Warning Track (Callahan Family #1) - Carrie Aarons Page 0,66
a long shot that we’d even come together as a team, much less make the playoffs or move onto the league championships. It’s a testament to how hard the players have worked, how well the coaches have coped, and I can pat myself on the back and take a tiny bit of credit for holding the ship together. Not that I’d ever say anything like that to a reporter or the PR rep I just hung up with.
“I’m so proud of you!” I squeal like a school girl, hopping over to him once I’m off the phone.
As a general manager, but more as a girlfriend, I’m so happy Hayes and the team won. He played like the champion he is tonight, and we’re onto the next round. All in all, this is a pretty perfect night. And it’s capped off by being one of the nights we’re allowing ourselves to spend at my house together. Hayes will sneak over long after the celebratory drinks and debauchery with the team, but I’ll wait up in giddy anticipation. He’s always raring to go after a victory.
No one is up here, but someone could venture this way soon. It feels too euphoric not to kiss him though, so I wrap my arms around Hayes’ neck. His hands come to my hips, and the last thing I see before my eyes flutter closed into the kiss is the cocky smirk he wears.
Our tongues tangle in a tantric, deep dance. He grinds himself against me, and I feel the bulge begin to grow in his suit pants. He smells like the showers, like Dove soap and the manly-scented lotion he keeps in his locker, and a little of the champagne that I’m sure is soaking through the carpets down there right now.
I could lose myself in him, right here, but I’m far too needy and it’s far too risky. The park is still crawling with fans, players, coaches, and media, and we’re playing a dangerous game. Still, he loves me and I love him and it feels so right to be able to kiss him in celebration right now.
“What the fuck?”
Hayes and I whirl around, with sheer panic coating my throat and stomach instantly. I could bend over and get sick all over Hayes’ dress shoes right now, until I glimpse who just caught us mid lip-lock.
Walker stands at the entrance to my office, and I must have been too involved in the kiss to hear him either knock or open the door uninvited. Either way, this is the last thing he thought he’d ever see me doing in here, and it shows all over his face.
“Walker, wait … I, um …” I can’t find the words to explain this away, or make it right, or do something.
Hayes holds up a hand, trying to defuse this bomb of a situation. “Walker, man, calm down. We can explain.”
In two seconds flat, all the glee and excitement this night holds pops like a rotten bubble, drenching everything in reality and shock.
“You … I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. Or you!” He points an angry finger at Hayes.
The hurt and disappointment in his voice hits me square in the chest, and I want to sob. I’ve been keeping this secret from everyone; not just the media and those who could ruin our careers, but from people who truly matter and love me.
“This is wrong. Do you know how much trouble you could get her in?” He accuses Hayes, as if I’ve had no part in this relationship.
That comment makes my temper flare. “Don’t act like we’re not both consenting adults, Walker. I’m not a child. You have no idea what you’re talking about when it comes to Hayes and me.”
“And I thought you weren’t your father, Col.” Walker shakes his head glumly, and that’s the one thing he could have said that feels like taking a bullet.
It dawns on me then, as Walker backs out with a strange, hurt expression on his face, that we’re in seriously over our heads. Hayes and I have been traipsing around with rose-colored glasses, basking in the honeymoon phase of our relationship and keeping to our own little bubble. I’m reminded of just how many people we could hurt, just how much damage we could do to the team and to ourselves if our relationship is discovered.
One second before being discovered, being in Hayes’ arms felt like the most secure, wonderful place in this world. Suddenly, in the aftermath of Walker’s