Though she wanted to spend every last minute of the time they had left by Edward's side, Bella knew that he needed to concentrate. Plan or no plan, he needed to do his best, and distracting him was the last thing she wanted to do. So as the Junior A championship match finished up, she found herself sitting under the Nashville tent between Rose and Alice, chewing her thumbnail in anticipation of the next match, when her brother would take on her…well, Edward.
Rose poked her in the side suddenly, drawing Bella out of her thoughts. She turned away from the players shaking hands on the pitch to see her sister-in-law wearing a look of expectation.
"Sorry. Did you say something?"
"Yeah. I asked if you want to go with me to grab some more ice. I suspect we'll need cold packs for this match. It should be pretty brutal."
If she only knew, Bella thought. Rose's raised brow made her wonder how much she actually did know. Even though Emmett usually had a problem keeping his big mouth shut, she was confident he could keep a secret of this magnitude to himself. "Yeah, ice. Okay. Let's go."
Rose laughed and threw an arm around her sister-in-law as they walked away from their tent. "You're so spacey today."
"Sorry," Bella said again.
"Can't say I blame you, though. I wouldn't want to be in your position."
"Um. My position?"
"Not knowing whose side to be on."
"Oh, yeah." She shrugged and gave a little laugh if only to relieve some of her tension. "It's rough."
They gathered their bags of ice and made their way back toward the tent, pausing halfway when they spotted the Nashville and Lexington teams warming up on the field.
"Mmf," Bella uttered as she watched Edward stretch his long limbs. His jersey rode up as he raised his arms high above his head, revealing a delicious strip of skin. She fondly remembered exploring every inch of that skin with her lips the previous night.
"He sure is something to look at," said Rose.
Bella's face flamed, and she reined in her thoughts for the time being. "Isn't he, though?"
"He's fantastic," someone behind her said in a deep brogue.
Bella turned to see a tall man smiling down at her. He nodded back at Edward, who was doing deep lunges across the field with his team. "And he's from…Kentucky, is it?"
She tore her gaze from Edward's lithe form and cleared her throat. "I really don't know him very well, but I think he just moved there."
"Ah." He nodded in the vicinity of Bella's chest. "And do you play?"
She glanced down, puzzled at first, until she realized he was gesturing at her Nashville jersey. "Oh, no." She giggled. "You don't want to get near me when I have a hurley in my hands."
He pursed his lips, though his eyes twinkled as if he were amused. "Is that a fact?"
"Well, the first time I picked one up, I ended up with a bloody nose. The second time, I broke someone's finger and bloodied someone else's nose." She went on to describe the six disastrous times she'd wielded a hurley. "And the seventh time, I…oh, wait. That was on purpose."
The man threw his head back and laughed. It wasn't the first time someone had had a good laugh at her expense, and it surely wouldn't be the last, but she didn't mind. She'd learned to accept her occasional clumsiness.
"Well, now I'm intrigued." He tapped a finger against his chin. "On purpose, eh?"
Bella turned to meet Rose's inquisitive glance and almost wished she could brag about her exploits with the seventh hurl. She shrugged. "Someone pissed me off."
"Remind me never to get on your bad side, then." He chuckled again and held his hand out. "My name's Liam."
Liam. Bella's heart skipped a beat. Surely not. Surely this man wasn't a mafia boss. In his casual clothes, with his infectious smile, his handsome face and shiny eyes and open, chatty nature… From Edward's description, there was no way this man was the head of any Irish mob.
"Seriously," she said. "How many Liams are in Ireland anyway?"
He winked. "Ah, sure there's a few."
"I'm Bella," she said, shaking his hand and nodding at Rose. "This is my sister-in-law, Rose."
"Charmed," she said without a hint of sarcasm. She loved an accent almost as much as Bella did. "What brings you here, Liam?"
He swept his arm to the side, pointing out the reason everyone was there. "The tournament, of course."
"Which team, I mean," Rose clarified. "Are you from here in New York, or did you travel with another club?"
"Ah, no. I'm not here with any specific team. I heard there was a hurling tournament in town and thought I'd check it out. Some of these lads are good enough to play back home." He nodded toward the pitch. "Number eleven there, for example."
"That's my husband!" Rose said proudly. "Bella's brother."
"Is it now?" He grinned at Bella and gestured at the heavy bag of ice as she shifted it to her left hand. "My apologies for keeping you. Your ice is beginning to melt."
"Why don't you join us for a Guinness and help us cheer on Nashville since you don't have a home team?" Bella suggested.
"That would be very nice. Please. Allow me." He took the bags of ice and followed the girls back to their tent, where introductions were made and beers were distributed.
Alice, ever the head of the welcoming committee, attached herself to Liam's side and proceeded to point out every player on the team, making sure to brag extra hard about Whitlock. "And that's Anthony," she said, pointing at Edward. "He's from Lexington, but he's become something of a friend over the last two days." Her not-so-subtle wink in Bella's direction sparked an amused gleam in Liam's eye.
With the new addition temporarily occupied, Bella left the shade of the tent and walked back to stand at the sideline and ogle Edward out on the pitch. Jesus, those calves. Those broad shoulders. That messy hair she'd thoroughly enjoyed twisting her fingers through the night before. He turned to catch her staring, and she would've been embarrassed if he hadn't been regarding her with the same lustful gaze. Nah, she decided. Even then, she wouldn't have been embarrassed.
Again, life has been crazy for us lately, in good and bad ways. We hope this slightly longer chapter makes up for it a little bit. :)