltimore Cobras haven’t had a bad week since that one away game, I’m winning in our fantasy league, and Isla Warner texts me every single morning to say she hopes I have a good day.

Things are better than good, they’re great. Truly.

And this week, I finally beat her.

I’m making her dinner.

Quite the punishment.

I go to the store to get all of the ingredients I need and a bottle of wine, lugging them up the back steps to her place.

Leo and I have been hanging out a little more this week, and he’s still suspicious about why I haven’t been around as much. Cooper and Emmett too.

But I still don’t think they suspect this, and the longer the realization can be put off, the better.

I text her before I come out into her hall, and she’s waiting for me with the door open, a smile on her beautiful face.

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