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him?
    “I’ll be fine,” I said. Then I added, “I
think.”
    “Come on, I’ll race you to the field.” He took
off like a bolt, and I paused before my legs tore after him. It
took me about ten strides before I caught him. Chris was fast, but
I was faster.
    I breezed past him and reached the field about five
strides in front of him.
    “You’re too fast for me,” he said, stumbling
into me. He grabbed me by the waist and held on a little longer
than he normally would have.
    I turned in his arms and looked at him. Those green eyes of his
were staring right into mine.
    I didn’t know what to do with myself, and I couldn’t
believe what I did next.
    I rubbed his head, like a little kid.
    As he let me go, my tongue got ahead of my brain. “One of
these days, you might catch me,” I said.
    He jogged past and whispered, “I can’t
wait.”

Chapter 6

     
    I thought I would have had more trouble getting my head into
practice considering everything that was going on, not to mention
the fact Chris seemed to be hanging around me a little more than he
usually would. I think the other girls on the team noticed as well,
because those who had openly admitted their undying attraction to
him were staring daggers at me.
    I didn’t know what to do with it, so I just threw myself
into the game full on. I even tackled Chris at one point and I
wasn’t gentle about it. It just seemed to make him smile all
the more.
    When practice was over, he walked me back to my building and
asked if he could cook me dinner.
    “I’m not really in the mood for macaroni and
cheese,” I said. He was apparently a good cook, or so
I’d heard.
    He laughed. “I could serve it with ketchup.”
    “Ah, ketchup — for when someone serves you slop.
I’ll take it.” I didn’t have any plans, so dinner with
him was fine.
    Actually, it was more than fine. I was grinning like an
idiot.
    “I’ll bring dessert,” I said.
    I could swear his eyes looked at me like
I
was dessert.
    That knot was in my throat again. “What time?”
    It was almost one o’clock.
    “Give me an hour to shower and stuff,” he said.
    “It’s a bit early for dinner.” It was a bit of a
prying comment.
    He bit. “We can just hang out for a while. I downloaded a
new song I want you to hear.”
    My heart was fluttering.
    “See you in an hour,” I said, and walked into the
building. I took three steps and turned to see if he was still
there. My heart leapt out of my chest. He was. He had that charming
smile that was all white teeth and bright eyes, and then turned and
walked off.
    I was so excited I could have leapt up the stairs, three at a
time, all the way to the twenty-first floor.
    Back in my apartment, I dodged into the shower, cleaning myself
up as fast as I could. I pondered perfume.
    Too presumptuous?
    I had a bottle from a former boyfriend. I took one whiff,
realized I’d probably never use it, and tossed it.
    I scanned through the pile of clean clothes. Why didn’t I
have anything girly? Did everything I own involve sweat pants and
oversized sweaters?
    I resorted to some jeans I was lucky still fit and a silk shirt
my brother bought me for Christmas. It had come with a
complementing scarf.
    “Thank you, Geoff,” I muttered. At the very least,
my brother had good taste.
    Speaking of which, I was surprised I hadn’t heard from him
yet. Would he come around, or did he still think Joan was incapable
of that much manipulation?
    I left the shirt on the hanger until my hair dried. I
wasn’t using a blow dryer, that was for sure.
    Scouring the kitchen and fridge for anything that resembled
dessert proved fruitless. Chocolate didn’t survive long in
this place. I’d have to pick something up along the way.
    Now I had time on my hands — half an hour to kill. That
wasn’t good. I wasn’t much of a television fan. I could
have killed some time on the computer, but wasn’t in the
mood.
    And those papers on the coffee table were calling my
name.
    I probably should