Page 87 of Game Changer

I don’t have words.

Not because they’re good, though they are, but because she sees something in each of them that I’ve never even looked for.

“This one is my favorite.” She turns the page to reveal one of me.

I’m fearless.

The kind of fearless that doesn’t get threatened by the other team or his own.

My chest constricts. I want to be the man in this image. The man she sees.

I want to prove to ownership, to Harlan, to Coach, that I’m worth what they paid to get me here. Today, I wasn’t.

I’m fascinated by the way she looks at me and obsessed with the possibility I could be that man now, again. I feel unburdened, and hopeful, and lighter than I have since college. Maybe even before then.

I look both ways down the hall, waiting for an LA staff person to pass before I drag Nova against me. She makes a little sound of surprise, as though she doesn’t see how fucking inevitable it is.

I kiss her with the desperation and frustration left from the game, plus the desire that’s been building in me since we visited the Kodiak Camp.

There’s chemistry between us, but it’s more than that. I find myself looking for her whether she’s there or not. I need her sunshine in my day. I want to make hers better, too.

And yeah, every time I've jerked off the past two weeks, it’s her face I've seen. I want to touch her, tease her, make her lose her mind with pleasure. I want to hear her moan my name when she comes, feel her tighten around my cock, to wrap her pink-blonde hair around my hand while I stroke into her over and over until she forgets every asshole who dared put his unworthy hands on her.

Her hands fall on my abs, lightly clinging through my clean shirt.

“What was that for?” she asks when I pull back, her expression dazed.

My thumbs slip beneath the waistband of her pants and rub circles over her hips. Her breath catches, her blue eyes turning the most fascinating shade of aqua.

“For being here.”

“Someone made my flight easy thanks to tequila and eye masks.”

“The least I could do.” My lips twitch. “There’s something I gotta do tonight. I want you to come with me.”

She hesitates, tossing a look over her shoulder before looking back at me. “I’m eating with Brooke, plus you have team stuff.”

I know there’s risk in meeting, for both of us.

But I need her. Not some of her—all of her.

“Please.”

23

NOVA

Brooke: You almost ready? I can be downstairs in ten.

Isaid I’d meet her for dinner, but the chance to spend tonight with Clay is beyond tempting.

Not because I’d get to be with him in LA for the evening, but because it seemed like he needed me.

I hit Brooke’s contact.

“How much would you hate me if I bailed on dinner?” I ask when she answers on the first ring.

“So much. I’d complain about it all night to one of the super cute LA trainers who asked me out for drinks.”

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