Page 78 of Play For Me

I laugh, fondness for this man overwhelming me.

Me:You’re not as bad as you think. You made me blush, which has to be a good sign.

Solomon:God, I love it when you blush.

Solomon:You blushed a *lot* last night.

Of course, Helen has to choose that moment to stumble in, clearly hungover and grumpy. “Coffee,” she moans. “Dying.”

I roll my eyes and type out a quick text to let Sol know before I go to help her. The morning moves quickly after that. We need to be packed up and ready for breakfast with the team before we board the bus. Helen whining about her hangover every second is almost enough to ruin my post-sex glow.

But Solomon is waiting for me outside the banquet room where we’re supposed to be eating, and just the sight of him brings back all those lovey-dovey feelings from the night before. God, I’m in trouble. He has way too much of an effect on me.

But the first words out of his mouth bring me right back down to earth. “I think we should talk to Devon about yourknee.” I frown. While we’d agreed last night that I would tell the head trainer I was having discomfort, I wasn’t expecting it to happen so quickly.

Sol must see my reaction because he takes a step closer, gentling his voice. “You should probably have compression on the ride home. Or at least get it taped up. And it needs to be elevated in the bus.” When I don’t say anything, he circles my wrist with his hand, giving a gentle squeeze. “This is the kind of thing the training staff should know about.”

I sigh, not meeting his eyes. “Fine.”

I feel another squeeze before he releases my wrist. “It’s going to be okay.”

Devon is totally cool when Sol tells him about the post-game swelling. But I know he’s going to tell the coaching staff, and that makes dread pool in my belly. He wants to do the tape himself, which is kind of a relief. I’m not sure letting Solomon touch me right now is the best idea.

And maybe that’s proof enough that last night was a mistake.

But how could it be a mistake when it felt so perfect?

The bus ride back is subdued. A lot of the girls are hungover which means I dropped the ball as captain last night. I still can’t make myself regret it, though. Instead, I sit by myself near the training staff with my leg elevated on the seat beside me. Every hour or so Devon comes over to do some light range of motion exercises—basically bending and straightening my knee a bunch of times to keep the blood flowing. Real exciting stuff.

The third time Devon comes over, I start to feel a little unsettled. Is this evidence that they’re moving my treatment fully back to the professional training staff now that they know my knee isn’t in peak condition? The thought of not working with Solomon anymore is not a pleasant one. Regardless of what happened in his hotel room last night, working with him has made a huge difference. There aren’t many people I wouldhave trusted enough to confide about my ongoing fear about the injury. Hell, I never even told my mom that I was freaked out about my knee.

When we get to campus, Sol has to stay back with the staff to get the equipment off the bus. I really hate leaving without talking to him, but I can’t exactly approach him in front of the other trainers. What would I even say? “Thanks for the sex last night, I hope it wasn’t a one-time thing?”

You’re being ridiculous,I tell myself, but I’m definitely in a worse mood when I get back to the house than I was when I left his bed this morning.

I’m hoping for a little quiet time to get my thoughts together, but of course, all four of my cousins are sitting in the living room when I walk in.

“Ceece!” Cade calls. “Nice game, girl!”

“He didn’t even watch it,” Violet says. “He was pregaming for a party at the football house.”

“Drunk off his ass by seven p.m.,” Ash confirms.

“Why are you hovering?” Vega asks. “Come sit down and tell us about it.”

I’m hovering because I’m not sure Icansit down. They’re going to know something is off in no time. And I really don’t want to get the third degree about this until I can wrap my mind around the way I feel.

“What’s wrong with you?” Ash asks, sitting up straighter to look at me. “Your face is all…weird.”

“My face isn’t weird,” I say immediately, hands coming up to my cheeks. Shit, am I blushing? Of course that makes me think about Sol’s texts. Now I reallyamblushing.

“Something happened,” Vega says, her eyes narrowed. “You’re not telling us something.”

“I literally just walked through the door,” I say, annoyed. Why do I have to have so many freaking cousins anyway?

She’s still staring at me, and now the others are beginning to study me, too. I know there’s no way I’m keeping a secret for long.

“I slept with Solomon,” I blurt out, then immediately cover my face. “Shit, why did I say that?”