“It’s a little funny. Come on, give me that.”
“OK, fine.” I really had a tough time disagreeing with such an earnest and gorgeous face. The name thing aside, it really didn’t seem like Lance had a disingenuous bone in his body. Of course, I didn’t really know him at all yet. “It’s a little funny,” I agreed, finally nodding.
“Thank you.”
Lance turned to go. “I have a meeting to get to.”
“Yeah.” He turned and was about to open the door. “Lance?”
He stopped and turned back around. “Yeah, Charlotte?”
“It was just a one time thing, right? Last night?” I tried to make it sound like I wasn’t hoping he’d rush over and kiss me, press me up against the wall and do naughty things to me instead of going to his meeting, but I wasn’t sure how successful I was.
Lance looked like that was the last question he wanted to answer. Why, I didn’t know. “Charlotte, I can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“I have a very strict rule that I live by during the season.”
“Go on.” I didn’t know where he was going with this, but I had nowhere else to be right now.
“During the season I don’t date, I don’t go out. I even live here at the facility. I try and do as little as possible that isn’t football.”
“So, you’re like a football monk?” The words just came out of my mouth before I had a chance to think about them.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s a good way to put it. I’m a football monk for 5 months of the year, and the rest of the time I can have a life.”
“How come? That’s a lot of time closed off from the rest of the world.”
Lance shrugged. “It’s all I know how to do. I’ve never been good at dealing with stress, it really works me over. So a few years back, in college, I figured it out - minimize the stress, maximize the performance. It worked and I stuck with it.”
“And you’ve never thought to change that rule?”
“No, it got me where I am today. I wouldn’t be standing here, one of the 32 starting quarterbacks in pro football, if I hadn’t started sticking to that rule.”
“It just seems kinda…robotic, and that’s not just coming from someone interested, interested…” I trailed off, not knowing how to continue.
“Interested in…?”
“You know.”
“No, I don’t. I’m a dumb football player, Charlotte, spell it out for me.”
“In seeing if last night was a one time thing or not.”
“Charlotte, we can re-enact last night on any number of these training tables right fucking now, if you want. I’m down.”
“No, no, no, that’s not what I meant,” I said, inwardly thrilled that he had said that. I really needed to get ahold of myself. “I meant getting to know each other. For real.”
“We’re bound to get some of that as the year goes on. We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.” He smiled. “In particular, you’re going to be seeing a lot of me, and more importantly, touching a lot of me.”
“You know, there are any number of things in this room I can use to stab you with. You know that, right?”
“Peace, Calloway, peace. I know, and like I said, I’m not here to jam you up. I know this is an important job and I’ll try to be on my best behavior.” He narrowed those gorgeous dark eyes of his. “But, just to let you know, you don’t make that easy.”
“Would you rather I made it easier?”
“No, I like you just the way you are.” That look, the heat inside it, could roast me alive if I let it.
I flushed again. “That’s not what I meant. Would you like it if I quit?”
Lance looked shocked. “What? No, of course not. I want you here, of course.”
“Alright, just so that’s settled. I’m going to have my hands all over you, as you mentioned.”
“I will rise to the occasion.” Lance laughed again. “Sometimes I’m just too good at this.”
“Ugh. You are the worst. Don’t you have a meeting to get to?”
“I do, I do. One more thing before I go, though.”
“Yes?”
“You’re wrong about me being a made man around here. They could let me go tomorrow and in a week no one would remember my name either.”
And with that, before I could say anything in reply, or goodbye, Lance turned around, opened the door, and was gone.
Shit.
I was working on the guy I wanted more than anything in the world, and I couldn’t have him.
This was a terrible idea. I knew I should quit. I knew I should invent a reason why this wouldn’t work out and just quit on the spot, and we could go our separate ways.
I already knew I wasn’t going to quit.
Then my phone buzzed, from a number I didn’t recognize. A text message that read, “I’m really gonna love working with you every day.”
Ugh, it was Lance. How did he get my number?
This was the worst idea ever.
CHAPTER 05 - LANCE