blocker.
The crowd was quiet, waiting for the call. “Roughing the kicker,” the man said. “Personal foul to Carolina. 15-yard penalty.”
It might not have been her skill alone that won the Steamers’ the game, but she still landed the field goal, and more than that, Reese had stood up to a giant, getting in his face, cursing him, raging against his low-class action just like any other man on her team would do.
The Steamers won the game, 28 to 31, and Reese Noble was finally part of the team on that field and in the stands.
After the last whistle sounded and the game was called, Reese was surrounded. Ryder started for the center of the field to meet that punk-ass Dean and offer a pat on the back the man didn’t deserve, but Dean was a little more than a spoiled kid, and kids like that don’t offer congratulations. He left the field without a backward glance at Ryder, but the quarterback didn’t care.
He made it halfway to where Reese was taking her pats on the back, her face red and lit up with the widest smile he’d ever seen her wear. Just seeing it did something to Ryder’s chest, and he didn’t know if it was want or pride or a general sense of relief that she had proved herself, but that sensation didn’t dim the closer he got to her. But Reese was more than a player. She was an athlete. She was part of the team, and though Ryder hated to admit it, she was a woman getting the attention of a bunch of men who didn’t have a past with her they wanted to forget.
Baker pulled Reese away from Pérez and Wilson, pulling her against him in a tight, affectionate hug that Ryder didn’t like. The guy was massive, but it wasn’t fat and girth that made him so big. Baker was well over six-four and nothing but solid muscle. He was a freight train, and that train seemed pretty interested in Reese.
When she hugged the man back, Ryder changed direction, tossing a wave to Wilson and Pérez as he walked by them, disregarding how they called his name. He didn’t need to be told how good Reese was. He knew that enough already. And he didn’t want to see more of his teammates fawning after her because she was strong and talented and very fucking beautiful. Ryder reached the darkened entrance to the back stadium, shooting a wave at the fans who leaned over the bleachers to catch his attention, then that ever-constant weight of worry and guilt in his gut got heavier as he came closer, spotting Greer waiting for him near the locker room door.
“I’m messing with you, Noble,” Ryder remembered telling her that day at the kids’ camp. In a way, he guessed part of him still was. She was everywhere—on his team and in his head, infiltrating his life with a kiss she didn’t offer and a smile she couldn’t help.
Greer had a hug for him when he reached her, and he took it, pulling back from her kiss when she tried to give it to him. “Sweaty, babe. Give me a few.” She wasn’t offended. Greer was like she’d always been—amenable. But Ryder still felt like a shit for doing it.
He managed to make it into the locker room and showers without saying much to anyone. He stood under that spray a long time, hoping that the hot water and steam would eradicate the memory of a shower with Reese a long time ago. He rubbed his eyes, forcing back the recall before it became clear.
Memories of Reese didn’t help Ryder. They had no place in his head, and Ryder realized as he continued showering away the Carolina grime from his body, she should have no real place in his heart.
Funny how that didn’t change a thing.
13.
REESE
THREE IN THE morning and the lobby was empty. There were stragglers, a buzzed couple hanging around the front desk, fascinated with the revolving door leading to the valet drop-off, but otherwise, it was Reese alone in front of a decent baby grand piano.
She played “Into the Mystic,” a song that reminded her of better days, though not many of them would rank now with her first two field goals scored in the NFL. Still, Reese wanted to remember a time when everything was laid out in front of her. She wanted to remember how simple things had been back then, and Van Morrison offered