by Hart, Taylor
“Tonight, in the Dumont/Young show down, our sources say Young went out of town to get out of the media’s eyes. Sources say that owner Ty Halstad still wants Young to come back and take his rightful place this year, but there have been grumblings after the big win last week that Young might be done with his game. That…”
Katie picked up a remote and turned the television off.
He hadn’t realized that his hands had turned to fists and that he was on the edge of the couch.
Katie put the remote down. “Shouldn’t have turned on the news.”
He let out a sigh. It felt silly to admit, but he’d almost, for just a few days in Wolfe Creek, forgotten all the troubles back home. “How come the word home suddenly sounds wrong?” He stood and walked in a circle, a small circle in her cute living room that had two big magnetic boards filled with Josh’s art pictures. He walked over to study them. She’d already added the picture from earlier.
“I’m sorry, Roman.”
He studied the pictures of animals, of her and Josh together, of little things from nature. His heart tugged. The two of them seemed happy. He stopped when he got to the front mantel and saw a picture of her and Josh and her husband, John.
“That’s the last picture we have of all of us together.” She stood beside him.
Without thinking, he took her hand. “It’s beautiful.” He studied a few others on the mantel, and then he noticed that her hand had gone still.
He looked down at their hands together. Instantly, he dropped her hand. “I’m sorry.”
She blinked and stared up at him with those sad green cat eyes. Beautiful eyes that had so many shades and emotions in them. “I have a question for you.”
He studied her back, feeling the chemistry between them. “Only if I can ask a question, too.”
A slow grin spread across her face. “Maybe.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Maybe, huh?”
Her face stiffened. “I have a real question.”
He let out a breath. “Shoot.”
At his concession, she took in a breath and backed up from him, fingering one of her son’s pictures. “I can understand why you play football. The rush, the thrill … the money.”
“Yes, yes, and yes.”
She swerved back. “And, believe me, I know more about your ex-wife and what Jim thought of her than you probably do.”
This, he hadn’t been expecting. “Okay.”
“And I know about the knee and the months you’ve been rehabbing it.”
Unbelievably, this conversation kept getting more and more upsetting. “Okay.”
“Here’s my question …”
“‘Bout time.”
She was intense. “Why don’t you quit?”
This confused him. He took a step back. “What?”
“Quit. I mean … you’ve taken them to two championship games. You were on the team this year so you’ve been a part of three championship games. You’ve made millions of dollars. Your uncle told me you made smart investments, and I know your ex got half, but you still have assorted businesses …”
Being blindsided on the field, or in business, especially with friends was not something he appreciated. His back straightened. “See, you have the advantage on me, Katie. I have no idea about your financial assets.”
At this, Katie let out a light laugh. “I have some death benefits and the paycheck the estate from the inn sends to me.” She rolled her eyes. “I have my degree, and I could get a full-time job, but I like the flexibility I have with Josh right now.” She shrugged. “Do you think I’m stupid? I think everyone around me thinks I’m stupid for not moving to a city and getting a full-time job, so I don’t have to live in this rinky-dink place. My parents even asked me why I’m still here. They want me to relocate to Salt Lake and make myself more marketable.” She shrugged again. “But I like being here. I like knowing Henry and Mrs. K and every single person in this town. I like people knowing me, even when it’s hard. Even when they give me jobs I don’t want.” The side of her lip tugged up. “I like that Josh feels safe.”
“I don’t think you’re stupid,” he said quickly. “Believe me, that’s the furthest thing from my mind.”
“Then what do you think?” she challenged.
He didn’t reply to that. Instead he said, “I thought I got a question.”
Their eyes locked, and all the joking stopped. Her eyes fluttered. “Go ahead.”
All at once his palms had turned sweaty, and he wiped them down the sides of his legs like he would if he were in a huddle. His heart pounded, and he still couldn’t understand how Katie could put him right on the edge. “I think you’re one of the most beautiful, strong, amazing women I’ve met in my entire life.”
Her eyes flashed wider. “That wasn’t a question.”
A grin formed on his lips. “I was saving it.”
She looked away. “You think I’m beautiful?”
Certainty filled him. He took a step closer to her. “I do. And even more beautiful because you don’t flaunt it around.”
Red colored her face. “I wouldn’t even know how to do that. But,” she said, looking back at him, “you shouldn’t say that.”
Taking a chance, he reached for her hand. “I know you’ve been through a lot.”
She frowned and looked down at his knee. “How do you know that next time you get hit it won’t be your neck?”
He withdrew from her and turned away. He didn’t need to hear this. “We’re back to this?”
She let out a long breath. “Roman, I don’t care. I just …. I would just think that you’re life is more important than football.”
This had been the argument made by every mother that ever watched their son play football, his own included. “You don’t think I know the risks?” He was getting mad and didn’t know exactly why. He heard about the risks every day, on the news and social media. “You don’t think I keep up on my chances with concussions and everything else?”
Her eyes went sad. She took a beat, and then she looked up at him. “My point is you have enough money. Be done. You are still in great shape and have a life in front of you. As your friend, don’t go out there and get yourself throttled and have something else happen to you. A knee is nothing, but other things are something.” She broke off then flashed her eyes back to him. “I’m not into men dying before they have to.”
The light bulb turned on in his head. Of course. Her husband. He hesitated, thinking of how she’d called him her friend. He sized her up. The only thing he knew for sure at this moment was that he wanted to be more than a friend. But even when she said she just thought of him as a friend, she spoke to him more frankly and with more care than anyone had in a long time. His agent, of course, would never want him to quit. Sheena sure as heck hadn’t wanted him to stop. Football had been his life, his dream, everything that mattered. It represented everything that mattered. Granted, he did want other things. He wanted a wife that loved him and that he could love. He wanted kids—lots of them. “I wouldn’t even know what to be if I wasn’t…this.”
“Anything.”
“Anything?” Roman could not think of himself as doing just anything.
“Well, I do know about this pretty amazing inn.” She grinned. “You could stick around and help do some rehab work.” She grinned again. “Join the ranks of the over-educated, under- paid.”
All the adrenaline from earlier drained out of his system. Slowly, he reached over and held her hand. “Would I have to work for you?”
She let out a light laugh. “I am kind of getting used to you calling me boss.”
“There is that.” His heart raced, and he couldn’t stop himself from looking at her lips. Her perfectly formed lips that wore no make up. Then he looked at her eyes. All he wanted was to kiss her. For her to melt into him.
But he wouldn’t do that. Not tonight. Not like this. Tomorrow was the anniversary of her husband’s passing. No. No. No.
They stared into e
ach other’s eyes. A breath away from kissing.
“Pansy.”
“What?” He let out a breath, the trance broken.
She pulled back. “Well I’ve been standing here, holding your hands, looking in your eyes, giving you all the signs that a girl wants to kiss you. I would have thought that the great Roman Young would have picked up on it.”
There it was. There she was. He laughed. Just when he thought she was vulnerable, she snuck up on him.
Shaking a finger at her, he pulled her closer. “If we’re going to kiss, I’m going to let you be in charge of it.”
The side of her lip twisted up. “Oh yeah?”
He got even closer to her. “Yeah.”
Her hand released his, and she ran her hand up his left wrist, his forearm, and then slid it on top of his shoulder. “First I have a question.”
He was pretty sure the speed of his heart alone might break one of his ribs. “Another question?”
“How many women have you kissed?”
This he had not been expecting.
She grimaced. “That bad, huh?”
“I …”
She cut him off by putting a gentle finger on his lips. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“How many have you kissed?” he whispered.
“Thirteen.” She answered immediately.
This made him laugh. “I guess you’ve been ready for that question?”
“You never ask a question you’re not ready to answer yourself.” She cocked her head to the side. “But that includes Jimmy Smith, my first kiss in grade school.
She was smiling, and he couldn’t stop himself from inhaling the lemon scent of her and for holding onto this moment. Granted, he was still looking at her lips.
She nudged him. “Do you want a question?”
No. He wanted to kiss her, but he’d promised to wait for her. His scrambled mind searched for a question. “Do you like Dallas?”
A soft laugh came out of her. “The Destroyers.”
“I mean, in general.”
“Well, I’ve actually never been to Dallas. The furthest I’ve been is Orlando. John and I went there on our honeymoon.” She laughed. “Arg, sorry. It always comes back to before, right?”
He laughed, his mind flashing to his life with Sheena before. Katie was so different. He felt like a completely different person being with each of them.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
Roman patted his pocket. “No pennies.”
She stroked gently down his cheek and then smoothed his hair behind his ear.
He was on fire. He closed his eyes.
“Do you still love her, Roman? Your ex?”
He opened his eyes, the fire chilling at the mention of Sheena. “Honestly, I don’t think what Sheena and I had together could be classified as love. I thought it was, but the further away I am from it, the more I see it for what it was.”
“What was it?”
“It was fun. All the time fun, and I was caught up in what it meant to be a star football player. But it was empty. I remember thinking, one time, that it felt like we just lived for the cameras. To build her modeling career, to build my brand.” He shuddered. “It was empty. Really, really empty.”
Then her other hand slid up his right wrist, forearm, and shoulder. He felt himself sigh, and he pulled his hands together behind her waist, pulling her closer, relishing the smell of her. “Hmm.”
She laughed. “You sound like you want to eat me.”
He cocked his head to the side. “I think you might taste like lemon pie.”
She giggled and threw her head back and pulled closer to him.
He couldn’t resist her lips much longer. He liked being this close. Within inches, centimeters. Right there. All he had to do was put his lips on hers.
They breathed, the air electric between them.
“Roman,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he whispered back, lifting his hand and petting it down the hair on her back. “I love your hair, by the way.”
“You do?” She smiled, her white teeth perfect, her lips perfectly kissable.
“I do.” He waited.
Her eyes squinted shut for a moment. “Can I tell you something?”
“Hmm…Hmm.” He was still smoothing her hair down.
Her eyes fluttered. “The therapist said if I had feelings for another man, at some point, that that was normal. That that was good.”
His hand stilled on her hair. Suddenly, she seemed scared. He melted inside. “Katie, we don’t have to kiss. We can take things as slow as you want.”
The side of her lip turned up. “Are you ever nervous playing quarterback, keeping control of the ball?”
He could swear he felt her heartbeat against him. A tremble went through her.
Or had it gone through him? He hesitated. “Last play.”
She leaned back to look at him more directly. “What?”
“My uncle Jim used to tell me, even when I was in little league football, you play every play just like it’s your last play. As if it is the final play to get the touchdown that will win you the game. If you play like that, then when it is the last play, you won’t be nervous.”
She grinned. “Is this the last play?”
Roman grinned to match hers. “With you, Katie Winters, I’m having to play every play my hardest, but I’m hoping this one will lead to a touchdown.”
She cocked her eyebrow. “Touchdown?”
He sighed. “Okay, at least a first down.”
She laughed and looked at his lips. “Let’s find out.”
A sudden knock sounded at the door.
Katie jolted back, as if she’d been woken from a trance. She quickly flew to the door. “Oh, goodness.” She tugged it back, the cold air instantly making the room uncomfortable. “I completely forgot.”
Lou stood there. In Carhartt gear, a beanie cap on his head and large black gloves, his eyes went to Roman and then back to Katie. “Oh, I didn’t realize I’d be interrupting.”
“It’s fine. Come in.” Katie’s voice had gone from whispered and vulnerable a second before to steady.
He took a step in, keeping his eyes on Roman. Roman stood straighter, not being rude, but sure as heck not offering to make the man anymore comfortable. His thoughts whirled. Were Katie and Lou a thing? He thought he’d detected something between them back at the diner, but she’d said nothing about his slight possessiveness.
Lou looked around, took a long sniff. “Dinner? You made him dinner on movie night?”
Roman watched the scowl that darkened Katie’s face, and, when she turned back to him, he saw her cheeks were red.
“Stop it, Lou. We’re friends, okay. And you and I are friends, too.”
“Friends.” Lou grimaced. “I was here when your husband died.” His jaw clenched. “Dang it, Katie, I was his best friend. And you’re here with him when tomorrow …” His voice trailed and Roman saw the emotion in Lou’s eyes.
Now Katie’s cheeks weren’t just red, they were flaming red. She turned to face Roman. “I’m sorry.”
Going for his jacket, Roman nodded his head. “No problem. Thank you for dinner, and tell Josh I’ll give him that football tomorrow.”
She opened the door and whispered to him as he moved past. “I guess sometimes it’s better not to know how that last play will go?”
He stopped, their eyes meeting. “No, it’s always better to make the play.”
Chapter 12
He lay in the sleep number bed and looked out the window at the crisp night. Mrs. K had stopped by earlier with a tinfoil-covered plate. When he’d admitted that he’d been to Katie’s for dinner, she’d only responded with a wink and then put the leftovers in the fridge for the next day.
She’d stayed for twenty minutes, and they’d sat at the big oak table talking about Henry and her children. He realized how normal it had all felt.
How like … home.
Now, he felt lonely. Honestl
y, even when he was married to Sheena, he’d been lonely. Alone in his thoughts. Granted, he and Sheena had had an amazing physical relationship, but…they’d never really been friends.
Not really.
Okay, after the divorce had he missed having someone to go to dinner, the movies, and assorted social engagements with? Yes. But he hadn’t really missed Sheena.
He thought about the past two days with Katie. They’d connected. Laughed. Teased. Played. She felt like his friend.
She was his friend, he realized. Maybe the only real friend he had.
His thoughts drifted to Katie again. How she’d tricked him into carrying up the tube. Every. Single. Time. Okay, he hadn’t always been tricked, and it had been fun.
The sound of her laugh had made him do the craziest things.
They’d become something more. It wasn’t just that he was attracted to her. Majorly attracted to her. No. It was something … he sat straight up in bed. He was in love with her.
It shouldn’t be such a surprise to him, but it was. He hadn’t been expecting this at all.
He shoved back the covers and stared out the window. It was two am, but he didn’t care. That’s what agents were for. He pushed Jake’s number.
He answered on the second ring. “What are you doing calling me at this hour?”
“You said I could call anytime, rain or shine. Wasn’t that your corny sale when I first signed on with you?”
He heard the sound of covers shuffling.
“What are you doing, Jake?”
“Oh, well, I’m sleeping! Sheesh, but since I have you on the phone, let’s talk. So, you’ll be coming back the day after tomorrow for the meeting, right? Got it lined up for four o’clock. Do you have your flight booked?”
“No.”
“You don’t have your flight?”
“No.”
“Well, I’m getting you one.”
“No. Wait. I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
He sighed and thought of how her hands felt in his. How lovely she smelled. How Josh loved donuts, and how they’d both had parents that’d died on them. “I may need a couple more days with this snow. Can you reschedule with the owners?” Honestly, he couldn’t believe he felt so calm about this.