I Bet You by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Penelope

“Sine, cosine, and tangent are the main functions used in trig,” I explain to the small study group I meet with each week in the library, pretty much my favorite place on earth. In fact, I make sure my study section always meets on the floor right smack next to the romance section. Sometimes I even think if the whole writing gig doesn’t work out, I can always be a librarian and live around books forever.

My phone buzzes for the third time, and I set down my notebook. “Guys, my phone keeps going off. It must be important.” I smile at them. “Let’s take five then meet back here.”

They nod and stand up to stretch as I grab my purse to retrieve my phone. I read the text.

Want me to rescue you?

I grin. Ryker. I didn’t see him last night, and he missed class this morning, but he hasn’t been far from my thoughts.

Being apart from him has given me a chance to catch my breath. Our night together, the memories of it, still swirl in my head. I can’t wait to see him.

From what? I say.

You look bored as hell. I can make that look go away.

I look around the library, but all I see are tall stacks of books and a few study tables. He isn’t at any of them. Where are you?

Next to some books.

I shake my head and smile. There are books everywhere.

Just know that I’m watching you. ☺

Are you a stalker?

Maybe. You look pretty by the way.

I blush.

Nice shirt,he sends.

I look down at his practice jersey. I wore it on purpose.

I’ll give it back to you.

Keep it. It looks better on you. I have a surprise for you.

A couple of the students are tapping their pencils against the table, and I send a quick look at them. One of them gives me a questioning look. “You ready?”

Time to get to work. I have to go, I text then tuck my phone away.

Half an hour later, most of the students have left, and I’m packing up my things.

I push the chairs up to the table and lean over to wipe it off.

“Hey,” comes Ryker’s voice from behind me.

I flip around, and there he stands, his broad shoulders leaning against a tall bookcase, half of his face in shadow.

It doesn’t lessen the impact of him.

I wonder if he’s been waiting for me this entire time.

“Hey,” I reply softly. I’ve replayed our conversation from when he dropped me off at my car a hundred different ways, trying to decipher where we stand.

“I missed you in class,” I say. “We covered differential equations.”

“Nice. Did you take notes for me?”

“Not a jersey chaser or your secretary.”

He laughs. “The claws are out. I didn’t expect you to. We can plan a study session at your place if I get behind.”

I toy with the straps of my backpack. “Yes, we could.” I’m already picturing him in my bedroom, spreading me out naked on my bed while I recite math facts.

“No more work tonight?”

“All done.” I walk over to him, and he steps forward out of the dimness of the shadow. “Ryker! What happened to your face?” I scan his features, taking in the purple bruise around his right eye. Moving closer, I wince at the puffiness and the worn look on his face. “A fight?”

He sighs, looking away from me. “You could say that. Archer and I…” He shakes his head. “There’s some bad blood between us.”

I inhale sharply. Ah.

He rakes a hand through his hair. “It’s nothing you have to worry about.”

I frown. “Was it on the field?”

“Yes.” His lips tighten and he rubs his jaw. “Blaze told me about him showing up when your tire was flat. But that wasn’t the main reason we got into it. There’s…a history there.” He gets a weird expression on his face, one I can’t read. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something that happened at practice…” His voice trails off as I lean in and brush a kiss across his cheek. I’m not quite sure how to maneuver this new…thing we have.

“Is it that you missed me?” I smile.

He stares at me and opens his mouth but then closes it, a shuttered expression on his face.

“Ryker? What’s wrong?’

He swallows and looks down. “Nothing. It can wait.”

“I see.” But, I don’t. He’s being very tightlipped, which means he isn’t ready to talk about what’s on his mind. “Is everything with Archer okay now?” From covering the games, I know tensions run high among players. Sometimes a good old-fashioned fight can settle things down.

A muscle flexes in his jaw. “No.” He tilts my chin up. “I’ve missed you, Red.”

A blush steals up my cheeks.

“And there’s somewhere I want to take you tonight. A surprise.”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

He arches a brow, and I’m glad to see his mood seems to be improving. “You’ll want to go. You’ve wanted to see me all day—”

My eyes flare.

He continues. “And I know that because you wore that shirt to get my attention. You can’t tell me no—”

I cock my hip. “I can tell you no, and—”

“Because I suspect you’ve missed seeing my handsome face—”

“I wear what I want to—”

“Maybe I can’t tell you no, Red.”

I stop what was about to come out of my mouth. God. He sure knows how to shut me up. “Good,” I say softly.

He takes my backpack from me and hitches it over his shoulder then tosses an arm around me. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“I hate surprises,” I tell him as we walk down the aisle.

“Is that so? Even the good ones?”

“Mmhmm. On my tenth birthday, my mom surprised me with a clown, which terrified me. Not to mention I was too old for clowns by then and didn’t give a flip about balloon animals. I really wanted a Justin Bieber birthday, but alas, he was on tour.”

He smirks. “Most people are scared of clowns.”

I nod in agreement. “I barfed on his big yellow shoes. Pretty soon the other kids started puking. Of course, it didn’t help that I’d been reading It—when I was clearly too young for it.”

He chuckles. “I bet you were a handful.”

“I was an angel.” I throw a glance over at him. “What’s the big quarterback afraid of? Spiders? Snakes? Big linebackers?”

He tosses his head back and laughs as we head down the stairs, and I’m glad he’s in a better mood. “You’d never believe it if I told you. And I’d have to swear you to secrecy.”

“Is it creepy?”

“Hmmm, you’ll probably laugh.” He pauses. “I really shouldn’t tell you.”

“You can’t do the old bait and switch with me. Tell me!”

He laughs. “Fine. It’s alektorophobia.” He gives me a questioning look. “Know what that is?”

My mouth curls up. “Come on, you’re asking the girl who’s had a word of the day since she was five. Of course I know what it is. You’re afraid of chickens—but not birds, I suppose, since Vampire Bill didn’t freak you out.”

He smirks. “And it’s not really a phobia. I just wanted to impress you with my vocabulary. It’s more of an irrational fear of roosters.”

I smirk. “Childhood trauma?”

He nods. “At the petting zoo.”

“I’m picturing you running amuck and a mean old rooster chasing you across a field.”

“You must be psychic. Pretty much nailed it. FYI, they run fast.”

We laugh and all at once, I feel…giddy. My heart stutters in my chest, and I stare at him.

“We should get going,” he says, and only then do I realize we’ve been looking at each other for several seconds.

We walk out the door and into the cool October air. The sun is low on the horizon, a few hours from setting, and the smell of fall is in the air, crisp and sharp. Ryker stops and sets my backpack down to take off his blue and orange varsity jacket. With a small smirk on his face, he arranges it around my shoulders.

“I didn’t say I was cold,” I murmur, but I’ve already stuck my hands in the pockets. It falls past my waist and two of me could fit inside it, but I’m in no hurry to take it off.

A smile works his face, and he pushes a strand of hair behind my ear. “Let’s go.”

It feels like a date.

He opens the passenger side door of his truck for me, and once I’m tucked in, he gets in and pulls out of the parking lot next to the student center. I sit on my side, but it doesn’t stop my eyes from watching the roped muscles in his forearms. I begged him to tell me where we’re going, but he’s not budging.

“Are you hungry?” he asks as we turn onto the main drag that will take you through Magnolia. We pass a few restaurants, even Sugar’s, but I had a late lunch with Charisma before I went to the study group, so I tell him I’m not hungry. He nods his head toward the back seat. “I grabbed some wine from the store before I came to see you. There’s chocolate back there too. I had an early dinner in the cafeteria, but I didn’t know if you’d eaten anything.”

Chocolate? Wine? Oh, this is so a date.

“I’m fine,” I say. “Are we celebrating?”

He sends me a heated look. “Yes.”

Hmmmm.

“What kind of wine did you get?”

“The girly kind with bubbles. I know you like it. But, don’t think I’m too fancy. Where we’re going, we won’t really use glasses, so it’s just a little six-pack with twist-offs.” A gruff laugh comes from him and I almost think he’s embarrassed. “Classy, right?”

I imagine him waltzing into the liquor store and purchasing girly wine. I smile. “Twist-off wine is totally redneck, but I’m not complaining.”

He nods and looks back at the road. “Great.”

Leaving the lights of town, he turns down a secondary road that’s mostly deserted with the exception of a few houses every mile or so.

“Are we going to the boonies?”

“Almost there.”

“Should I be scared that you’re taking me out here to ravish me?” I ask.

“Mmmm.” He throws me a look, and I see his gaze sweep over my body, lingering with heat.

Damn him. He’s so vague. I slide over to his side, curl my hand around his thigh, and whisper in his ear. “Where are we going, Ryker?”

He gives me a grin and turns sharply onto a gravel road.

We drive up a hill, bouncing around in the cab over the bumps and holes in the road.

He grabs a couple of blankets from the back seat and then hands me a small wicker basket that looks new. I peek inside and see the six-pack of wine with the chocolate.

“Where did you get this basket?”

“The store.”

“You bought all this just for us?” I pick up a small jar of fancy olives and look at him. I’m picturing him at Target or Walmart, wandering the aisles. “What else is in here?”

He grins sheepishly. “Some strawberries are on the bottom. Hopefully they didn’t get squashed by the wine.”

“Wow.” My eyes blink. I’m speechless.

“It’s been a while since I had a real date, Red. I was just trying to cover all the bases.”

“You did well, grasshopper.”

He chuckles as we walk down a stone path toward a large ranch-style log cabin. A red barn sits off to the right. The sound of cicadas buzzing surrounds us, the sun low and orange, close to the horizon. The smell of fresh hay bales reaches my nose, and I inhale a deep breath. “I love being out in the middle of nowhere.” I look back at him and see he’s watching me. “Have I been to a toga party here?”

“Probably. It’s an old farm one of the former players owns. He donated it to the team, and we help maintain it. It keeps us in shape during the offseason.” He points at the log cabin. “The team has retreats out here every spring, and every fall we have a big bonfire party.”

“What are we doing here? Are we going into the cabin?”

He shakes his head. “No. Come on, I want to show you something.” He grabs my hand, and we take off up the hill to the left on a small trail. He adjusts his steps so we’re walking in sync.

We meander along the path for a while, passing tall trees and utter silence.

“What is this secret place?” I ask. “You’re not a serial killer, are you?”

He grins. “There’s a waterfall a few hundred feet down the trail, and a meadow that’s full of sunflowers in the fall. It’s pretty amazing. I found it when I was running out here with Maverick last year.”

“Oh.”

“Is this stupid?” he asks suddenly, looking more discombobulated than I’ve ever seen him. “This is so stupid. Maybe we should head back to town and just get a beer at Cadillac’s.”

I reach out and take his hand in mine.

“It’s a meadow?”

He nods.

“With pretty flowers and trees around it?”

He shrugs nonchalantly.

And I watch him. Seeing him. He has such a soft side. My heart flutters. Does he even remember that Edward and Bella found a meadow in Twilight?

I exhale slowly.

“I love it, Ryker. It’s the perfect date. Let’s stay.”

We make our way down the path and stand in the middle of a small clearing that’s banked on either side by bright yellow sunflowers. We lie down on the blanket and talk. I tell him my favorite movies and songs and books; he tells me his. He describes a sailboat he wants to buy some day, and I describe in intricate detail my pirate fantasy. I end up drinking most of the wine because he can’t stomach the taste of it. When the stars come out, we hold each other, our breaths mingling as we kiss. He undresses me under the dark sky with a tenderness that burns into an uncontrollable fire. Eventually, he takes me from behind, his hand on my hips, my name on his lips. His hand curls around my shoulder and runs through my hair as he tells me I’m his.

Afterward, we hold each other, and I don’t speak at the wonder that is us. I want to tell him how I feel…but instead, I send a silent prayer up to the heavens, begging them to watch over us.