Page 61 of Play Maker

His business connections mixed with faculty from TU and instructors in the yoga community. I loved the diversity, but Rob’s smile was strained at the edges. He had a death grip on Mom, carting her from one group in suits to another. Maybe I was petty, but those fine lines bracketing his mouth brought me an inordinate amount of joy.

Adam dropped a kiss on my temple, and I felt his smile catch on my hair. “Admit it. We were wasting our time trying to find you a date at the bar. I’m the best choice you could have made.”

“You make excellent arm candy.”

His fingers slipped lower and flexed, bringing my butt in full contact with the erection I suspected he was using me to hide. “How much longer before I can take you home and peel this dress off you?”

I pursed my lips, praying no one noticed the heat climbing my cheeks. “We could probably slip out now. I’ve met all my obligations, and I don’t think Rob is going to let Mom go any time soon.”

He let out a low, satisfied hum that made me wish we weren’t an hour from Addison. “Good. I already had the valet bring the Jeep around.”

I shook my head, amused despite myself. “Cocky.”

“Fuck, yes.” He nudged his hips forward once, a tease of what I hoped was to come, then released me to take my hand.

The gods must have been smiling down on me for once because no one paid us any attention as we left the hotel. As promised, the Jeep was waiting at the curb. Adam helped me inside and sent me a wicked grin as he jogged around the front.

Once we escaped the snarl of Dallas traffic, Adam turned down the music and reached for my hand. “One down, how many more to go?”

I scrunched my nose trying to remember. “Three, I think?”

He glanced my direction with a raised brow. “Before the semester starts?”

“No, the actual wedding isn’t until the last Saturday of September.” I was the maid of honor in name only, so I’d relegated the details to my email and forgotten them.

He winced, and I realized the problem. Football season would be well underway, so the Saturday wedding would be a game day for him.

“Crap,” I muttered.

Adam squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll work it out.”

After the success of today, I didn’t want to go back to trying to find a date. Adam was right. No one would live up to him.

I trusted him, but I didn’t want him sacrificing for me. “You’re not skipping a game.”

“If it’s an early home game or a bye, I should be able to make it. Unless they’re psychopaths, and planning a morning wedding, in which case we should probably shun them.”

“As much as I’d love to shun Rob, I don’t think my mom would understand. Is your schedule already set?”

“Yeah, it’s been set for months, but I don’t have it memorized. Shaw would know.”

I made a mental note to talk to my other roommate about their game schedule, but the reminder brought up another aspect I hadn’t considered—the explanation of why I needed to know.

Eva was the only one I’d talked to about my relationship with Adam, and I had no idea if the others even knew. Usually, the football players did their athlete stuff together, and I studied. If Adam had free time, we tended to spend it alone. Naked.

No one had commented, which led me to believe no one had noticed. Now that I’d told Eva, I didn’t care if they knew, but how did Adam feel about it? The last time he’d gotten involved with a friend, she’d left. Not just him, but the group too. Was he nervous about their reactions?

In my usual fashion, I blurted out the question without thinking. “Are you nervous about what the others will think of us being together?”

His eyes shot to me for a second before they returned to the road. “Do Ievergive off the impression I’m nervous?”

“No, but that doesn’t answer my question.”

He stayed quiet for a long beat, and a quick slice of pain startled me. I frowned, trying to tug my hand away from him.

Instead of letting go, he lifted my fingers to his lips. “Stop that. I was thinking.”

I let him lower my hand to his thigh. “Why would you need to think about a yes or no question?”

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