Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance by Kristen Flowers Page B

teammates
hanging out in the living room. I practically slammed my bedroom door shut and
locked it. I pulled the small paper Stella gave me out of my pocket. It made me
smile. She had written Ivy’s phone number down on it even though I specifically
asked for her address. Making a mental note to thank Stella later, I grabbed my
phone and opened up my messages. I tapped the screen after entering Ivy’s
number, thinking about what to send her.

 
    “Are you thinking about me as much as I’m thinking
about you?” I smirked and sent it, flopping back on my bed as I waited for an answer. I
waited.

 
    And waited.

 
    I tossed and
turned for about a minute before finally giving up and pulling my balcony doors
open.

 
    “Shit…” I muttered
as I stared at my phone. I was paranoid I had just made some grave mistake. My
usual cocky self probably just scared her off for good.

 
    I stepped out and
breathed in when the cool evening air hit my skin. I slumped down on one of the
balcony chairs and rested my feet against the railing, enjoying my view of the
way the city was beginning to light up. My phone was clutched in my hand as I
waited for her reply.

 
    If I got a reply.

 
    Bling!

 
    “How’d you get my number?”

 
    I blew out a sigh
of relief and chuckled, running my thumb over my screen as I read her reply. I
could almost hear her voice. It was obvious she already knew who it was.

 
    My thumbs quickly
went to work, “I have connections.”

 
    I paused wondering
if I should add a wink to the end of it, but decided not to and hit send. I
thought it was a good enough answer without having to sell out Stella. I owed
her one, after all. If she didn’t sneakily include Ivy’s number I would’ve had
to wait until I saw her again. Ivy would come up with her own idea of what my
connections were. I didn’t doubt she would link it back to my dad. That was a
fair assumption, either way. Before she could reply I sent her another message.

 
      “So have
you been thinking about me as much as I’ve been thinking about you?” I was
going out on a limb. That was something that made me feel like a fish out of
water. I never went out on a limb for a girl.

 
      “Depends
how much you’ve been thinking of me.”

 
    I grinned down at
my phone. She was cheekier and a bit bolder through text messages. I liked it. I
wondered if I could draw out that side of her in person, but figured that was a
challenge for a later time. I didn’t want to draw it out any longer. I wanted
to get to the point and, more importantly, I wanted to see her already. I
couldn’t believe how long it felt since we last laid eyes on each other. It
felt like a century.

 
      I had never felt anything even close to this
with anybody else. The confusion and the outbursts and all the true feelings involved were new to me, but
there was nobody else I would have wanted to go through it all with other than
her. It felt sappy and gross admitting it to myself, but it was the truth.

 
    “Where are you right now?” I asked. I may
not have been ready to show up unannounced at her house and confront her mother
on my own, but I certainly was ready to have her over at my place. I looked at
the glittering skyline view from my balcony and imagined her sitting beside me.
My chest tightened. My grip on the phone tightened as well.

 
    “I’m at the library.”

 
    “Why am I not surprised?”
I chuckled.

 
    I could just see
her objecting and rolling her eyes at my teasing. I tapped my lips with my
finger after drafting my next reply, “I
need help studying. Come over to my place.”

 
    Did I really want
to send that?

 
    Maybe she would
think I was being to forward. Maybe she’d be offended. Maybe it would all work
out and she would show up at my place shortly after.

 
    There was only one
way to find out so I sent the message, not bothering to change it to a
question. After all, the arrogant side of me would tell