Anticipation(17)

Blue watched as Raf pulled out a coin to toss for ends. Given that this  was supposed to be an informal game, she couldn't help thinking the coin  toss was overkill. But then, she wasn't a man. More specifically, she  wasn't a Brazilian-Australian man. As she'd learned over the years, Raf  and Eddie took their soccer very seriously. In all likelihood, the  unsuspecting dupes from the coffee shop were about to have their asses  handed to them on a platter.

The game started, one of the café guys getting in a lucky kick that sent  the ball careening toward their goal. Maggie shifted to the edge of her  seat as one of the opposition players used his body to block Rafel from  going after the ball. "I thought this was supposed to be a non-contact  sport?"

"There's no such thing as a non-contact sport when men are involved," Blue said. "Except maybe tennis."

"What about car racing?" Maggie asked, her gaze following the men on the field.

Renarto had rescued the ball and sent it flying toward the Brothers Ink  end of the field. Eddie used his chest to block it and quickly passed  the ball to Raf.

"Have you seen how many accidents those guys have?" Blue pointed out.

"True." Maggie shot to her feet as Raf lined the ball up and tried for  the goal. Blue could already see that the goalkeeper was going to  intercept, and she reached out to pat her friend's shoulder when Maggie  sat again, her expression disappointed.

"Don't get too excited. Soccer is usually a low-scoring game. It's  surprisingly hard to get that ball through those posts and into the  net," Blue said.

Maggie made a disgruntled noise before cupping her hands and yelling encouragement to the men on the field.

"Go Inkies!"

Her call drew Eddie's attention, and he glanced at them, his face  lighting up when he caught sight of Blue. She raised her hand in  greeting and tried to ignore the warm glow in her belly that was  inspired by his very obvious happiness that she'd shown up.

That was why she was here today, of course, when she could have had a  whole Eddie-free Sunday to herself - because he'd asked her to come.  She'd managed to resist Raf's and Maggie's entreaties, but then Eddie  had cornered her in the staff room and asked why she wouldn't be  cheering them on. She'd looked into his green eyes and every  self-preserving thought she'd possessed had simply evaporated.         

     



 

Before the accident, she'd been good at creating boundaries for herself  where he was concerned. She'd made sure she had a social life that  didn't always include him. She'd had lovers. She'd gone on holidays  without him. She'd insisted on preserving a sense of herself separate  from her feelings for him.

Since the accident, however, those boundaries kept on crumbling, driven  by her own inability to say no and Eddie's sweet, flattering  attentiveness and concern for her wellbeing.

You should have told him to back off when you had the chance, a voice in  her head said as she watched Eddie shepherd the ball up the field with  enviable ease.

He'd given her the perfect opportunity when he told her that Raf had  accused him of crowding her. She could have agreed and told him she  needed more space and he would have given it to her. Instead, she'd gone  out of her way to reassure him and had practically given him permission  to keep shadowing her. At the time she'd told herself it was because he  was so patently worried about her. She could see it in his eyes every  time he looked at her. He wanted her to be okay, and the evidence of his  concern - his love - was like a drug for her.

She knew it would never be the type of love she craved from him, but that didn't mean she was immune to its allure.

Now that she'd suffered through four weeks of his attentiveness,  however, she understood that even having a little bit of what she craved  was bad for her.

"Hey, they're really good, aren't they?" Maggie said as Eddie and Rafel  passed the ball back and forth between them, eating up the field before  lining up another shot at goal.

This time, it looked good, and Blue tensed as Eddie's foot connected  with the ball. The goalie leaped, arms stretched out … and smashed into  the ground without intercepting the ball.

"Woo hoo!" Blue punched the air as Maggie jumped to her feet with excitement. "Score one, Team Ink."

Eddie and Raf gave each other high fives, then Eddie glanced toward  them. His gaze caught Blue's and she could see how much he was enjoying  himself. Her chest filled with an almost painful warmth as their gazes  held. Then a shout drew his attention to the game and he was once again  chasing the ball down the pitch. She watched in silent admiration as he  hijacked the ball off the other team, his footwork so fast at times it  was a blur.

"Here - pinch me," Maggie demanded, thrusting her forearm at Blue.

"Um … why?" Blue asked, looking askance at her friend.

"I need to know I'm not dreaming and that that god out there is really mine," Maggie said, her avid gaze locked on Rafel.

Blue reached out and gave her friend a gentle nip on the arm. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic," Maggie sighed, and Blue guessed she wasn't talking about the pain Blue had just inflicted on her.

Blue concentrated on the game, aware of an ungenerous, ugly twist of  envy in her heart. Any day now, Blue expected to hear that Rafel had  popped the question. Then it would simply be a matter of time before  there were babies and all the other accoutrements of happy coupledom.

Meanwhile, she would still be sitting on the sidelines, eating her heart  out over Eddie. It was such a miserable outlook, she ground her teeth  together.

"You okay?" Maggie asked.

Blue nodded, not taking her eyes from the men on the field.

Okay, man, singular. Why pretend she was interested in anyone else? She was fooling only herself.

"Yep. All good."

"Are you sure?" Maggie asked.

Blue frowned and shot Maggie a look. "I am. Why?"

"You just seem … tense lately. You're not in pain or anything?"

Not the kind you're talking about.

"Nope. No pain."

"And there's nothing else going on?"

"Not that I can think of," Blue said, her tone deliberately light.

"Okay. Well, good."

Maggie frowned as she refocused on the soccer game and Blue fought off a  sense of guilt. It was lovely having a friend who gave a crap about her  happiness, but that didn't mean she had to spill her guts at the  slightest provocation - especially when doing so wouldn't change a damn  thing.





Chapter Nine

On the field, the Ink team fought for possession of the ball in the  other team's goal zone. Blue frowned as she saw Eddie take a knock, then  shot to her feet when another player hip and shouldered him, sending  him sprawling. The urge to go to him was primal, but somehow she managed  to stop herself. Eddie stood, a big grin on his face as he shook hands  with the player who'd knocked him over.

Blue sat, rolling her eyes. Men. She would never fully understand them.         

     



 

Despite the protection of the tree they were under, she started to get  hot and slipped out of her denim jacket. The day was turning out to be  warmer than expected - and, of course, it didn't help that she was  staring at Eddie.

A few minutes later, Yuri stripped off his shirt, baring his pale,  Eastern European skin to the afternoon sun. Clearly, she wasn't the only  one feeling the heat.

"Here we go," Maggie said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

Sure enough, the rest of the men began shedding their shirts, baring  chests, shoulders, and bellies, then tossing their discarded shirts  behind the goal posts.

"Now we are talking," Maggie said with obvious relish.

Blue forced a smile, even as she instructed herself not to stare. It was  an impossible feat. Eddie's body was superb, the epitome of male  perfection - at least, to her eyes. She'd always loved his shoulders and  lean torso, and his olive skin stood out amongst the paler bodies on  the pitch. She watched the controlled bounce of his pec muscles as he  jogged slowly to the center of the field and felt her mouth go dry as  she imagined how firm and hot his chest would feel beneath her hands.

Very firm. Very hot. Very hard.

He lifted a hand and pushed his too-long hair off his forehead, the  action flexing his biceps and about million other delicious-looking  muscles.

Holy shit. This is like being trapped inside a Diet Coke ad.

It was. And for the life of her she couldn't do the smart thing and look  away. Just as she'd lapped up his attentiveness at work, she lapped up  the sight of his body over the course of the game, growing more and more  aroused as the minutes went by.

"Is it hot in here or is it just me?" Maggie said from beside her, and  Blue tore her gaze from Eddie long enough to note the blush riding high  on her friend's cheekbones.

Someone was getting lucky tonight. Or, judging by the look of Maggie,  the moment the game was over and she could get Rafel alone.

For a moment - a dangerous, heady split-second - Blue let herself imagine what she would do to Eddie if she got him alone.