Kickin' It (Red Card) - Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,30

him? I shouldn’t. He was dangerous. But he showed me that he cared. And I respected him.

Another chill wracked my body. He wrung out my wet hair and then pried my hands from him and wrapped the towel tightly around my body. “I’ll turn around while you get dressed, okay? Just tell me if you need more light.” He handed me his cell.

He didn’t even look at me.

Not like last time.

Last time he’d looked at me like he wanted to punish me.

This time, his voice was raspy.

With a bit of concern.

And something else that I wasn’t sure I could identify.

Which in turn made me shake as I dressed quickly and then handed his cell phone back. “Ready.”

“Good.” He wrapped an arm around me and guided me out of the still-dark building. Rain pounded over both of us as we ran to his SUV.

“Guess I didn’t need that shower,” I joked once we were inside with the smell of expensive leather filling the air.

He stared at me as he pressed the ignition. His gaze raked over me slowly, warming me from the inside out. “Guess not.”

And that was it. We drove home in silence.

And when we walked into the house, I didn’t miss the fact that he had his hand on my lower back the entire way.

And I’d bet money he didn’t even realize he’d been doing it.

Chapter Thirteen

MATT

I had a shit day ahead of me, ending with more practice that evening with Parker. I hated to admit it, but I looked forward to our time together, and the worst part was she wasn’t just off-limits because of who I was, she was off-limits because of something that had happened to her, something bad.

I replayed images of the terror on her face in the locker room and felt even more like a jackass that I’d treated her so horribly.

Irony reared its ugly head. How many times had I told Slade not to be a jackass when Mack worked for him? How many times did I send flowers on his behalf? And this was what I learned? To go the jackass route like he had? To forget that I was dealing with another human being with their own thoughts and feelings?

Great.

I glanced around my office. Light flooded in through the sliding glass door, spotlighting my bookcase, pictures of me at the ESPYs with Slade and Jagger on the top shelf, and awards right below it. So many awards, medals, things, and yet there I sat, soccer ball in hand, wondering what the hell I was going to do about Parker. About the fear. I wanted to help, to shove it away, to pull her into my arms, and there it was again.

I wanted to touch her.

But touching her was off-limits. The woman was petrified of the dark, would she have the same reaction to me?

I tossed the soccer ball in the air again just as the door to my office flew open. “Guess what!” Willow clapped her hands and then dragged Parker in behind her. Parker had a can of potato chips open and was currently licking her fingers. Disgusting. Alluring. Sexy as hell. Damn it!

I nodded to the chips and then reached into my desk and tossed her a packet of whey protein.

She handed me the chips with a pissed-off look and scrunched up her nose at the protein pack. Peanut butter. Yum. I knew firsthand it was the worst flavor, and apparently she did too.

“What?” I finally said, acknowledging my sister, who was still able to bounce from stiletto to stiletto without spraining an ankle. She was wearing black leggings and a tank, making workout leisure look a hell of a lot more leisure. I’d be shocked if she could dribble a ball.

“So the LA team, whatever their name is, tried to reach you.” I sighed in annoyance. “Whatever, I’ll learn the names of all the teams, and balls, and yay, sports! Anyways, I was just too excited. Apparently they caught wind of Parker’s tryout for the Seattle Reign and said they’d be interested in a meeting. They heard something about an attitude transformation and wanted to see if it was true.”

“Attitude transformation?” Parker huffed. “I have a great personality.”

“When you’re not sticking your foot up people’s asses, some might say shining.” I winked.

She stuck out her tongue.

We smiled at each other a minute before my sister waved her hand in front of my face. “Matt? Hello? They want you both to fly out tomorrow!”

“Tomorrow!” Parker screeched.

“Tomorrow.” Willow did a