Page 3 of Pressure Point

“No,” he said, through gritted teeth. She giggled, humored by the fact that he felt the need to lie about his pain level. “For someone so little, you sure do have strong hands.”

“As a PT, I’m going to take that as a compliment,” she laughed, continuing to massage his shoulder. “But good news, no major problems in your shoulder. You’ll probably be sore for the next day or two, so maybe make Monday legs day in the weight room.”

“Sounds good.”

“You doing anything big to celebrate your first win?”

“No,” he shrugged.

“Yes, you are, Padre!”

Avery stopped midstroke of her thumb along Liam’s deltoid. The sweet sound of Dash’s voice made her breath catch and her heart start to race. Looking up, she watched as the hottest man she’d ever seen strode into the training room in nothing but his skivvies. No, hot wasn’t the right word. Every guy on this team was hot—there were just no two ways about it—but Dash was something else. If it didn’t feel weird to call a guy “beautiful,” that was the word she would have used. Tan skin, tattoos decorating his right arm, some of the best-defined muscles she’d ever seen, brown eyes that invited you to get lost in them, and thick dark hair that always seemed to be perfect. Avery was pretty sure he was Adonis personified.

“P-p-padre?” she managed to stutter, questioning the nickname.

“Because he’s as serious as a priest,” Dash explained, giving her a wink. Avery’s stomach flipped. He was so hot, and here he was, winking at her. Liam grunted and rolled his eyes, but the smile on his face gave away that he didn’t really mind the name. “We are going to Bunz, and you are coming.”

“I could eat,” he said with a shrug. As his shoulder moved, Avery realized her hand was still resting there, and she quickly removed it, not wanting to make it seem like she was holding on to Liam. Because she wasn’t. They were just friends.

“Good. You should come too, Amaya.”

“It’s, uh, it’s Avery,” she corrected him, stumbling over her words. She knew she wasn’t great when it came to the opposite sex, but something about being in Dash’s presence made her all kinds of tongue-tied. The exact opposite of what she was like with Liam, who she seemed to always feel calm around, like they could talk about anything. Why couldn’t she always feel like that? “You know, like the label.”

“We’re headed there now, so hit the showers, Padre!” Dash said, ignoring her correction and walking off toward the showers.

“Did you just refer to yourself as an office product?” Liam asked, turning to face her. His blue eyes were warm and sympathetic, like he understood exactly how insecure she was feeling in this moment.

“It’s a reference most people understand. And I usually get a laugh or two,” she explained, feeling even more unsure than before. Why was she such a dork? “Anyway, you should shower and get dressed so you don’t miss the fun.”

“You’re not going to come?”

“I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not. You got the same invite I did. Come with.”

“You sure?” Her heart soared at the thought of heading to Bunz to hang out with them.

“Aye, it’ll be fun.”

Avery nodded, unable to hide the smile taking over her face. This was a dream come true—Dash had asked her out. Okay, he didn’t ask her out exactly. Or at all. And he’d used the wrong name. But, it was something.

“Great. Then I’ll get dressed and meet you out front. We can grab a Lyft together?”

“I’d like that.”

Liam hopped off the table and made his way back into the dressing area. Avery was still smiling from ear to ear as she wiped down the exam table. She was going to hang out with Dash.

Looking down at her outfit, she wished that she had something to change into. Her khaki pants and team polo made her look professional but did nothing to help her already lacking figure. If anything, they only helped make her look less feminine. There was nothing she could do about that now though. And she wasn’t going to let that get in her way.

She had a “date” with the hottest team in town.

Chapter Two

"Hey! I was just texting to see if you were coming,” Talia said as Liam and Avery walked into the bar area of Bunz.

With two levels of seating in the restaurant, a private back room, and a bar that was just separate enough that it was both its own thing and part of the restaurant, Bunz was like no place he’d ever seen back in Ireland. The fact that all the waiters were shirtless was also unlike anything he’d ever experienced.

“First win, it’s worth celebrating,” he commented, pulling her in for a hug. Talia had arrived in Atlanta shortly after Liam had, and the two had quickly become friends, thanks to their shared connection with Gunnar.