Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
One of the player’s girlfriends approaches cautiously.
I’ve met her before but can’t remember her name.
“Uh, Teddy?” The girlfriend’s gaze is fastened on my hands. My fingers are buried in Iris’s hair and I’m holding her face to my chest. When did I start breathing so hard? “Do you want to introduce me to your…friend?”
“Girlfriend,” I correct, hoarsely. I can’t help claiming her.
Mine, mine, mine.
“Girlfriend. Wow.” Her interest grows. “Well, I’m watching practice from the stands. She can come sit with me and the others while you’re on the field, if you want.”
I scrutinize the girl, trying to figure out if she’s being friendly or if she has an ulterior motive. Of course she does. She wants to be the first to meet Iris, the girl who locked down Teddy Xavier for life. But since I can’t leave Iris alone without worrying, this girl might be the lesser of two evils. “Yeah.” I kiss Iris’s forehead, absorbing her scent. Her warmth. The goodness she permeates me with. “That okay with you, honey?”
“Yes.” She smiles up at me, brighter than sunshine. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
No. No, she’s going to disappear or fall and get hurt or get swallowed up by a sinkhole. A million other possibilities bombard me at once. She’s so fragile. She’s not going to be safe anywhere but in my arms. But I’m on thin ice with the team as it is, since my status for the championship game is questionable, due to my failing grade in Western Civilization.
“Later, it’ll just be you and me,” I whisper against her mouth, unable to resist kissing her. A long, slow indulging of her sweet mouth, turned on by the way she gasps when our tongues lick together. “Later.”
Her eyes are a little dazed as they search mine. “I was thinking…”
I tilt her face up, eager to hear what she’s going to say. “Yeah?”
“There’s a place off campus where I go sometimes. To study. To block out the noise.” She drops her voice to a whisper. “I could bring you there after practice.”
In that moment, something occurs to me. Something incredible. I’ve claimed Iris without even asking if I’m what she wants. Maybe I was afraid to ask. But this? Her wanting to share her secrets with me? It’s proof our relationship isn’t one-sided. She wants me back. Thank God. The dread in my stomach dissipates and I can breathe again. “I’ll go anywhere you go. Anywhere.”
“Same,” she says, going up on her toes to kiss my chin shyly. “Anywhere.”
There’s a fucking grapefruit in my throat when she walks away to join the other girl. “Keep her where I can see her,” I bark, already missing the feel of her skin in my hands.
* * *
Iris
One of the girls in nice. Mindy. She’s the one who offered to keep me company while Teddy is practicing. The rest of them scan me like I’m a barcode and decide, apparently, that I need some work. “Oh my God, that skirt,” says one of them—a pretty, raven-haired girl with a dozen hoops in one of her ears. “Are you wearing it that long on purpose?”
Mindy smacks her in the shoulder. “Shut up, Krissy. Leave her alone.” Her lips tilt up in a smile. “You’re risking the wrath of Teddy Xavier. He’s extremely protective of her.”
“How did you manage to reel that one in?” asks Krissy. “He’s got a reputation for being ice cold with women. Barely gives them the time of day. Unless he needs to blow off steam, of course, then he just grabs whoever is available—”
“Krissy,” Mindy says through her teeth.
My stomach lines itself with lead. I have the urge to leave. Run. But I suck it up and stay put. I’m not going to let the comments bother me. Of course Teddy was with other women before we met. He admitted as much. And he’s the star quarterback of a division one football team. No one could expect him to live like one of the priests back at the monastery. Not to mention, he feels guilty enough about his actions that he wanted me to punch him in the face. “It’s okay,” I assure Mindy, smiling at her. “Really.”
They fall into a conversation about one of the female professors who was caught with a male student in the parking lot. After hours. They talk about lipstick brands and their plans for the upcoming weekend. Mostly, I watch Teddy. I’ve seen football played on the small television the priests watched at the monastery before, but never paid too close of attention. But Teddy…my boyfriend…he’s extraordinary. I find myself holding my breath when he has the ball, tucking it into his large hands—hands that are so gentle, yet so commanding with me—and fires it off, spiraling it perfectly down the field into the waiting hands of another player.