The Tight End's Fake-Dating Trick

1. Kirin

Kirin

The annual end-of-summer party was in full swing when Kirin Callaghan took a long drink from his first beer.

Having dedicated the night to helping co-host the party, he needed a break from the unending series of well-wishes for his soon-to-begin senior season.

He was grateful for the support, but if there was one thing he didn’t need, it was a reminder of the significance of this season and its potential influence on his future prospects.

Tonight was supposed to be a break from all that.

The team had just finished a rigorous training camp, and they all deserved to let loose before the season and their semester started.

For most of his teammates, that was exactly what this party was.

For his fellow seniors, it was one of many lasts, which made this a bittersweet experience.

He checked the living room turned dance floor as he took a swig of his beer and found a familiar set of eyes watching him. The cool beer soured in his mouth. Violet Bennett stood by the fireplace, mid-conversation with a couple of his teammates, but her eyes were on him.

Nope.

Kirin crossed the room, aiming for the back door in the kitchen and the escape it offered.

His gaze was on anything but her, as he pretended he hadn’t noticed her while he kept the living room between them.

Violet had made it clear last year that she couldn’t handle casual relationships.

If he thought she was giving up her pursuit, one glance squashed it.

He needed to focus on his game, so he’d sworn off the occasional casual hookups he’d enjoyed every other year to stay loose, but he wasn’t about to break that for Violet.

Celibacy was his best shot at focusing all his energy on his game. No sex meant no drama.

It was a decision he thought would serve him in the long run, but now he was considering whether a lack of public displays might give Violet hope she stood a chance of getting him into a relationship. Maybe being seen flirting would be a good middle ground. He’d have to think about it.

Kirin edged around the island and, by extension, the women’s soccer team, where the upperclassmen were busy pounding shots.

Their best defender, Maya Lewis, slid her hand over his side with the familiarity of three years of hookups.

He shot a look across the island toward his sister, Laurel, the captain, and tried to ignore the invitation in Maya’s fingers, which were curling around his ass.

When Laurel looked at another teammate, he offered Maya a crooked smile, catching the eye of junior goaltender Hanley Smyth a moment later when Maya looked away.

He winked at the shy brunette, enjoying the way her cheeks flushed as she downed a mouthful of soda.

Flirting was definitely the middle ground. Maybe he could venture into making out.

Though maybe not with Hanley. He typically avoided juniors since they were usually close with his sister, who was also a junior.

There were lines drawn between them he tried not to cross.

He was almost to the back door when his sister downed her own shot, her voice growing louder.

The tequila shot wouldn’t help with the volume control.

“She’s such a bitch. Did you see how she reacted when she got ejected?” Laurel moaned, her blonde brows low as she hissed, “I can’t believe Coach—”

That stopped him. The women’s soccer coach, Coach Spaulding, was not a supporter of violence or retaliation on the pitch, which meant it was rare for Montgomery players to get ejected.

If memory served, they played Westmont today, their biggest rival, and he’d bet Laurel had gotten into it with that girl that broke her nose last year.

“Laurel, she’s in the top thirty ranked players nationwide, and she’s done nothing but support the team on the pitch, including getting ejected today. Someone had to stand up to them. We could have worse,” Bridget, one of the defenders, cut in.

Maya rolled her eyes as Laurel swatted at the air like it would waft away Bridget’s logical arguments.

She tugged her braid back over her shoulder, continuing her tirade.

A quick glance around the island revealed the usual suspects, plus a few freshmen nursing their waters and sodas.

Their eyes were massive as they watched the upperclassmen celebrate.

“Not like it’s going to hurt having one of their best on our team. She knows all their tricks, which helped today. And if she’d still been playing for Westmont, we wouldn’t have had a shot in hell today. Plus, she showed zero mercy against them,” Sarah McKinney, their senior goaltender, added.

“I’m ranked forty-sixth. Hanley is thirty-ninth. We’re doing fine!” Laurel almost yelled while she poured herself another shot, and he snickered.

He didn’t know they’d gained a transfer from Westmont. Maybe that was what he’d heard Laurel bitching when he snuck some lemon cake out of their mom’s house last week.

Biting back his chuckle, he leaned over the island and taunted, “Slow down on the tequila there, Shrimp.”

“Some of us have taste buds,” Laurel snapped back, her blue eyes shooting from his face to the beer in his hand.

Her disgusted look told him plenty, so he grinned at her just to be annoying.

She waved her hand in the air again, swatting him away like a gnat.

Kirin took the last few steps to the back door and slipped outside into the humid, heavy air of early September in northern Wisconsin.

He breathed in the familiar scent of pines, damp earth, and lake water.

In a few short months, the heavy air would give way to brisk, frigid wind, and he wanted to enjoy it while he could. Solar lights lined the steps on the well-worn path that led down to Kismet Lake, guiding his way. But his best friend’s voice stopped him.

“Where are you goin’, man?” Leon called out. His roommate and the Montgomery quarterback was splitting his attention between two girls Kirin vaguely recognized from a couple of his classes last year.

Neither of them stopped kissing Leon wherever they could reach, even with his attention shifted.

As their hands roved and their lips trailed over Leon, Kirin met the pale blue eyes he probably knew better than his own.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he glanced toward the trail, and Leon’s smile grew.

This was how they started every year since they’d met at a football camp five years ago, though there was more alcohol now.

“Go get your head on straight, man.” Leon nudged his chin toward the trail and turned his attention back to the girls.

Kirin started down the trail, being careful with his steps, not wanting to twist his ankle. Getting injured before the first game was the last thing he needed, especially because of a wayward tree root. Not to mention, Leon would never let him forget it.

Slow and steady, he made his way down the slippery, worn trail until he came to the fallen tree most people used as a make-out spot when he was in high school.

He slapped a hand against the bark, climbing over it to take a seat, when something flinched at the other end.

Kirin found a pair of wide golden eyes watching him.

The owner looked back at the water, shoulders slumping when she wrapped her arms around her bent knees.

The shift allowed him to take stock of her in the light of the full moon as his eyes adjusted to the low light.

Given the length of pale skin visible from her hips to her knees and then from her knees to her ankles, she was tall, and the grip she had on her bent legs showed off toned arms. When she shifted again, he looked at her face for the second time.

This time he took in more of her features and immediately regretted it.

Stunning would be an understatement. He must have stared a little too long because she looked at him again, her full lips twisted into a sneer. Golden eyes narrowed behind a haphazard curtain of dark hair that looked like it had fallen out of a complicated braid.

“Done staring?” she hissed, and he raised his eyebrows.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone to be down here,” he said. “It’s private property.”

Her full lips curled, revealing a row of nice white teeth. “I’m not trespassing.”

“You don’t live around here.”

“How would you know?” she challenged, then turned her face back toward the lake.

It made his hands itch with the need to touch her. Especially as he watched the moonlight shift over her features. He wished she’d look at him again. Something about her made him want more. To see that face in good lighting instead of squinting at it in the moonlight.

“I live over there.” He pointed toward the walkway that led up to Leon’s house. She didn’t spare a moment to glance at where he pointed. Her attention remained on the lake, unconcerned. He tried another avenue. “You don’t go to Montgomery.”

“How would you know?” she sneered again.

“I know all the beautiful women around here.” He shrugged because it was a fact, but he could have sworn she growled under her breath. He continued anyway. “And I don’t remember seeing you.”

“Like you remember every face,” she scoffed.

He grinned. “I’d remember yours.”

The words were out before he could consider them, but they rang true, and it earned him another glance. Her eyes narrowed.

“I’m sure you would.” Her shoulders tensed as she turned to stare at the lake again.

Kirin gnawed on his lower lip, considering what else might get her to reveal something about herself and asked, “You didn’t want to come to the party?”

“Not my thing,” she said without looking his way.