Page 74 of Play the Last Track
Dad just winks at me and pulls me into a one-armed hug. He kisses me on the forehead, and I lean into him. “Are you sure this is what you want?” he whispers to me.
“Absolutely.” I nod. “I have some big plans for the place. I think I’ll make you proud.”
“You already make me proud.” He kisses my hair again before letting me go. “Are you staying for dinner, pumpkin?”
“I—no, thank you.” I shake my head, grabbing for my bag. “Flynn’s waiting for me in the car, so I better go.”
“Katie Murphy.” I immediately flinch at my mother’s scolding tone. “Are you telling me you made that boy stay in the car while you came in here, intending to have a conversation that could’ve gone for hours?”
“I—”
She spins around, pointing the sauce-covered spoon at me. “You go and invite him in for dinner. Right now.”
“Yep. Sure.” I swallow hard and make my way to the front door, Dad’s laughter echoing behind me. I throw it open and wrap my arms around myself as I head for the car sitting at the end of the driveway. Flynn’s head snaps up when I open the passenger side door.
“We’re having dinner with my parents,” I say, grimacing.
“Are we?” He sets his phone down on his thigh.
I nod. “And if my mother asks, you insisted you would stay in the car.”
Flynn laughs as he steps out and comes to stand by my side. He throws an arm over my shoulder and pulls me closer to his body. I curl into his warmth. “So, did you talk to them?”
“Yep.” I nod, craning my neck to look at him. “I’m going to be running a bar.”
“Fuck, yes.” He leans down, eyes shining. “Does this mean I can eat for free now?”
I laugh and smack his chest as we climb the steps up to my parents’ front door. “You wish.”
Chapter Twenty
Flynn
Lifeisgoodrightnow.
The team made it to the conference finals—we’ve been practically undefeated this season. We’re going up against New York on our home field in just a few days. Every time I think about it, the adrenaline pumps through me. This season, it feels like I’ve fallen back in love with football again. I felt old last year, run down, stuck in my routine. Something about this season has completely changed the way I’ve been playing, the way I’ve been seeing the game.
I have no doubt that thesomethingis more of asomeonewith blonde hair and blue eyes.
Katie sits next to me, my arm draped over the back of our booth seat, my fingers fiddling with a piece of her hair. I never expected the harmless flirting on that eight-hour plane ride to Italy last summer would end in me finding the love of my life.
Sure, she has no idea I love her. Nor do I think she quite understands exactly how much her presence affects me, but she’ll get there. I’m learning very quickly with Katie that things will need to be slow. There’ll be no ring within six months. No kids within a year. She’s only just decided that she wants to take on the official role of venue manager for the bar. I suspect this will be our lives for a while.
If she agrees to stay. Getting her to agree will require me actually asking her, though. Something I have chickened out of doing about once a day since we had dinner at her parents’ a week ago.
Instead, I’ve let her distract me with sex and football.
The two go well together. I fuck her before practice, I have a killer day on the field, then I get to fuck her again when I get home. I have been playing at my best, and Katie is a huge part of that.
“When are you getting your suits done?” Ivy says from across the table. There’s this twinge of panic that sets into her voice every time we speak about the wedding now, and it gets more and more prominent as the date they’ve chosen gets closer.
“Baby, relax,” Scott soothes, his hand snaking over her shoulders. He tugs her closer to his side and smiles down at her. “We will get them after this weekend. We’ll either lose and be done for the season, or we’ll be on a bye before the bowl. It will get done.”
“Promise me you’ll go next week?”
“Promise.” Scott leans down and kisses her. Katie makes a gagging noise, and I snigger into my water glass.
“You two are no better,” Scott growls, glaring at me for laughing along. He asked me for help today with keeping Ivy’s stress levels down, but as Katie has already said, they will get worse. Then, she’ll likely have a big cry to get all the emotions out before she snaps out of it.
