Todos os capítulos de My Ex's Football Rival Wants Me: Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

Carmen's POVAndre reached for his wine, apparently unaware that the conversation had already changed direction in my head. I caught his wrist before he reached the glass.He looked down at my hand, then back at me. "What?""Nothing."His eyebrow lifted. "You've spent the last hour objecting whenever I use that answer.""I've changed my position.""Convenient."I didn't let go, and Andre waited. When I moved closer, his expression altered slowly enough that I could see the exact moment he understood."What are you doing?""I haven't decided.""That usually ends badly for me.""You're very dramatic for someone who just spent ten minutes describing imaginary sex.""I answered a question.""You did that so thoroughly.""You complained when I wasn't thorough.""I know."I moved until one knee pressed against his thigh, and Andre looked down. That tiny movement changed his breathing, not enough that anyone else would have noticed, but I did, and the discovery made me smile.His eyes narrow

Carmen's POVThe program on TV had changed to the national teams call-up announcement for a match between England and Spain coming up in a few weeks. It was just as Andre's coffee machine began making a noise that suggested it had finally had enough of him.I was sitting at his dining table with my laptop open, pretending to revise a drawing while the sports channel worked through Spain's latest squad announcement in the background. Andre had finished recovery training early and returned home with breakfast, coffee, and a complaint about the mug I was using even though there were at least eight others in the cupboard."You know that's the wrong cup."I looked at the mug in my hand, then at him. "It currently contains coffee, so I think it has fulfilled the main requirement.""It's an espresso cup.""And yet civilization continues."Andre muttered something about standards and opened the cupboard again, but whatever argument he had been preparing disappeared when the presenter moved on

Andre's POVCoach Valdés solved the problem of Iker and me with the kind of threat only a national-team manager could make without raising his voice. If either of us started choosing passes based on who we did not want to speak to, one of us would watch the match from the bench.He called us aside after the final tactical meeting, when most of the squad had already gone to change. Iker stood on one side of the tactics board and I stood on the other while Valdés looked between us with very little interest in whatever history had made the arrangement uncomfortable."I don't need either of you to become friends before four o'clock," he said. "I need my right side to function. Andre, when you come inside, Iker has to know whether you want him underneath you or beyond you. Iker, when you receive, you need to know whether Andre is holding width or attacking the channel. If I see either of you avoiding the obvious pass because the other man is involved, I change the starting eleven. Understo

Russell's POVThe attendant sealed my phone in a numbered pouch and placed it in a locked case before I had finished deciding whether I liked the idea of being unreachable for the next three hours."You'll get the same number back when you leave," she said."Comforting."My teammate Callum handed his over beside me. "Try not to start an international incident while nobody can film it.""You say that like I'm the problem.""I say it because I have met you."We boarded just after ten. The yacht was large enough that the party never felt crowded, even with both national teams, federation staff, sponsors, families and invited guests spread between the enclosed lounge and the upper deck. Music carried through the main level without reaching the volume of a nightclub, and the organizers had clearly spent an unreasonable amount of money making everything look effortless.I saw Fernandez standing near the bar with Jadon and two Spanish players, jacket open and one hand around a glass he had

Andre's POVRussell came toward me, turning completely away from Carmen. Until then, most of his attention had been on her. He had been talking as though the rest of us were interruptions to a conversation Carmen had already made clear she did not want to have. The moment I stepped between them, that changed. Whatever he had failed to get from her, he seemed determined to find another way to make the night hurt.He stopped close enough that neither of us needed to raise our voices over the music. For a few seconds he said nothing. His eyes moved past my shoulder toward Carmen, and when he looked at me again, some of the arrogance had gone out of his face."I miss her."I almost thought I'd misunderstood him.Russell gave a quiet, bitter laugh when he saw my expression. "I said I miss her."There was no performance in it this time. He looked miserable saying it, which seemed to irritate him almost as much as the fact itself. His mouth tightened before he continued, like every word was