My eyes flicked back to Emily. “Uh…”
“You know,” she said before I could answer, waving the rose like a wand. She tapped my nose with it and hung her other hand on her hip. “LikeThe Bachelor? You give me a rose, I stay for another week, we go on a date… maybe hook up under a blanket and make the other girls jealous?”
She winked with that, and I coughed, shoving my hands in my pockets and forcing a weak smile.
“Um, it’s just a rose to say congratulations on making the team,” I said — loud enough so Miss Woodrow and my snickering teammates could hear. I wasnottrying to get my ass in trouble, especially not this far out from our season even starting.
Emily was completely oblivious to my attempt to tell her with my eyeballs to keep moving and stop joking about us hooking up. That, or she wascompletelyawareand just found it delightfully fun.
When she smiled wider, I decided it was the latter.
“Aw, that’s too bad,” she said. “I was wondering if a certain muscle of yours is as…Herculeanas the rest of you.”
I balked, barely registering the low laughs from my teammates and how one of them elbowed me like he wanted to be sure I’d heard her.
As if I could everunhearthat.
“Guess I’ll never know,” she added with a pouty sigh. Then, she bit the stem of the rose, holding it between her teeth as she moved past me. She patted my chest with a wink on the way.
I think I blinked.
I think I swallowed.
I think I covered the fact that the skin on my neck was hot enough to melt metal after that comment.
But I couldn’t be sure of any of it, and I stood there watching her walk away like a fucking tool until Joshua smacked my arm as he and my other teammates fought back laughs.
“Damn, bro,” he said, whistling through his teeth. Joshua was a veteran cornerback and always the first to crack a joke. “That woman looks ready to put a collar on you and train you like a circus lion.”
Lavonte, one of our offensive linemen who was standing next to him, barked. “Or a puppy dog.”
That had both of them howling with laughter, which called the attention of Miss Woodrow, who pursed her lips in warning as I ground my teeth.
“Shut up before you get us all in trouble,” I muttered under my breath as I subtly punched them both in the arms.
That only made them laugh harder, and I didn’t have it in me to chastise them further. Hell, I was surprised I’d even managed to scrape my jaw off the turf as I watched Emily Huxley strut away from me and into the waiting arms of her new team.
Because truth be told, I thought Joshua was right with his assessment.
And I wasn’t so sure I wouldn’t let that woman use a whip and chair on me if she really wanted to.
Emily
By the time I pushed through the doors of the stadium and out into the cool, crisp Seattle air, I was beat.
It had quite possibly been the longest day of my life.
Between getting up at the ass crack of dawn to put on stage-level makeup worthy of a Vegas headliner, arriving hours before auditions to warm up and practice, the auditions themselves, and then the hours of agonizing while we all waited to hear our fate — I had never yearned for my bed so badly in my life.
Of course, what I yearned for even more was a little jazz cabbage.
“Please tell me that’s a joint,” Marcus said, quickly making a detour from where he’d been headed toward the train. We were the last two out of the locker room, and we’d already said goodnight to each other at the door.
Apparently my little surprise had changed his course.
“That depends on whether you’re going to rat me out or smoke it with me.”
I headed for a super attractive and not at all smelly alcove by the dumpsters, one around the corner and out of view fromanyone who might be leaving after us. There weren’t many people left, and I was fairly certain the staff would stay long enough for me to be gone when they made their exit, but still.