notice the other distractions on the field. Like the long legs and curves that made up their general manager. She watched Reese as the woman returned to Mills and Wilkens, running through her own workout, seeming to forget that Hanson had tried to get into her head.
Gia’s attention was cool, collected, but Kai knew better than anyone on that field what those calm looks meant. He knew there might be a threat lining just below the surface. When he moved into laps, hustling away from the offensive squad to tail end the sprints he and Wilson completed, Kai made a point to catch Gia’s gaze, wanting to get a read on her.
She’d left his apartment after laying a challenge at his feet. She’d called him out, accusing him of acting like a kid anytime she was around because he wanted her. Gia seemed convinced Kai was incapable of being a professional around her. He had plans to change her mind.
Work your ass off until your name and a bust of your pretty face is in the hall of fame, she’d recommended and the memory of that suggestion pulled a grin from the man as he sped past her, catching her eye, satisfied when he held her attention as she watched him run along the field. So, she thought he had a pretty face. That wasn’t nothing. Kai shook his head, squashing the stupid thought before he was outright laughing.
Flirting with her, laying out all his cards in front of her had done nothing for him. Gia needed reminding of what had moved between them at that club, even if she pretended it had been a mistake. Kai knew better. He felt the way she touched him. Even after she knew who he was, last week in his apartment, he’d felt something moving between them when she asked him to put on his shirt.
Gia wanted him, but she would not let herself admit a damn thing.
Kai’s thoughts became a blur, his breathing accelerating, and he moved through the last stretch of grass and turned toward the goal post. Wilson had beat him by less than a minute, he was sure, but Kai still hustled, digging deep to make sure no one but his friend nosed ahead and then, with his general manager watching, likely analyzing how he moved, Kai finished his lap, collapsing on the grass.
He fell to the ground next to Wilson, arms over his forehead, breath coming in heavy, wild pants as he lay there. Kai took the water that the kid manning the bottle handed him, gulping down most of it before he doused his head in the rest, gripping a towel to rub his face dry. His breathing leveled and evened out after several moments as Kai spotted Gia staring at him, still with her hands moving, holding her phone in front of her as she spoke to someone. But there was no mistaking the look she gave him, how calm she carried herself, how it seemed like nothing could ever get to her. Kai knew better. He planned to prove it one day off this field.
Halfway across from him, he spotted Reese pummeling balls into the uprights, landing one after another, her leg extending perfectly, her form excellent and even Mills nodded, crossing his arms before he jerked his chin down and waved the kicker off. Reese asked him something, and the coach pointed to something across the field. Kai moved to his feet, wanting to catch her before she hit the showers, but found himself slowing the closer he came to the sidelines, taken aback by Gia turning, by the slow twist of her legs, and her small waist when she paced moving near the table that held the aluminum Steamers cups.
Glancing to his left, he noticed Reese had busied herself with more drills, new ones, it seemed that she and Wilkens discussed and Kai grew idle standing close to Gia, shutting his eyes when a slow, cruel breeze picked up, carrying the hint of Gia’s perfume right against Kai’s face.
She’d finished her conversation but kept herself distracted with whatever she tinkered with on her screen. Her attention was captive, her fingers sliding up and down the flat surface until she looked up, staring, at first at Reese, her mouth cordial, then to Kai with just the shift of her gaze moving to her right.
“Mr. Pukui,” she greeted, nodding at him.
“Miss…Ji…lani…” he replied, purposefully drawing out her name. He wanted to make sure she knew