Page 37 of Ready to Score

Jade swallowed, “I want you to—”

She was cut off by the abrasive sound of her phone ringing. It was Olivia. She was parked outside, waiting.

Suddenly, the fog in her head began to clear. All that mist separated from the heat until reality flowed through her senses once more. Francesca Lim stood before her, cheeks flushed, lips swollen, more beautiful than Jade had ever seen anyone look. And she felt the resolve settle in her belly.

She couldn’t have her.

Not if she wanted to have her dream too.

Infatuation… or lust… whatever it was between them was simply not in the game plan.

Jade cleared her throat and straightened her clothes, ignoring the fact that her thighs were soaked when she pressed them together. “This was a mistake, Lim.”

Lim took a few steps back from her, nodding. “Right.”

“I’m sorry I got all worked up, but we both know… this can’t happen.”

Lim didn’t say anything this time, but she turned her head toward the little window in the kitchen, crossing her arms defensively.

“Take care of yourself, okay?” Jade stressed as she put her shoes on by the door. “Get rest. Take the meds the doctor gave you if you need them.”

“I’ll be fine, Dunn.”

That was it. Her tone was definitive and dismissive, and Jade slipped out of the apartment without another word.

Olivia’s face was full of questions when she got in the car, but Jade was trying to stop the ache building in her chest. “Later,” she told her friend. “I can’t—I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

12

There was an easily recognizable giggle in her room. A high-pitched, childlike sound she’d grown used to and very fond of over the years. One that made her smile through the fogginess of a deep sleep, only to shudder her way out of it completely when cold, sticky fingers pressed against her warm face. Franny reached out just in time to catch a tiny hand and received another flurry of giggles when she clasped it tightly in her own.

“What are you doing here, little girl?” Her voice was thick from eight hours of disuse. “How did you get in my house?”

“Waking you up,” Amelia said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “My daddy brought me. He says you need to wake up and come make us french toast for traveling so far to see you.”

Franny wrapped her arms around her niece’s little torso and sat up in bed with her. “You want french toast too, huh?”

She nodded, her hair waving. “With lots of strawberries on top.”

“All right, all right, let me get up and out of bed first, and I’ll be in there.” She laid a kiss on Amelia’s forehead, then picked her up and placed her on the ground next to her bed. “Tell your daddy that he’s gonna get enough of making demands of me too.”

There was pure, unadulterated glee on Amelia’s face as she scrambled away. Franny could only imagine how jumbled her message would be once it finally reached her brother.

Fifteen minutes later, with her teeth brushed and face washed, she walked into the kitchen to see Will and Amelia sitting next to each other at her tiny kitchen table. The six-year-old was forcing her father to watch a YouTube video and getting adorably annoyed anytime he looked away from the screen.

“What type of bread do you want me to use for this french toast?” Franny didn’t bother with a greeting as she started pulling ingredients out of the fridge.

“Oh, I thought I wasn’t allowed to make demands of you,” Will said without looking at her. “And here I brought you a bunch of my restaurant’s banchan and everything.”

Apparently, Ameliawasgetting better at repeating things in their entirety.

“You only ever do that if Umma told you to because she’s too far away to do it herself. You want the french toast or not? I don’t have anywhere to be for hours, so I can definitely go back to bed.”

He had one of those patented older-brother smirks on his face that made Franny want to chuck a loaf of bread at him.

“I think I saw some brioche in the bread box,” he said before taking a sip of his coffee. “You think you can get it on the plate in under thirty minutes?”

“Probably.” She was already whisking together the eggs and milk. “Hold up. You’re leaving right after you eat? You’re not even going to help me clean up?”

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