Page 85

He nods towards my body, my underwear fully on show. He’s right, I need something, so I slip off the remains of my dress.

He pulls his shirt from his shoulders, different muscles flexing with each movement, and commanding every scrap of my attention. It takes me back to that day in the changing rooms, when I walked in on him in a towel, only now he’s somehow even sexier – I suppose because I’ve got to know him more.

The sight of him without it wipes every practical thought from my mind.

His chest is broad, solid and marked with the faint bruises that still remain from the final. I notice his scar again, near his shoulder, and another along his ribs, and it reminds me that all of his success has come from seriously hard work.

‘Brooke,’ he prompts me, because I’m staring, rather than taking the shirt. I guess I don’t want to put clothes on any more than I want him to. Not at all.

As I take the shirt, our fingers touch. This is fine. This is normal and I’m handling it. I have been in underwear in front of men before, I’ve seen men without shirts on before, and it’s always been just fiiiine.

I put on the shirt but I struggle with the buttons – I think my hands might be trembling, just a little.

Eddy steps closer. His bare chest is only inches from my body.

‘Wait,’ he says, his voice low and soft.

Something firm touches the outside of my thigh, running up my torso, to my chest, before he finally taps me on the nose with it. It’s the champagne cork.

‘For you,’ he says.

He places the cork in my palm and my skin tingles everywhere it just touched.

‘How did you fix the bottle without it?’ I ask.

He buttons the shirt up for me.

‘I couldn’t get the cork back in, so I used one of their stoppers from the shelf. Then I wrapped the foil around it again and put it back in the box.’

‘Will they notice?’

‘Oh, absolutely,’ he replies. ‘But not for five years – that’s when they’re planning to open it.’

I laugh.

‘Eddy Hood, you’re my hero,’ I tell him.

‘I thought you’d like a souvenir,’ he says with a shrug. ‘And at least you got to taste it. Was it good?’

‘I honestly couldn’t taste the difference,’ I admit. ‘You could always have a sip, before we leave…’

He laughs as he places his hands on my shoulders and steers me towards the stairs.

‘Let’s get you out of here, before you burn the place down,’ he jokes.

That’s probably for the best.

‘Thanks so much,’ I tell him. ‘You’ve really saved my arse tonight.’

‘What are boyfriends for?’ he replies.

He’s playing it cool but he really has saved me. I was in a panic, I wasn’t thinking straight, and my life would not have been worth living if Tina had found out. She would have made out like I’d done it out of jealousy or spite.

At least I’m in the clear, thanks to Eddy – well, for the next five years, anyway.

19

You know, you get so used to seeing the players in their kit, or their training gear, that you forget they can scrub up well.