Page 20 of Offsides

“Head of staff?” Cowboy laughed before Devlin could respond to her. “Is that what we’re calling you these days?”

“Heather can’t decide what the title is, so I’m going with that for now,” Devlin responded. “Is it just you two or is the whole gang comin’? The usual for everyone?”

“Please, and a…Turkish Delight for the lady.”

“A French 75,” she corrected him. The weirdness of her comment earlier was suddenly gone, a frustration taking its place. Was that really what he thought of her? “I am not the White Witch, and you are not Edmund.”

Both men reeled backward slightly, her sharp comment catching them off guard. She swallowed hard, trying not to let the defensive feeling inside her take over. It had come out of nowhere. Just a moment ago she had been wishing she could be fun and flirty, and now she was borderline grumpy. Why couldn’t she control her emotions?

“Oh, I’m staying out of this,” Devlin muttered, spinning on his heel and making an exit.

Cowboy laughed, the deep rumble of his voice once again awakening the butterflies in her tummy. Why did that sound have to be so magical? Especially after an insult like he’d just laid down.

“I didn’t mean anything by it. Promise. I just couldn’t remember what you said, and Turkish Delight was the first thing that popped into my head.” Cowboy paused, audibly sucking in a breath. He reached across the table, placing his large, tattooed hand over hers. The heat of it felt wonderful, and she wondered if the rest of his body would feel the same way. "Theo, relax. This is supposed to be fun.”

“I don’t—”

“You don’t do fun. I got it,” he cut her off. He leaned into her, his gorgeous smile taking up his whole face. “But this is going to be a long couple of weeks if you don’t ease up.”

Boy, did she know it…

* * *

Cowboy couldn’t name what this feeling inside him was. He just knew that he liked it. A lot.

Shifting his weight, he let his eyes scan up and down the tense brunette standing opposite him. Theo was flustered—he just didn’t know what about. Seeing her like this made him want more of it. The urge to get her to let loose was growing by the moment, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep fighting it.

“You play darts?” he asked, the question catching even him off guard. Darts wasn’t a game he played very often or was remotely good at. But right now he and Theo needed something to do other than to stare at each other.

“No.”

“Good, neither do I. Let’s go play.”

He grabbed her hand, tugging her through the crowd over to the dart board. Theo resisted at first, but after a step or two her arm relaxed, her hand lightly squeezing his. Her skin was soft and warm, sending a ripple of desire through him. Was the rest of her just as soft? He bet it was. He also would bet that it tasted sweet, like the mixture of sugar, butter, and vanilla when baking cookies. Now all he wanted was to find out.

But that was a bad idea. On so many levels. Theo was a reporter. Not only would it be borderline unethical, mostly on her part, but nothing good came from involving reporters. He knew that—deep in his bones he knew that. But that didn’t stop him from wanting her.

“Should I trust you with sharp projectiles?” she asked, taking the yellow-finned spikes from him.

“Look, Theo,” he said, stepping into her. She sucked in a breath, but she didn’t take a step back, making Cowboy’s pulse jump. They stood eye to eye, heat flaring in her hazel irises, igniting it in him too. Despite the hard, no-nonsense look on her face, he knew that inside her was a wild child just waiting to break free. Well, maybe not a wild child, but at least a girl who just wanted to have fun. And the idea of being the one to help coax that out of her revved him up like nothing he could remember. “We got off on the wrong foot. Which…is probably my fault.”

“You are the one who walked out on dinner,” she reminded him.

And I will probably never live that down…

“Yes, I was. And I am deeply sorry for that. That is not who I am,” he told her. “And I hope you will let me prove that to you.”

Theo sighed, fiddling with the dart in her hand. The corner of her mouth twitched just enough that he could tell he was getting to her. At least that was how he was choosing to interpret it. Because she was certainly getting to him.

There was just something about her that got under his skin. That made him want to do something silly—like dance in the rain. Better yet, take her dancing in the rain. Make her smile in a way that would be their secret. A smile that the world didn’t get to see. He knew that he'd been trying too hard to keep his distance since she’d won him at the auction, and that it was turning him into something he wasn’t—an angry, standoffish asshole.

Maybe he needed to just embrace it. Even if she was a reporter. Hate the sin, not the sinner—that's what Mama had always said, right? Maybe the same thing applied here too.

“Why sports?” he asked, lining himself up with the board. Closing one eye, he tossed his spike, landing it on the very bottom edge of the target.

“Pardon?”

“Why sports?” he asked again. He stepped out of the way so she could take her turn, but Theo didn’t move. Instead, she leaned forward, hunching over a high-top table. Cowboy wasn’t sure if it was that she wasn’t used to being on this side of questions or something else, but he could see she was hesitant to answer. Still, he wasn’t going to be put off. “I’m sure there are a hundred and one types of journalism—why sports?”