Page 64 of Courtside

“You’re welcome,” Sage replied as her cheeks turned the prettiest shade of pink, and David wondered if maybe she’d come over every day, just so he could feel the way that the tightness in his chest loosened whenever she was around.

Chuck cleared his throat. “So are we watchingElforBad Santafirst?”

David jumped up, grabbing the cookies and a few extra blankets as Chuck and Sage bickered about the merits of watching one movie first or the other. He settled back on the couch as the — correct — decision was made to start withElf.

Chuck got the movie queued up while Sage moved from her spot on the floor so that she could see the TV. She looked up at David before glancing down at the open spot of carpet in front of his spot on the couch.

Wordlessly, he nodded, spreading his legs so that there was space for her.

He caught her floral scent as she settled in front of him, leaning her back against the couch between his legs. Her shoulders were pressed to the inside of his calves.

David closed his eyes.Settle down, he tried to command his traitorous body, but she was just sogoddamnclose. He wanted to reach out and grab her braid, tugging her head back until her lips were tilted up like an offering.

It would be so easy.

But then there was Chuck, looking over at him with absolute delight in his eyes as he muffled a laugh.

He took back everything he’d ever said about Chuck being a good friend.

As the opening credits began, David tried to relax as much as he could while resigning himself to battling the overwhelming sense that he was supposed to be touching the woman in front of him.

CHAPTER17

BECAUSE OF THE RULES

SAGE

Sage sat on the bleachers, grateful for the Southeastern team hoodie and sweatpants she’d thrown on that morning. The practice gym was fucking freezing, and while the players obviously appreciated it, as someone who wasn’t running around, she was pretty miserable.

David and Coach Dixon stood together, heads bent over a game board as the guys finished up a drill, and Sage felt her skin heat as her eyes dropped to David’s stupidly sculpted ass.

Men in sweatpants.Fuck.

She’d spent the two days after Christmas trying to focus on planning team bonding activities, but beautiful David Hughes with his new haircut and his fucking sweaters that were so nerdy and perfect on him had basically taken up residence in her apartment.

He’d showed up every morning armed with Daisy, coffee, and a backpack, and then promptly made himself at home on her couch. He’d work on his laptop while she cooked breakfast, and after they ate together, they’d take Daisy for a long walk before going back to the apartment.

His presence in her life was annoyingly distracting, but still, there was something about him being in her space with his big body and whatever body wash he used that left her feeling settled. Grounded, maybe. Even when he left in the evening, the scent of him lingered, clinging to her couch cushions like a memory she wasn’t allowed to forget.

Attraction wasn’t new to her. She’d even experienced the kind of attraction that overtook rationality and left her without any sense of where she ended and the other began.

Whatever she felt for David Hughes, it wasn’t that.

Even though her body wanted him —fuck, did her body want him— and she may or may not have gotten herself off a few times to the image of his big hands digging into her thighs as she rode him, Sage recognized that whatever she felt for him was different.

He was a friend. Maybe one of the best she’d ever had. Honestly, that was enough for her.

But maybe, when the season ended, they’d give into the physical attraction between them that refused to go away and surrender to the hook-up of a lifetime. There was no way it could be more than that. By that point in the year, Sage would be halfway out the door and off to wherever her still-unknown career took her.

If the idea of never seeing David again made her feel nauseous, she pretended not to notice.

But she’d noticed other things about him.

David was generally quiet, lost in his work or whatever book he was reading until he occasionally broke the silence to ask Sage a question. He had a tendency to lose track of time, and without Sage’s reminders to drink water and eat he would probably go all day without moving.

In the evenings, they’d part ways for an hour or two, during which Sage did the necessary things like showering and laundry, before they’d meet up again at The Grove for dinner.

And now that the team was back, their winter break schedule of two-a-day practices and a combination of team meals and other activities — planned by Sage — commenced.

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