Anxious Love (Love Sick #1) (17 page)

I worried about Leah.

Our gaze locked at the beginning of practice, but every time I looked over, her focus was on other things. She had a sexy glint in her eye and a look of subdued excitement on her face that if I were in another setting would have gotten my dick hard.

She was so fucking sexy.

"Dude, who do you keep looking at?" Winston hit my shoulder. He followed my eyes. "Oh, shit. Who is that?"

I turned to him, not liking his tone in talking about my girl. "That's my girlfriend."

"Dude, Rook, nice piece."

My cheeks flamed, but I wasn't about to get into a pissing match with a teammate in front of Leah. She would freak and the goal for today was...well, for her not to freak. "I wouldn’t expect such crass vernacular from an Alabama graduate."

He narrowed his eyes as if he could read the meaning of my sentence on his forehead.

"No, Ry, he didn't even graduate," Plummer, another teammate, chimed in. He was a ten-year vet and more in a position to chastise a teammate. "What the fuck’s wrong with you, Winston. You know better than to talk about a guy's girl. Show some fucking respect."

Winston turned on Plummer, and they exchanged non-verbal threats, but all was short lived when the buzzer sounded and we broke out into the next drill.

At the end of practice, most guys headed toward the locker rooms while a few guys stayed out to get some extra work done. This was my typical routine, but I needed to check on Leah. I walked to her section of the field, and she walked down to meet me.

"Hey, gorgeous," I called up. The stadium walls that separate the field from the stand were eight feet tall. I reached up as she reached down and touched her hand. She was okay.

"Hey, yourself." She winked and smiled.

"I have some drills I need to work on."

"Okay, don't worry about me. I'm having a blast."

I chuckled.

I looked around. The other guys were on the other end. "Why don't you come on the field?" I motioned for her to come.

"Can I?"

"Yeah, jump on over. I'll catch you."

My heart jumped in my throat. She didn't hesitate as she swung her legs over. I stifled a groaned when I caught a glimpse of the white lace panties she wore under her skirt. I grabbed her legs, and she slid down me and landed on the ground.

"You sure it's okay for me to be down here?"

"Yeah. As long as you're with me, it's fine."

I leaned over and kissed her, and a roar of whoops came from the stadium section where people leaned over the railings getting autographs from my teammates.

"Be careful. You don't want to upset your fan club over there," Leah said and nudged me.

We both turned, and I waved to the group of girls wearing my jersey. They collectively screamed and squealed. I turned back to Leah. She grinned. I kissed her again, laughing against her lips as I took her hand.

We walked to the other sideline away from the crowd.

Dennis, one of the assistant trainers, had a launcher set up and ten footballs by his feet.

Billy, an intern with the team, stood about thirty yards down field.

"Hey, Dennis, this is my girl, Leah."

"Hi, Leah," Dennis whispered and went back to adjusting the machine.

He placed a football in the chute and pushed the lever, with a thump, the ball squeezed between two small rolling tires and launched into the air. It landed in Billy's hands with a thud and a grunt.

Leah's breath hitched, and my chest tightened. She carried a look of pure curiosity in her beautiful brown eyes.

"Stay behind the machine, okay?"

She nodded and watched as Dennis launched another one.

I dropped my stuff and jogged out to where Billy stood. He stepped to the side, and I took his spot. I angled my body to the left and held my hand out.

I nodded and focused on the ball leaving the launcher.
Smack
. It hit right in the palm of my hand, and I closed my fingers around it and gripped it before it could fall.

My gaze found Leah, and she squealed and clapped her hands. I loved to see her find joy in new things. I took a few steps forward and nodded. The ball landed with a louder smack, but I caught it. I took a few more steps forward.

Leah asked Dennis something, and he nodded, she turned her attention back to me, her eyes wide in anticipation of the next launch.

The drill went on until I was a yard line away from the launcher. Leah was holding her breath by this time.

"Baby, breathe. I've done this before."

She laughed, and her shoulders relaxed.

I caught five balls in quick succession. Paused and did it again, before doing the drill in reverse. When I finished, Leah was chatting with Dennis like they were old friends.

"At top speed, it goes about twenty miles per hour."

I walked over to them.

"Can I catch one?"

Dennis and I both turned and looked at her.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, I want to see what it feels like."

"What if it hurts your hand? You know you make a living off your manual dexterity."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Let me try."

"Okay." I reached for her hand and walked her a few yard lines away from the machine.

"Dennis, dial it down a few notches, okay?"

I positioned her in front of the machine and stood behind her.

"What do I do?"

"Just put your hands up and catch it."

Leah placed her hands in front of her chest. I had one hand on her hip.

"You ready?"

"Yeah," she said. I nodded to Dennis. He launched the ball, and it came right for Leah. Her body tensed. She gasped and ducked as the ball arrived and I knocked it out of the way. It bounced on the turf.

Leah squatted on the ground, looking up at me, and held her hand over her heart as she tried to catch her breath.

"Why did you move?" I asked.

"You scared me when you knocked it out of the way."

"I knocked it out of the way because you ducked."

She stood up and wiped her hands on her dress. I bent down and swiped the turf dust off her knee.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Let's try it again, but this time, you stand over there." She pointed to her side.

"You sure?"

"Yes." She pushed me out of the way. "I got this."

"Okay." I stood to the side.

She lined up in front of the machine and nodded once she was ready. She grunted as the ball landed against her chest and she wrapped her hands around it. I grinned as the smile spread across her face. She gripped the ball in her hands and held it up in front of me.

"Woohoo!" She spiked the ball and jumped up and hugged me around the neck. I caught her and brought her up the rest of the way. Her enthusiasm made me wish we weren't standing in the stadium with so many people watching.

"That was so cool. How fast was that going compared to the ones you catch?"

"Probably three times slower."

She seemed a little disappointed.

"Catch one at that speed. I want to feel it." I wasn't sure what she meant, but I stood up, and she stood behind me, her hands on my back.

"Dennis, send it at my usual speed."

He launched it, and she grunted when it landed with a smack in my hands. Her body tensed against mine.

"Wow. Yeah, that's fast."

I handed her the ball.

"You want to try?"

"No." She laughed, and I leaned over and landed a quick kiss on her lips. I wanted to taste the joy on her mouth. She was having the time of her life. No hint of her anxiety. I did that for her. I gave her this experience, and if she could do this, she could do anything.

By the time Ryan finished his drills, Mr. Thibodeaux had joined us on the field.

"You okay with me signing a few autographs?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, of course, go ahead."

He leaned over and kissed me. With every touch of his lips to mine, the more my insides buzzed. Watching him at practice had been one great big giant turn-on. I was horny as hell and couldn't wait to get him alone, but at the same time, the more I watched him in his element, the hotter for him I got. My reaction threw me.

None of my issues had any room to creep in and tear me down because I was having too much fun.

"You enjoyed that?" Mr. Thibodeaux asked.

"I did." The people were jockeying for position to get an autograph from Ryan. A sense of pride came over me and mingled with the sexy thoughts. I couldn't wait to tell my therapist about this revelation as well.

"They always have so many people at practice?" I asked.

"Every one. I am happy to tell you most of these fans are becoming Ryan Ware fans quick."

"Really?" I grinned from ear to ear; I didn't even try to hide it.

"Yeah. He was a franchise pick. We hope he'll be the face of the Saints for many years to come. We could use some good pub after the last few years."

I nodded and turned back to watch Ryan taking an awkward selfie with a little boy.

"How long have you two been together?"

"Only a couple of months."

"You from New Orleans?"

"No, Dallas. I've lived here for two years." I rubbed my arms. "I love it. It gets in your skin. You lived here all your life?"

Mr. Thibodeaux laughed a deep, hardy laugh. "I have, but I moved out a few years to attend college. I could never stay away for too long."

"Oh yeah, where did you go?"

"Stanford."

"Oh." I nodded my head, but my stomach clenched. I shook the idea out of my head before it could form a solid thought and ruin my mood. I had attended Stanford. I looked at Mr. Thibodeaux; he was, at least, ten years older than I was, if not more. We would have attended at different times.

I never claimed my school because of what happened. It sucked really; it was always a nice icebreaker to discuss where you went to school, especially in this environment. It was a badge of honor, but my college years were the origin of all of my issues. Issues that a certain sexy football player had unknowingly helped me to forget.

I turned back to find Ryan pointing at me and laughing with his groupies. I winked and motioned for him to continue. He winked back then turned back to the girls and continued with his autographs.

I pushed Stanford out of my mind and concentrated on the gorgeous man in front of me. It didn't take me long to get back to that place. I couldn't wait to get him alone.

Mr. Thibodeaux stood by my side outside the player's parking lot while Ryan ducked into the locker room for a quick shower. I almost told him to skip it. We would be getting sweaty sooner than he thought.

With Mr. Thibodeaux staying within earshot, I never had the chance. When he came out of the locker room, his roommate stood next to him. They walked up to me, and Daniel leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

"Hey, Leah. I thought that was you up there. How did you like practice?"

"Uhm." My head went a little fuzzy from the contact, and it took me a second too long to answer.

"Baby?" Ryan nudged me.

"It was amazing," I said to Daniel. "You guys really getting after it out there."

The answer seemed to satisfy them both.

"You guys want to get something to eat?" Daniel asked.

The guys had one night off before they had to go back to the hotel the next day.

"Where’s Kelly?" I asked.

"She's in LA working," he said. I noted a small hint of sadness in his tone, but you couldn't see it on his face.

He was the type of person who would be in
kiss cheek
basis with someone after a chance meeting in a hallway over a month ago.

"Why don't we go someplace in the Quarter?" Ryan answered. He turned to me. “It should be pretty quiet this time of night."

"Oh, let's do Acme. You've been raving about it," Daniel said.

"Sure," I said as I grabbed onto Ryan's forearm and squeezed. I spotted my car and driver outside of the parking lot by the curb. "My car's here."

"Babe, we can ride with Daniel."

"Okay, I need to grab something, and then I can let him go for the night. You want to come with me?"

Ryan's eyes narrowed, but he followed. I tempered my sigh of relief. I was not in a mindset to go to a restaurant and be around other people. I wanted to go home, call today a victory, tear off my football player’s clothes, and celebrate.

"Hey, James." I greeted my driver and nodded. He always nodded. He was a man of few words. "Can you give us a second?"

He opened the door. I climbed in and pulled Ryan alone with me.

He fell into the car and before the door closed, I crawled on him, straddled him, and dove on his lips before he could protest.

My tongue pressed against his lips as my hand reached down into the waistband of his sweat pants and gripped his length. It hardened instantly. He groaned, but placed his hands on my arms, gripped them tightly, and pushed me away.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a chuckle, the lust close to taking over.

"I would really like to join Daniel for dinner, but you have to take care of something for me first."

"What?"

I lifted my skirt. "My panties are all wet again."

He swallowed hard.