Page 63 of Off the Mark
I touched her chin, turning her face to mine. “That James guy was an asshole and way out of line. What you said, calling him out like that, was the right response. The audience clearly thought so. I thought so too.”
Her throat worked on a swallow. “You did?”
“It made me proud to be your boyfriend.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Even if it’s only pretend.”
“That’s sweet of you to say, because not an hour ago, I was promising I’d be polite and cheerful up there,especiallysince I want all these rich people to give you money. Instead…”
“Instead what?”
Her front teeth sank into her bottom lip. “I let him get under my skin even though he’s not worth my anger. Let him bait me into an argument because he thinks I’m like my dad too. It always makes me worry. Worry that, you know, thecourt of public opinionwill decide that I’m…unlikable. And that’ll be the end for me.”
I smoothed my palm along the bare skin of her back. “What’s unlikeable?You? No way.”
She shrugged, face darkening with emotions I couldn’t begin to pull apart.
“Charlie, you’re a force of nature with an addiction to extreme sports, a passion for standing up for what you believe in, and a long history of taking care of your family, even when it’s complicated. I could give a flyingfuckabout what James or anyone else says about you. They don’tknowyou.”
Her gaze went wide, like she was stunned. There was a beat of silence. Another. She shifted closer, lifted her arms and draped them around my neck. A second later I could feel her fingers sifting through my hair. Then her nails, lightly scratching down my scalp.
I clenched my jaw to keep from groaning.
“Thank you for saying that, Rowan. It’s like you’ve always…”
Whatever she was about to say was cut off when a group of fans sidled up to us, turning our heads. But instead, they laughed nervously and bounced away. Charlie half-raised her hand in greeting, but someone called out, “We’ll come back later. You get it, girl.”
Charlie buried her face in my neck. Her shoulders shook with muffled laughter, her breath hot on my skin.
I tipped my mouth toward her ear. “Look at you, gettin’ it.”
“We’re gonna end up on an Instagram gossip site again.”
“Wait,again?”
She sat back, eyes sparkling with a lightness at odds with how frustrated she’d been just a few minutes earlier.
“There are pictures of us on aTMZ-style sports site. You know, likeHas the Bad Girl of Motocross finally found her man?That kind of thing.”
I held my tongue,this closeto firing back something teasing likewell, have you found your man?Knowing full well what she’d say, knowing full well what we’d agreed to.
Yeah, a fake one who I only have to pretend with for another ten days.
“I didn’t show you the pictures yet,” she continued, “because the comment section is one long Rowan O’Callaghan thirst session. Didn’t think your ego could take an injection of such pure infatuation.”
“Admit it. You’ve got a hot, popular boyfriend,” I said in a relaxed tone I didn’t feel. “So I guess our…plan…is working?”
Charlie rolled her lips together. Nodded. “Looks like it is, yeah.”
I scanned her face, feeling her body relax further against mine. “It’s horrible, feelin’ like an easy target in a situation like the one you were just in. When I got called up to the majors and saw how much scrutiny me and my teammates got from the press, I was always like…damn, can’t we just play ball?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Right,yes. And you think James can stay upright on a dirt track going fifty-five miles an hour before flying off a jump?”
“That dickheadcannot. It’s the same as his ability to last more than five minutes in the outfield. People like that criticize because they believe they’re better at it than we are.” I jostled her closer to me. “No one’s better than you, Maddox.”
“Okay, now you’re trying to get me to smile for the game.”
“I’mtrying”—I nudged the tip of my nose along her neck—“to get you to smile for real. Because you’re my soft, cuddlykitten.”
Charlie’s head fell back on a laugh that shook her chest, a laugh that had me grinning like a fool against her throat. I pressed my mouth to her pulse, savored its leap beneath my lips.
