Page 11 of Play Like a Girl

He nodded. “They all think the Olympic thing is cool and want to ask you all about it.”

“Oh, well sure.”

Kenny

“DidI tell you how beautiful you look?”

“Not in the last five minutes,” she said around a sexy smirk. When we first got together, she told me the art of flirting eluded her. Personally, I think she’s pretty good at it.

I smiled and opened my mouth to speak just as the waitress approached with our meals. Once she was assured we had everything we needed, she left us alone in our little alcove again.

“Tell me about your adoring fans today,” I said.

“I’m still in shock over that. They had so many questions and seemed so interested. Then the parents joined in.” She finished squeezing lemon over her salmon and wiped her hands. “Every once in a while fans approach at my games, but they’re usually girls and it definitely doesn’t happen when Dale is around. I can’t believe they were more interested in me than him.”

“I can.” I bobbed my eyebrows. “But seriously, people are fascinated with Olympic athletes, and rightfully so.”

She flaked off a forkful of salmon, popped it into her mouth, and seemed to be considering her next thoughts as she chewed. I dug into my seafood Alfredo and had put a small dent in it before she spoke again.

“It’s still like a dream. Sometimes I have major imposter syndrome.”

“But it’s not a dream and you worked your ass off and deserve to be there. Don’t ever doubt that.”

“I love you, you know that?”

I leaned over and kissed her.

“I do know that and I love you, too.”

She told me more about Jeremy’s game and shared some of the questions his friends asked her afterwards. We finished eating and after the waitress cleared our plates, she brought over the dessert cart.

“I’m torn between the chocolate cake and the lemon meringue pie.”

“Let’s get one of each,” I suggested. “That way we can share.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

She clapped her hands as the waitress set the dishes in front of us. Penny picked up her fork and took bites of each dessert.

“Mmm, they’re both delicious. The layer of mousse in the chocolate cake keeps it from

being too sweet.”

I took a bite and had to agree. I’ve never been a big dessert person, but after Penny and I got together that changed. She loves sweets but won’t order dessert if I don’t. So now we usually share at least one item. More if she can’t decide. My reward is getting to watch Penny enjoy herself and hear the sexy sounds she makes.

The plates were empty in record time and almost immediately after she swallowed the last bite of pie, Penny’s mood changed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She put her fork down and retrieved the napkin from her lap. After wiping her mouth, she kept it clutched in her fist.

“This weekend went by too fast.” She looked down at the table and blinked rapidly before meeting my gaze again. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

“I’m going to miss you too.” I placed my hand over hers and squeezed. “But I’ll be down to see you in four weeks. Hopefully we’ll both be so busy the time will fly by.”

“I doubt that. The five weeks we were apart before seemed like forever.”

“It’s only for a little while longer. Once the Olympics are over, your schedule will settle down a little bit and the Waves have two series in Tampa after you get back, so I’ll be in Florida for that.” I kissed the back of her hand then twisted our fingers together. “Other than that, we’ll figure it out.”

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