Lexington and 42nd (The Off Field Series #1) (7 page)

I raised an eyebrow at her. “You do realize we actually speak the same language, don’t you?”

“You know what I mean, give us an Aussie one-liner. They sound so funny.”

“Fine.” I paused momentarily, thinking of something quintessentially Australian and dialling up my accent. “
Throw anutha shrimp on tha bar-bee, luv!”

“Sounds like this table is the place to be.”

I jumped at the sound of Will’s voice and turned to find him standing right behind me, arms resting on my chair back.

James offered his hand to Will. “Hey Jensen, how’s it going?”

He moved to stand between me and James and gave a few small waves and nods to the team around the table before grinning at the three of us. If I hadn’t already been sitting, the grin alone might have bowled me over.

“What’s so funny over here? I could hear you laughing halfway across the room.”

Carrie clapped her hands together. “We’ve been making Em say things in her Australian accent.” She prodded my arm. “Say something else!”

Mortified, I shook my head. “No way, I’m done with the accent game tonight. You’ll have to find something else to amuse you.”

James tipped his drink my way. “Oh, c’mon Em…just do one for Jensen.”

I looked up to Will who was looking at me with one eyebrow cocked. “Trust me, you really don’t want to hear this.”

He grinned. “Really? Because I kinda think I do.”

Carrie laughed from behind me and slapped my hand. “See Em? Do another one, please?”

Getting flustered, I looked from Will to Carrie and then to James. “No! Just…No! No more accent game. We’re done. Finished with the accent game.”

Will sighed. “Okay, we get it. You don’t want to play anymore.” I flinched as he pulled my chair out from the table. “Come on, let’s go dance then.”

It’s funny how true the concept of selective hearing can be sometimes. The volume of Will’s voice hadn’t changed at all since joining our conversation, yet for some reason every person at the table seemed to hear
that
.

All ten pairs of eyes moved to Will’s face, and silence descended.

I laughed, the embarrassed kind you do in an effort to not sound embarrassed…which made me sound completely embarrassed. “It’s too early to dance, Will.”

Will grinned. “Since when has it ever been too early for dancing?” He narrowed his eyes. “Unless you
do
want to keep playing the accent game.”

I swallowed. “I…Ah, sure, I guess a dance would be nice.”

Feeling ten pairs of eyes on me, I slowly put my napkin on the table as Will pulled my chair out further. Glancing toward Dana and Carrie I silently pleaded with them, although for what, I wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter anyway as all I got were wide eyes staring back at me. They were as shocked as I was. I didn’t risk glancing at Mark; I really didn’t want to know what his face must have looked like.

Will took my hand the second I was up from the table and lead me through the room toward the dance floor. As the night was still relatively young, there was a blues band playing background music and only a few couples were on the dance floor, all of them twice our age. Will turned and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me in until there was no space between us. If I thought I’d felt like a deer in headlights on the red carpet, this was on a totally different level.

I stared directly into his chest as we swayed to the music, afraid to look up at him, or over his shoulder at the watching crowd. I tried to get my head around how I’d gone from minding my own business with friends to being the center of attention dancing with Will in the space of less than sixty seconds.

“Hey, you’re shaking.” His voice was soft. It was a new sound and I liked it.

“Can you blame me? Why did you do that, Will?”

“Do what?”

“You know what. Why did you pull me out here?”

“I thought I was doing you a favor. You know, saving you from more embarrassment.”

I deadpanned him.

“Okay fine, maybe I just wanted to dance with you.”

Well really, what’s a girl supposed to say to that?

“You look beautiful.”

I looked up and met his eyes; it was a mistake. I swallowed. “Thank you.”

He stared at me a beat before speaking again. “Come home with me tonight.” His hand at my waist squeezed and his voice became even softer, like sun-warmed honey. “And this time, I don’t mean just to hang out.”

It took a few seconds to register what he’d said, and then a few more to decide if I should be furious or delighted.

“What did you just say?”

He winked. “You heard me.”

I gaped at me. “Please tell me you didn’t just say what I think you did?”

He leaned down and I felt the stubble along his jaw graze my cheek before he whispered in my ear. “You shouldn’t have worn that dress if you weren’t planning on coming home with me, Bambi.”

Oh my God.

“Will…you can’t, you can’t do this.”

“Do what? Ask you to come home with me?”

“Yes! You definitely can’t do that, and well…all of it actually. I meant what I said at lunch. No more flirty eyes and one-liners. This is my job.”

“But I can’t help it. I don’t want to stop flirting with you. Is that such a bad thing?”

Not sure how to respond to that, I dropped my forehead to his chest in exasperation and we continued swaying in silence. After a few beats, his hand began moving along the bare skin of my back in a soothing up-and-down motion and I realized I could feel his heart beating through his chest. It took quite a bit of willpower on my behalf not to nuzzle into the side of his neck.

How difficult could it be to turn him down? But I was strong—I could do this. While tempting as hell, a one-night stand with Will was not worth my reputation or my job, let alone the potential demise of the Sydney Football Club if I stuffed things up.

Sighing, I looked up at him. “Look, I appreciate your interest in me, really I do. It’s a big confidence booster.
Huge
. But you’re wasting your time, Will. I’m only here for a year and the last thing I want is to be remembered as the girl on exchange who slept with the quarterback.”

His eyebrows went up in surprise. “You’re seriously worried that’s what people will think? That’s why you’re turning me down?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course that’s what people will think. Have you ever slept with any of the girls from the office before?”

He considered this for a second before nodding, having the decency to look slightly sheepish. “I might have.”

“Right, and how long did she last at the club after that happened?”

Will frowned. “I don’t know. I don’t think I saw her again after it happened.”

“My point exactly. Sleeping with the players is not cool, and there’s a reason the girls that do it aren’t around for long.”

“Em, that girl threw herself at me in a very obvious and very public way and trust me, she didn’t give a shit about what it looked like, or keeping her job. You’re nothing like that. You’re clearly not here to sleep around—you didn’t even know who I was the first time we met.”

I gave a little laugh. “Don’t remind me. Can you please stop making this so hard? I must be the only unattached woman here tonight that won’t go home with you. Can’t you just find someone else?”

Even as the words came out of my mouth, the thought of Will actually doing so made my skin crawl.

Tilting his head down so our noses were close to touching he said, “I don’t want to go home with anyone else. I want
you
.”

Oh my God, I want you too
, I wanted to say but I didn’t.

I shook my head. “No. We have to work together. I don’t want things to be awkward between us and regardless of what you say, I
do
care what people think.”

He sighed, pulling me closer as he shook his head. “I’ll back off Em, but just so you know, you’re killing me over here. A man can only take so much rejection.”

I laughed into his shoulder. “Maybe if you stop propositioning me, you’ll stop being rejected.”

One song had turned into two and he finally released me into a spin, flashing one of his killer smiles. “So just to be clear, you do
want
to sleep with me, but you’re just not willing to?”

I hit him playfully, rolling my eyes. “Shut up, Quarterback.”

We danced comfortably for the rest of the song, the mood between us had thankfully lightened somewhat and I was able to relax and enjoy his company again.

As the song came to an end, he made a show of spinning me out and pulling me back into a low dip. He guided me back up to him, my laughter easing as the music disappeared. I became aware of how close we were again, our chests rising and falling as one. Looking up at him, I watched his smile fade and his eyes darken ever so slightly. We stood like that for ten seconds or maybe it was ten minutes. I wasn’t sure but in that time, I felt myself falling right back under his spell. The constant shift in his mood toward me and the reactions I had to them were exhausting, yet I craved them like my next breath.

Swallowing, I forced myself to step away from him. “Well, thanks for the dance.”

He slid his hands into his pockets and nodded, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “Any time.”

I turned, keeping my head down as I felt numerous pairs of eyes follow me through the crowd.

#

I lay in bed that night willing sleep to come but failing miserably. The conversation with Will played on repeat in my mind. The whole situation felt like it was skyrocketing out of my control.

Aside from the open stares I had received upon returning to my table, the team had thankfully kept their mouths shut and the second half of the night had been far less dramatic than the first. Except of course for Carrie and Dana—they dragged me to the ladies room and tried to pry every last detail from me. I shared only about half of the facts and kept the other half for myself.

While I spent most of my night on the dance floor messing around with the team, Will stayed far away, mingling with people around his table. I couldn’t decide if I was anxious people would notice that he had only danced with me or relieved that he wasn’t dancing with anyone else. Every so often, I would sense his eyes on me and although I tried, I couldn’t always stop myself from turning to meet his gaze. Much like his shifting behavior towards me, sometimes I would catch him openly smiling, relaxed and happy and other times I could literally feel him undressing me with his eyes. It was a dangerous game since, in a room full of people, Will drew more attention than anyone else, and I only hoped it went unnoticed.

I finally drifted off to a restless sleep just before sunrise, memories of the night replaying in my dreams.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Wakey Wakey!!”

A hand shook my shoulder.

“Mmmphhh. Go away, sleeping.”

“Uh-uh, time to get up sleepy head. You promised!” Julia’s voice was far too perky for this time of morning.

“I promised to go out this afternoon. It’s still early.”

“It is the afternoon, and you’re well past blaming jetlag so don’t even try.”

I rolled over to squint up at Julia. “Is it really afternoon already? What time is it?”

“One thirty, I let you sleep for as long as I could, but we have to be there in an hour.”

“Wow. I never sleep that late.” Sitting up slowly, I rubbed my face. “Remind me what exactly we’re doing this afternoon?”

Julia bounced onto my bed. “We’re going to this cool little bar opening on Sullivan Street.”

I nodded slowly, memory returning. “Ahh, yes to have drinks with the very cute owner of said bar.”

Julia tapped my nose playfully and started for the door. “Exactly! Now hurry up, I don’t want to be late.”

#

This particular Sunday afternoon, the streets of New York were bustling with people, the early summer sun drawing a crowd. As we strolled along arm in arm toward the bar, I filled Julia in on my night, relieved to be able to tell someone the full story.

“I can’t believe he asked you to dance in front of everyone. How awkward,” she said with a shiver.

“I know,” I agreed. “It was one of the more uncomfortable moments of my life.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

I shrugged. “Nothing, there’s not much I can do other than continue to say no. Which is a lot harder than it sounds, given that every time he looks at me, I practically go weak in the knees.”

Julia laughed. “Are you sure it’s just his looks that are getting to you?”

“What? Of course! Are you suggesting I actually like him? You don’t fall for the quarterback, Julia. Even I don’t need to be told there’s no happy ending there.”

She raised an eyebrow at me but said nothing more. She didn’t need to. Her silence said enough.

“I have an idea.” She beamed at me and her feet did a little skip.

“I’m listening.”

“You need a distraction.” Her voice turned mischievous. “Of the male variety.”

I started to shake my head. “Julia, I can’t solve one man problem by creating another one.”

She laughed. “Of course you can! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. I’m not saying go husband-hunting…just go on a date. Or a few even. They say variety is the spice of life for a reason you know. It’s perfect—something to take your mind off him. You’ve been in New York a month now, and it’s definitely time to hit the dating scene.”

“I still don’t really see how this solves the Will problem though.”

She rolled her eyes, stopping to face me. “It’s easy, you go on some dates, realize there are plenty of great guys in New York that you
don’t
work with and you’ll find it much easier to deny him. Eventually he’ll get the message that you’re serious and back off.”

I guess she had a point. All week, ever since Will had driven me home from the stadium, I couldn’t seem to get him off my mind. And since I was the one who had the problem with us hooking up—something he was fine with— it wasn’t surprising that his advances hadn’t stopped. Who could blame the man when my words said no but my reaction to him so obviously said yes? For as long as he could see that I wanted him, he would keep trying…of that, I was sure.