OFFSIDE HEARTS
“Football? Or you?”
The air tightened between them. Liam’s jaw locked.
“You don’t get to play with me,” Liam said, voice low, rough.
“Then stop me,” Noah replied. No grin this time. Just quiet defiance, a softness that was somehow worse.
Liam’s chest rose, fell. He needed to regain ground. To say something sharp enough to cut the thread between them.
Instead, Noah stepped closer. Just one pace, but it was enough.
“You can keep telling yourself you don’t feel it,” he said, voice quiet. “But I see the way you look at me. On the pitch. Off it. Right now.”