Maya Hughes

A wave of heat spread in my chest and stopped me in my tracks. “You baked these especially for me?”

“Nah, he’s got Elle and the restaurant. He’s thinking about getting surgery on his shoulder to help with the pain now that he knows he’s not going to be getting knocked around on the field again.”

“Can I help you?”

“Sure, you can let go of Jules. My date.”

“Jules?! Her name is Julia,” Chet snapped.

“My mistake, I just go with what I call her in bed at night

“Anything I want, huh?” I ran my fingers over my chin and looked off into the distance. “How about Snowglobes?” I bent down and whispered the word in her ear.

Her cheeks turned beet red and she shoved at my shoulder. “Anything but that!”

“Are you sure? Anything? I’m sure I can come up with something in that same vein. How about Lana?”

Her eyebrow shot up.

“Some things are better backward.”

“It’s too small. I need to find Laura and tell her it’s not going to work.” Ducking her head, she tried to run away. “It looks terrible.”

I rushed after her and caught her elbow. My fingers wrapping around the soft fabric protecting her smooth skin from my touch, an electric spark licking its way up my arm.

“You don’t need to change.”

“You caught me off guard. The dress looks great on you. I just never realized you were hiding those.”

In a matter of days, Jules had gone from someone I looked forward to seeing every day, to someone I needed to see. I needed to make her laugh and make sure she was okay. And I wanted her to want that of me too.

as definitely that kind of person.

My night was restless.

My bed felt empty, missing the warmth of someone else in the room. Not just anyone—Jules.

“He’s my friend.”

“Not from the way he’s checking out your ass, he isn’t.” She lifted an eyebrow with a wide smile.

That’s not possible.

“What’s it like once you go pro? You know, having a girl and a family and stuff?”

Emmett peeled his eyes away from Avery and blinked at me like he was coming out of a trance only she could put him in. “It’s got its ups and downs, but if you’re solid, there’s nothing to worry about. Are you and Jules solid?”

I shoved my hands into my pockets. “We’re not together.”

“But you’d like to be.” His knowing look told me I wasn’t exactly stealthy about my feelings, which made it even harder that Jules ran every chance she got.