Page 62 of Scoreless Nights

The reminder made him sit up and he watched me move around the room in his big jersey that hit the top of my knees. “Should I wish you luck?”

I stopped and put my hands on my hips, a half-smile playing on my lips. “It’d be nice.”

“Hey,” he raised his hands like he had no idea what to do. “The last one made you cry. I’ve spent almost a week suppressing the urge to find out who made you cry and kick their ass.”

“You did that Friday,” I reminded him of Mr. Archer. “You’re good for a while.”

But he was right and I had almost forgotten that he had caught me in tears over being offered the job of my dreams. He kept his word and didn’t push to find out more, but it had clearly not been something he let go of.

“No one makes you cry, Lil. You hear me?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, loving his version of overprotecting me way more than my mother’s.

Walking to the edge of the bed, I sat down, running a hand over his bare chest. “How about I get through these next two interviews and then we have a little chat?”

“Don’t leave Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or whenever you were going to head back home. Stay here until the weekend. Come to my game Friday.”

“It's only going to get harder,” I shrugged, not saying no, but not saying yes, either.

“It's a big one. I want you to be there.”

I knew I was going to stay because I had no reason not to. Other than falling more in love with him, and risking my heart more than I should have been. It would be easy to tell my mom I was staying for a follow up interview on Friday, and then coming home.

“You know my plan is to move here, right?”

“But that will be your new life, and I doubt I’m a part of that version of you. Miami is big, and we could go years without ever crossing paths.”

“Or we could make a point to secretly dothisevery once in a while.”

“You’re too good to be someone I see on the side, Lil. That will never happen.”

I shrugged like I wasn’t bothered by his words, but somehow, they hurt. I wanted to be his secret, I wanted to be the girl he saw on the side of everything else in his life. Even if that wasn’t what he meant, I wanted whatever he would give me.

“How you feeling?”

The change of subject threw me off guard for a minute but I looked down at where his thumb was caressing my thigh and smiled. “Better than I thought I would.”

“Good,” he squeezed me. “I have practice, you have an interview. Let’s meet back here and spend morequalitytime together.”

His words made me shiver, reminding me of the times our parents told us we needed to spend quality time together. Cruz had said it on purpose and I couldn’t help my giggle. “Mom and Dad would be so proud.”

He barked a loud laugh that made my chest flutter before pulling me down into his arms and kissing me. It didn’t feel like anything could ruin the day for me, and I walked into my interview that afternoon feeling like a new woman.

ChapterThirty-Two

Cruz

“Remember that guy from Mango’s the other night?”

I stopped taking off the wrap that I wore on my ankles during practice, and looked over at Tripp. He sounded lost in thought, and I wasn’t sure he even knew he was speaking to me.

“Coach Crazy?” I asked, using Erin’s description of him the way I promised her I always would.

“Hunter Ward.” Tripp corrected me, but still didn’t look at me. He was staring into a blank space in his locker so I got concerned and turned to face him.

“You okay?”

“Hunter is an old teammate of mine. He asked for my help.”

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