“Don’t worry about it. I don’t need booze with every meal. I don’t even drink half as much as most guys on the team.”

“Really?” Skepticism oozed from the one word.

“Really. Do you think I’m a party guy getting drunk most weekends?”

I shot him a knowing look and his head dipped.

His mouth opened and closed. “Those were extenuating circumstances. I don’t party like that. Football has been too important to me to screw it up over booze. I’ve managed to do that over more than enough other things.” He picked up his fork and filled his mouth before I could ask another question.

“You made this?” The muffled words were hidden behind his hand.

“Yeah, I made it. Try not to sound so surprised.”

“I’m shocked. What can’t you do?”

“Cooking isn’t that hard when you follow a recipe. And with my mom working so much, I wanted to do stuff around the house to help. Figuring it out took some trial and error, but it’s not rocket science.”

Watching him devour the food filled my chest with pride and happiness. I didn’t think he let people do things for him often, and I was glad to be let in. Two refills of his plate and another soda, and dinner was done.

“Did you want to go home?” I took our plates and set them in the sink.

“Are you kicking me out?”

“No, I just didn’t know if you had something else going on tonight.” I took our glasses.

His hand wrapped around my wrist with his thumb brushing against the side of my arm. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be tonight.”

A giddy, idiotic laugh shuddered in my chest, the kind of nervous laughter that couldn’t be stopped no matter how hard you tried. “Do you want to watch a movie?”

He nodded, holding me in the tractor beam of his gaze with a smile that threatened to vaporize me where I stood.

Standing at the sink, I gave myself a silent pep-talk. You’ve got this, Bay. We’re just watching a movie. In my house. At night. All alone. No biggie.

25

Dare

Her silent pep talk wasn’t as silent as she thought.

I went out into the living room to give her some privacy. From the minute I left my house, a lightness had come over me, and the second I touched her, the rest of the world went up in flames, leaving only us in the haven of her house. The place felt more like home than my own house, and I’d only been inside a handful of times.

The car repair season was upon me, and I was close to having enough to take her someplace nice. I wanted to take her someplace she’d remember, that would make me uncomfortable as hell, and where they’d probably kick me out for setting my elbows on the table.

Anywhere with Bay felt like a place I always wanted to be.

I grabbed the remote off the arm of the couch and clicked on her account. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I went to her queue. Game shows, a few rom coms, binge-worthy TV series from ten years ago. Action flicks as well as comedies were selected through the next few months. I’d love to sit beside her and spend the time we had left on this couch marking it all off her list.