Page 46 of Play of Love
I wasn’t aware of that about Italians, but that could just be me. The way I figured it, he didn’t need any kind of blood to flow through him to make him like that. I also figured he wasn’t nearly as creepy as the men at my apartment. He was the lesser of two evils and honestly, if I hadn’t been worried about him I probably would have still ended up at his house. It was the only other place I had to go. Sadly, there was nowhere else I could go to hang out or relax. I supposed I could have met up with Hilda or Gabriella, but I didn’t want to impose.
“Okay, so what were you doing, then?” I looked at him askance.
“This.” He pulled out the rest of my t-shirt, gathered the ends together and tied it into a knot that rested just above my belly button. “Because this isn’t the eighties where people walk around with t-shirts tucked in.”
He had a point. I had to laugh because I was supposed to be the fashion designer here, yet he just made me look a whole lot cooler.
I watched him as he hooked his finger into the loop on my shorts and pulled me a little closer.
“What are you doing now?”
“Being creepy.”
I batted his hand away and moved back. “You are so silly.”
He smiled and I found myself smiling too.
“What’s this?” He took hold of my upper arm and felt the underside, rubbing his thumb over the extremely tiny rod I’d had inserted last year. My cheeks warmed as he focused on me.
“Medicine.” It was birth control. I got it because it was easy to have and I didn’t have to think about it like I would with a pill.
“What kind of medicine?” His smile turned up a notch.
I got the feeling he knew what it was but was teasing me. “It’s birth control. Now unhand me.” I shrugged out of his grasp as he laughed, revealing his gorgeous dimples. The sight of which made my stomach tingle. It would be so much easier if I didn’t find him so attractive.
“Good to know, princess.”
I cut him a sharp glare and continued walking. He fell in step with me and we proceeded to the area that had been cornered off for the competition. We found a good spot near a fan palm tree and sat next to each other within its shade.
It didn’t take long for the area to get packed and I was glad we’d gotten here at the time we had. As the crowd rolled in the area became saturated, and while Josh might have classed himself as practically average, a ton of people recognized him. A lot asked for his autograph and took pictures with him.
It was a casual event that turned into a public appearance.
We stayed out all day, which was good because he didn’t drink. Every time we were somewhere where he could easily grab a beer, I made sure he had fruit juice in his hands.
At eight we sat on the beach near his house watching the sunset. We were together for longer than yesterday. I wasn’t sure, but wondered if this might have been the longest that he’d gone without a drink.
I tried to remember what my father was like when he wasn’t drunk. It was difficult to remember because he was rarely at home. At the time I’d thought he was away working hard to take care of our family, but later found out he’d spent the time with one woman or another. He mostly used our house to crash and revive himself.
It was Tristan who told me all that. He’d found out the hard way and hated our father just as much as I did. Mom, however, was still in love with him until this day. I blamed her illness. Clearly her defective heart gave her a distorted vision of the man. He’d put her through so much, all of us, and she just hoped for the best.
None of us hadn’t seen him in more than twenty years but she kept looking out for him.
That was my biggest fear. To fall for a man like that, someone who I knew would never be able to love me the same way as I loved him. At least I’d been lucky to stay clear of anyone like that.
I glanced over at Josh. He seemed to be doing well.
“How long have you been playing football?” I asked.
A peaceful silence had filled the space between us and I didn’t want him to leave just yet, get back in, and be tempted to drink. I thought I could fill him with happy thoughts of his love for football and maybe that would help.
“All my life.” He smiled. The soft, fading daylight caressed his tanned skin. He rolled up the sleeves of his t-shirt revealing solid muscle, which I couldn’t take my eyes off. “I can’t remember not playing. My earliest memory was when I was about four. My dad got me my first football, which I was attached to.”
“You remember stuff from when you were four?”
“Yep. It all checks out too. My mom would get so mad at me when I played in the house and terrorized my sister. So my dad had to take me out to play in the park. We lived in San Francisco then.”
I liked this, him talking about his family.
