“I should call her,” Levi said, reaching for his phone. Darcy stopped him.
“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “I spoke with Piper a few hours ago. She knows.”
“Everything?” Levi asked. Darcy nodded.
“Sorry,” she said. “In a perfect world, I would have waited and let you share the good news. But when she called to get an update on the Monte Oliver situation, I saw no reason not to tell her that you were the Knights’ new starting quarterback.”
Though Levi knew that Piper was bound to hear the news long before he could tell her, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. How often did a man get the chance to tell one of his best friends that all his dreams were about to come true?
Levi chuckled. Piper being Piper, her reaction when she saw him would be epic—whether she found out from him or someone else. She would put his good fortune before her birthday. The cake, the celebration would all become about him.
While Levi appreciated Piper’s ability to make him feel like the center of the world, there was no way he would let her forget how special the day she came into the world was to him.
Levi exited Darcy’s office, his brain waves rocketing a mile a minute. In the next six days, he had to prepare his body and his mind to play football at the highest level. No time for self-doubts, churning stomachs, or wobbly legs. He couldn’t fail. Too many people were now counting on him not to drop the ball—so to speak. Himself included.
Lifting his head, squaring his shoulders, what Levi found in the hallway stopped him in his tracks. Lining the walls on each side, were the entire Seattle Knights’ team. All fifty-three. Shoulder to shoulder, one arm raised, hands gripping facemasks, helmets forming a canopy.
“Three cheers for our starting QB.” They shouted in unison. “Hip, hip, hooray. Hip, hip, hooray. Hip, hip hooray.”
Not certain whether he wanted—needed—to laugh or cry, Levi did neither. He simply stared, looking from grinning face to grinning face. He suspected the grin on his lips was equally as goofy.
As he walked along the unexpected procession, he slapped hands with each player.
When Levi reached the end of the line, Dylan pulled him into a bear hug.
“I told you so,” his friend said.
“Just couldn’t resist rubbing it in, could you,” Levi asked when he was finally allowed to stand on his own feet again.
“Nope.” Dylan planted a kiss on Levi’s cheek.
“And that,” Levi said with a shake of his head as he wiped the wet from his face, “is why people think we’re gay.”
Unconcerned as always, Dylan slung an arm over Levi’s shoulders.
“In the next life, let’s be lovers.” He paused. “On the other hand, I like pussy, not dick. Can’t imagine swinging the other way. Not even for you. Sorry. Let’s just be friends.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Levi laughed. “Asshole.”
“But you love me,” Dylan said with complete confidence. He let out a whoop. “And now, we get to play football. Together. Finally.”
Together. Finally. Levi felt another jolt of shock hit his body. Less like a ton of bricks this time and more like a sledgehammer, the impact still rattled him right down to his bones.
Levi Reynolds, starting quarterback for the Seattle Knights. He shook his head. Holy Shit.
CHAPTER SIX
▲ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲
PIPER LIT A candle. She leaned close and breathed in. The scent of lavender filled the air. She breathed deeper. Deeper. And waited. And waited. When nothing happened, she read the packaging and the claims that by now she should be floating away on a cloud of happy tranquility. Instead, her nerves felt just as wired as before.
Annoyed with what turned out to be one more example of false advertising, Piper dropkicked the box over the sofa and into the far corner.
“Foo,” she said to the empty room. “Double foo.”
Recently, Piper decided to stop using curse words as a crutch. Quietly, silently, with no witnesses in case she failed, she’d made the self-imposed pledge. She was a college-educated woman with a curious and agile mind. Rather than falling back on the same old crude—though admittedly satisfying—ways of expressing her anger and frustration, she needed a more sophisticated, even erudite, solution.
So far, foo was the best alternative she’d found. To say the word didn’t carry the same heft as shit, damn, and fuck was an understatement.
Entertained by her wandering musings, Piper crossed to the kitchen. Outside of an arthouse movie or a Jane Austen novel, who used the word erudite? She did, she thought with a snort as she turned on the electric kettle and removed a brass box from the cupboard. She opened the lid and perused the contents.
Herbal tea. Taking a packet of Mandarin Memories, Piper dipped the bag into her cup of hot water, her lip curling in derision at what she knew, like the lavender-scented candle, would turn out to be all promise and no follow-through.
If the tea came close to the taste of a mandarin, Piper vowed to eat her favorite pair of running shoes. She took a sip. Nope, she decided. Not even close. Her footwear—and her stomach were safe for another day.
Holding the drink in one hand, she leaned against the counter. Lord, she longed for a good old-fashioned cup of caffeine.
Restless, Piper checked her phone for the umpteenth time. Nothing. No texts. No missed calls. Just a blank screen, mocking her growing desperation. She tapped her fingers, tapped her toes. She forced herself not to look at the clock. And failed miserably.
Ten o’clock? Where the heck was he?
Realistically, Piper understood that she was low on the priority list of the man who had just been named the Seattle Knights’ starting quarterback. But come on. Give a girl a break. She’d suffered with him, commiserated, railed at the injustice when he remained steadfastly calm.
Piper even shed a few tears—just a few. In private because she knew how Levi fell apart whenever she cried in earnest.
After all the years of getting pushed aside in favor of the latest next-great future superstar, Levi Reynolds’ time had finally arrived.
Doing a happy dance around the room, Piper shimmied her hips to the song playing in her head. Sometimes the good guys won, she thought. Took a while, but in the end, he’d received his reward for all the years watching the spotlight shine on everyone but him.
“You won’t want me to make a fuss,” Piper said, then smiled as she thought of the cake waiting to be cut. “Too bad. Tomorrow you can turn into the stoic athlete. Tonight, we celebrate.”
If Levi ever showed up.
Piper was about to call Darcy and ask if something happened when the doorbell rang. Setting aside her tea, she rushed across the room. Stubbing her toe on the coffee table, she stumbled, righted herself, and let out a string of obscenities colorful enough to make a sailor blush.
“Sometimes nothing else but a few good curse words will do,” she told herself, justifying the decimation of her resolution.
“Did I hear you say damn?” Levi asked before she could do more than open the door. “And shit. And fuck?”
Ah, the Levi Reynolds smile. Instinctive, or practiced, the man knew the secret of how to warm a woman’s heart. Though Piper was immune—for the most part—to the abundant charm that accompanied the slow curve of his lips, she’d learned to ignore the sizzle she occasionally felt along the surface of her skin.
An unexpected relationship that began in a moment of mutual misery and continued long after they dropped the fake-dating in favor of something solid, stable, and irreplaceable.
True, Levi had the kind of good looks that were hard to ignore. Naturally lanky, he worked hard to maintain a physically strong and muscled physique. Tall, broad-shouldered. Then there was that face. She would never categorize him as matinee idol pretty. But who would aspire to chiseled beauty when ruggedly handsome was an option?
If the number of women who stopped in their tracks whenever Levi entered a room could be u
sed as an accurate measuring stick, the answer was a resounding no one in their right mind.
Giving herself a mental shake, Piper stood aside and let Levi enter. Down girl, she warned her traitorous libido. She’d decided long ago not to let the pull of an unwanted sexual attraction ruin what could only be categorized as a practically perfect friendship.
As Levi hung his jacket in the hall closet, Piper waited, her patience at an end. Beaming with pride and excitement, bounced on the balls of her feet.
“Congratulations!”
Levi swayed, his eyes turning glassy. Taking a step forward, he tripped and almost took a header into Piper’s dining room table. Alarmed, she rushed forward and tried to use her body to prevent him from hitting the floor.
Too late, Piper realized the futility of her plan. Her shorter, more slender body had not been designed to act as a landing pad for two hundred and ten pounds of solid male. Luckily, Levi grabbed her arms. Turning at the last second, he fell onto the sofa, bringing her with him.
Sprawled on Levi’s chest, Piper made an up-close and personal examination of his face. For want of a better word, the best way she could describe his expression was wonky.
“Are you drunk?” Piper asked as Levi blinked his gaze into focus.
“Nope.” Levi leaned close. “Sniff. Not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips since I called you from London.”
“Then why did you fall?”
“I’ve held myself upright most of the day.” With a sigh, he arranged himself into a comfortable position and settled Piper into the crook of his arm. “Sheer force of will and the fear of landing flat on my face in front of my team is all that kept my legs from buckling.”
“Are you ill?” Piper placed her palm on Levi’s forehead. To compare, she touched her face, then returned her hand to his. “You don’t feel feverish. Are you nauseous? Dizzy?”
“I’m terrified.” Levi buried his head in Piper’s neck.
Piper smoothed back a fall of gold-streaked hair from his face. Big, strong, Levi Reynolds reduced to a quivering mass of flesh and muscle. She never thought she’d live to see the day.
“Terrified?” she asked. “Of what? Football?”
“Of failing,” Levi’s fingers curled around the material of her t-shirt until his knuckles brushed her waist. “Of living up to lowered expectations.”
“Whose expectations are low?” Piper demanded. She was incensed at the thought. “Not Dylan’s nor the rest of the Knights.”
Levi’s head fell back against the cushion. Unfocused, he stared at the ceiling.
“Don’t be so sure,” he said. “I know my teammates support me, want me to succeed. However, they must have their doubts about whether I can still play the game.”
“You’re a little rusty,” Piper insisted. “That’s what happens when a bunch of fools leave a high performance, precision machine parked in the garage for too long.”
“Interesting metaphor.”
Piper was encouraged when she spied a slight twitch at the corner of Levi’s mouth. He might not feel like smiling yet, but he was close. As his friend, her job was to get him the rest of the way.
“Metaphors are my specialty,” she said. “Sometimes they make sense, other times, not so much. The secret is to sound smart, so the listener believes you know what you’re talking about.”
Reluctantly, as though the process bordered on painful, Levi’s lips curled upward. Piper felt a surge of satisfaction.
“Can I ask you a question?” Levi swallowed. “One I couldn’t ask anyone else?”
Piper wanted to make Levi feel better. But when his arms tightened around her, she was the one whose heart magically felt lighter.
“You can say anything to me,” she said as she snuggled close.
“What if I fail.” Levi let out a shuddering sigh.
Piper didn’t want to lie. If she only said what he wanted to hear, if she piled on the false comfort, she might make him feel better today. But could she be considered a true friend? Carefully, she chose her words.
“I don’t know what will happen on Sunday,” Piper said. “But whatever happens, at least you finally get to take your shot.”
“This season, for the first time, I finally gave up.”
Piper wanted to look into Levi’s eyes so she could understand his meaning. But when she tried to raise her head, he cupped the back of her neck, holding her in place. She could have persisted because she knew that rather than take a chance on hurting her, he would have let go. Instead, she quieted, breathed in his scent—citrus blended with warm male—and let him have his way.
“Gave up?” she asked.
“For the first time, I didn’t question my place on the team,” Levi explained. “I didn’t chafe at the invisible bonds that perpetually held me in my place. My job was to be the backup quarterback. No more, no less.”
“You weren’t happy,” Piper insisted. “You were never happy playing second fiddle to someone like Monte Oliver. Someone who didn’t have half your talent or brains.”
“You’re right. I wasn’t happy.” Levi nodded. With each bob, his chin tapped the top of Piper's head. “However, I’d achieved a Zen-like state of mind. I was able to watch Monte fuck up the offense without drowning in the desire to shove the football down his throat.”
“Or up his backside?” Piper asked with a laugh.
“You know me well,” Levi said. He shrugged. “When training camp started back in July and continued through summer, I was good. Though I admit, my copacetic attitude began to fray at the edges after the season began and Monte’s ineptitude climbed to previously unseen heights.”
“He was bad,” Piper agreed.
“And yet, the itch to take his place—to prove that I could do better—had faded to almost nothing.”
“Bull.” Piper gave Levi’s thigh a light pinch. “I know you never completely lost hope.”
“Hope is failure’s best friend.” Levi took a breath then slowly exhaled.
“And, his worst enemy.”
“You were never a failure,” Piper said, her words gaining heat.
“Yes, I was.”
“You can’t fail when you were never given a chance to succeed.” She squeezed his arm. “Sunday is the beginning, Levi.”
“Or the end,” he said.
“You’re not a fatalist,” she insisted. “If you were, we wouldn’t be friends because I’d have dropped you long ago.”
“Life without my Piper?” Levi asked. “How would I survive?”
“You would barely get by, hanging by your fingernails to the edge of a cliff,” Piper told him, only half-joking. “And with many, many regrets.”
“True.” Resting his cheek against the top of her head, he sighed. “I need you for a lot of reasons.”
“Name one,” Piper urged him.
“Today, my sanity tops the list,” Levi said. “Half an hour with you on the couch beats hours with a shrink—any day.”
“Does my Levi feel better?” Piper asked.
“Mm,” Levi agreed with a contented sigh.
“Then let’s eat cake.”
When Piper tried to disengage herself from his embrace, Levi shook his head, his arms holding her close like two bands of steel—warm and inviting steel, but impossible to break. Not that she made much of an effort.
“Five more minutes,” Piper warned, her smile hidden in the soft cotton shirt that covered Levi’s chest. “Then, I need chocolate.”
“Deal.”
Inch by inch, Piper could feel the muscles of Levi’s body relax under her. Encouraging him, she lightly rubbed his arm. He was such a rock, steady and true, always there for her, always willing to put her first. But every now and then she was reminded just how human he was.
Like everyone, Levi needed a place where he could let down his guard and allow himself to be vulnerable. Piper said a silent prayer of thanks that he saw her as his safe haven.
&n
bsp; “Happy birthday,” he whispered.
“Thank you,” Piper said. “In all the excitement, I almost forgot.”
“I didn’t,” Levi assured her. “I’m glad there’s a special day when I can give thanks that you’re in the world.”
Piper’s eyes stung and she knew if she weren’t careful, she would turn into a blubbery mess any second now. Blinking, willing the tears not to come, she slid from Levi’s embrace.
“For such an educated, sophisticated man, I wonder at the sugary, sentimental mush that sometimes comes out of your mouth,” she said, her lip curling into a sneer. “Sheesh. Get over it already.”
Chuckling, Levi rolled to his feet and followed Piper to the kitchen.
“You can’t fool me. Outside, you’re a tough businesswoman. Inside, nothing but gooey, marshmallow fluff.” Levi nodded toward the cake. “Perfect example number one.”
Piper lit the candles before setting the five-layer chocolate fudge cake on the counter in front of Levi. Licking a bit of frosting from her thumb, she frowned.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Every year, Darcy sends you a birthday cake. And like every year, you’ve found a reason to make someone else blow out the candles.” Shaking his head, Levi tugged her hand until she stood next to him. “This time, you do the honors.”
“In twelve months, my birthday will come again,” Piper pointed out. “On the other hand, making your debut as an NFL starter is a once in a lifetime moment.”
“Damn, you’re stubborn,” Levi growled. “Fine. We’ll extinguish these suckers together. Okay?”
“Okay,” Piper agreed, always happy to get her way—even if Levi received one as well. “I’ll count to three, we’ll each make a wish, then blow.”
In unison, they huffed, they puffed, and five seconds later, tiny swirls of smoke billowed toward the ceiling. Taking two dishes from the cupboard, Piper cut into the cake. As she plated each piece, she breathed in the heady scent of chocolate and her taste buds wept in anticipation.
“By the way,” she said, taking a seat across from Levi at her dining room table. “Why were you so late getting here? Darcy called after you left her office, but you didn’t arrive until another three hours had passed.”
The Backup Plan: A Friends to Lovers Sports Romance (One Pass Away: A New Season Book 2) Page 6
