Page 35 of Hometown Halftime

She blinks, then steps back, putting just enough space between us to break whatever was building. She drags a hand through her hair, letting out a quiet, disbelieving breath.

"Okay," she says, more to herself than to me. "Yeah. No. That was a mistake."

I watch her as everything inside me sinks, taking in the way she won’t quite meet my eyes, the way her chest is still rising a little too fast.

“We shouldn’t do that again,” she says, adjusting her top.

There’s a moment where the words settle between us, when she finally looks back at me, trying to pull herself together. Then her mouth tilts, that familiar edge creeping back in.

“Congratulations,” she adds dryly. “You’ve officially complicated my life.”

I huff out a laugh, stepping just a little bit closer

“Are you sure that we shouldn’t do that again?” I ask.

“Maybe.”

I tilt my head, letting the corner of my mouth pull into something a little more confident than I feel.

“Funny, because it didn’t feel like a one-time thing,” I say.

She lets out a breath, somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, shaking her head like she’s trying to talk herself out of a battle she already knows she’s losing.

“God, you’re annoying,” she mutters. “And entirely too confident for someone who just broke at least three professional boundaries.”

“No one has to know what just happened. And I’ll tell you right now, good luck with that being the only time I have my lips on you, Kitten.”

Her breath catches again, just like before. And this time, I’m the one who steps back first.

If I stay out here, I’m going to kiss her again. Because she’s right there, just a few feet away, and it would be so easy to close the distance and convince her that the act she’s putting on is pointless. But I know she needs space right now.

So yeah, I need to go back inside.

I drag a hand through my hair, forcing my feet to move, putting distance between us before I can change my mind. The door feels heavier when I reach for it, and the noise hits me all at once. The music, all the voices and the steady thrum of bass vibrating through the floor. It’s jarring after the quiet outside, after the way every one of my senses were focused on her.

I glance toward the bar, and sure enough, Lee and Darren are ordering drinks, both of them staring like they’ve just witnessed something life-altering.

Darren’s mouth drops open. “No way.”

Lee leans forward, bracing his hands on the bar top. “Tell me that didn’t just happen.”

I grab the beer that Darren hands me and take a slow sip, buying myself a second to get my head back on straight. It doesn’t help. If anything, it just gives me time to replay it—her hands on my chest, the way she leaned into me, the sounds that came from her.

“Riley,” Darren presses, dragging my attention back. “Did you just—”

“Yeah,” I cut him off.

They both light up like idiots.

“Holy shit.” Lee laughs. “Our boy’s got game.”

I shake my head, scrubbing a hand over my jaw, but I can feel the grin spreading on my face. “Relax.”

“Relax?” Darren echoes. “You disappear for twenty minutes and come back looking like that—don’t tell me to relax.”

“Looking like what?”

“Like you just got your world rocked,” Lee says.