Page 47 of Scoreless Nights

Slowly, I moved my eyes to her body and saw she was wearing a jumpsuit with flowy pants and a V that dipped down low between her breasts. There were only two thin straps that went up over her shoulders and around her neck, keeping the fabric up over her tits.

And she definitely wasn’t wearing a bra.

Her hair was up in a ponytail, yet it looked sexy and stylish, slicked back and high on top of her head. I could see shiny earrings dangling from her ears, almost to her neck. Her lips were bright red, and when I finally landed on her eyes, I realized she had somehow made them bluer and brighter.

She nervously adjusted a small clutch in her hand before stopping in front of me and giving me a heart stopping smile. “Ready when you are.”

I didn’t talk, I didn’t even move. My jaw was almost on the floor, and if I had been a cartoon, my tongue would’ve rolled out and my eyes would have popped from my head.

“Cruz?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, Lil.” My chest was heaving, I wanted to reach out and touch her skin. I wanted to run my finger right down the V that dipped between her tits.

“Do you need to sit down?” She was so innocent, completely unaware that I had just decided I was done doing the right thing–at least for the night. I could just tell myself it was all pretend and it would be alright that my cock got hard for her.

“You look so fucking beautiful,” I told her honestly. “I mean you always look beautiful but seeing you all dressed up for me is making it hard to want to leave.”

Looking down, her cheeks pinked from my words. “You look really good too. I’m so used to seeing you in soccer clothes or jeans.”

We stared at one another for a few beats until my phone rang in my pocket. Pulling it out, I looked down to see a number I didn’t recognize, but already knew who it was.

“That’s the driver. Let’s head downstairs.”

My hand fell on the small of her back as I opened the door, letting her go first and leading her to the elevator like she had no idea where it was. When we were in the lift, I still didn’t drop my hand, and squeezed the side of her waist, pulling her closer to me.

We exited out the double doors to the lobby where a black SUV was waiting for us. The driver instantly recognized me, and tipped his hat before opening the back door.

As we drove off, Lil’s hands began to fidget, so I took them in mine and squeezed, making her look up at me.

“I’m nervous,” she whispered.

“Me too. But probably not for the same reason you are, though.”

“Why’re you nervous?”

“Just worried I won’t be able to fake this date.”

She nodded as if she knew what I was talking about, but she had no idea. She probably thought that I wasn’t going to be able to pretend to date her, but I was really just scared that the line was too blurry for me to even notice it was there at all.

The drive was about thirty minutes through the grueling Miami traffic, but eventually we pulled into the hotel where the dinner was taking place. When we climbed from the car, I grabbed Lil’s hand and she held on tight to mine as I led her toward the main room. There were already a ton of people there, and once I stepped through the door, I became everyone’s target.

My name was being called from every direction. People were coming up and shaking my hand, and I was trying to introduce Lily as we went, wanting to include her in every aspect of the evening. To her credit, she was only overwhelmed for the first ten minutes, but as the night went on, she played her role perfectly. She smiled and held onto my arm, then leaned into me almost without thinking. When someone would ask her about me, she would smile and look into my eyes.

There was no story for our ruse. We didn't discuss any questions that may have been asked. But Lil seemed to have all the right answers.

“We met about twelve years ago,” she said, and bit her lip. “We were so young with so many crazy emotions. It just wasn’t our time yet. But we’re all grown up now, reunited, and it’s finally our turn to be who we want to be, despite what anyone else may think.”

I believed every word she said and wanted her to say more. But I was also relieved when the topic of our relationship moved on, and we started discussing ways I would be representing Archer Athletics. That was why we were there, that was the safe topic.

“I need to use the ladies room, I’ll be right back.” Lil whispered quietly into my ear as we walked away from a group of people.

Had the head of the Archer Athletics campaign not been making his way up next to me at that very moment, I would’ve insisted I follow her. Not for any other reason than the fact that I didn’t want to be away from her.

“Cruz Martin, in the flesh,” Mr. Archer said as he raised his hand up to shake mine.

“Mr. Archer, it’s good to finally meet you.”

“Likewise. I’ve been watching you work the room with a beautiful woman on your arm.”

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