Chapter 18 Luca
Luca
BINGO.
The room directly across from the ice machine on the third floor of my hotel is the only one not assigned to a player on the app.
In fact, it’s not listed at all, which means it’s got to be a staffer’s room or empty, because the Mastodons have this entire hotel.
I’m assuming there’s one player liaison assigned to each floor, since there are five of each.
If not, that’d be some pretty stupid planning on someone’s part.
So all things considered, I’m feeling pretty confident that room right there is Chelsea’s.
If I’m somehow wrong about that—like, for instance, if Chelsea traveled to a different floor than her own to grab some ice the night Gerrity saw her in her Buckeye pajamas—and if another staffer therefore answers that door when I knock on it, then I’ll be fucked.
It’s well after curfew at this point, first of all.
Not sure where I’d say my honor ran off to at this hour.
Also, whose room would I say I’m trying to find?
Another player’s? At this hour? Nobody would believe that.
But no risk, no reward, right? Especially when I’d give my left nut to kiss the irresistible lips of this particular reward.
I inhale deeply to calm my nerves and muster my courage—or blazing stupidity—and rap my knuckles softly against the door to room 302. Thank God, a few seconds later, I’m staring into the two bluest eyes I’ve ever seen in my life.
“Luca,” Chelsea breathes out, looking shocked. Murmuring expletives under her breath, she pokes her head into the empty hallway and looks both ways. “You can’t be here.”
“Rules are made to be broken.”
“You have to go.”
“I came to tell you something really important. I’ll be quick.”
“Goddammit, Luca.” With an exhale of frustration, she grabs the fabric of my Mastodon T-shirt and drags me into her drab, cookie-cutter hotel room. And when the door is shut behind us, she keeps her distance and stares me down with pink in her cheeks.
She’s dressed in Buckeye boxers and a thin white tank top with no bra.
Much to my delight, her shirt’s fabric is thin enough to reveal the glorious shape of what lies beneath.
She didn’t dress for company, obviously, only for her own solitary comfort in the summer heat; she’s nonetheless the hottest I’ve ever seen her.
In fact, I’m momentarily tongue-tied by the rush of arousal I’m feeling between my legs.
“How’d you figure out my room number?”
I tell her about my clever detective work and she looks equal parts annoyed and impressed. But quickly, she moves on from that, looks at her watch, and barks out, “You have exactly one minute to say whatever ‘important’ thing you came here to say, and then you really have to go.”
One minute? That’s not nearly enough time.
During my short walk here, I came up with a little speech about why my dating life hasn’t been romantic or successful.
Something I could say as an opening salvo to gauge her reaction and possibly inch myself closer to saying the rest to her.
But now that I’m standing here, I’m so out of my head with physical yearning for her, and so damned afraid of screwing things up, I’m certain I wouldn’t be able to get the right words out in ten minutes, let alone one.
“Well?” Chelsea says, those icy-blue eyes of hers burning craters into my face. “Tick tock, baby.” She taps at her watch. “You need good sleep for tomorrow, and so do I.”
I motion to the opened laptop on her bed. “Doesn’t look like you were planning to sleep any time soon, and I’m not feeling tired at all. I’m wired for some reason. Honestly, I feel like I could stay awake all night long.”
Chelsea rolls her eyes. “What the hell are you doing, Luca? You really thought you’d come up here and I’d jump your bones?”
Well, yeah, ideally. “No, of course not. I just wanted to keep talking to you like we were doing earlier in the classroom. I like getting to know you outside of football.”
She tilts her head. “You came here, after curfew, to talk to me, huh?”
I can’t keep a lascivious smirk from curling my lips.
“Well, I mean. We could certainly do other things, too. It’s up to you.
” My smile unfurls in earnest. “A wise woman once told me the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. Well, every conversation we’ve ever had has been awesome, so I’m betting … ”
“It’s how you do anything, Luca. Not one thing. ‘How you do anything is how you do everything.’ It scratches my brain the wrong way when you say it wrong.”
I grin. “Sorry, mathlete. I’ll try my best to get it right next time.”
Chelsea runs a palm down her face. “That’s the least of my worries. Seriously, Luca, you’re taking a huge risk by coming here. If you get caught—”
“I won’t.”
“You’d get cut! Do you get that? Cut, cut, cut. And that would be it for you.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I do. Trust me, this is a truly horrible idea.”
I waggle my eyebrows. “Some of my worst ideas have turned out to be my very best ones in the end. Or at least, my most fun.”
Even through her anger with me, Chelsea stifles a smile.
“Forget my father for a second. Forget your own fate. You’re risking my credibility by coming to see me like this.
If anyone finds out I had you in my room at all, but especially after curfew, there’d be no way for me to convince them you didn’t spear me against the wall mercilessly with the tip of your dick. ”
My eyebrows ride up. “That’s quite the visual. Did you pull that out of thin air, or did you just now tell on yourself?”
Chelsea turns beet red. “I was going for shock value. Trying to make my point.”
“Mm-hmm. With the tip of my dick.” Damn, the tip of my dick is tingling now, thanks to the graphic image Chelsea’s put into my head. “Look, you don’t have to worry about anything,” I coo, taking a small step forward. “Nobody saw me coming here. It’s a ghost town out there.”
When Chelsea says nothing and doesn’t take a step back from me, I take another step toward her, and she swallows hard as my body inches ever closer to hers.
“My father has incredible instincts,” she chokes out, looking up at me with rosy cheeks.
“If he ever looks me in the eye and asks me if there’s something going on between us, I’ll need to be able to stare him at him without flinching and swear with complete honesty, ‘No, Pops, absolutely nothing.’ I’m a terrible liar, Luca. You should know that about me.”
“I already know that, Chelsea. That’s how I know you don’t actually want me to leave.”
She doesn’t deny it. Also, she’s not crossing her arms over her chest anymore, so I’m basically staring down at her tits. She’s got hard nipples, and each tit is the perfect size for my palm.
“He’d cut you if he found out about this, Luca,” she whispers in a rasp, like she’s trying to convince herself as much as me.
I let out a shaky breath. “Is that the only reason you’re telling me to go?” I whisper, my eyes locked with hers. “If it wasn’t for the risk to me, would you invite me to stay?”
Her nostrils flare. “That’s a pretty big if.”
“Answer the question.”
She says nothing.
“This is my risk to take, Chelsea,” I insist.
Her eyes blaze like two blue rocket launchers. “Not true. I’ve invested time and energy into you, and I’m not going to let that go to waste. Luca, nobody would take me seriously, not only at the Mastodons but in this entire league, if they found out.”
“They won’t find out. I’ve kept what happened years ago a secret, haven’t I? Well, I’d keep this a secret, too.”
Chelsea curls her hands into tight fists as her chest rises and falls sharply, time and again. “Let’s get you onto the roster and we’ll revisit this proposal of yours then. All we should be thinking about right now is getting you past the first round of cuts.”
Is this Chelsea managing more willpower than I can, or is this a sign she doesn’t want me the way I want her?
“Go,” she whispers hoarsely. “Please, Luca. I won’t let myself be the reason you get cut. I’d never forgive myself.”
Her intensity feels immovable. Not to mention, she’s made some good points. On a sigh, I drag my ass toward the door. But before I open it, Chelsea touches my shoulder from behind, sending goose bumps skating across my skin.
“Don’t ever come to my door again. It’s way too risky. Promise me, Luca.”
Another sigh. “I promise I won’t come to your door again, Chelsea.”
“Thank you.” She exhales behind me. “Now get some good sleep. They’re making the first round of cuts tomorrow night after the all-team practice, so they’ll be watching everyone through a microscope before then.
You need to do everything you can to prepare your body and mind to kick some epic ass in the morning. ”