Page 29 of Revamped Rucking Reaper

Chapter 19

Eve

The stands shake as the crowd rushes to its feet to cheer the latest successful try. Five point score! Tate taught me that. I flush with pride, feeling like I belong.

With my arms wrapped around his strong, muscular bicep, I jump up and down in celebration. This is fun, and I’m actually having a good time now that I understand what’s happening.

When I agreed to come, I was looking forward to the after-party in our hotel room but resigned to suffer through the game for Tate. One game in exchange for the amazing months we’ve shared seemed well worth it. And there’s no way to repay Tate for coming with me to clear out Zana’s belongings, even if the situation had turned out to be different than what I’d originally thought. And in an effort to cheer me up, I think Tate bought me every flower in the state.

The first half of the game, Tate held me close, leaning over and whispering in my ear as the actionunfolded before us. Now that I have a basic understanding, though, I join the rest of the crowd, yelling and cheering with excitement. The home team has such a wide lead in the final two minutes, it’s highly unlikely the visiting team is going to score nine points to take the lead and win.

Warm brown eyes look down at me. “You look like you’re having fun.” Even as a spectator at the game he loves, his eyes are intense. Every time he looks at me, my belly swirls. I feel like he can see inside me.

“I am. Are all professional sports games this much fun?”

“You’ve never even been to a baseball game?” He asks with a smirk.

I shake my head. “Brandon wasn’t a big sports fan. I mean, he watched games on television all the time, but he never played anything, and if he went to anything, he never asked me to come along.”

“Fucking nerd,” Tate mutters under his breath. “No wonder you had to take care of your own orgasms.”

“Tate!” I hiss, mortified that the large crowd might have overheard. I can hear, ‘The woman in row 23, seat D, takes care of her own orgasms,’ blasting through the speakers. I glance around, but with the mayhem around us, no one seems to have heard a thing. If they did, it doesn’t faze them. Maybe they hear that all the time.

“Don’t worry,” he pulls his arm out of my grasp, wraps it around my shoulder, and pulls me against him. “Tonight, I’ll show you how a real man takes care of his woman.”

I’m not sure if the words were meant to turn me on, but the strange tingling between my legs would seem to think so.

“IT WOULD BE SO MUCHfun to watch you play,” I say, sitting on the bed in our hotel room.

“I have plenty of video we can watch.”

“It’s not the same as sitting in the crowd cheering you on, not knowing how it’s going to end, you know?”

“I do,” he sounds sad. “But, if I was playing, you could expect a win.”

“You really miss it, don’t you?”

“Playing?”

I nod.

“Like I’d miss my right arm. The pain after the game, not so much.” Tate kneels on the floor in front of me and rubs my thighs with his large, calloused hands, the friction spreading heat through my body.

“Have you thought about coaching?”

“You looking to get rid of me and send me overseas?” His dark eyes look stormy.

“No. I mean high school or college.”

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