Page 70 of Never Say Never
“You still had to be there though, right? In Austin? What would you do if you could go anywhere, do anything?”
He looks thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe go around the world trying different cuisines, eating samples from the best chefs.”
“Yeah, I could see that.”
“I’d have to work out a fucking lot to eat everything I want,” he jokes.
On cue, our dinner comes. There are four plates, including a picadillo dish that smells incredible.
We start digging into the meal, and he smiles at me. “So fucking good, right?”
“Unbelievable.”
After a minute of us quietly eating, he drives the conversation again.
“You never answered; what would you want to do? Or I guess whatwillyou do, since you’re only a few months away from that first break?”
“I hate to sound boring, but I don’t know yet. I do want a new tattoo though, I know that.”
He stops mid-bite, looking intrigued. “Oh yeah?”
I twist around and point to my hip. “I want a floral design that traces along here.” I drag my finger toward the top of my ass.
His eyes darken as he looks where I’m pointing. “That will be hot.”
Oh.I realize now that this particular tattoo will only be visible when I’m nearly naked, and that’s probably on his mind.
I—we—need a distraction. I take a sip of my water before trying to pivot us.
“Do you have other tattoos?”
It takes a beat, but he slowly nods. “AfterBetter Together, I got another one—it has the first four initials of my siblings and I linked together with some artistic elements. So like, L-G-R-C.”
“It sounds unique. And meaningful.”
“I’ll show you sometime, though it’s way up here.” He points to the top half of his other thigh.
That’s so sexy, frick.Okay, this talk of thigh tattoos was unwise.
And then Rawley turns us to an even more loaded topic.
“Do you mind if I ask you something? Where exactly did your ‘no dating athletes’ rule come from?”
How did we go from traveling abroad to this?
“Well, you know how—I mean, I don’t want to insult you personally, but you know how athletes are. All the cheating and sleeping around, one-night stands on the road?”
“I’ve seen that with my friends, sure. But you aren’t insulting me, because I’m the opposite.”
Wait, what does he mean exactly? He must see my confusion because he continues.
“It’s always been a turn-off when someone’s thrown themself at me. Even when I was an otherwise horny teenager. I just can’t get into it. And I only like one person at a time. If I’m truly into someone, I’m not interested in anyone else.”
“Really?” It’s hard to believe.
“Yup. Instead, lucky me, I seem to fall for girls, now women, who don’t like me as much as I like them. I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess.” His tone is more matter-of-fact than this revelation probably deserves.
“That doesn’t sound great either.” I want to unpack what he’s sharing more, but I’m not sure our friendship is strong enough to go there.
