“Yeah, welcome to the family.” Ian returned the nudge with a light shove of his own. “Don’t forget to bring a side to Thanksgiving.”

“I make a mean Jell-O salad with marshmallows and canned fruit.”

Ian’s taste buds revolted at the thought. “Crescent rolls might be more your speed.”

They went into the locker room together, bickering back and forth like the old days, and it was like everything had fallen into place—almost.

As soon as the game was over, though, he was going to find Shelby.

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

After that brawl of a game, there was only one person Ian wanted to see, and it sure as hell wasn’t the one reporters wouldn’t stop asking him about. He’d made it two whole questions—both about his dad—into the postgame interviews before he bailed.

Now, here he was, sitting on the stoop outside Shelby’s building like a sad puppy waiting for her to get home. He’d been there about half an hour when she came walking down the street with a guy in Cajun Rage gear.

What the hell?

Each of them was carrying the distinctive hot-pink cups that everyone in Harbor City recognized on the spot as being from the city’s favorite LuLu’s Pink Lemonade Cupcake Emporium. During the offseason, he ordered Uber Eats from there on the regular.

He stood up slowly, not wanting to scare her. He knew the moment she spotted him. Her steps faltered and her eyes rounded as an electric jolt of awareness shot between them, holding him to her steps as she drew nearer.

“Ian,” she said, her gaze locked on him as a small, almost shy smile curled her lips. “What are you doing here?”

He was beyond the bullshit of coming up with some lame excuse. “Waiting for you.”

Her smile deepened and her gaze dropped to the sidewalk as she fiddled with something in her pocket. He could watch her for hours, the way she rubbed her fingers over the short side of her hair when she was thinking things over, the snap in her eyes when she was giving him shit, the way she laughed, the sound escaping from her as if it were a surprise each time—all of it totally and completely Shelby.

So focused on drinking in every single aspect of her, Ian had nearly forgotten about the man with her until the guy cleared his throat and started talking.

“That was a helluva game. The last call really should have gone our way.” He held out his hand to Ian. “Bill Henny. I’m with the Rage, and I’ve been trying to get Shelby here to switch teams, but she’s pretty determined to stay with y’all.”

Even the idea of her leaving Harbor City had him squeezing the other man’s hand harder than necessary when they shook.