Fuck.
None of the reporters wanted to talk to me after the game once they were allowed into the locker room, so I showered, dressed, and headed out, planning on going right to my room and getting some much needed sleep.
I turned a corner and stepped right into Lily Pearson. She collided with my chest and bounced right off, stepping back and rubbing her face. “Ow!”
“Sorry. Look where you’re going!”
She blinked and recognized me. “I was, you dummy! I just didn’t expect to be slammed by a giant man from around the corner!”
I laughed. “In a professional football team’s complex after a game? Expect the unexpected, Lily.”
She looked like she was about to hit me, but then she stopped herself and burst out laughing. “You know, you’re right, and when you’re right, you’re right, and this time you’re right!”
What had gotten into her? “You saw the game?” That was a dumb question.
“Of course I saw the game. I work for the Globe, remember? I cover the team for a living.”
“I thought you covered me for a living.” There it was, the old Drake Rollins charm. I was a master of the double, and sometimes, single entendre.
Lily stopped laughing and her eyes grew dark. “That was only one time.”
“I know, sorry about that, I’ve been busy.”
This time she did hit me, tapping me lightly on the shoulder. “Jerk.”
I rubbed my shoulder, super exaggerated like she had really hurt me. “Ow! Thanks, woman, I didn’t just, you know, play a football game or anything.”
“Walk it off, Drake, you didn’t even get touched. And don’t call me ‘woman.’”
Ouch, that was a low blow. You don’t get touched if you don’t catch the ball. I decided to change the subject. “Wanna get out of here?”
“And go where?”
“Dinner.”
She looked wary, and I could see there was question on her face. Lily was trying to decide what to do. I sat back and folded my arms, not trying to persuade her either way.
“Fine. Meet me at the same spot in an hour?”
“An hour? I’m starving.”
“Have a snack, then. I need a little time.”
“Fine.”
An hour later I stood outside the convenience store, like I had a week earlier. Lily drove up and didn’t park this time, and I got in the passenger side, looking her up and down.
“Damn.” She wore a purple dress, nothing too fancy, but it hung off her like a glove, and my mouth started to water with a different kind of hunger. A more primal, less controllable kind.
She blushed, then waved me away. “Down, boy. This is just a professional dinner to celebrate your first preseason game, got it?”
“Got it.” Oh well, fantasy busted. Still, I had a little bit to celebrate. It hadn’t gone amazingly well for me, but I had survived my first game under the brightest lights.
We picked a different restaurant this time, another hole in the wall, and settled in and ordered without really saying much to each other. It was funny, normally girls tried to keep the conversation going around me, like they were worried I would find them boring and move on from them.
Which, to be fair, I did, so far every single time.
But Lily Pearson was different and I could tell that right away. Sure, she was gorgeous and funny and smart and we were amazing in bed together, but she didn’t seem…concerned around me. Like everything about us was just comfortable.
I knew she resisted spending time with me outside of work stuff like this, but once she made that decision to do so, she committed to it. I found that really appealing.
“How did the game go? I mean, from your perspective,” she asked, once the waiter had taken our menus away.
“You don’t waste any time, do you?”
“This is business, Drake. I need to know what your thoughts were on the game.” So much for comfortable and light and breezy, damn.
“It was just the first preseason game. There are 3 more coming up quick.”
“That sounds like something someone would say if they had a bad game.”
I leaned forward. “We were both there, Lily, no need to beat around the bush. I didn’t even make a catch.”
“Parker only gave you a few targets. He doesn’t know what to do with a receiver like you.”
I waved it away. “That might be the case, and I’m not saying I disagree with you, but it’s not my job to dictate the offense. All I can do is catch the balls that are thrown to me. If I do that, more of them will come my way. If I don’t, then the opposite will happen.” I put my hands on the table. “It’s just that simple.”
Lily nodded. “OK, now give me the real story.”
I laughed. “Huh? That is the real story.”
“Nah, that’s the proto-Patriots robot speak they teach you around here. Give me the real stuff.”
I cocked my head to one side and narrowed my eyes. “Off the record?”