The Hardest Fall

As he broke off from the crowd, I slowly lowered my camera and watched him stalk toward me, our eyes never losing contact. He covered the distance between us in no time. When he was standing right in front of me, I stared up at him, just as out of breath as he was, if not more. On top of that, I could feel my hands shaking ever so slightly as I tried not to lose the smile I’d plastered on my face.

Calm your tits, Zoe. It’s nothing more than an adrenaline rush. He is still your friend.

“Who is he?” were the first words out of his mouth.

My smile faltered. “What?”

“Number four.” I must have looked as clueless as I felt because he waited for an answer from me before continuing. “Trevor Paxton—you were in his arms.”

Snorting, I relaxed and my smile tipped my lips up again. I’d been right before—he was jealous. Just the realization eased something in my chest. “My friend from Phoenix. We grew up in the same neighborhood, same high school and everything. Strictly friends.”

At my words, his shoulders dropped down slightly. “Okay. Okay, that’s good.”

I nodded in quick jerks and tried not to grin. Yeah, it was good.

His eyes bored into mine and his jaw clenched. “You’re not looking away. Why are you not looking away?”

I ignored his words and lost the battle with my lips. I smiled big, teeth and everything. “You were amazing, Dylan, really freaking amazing.” Standing in front of me in all those pads, he looked so intimidating, so big.

His frown smoothed out completely and he gave me a boyish smile. “Yeah?”

My eyes dropped to his lips for a few seconds as I took in that beautiful, surprised smile—another one to add to the list.

I wish he was mine, I thought as I lifted my eyes back up.

I smiled even bigger, if that was possible. “Yep.”

One of the coaches ran past us, breaking our little huddle. Dylan grabbed my arm and shuffled me back a few steps until I was almost against the wall, bringing us closer.

“Now I understand all the hype,” I continued before he could say anything else. “I feel a little light headed, like I’m a drunk on the game. You guys were amazing.” Another winning—or losing, depending on where you stood—smile from me. “I admit, I know practically nothing about football, and I only watch it on TV for twenty minutes tops before I get bored, but it was different being here. I’m not sure you’d call it fun since you’re the one being chased and occasionally tackled, but I loved it. I didn’t like seeing you get tackled like that, of course, but you know what I mean. It was almost better than watching you work out in the kitchen—almost.” I paused to take a breath. I was awestruck, and I didn’t mind him seeing that in my face. “I want to do it all over again, right now. You were really great, Dylan.”

The deep blue in his eyes sparkled with an emotion I couldn’t name. “You said that already, Flash,” he murmured, his deep voice sending a thrill through my body.

I swallowed and moved my head up and down, because I was having trouble coming up with more words, and yeah, I had said that already—a few times actually. My brain was telling me it was time to leave before I started rambling.

When Dylan looked over his shoulder toward the field, I looked that way too. A few of his teammates had already started to head for the locker rooms.

“I should let you—”

I stopped speaking when Dylan’s gloved hand—his huge gloved hand—cupped my cheek and gently tilted my face up. The world around me slowed down, and I stood still. I swear to you, I watched his eyes roam my face in slow motion.

“I like having your eyes on me, Zoe.”

I managed to force a nervous smile. His thumb moved on my cheek, rendering me…basically completely helpless.

Forgetting myself, forgetting where we were, I whispered, “I like watching you.”

His tongue peeked out and touched his lower lip. “I know.”

Oh, Dylan, why did you do that?

“I meant I like watching you—liked watching you play tonight. I didn’t mean it to sound like I like watching you when you’re not playing. I definitely wouldn’t watch you if you were just standing there, or I don’t know…I wouldn’t watch you when you’re working out, and I would never watch you if you were—”

“You know why I like watching you?”

The question shut me up pretty quickly, which was probably for the best; who knew what else I would spew out.

“Because I can’t take my eyes away from you. Everything else…it all disappears, and…”

And… And…

“And?”

I tried my best not to look eager for his answer—or let’s say not too eager, because there was no way he couldn’t tell I was very interested and invested in hearing what he was about to say.

He let out a heavy breath and decided not to finish that particular sentence. I’d seen it in his eyes, a slight change, there and gone.

Goddammit!

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, Zoe. You’re driving me absolutely fucking crazy. First Jared, and now this Trevor guy.”

Come again?

His chest still rising and falling rapidly, he looked like he wanted to say more but just stared into my eyes instead.

When it started to become too much for me—I mean, I’m a puny human, after all—I tried to clear my throat as a prelude to getting the hell away, but something—most probably air—got stuck in my throat and triggered a small coughing fit, forcing his hand to drop away.

“Sorry,” I wheezed out when I could breathe again.

More and more players were heading toward the locker rooms. Some of them hit Dylan in the back with comments like, “Good catch, man,” and “You did good, bro.” Some only offered snickers.

He put a little distance between us, backing away, but his eyes lingered on my lips. “It’ll happen soon you know. I wonder if you’re ready for it, because we’re almost there. I can see it in your eyes, and you’re going to lose, Zoe, just like I knew you would.”

“What? Almost where? Lose what?”

“The bet,” he explained calmly. “You’re going to kiss me and lose the bet. You won’t be able to help yourself.”

Lips tipping up, he grinned at me playfully.

“Oh, I won’t, huh? So humble, too.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “So you should give up, uncomplicate the things you needed to uncomplicate. If there is…more I don’t know about and you can’t do it for some fucked-up reason, tell me. I’ll uncomplicate it for you. I like the anticipation of you, Flash, not gonna lie about that, but—”

“Hey, Dylan! You coming or what?” My head moved toward the sound and I saw Chris and JP waiting for my oh-so-humble roommate.

“You go ahead, I’ll be right there,” he shouted back.

I watched his friends shake their heads and walk away. When I looked back up at Dylan, he was studying me closely. For a brief moment, I wondered if Mark had seen us standing like this, but I didn’t give a shit about that, not at that moment, at least. If there were repercussions—such as him yelling at me for no good reason—well, fuck him.

“We need to talk, Zoe. Soon, we need to talk and figure things out.”

“Uh, figure what out?” I asked, distracted by his moving lips.