Page 40 of The Linebacker

Mom nodded, told him the name of the place—he’d never heard of it, but he trusted Diana’s judgment—and then turned to Diana. “We’d love it if you could join us.”

Amil held his breath, but he knew before she opened her mouth what her answer would be.

She shook her head a little too vigorously and began backing away before even speaking. “N-no. Thank you for the offer, but I, uh, Emma and I have plans.” Her gaze was on him, silently begging him to help her ease out of this situation.

“Emma is our team photographer,” he explained to his parents. “She and Diana were also college buds. I’m sure they’re planning to hit the clubs to celebrate the big win.”

He had no idea if it was true, but he knew that would get her off the hook without any more needling from Mom.

The look Diana threw him was appreciative. She stopped backing up for a moment, instead reached forward and shook each of his parents’ hands, telling them it was so nice to meet them and she was looking forward to seeing them again when they played the Patriots in a few weeks.

And then she walked away, and Amil watched her go.

Would he ever stop hoping for more?

Chapter

Fourteen

Diana and Emma did indeed go out to celebrate the win. They bounced around from club to club, Diana showing her friend the more popular hot spots in town. At the third place, they’d spotted a few players from the Cardinals—apparently, they were flying out tomorrow instead of tonight and were making good use of their time in downtown Portland.

Diana was so vividly reminded of that evening she’d bumped into Amil and they ended up spending the rest of the night in her hotel room, she convinced Emma they should try the club just up the street.

Where they bumped into Callahan and his girlfriend. The guy looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

So, naturally, she and Emma sidled up to them on the dance floor, deciding, in their mildly inebriated states, that they were going to make Callahan feel better.

The action had pissed off his girlfriend—probably the way Emma had wrapped herself around him and started moving to the pulsing beat like they were auditioning for a reboot of Dirty Dancing.

The girlfriend stormed off, but Callahan stayed right where he was. The pained expression was gone from his features, replaced by a look Diana was quite familiar with: lust.

She hovered nearby, letting them have their fun but staying close enough to rescue Emma should the need arise. Emma was a happy-go-lucky girl, and while she didn’t have a family curse like Diana did, she did have her own relationship baggage in the form of a past lover who died.

He was a fellow wildlife photographer, and it had been a freak accident while he was on a shoot. Emma had been in love and was devastated when he died.

She hadn’t dated anyone more than casually since.

Diana had already warned her to stay away from the players, that she didn’t want to mix work and pleasure, but that look Callahan was giving her could be enough to sway a girl. Except Callahan was, first of all, dating someone else and Emma wasn’t into cheating, and second, he had a history of dating terrible women. Considering Emma wasn’t a terrible person, they simply would not be a good match.

The girlfriend eventually returned and said she was ready to leave, and Callahan very reluctantly peeled himself away from Emma so he could escort his date home.

The air seemed to leave Emma’s sails after that, and honestly, Diana was ready to go home, too, so they walked back to her condo and hung out on the sidewalk, waiting for Emma’s Uber.

When Diana entered her condo, it was dark—and quiet. Amil’s shoes were resting near the door and his keys were hanging on the hook, so he must already be asleep.

She tiptoed through the kitchen and living room, not daring to glance over at the couch. She did not trust herself right now. Between meeting his very lovely parents and seeing that look in his eyes when his mom had invited her to dinner—he’d wanted her to say yes—and then watching Callahan and Emma practically have sex on the dance floor, well, Diana was not in a frame of mind to make rational decisions right now.

If she glanced over at that couch, at Amil’s sleeping form, she might do something dumb like walk over there and curl up next to him.

Just to see what would happen.

She stepped into her bedroom. Neither cat was on her bed, nor had they appeared when she arrived. Apparently, sleeping with Amil won over greeting her at the door like Lazlo normally did.

Diana could understand the appeal.

Sighing, she stripped out of her sweat-soaked clothes and considered, just for a moment, climbing into bed and falling asleep.

Except she couldn’t. Between the layer of sweat on her body from dancing and the makeup on her face, she needed a quick bath. She snagged a scrunchie from the little basket on her desk and pulled her hair up into a bun on top of her head and walked into the bathroom.