Page 17 of Hard Hitter

“I know you know, but I’m not sure youknow.”

“Well, that sentence really cleared things up for me.” She didn’t laugh, and the uncharacteristic hesitation made my stomach drop. “What are you saying?”

“I’ve been thinking about our conversation earlier, and I want you to know I support whatever happens.”

“But…” I added.

Eva rolled her eyes. “But… try not to break him, okay?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if she’d given him the same warning about breaking me, but I managed to keep my mouth shut for once. After Vince, I’d sworn off relationships, but I wasn’t heartless.

I didn’t want to hurt Noah. I just wanted to feel good without all the expectations and potential for disaster. A silver Corolla pulled into the parking lot, interrupting my excuses. I confirmed the license plate before stepping in front of Eva.

“I’ll do my best.” Thus far, my best sucked, but a shitty track record wouldn’t stop me from trying.

She nodded, and her teasing tone returned. “I’ll take care of your dress. Don’t forget to come home tonight. We have plans with RJ.”

“Ha ha. As if I’d accept a booty call from Noah,” I lied through my teeth. “I expect to hear all about the hot coach later.”

Eva went into the restaurant, and I climbed into the back of the car. The drive to Johnny’s wasn’t long, but a million scenarios flew through my mind. Maybe he was lonely. Maybe he needed money. Maybe it reallywasa booty call.

I snorted at the last one, and the driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror. Noah wouldn’t call me if he wanted an afternoon quickie.

The memory of his hands slowly gliding up my thighs made all my inner muscles clench, and I knew if he called me up for afternoon sex, it wouldn’t be a quickie. I let out a shuddering breath and told my vagina to calm the fuck down. Lunch. Noah asked me to join him for lunch.

We pulled into the nearly empty bar parking lot, and I thanked the guy driving, giving him a good tip for letting me stew in silence. In the back of my mind, I knew I was overthinking the moment.

My hands shook as I opened the door. I never gave a guy this much power over me, not in the last three years anyway, but Noah had snuck past my usual defenses. He wasnice. I considered him a friend—I just wasn’t sure if he felt the same or if he only saw me as D’s little sister.

It shouldn’t matter. I kept telling myself it didn’t, but the same hope that crushed in high school lifted my mood. For once, I wanted to be seen as myself instead of a failed extension of my brother—or just a failure.

The bar was a big, dim, open space with tables shoved between a dance floor and a bar. One big booth sat like a throne in the middle of the room. A few of the tables were taken up by groups having lunch, and none of them glanced my way when I came in.

I zeroed in on Noah, who sat alone halfway between the booth and the door. He’d traded his usual workout clothes for jeans and a long-sleeved shirt he’d shoved up to his elbows. The material clung to his broad shoulders, and his dark russet hair stood up in disarray as if he’d been running his hands through it.

He looked up from his phone, and his gaze met mine like a body blow. I stumbled over the industrial rug at the entrance and nearly face-planted onto the floor. Today was not a good day for my coordination.

Noah’s lips curled into a slow smile, and for a second, I wondered if I’d hit my head after all. Flutters of sensation coalesced into full-blown tingles. His smile gave me tingles. Naughty tingles. I was in so much trouble.

He stood and pulled out the chair next to him, an automatic gesture that turned my racing heart into goo. “I didn’t think you were coming.”

I sat, dropping my stuff onto an empty seat at the four top, and belatedly remembered I’d never texted him back. “Right. Sorry. Eva distracted me.”

“How did the dress shopping go?”

I sent him a suspicious glance. Noah didn’t usually initiate inane conversations. “Fine. We found what we needed at the first place, then Eva strongarmed the salesclerk into closing the store to have lunch with us.”

He chuckled. “That’s not surprising. If you were already at lunch, why did you come?”

“You asked. Besides, I believe I was promised pizza—the best of all lunch foods?”

“Luckily, we didn’t order yet. Olives and green onions, right?”

I nodded, strangely touched he remembered my favorite pizza toppings, but then the rest of his words hit me. “We?”

“Yeah.” He nodded to the DJ booth where I’d somehow missed Mac standing with another guy. “Mac and Alex are working on a singing thing. Thanks for coming.”

“No problem.” I drummed my fingers on the table, trying to find the right way to ask what had changed without scaring him off, but Noah surprised me by volunteering the information.

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