Page 97 of Only in Your Dreams

Emily throws an arm around Mel, who half-smiles, half-winces at the contact. Not surprising, considering the state she was in coming off the field at the end of the game, all scraped up with bruises already blooming on her knees. Tufts of grass caught in her hair.

Hot as all hell with a bounce in her step, and it makes me doubly irritated that Brooks gets to be the one to claim her in front of everyone as we head out to the parking lot. She’s walking in step with Emily, me and Brooks trailing them like a couple of bodyguards.

“Bet I adore her more, Em,” Brooks says with a charismatic smile he knows will get her swooning over him the second he’s out of earshot. He picks up the pace to squeeze Melody by the shoulders. “We’d better head home, huh, babe? Get you showered? Maybe an ice bath after that effort.”

Surely—surely—he did not just call herbabe. Does he have a death wish?

We come to a stop outside the stadium. The parking lot is near-empty. We were the last ones to head out, given the snail’s pace Mel’s moving at with her self-imposed bruises.

“Good idea… honey,” she tells Brooks before turning to Emily. “Hey—thanks for including me today. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun.”

My whole body goes warm at her words. So damn proud of her.

Emily waves away her gratitude. “We expect to see you at happy hour next month. No excuses!” She turns to Brooks as she backs toward her car, with her husband already waiting at the wheel. “No excuses, Brooks. I’m holding you personally in charge of getting her there, you hear me?”

“You got it, Em,” he says with a salute.

Emily turns to me. “Thanks for coming out, Coach. Glad to see your face outside a game for a change.”

I lift a hand in farewell and we stand there, the three of us, waiting for their car to leave the otherwise deserted lot. The second they’re out of sight, Brooks shakes out his shoulders.

“Andscene. Great show, everyone. Excellent work.”

Melody huffs a laugh. “You think they really bought that? You and me together?”

I despise the sound of the wordsyou and mecoming out of her mouth without referring tomeand her, but seeing as I’m the one who got us into this fake dating mess in the first place, I’m not really in a position to complain.

Brooks seems to know exactly what I’m thinking. He starts backing away from us. “Better not push our luck. You two have a good night.”

He leaves us alone at the curb. Melody glances at me just as I glance at her, and I’m not sure why, but my heart picks up pace. It’s out of place, feeling this suddenly nervous, when I’ve been sharing a bed with this woman for weeks. But there’s something different buzzing in the air around us tonight. I can feel it.

It’s the same feeling I had in the moments after Friday’s game, when I held her in my kitchen before Noah showed up. He’s been staying over since, having dinner with us, watching a movie or whichever NFL game is on TV. Breakfast with us in the morning. I love having that kid around, and I can tell Mel gets a kick out of him, too, but it’s made it impossible to ask any of the questions rolling around my brain since Friday night.

Would you have let me kiss you if he hadn’t interrupted?

Are you changing your mind about me? Could you see us together?

This is the first time we’ve been properly alone since. Minutes pass in silence as we stare out at the empty parking lot.

At last, Melody clears her throat. “Tonight was great.”

“I can’t tell you how incredible you looked on that field. You kicked ass until the final whistle.” I wish I had something to do with my hands.

“I felt like me again out there. The me from before, you know? Who could justdo. Didn’t overthink every single step, expecting a trap door under my feet.” Melody allows herself a half-smile. “I’m so glad you made me come here. It’s nice being out of your house together—well, kind of together—without worrying about Parker. Hate to say it, but the fake boyfriend idea was a stroke of genius.”

Something’s definitely happening here.

Deciding I may as well go for broke, I hold out my hand. Mel rolls her eyes the way she always does when I dial up the affection, but she takes it anyway. We walk to our cars in silence, where we parked them next to each other as we waited for Brooks to show up this afternoon to start the charade.

It’s grey but still light out, somewhere around dinner time by now. The air sticky and humid the way it gets before a storm. It fits with the moment though. We’re sandwiched in the space between our cars, an unnecessary shelter in this empty lot, but it feels like we’re in our own little world, just me and my Clover.

“Are you following me to my place?” I ask her.

“No. I was thinking I’d shower at Parker’s before coming over.” She doesn’t make a move for her door handle, though. A half-hearted attempt at erecting a barrier, if I’ve ever seen one.

I pull a tuft of grass from her ponytail. “One of these days you’re going to give in, Clover. And it’s going to feel so damn sweet.”

Her nose wrinkles. “Give in to what?”

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