First Down (Beyond the Play, #1)

by Grace Reilly

It’s like he thinks that just because he can catch a stupid football, he’s some sort of god.”

Foreshadowing ??

I don’t know what possesses me, but I shake myself free of Darryl and walk over, reach up to put my arms around this stranger’s neck… and kiss him. On the lips. Holy hell, this is a good kiss.

Something about writing notes in sparkly purple instead of plain black makes studying business when I’d rather have been a visual arts major just a tiny bit more bearable.

I nod. He has football. I have the diner and everything else. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, like… like clownfish and sea anemones. If Darryl doesn’t believe that I’ve moved on, he won’t leave me alone, and this is the way to ensure that happens.

“James, come on. She’s going to think this means something.” My heart thuds. “And maybe it does. It’s not your fucking business.”

Before him, I don’t know if I believed in love—not really. I believed in the idea of it, the way it could hurt people, but I didn’t believe I would truly feel it, or that I deserved it anyway. Every step of the way, James has shown me I do deserve it, that I deserve someone like him, someone good and devoted who makes my heart sing whenever I see him. Someone who makes me feel like I’m worth something more than the life I resigned myself to when I was a teenager. Someone who pushes me and protects me and holds me when I cry.