Page 24 of Cross Check Hearts

Was he really paying that much attention to me back then?

Declan orders some appetizer or another too, but it doesn’t stick in my brain because I’m still caught on the drink.

If he remembered something that small, what else has he been storing away about me and what I like?

I try to fight it, but my body hums with a mixture of surprise and pleasure at the thought.

Chapter12

Declan

Hannah stares at me over the rim of her glass as she takes her first sip, and her features soften with pleasure as the alcohol hits her tongue. It’s the exact same look she wore when I watched her taste her drink that night at Opal and Oak—the same one that’s been etched into my memory ever since.

It hit me like a ton of bricks, even with half her face covered by a mask, and it’s even more captivating now that I can see all the details on her beautiful face. Her skin glows with a post-workout flush, her lips full and curved in that slight, secret smile. And her heterochromatic eyes are even more striking now that they aren’t peeking out from behind a mask.

In a strange way, I feel like I’m really seeing her for the first time—like she’s finally letting me in. They’re fleeting, but I’ve seen little glimpses of who she really is here and there since I started with the Aces. There’s something so honest and open about her in those moments, those rare times where the carefully constructed walls of hers slip, and I can see right down to the core of her. I like that soft, vulnerable side of her more than I care to admit, and I hope that we can eventually get to a place where she trusts me enough to show it more often.

Hannah notices me watching her when she lowers her glass, and warmth rises to my face. I don’t usually get flustered like this around women, but I can’t seem to help it when I’m around her. She just has this effect on me that I can’t explain, and that’s a big part of the reason I haven’t given up pursuing her, even though I know I probably should. But I don’t want to come across like a lovesick fool, so I clear my throat. “You know, I meant what I said that first day when you saw me in the locker room. I really do want to get to know you more.”

Her brows draw together slightly, like she’s internally debating whether she should let her guard down. But she takes another tentative sip of her whiskey, and as she lowers the glass, her expression relaxes. She leans back against the booth seat but doesn’t say anything for a second, just watches me while she lets the liquid linger on her palate.

“Did you really not know that your coach is my dad?” she finally asks after swallowing.

“No, I really didn’t. I had literally no idea who you were when we met, and I never thought I’d see you again. Not that I didn’t want to.” A hint of a smile appears in the corner of her mouth, but it’s gone as fast as it appeared. Something about that fleeting smile emboldens me. “Does some part of you wish I hadn’t been signed to the Aces? Do you wish I hadn’t come here?”

She contemplates the question, tracing the edge of her glass against the table, then shakes her head so slightly that if I wasn’t watching her every move like it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen—because it is—I would’ve missed it.

“I don’t want that. You’re a great player, and you’ll be good for the Aces.”

I’m glad to hear that, but I still lift an eyebrow at her. “That’s not exactly what I was asking.” The words hang in the air between us and I’m sure she knows exactly what I was getting at, but I don’t push her on it. She’s finally sitting down and opening up to me a little bit, so the last thing I want to do is push too hard and watch her retreat behind those walls again.

The waitress interrupts the tension when she appears with the onion rings I ordered to get us started. But when she slides them across the table and they stop between us, sizzling fresh from the frier, it feels like the energy starts to sizzle with them. Hannah thanks the waitress and impatiently reaches out to grab an onion ring from the stack, breaking the tension.

“I’m ravenous,” she says and takes a bite, but she makes a pained face and exhales sharply at how hot the onion ring is. “Oh my god, that’s scorching.”

“Yeah, you should probably let it cool down a bit first. Did you not have lunch?”

Hannah shakes her head. “I don’t always get the chance to eat during the day between classes and teaching, so I’m usually starving by the end of the day.”

“Can’t you bring a lunch with you?”

“Sure, but when would I have time to eat it?” Hannah asks as she lifts the steaming onion ring to her mouth and takes another bite. But she’s at least prepared for the heat this time, so it doesn’t look like it’s as much of a surprise. I pinch a ring from the stack myself but blow on it a few times before I even think about biting into it.

“School sounds pretty stressful.”

Hannah scoffs. “That’s putting it lightly. I have a big test coming up that’s really freaking me out. But school in general stresses me out.”

“Really? You seem like you’re on top of things, at least from the outside.”

Hannah smiles as she chews, then covers her mouth with her free hand. “I guess I’m good at faking it then.”

I bite back the obvious joke, and I can tell from the way Hannah’s watching me that she’s waiting for me to take the bait. “I can relate. I struggled in school a bit too,” I say instead and take a bite of the onion ring, hoping she won’t ask me to elaborate. It’s not that I don’t want to be open with her about my experience, I’m just not ready to share it with her yet.

“Honestly, I don’t know how I’d get through it if I didn’t have yoga. It really helps me clear my head when everything’s piling up and getting intense.”

I nod my agreement. “Yeah, it’s good you have that. I have something that helps me too, which is lucky because yoga apparently isn’t in the cards for me.”

Hannah smirks as she lifts her glass to her mouth. “You did fine. But if it’s not yoga for you, then what is it, if I can ask?” She tips her glass back for another sip of whiskey.

---