“Really?”
“You don’t think so?”
I sit down on the couch next to Kat, running my hand gently over her head. “It doesn’t matter what I think. This is between you and Kat, and Kat hates cats.”
“I feel like you’re making this confusing on purpose.”
“Talking to a dog isn’t easy.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
I smile. “Kat needs to go for a walk.”
She nudges me with her wet nose.
“Then you better get to steppin’,” Lilly scolds me lightly.
“Do you want to walk with us?”
She hesitates. When she speaks, her rough voice is hesitant and so fucking hot. It’s like it’s concentrated now that I can’t see her, now that her voice is all I have. I can’t get enough of it. “Yes and no.”
“Will you walk with us?”
“I doubt I live anywhere near you.”
“I’m gonna text you an address and we’ll meet you there.”
“When did I agree to go? I must have missed it.”
“We’ll see you there in twenty minutes,” I tell her, breezing by her complaint.
“Will there be other people there?”
“Yeah. Kat.”
“Kat’s not people,” she reminds me impatiently.
“Don’t let her hear you say that. Just go to the address. It’s safe, I promise. And we won’t be alone. There’s always someone there.”
She hesitates, drawing the silence out to a painful degree. “I’m trusting you. Is that a bad idea?”
“Would you expect me to admit it to you if it was?”
“No.”
“Then you’re not really trusting me.” I drop my voice seriously, my eyes on the dark wood planks of my floor. “I’m being real with you, Lilly. I’m not real with everyone all the time, but I’m being real with you right now. I just want to walk with you. I want you to meet my dog and hang out. That’s it. And if I suddenly want anything else from you, I’ll tell you. I won’t try to trick you into giving it.”
Another silence. Another eternity.
“Okay,” she agrees softly. “Send me the address.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
COLT
Charlie Windt Stadium
Los Angeles, CA
Lilly beats me to the stadium. Either she lives closer than I do or she drives faster. I’m hoping it’s the former, because if it’s the latter that is fucking terrifying.
I know the old silver and black Jeep Cherokee is hers because it’s the only car in the parking lot. I pull up next to her so my driver’s side window is across from hers. Kat immediately shoves her face out the window the second I roll it down.
“Oh, so you have a big dog,” Lilly comments when she sees her.
“You know what they say about guys with big dogs.”
“Big egos?”
“Big bills. She eats like an elephant and she’s expensive as shit to fly anywhere.” I shift the car into gear, slowly rolling forward. “We aren’t parking here. Follow me to the back.”
She nods, turning her engine on. I gun it across the empty parking lot toward the back of the stadium, watching admiringly in my rearview the way she cuts a hard U-turn and doesn’t hesitate to match pace behind me. Kat keeps her head out the window, happily licking the wind.
When I park I shoot a quick text to my man on the inside. Even though I’m a player on the team, that doesn’t mean I have keys to the stadium. After hours like this we’ll have to be let in by the security team, but not a single one of them would turn me away. More than once I’ve come here in the middle of the night looking to blow off some steam in the weight room. In fact, there’s a familiar blue Blazer not far from where I’ve parked. Matthews is here somewhere.
I don’t bother with a leash when I open the door and let Kat go bounding out onto the asphalt. She sniffs quickly around my feet before running to meet Lilly at her door.
“Hey, Kat,” Lilly greets her sweetly, her voice high and sing songy, the rasp lost in the pure melodic tone. “You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you?”
Kat wags her tail in eager agreement.
Lilly kneels down to get face to face with my girl. She takes Kat’s head in her hands so she can scratch behind her ears. “She really is beautiful.”
“And she knows it.”
“Like father, like daughter.”
I smirk. “You sayin’ I’m beautiful, Hendricks?”
“I’m saying you know you are, Avery.”
Lilly presses her forehead to Kat’s briefly before standing up. Her black leggings are dusted in yellow dog hair, the sleeves of her purple fleece pullover covered even worse. She brushes at the hair ineffectively before giving up all together.
I grimace at her apologetically. “One of the dangers of loving her. Sorry.”
“It’s no big deal. I came here to see a couple dogs. I expected to get dirty.” She gestures to the stadium towering over us. “Can we really go inside after hours like this?”