Page 55 of Just One of the Groomsmen
Addie glanced at Lexi, stiffened, and swiveled out of Shep’s reach. “No touching, remember? I think this is making it worse.”
Shep swore and ran a hand through his hair. Then he put on his carefree happy facade, blew a kiss at his fiancée, and jogged back to set up on defense.
Tucker stopped Addie with a hand on her arm. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” She hitched up her chin and flashed him a haughty smile. “And I’ll be beyond fine in a minute when I score on you. Do try to keep up.”
His blood heated, half challenge, half want.
He’d better stifle thoughts of Addie’s body underneath his before everyone could see where his mind was headed.
Still, he needed to get to her faster next time. Her stubborn nature meant she’d take hit after hit without saying anything, and that rookie firefighter had barreled into her as if he had something to prove.
For a moment, Tucker wished to be on the other team so he could set her up to score on the guy. Then maybe his ego would take a side seat.
Or more likely he’d only hit harder the next time.
Easton cocked his arm to throw, and Tucker knew it was going to Ford or Addie. He ran toward his man—or woman, in this case.
She saw him coming, pivoted, and Easton launched the ball. She reached for it, brought it down, and ran.
Tucker caught up to her, and instead of tackling her, he scooped her into his arms, lifting her off her feet and stopping her forward progress.
“Seriously? You get mad over a tackle, when you’re full-on picking me up?”
“It’s called lift football. You haven’t heard of it?” He slowly lowered her to the ground.
She spun, her chest bumping his, and the anger coating her features made it clear she didn’t find it funny.
“You don’t have to treat me differently than everyone else.”
“Well, I’m gonna, so deal with it.”
She spiked the ball at the ground hard enough that if they had a ref, he would’ve called her for unsportsmanlike conduct.
He was tempted to blow his mock whistle and call her out, but retaliation would most likely come in the form of her knee to his balls. While he could block it, that’d only piss her off more, and regardless of what she obviously thought, that wasn’t his goal.
Easton gave a low whistle and clapped him on the back. “Waving a red flag at the bull. Interesting tactic.”
He wondered if his friends could see through him. If they’d noticed the struggle to keep his feelings in check, especially today.
“In fact, I’m seeing a few interesting things this afternoon,” Easton added, and the narrowed eyes made him suspect that at least one of his friends was onto him…
And not a fan.
He didn’t need to hear it—he knew it’d throw off the group dynamic if he and Addie tried to cross into more.
After all, Shep and Addie had hardly been a thing, yet their breakup had still thrown things off for a while. This was a much bigger scale.
This was every one of his longest friendships, and every one of them intertwined. If something affected one of them, it affected them all.
He needed to remember that.
Besides, it didn’t matter how he felt if she didn’t feel the same.
When she’d been on the phone with Lexi during the football game, he could tell Addie was upset, and he’d wanted to help however he could. The way she’d leaned into him when he’d wrapped his hands around her shoulders, actually allowing him to comfort her, made him think that maybe she felt the connection between them, too.
Then she’d told Lexi that Shep was like her brother. Thatallthe guys were, and they knew way too much about each other.
