“Hey, that was the one I wanted.”

I covered my full mouth with at least a quarter of the donut rammed inside, with my hand. “Sorry.”

“How about we share it?”

I held up the donut. Instead of taking it from my hand, he wrapped his fingers around my wrist and brought it to his mouth.

He watched me as he took a bite.

I’d forgotten how to chew, nearly choking on my donut. My heart did double back handsprings in my chest. My pulse throbbed.

It probably felt like a jumping bean rumbling under his fingertips.

He moved the donut back toward my mouth and I took another bite.

His nostrils flared, and the hungry look had nothing to do with the delicious pastries filling the countertop.

And I was supposed to ride in a car with him later tonight? I was a dead woman. Death by hand-fed dessert.

18

Dare

“Where the fuck are you going?” Knox barreled out of the bus along with everyone else, coated in dried sweat and grime, but grinning from ear to ear.

My grin had nothing to do with the Titan Combine, though. I’d never sprinted faster, tackled harder or had stickier hands than I’d had in Chicago. But I had one singular thought: getting back here to get Bay.

Donuts had never been sweeter than off her lips. We might have steamed up the windows in the parking lot when I dropped her off. Sure, she’d run in with the bags instead of letting me help, but today’s performance coupled with seeing her again for the first time in thirty-six hours meant that no amount of dried stinging sweat all over my body mattered.

“Dare.” Coach Greer called after me.

I skidded to a stop after grabbing my bag and jogged back to him. The play would be over by now. Had she already left to go hang out with the other stage crew people? With that guy, Jon? “Coach.”

“You had a hell of a performance out there today.”

I shifted from foot to foot. “Yeah, I felt good.”

“And that run-in with the kid from Pennsylvania.”

My hands clenched around my duffle. The cloudy haze of the cheap shot almost dragged me back into the fog of rage. I closed my eyes.

“I didn’t hit him.”

“Only because someone got between you two.”

I gritted my teeth. “He could’ve broken my leg with the shit he pulled.”

Coach sighed, long and troubled.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

“We can talk about this later.” He shook his head. “Get a shower and get some sleep.”

I nodded and headed toward my car. The other guys were grabbing their bags. They were my soon-to-be former teammates, but now they were in my way to my goal.

If anyone thought my skills at making a path through opponents ended on the field they were dead wrong. Right now, these were opponents in the way of getting to my true celebration tonight.