Page 31 of Playing to Win
“And don’t you roll your eyes behind that mask either, Ms. Thompson.”
“How do you know I’m rolling my eyes?”
“Because despite what you may think, I’m getting to know you quite well.”
Callie could feel herself blushing. “Especially that blush. It’s totally adorable. It really makes your freckles stand out.”
“Note to Kelly. No woman likes to be called adorable. And just for the record, I hate my freckles.”
“I wanted to say ridiculously sexy, but I figured that would just make you mad.” Callie felt Kyle’s breath tickle her ear. If she leaned in just half a centimeter, she was sure his lips could brush that sensitive spot right behind her ear. She felt her breath hitch as she thought about what it would feel like to have his lips on that part of her skin.
“And I love your freckles, Curly. One day, if you let me, I plan on kissing each and every one. Including this one right here,” he continued, running his hand along her collarbone where a long freckle sat right by her neck. Callie shivered at the thought.
“But right now,” he said, his voice returned totally back to normal, “We’ve got to get to where we’re going. Time’s a wastin’.”
Callie let out a sigh. Her guard was being let down by the minute. It was a good thing she couldn’t see or else she might do something really dumb, like look at his lips. And grab his face and suck them like a vacuum cleaner. She jumped when she felt Kyle reach over and grab her hand. Very slowly, so as not to spook her, he entwined his fingers with hers. To Callie’s surprise, she didn’t pull away. Holding Kyle Kelly’s hand felt like the most natural thing in the world. Damn her libido. Damn his smooth words and charming ways. Callie was starting to open herself up to the one type of person she had sworn off for good. She was finding herself in a big fat mess, and it was wrapped up in a gooey, drool-worthy, six foot eight, all-male athlete package.
Kyle couldn’t believeshe was letting him hold her hand. He knew it was a risk calling her sexy, but the more he learned about the woman sitting beside him, the more he started to like. The more he started to feel. She was real, and best of all, he could feel her starting to open up to him. He could feel that wall she had built so high starting to fall. He didn’t know what guy, what ‘athlete’ had come before him, but he had really done a number on her. If he ever met the asshole, Kyle would be sure to put a fist to that dick’s face. Damn the consequences. How anyone could mistreat his Curly was beyond him.
He put an abrupt stop to his thought. He didn’t know when it happened, but he started to refer to her as his Curly. When it happened, he didn’t know, but he knew it needed to stop, at least until he could get her to admit she liked him, or was at least willing to give him a chance.
“Okay, we’re here. You can take the mask off now.” He hoped her dad was right and Curly really did love this place as much as he said. Kyle wanted to keep impressing her.
Callie got out of the car and stood speechless by the passenger door. He walked around to where she stood. “I’m hoping your silence is a good sign,” he said to her. “If not, we can go. Your dad told me you really loved this place and you haven’t been back—”
To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around his middle and gave him a big hug. “Thank you so much, Kyle,” she whispered in his chest. “You can’t know how much this means to me.”
Ever since coming to Oklahoma when the franchise was moved from Seattle and the name was changed, he hadn’t ventured out of the city limits much. He had heard about the beauty of Turner Falls, but he really hadn’t had a reason to go. He didn’t want to try and battle the crowds. He found that if he went to places like it, especially nature places where it was meant to enjoy the beauty and relax, he couldn’t enjoy it because he was signing autographs most of the time. As a celebrity, he knew that went with the territory and most of the time he didn’t mind, but some days, he just wanted to be left alone.
Luckily, since it was March and he was told the waters were freezing in the summer, hardly any people were in the park.
“We used to come here every summer as a family. Nana, Pop, Dad and me,” Curly said, interrupting his thoughts. “Some of my best memories are from here. We would camp in our trailer and swim and hike the trails.”
“Well, let’s go then.”
“Where?”
“Hike the trails.”
“Okay.”
They set out walking at a leisurely pace, Kyle grabbing Callie’s hand. It really was beautiful. A waterfall fell to a stunning swimming pool filled with rocks that looked like they were great for jumping into the frigid water.
“I used to look for crawdads right here,” Callie said, her feet close to the edge of the pool. “I remember the first time my dad got me in the water and brave enough to jump off that rock,” she said, pointing to the biggest one in the pool. “I was so scared, convinced some big fish was going to grab my toe and pull me under.”
Kyle laughed, picturing a little Callie swimming around with her dad, her nana and pop from the pictures hanging on her dad’s living room wall watching from the shore.
“You have to feel the water,” she said. “Come over here.”
Kyle reached down and put his hand in and quickly pulled it back. “That’s friggin’ cold!”
“I know. It’s not much warmer in the summer,” she said with a laugh. “It feeds down from the mountain. You get used to it though.”
“Is this the place in the picture that’s hanging on your wall in your apartment? The one with you and Cassie?”
“Yeah. I brought her here the summer of my freshman year. She couldn’t go home because she decided to take summer classes so I tried to get her to come home with me as much as she could.”
“Where is she from?”
