Page 50 of The Linebacker

“Damn. Thanks, man, I appreciate it.”

They chatted a while longer, Jalen telling him about his favorite restaurant within walking distance, what the parking rates were, the HOA fees, how he and Callahan carpooled to the practice facility most days.

It was the perfect scenario if not for…Diana.

Three doors down from Jalen sounded like a recipe for disaster. At least until he came clean about their relationship.

And then, there was no guarantee that Jalen would be cool with the fact that Amil had lied to him. Or that Amil was dating the woman he wanted.

And let’s not forget that he and Diana had not actually declared that they were dating, even to each other. Frankly, it was too new even if it wasn’t Diana, who had never ventured this far into potential dating territory in her life.

“What was that about?” Diana asked when he disconnected the call.

Amil stared at the blank screen of his phone. “There’s a place coming up for sale in Jalen’s building. Immediate occupancy.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, exactly.” It was nice that he didn’t have to explain.

“Are you interested in living in a condo?”

Amil glanced around at Diana’s tiny living room. He was willing to bet the units in Jalen’s building were much, much larger than this one. This unit was for students and people with normal jobs, not professional athletes with their high-end incomes.

Even if he imagined something in the two-thousand- square-foot range, was he interested?

He’d never lived in a condo. Never considered it, to be honest. He’d stayed in the dorms for his entire college career. When he was drafted to the 49ers, he lived in a hotel until his real estate agent found him a house. As simple as that.

What if he took Diana out of the equation?

Seemed like he’d asked himself that a lot this evening.

He dropped back against the couch cushions and scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know. Maybe we just table it for now. I’ll let my mind clear for a while and come back to it.”

“I think I have a way to clear your mind.”

She placed the laptop on the coffee table and rolled into his lap, straddling him and smiling down at him, her palms pressed to his shoulders.

“This is perfect,” he said, sliding his hands over her ass, up her back, until he cupped her neck and pulled her close for a kiss.

It was perfect. Everything about the evening. Slowly fucking her to a spectacular orgasm on the couch. Ordering takeout. Her insistence on going down to the lobby to retrieve their order so he wouldn’t be recognized and then tugging on a pair of shorts before pulling his shirt over her head to do exactly that.

She kept the shirt on while they ate dinner. When they went to bed.

When he woke the next morning, it was bunched around her hips, teasing him with that slice of heaven below the hem.

He pressed a kiss to her temple and slipped out of bed, quietly dressed for his morning jog without turning on the light. In the kitchen, he started the coffeepot and fed the cats, and then he headed outside to pound the pavement.

Diana’s building was a block from the University of Portland campus, which was the perfect place to get in a six a.m. run. Definitely no students out this early, and the few other joggers or walkers he saw barely spared him a glance as they passed.

Until he saw—shit.

Callahan and Jalen, who, once they recognized him, switched paths and jogged up on either side of him, keeping pace.

“I didn’t realize you jogged around here,” Jalen said. “You jog every day? Because this guy”—he nodded at Callahan—“doesn’t get out when he spends the night with his girlfriend.” He made it sound like Callahan was committing a cardinal sin.

Callahan shrugged, clearly nonplussed.

“Hey, if you buy the place in our building, we can be jogging buddies,” Jalen added.