by Ally Mathews
“I’m feeling neglected. You’re supposed to be helping me with my leaps, but instead everything’s all about you over here.”
She put her hands on her hips. “That was a pretty good leap you just did. If you ask me, I don’t think you need any help from me.”
“So you’re saying you think my leg positioning and everything is perfect?”
She frowned. “Maybe not perfect, but good enough.”
He put his hands on his hips. “Good enough? Is that what you want? Coach would kill me if I ever told him something was good enough.”
“No, but it’s not like you’re a dancer. You’re just filling in. I’m the one who needs to be perfect.”
“Then get off your tushy and come do some leaps with me.”
She climbed off her lounge chair and looked him in the eyes. “Is that a challenge?”
“Yes.”
“How will we figure out who wins?”
“Whoever jumps the highest and the farthest wins.”
“Aside from bragging rights, what’s the prize?”
“If I win, I get to kiss you.”
She raised her brows. “And if I win?”
“You get to kiss me.”
She laughed, her lavender eyes sparkling. “Let’s do it.”
After a couple of practice jumps, they lined up to see who could leap the farthest. “Ladies first.”
She’d found a piece of sidewalk chalk with the floats, so he walked down the side of the pool so he could mark where she landed. Building up steam as she went, she hit the end of the board hard with one foot and did a leap where she stretched her very long legs out in a split position.
He handed the chalk to her and climbed up. The board bent under his weight and it shot him up, but not as far out as he had hoped. She beat him by about three yards. He could pretty much calculate the exact distance without measuring because yards were everything to him during a game.
“Ha. I won!”
“You have an unfair advantage.”
“How so?”
“You’re stretchier than I am.”
“That’s not even a word.”
“Are you going to kiss me or not?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
She took a step closer, then looked over her shoulder. Anna Maria wasn’t in the kitchen. He’d already checked. In one swift movement, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. An electric jolt went through him and his skin tingled everywhere she touched him. Luckily, she ended the kiss before he had the chance to pull her tighter against him. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away. She looked up into his eyes for a moment, hers so dark they were nearly blue. Ever so slowly, she took three backwards steps, then headed to the diving board.
She cleared her throat, then said, “It’s my turn to go first.”
He laughed. “No, it’s not. You went first last time.”
“Well, I’m not done being first yet.”
She took off and hit the edge of the board with both feet. There wasn’t any dance technique in her approach. Of course, at most she probably weighed one-fifteen, so she didn’t have much of a chance against him.
“I’m going with five feet.”
“No way!”
“Way!”
She marched over to where he was standing and shoved him in the back, but not hard enough to make him fall into the pool.
He laughed and ambled over to the board. Ever so slowly, he stretched his arms, then cracked each knuckle individually and— Boink. A ball whacked into the side of his face.
“Get on with it or you’ll be disqualified.”
“You never said anything about a time limit to jump.”
“If you argue with the judge, you’ll be disqualified.”
He put his hands on his hips. “Who made you the judge?”
“My house, my rules.”
She sounded like his dad. Without another word, he sprinted to the end of the board and hit it with both feet. When he surfaced he saw that he’d drenched Izzy with the splash from his jump.
She sputtered and spit out some pool water, then grabbed a towel and squeezed water from her hair. “I think you won.”
“Yeah, I thought so.” He swam over to her and lifted himself onto the pool deck. She dropped down next to him then scooted until her leg and side were up against him. He took her hand and kissed it, then kissed the top of her shoulder, just under her jaw, and then her lips, where he lingered for several heartbeats before pulling away. Every nerve ending in him was on alert. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he was content to sit there for as long as she wanted.
“Do you need to be anywhere?” she asked.
He glanced up at the sun. It looked to be about five o’clock. “Today is my mom’s day off, so she’ll expect me for dinner.”
“Can you stay a bit longer to practice a new lift?”
He nodded. “That is why you invited me here. I’ll text her and let her know I might be a little late.”
She popped up. “I’ll be right back. I want to change into something dry. This is one we’ll have to practice on land first.” She rushed to the house and opened the door to the kitchen. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t.”
He watched her shoot up the stairs, then seconds later, spotted her dad moving rapidly toward the door to the patio. Not good.
He stopped at the edge of the pool and Garret stood to greet him.
“Mr. Mitchell. What are your intentions toward my daughter?”
“Good evening, sir. Izzy is a friend, and I hope maybe she’ll be something more someday.” He figured it was better to be honest from the start so he knew where he stood with Izzy’s dad.
“Do you kiss all of your friends then?”
“No, sir. Izzy is the only girl I’ve ever kissed.” The moment the words left his mouth, he wished he could take them back. “Senator Oster, I have no intention of dishonoring your daughter in any way. I like her. I admire her, but I won’t hurt her. We’re both focused on our goals and neither of us is ready for a serious relationship.”
And as much as he hated it, they were headed in very different directions when they graduated. There was little chance they would see each other much after that.
“See that it stays that way.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I have powerful friends, you know. I could have you killed and hide the evidence in a heartbeat.”
The blood rushed from his face.
“Whoa. Don’t pass out on me.” He held his hands up in the surrender position. “I was just messing with you. I’m kidding. Mostly.”
Izzy reappeared and frowned at the sight of her father.
“Daddy, are you harassing Garret?”
“Not at all. We were just having a little man to man conversation.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, if you’re done, we have one more lift to practice before he leaves.”
“All right. I’m going.” He managed to give Garret a warning look as he walked past.
“I’m so sorry. He’s not used to me having boys here. Except for Jeremy, but we practically grew up together, so he doesn’t view him as a threat.”
He squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. I like that he’s protective of you, and he probably only took about ten years off my life, so we’re all good.”
“Okay, so the Giselle lift. This is one of the more difficult ones. We’ll practice on the ground first. You’ll lay on your back.”
“Why?”
“You’ll understand once we start. Here, watch this.” She handed him her phone and he pressed play. Holy crap. This was a bad idea. A really bad idea. The girl ran at the guy and jumped up. He had to catch her and lift her up over his head, then hold her there, balancing on her hips. The slightest wrong move would send her tumbling to the ground.
“Izzy, I don’t think this is a good idea. I’d never forgive myself if I dropped you.”
She just gave him a look, not agree
ing or disagreeing. Dang. She was easily the most stubborn person he’d ever met. The grass would be a better place to practice than the pool deck. He scouted out a spot under the shade of a tree and dropped onto his back.
This seemed doomed from the get-go, but he did what she said.
She moved toward him, then stopped, then did a weird hop and stopped again. “I can’t figure out how to make this work. I’m too heavy to just leap onto your hands.”
“You’re not too heavy. Get over here and straddle me.” That didn’t sound inappropriate at all. Hopefully her dad wasn’t hearing or watching this. Beads of sweat covered his forehead.
She moved forward, her feet on either side of his hips.
He blew out a deep breath and willed his hands to stay steady. “Move back a step toward my knees.” Keeping his arms straight, he lowered them and grasped her hips. “When you’re ready, I want you to push off, not too hard, though, so I can lift you over me. Got it?”
She nodded and pushed off, and he lifted her over him. There was a bit of a wobble, but she arched her back and lifted her shoulders and held still. The pain in his arms was worth the grin on her face.
“How do I put you down?”
“Oops. We probably should’ve talked about that before we started.”
“You think?” His arms started to shake. “I’m going to lower my arms toward you. Get your feet down.”
The moment her feet touched the ground, she grinned. “We did it!”
He sat up and she tackle-hugged him. His pulse went into overdrive. They were pressed together from shoulder to ankle. Her heart beat against him. He allowed himself to enjoy the feel of her warm skin. Her hair smelled like strawberries and coconut, and he didn’t want to let go.
His brain started working again, and it was all he could do not to tell her this was madness. It was one thing to perform it lying on the ground, but they couldn’t risk her falling from that height, even if it could be a huge accomplishment for her. He didn’t want to be the one to ruin her chances to get into that ballet company because she broke something. He held her close. It was probably okay to practice it now, and then Lauren could put the kibosh on it when she found out. Izzy couldn’t hide it from her forever.
His phone chimed from the patio. “That’ll be my mom telling me I’m late for dinner.”
The senator opened the patio door and stood there, arms crossed.
So much for kissing her good-bye.
“Until tomorrow.” He squeezed her hand then grabbed his stuff and left out one of the side gates. Man, he was getting in way too deep here. Even though he’d told himself not to get too involved, he’d fallen hard for her, and with their different goals and family issues, everything was way too complicated.
Chapter Fifteen
Before she’d gotten to know Garret, Izzy had never understood why people liked pep rallies. It was like rounding people up and forcing them to cheer for you whether they liked it or not. But now that she knew more about how team sports worked, she could see the similarities to a dance company. The football team was undefeated, and Garret had received invitations to visit a couple of NCAA Division I schools, which she had learned were the biggest and most sought after, but he still hadn’t heard from any of his top choices. The problem was that he didn’t have the money to go visit them on his own, so he wasn’t on their radar, and of course he refused to let her buy plane tickets for him, even when she promised to let him pay her back. Still, despite that one setback, everything seemed to be coming together for them.
Once the cheerleaders were done doing their thing—which most certainly did not qualify as dance—everyone waited with anticipation for the team to make their appearance. She elbowed Audrey. “They’re about to come out.”
“Oh, joy.”
Jeremy elbowed her. “Here comes your boyfriend, who, by the way, is behind on his share of the painting. I tried to warn you about him.”
“That’s your problem. You agreed to be in charge of all the scenery. I’m on props.”
The first player broke through the giant paper sign the cheerleaders held, then the entire team streamed through and lined up at the end of the gym. When the cheering died down, the lights dimmed and a video popped up on the screen. They’d recorded a bunch of people wishing the team good luck tonight. It was the first game that could be a real challenge to win, since their opponent was also undefeated.
She scanned the line of players and focused on Garret. A shiver raced up her spine. He shot her a smile, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. He’d told her that every time they played something on the big screen, he tensed up, thinking she’d changed her mind about him and the recording she took of him that first day in the dance studio was about to start. It seemed so long ago.
“Izzy, what are you doing with him?” Jeremy asked out of the blue.
She turned to face him. “What do you mean?”
“Look, Garret’s all right, but what’s the point in you two hooking up now? You’re going to join a dance company after you graduate, and he’s going who knows where to play football. How long do you think it’ll take him to find a new girlfriend?”
Her stomach clenched, but she was a master at hiding her feelings. She could already picture girls who looked like the Dallas Cowboy’s cheerleaders swarming around him in college. Touching him. “Aren’t you Mr. Sunshine?”
“I’m just being realistic. It’s because he’s a nice guy that he’ll always attract girls. Sure, he might want to do the long distance thing with you, but it’ll never work when he has girls throwing themselves at him while you’re hundreds or thousands of miles away. Who knows? You might even meet a male dancer who actually understands what you do and why you want to do it.”
“Well, thanks for the lecture, Dad.” She refused to let him see how much his warning upset her.
“Izzy.” He squeezed her hand. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. You know what he did to me. I’m trying to save you the heartache by breaking it off now, before you get in too deep.”
What Jeremy didn’t realize was that it was already too late.
…
Izzy ended up getting to the game early. None of her crew was there yet. She scanned the already crowded stands, looking for enough space for the five of them. Jeremy had really shaken her earlier, but she was calmer now. She didn’t believe in giving up without a fight, so she wasn’t going to break up with Garret just because they were likely to be apart next year. There were two hundred and forty-four days until graduation, and she was determined to make good use of them.
“Izzy!” Bella waved to her. She was Connor’s girlfriend, and Izzy liked her, but Bella was over the top cheerful pretty much all the time, which was definitely not Izzy’s style. She preferred more of a vaguely grumpy persona. Bella was also the only one from Garret’s group that would sit with her, so she climbed up the bleachers and dropped down next to her. Some of the other guys’ girlfriends were unlikely to ever hang out with her, but since she wanted to be with Garret, she was trying to get to know some of the people from his crowd. They weren’t all bad.
“Hey, girlfriend.” Bella bumped her shoulder. “Are you ready to watch our boys win another game?”
“Of course.”
Oh, thank goodness. Jeremy powered up the bleachers, his hair spiked in the most outrageous design he’d created yet. He’d always liked to draw attention to himself, whether for good or bad reasons. Even though she wasn’t very happy with him at the moment, she was glad he was here, so he could keep Bella occupied. He plunked in between her and Bella, whose eyes were impossibly wide.
“Are you going to introduce me, Izzy?”
“You’ve met Bella before. She’s in our English class.”
He stared at the poor girl like he was about to eat her for dinner. “Well, that explains it. I’m only awake about 5 percent of the time during English.”
Bella smoothed her skirt, probably trying to come up with something to say. “Wait. You�
�re the one who painted the murals on the back of the bleachers, aren’t you?”
Jeremy held his hands up. “Guilty as charged.”
He had painted an amazing mural up the wall behind the home side bleachers. At first it was dubbed graffiti, and the school administrators vowed to catch the perpetrator. Each morning for more than two weeks, a new part of the mural appeared, and the adults hadn’t been clever enough to realize he could paint in the dark. Eventually, he was caught and suspended for two weeks, but when plans were announced to paint over the murals, students and parents protested, and they ended up leaving them there. Each painting represented a different sport. Football, basketball, track, baseball, pretty much every sport the school participated in. There was also a mural of Izzy in her pointe shoes, though she didn’t think anybody realized it was her.
“Those paintings are amazing. Do you take work on commission?”
Izzy tuned out of the conversation. The sight of Audrey heading toward her with two girls from the in crowd flanking her definitely caught her attention. No one at the school was particularly mean, but they generally didn’t hang around with Izzy’s crowd. Garret must’ve put out the word for them to welcome her to the group or something. It was the only thing that made sense. Before she could think any more about it, the opposing team, the Coppersmiths, entered the stadium. It was time for the Renegades to take the field.
Everyone stood, and the band played their fight song while the players ran from the tunnel one by one. The crowd was so loud they drowned out the music. Audrey made her way over and smooshed herself between Izzy and Jeremy. When the team lined up along the sideline, Garret glanced over his shoulder and scanned the bleachers until he found her. Her heart squeezed. She’d never thought of herself as being romantic, but she liked that he always checked to make sure she was there before the kickoff, as if he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the game without her. There was still hope they could find a way to keep their relationship going after high school.
They played the national anthem, and then it was time for kickoff.
Their opponent went three and out, then the Renegades got the ball and scored on their first drive with a long touchdown carried by Adam, who was a running back. Garret had spent a lot of time explaining each of the positions to her, so she tried to keep them all straight.