Page 19 of Tempting the Player
“What are you doing here?”
I nod towards Amanda. “Her hubby plays now, so we’ve come to watch. I didn’t realise this was your team.” I glance behind him where his teammates are watching. “Hadn’t you better get back?”
He checks behind him before turning back to me. “Yeah...” he sounds distracted “Listen, I've been trying to get hold of you all week. I need to talk to you. Please?”
“Are you going to the presentation tonight?” I ask him, embarrassed that I've avoided him now that we're face-to-face. I'm a coward, I should face him one final time and tell him that nothing is ever going to happen so that he’ll leave me alone.
He raises his eyebrows. “Why? Are you going?”
I nod. “Yeah, I’ll talk to you then, OK?”
He smiles and turns to run back to the team. When he reaches them, they jump on him and rub their fists into his hair, like a dad does with his kid, and they're laughing, looking my way. He turns to glance at me shyly, shaking his head and smiling. What is that about?
The match soon began, and it was as I thought, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. The guy is all man. The speed, the strength - he tackles with ferociousness, he gets tackled, which has my heart in my mouth. There is something caveman-like about this game; the stronger man wins, and all that. I’m getting wet watching him. I bet sex after a game is hot, all the adrenaline, I squirm and try to take my mind off it.
He scores two tries - caught up in the whole match atmosphere, I cheer away with everyone else. At one point,when he’s scored, he points to me and blows me a kiss. My knees go weak. I have to keep reminding myself what a player he is (both on and off the field) and the fact that he probably has about four women on the go at the same time.
After the match, Amanda comes back to my house to get ready for tonight. Jess is at her dad's for the weekend. Karen’s meeting us there, and Greg is staying at the rugby club, getting ready with his teammates for after-match drinks - loosely translated, they’ll be hammered by the time we get there.
We get a little tipsy while getting ready. I'm apprehensive about seeing Nate and worried about seeing him with another woman. He’s single, so what’s to stop him picking someone up tonight? I bet all the single women in the place will want him, he’ll have had a drink, so why wouldn’t he? My stomach churns at the thought of seeing him with someone. When I say this to Amanda, she says I'm crazy. She says from the way he looks at me, he hasn’t got his mind on any other women.
Chapter 8
When we arrive, Karen’s already there at a table with her partner, Maria. She waves us over and points to the seats she has saved for us.
“Bloody hell, Kate,” Karen says, eyeing me up and down, taking in my outfit. “You mean business tonight, don’t you?”
I smooth my dress, now unsure about it with that reaction. “Is it too much?”
“No, you are bloody gorgeous in it - but I'm telling you now - expect to get lots of male attention in that... and female if they're that way inclined.”
“Phew . . . I thought you were going to tell me I looked cheap!”
“Er, hello?” Amanda says, “I'm here too?” She makes a gesturing move towards her dress.
“You look lovely too, Amanda,” Maria says, smiling at her.
“Yeah,” says Karen “You scrub up fine - but we don’t have to get you paired off - you’re not single.”
“Oh, thanks, guys, way to make a girl feel desperate!” I laugh, “Besides, I've sworn off men for life - it's me and Jess from now on, and that’s the way I like it.” I say, and get disbelieving looks all around.
It’s a big room, but it’s filling up, mostly with couples or groups of men, although there are groups of women. There’s a DJ in the corner and a large dance floor. To the left, there’s a table full of trophies, presumably for the presentation which is later.
The players soon enter the room with a flourish – wow, they're dressed in dark suits with the team emblem on the left breast, and they wear white shirts and ties underneath. Oh . . . my . . . effing . . . God. A full rugby team dressed likethat, making an entrance together, all the females in the room squirm, the players are delicious. Greg comes over to Amanda, and I automatically check for Nathan. I spot him chatting to one of his teammates at the bar, they’re all attractive, but my Nathan still stands out. Hmm, maybe having a drink before I came out wasn’t such a good idea. He's gorgeous, laid back and carefree . . . laughing . . . yum. Imagine waking up to his head on your pillow every morning – that would start your day off with a smile.
He stands up straight and, as though sensing me looking at him, looks straight at me and lifts his drink in greeting. I smile back at him and turn back to my group, who are grinning. I'm mad at him, something which he makes me forget. Tonight, when he wants to talk, I’ll tell him I'm not interested in being one of his numbers again, but the thought of having another night like the last one kind of makes me want to keep my mouth shut. The angel inside me is saying ‘no, no, no’ but the devil inside me is saying ‘hell, yes!’
The DJ’s playing the music you want to get up and dance to, so we do that. ‘Blurred Lines’ by Robin Thicke is playing. It’s been a couple of hours since I began drinking. Nathan hasn’t been near, so I've relaxed a little, maybe he’s got his eye on someone else. I don’t want to think about that, so I commit to enjoying myself dancing with Maria. ‘Valerie’ by Amy Winehouse is playing when a guy comes over, a big guy - he's something to do with the team because he has the suit on, but I didn’t notice him on the pitch today.
“Hello, love.” He leans into me, and as he does, he puts his hand in the small of my back. However, my dress being backless, his hand is actually on my bare back, which is my own fault for picking this dress. “Can I buy you a drink?”
I'm about to say ‘thanks but no’ when someone pulls him back, that’s when I notice Nathan with his hand on the guy's shoulder.
“She’s not available, mate.” He says something in his ear.
The guy turns to me, “Sorry, I didn’t realise you were Ginger’s.”
Wow, what the hell did he say to him?
