Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“Because I’m not a nerd.”
She tapped my arm. “I am not a nerd.”
“Yes, you are. The nerd and the jock.” I laughed. “Look at us. We’re a walking cliche.”
She sunk her teeth into the cheesy pizza, her eyes on me.
“Your ex was an athlete, right?”
“Yeah.” Clarke licked the sauce from her lip. “He played basketball in high school and college.”
“You seem like the mathlete type.”
“Thanks a lot,” she groaned. “How about you? I could see you dating cheerleaders in high school.”
“I didn’t really date.”
She snickered. “Some things never change, huh?”
“What can I say? I was popular in high school. I never had a shortage of women following me around.”
“Must be nice to have everyone love you.”
“Except for you,” I said with a force behind my words.
“I like you,” she admitted between bites. “You’re just…”
“Devilishly handsome?”
“Annoying. Overbearing. Overconfident.”
“Hey, I’m none of those things.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Yeah? Prove it.”
“I have a surprise for you.”
She turned in her chair and held out her hand. “Let’s see it.”
“I planned a date for us.”
Her nose wrinkled. “A date?”
“Maybe a double date if you’re down with it.”
“With who?”
“Duke Baldwin and his wife, Lila. But it’s not a definite. They’re still in Chicago visiting Duke’s dad.”
Her eyes widened. “He’s our captain.”
“We need to change your vocab, wifey. Your team is now my team. The Flyers. Say it.”
She shook her head. “Nope. I live in DC. I’m a Caps fan.”
“Please, you’re a whatever city you live in fan. You’re not even from here.”
“My family is from Mississippi originally, but we’ve lived all over the country. I think that qualifies me to cheer for whoever I want.”
“Your mom lives in New York.”
She gave me a surprised look. “You remember that?”
I finished my slice and leaned closer, my elbow on the counter between us. “How could I forget? You tell me so little I make a mental note whenever you share something I can’t Google about you.”
“I was never much of a hockey fan,” she admitted. “I always preferred basketball.”
“You a Knicks fan, then?”
She nodded.
“And a Caps fan? Nah, you’re cheering for my team now. It’s settled.”
“I’ll play along,” she said with a grin. “But don’t think I’m wearing your jersey or any of that cheesy shit.”
“You’re wearing my jersey to home games. Non-negotiable.”
Clarke rolled her eyes and stuffed another slice of pizza into her mouth, avoiding my gaze.
“What’s wrong with wearing my jersey?”
She chewed her food, then looked at me. “Because I’m not stamping Property of Will Roman on my back.”
“You think marriage is ownership?”
She rolled her shoulders.
“My parents have been happily married for over forty years. Marriage isn’t always a bad thing.”
“My parents divorced when I was five. I lived in different cities, went to ten different schools, and never felt home anywhere I lived.”
Clarke needed to forget about the past so we could have a future. That was always her problem. She would never let me get close enough to show her that not all men suck. At least this was a fresh start, a chance for me to prove her wrong.
“Even this living situation isn’t permanent,” she added. “Once your season starts, you’ll be in Philly and on the road. I doubt we will even see each other.”
“I’ll make it work,” I promised. “Leave that to me.”
“We’re not a real couple.”
“No, but I have an idea. How about we start as friends? We can pretend like we haven’t fucked hundreds of times.”
“So romantic,” she said with laughter in her tone.
I extended my hand to her. “What do you say? Friends. We never got the chance to know anything about each other but our bodies.”
She stared at my hand and then slipped her fingers between mine. “Friends. But I have to warn you. I have high expectations of my friends.”
“You want me to nerd out with you like Mia does? Fine. I can do that. Bring on the Harry Potter marathons.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, you just wait, buddy. You’re in for all-day marathons of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.”
I groaned. “Ugh, those movies are so long.”
“And let’s not forget the three Hobbit movies.”
“Whatever you want. But that also means you have to watch sports with me. Play video games. And I want you to join me on my morning runs.”
“I don’t run.”
“You do now.”
She frowned. “Do I look like I exercise?”
I scanned her sexy ass body and nodded.
“I went to the gym one time and hated it.”
“Be ready tomorrow morning at five o’clock.”
She sighed. “Five in the morning? Like before the sun comes up?”
“Yep. So you better get your sexy ass in bed early tonight.”
“We should probably discuss our sleeping arrangements.”
“We’re sleeping in your bed,” I shot back.
“I have five other bedrooms.”
“Nope, that was part of the deal. You and me. In bed. Beneath your sheets. Together.”
She slid her empty plate across the counter with an irritated groan. “No touching. Sleep on your side of the bed.”