He felt her smile against his cheek. “A huge turnaround from the crying mess I was yesterday, right?”
“Nah, you’re always a knockout.”
She drew back to face him. She was so pretty, it hurt.
He cleared his throat as he returned her sparkly, open-toed shoes to Earth. “But since we’re talking about yesterday…I never told you why I didn’t want you to cancel our hangout.”
Kenadi shook her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It does.” He ran his thumb over her knuckles. “I knew you were going to walk into this party and everything was going to change.”
She started to shake her head, but he stopped her gently.
“Kenadi, Caleb is going to take one look at you, and you’re going to get the guy you’ve always wanted…and I…”
His throat tightened around his admission. He could tell her the truth he’d been bottling up and steal his best friend’s girl before his best friend had a chance, or he could do something he was good at and take one for the team.
“Cash?”
The sides of her smile fell in concern.
“I’m just going to miss hanging out with you.”
She placed a hand on his chest. “You ditching me or something?”
Her touch grounded him. He wanted to put his hand over hers and hold it there for as long as he could. “No, but relationships change people. I’m just being realistic.”
“I’m not in a relationship. Even if someone did ask me out—”
“Yo, Latham!” Both of them were jolted out of their intimate moment by the booming voice of Marlon Myers, one of the team’s fullbacks. “We’re taking pics!”
“I’m talking right now!”
“C’mon!”
Cash did his best to ignore him, but soon, several other teammates joined in chanting his name.
Kenadi smiled. “Go. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’ll keep Kenadi company while you’re gone.”
They spun around at the sound of Caleb’s voice.
Cash gave his friend the evil eye, but Caleb was too busy grinning at Kenadi to notice.
Kenadi stepped closer to Caleb. “You know who I am?”
“Of course!”
She smiled at Cash with twinkling eyes.
She was happy. This was a good thing. He repeated those two things to himself as he walked away knowing Kenadi’s happiness was enough to keep him from tackling his best friend.
He watched them from afar.
Cash knew watching Caleb flirt with Kenadi would be awful, but he didn’t anticipate how much worse it would be when it was genuine interest he saw between them. He knew how it felt to be on the other side of her gaze, and once Caleb realized how good it felt to make her smile, to hear her laugh…he’d be addicted to the feeling. Cash knew what it was like to want to be the center of her attention…and he also knew he never would be.
Kenadi: Hey, where’d you go? Did you fall into another pool or something?
Kenadi: I’ve got something to tell you.
He could only imagine what it was. He was going to need either a shot or more time before he had to sit through her gushing about how romantic Caleb was. He was closer to the exit than the bar.
Cash: I’ve got a killer headache. I’m going to get out of here. Call you tomorrow.
He was almost to the valet station when it hit him—it being the football that bounced off his shoulder and onto the pavement ahead of him. Someone had purposely hit him. The same someone looked both hurt and angry as she walked over.
“Where’d you get a football from?”
She ignored the question. “Why are you leaving?”
He rubbed his arm. “I guess I’m not in a party mood.”
Kenadi shook her head. “Bull. You had a conniption yesterday when I didn’t want to come. Now, I’m here, and you’re bailing.”
“I did what I promised. I helped you get the guy of your dreams.”
“Yeah.” She stepped closer. “You did.”
“Why are you out here, Kenadi?”
“Because the guy of my dreams is out here.”
He stared at her blankly.
“For clarity…it’s you.”
Cash wanted to punch the air and kiss the earth.
“I thought you wanted Caleb.”
“I thought I did too. Turns out, I wanted the idea of him.” She took his hand in hers, interlocking their fingers purposely. The missing pieces of his life were slowly being pushed into place.
“But I want the reality of you more than anything. Even though I’m not your type...”
His mouth slammed into hers as he kissed her furiously. His hands reached under her jacket, taking hold of her waist and pulling her into him. When it came to Kenadi, his self-restraint had been stretched impossibly thin. He