Free Dirty Tackle: A Football Romance by Imani King

really had plans for tonight. I wasn’t expecting all of this. Give me a little bit of space, okay?”
    His face relaxed. “Are you sure you can’t cancel your plans? I feel like we have a lot more catching up to do,” he said with a sly smile.
    Damn the man. I could feel my body reacting to him already. I couldn’t let myself get taken down that path. He was so distracting. I feel felt like I was in college all over again, and the most handsome boy in the world was smiling at me. How could he make me feel like this without even touching me?
    “I will see you tomorrow. I promise,” I said gently.
    I started to turn away, but he grabbed my arm. He spun me into him, and I gasped. His lips were on mine, and his hands were in my hair. I couldn’t stop myself from opening my mouth to his hungry tongue. He pressed me hard against the wall behind me. The sensations flowing through me were intoxicating and entirely wonderful. I let myself with it, but just for a moment. Then I gently pressed my hands against his chest and broke the kiss.
    “I needed to give you something to remember me by,” he said with a wink, but I heard the panting in his voice. “There is more of that to come if you change your mind later.”
    I straightened my clothes and looked around hoping that no one had seen us. That last thing I needed was being tied to Shane before I had a chance to even say anything Scarlet. The whole situation was so delicate, and I was fumbling it completely.
    “Thanks, Shane. I’ll remember that,” I said with a short smile. I turned and walked away as quickly as I could. I couldn’t see him, but I felt the weight of his eyes on my back even as I left him standing there alone.

CHAPTER TEN

    There was only one good thing about getting the shit beat out of me on a daily basis by Coach. It meant that if I wanted to have a beer with dinner, I knew that I could without it affecting too much. That was one big thing during the regular season. There was a lot of talk about treating your body like a vessel. A temple to the sports gods above. There was also a lot of superstition among different team members about what to do to ensure the win on Sunday.
    I didn’t feel like I was all that superstitious, but I knew that I had been in a little bit of a slump lately. That was evidenced by how hard Coach worked me during practice. It wasn’t just me, though; it was the whole team. We had been off our game the last two Sundays, and we needed a ‘W’ in the win column come this Sunday. I guess I should have thanked Maddy for not taking me up on my offer for dinner. I knew that she was distracting me despite my best efforts.
    I was stuck on wondering who this old friend was that she had plans with that night. I hoped it wasn’t some old flame. That thought drove me nuts. In the end, I decided to invite Marvin over so we could at least commiserate watching some of the tape from the last two games together. I said that it was for prep’s sake, but Marvin knew me better than that.
    He showed up on my doorstep with a twelve-pack. “You know we can’t drink that whole thing,” I said to him as I let him in the door.
    He brushed my comment off. “Sometimes, you gotta do things a little outside the box to change things up.” He held up the DVD that held the replay of the last two games of the team we were playing on Sunday. “We’re working. So we might as well have some fun too,” he said.
    I had dinner ready, and we started to eat in front of the TV. After about thirty minutes, I knew that something was about to burst inside of him.
    “So I expected that you’d be out with your pretty doctor friend tonight,” he finally said. “Get the brush off already?”
    Sometimes, I wondered if Marvin could read minds. It was a bit uncanny. “You’re not my priest, and you’re not my mother. So stop asking me about her,” I said. I was ornery about the whole thing. It had bled into my practice routines after she left too, and