Read Online I'll Catch You by Farrah Rochon - Free Book Online Page B

first playoff game as a Saber,” he started, answering her question. “This place was electric. I’d played in bowl games in college, but I doubt if anything will ever compare to running through the tunnel before that first playoff game. I just remember the fog from the smoke machines as we ran onto the field, and then the teal and silver confetti that was everywhere after we won. I found confetti in places confetti should never be found,” he joked.
    Payton burst out laughing. The sound was more magical than the cheer of all Sabers fans combined.
    She stared at him with rapt attention, complete and utter wonder shining in her eyes. “It sounds marvelous,” she said.
    “You really do love this game, don’t you?”
    Her eyes softened around the edges. “I do.” She let out a soft laugh. “When I was a little girl, I would kneel next to my bed and say my prayers at night. And they always ended the same way. ‘God, please let girls play football.’”
    Cedric’s chest tightened with pity for the little girl who never got her prayer answered.
    “There’s nothing I wanted to do more,” she confessed. “One of my first memories is being on my daddy’s shoulders while he yelled at his players to keep their legs up as they ran sprints. I was probably two years old. I spent nearly every afternoon on his shoulders until I was six.”
    “What happened when you turned six that you had to stop going to their practices?”
    “Oh, no. I never stopped going. I’d just gotten too heavy to be on my dad’s shoulders. I had to settle for standing next to him on the sideline. I had my own whistle and clipboard. The guys on the team even got me a Manchac Mustangs cap with ‘Coach Moe, Jr.’ embroidered on the side.”
    Cedric couldn’t keep the smile from tracing across his lips. He could just imagine a six-year-old Payton barking at a bunch of hefty high school players five times her size. He’d bet they all fell in line when she talked, too.
    “My dad would have loved this,” she continued. “No one loved football as much as he did.”
    “Did he play for the Longhorns? You said you were from Texas, right?”
    “Yeah, from West Texas.” She studied the goalpost. “Dad never played. He was born with a heart defect. You’d never know it by looking at him. He was six foot five and two-hundred-eighty pounds of muscle. But you don’t have to play the game to love it.”
    Cedric couldn’t help it. He reached out and captured her hand, the feel of her soft skin sending a shock of desire through his bloodstream.
    “No, you don’t,” he said. He could see that now. Payton would never play football, but she loved it as much as any of the players on the Sabers squad. Cedric had no doubt about that.
    Their gazes met and his heart turned over in his chest.
    She averted her eyes, glancing at their intertwined hands. Cedric’s palm tingled where it touched her. He ached to bring her fingers to his lips and satisfy the yearning to taste her skin. But after another long moment she lifted her gaze and pulled away.
    “So,” Payton said, rubbing her arms as if she were cold. “Can you handle Gianni’s on your own Wednesday or do you need me to be there?”
    Awareness of her lingered on his fingertips. He knew he shouldn’t have touched her, but he’d had to. The desire had been too hard to fight.
    He was a bit taken aback by her suggestion to join him at the pizza parlor. Gus Houseman had never offered to accompany him anywhere. He was always too busy with his other clients.
    “If you want to drop by Gianni’s, that would be fine,” Cedric answered.
    “I’ll try to make it. It will all depend on how my schedule looks by midweek. I have something else I’m working on that may have me tied up.”
    “Is this ‘something else’ something I should know about?”
    “Not yet.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to get your hopes up. But I promise to call you as soon as I have something more solid to go on. Just