Holding Holly (Love and Football Series) by Julie Brannagh Read Free Book Online

more?” he asked.
    “Oh, yes.”
    His arms wrapped around her again, and he slowly traced her lips with his tongue. It slid into her mouth. He tasted like the peppermints Noel Pizza kept in a jar on the front counter. They explored each other for a while as quietly as possible, but maybe not quietly enough.
    “Holly, honey,” her grandma called out from the family room. Holly was absolutely going to have a conversation with Grandma when Derrick was out of earshot, and she stifled a groan. All they were doing was a little kissing. He rested one big hand on her butt, which she enjoyed. “Would you please bring me some salad?”
    Derrick let out a snort. “I’ll get it for you, Miss Ruth,” he said loudly enough for her grandma to hear.
    “She’s onto us,” Holly said softly.
    “Damn right.” He grinned at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” His voice dropped. “We’re definitely kissing on the second date.”
    “I’ll look forward to that.” She tried to pull in a breath. Her head was spinning. She couldn’t have stopped smiling if her life depended on it. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay in my room instead? You need a good night’s sleep. Don’t you have to go to practice?”
    “I’m sure your room is very comfortable, but I’ll be fine out here. Sweet dreams,” he said.
    She felt him kiss the top of her head as he held her. She took a deep breath of his scent: clean skin, a whiff of expensive cologne, and freshly pressed clothes. “You, too,” she whispered. She reached up to kiss his cheek. “Good night.”
    Fifteen minutes later she was ready for bed, and she slid between flannel sheets. She set her alarm for four AM . Hopefully the wind still blowing snow against her window would stop, and the streets would be plowed enough for her to walk the three blocks to Caffeine Addiction in the morning.
    She could hear her grandma’s voice in the family room, and Derrick’s much deeper one. She wanted to hear what they were talking about, but she concentrated on calming breaths as she waited for sleep to come.
    He’d asked her out again. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this excited.
    A N HOUR OR so later, Derrick cleared the dirty dishes off of the family room coffee table, got to his feet, and said, “Is there anything else I could get for you from the kitchen, Miss Ruth?”
    “Oh, no,” she said. “You don’t have to do that. I can clean up.”
    “Absolutely not,” he teased. “You relax. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
    Holly’s grandma had forgotten her earlier reserve about him, and told him story after story about her granddaughter. Her obvious pride in Holly’s hard work and perseverance, and her love for her granddaughter, warmed his heart. He knew his mama and grandma bragged about him too. He wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they seemed to think he was.
    He hoped he could live up to the person his loved ones believed him to be. He wondered if he could do anything in his life comparable to the brave actions of his grandpa, who’d fought in World War II and marched with Martin Luther King. Derrick’s dad had served his country, too, and Derrick’s brother, Trevon, was still in Afghanistan. Playing in the NFL was a pretty big deal, but he wanted to make his mark on the world as well.
    He loaded the few dirty dishes into the dishwasher and returned to the family room to find Holly’s grandmother drowsing in her big chair. He reached out for one of the blankets Holly had brought him before she went to bed and carefully spread it over her grandma.
    “Good night, Miss Ruth.”
    Her only response was a soft snore. He grinned to himself and grabbed the TV remote. If he kept it down, hopefully she’d get some good rest.
    It had been years since he’d encountered a noncable TV set. He settled on a grainy news broadcast from Seattle and pulled some more of the blankets around himself. According to the newscasters, he wasn’t