Fair Catch (Love and Sports Series) (7 page)

He wanted to do a lot more then kiss her but he knew she was the type of girl you had to
take your time with and he was ready to put in the time. Never in his life had he ever felt this strongly about a girl that came his way. It was kind of strange. He wondered if this was what growing up and turning into a man was like?

Completely out of place,
Jake didn’t know how he felt about his feelings because if being a man meant sweating profusely before a date and getting nervous to the point of nausea then he wanted nothing to do with being a man. He adjusted his tie before he knocked on the door of Lexi’s villa. They surprisingly only lived a couple of buildings away from each other. It was an easy five minute walk to pick her up. He drove though so they could head straight to the dinner that was being held in one of the many gyms they had on campus.

Jake smoothed down his tailored pants and brushed off a piece of lint that was on his ste
el grey suit that he paired with a white shirt and black tie. The suit jacket fit him to a tee, he preferred a more tailored look rather than a baggy suit that most of the guys on his team wore. He worked hard for his body and he liked to show it off when he could.

He knocked on the door
again and put his hands in his pockets so he didn’t look like a fool wringing his hands together, which would blatantly show off his nerves. Hell, he had to look as cool as a cucumber. He heard the door unlock and Margo opened the door.

Looking him up and down, she said,
“Hey Jake, you look really good.” Jake liked Margo, she was incredibly nice, easy on the eyes and she was Team Jake which was refreshing since Lexi seemed to be anti-Jake. “She will be out in a minute. Can I get you a drink?”

At the mention of a drink, Jake felt his throat parch. “Uh, yea some water would be nice, thank you.”

“Not a problem.” Jake watched Margo’s tall, lithe body slide behind the bar of the kitchen and grab a glass to fill for him. “Did you get to take a look at the gym this morning where the dinner is being held?”

“No I didn’t get a chance. Did you?”

“Yes.” Margo sighed. “It’s so dreamy. You would never know it was a gym.”

“Yea, the alumni
go all out for this event. It’s my second year being invited, it’s kind of boring when it comes to all the networking you have to do but the dinner and dancing is great.”

“Well Lexi is one lucky girl.” At the mention of her name, Lexi walked out of her room and Jake
almost choked on the water Margo handed him. Margo patted him on the back, trying to help him regain his composure but she could do all the patting she wanted because he didn’t think he would ever recover from seeing Lexi.

“You ok there b
ig boy?” Margo said while grabbing the glass from him.

Jake could only nod because he had never seen a
nything as beautiful as Lexi. She wore a deep blue dress that made her sky blue eyes sparkle, the slit in the dress made Jake’s mouth water and the way her hair cascaded over her shoulders in soft like waves begged for Jake’s fingers to explore the depths of her blonde locks.

He realized he was staring, cleared his throat and tried to avert his eyes from the smug grin on Margo’s face. “Wow, Lexi, you…uh you look gorgeous.”

Lexi fidgeted in place and that was when he saw the glitter stilettos she was wearing. It took all the energy in Jake’s body not to toss her against the wall and take what he so desperately wanted.

“Thanks, uh should we get going? We don’t want to be late.”

“Yes, let’s get going.” Jake felt so awkward, usually he was a lot smoother than this but Lexi seemed to drive away all coherent thoughts he developed in his brain. He was helpless around her.

Margo escorted them out the door and waved good bye. “Now you
kids have fun, but not too much. I won’t be waiting up.” Margo said with a wink. Jake heard Lexi groan under her breath as she walked past him.

Jake led the way to his Jeep and opened the door for her. She hiked her dress up
so she could get in the car which was when he was able to notice a very delicate ankle bracelet that was wrapped around her slender leg. Jake shut the passenger door and begged God for some will power. He could do this, he could be a normal human being and not attack his date in the first five minutes of them being together. But if she kept surprising him with sexy little touches to her appearance, he was not going to be able to last the whole night without mauling her.

When he opened the door to his side he was smacked in the face with
the scent of her perfume, a very feminine scent that made his toes curl. He swore under his breath and started the car.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Uh, just saying how amazing you look.” He tried to recover.

“Oh, thank you.” She turned to look out th
e window, avoiding all eye contact with him.

Real smooth, Taylor
.

                                          ***

It was a suit, just a plain suit, which of course was tailored to fit every contour of his body. He was so damn hot, it hurt to look at him. How was that fair? Well, her dress was the same way so she guessed it was fair but men shouldn’t look that good.

Why was she doing this? She should
fake a headache and have him drive her back to her apartment. She didn’t want to stay out too late because she had practice early in the morning and she didn’t want to really be seen publicly with Jake because she didn’t want people getting the wrong impression. She didn’t really know who was going to be at the event. All she knew was that there was going to be a lot of elite people and that was intimidating enough for her to come up with a fake get-a-way.

The alumni dinner was for the “celebrity” alumni to come back to the school and hob knob with the potential “celebrity” graduates. Of course Jake was invited, he was going to be drafted into the NFL in a couple of months, he was talked about nationwide and she was
the one on a date with him. Well a so called date. What the hell was she thinking? She started to fidget in her seat and was about to open her mouth to complain about her head when Jake spoke first.

“You must be nervous.”

Was she that obvious? “Uh, just a little. These dinners and events aren’t really my thing.”

“Well they look like your t
hing. You’ll fit in perfectly. Everyone is going to be staring at how gorgeous you are.”

Great, just what she needed,
all eyes on her and Jake. She wanted to crawl into a hole. She looked over at him and noticed his smile. That seemed sort of cheesy. Why was it so hard for her to believe him when he said she looked beautiful? Was it because he probably said it to every living thing walking on two legs with two breasts? Whatever it was, she didn’t find him genuine and that bothered her.

She tried to strike up conversation instead of being a wet
rag. “So, do you know anyone who will be attending?”

“Just a couple of people, not too many.
Coach is making me attend more than anything. He said it would be good for my career. I don’t necessary like doing these things.”

That shocked her a little.
Jake Taylor, not liking the spotlight? That seemed odd. The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them. “You? Not like that spotlight? That is hard to believe.” Instantly he frowned from her words. Damn, she didn’t want to be a bitch but it just happened whenever she was around him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to be insulting.”

“Of course you did.”

Mouth wide open in shock, she spun around in her chair to look at him. She apologized, he didn’t have to be rude to her. He parked the car and got out fast enough so she couldn’t confront him about his comment. He came around to her side and opened the door for her while grabbing her hand and helping her out.

“I didn’t mean to be rude, it just
slipped out.”

“Exactly, that’s what your sub-
conscious thinks of me, some egotistical maniac.”

She secretly agreed with him because that was how she saw him but she didn’t want him to know that.
She squared her shoulders and met him face to face. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Maybe it wasn’t.” He replied, shocking the hell out of her. She thought that she was just another hurdle to jump on his way to conquering the female athletic department but if he was giving up this easily maybe she wasn’t. Was this some kind of sick game he was playing?

Someone called from across the parking lot. “Jake, hey man.” They both looked over and saw Darren from the lacrosse team jogging over to them. Darren eyed Lexi up and down and blew out a whistle.

“Damn Lexi you clean up real good. I didn’t even recognize you” He gave her a kiss on the cheek causing Jake to squeeze her hand he was
now holding tighter. The little jealous gesture confused her. She had no clue what Jake was up to but whatever it was, she didn’t care for it.

“Thanks Darren, you look pretty sexy yourself. I didn’t know you knew what a tie was.”

He laughed, “I had to have my roommate tie it for me.”

They both laughed
together while Jake stood there and watched them interact with each other. Lexi knew Darren from an English class they took together previously but hadn’t seen him in a while. The only reason why they survived the incredibly boring and pompous class together was because they would play Hangman with each other throughout the entire class. They had a running score at one point.

“I still lead you in Hangman.” She bragged.

“Ha, you wish, I owned you.”

“Keep dreaming.”

“I will now.” He said with a wink which caused Jake to budge into their little banter.

“Alright
, we’ll see you in there.” Jake said dismissively.

Darren looked at Lexi and then at Jake’s menacing face. He got the picture very quickly that Jake w
as painting the world to see, which caused Lexi to blush with embarrassment. Darren waved bye and walked into the building leaving Lexi and Jake alone once again.

“Was that really necessary?” she asked.

“Was what necessary?”

She poked him in his chest with her finger, his rock hard chest. “You know
exactly what. You didn’t have to be rude to him. We were just joking around with each other.”

“Yea and as much fun
as that was for me, I would prefer that my girl wasn’t flirting with other men while I was around.”

That made her put her hands on her hips.
“Your girl? Are you living on Mars? By no means am I your girl or will I ever be your girl.”

She turned away from him and started walking toward her apartment. It would be a brisk evening walk in high heels but it would be worth it
, if it meant getting away from Jake Taylor. He was infuriating. If he wanted to see flirting she could show him flirting. She was merely being polite to an old friend, there was nothing wrong with that.

She felt an arm grab her and spin her around.

“Lexi, stop, we have to go in there. You can’t just walk away.”

“We,” she emphasized, “
We don’t have to go in there, you do!”

She saw him struggling to find
words but she frankly didn’t care. She should teach him a lesson and just take off leaving him to explain to everyone why his date didn’t show but then she saw a bit of a lost boy in his eyes when he looked at her. Groaning inwardly, she wanted to smack herself for feeling sorry for him.

“Please Lexi, I’m sorry.
Just come inside with me.”

Big puppy dog eyes pleaded with her
, how could anyone say no to that? She blew out a hefty, irritated breath, ripped her arm from his grasp and walked toward the building, trying to leave him in her dust. Unfortunately he caught up and placed his hand on her lower back.

“Thank you.”

She just nodded and allowed him to escort her into the building.

The party committee
transformed the gym into a beautiful dining area full of plants and twinkle lights, it was slightly magical but also ridiculous Lexi thought. The money they spent on this dinner probably could go to something more beneficial, she couldn’t think of anything at the exact moment but she did believe that all the pomp and circumstance she was currently experiencing wasn’t entirely necessary.

Lexi silently thanked Margo for making her get the dress she was wearing. Everyone was dressed to the nines. All the women had their hair in up
-dos and wore gorgeous dresses that made hers look like it was from a discount store. Lexi self-consciously stroked her hair, wondering if she should have put it up like everyone else.

She felt a hand brush against her neck and J
ake’s breath right next to her ear. “You look beyond amazing, don’t let anyone make you think differently.”

Startled, she looked into his eyes and saw that he was being truly genuine, he wasn’t just throwing one of his smooth lines
out for her benefit. For the first time she had interacted with him, he was actually showing a little piece of him. It was marginally refreshing. The intimate gesture made her confidence slightly spike.