Page 41 of No Easy Catch
AMBER
“Nice work on your sports, media and culture piece, Ms. Henderson. Your writing has a certain edge to it that I haven’t seen in a while. It’s refreshing.” Professor Madsen gave me a curt nod—her notorious sign of approval—and moved on to the student after me. My insides wriggled and swelled at her compliment. Maybe I’d been feeling down more than normal, because that simple statement combined with Jeff’s compliment caused me to smile so hard it hurt my face.
“Your theme of media bias was spot-on. Kinda jealous I didn’t think of it myself.” Kayla Crawford, a fellow senior who had been in most of my classes all four years, was the third person to give me a compliment. The world had to be ending. That was the only explanation.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, trying to hide the aggressive blush taking over my face. “I guess I’ve always been into sports.”
“Well it shows and I’m only like eighty percent proud and twenty percent angry at you…give or take twenty.”
I laughed and buttoned up my long red winter coat. The wind was freezing and I wasn’t looking forward to the walkhome.But you’re going straight to Jeff’s and you know it.My fingers shook with either nerves or adrenaline when I slipped on my gloves and said goodbye to Kayla. Jeff’s unanswered text remained at the front of my mind. Could I do this? Hook up with him…sober…and still work with him?
Was that a semi-relationship?No. It’s partners-in-an-investigation-with-benefits.My skin tingled when I thought about his mouth on me the night before…the way he’d brought my body to life and been so vocal about it.It’s never been like that before with anyone.
It could be fun to explore that with him.My campus crush wants to sleep with me repeatedly.I would be a fool to say no.God, I wish I could talk to Laney about this. This is her territory, not mine.I had nothing to lose by doing this. It wasn’t like I would fall for him. He thought me average and unremarkable.But he’s changed his tune.
I groaned and bent my head down to walk faster. This was one of the times I wished I could invent a button that would stop all thoughts. I was always in my head, second-guessing or doubting everything and just once, I wish I could let my body decide for me.That’s why you drank and slept with random guys. It was primal.
God, I wanted a beer.
My heeled boots clicked on the sidewalk and, instead of letting my mind wonder about sleeping with Jeff, I thought about the investigation the rest of the way. How would I go about reporting it if we broke it open? Who would be the target, the face of the scandal? The coach or my uncle? The players or the university? If I did write up about it, what would be the goal? To expose them all?
What’s the new information Jeff has?
That was the question I repeated and focused on as I walked right by our house and to the baseball one. This was the firsttime I’d visited Jeff in his domain and I wasn’t sure if I should call, text, or knock. It was too cold to wait around so I rang the doorbell and pulled my coat tighter against my chest. I hated wearing tights and a dress most of the time, but it had been required for my presentation and the cold seeped into my legs.
“Hey, Henderson,” Aaron said, ushering me inside. “What’s going on?”
“Is Jeff here?” I asked, suddenly unsure. Zade and Tanner sat on the couch and smiled at me in greeting, but I got the feeling they were all laughing at me.Like they know the deal Jeff proposed to me.“I’m supposed to meet up with him for my final project about athletes and how sports affect their education.”Wow, I’m good at lying on the fly.
“He’s upstairs, but I’m a little pissed you chose him to write about. Any one of us would’ve been better options. We’re all more interesting.”
His attitude made me laugh and it was easy to relax around him. “I won’t disagree with you there.”
“At least you admit it. If you need better people to interview, let us know.”
“Yeah, I take way better photos than Maddow,” Zade chimed in. I was about to reply with a sarcastic comment when Jeff stormed down the stairs and leveled his intense stare at me. His gaze dropped from my face to my legs and he jutted his chin upstairs.
“Wanna get to work?”
“Nice to see you, too,” I mumbled and gave the rest of the guys a weak smile. “Maybe I will change the focus of the article onto you three.”
“You know where we live. The invitation is always open,” Zade said with a wink. Jeff cleared his throat and each step I took closer to him, it felt like lead appeared in my shoes. Nerves, excitement, doubt and lust merged into a lethal combinationand I wasn’t sure if I wanted to strip down or run away.Focus on the information.
“These clowns get loud so I figured we can work upstairs.” He put his hand on my lower back and gently nudged me to head up. I held on to the railing and paused when I got to the top. “My room is on the left.”
It’s like I’ve never been in a dude’s bedroom before. I have, multiple times.The first thing that struck me was how clean his room was. The bed was made, the floor spotless, his entire desk organized and he even had curtains. “Damn, you’re clean.”
“Yeah.” He shut the door with a soft click, solidifying it was just the two of us now in his small room. “I’m covered in dirt when I’m behind the plate so when I come home, I need my area to be the opposite.”
“Interesting. I never would’ve pegged you for a clean freak,” I joked, finding it significantly easier than talking about the big what-if between us. He chuckled and reached out to place a hand on my shoulder.
“Want me to hang up your coat?”
“Oh shit. I forgot I was wearing one. Sure.” I undid each button and felt his stare on me. He gave nothing away besides rubbing his lips together and I handed him the red jacket, leaving me in my very fitting professional black dress. It hugged all my curves and made me feel powerful—hence for the presentation—but the way his gaze roamed my body had me fidgeting. It was easy to invent all the negative things he could be thinking about me, but there was a heat to his eyes.Maybe I do look good?
“Why do you look so nice?” He hung up my coat on a hook on the back of his closet door.
“I had a presentation for one of my classes.” I eyed the options to sit down and wished I’d gone home to change into sweats first. There was no real ladylike way to sit on a bed inpanty-hose. “We get graded on professional appearance and this is one of my three power outfits.”
