Page 20 of Scoreless Nights

He turned to head back to the couch, no longer looking as relaxed as he was moments before. Somehow, I figured that was my fault so I started to apologize, but his words made me seal my lips.

“I prefer to keep them scoreless.”

What was I supposed to say? All I was trying to do was compliment him but it seemed to backfire.That was my cue to escape.

“Wait!” he turned back around and his hands reached out to stop me. “Can I treat you to dinner tonight?”

My jaw dropped. It sounded a lot like a date request, but since it was Cruz, that couldn’t be right.Could it?“You don’t have to take the ‘starting fresh’ thing so seriously.”

“That’s not…” he crossed his arms and tilted his head, eyeing me curiously. “What?”

“A date?” I said, foolishly. “Us getting along doesn't mean we have to date.”

By the way his jaw dropped, I knew I had stuck my foot directly into my mouth. Why did I have to use the words that were in my head? Why couldn’t I just be cool?

“No wait,” I started to backtrack but he was already directly in front of me, looking down at me as if to gain the upper hand. “That came out wrong.”

“I don’t know if I’m upset that you think I asked you on a date, or that you thought I asked you on one, and turned me down.”

All I could do was shake my head and back up toward the hallway and into my room. Cruz stayed still, watching me as I retreated, and I slammed the door shut hoping he was gone by the time I had to leave.

“Damnit Lillian,” I scolded myself. “Why are you so weird?”

When I started getting ready, I applied a little make up, something I wasn’t accustomed to wearing. It wasn’t much, just enough to make me look alive–a skill that came in handy sometimes. My suit was well fitted, and my heels made the pants fall at just the right spot.

Two hours of pampering and I still hadn’t heard Cruz leave. That meant I was going to have to face him one more time. At least with the outfit and pumps I felt a little lessmousyand a little more like aqueen.

Just as I made my way into the living room, Cruz was coming out of his bedroom. We both stopped, staring at one another like we had never seen each other before. He was wearing slacks and a button up shirt, nice shoes, with his hair slicked back. The button on his cuff was undone and he was trying to get it to fasten while his eyes stayed on me.

Walking closer to him, I grabbed his wrist, buttoning the cuff and letting my hand linger for a second in his. His fingers curled a little, almost holding my hand completely before he dropped it and nodded at me to say thank you.

When I turned to walk away, I rolled my eyes so he couldn’t see my annoyance. How come the one time I felt like a goddess around him, he came out looking like he was about to teach a class on sex or something?

“You practice in that?” I blurted without meaning to.

I could hear his shoes following me on the tile as we walked toward the kitchen. The bottle I always carried hadn’t been refilled in almost five days so I grabbed it and started running the tap.

“Practice today isn’t physical, it’s meetings and studying.” He popped a coffee pod into the machine and placed a to-go cup underneath it before he turned around and finished speaking. “And the first thing I have to do is meet with my agent and a representative of Archer Athletics about my pending contract with them.”

“Archer Athletics? Like the shoes?”

“Yeah,” he smiled. “Among other things. I’m supposed to be in the running to be a part of their upcoming expansion to their new soccer line, but the details have been up in the air. We’re meeting today to hash those out.”

“That sounds amazing.” I couldn’t think of a better person for Archer Athletics to recruit to represent their brand. Cruz was good looking and talented. Not to mention a really good guy–once I stopped being mad at him for existing.

My water was full, and everything I needed to take to my interview was in my arms. Cruz had turned around to finish fixing his coffee then made his way to the door and opened it for me. “I’ll walk out with you.”

We got in the elevator and were both quiet, but when the doors opened and we started walking in different directions, Cruz stopped me. “About that date tonight?”

My head started shaking back and forth as embarrassment churned my stomach and threatened to spill out over the pavement. “I was just…”

“I’m kidding,” he winked. “But I do want to treat you to dinner.”

Licking my lips, I tried to think of a real reason to say no, but it wasn’t like I could hang with my friends. Being alone in my room didn’t sound good either.

“Yeah, okay.”

ChapterTwelve

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