Page 139 of Chasing Headlines

I nodded slowly. Sure, why not? I could just deliver the pass to my fake girlfriend. I held my breath and tried to keep my expression neutral. “I'll give it to her when she drops by later.”

“Do not do anything an old married couple wouldn't do on a weeknight. You're on rest fromany kindof physical activity.” He crossed his arms and fixed me with a no-nonsense glare.

Clearly needs more naked time with his spitfire of a wife. Maybe he'd stop trying to interfere in my non-existent naked time with my pretend—WithLivvie.

It was fun watching her turn colors.

I reran that sentence in my brain, removing “non-existent” (and a few other words) from the statement for it to become:my naked time with Livvie.I said goodbye to Coach, tucked her badge into my back pocket, and headed out.

Geez, that concussion's really doing a number on me. I'd never had what felt like a permanent hard-on for a girl since, well, that part of me had started finding girls . . . interesting. And I sure as hell hadn't debugged my hard drive for a chick I didn't like. Eh, “didn't like” was probably too strong. I didn't dislike her. Never had. I just didn't want her around. Which was only personal in that it had to do with her . . . role. Not Milline herself.

But annoying reporter job aside, she seemed to have a thing for me. That was really the only explanation I could come up with for her helping me out.

Iwould notcomplain about that.

Although at some point, I probably needed to figure out why she was on my mind so often. But that could wait until after the “light thinking” portion of my concussion protocol had ended. I was fairly certain sorting out . . . whatever it was that had to do with that girl—would require thinking too hard.

Or, most likely, the whole situation would evaporate completely with the fog and perpetual, low-grade migraine once my brain went back to normal.

Maybe it'd let me keep some of the images, though.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Olivia POV

After my oh-so-fun chat with Schorr and Eberhardt, where I had been grilled about my team knowledge—I'm pretty sure one of the questions went back to what Fendleman ate for breakfast in kindergarten—I decided I'd try to 'surprise' Dotty. Sneak attack, catch her off-guard and willing to be interviewed.

And of course Coop should be in his dorm resting, and definitely not . . . sitting at the front desk, looking at me with that smirky, arrogantly-handsome face and so very kissable lips.

I pulled my ID from my wallet and held it up. “I can't seem to get away from you.”

“You wouldn't if you could.”

“Maybe I would. It's not like you're nice to me.” I tucked my license back into my purse and accepted the pen. I signed my name on the page. “Why would I want to be around someone who's always so . . . grumpy?”

“Hm. Well, since you're playing the part of my girlfriend, I guess you'll have to find some reason.” He tucked his hands behind his head and leaned back in the chair. “In case someone asks.”

“Seriously?”

“Maybe I just do it for you in the sack. I can live with that.” His eyes narrowed.

“Clearly, I do it for you.In your dreams.”

“We need a story.”

“Do we? How about we got drunk at a bar and hooked up. Oh, damn, that underaged thing again.”

His lips twisted into a wry expression. “You're not the type. Try harder.”

“Why do I have to come up with all the stories?”

“Isn't that what reporters do?”

“We chase down leads and write other people's facts. Novelists are the ones who make shit up.” I huffed as I moved around the side of the desk. “You tell me how we fell in love, mister genius . . . smirky ballplayer guy.”

He sat up, staring at me as he tilted his head to one side. I felt like he was examining or studying me. Heat flashed through my body. He closed his eyes and leaned back, again. “I fell for you the moment we met.” His mouth curved on both sides. “You were the hottest girl I'd ever seen.” He opened his eyes and grinned at me. “Literally.”

“Oh ha ha ha. I was a mess, trying desperately to cool down.”And I know you're lying because a couple of hours later you were calling me a snake in the grass.