Steeling Her [Published]

I've Never Met Someone Like You

CARTER

We sit at the table and chairs set located under a low light. It's still warm enough outside. It's dark, and the trees in the back hiss as the wind brushes over the leaves lightly.

"Well... are you going to leave your thoughts in your head or are you going to share them so I can get feedback from someone who knows what they're talking about? Because I would really like you to choose the second option" I see the bottle rest on his lips and then he takes a sip. He sends me that glowing smile I've seen all day today. He's even more happy after his win.

I smile staring out at nothing in front of me. I replayed the game in my head. Watching him in his uniform, watching his hard features focus on the game. Living in the moment.

He nudged me taking me out of the memory. "Well? What'll it be Steel?" He teased me. I open my mouth to answer him but the back door opens up and people spill out of it and make there way over to us. Mainly to him. They don't know who I am.

"Jackson! You were on fire tonight!" One girl saunters over with a guy around her shoulders. They look like a couple. She's tall and toned. Black curly hair that is just below her shoulders. Glowing tanned skin, with black denim shorts that showcase her mile long legs. A blue flowing top tucked inside much like mine and pairing it with strapped heels that wrap up around her calves. Overall, this girl is beautiful.

"Thanks Cas! Hey Reggie!" Nick stands up to shake his hand and give her a hug. I sit there biting my cheek because I'm so awkward. "Guys this is Carter, Carter this is Reggie and his fiancé Cas, Reggies on the team! " Nick teases them and I watch her blush while Reggie stares down adoringly at her. My brows ride up at what he said. They're engaged? They're a so young. It looks like she caught onto my expression and shakes her head rapidly.

"Not engaged! Jackson you asshole!" She kicks Nick as he goes to sit back down beside me. I smile up at her. She seems really cool. Approachable.

"Not yet!" Reggie winks at her and I watch her bury her head into his chest as he pulls her close to him. These two are so cute together I can see they both adore one another.

"It's nice to meet you both!" I finally speak up and they both smile down at me.

"So you're Carter?" Reggie grins down at me and I nod my head unsure at what he's implying. His eyes shift over to Nick and I see Cas also grinning down at him. "I've heard so much about you from Nick!" I watch the grin get bigger and out of the corner of my eye I see Nick shake his head. They both take as seat opposite us as we sit and drink together.

"I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing?" I joke and laughter echoes at my nervousness.

"Don't worry, it's all good! I saw you at the gala last week? I didn't realise Roger Steel had a daughter?" He smiles at me. But I freeze when he mentions my family name. Like Nick catches on, he steers the conversation away from that.

"She was at our game tonight! Trying to get the critical comments out of her, but it seems we keep getting interrupted by people" he sends Reggie a pointed look making him lowly chuckle. It goes silent and everyone is looking at me. "Well? You going to dodge the question again or are you going to shed some light on your thoughts?" Nick leans forwards so that he's close to me.

"You were good" I nod my head making eye contact with him. I hear Reggie snort and Nick has a mischievous grin on his face.

"Good? That's all?" He tilts his head to the side challenging me. I feel the grin on my own face creep up watching him waiting for more of an answer than 'good' from me. I silently judge if he can handle my critical comments. They're not too bad, he played really well. I just have some observations.