by Eva Luxe
When we took a water break, I noticed someone standing at the side of the field. My blood ran cold for a moment. What if Tyler had found me, what if he was watching me? But he’d had dark hair and the guy standing next to the field had light hair. And Tyler had never been so sure of himself.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. There were spectators for the different team practices all the time. Tyler calling me all the time, and so soon after the move, had left me anxious.
We trained on, doing stretches and strength training, sprinting to hone our explosive muscles, and long distance runs for endurance.
We were almost done when the football players ran onto the field. The girls all stopped and stared.
Dina laughed, “Alright, I see we’re not going to be able to do any more today. Let’s stretch it out before hitting the showers.”
We sat down in a circle on the grass, doing our stretches, keeping an eye on the muscle wrestling it out on the field. I noticed that the spectator had moved forward and now that he was closer, he looked familiar.
“Do you know who that is?” I asked Samantha, who stretched next to me, gesturing with my head. She had been on the Dolphins Cheerleading Squad for almost two years now. She shook her head. No one famous, then.
He turned around, even closer now and I realized who it was.
Kyle, the guy I had dated in college. He hadn’t changed. If anything, he had become even hotter. He had grown into himself. His face angular, his body muscular, and the reediness of a growing teenager was long gone.
“Dina,” I said. “I see someone I know. Can I go say hi?”
Dina nodded. “If you’re aching tomorrow because you didn’t stretch it’s on you,” she said.
I grabbed my bag and walked toward Kyle, hesitant. How would he receive me? He was the one that had called it off. He’d told me things had gotten hard for him, that he’d had to reinvent himself and he hadn’t been able to do that with me by his side. It had hurt and I had spent nights crying about this boy who had all but told me he didn’t need me. I had been serious about him, sure that we would reach our forever. Sure, I had been young and in love, but I was convinced I knew what love was. I still didn’t understand it, but I had been bitter then. I had dealt with it and eventually moved on with my life. I wasn’t angry anymore.
Seeing him now brought back memories—and emotions. It hit me like a wave, making it hard for me to think straight. Butterflies erupted in my stomach, the way they had when I’d seen him for the first time. My stomach twisted and turned when I remembered how it used to be with him. And how it had ended.
The idea of seeing him again seemed strange. I wasn’t sure if he would want to talk to me, or if I was making a mistake. Maybe it was better if I didn’t approach him. Not speaking to him at all would be better than being rejected.
I got irritated with myself. I usually knew just what I wanted, and did what I had to do to get it. This was the same. All I had to do was make a decision and stick to it.
Easier said than done in this case. Walking up to the man that had shown me the door was harder than it sounded, and I hadn’t been as confident back then as I was now. I thought maybe I was the problem, and you never forget your first love and how they made you feel.
I was nearly next to him when he turned around and saw me. Too late. Even if I wanted to run away, I couldn’t do it now.
Kyle looked surprised, a smile crossing his face. At least that wasn’t a bad sign.
“Maya,” he said.
“Hi,” I offered.
“What a surprise, seeing you here. What are you doing at the training center?”
He was drop-dead gorgeous. His light brown hair was shorter than he’d had it in college and his eyes were cornflower blue, the way they used to get when he talked about things he was passionate about. His shoulders were broader than I remember, his muscles compact.
“I’m on the Dolphin Cheerleading Squad,” I said, pointing to the girls stretching on the grass. “We trained here today.”
“Oh, wow,” he said. “That’s impressive.”
I smiled, fighting a blush. I wore spandex training shorts and a tank top. I was minimally dressed and Kyle’s eyes slid down my body and back up again. I was suddenly self-conscious.
“Have you been with the squad for long? I don’t remember seeing you on TV.”
I shook my head. “I only just started with them. It’s a great opportunity.”
“For sure,” Kyle said. He turned his gaze to the football training in front of us and we stood together, watching the men collide for a while. It was pure poetry, thick flesh slamming, grunts and groans and the whistle, lacing it all. The game was gritty and dirty and I loved it. It wasn’t about the men, it was about the art of it.
“How about you?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m watching Liam train,” Kyle said, and pointed into the writhing bodies that fought for the ball. “You remember him, right?”
“How could I forget?” I asked. Liam and Kyle had been like brothers at college. “I’d heard when he transferred to the Dolphins last season. Bit of a rocky start, if I remember.”
“Very,” Kyle said. He seemed bitter, about it. He watched the team and as I watched him, he didn’t look like he enjoyed it.
“Do you remember when we went out to Sparky’s place on the beach with the team?” I asked. “It was after that game against NYU and you got tackled so hard you were concussed, your speech all jumbled up the more you drank.”
Kyle laughed, “I was such an idiot, then, drinking with a concussion. God, I could have killed myself. “
I chuckled. “Yeah, you were kind of reckless back then. Are you calmer, now?”
“I don’t know. I guess that’s relative.”
“To what?” I asked.
He looked at me with a naughty smile, a smile I knew too well. “To who’s asking.”
I laughed. “Right. That sounds like the Kyle I remember.”
Kyle’s face fell and he seemed suddenly thoughtful. “Really? Does it? It seems like a long time ago, a different life.”
“Well, it’s been a couple of years. But not much has changed, I see. Cheerleading for me and football for you.”
“Oh, I don’t play,” Kyle said. His tone was weary, bitter. I thought it better not to ask.
“I have to get going,” I said. “I’m covered in sweat. I have to get home and get cleaned up. It was great seeing you again, Kyle.”
He nodded, still looking at the team. I turned and headed toward the training center where we were using the locker rooms.
“Maya,” Kyle called after me. I stopped and turned around. “I know it might seem a little, well, awkward or something, but can I take your number? Will you let me call you sometime?”
I smiled and nodded. I’d wanted him to ask me, and hoped to see him again. I hadn’t thought it was what he’d wanted, but there it was. He pulled out his phone and I walked closer, reciting my digits to him as he punched them into the phone.
“You’ve changed your number,” he said.
“Yeah, sometimes it’s a necessity,” I replied, not willing to mention that it was my fifth number since college, or that I was doing it to run away from Tyler.
“Got it,” Kyle said. “I’ll pop you a text sometime.”
“Great. Have a good one,” I said, and walked away toward the locker room. Warmth spread through my body. Kyle had been everything I’d ever wanted in a man. I had been shattered when he’d broken up with me. I’d been telling myself I was over him, but now that I saw him again, I realized how much I still felt for him and realized why I wasn’t that interested in dating. It was dangerous to think he still cared for me in the same way, but he’d asked for my number. He wanted to talk to me again, maybe see me again. That was something.
I walked into the locker room where the girls were pulling tracksuit pants over their sweaty clothes and pushing their feet into flip-flops. I did the same
, running a brush through my hair and cracking open another ice cold bottle of water.
“What was that all about?” Samantha asked me. She was one of the few on the team who had pulled me in from the start.
“An old college friend,” I said. “I hadn’t seen him in a while.”
“He’s hot,” she said.
I nodded. “Very.”
My phone beeped. I picked it up, unlocking the screen.
Dinner? Tomorrow night? Kyle
I couldn’t help but grin.
“And that face?” Samantha asked, when she saw me smiling at my phone.
“He just asked me out to dinner,” I said.
Samantha smiled. “Looks like more than just a college friend, then,” she said, and waggled her eyebrows at me. I laughed and typed a reply to Kyle.
Love to. Let me know where and what time.
A thrill ran through me when I hit send. I had been on a few dates over the past couple of years since Kyle, but I’d never felt this way about any of them. I was excited to see him. Even if we were only going to be friends.
A small part of me hoped that that wasn’t the case.
Chapter 5
Kyle
I hadn’t been on a date in a while. Everything in my life had been turned upside down when my dream had been taken away from me and women had been last on my list of priorities. Sure, I had tried a few times, ending up with mediocre sex if I was lucky. It had never been anything to get excited about, and it was easier to move on.
But this time, it was serious. This time she had class and taste and deserved the best. It was Maya Thomas and if any woman deserved it all, it was her.
I wanted to be able to give it all to her.
The Capital Grille was the restaurant I had chosen to take her to. It was classy, almost above my pay grade, but I wanted to spoil her, to impress her. I felt like she needed to be shown the best time if I was ever going to have a shot with her again. Especially considering I was the one that had fucked it up for us in the first place.
When I’d gotten the news that Liam had been selected as a professional football player and I hadn’t, my life had fallen apart. Until that moment, I had everything I’d ever wanted, besides the football career, but suddenly it hadn’t been enough. I had gone from a kid with dreams to someone who didn’t know who he was, and my relationship with Maya had suffered under it. She had tried to be supportive and be there for me, trying to find out what had happened, and why I had changed.
But I hadn’t had the fortitude to tell her the truth, nor did I have what it took to move along with my life and embrace everything else.
Instead of counting the blessings I still had, I’d let go of everything bit by bit. My relationship with Maya had been the worst thing to lose. I told her I needed to find myself again, and that I couldn’t be the person she needed me to be. She hadn’t understood that I meant that I was the problem, instead assuming it had been her.
I regretted losing her, giving up on her really, to this day. I had been able to rebuild myself in so many other areas after that, but I’d never recovered from losing Maya. I had a relationship and potential future with a woman who was truly worth my while, she was funny, bright and beautiful, but I had thrown it away.
Now, I had a second chance with Maya. I was about to have a date with her. It was almost too much to hope that I would be granted a do-over, but I was willing to try. For the sake of having someone as perfect as Maya in my life again, I was willing to try for as long and as hard as it took.
Tonight would tell the story. If it was going to happen at all, if there was a chance at love again or if she was ready to only be friends. I tried not to think about how much it would hurt if she decided the latter. But after how deeply and unfairly I had hurt her, I couldn’t imagine she would want anything else.
I glanced at the time. She was running fashionably late. I pushed away the thought that she might be standing me up, and fiddled with table setting instead, straightening the silverware, and moving the wine and water glasses around as if the table hadn’t been set correctly.
The restaurant was beautiful. Rich brown wooden panels and red paint covered the walls, highlighted by classy paintings set at intervals. The white-clothed tables, and brown leather chairs provided a beautiful contrast, while waiters smoothly glided through, quietly taking orders and bringing food in a dance backed by the sound of music floating around from hidden speakers.
Suddenly, she was there. The seating hostess escorted her to our table as I sat there stunned. She was breathtaking. Her long brown hair hung over her shoulders in a wave. It was thick and glossy and I already wanted to tangle my fingers in the stuff. She wore a red halter dress that hugged her curves, and her body was exquisite.
Fucking stunning.
It was clear to see that she trained for a living. Her chocolate eyes smiled at me.
“Sorry, I’m a little late,” she said.
I shook my head and jumped up, “Not at all,” I said, as I hugged her. I considered a kiss on the cheek, but I wasn’t sure if that would be too much. I hated feeling this unsure, but it was Maya, the one woman I didn’t want to offend.
“You look amazing,” I said.
She flashed me a warm smile. “You look great too, Kyle.”
She sat down and ordered us wine. A Cabernet Sauvignon because I’d looked it up and it sounded like something she might like. When the wine came, she took a sip and smiled at me.
“This is really nice, Kyle,” she said. “I’m glad we’re doing this.”
“So am I,” I answered, smiling as well.
Maya was everything a guy could want in a woman. She was funny and interested, she wasn’t high maintenance at all. She was drop-dead gorgeous and she could recite the game stats for any given year for at least three different sports. It was any man’s wet dream to be with someone like her. I could kick myself that I’d had her in the palm of my hand and I’d messed it up.
“This place I beautiful,” she said.
“Haven’t you been here before?”
She shook her head. “To come out to places like this you have to be dating, and the last time I dated I wasn’t at an age where anyone I’d be with could afford something like this.”
The news that she hadn’t dated in a while made me sit up and take notice. I hadn’t either, and for a moment, allowed myself to hope that it was a good sign.
When the waiter arrived again, we ordered our meal. Maya ordered a steak with vegetables and wild rice. No whimsical salads to watch her waistline. That would have been unnecessary anyway, because I happened to be watching her waistline, and it was perfect.
I ordered a steak, too.
“I can’t believe you’re still in Miami,” Maya said, when the waitress left us. “You had such big dreams of seeing the world.”
And then my dreams had been taken away from me, I thought sourly, but shrugged and forced a smile. “This is home, you know? No matter where you go, there’s only one place you ever go back to.”
“I guess that’s true. I’ve only ever been around here but I’m happy. I don’t need to leave. Sara and I make it work for us.”
“I can’t believe you and Sara are still friends,” I said. I remembered Sara from college. She’d been a bitchy little blonde thing who gave any man a run for his money. Where Maya was the perfect girl to have, her best friend had been nothing but trouble.
“Of course,” Maya said. “We’re like sisters—you know that. We’re flatmates.”
That told me Sara wasn’t in a serious relationship at all, if she was still dating. Sara still being single made a lot more sense than why someone like Maya wouldn’t have been scooped up yet. Any man crossing her path would know what a stunner she was and what a mistake it would be to walk away. It was pure luck that she was single, giving me the opportunity to pour on the charm right now.
“So, what do you do?” Maya asked. “You know all about my career, but I know nothing about yours. Do you still
play?”
I shook my head, “I’m too busy to play ball now,” I said. “I’m a CA for Clover Industries.”
“Oh, my. A CA, huh? Big shot in the business world. I knew you were studying accounting but making it all the way to CA is a big move. I thought accounting was all just a fallback.”
I swallowed. I hated talking about football and why I wasn’t still playing. I nodded. The food arrived, saving me from having to give an answer right away.
“This steak is amazing,” Maya said, when she cut off a piece and put it in her mouth. I had to agree. The food was better than I had expected.
“Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” I asked.
Maya looked up at me with those bottomless eyes and nodded.
“Why are you still single?”
She smiled, her cheeks flushing slightly. “It’s pretty simple, really. Because I just haven’t found the right guy,” she said. “And I’ve been busy with my career. It’s a poor excuse, but it’s the truth.”
I shook my head. “No, I get it,” I said. I was so happy to hear what her answer was. I was willing to agree with any reason she gave me now. “I was just wondering what a woman like you was doing without a man to dote on her.”
“A woman like me?” she asked.
“Beautiful, intelligent, active—perfect.”
She blushed and it was as satisfying to see the color flood her cheeks as it had been back when we’d been dating before. God, Maya was beautiful. It was the kind of beauty that radiated from within somehow, stemming from something pure at her core.
“You’re such a charmer,” she said. “You’ve always been so sure of yourself.”
If only she knew how much that had changed.
We flirted and caught up on each other’s lives and laughed. Spending time with Maya again was like a journey back to the past when everything had been perfect. Being with her drove away my demons, and I was able to enjoy myself fully for the first time in a long while.
