I scowled at him. “I wouldn’t dare. I’ll probably sell them on Facebook Marketplace instead. I can get more for them there.” The wounded look on his face had me taking pity on him, and I shoved his hard chest. “I’m joking, you jerk.”

“You’re a jerk,” he said, bumping me with his shoulder, and the scent of hot, sweaty male surrounded me. Dear God, I wanted to run my tongue in that deep cut of muscle where his arm met his torso. Stop it, Blaire. You skanky whore!

My tongue slipped unconsciously from my mouth, moistening my bottom lip, and Axel’s eyes followed the movement. “I can’t wait to see you wearing my jersey again,” he said quietly, his voice almost a groan.

“I can’t wait to wear it,” I whispered as my gaze traced a line from his blue eyes down to his full lips and back again. The pull this man had on me was ridiculous.

“Broxton, Jones, and Carrick! My office in fifteen minutes!” the receivers coach called out from the door, and Axel gave me a reluctant smile.

“Guess I need to go shower. Later, Bear,” he said, stroking a single finger across my cheek before striding off.

Yes, please go shower so I’ll stop thinking about licking sweat from various parts of your body.

Jesus, I need help.

9. Axel

Axel

Blaire had smelled so good when she hugged me. The unmistakable scent that was uniquely hers was still there, but the body wash or perfume she was using now was different from when we were together. It was more grown-up, like her, with a smooth, deep scent that was undeniably sexy as fuck.

But she had a baby, for shit’s sake. It didn’t matter how good she smelled; she was now forever bonded with that asshole Evan, and I had no right to be smelling her.

I sensed that something wasn’t quite right in her marriage, though. First of all, Cavanaugh wasn’t at all her type. He was at most 5′ 9″, and I knew Blaire was attracted to tall, muscular guys—like yours truly. And Evan was just so… boring. She was still young and deserved to have fun and passion in her life, but I wasn’t sensing a single bit of passion from seeing her and Evan together.

How do you know, dumbass? You saw them together for all of five minutes. And they obviously have some kind of connection, or they wouldn’t have a baby together. The thought of Blaire sleeping with that fucker, being intimate with him and growing his baby inside her made my stomach churn.

Langley came up to me and asked, “We okay, bro?”

I huffed out a breath and slapped his outstretched hand. “Yeah, man. I’m sorry. I guess I just went a little nuts when I saw you touching her, but I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”