Lexington and 42nd (The Off Field Series #1)

by Kim Carmody

  I turned and left before he could say any more.

  #

  Twelve hours later, I was literally asleep on my feet, exhausted. I could have been a case study for those doctors who always condemned reality TV shows where contestants had to try to stay awake the longest. I was pretty sure if I sat down, I would pass out from exhaustion.

  That was the funny thing about adrenaline. As soon as you didn’t need it anymore, it switched off. It had kept me going through the long day on the field, running between players, media, the office and various workshops, then it had pepped me up when I had to slip on a dress and heels for the dinner, spending the better part of four hours running around like a crazy lady. And when the last formality was over, when the last plate of lemon tart had been served for desert, it switched off.

  I now stood in the foyer, propped up against a side table sipping on a Coke, my eyes glazed over.

  “There you are, we were just talking about you.”

  “Huh?” I turned slowly, still half in a daze.

  “Oh! Sorry.” I forced myself to straighten as Mark approached with Will at his side.

  “Great job today.” Mark had flown in for the dinner, unable to get there any earlier but knowing I would need an extra pair of hands for the evening.

  “Oh, thanks.” I shrugged. “I think it all went well.”

  “From all reports, it ran very smoothly. Meredith can’t stop raving about you.”

  If I wasn’t so tired, I would have beamed, so relieved Mark was happy.

  “You look dead on your feet. Why don’t you head back to the hotel? I’ll get the team back on the bus.”

  I slumped further against the table. “Really? That would be awesome. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all. You get going and I’ll finish up here.”

  “I might catch a ride with Emma if you don’t need me for anything else?” Will spoke casually, his gaze moving from Mark to me. “I mean, I didn’t sleep too well last night and wanted to catch up tonight. You know, being pre-season training and all.”

  Mark slapped him on the back in that weird man-friend way. “Of course, of course, you go. Do whatever you need to do.”

  I gaped at both of them. Honestly, it was like the man crapped gold the way people bowed down to him. Was I the only one who could tell he was talking out of his ass?

  “I, I’ll um, just get my stuff and say goodbye. Meet you in the foyer?”

  Will nodded. “Sure, see you soon.”

  #

  Fifteen minutes later, having said my goodbyes to the many FSU friends I’d made, I lugged my suitcase into the foyer looking like I was about to embark on an overseas trip. Having been so rushed to get out to the university that morning and afraid I’d forget something, in the end I’d opted to shove everything into my case and bring it all with me.

  Will stood at the entrance, surrounded by a group of college players who were hanging on his every word. And some cheerleaders who were just plain hanging on him. He saw me approach and disentangled himself.

  “You ready to go, friend?” I gave him a pointed stare.

  He extended his arm toward the car. “By all means, lead the way.”

  Collapsing onto the backseat I couldn’t help the small moan that escaped as I slipped off my heels and dropped my head against the head rest.

  “You all good over there?” Will’s deep voice sounded like liquid honey, sending a warm hum through my exhausted body.

  I nodded, unable to even open my eyes. “Sleep…just need to sleep.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I fought the pull back to consciousness, but it was no good. When nature called, my body was not one to ignore it. My eyes pricked open, trying to get my bearings in the pitch black hotel room.

  I was pulling the sheet aside when I felt it. A movement on the bed. I froze, my heart rate accelerating through the roof in a matter of seconds.

  What the fuck was that.

  I stayed still, waiting. Nothing happened. Maybe I’d imagined it.

  Then it happened again.

  The scream that left my lungs was piercing and long. I threw myself off the bed, desperate to get away from whatever the hell was next to me. Fear had me stumbling, falling over random objects in the unfamiliar room.

  “Jesus, FUCK! What’s wrong?”

  The yelling helped me identify that the stranger in my bed was a male, something that did nothing to quell my fear. I continued on, praying I was getting closer to the hotel door and safety.

  “Emma fuck! What is it?”

  I paused momentarily at the sound of my name before continuing my search for the door. A light went on just in time for me to see the side board as I went crashing into it. I hit the corner, a pain shooting through my hip as I fell to the floor.

  “Emma! Calm down. My God, are you okay?”

  I couldn’t breathe, the pain in my hip and my fear paralyzing me as I pulled my body up and into the corner. Two hands wrapped around my shoulders and I gasped, struggling to shrink against the wall.

  “It’s okay, it’s me, it’s Will. Please calm down, you’re hurting yourself.”

  The words swirled around my mind a few times before I was able to make sense of them.

  Will?

  I looked up, meeting his eyes. We both let out a long breath, mine ragged and interrupted by hiccups. I swiped at my face, realizing there were tears streaming down my cheeks.

  He rubbed his hand over his face, his big chest heaving as he knelt beside me. “Are you okay?”

  I didn’t trust my voice so I just nodded.

  “God, you scared me.”

  My eyes bulged. “I scared you! What the hell are you doing in my room? In my bed?”

  His eyes met mine. “This is my room.”

  “What! Why am I in your room?” My slowing heart rate skyrocketed again.

  “You fell asleep on the drive back.”

  “AND?”

  “And I couldn’t wake you when we got here.”

  “AND?”

  Will’s hand reached behind him, massaging his neck. “So I brought you up to my room. What’s the big deal?”

  “What’s the big deal? Are you serious?”

  He fell back against the opposite wall as I struggled to get up.

  “What about the fact that I just about had a heart attack waking up in bed with a stranger? Did you think about that at all?”

  Will swallowed, watching me pace the room like someone would a crazy person. Which I could qualify for in my current state.

  “And oh my God even worse, I’m in your hotel room. What if someone saw us? What if Mark finds out? Fuck! I am in SO much trouble.”

  “No one saw us.” Will’s voice was low, his head resting against the wall as he watched me with wary eyes.

  “You don’t know that. Everyone knows who you are. The bellboy probably already tweeted a photo of us.”

  “I came in the back entrance, there’s a private elevator. The only person who saw me was the manager, and he won’t say anything.”

  “How do you know?”

  He met my eyes. “There’s a reason we stay in specific hotels…some are known for their discretion.”

  “Oh…” I swallowed. “Right, got it.”

  “I’m sorry, Em. I wasn’t thinking. I just imagined you’d wake in the morning and see it was me.”

  My voice was quiet, the fight gone. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “I told you, I tried.”

  I looked over at Will, raising an eyebrow. “You tried?”

  He swallowed, having the decency to look sheepish. “Yeah, I tried. You were out of it.”

  “Do you expect me to believe that big, burly you couldn’t wake tiny little me?”

  He shrugged, a slight flush sweeping his cheeks. “You were out like a light the second we left FSU, and I figured you needed the sleep. Either that or you were in a coma.”

  “So you didn’t try to wake me then?”

  �
��No, I did…just…not too hard.”

  I smiled despite myself, standing to get my bags.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m getting my bags. What does it look like?”

  “Why?”

  Clearly Will wasn’t at his sharpest at 4 a.m. “To go to my room of course.”

  “Why don’t you just stay here?”

  “Ha! Why would I do that?”

  Will shrugged. “I don’t know, what if someone sees you wandering the hotel in last night’s dress?”

  I glared at him. “You really want to put that out there after getting me into this situation?”

  “I’m serious, why do you need to go to your room? All your things are here.” He waved a hand vaguely in the direction of my case.

  “I can’t stay in your room!”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…I just can’t.”

  “Yes you can. None of the guys know this is my room and I have to be up and gone in two hours. You’ll have the room all to yourself, and no one will ever have to know.”

  I stared at him, wondering how far gone I must have been to even consider his logic.

  “I won’t try anything, I swear.”

  “Oh, because your willpower is so strong.”

  “Emma, I swear to God, I was sleeping on top of the covers before, and I’ll do it again.”

  I looked back at the bed, noticing for the first time the massive indentation on his side.

  Will grabbed the suitcase from my hand, placing it back on the armchair. “Trust me, this is the best option.”

  We stared at each other in silence, me trying to convince myself to get the hell out of his room, him waiting for a sign that I’d give in.

  I gave in.

  “God! It’s so frustrating how you always get your way.”

  Will laughed. “Trust me, I’m nowhere near getting my way with you.”

  I whirred around to face him. “Excuse me?”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Sorry, sorry. Friends, we’re just friends. I didn’t mean that.”

  “Huh.” I looked him up and down. “Good thing you can play football because you’d make a terrible actor.”

  I looked around, feeling decidedly awkward in my new predicament. I’d just agreed to stay in Will’s hotel room. Now what?

  “Do you mind if I take a shower?”

  He motioned toward the bathroom. “Help yourself, friend.”

  #

  I got my second fright for the evening when I looked in the mirror. Mascara ran down my blotchy, tear-stained face. I looked like Courtney Love. No wonder he was happy to sleep on top of the covers.

  I turned on the shower, all the while telling myself to stay calm. I was just staying over, nothing was going to happen, Will was just trying to be nice…be my friend. No biggie.

  Ha! This was SO big.

  I took my time, relishing the hot water washing away the grit and grime that came with running around on a football field all day. Maybe if I stayed in here long enough, Will would be asleep by the time I went back out.

  Eventually I turned the tap off, putting my thankfully not hideous and also not overtly suggestive cami and pajama bottoms on.

  When I came out the lamp was still on, and I felt Will’s eyes follow me as I crossed the room.

  “What?”

  His lip twitched. “Cute pajamas.”

  “Hey, me and my pajamas can easily leave if you’re offended by them.”

  “I just said they were cute.”

  I stood, fumbling around with the contents of my case. I wanted the relative safety of the bed and the big comforter, but that meant actually getting into a bed with Will. The New York Warriors quarterback. What was I thinking?

  “I won’t bite, you know.”

  “What? What’s that supposed to mean?” I couldn’t look at him.

  “You’ve been repacking your suitcase for the better part of five minutes.”

  Shit.

  “I’m a tidy traveller.”

  I pulled my case closed and walked over to the bed, pulling the covers back just as the doorbell rang.

  I froze, eyes growing wide as I watched Will amble out of bed, casual as anything.

  “Um, Will?”

  “Mmmm?”

  “It’s 4:30 in the morning, who the hell is at the door?”

  “Oh, it’s just room service. I got hungry waiting for you.”

  I watched him, wide eyed as he disappeared to answer the door. He was hungry. At 4:30 a.m.

  He reappeared about a minute later, wheeling a trolley with two large, mouth-watering pizzas. The smell wafted over, instantly making my stomach rumble.

  “Mmmmm, my favorite. How’d you know?”

  I meant the question rhetorically, but he surprised me by answering. “You told me the day we had lunch.”

  “I did?”

  “Yeah.” He put his palms flat on his chest and fluttered his eyelids. “Oh God, I love pizza.” He over emphasised how breathy my voice had been.

  “Oh shut up! I didn’t say it like that at all.”

  Will fell on the bed laughing. “No, that’s exactly how you said it actually.”

  We ate for a few minutes in comfortable silence, which was strange in itself considering the situation we were in.

  “You know, normally after pizza we would braid each other’s hair or paint our nails.”

  Will laughed through a mouthful of food. “You have a lot of sleepovers growing up?”

  I shrugged. “Not so much. I mostly grew up around boys.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, all my cousins are boys. They weren’t much into sleepovers unless they were done in a fortress.”

  Will nodded. “Totally respectable. So you’re close to them?”

  “Yeah, we lived together growing up, so I spent every day with them.”

  Will’s eyes grew wide, a look of horror crossing his face. “You lived with your cousins? What about your parents?”

  “Oh, them too. I grew up on a farm so we all lived on the property. In different houses, but still…I saw them every day.”

  Will sat up, putting the slice of pizza down. “Hang on, I thought you were from Sydney.”

  I nodded. “I’ve lived there for nine years now, but I grew up on a cattle station about five hours from there. My parents put me into a boarding school when I was sixteen, then I went to university and ended up staying in the city when I landed a job.”

  The pizza was now forgotten as Will absorbed this new information. “So…when you say farm, what exactly do you mean? Like, are we talking a few horses and some chickens?”

  I laughed. “Not exactly. We’re fourth generation farmers, my family. Last count we had around four thousand head of cattle. It’s one of the biggest properties in the country.”

  Will’s jaw dropped open. “Four thousand? Wow. So your family is full of…actual farmers.”

  I nodded. “Yep, they’ve got nearly two thousand sheep too.”

  Will gaped at me and I laughed. “You look like I’ve told you I live on Mars.”

  He shook his head a few times, like he was trying to reorganize this new information in his brain. “You kinda have. I mean, I just always pictured you as a city girl. Did you, like, wear farm stuff?”

  “Of course, when I was working.”

  His face contorted. “What, you mean you used to have a job there?”

  I laughed. “No, I wasn’t employed if that’s what you mean, but if I was there, I was working. Farms require a huge amount of effort. You can’t leave them, even for a day. I started helping out when I was about eight.”

  “I need to see this farm.”

  I jumped off the bed, grabbing my phone. “I have some photos.”

  I sat on the edge of the mattress, flicking through to the best ones. “Here they are.” I felt the brush of Will’s chest across my back as he peered over my shoulder.

  “This is the main homestead, my uncle and his family live
there.” I flicked to the next image, a landscape of the station. “See that house on the left, down the hill? That’s where I grew up. Our station pretty much goes as far as the eye can see.”

  Will’s breath on my neck was making it extremely hard to focus on tales of life on the farm. “Fuuuckkk. You’re serious? All that land?”

  “Yep. When my great, great grandfather settled on the land, the rule was you could claim as far as you could ride in a day. They must have nearly killed themselves. There’s no way I could get that far in daylight.”

  “You can ride?”

  “Of course I can ride.” I turned to look at Will. It was a mistake, because our faces were now way too close, his dark eyes trapping me in their hold.

  He shook his head, a slow grin spreading across his face. “You are just full of surprises.”

  I smiled, warmth spreading through my veins.

  “Do you have any more photos?” He peeled his eyes away from mine as he nodded toward the phone.

  “Plenty, you’ll probably regret asking.”

  I continued scrolling, finding some of harvest time, our horses, a video of my cousins and me herding sheep which he found particularly fascinating. He asked more questions than I thought possible, seeming genuinely intrigued by the inner workings of the farm.

  It was another utterly charming side of Will Jensen.

  I snapped my phone down to my lap as I scrolled onto a particularly hideous photo of my best friend and me in fancy dress costumes.

  “Whoa, not so fast there. Show me that photo.” Will made a grab for the phone.

  “No! That wasn’t a farm picture.” I moved my body so we were facing each other, holding the phone behind my back.

  Will shook his head. “Don’t care. Show it to me.”

  “Uh-uh, not on your life, buddy.” I tried to keep my voice level but couldn’t help the small laugh that emerged.

  Will sat up. “Emma, we both know this is going to end with me seeing that photo, so you can either hand it over, or I’m taking it from you.”

  I backed away towards the end of the bed shaking my head. “This is my phone, and you’re not seeing it.”

  He climbed onto his knees, body poised and ready to pounce. “One last chance, then I’m taking the phone.”

  I shook my head. I could feel my eyes bulge as his body loomed over me.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”