Miriam had assured him it was supposed to be something fun and silly. He’d agreed in the end since it was a way to show his commitment to the team even when he couldn’t be on the field.
So, he’d put on his best suit and hung out in the VIP section dreading the halftime show. If he’d known Emmeline was going to be one of the contestants, he would have volunteered the second Miriam had mentioned it.
“Well, contestant number three, it looks like you’ve rendered our bachelor speechless,” Miriam said into her microphone. The fans laughed in response.
Grant lifted his mic to his mouth and tried to keep the excitement out of his voice. “Nice to meet you contestant three.”
Miriam pressed her lips together, fighting a smile. “Now that we’ve gone through our introductions, I’ll let our lucky bachelor ask his questions.”
Grant looked down at the note cards in his lap. Miriam had given him a stack of ten cards, each with a question on it, and told him to pick his top three. Grant hadn’t even looked through them since he wasn’t actually looking to find love.
He read the top one. “If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?”
“I would love to go to Paris,” the first contestant said with a soft, dreamy voice. “It’s the city of love.”
Grant would have also loved to go to Paris someday, but it was the kind of generic answer that said nothing about the person giving it. “Contestant number two?”
“I would love to go to Hawaii,” she said, her voice as sultry as before. “Because I look amazing in a bikini and would spend a lot of time on the beach.”
There were a few whistles from the crowd. She was really laying it on thick. Only the first question, and he was already afraid that if he chose her, she’d be trying to rip his shirt off during their “date.”
He shuddered. “Contestant number three?”
“I think I’d go to Kansas City. I hear some pretty cool people live there.”
Grant could hear the smile in her voice. For a moment, he wondered how she knew where he was from, but remembered they’d spent a lot of time liking each other’s posts on Instagram. She knew he was from Kansas City, the same way he knew that she’d gone to University of Florida and was a Gator through and through.
He liked that they knew these things about each other. With a smile on his face, he looked down at the next question. “What’s your favorite food?”
“I like pizza.” Another standard answer.
“Yum, I do too,” he said. “Contestant number two?”
“Chocolate covered strawberries.”
Grant had to press his lips together to stop the laugh that threatened to come to the surface. “Contestant number three?”
“I could eat tacos every single day. There’s this truck that has the best tacos in town.”
She liked tacos from a truck? He wondered which ones were her favorite and made a mental note to ask her later which truck it was—and then offer to take her. He could barely wait to see her.
Excited to finish the game so he could spend time with her, he read the next question. “If you were a musical instrument, what sound would you make?” His face immediately scrunched up.
What kind of question is that?
There was a longer-than-usual pause between the question and the first contestant’s answer. Eventually, she started beatboxing—poorly.
“Contestant two?”
Clearly as thrown off by the question as the first woman, Miss SexyPants also started beatboxing.
“Contestant number three?”
Grant waited for yet another rendition of a drum set and was surprised when Em started making a terrible screeching sound into the microphone. He barely resisted the urge to cover his ears.
“I’m a violin,” she said once everyone in the arena had stopped laughing.
Yep, it was official. He was into her before but now he was a total goner.
“Well, that was enlightening,” Miriam said, taking control again. “Grant, you’ve got three lovely ladies to choose from. You’d be lucky to spend time with any of them in our VIP section. So, who is it going to be?”
Fans started calling out numbers. Some held up fingers to indicate which girl he should pick. He saw an awful lot of twos, mostly from the men. Not that it mattered, he knew who he would choose already. “I’d like to go on a date with contestant number three.”
The fans cheered.
“Well, before you meet your date for the rest of tonight’s game, let’s meet the women you didn’t choose. Contestant number one.”
A woman wearing a hot pink dress walked around the partition. She was pretty, but not Em. He stood up with the help of his crutches and gave her an awkward hug before she walked off the field.
“Contestant number two.”
A woman wearing jeans and a tee walked into view. The shirt was just as tight and low as Grant expected. He also gave her a quick hug before she walked off the field, though she held on a bit after he’d let go.
“And contestant number three, your special date in the VIP section for the rest of tonight’s game, Emmeline O’Brien.”
Grant couldn’t stop the wide grin as she walked around the corner. He was happy to see her expression mirrored his own. He put his arm out waiting for her hug and held his breath when she hesitated.
After what felt like an eternity, she walked to him and let him wrap his arm around her. “I knew it was you,” he whispered near her ear.
She shivered.
When he pulled back, he jerked his head over to the table set up for their date. “Shall we?”
“We shall.”
They walked off the field and the Storm office and arena staff grabbed the chairs and partition. In no time, the field was ready for gameplay again, and not a moment too soon. The players were returning from the locker room. They passed by them as they walked to the VIP section.
Bastian’s lips turned down into a frown after his gaze passed between Grant and Em. He slowed down and opened his mouth like he was going to say something but shook his head and kept walking.
A couple other guys, including Silas, gave him wide-eyed looks as they passed.
When Finn got close, his brows lowered, but he didn’t look angry. Confused, maybe?
It didn’t matter. Not now.
All that mattered was him and Em and the next hour they got to spend together. It might be the only chance he got to convince Em to date him.
Grant planned to make the most of this opportunity.
Emmeline
Em tried to ignore the look Finn gave her as they passed each other on the field.
He knew her no-dating-players rule better than anyone else.
When Travis destroyed her trust in men in high school, Finn had quickly become the only guy she trusted. Not only had he beat the crap out of Travis, earning him a week-long suspension, his reputation had protected Em the rest of her high school days.
When Mark had done something similar in college, Finn hadn’t been around to teach him a lesson, which was good since there would have been legal repercussions since he wasn’t a juvenile anymore, but he’d been there to listen to her as she vowed off men forever.
He was the only family she had, and he always looked out for her. Always.
So she knew he had to be confused about her walking off the field with Grant. She’d make sure to explain everything after the game. It was a silly thing to help Miriam. Grant wasn’t like Travis or Mark. He wasn’t even like Damien, who Finn used to play with on the Storm.
But she’d deal with that later. For now, she was going to enjoy the next hour pretending the VIP section of the arena was a special date.
When Grant and Em arrived at the high-top table decorated for their date, a waitress in a long, black dress approached them with a large glass bottle. She bowed at the waist. “Good evening. Can I start you off with some sparkling grape juice?”
Oh, yeah. This is going to be cheesy.
Miriam had told her that they weren’t serving alcohol as part of the date, but surely she could buy some on her own dime since the arena had a bar? She looked up at the waitress. “Can I get champagne instead?”
The waitress’ facade faltered. “It’s not included in the date. And I think we only have white wine.”
“That’s totally fine.”
The waitress turned to Grant. “And you, sir?”
“I’ll have a beer.”
“Of course.” She looked down at the untouched bottle in her hands. “I wonder what I should do with this.”
Em pointed to the box seats where Miriam and Frida still sat. “I’m sure those two ladies would love to drink it. The blonde is the lady who set up The Dating Game in the first place.”
The waitress smiled and nodded. “Okay. I’ll be back with your drinks in a minute.”
Once she was gone, Em looked over at Grant. For the first time since the big reveal, she got to get a good look at him. His blond hair was combed back from his face giving her a better view of his blue eyes. He wore a gray suit that hugged his muscular frame—and covered his tattoos.
“You look really nice tonight,” she said, barely resisting the urge to tell him to take off the coat jacket and push his sleeves up.
What is wrong with you?
His mouth curved into a wide grin. “Thank you. You do, too, though I feel a little strange knowing you’re wearing another man’s jersey.”
Em giggled. “It’s my brother’s. You know that. And besides, it just so happens to be my last name too.”
He leaned forward. “Still, I wish it was my name on it.”
A shiver ran through her at Grant’s deep voice. She fought against her trembling and forced her voice into a light tone. “Well, if you’re so worried about it, you could just give me one of yours.”
“Is that all it takes?” His face lit up, and she almost laughed at how easy it was to make him happy. “Since this is my first year playing professionally, I’ve only got the two game day jerseys, but I’ll happily lend you my away jersey anytime we play a home game.”
“I couldn’t. I’d be too afraid something would happen to it.”
“I know you’d take good care of it. And it would give me an excuse to see you after our date, which is already going better than I thought it would.”
“Tell me about it. It’s way better than my last date with a Storm player.” She clamped her lips shut. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“Wait, I thought you didn’t date Storm players?”
Em’s face heated. It was so embarrassing to admit, and she’d already made a fool of herself tonight—in front of all the fans. She wasn’t ready to rehash her disaster with Damien just yet. “That’s a story for another time.”
“Another time?” He leaned forward. “All I’m hearing is excuses to go out on another date when we’ve barely started our third.”
“Third? What are you talking about?” She rested her elbow on the table and leaned forward. “This is our first date, and that’s assuming this even counts as a real date.”
The waitress reappeared and put their drinks on the table next to the roses.
“It absolutely counts,” he said when the waitress walked off again. A corner of his mouth lifted into a teasing smile. “And it’s date number three.”
“How do you figure that?” She raised her brows.
He lifted a single finger. “Well, after I saved your life, you stood me up for pizza.”
Em laughed. Every time Grant told the story of the soccer ball, it got more elaborate. In a couple weeks, she was sure the soccer ball was going to turn into a bomb that Grant somehow diffused with his eyes closed. “Okay.”
He lifted a second finger. “Then you bought me lunch on our second date.”
“I told you, that wasn’t a real date. Cafeteria food doesn’t count.”
“Debatable.” He shrugged. “Which makes this date three. You keep saying you’re not interested in dating me, but somehow you ended up on that field anyway. How much did you have to pay Miriam to get there?”
Em shook her head, but she couldn’t stop the smile from touching her lips. “Miriam practically begged me to do it.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you sure it wasn’t the other way around?”
“I didn’t even know you were the bachelor until Miriam told me.”
“And that’s when you said yes. You wanted an excuse to get close to me.”
She playfully pushed his shoulder and tried not to notice the hard muscles beneath her fingers. “Shut up.”
“So, it’s true. You were happy I was the bachelor instead of Barros.”
The jury was still out. Barros would have been easier in a lot of ways, but he definitely didn’t give her butterflies like Grant did. She shook her head. “You’re the worst.”
“But you like me, admit it.”
Oh, how she wanted to admit it. She really enjoyed the time she’d spent with Grant. He was so easy to be around, and he seemed so genuine. Em couldn’t imagine him doing the things that her past boyfriends had done. Of course, she hadn’t imagined them betraying her either.
Now she could picture it perfectly.
Her stomach suddenly felt like it was full of lead, the butterflies long gone. She kept a brave smile on her face. “Keep dreaming, rookie.”
“I haven’t stopped since I first saw you.”
Em’s breath caught in her chest, and her smile fell. When he said sweet things like that, it made it much more difficult to pretend this was just a silly crush—that she wasn’t really at risk of getting hurt. Flirting was much easier when they kept it light, just taking jabs at one another.
A blue card called on the other team’s forward saved her from coming up with a reply to his heartbreakingly adorable comment. That meant the Storm would be up one player for the next two minutes.
Silence fell over her and Grant as they watched the game play in front of them. Or at least Em tried to watch the game. As much as she loved seeing her brother in action, it was difficult to focus on what was going on in front of her when Grant was sitting so close.
She was all too aware as he lifted the mug of beer to his lips. She couldn’t help but notice the way his Adam’s apple bobbed as he took a drink. Em lifted her own glass to her lips with trembling fingers and took a sip.
Why are you so nervous? As much as Grant teased, it still wasn’t a real date. And she didn’t want it to be. Or did she?
She took another sip of wine for good measure as she watched Silas take a shot on goal. It was blocked by the other team’s keeper.
“Did you really know it was me?” she asked, her eyes trained on the field.
“From the very first word. You made me speechless.”
Miriam had jokingly said that during the game, but hearing it from Grant made her insides warm.
“But your not-so-subtle reference to my hometown helped.”
She thought of McKensie and how Miriam had gone out of her way to stop the crazy chick from playing. “Not too stalker-y?”
“I thought it was sweet.” He paused. “Just like your violin rendition.”
Em covered her face with her hands. “It was pretty bad, wasn’t it?”
Grant chuckled. “I think my ears bled a little.”
She pushed him again. “What was I supposed to do? Be the third drum set? I panicked.”
“I actually loved it. You weren’t afraid to make a fool of yourself in front of all those people.”
Her face burned. She could only hope none of the fans were recording the show on their phone. If anyone posted that, she was sure to be the butt of several online jokes. Thank goodness her students were too young to have cell phones, or they’d all see it for sure before Monday. “Well, I guess it goes to prove that people like the violin better than drums.”
“I like you
.”
And there he went again, being all sweet and serious and making Em break out into a sweat. Every time he said something like that, it lessened her resolve. She knew better than to fall for a smooth talking soccer player. If only there were some kind of test to see what kind of boyfriend Grant would be six months down the road.
She played with the stem of her glass. “You don’t even know me.”
“Isn’t it enough that I want to? I know we don’t know each other that well, but isn’t that why you go on dates with people? To get to know them better?”
Em sighed. It felt like she was fighting an impossible battle. “Okay. Then let’s say this is a real date. What kind of questions would you ask me over dinner?”
He sat up straighter, his eyes bright and eager. She didn’t know if she should laugh or groan. “Well, I already know that Finn is your older brother, but you don’t have any pictures of the rest of your family online.”
Em blinked a few times. He was coming out swinging, and he didn’t even know it. She bit her lip. “That’s because Finn is the only family I have.”
Grant reached out and grabbed her hand. His fingers were warm as they squeezed. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize. How old were you when they died?”
“It’s not like that.” She pulled away her hand and shook her head. “Last time I checked, they were both very much alive, living out their lives in California.”
His brows lowered. “I’m confused.”
That made two of them. Em had made peace with the fact that her parents were complete pieces of crap years ago, but it always made questions like this uncomfortable for everyone.
She lifted her glass and swallowed the remaining contents of her glass. Might as well get it over with. The sooner he knows, the sooner he can move on to someone normal.
“Even though we lived with them until we graduated, they were never there.” She shook her head. “Lucky for me, Finn has always been a good big brother. When I was little, he always helped me with my homework after school. When I got older, he helped me get my first job and taught me to drive. Finn is the one who went to the store and bought a pack of pads when I first got my period.”
Out of Play: A Sports Romance (Love in the Arena Book 2) Page 8
