Goddamn it. He couldn’t handle grown women who cried. He didn’t have the emotional depth to comfort a six-year-old girl. He knew she wouldn’t know how to protect herself from a bunch of little boys who wanted to tackle everything in sight, whether they were supposed to or not.
He attempted to look scary. It didn’t seem to bother her.
“Are you sure you don’t want to play wide receiver instead?” Tanner said. “They get to score. People clap and stuff.”
The mini signal caller wannabe stomped her foot. Even a confirmed little-girl avoider had to admit it was kind of cute.
“Hmmpht.” She tossed her head.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m telling my dad.”
“Okay, then.”
She stuck her nose into the air and sashayed over to a shortish, dark-haired guy who probably went a buck fifty after a big meal at the Outback Steakhouse. He couldn’t hear what she said, but she kept pointing in his direction. Her ponytail was quivering with every movement too. Her dad glanced over at Tanner, took his little girl’s hand, and walked up to him.
He had to admit the guy had balls, especially since Tanner was several inches taller and outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds. Maybe he thought it wouldn’t be a problem due to the fact Tanner was on crutches. Whatever.
The guy stuck out his hand. “I’m Luke,” he said.
“Tanner.”
Luke put a protective arm around his daughter’s shoulders. “This is a coed team. My girl has been practicing all spring and summer as the quarterback because Harrison told her that’s the position she’d be playing last season.”
“She might get hurt. Did you talk to her about playing wide receiver?”
“It’s flag football,” Luke said. “She’ll be fine.” He extended a hand to shake Tanner’s again.
Harrison jogged up to them.
“There she is. Ready, tiger? We’re going to have a great season. I know your dad’s been working with you, so we’ll dive right in.”
The little girl pointed at Tanner’s chest. “He says girls can’t be quarterbacks.”
Harrison’s mouth twitched with suppressed laughter. “Don’t listen to what he says. He hit his head in the shower the other day.” He reached out for the little girl’s hand. “Let’s run a bit, and we’ll start the practice.”
The quarterback’s dad walked away from him without another word and found a place to sit in the stands.
Tanner had been bested by a six-year-old girl. He kind of liked her already.
***
JORDAN WAS SURPRISED to get a text earlier that afternoon from Harrison Lane inviting her to his peewee flag football team’s practice, but it might be fun. He’d also said something about getting a drink later so they could talk about places to live she’d be interested in. She wouldn’t turn down a drink. Marco was still out recovering from the car wreck. The physical therapy clinic had had two new patients today. She liked being busy, but this was something else.
She rounded the bleachers and came to a halt as she stared at the broad-shouldered, tousle-haired man sitting twenty feet away from her on the sidelines.
Tanner Cole hadn’t been out of the rehab hospital for two hours and he was at football practice? Instead of going home and resting with his freshly surgically repaired knee elevated, he’d propped his leg onto the bench he sat on. A set of crutches rested next to his opposite hip. Maybe she should have been thankful he hadn’t decided to run laps with the team.
“That was good, but you can do better. Snap the ball and try it again,” he called out to the kids on the field.
Harrison turned to face him. “I’m the coach,” he said. “I had to drag your ass here.”
“Well, I’m here now.” Tanner clapped his hands once. “Let’s see that again.”
Jordan’s legs were carrying her across the distance between them before she realized she was moving. She’d seen her clients do all kinds of crazy things post-injury because they were tired of sitting quietly while everyone else was enjoying a rare sunny day in Seattle, but maybe he could have chosen something that didn’t involve maneuvering around a football field swarming with little kids. She rounded the bench, marched up to him, and rested both hands on her hips.
“Hey. What are you doing here?”
He looked a bit startled but recovered nicely.
“I could ask you the same question,” he said.
“Harrison invited me,” she said. “Weren’t you told to go home and elevate your knee?”
“He drove me here and dragged me out of the car.”
“You’re almost twice his size.”
“Like that’s going to stop him,” Tanner said. “Do you have a point?”
“Of course I do,” she said. He laughed out loud. She opened her mouth to say something, nothing came out, and she stared at him for a moment. He slung his arm around the back of the bench.
“Have a seat, DP. Let’s pretend like we’re civilized adults for a while.” He nodded at the field. She sank onto the bench and stifled a long sigh.
Harrison materialized seconds later and gave them an easy grin.
“Ah. A lovers’ spat,” he said.
She and Tanner answered him at the same time.
“Oh, hell no.”
“I can’t even.”
“Try not to kill each other while I’m working with the kids,” Harrison said. He turned on one heel and jogged back to the knot of children on the field.
Jordan tried to ignore the man sitting less than three feet away from her. The slight breeze ruffled his dark hair. He smelled like he’d just gotten out of the shower as usual. He continued to watch the kids on the field, and she saw his shoulders tighten as one of the boys gave the girl on the team a shove.
“Knock it off!” Tanner shouted. “We don’t put our hands on girls!”
The kid said something in response; Jordan couldn’t hear what he said, but she watched Tanner pull his leg off the bench, grab his crutches, and balance his weight on one foot as he got up. He was teetering like he was about to fall over, and all Jordan could think of was what was going to happen if he did.
She jumped to her feet and wrapped one arm around his waist to brace him as he continued to shout at the kid who’d pushed the little girl.
“Get over here and say that to me! I’ll bet you wouldn’t. C’mon,” Tanner said.
“Careful,” she told him. “You’ll end up back in the hospital.”
His eyes were blazing with fury. “That kid just told me to F off. If I would have said that to one of my coaches, I would have been doing laps before I got benched.” He gestured at the kid in question. “Get yourself over here. Now.”
“Make me,” the kid yelled.
Seconds later, Harrison was crouched in front of the kid, and they watched as Harrison pointed at the track. The kid jogged away from him and started a slow lap around the track.
Jordan realized she still had her arm around Tanner’s waist. She dropped it like it was on fire. He gave her a long look.
“You were going to wipe out,” she said in a low voice.
“It’s so touching that you care.”
“I don’t want to spend any more time with you than I have to.”
“You keep telling yourself that.” But his voice was gentle. “Why are you here, anyway?”
“Harrison invited me.”
“Does he know this?”
“What do you mean? Do you think I just showed up here? I have other things to do.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes!” she said. “I have a life. I can take care of myself.”
“Whatever you say, DP,” he said. He turned his eyes back to the field.
“What did you call me?”
He didn’t glance at her. “DP. Disney Princess.”
Her mouth dropped open in outrage.
***
PRACTICE WAS OVER in another half hour. Actually, Tanner wouldn’t call it “practice.” Th
ey didn’t show the kids the three-point stance or anything remotely looking like strategy, but at least Kiernan the QB didn’t get hurt. The boy who shoved her was also treated to an extra-special lecture before Tanner let him go find his dad in the stands. Naturally, this meant that Tanner had a run-in with the kid’s helicopter parent furious over the fact that he’d dared to scold someone else’s child.
“I’m taking my son off this team,” the father sputtered.
“You do that. I’m sure there’s lots of ex-NFL players willing to work with him,” Tanner said. “We don’t allow the kids to try to hurt each other.”
“You’re a couple of washed-up jocks who have nothing better to do with your time than bully someone else’s kids.”
The normally calm, patient Harrison stared into the guy’s eyes as his mouth formed one flat line. “What did you say?”
“You heard me. You can’t hack it yourselves anymore, so you’re going to tell my kid how to succeed? Not going to happen.”
Jordan sidled up next to Tanner again. She was probably afraid he was going to topple over or something. She was standing close enough that he could breathe in the teasing wisp of pear and flower fragrance she wore, the scent of her shampoo, and cotton clothing warm from the sunshine.
Harrison let out a low laugh at the sputtering parent.
“No problem. We’ll pick another kid off the waiting list for your son’s place this season,” Harrison said. He didn’t crack a smile. “Thanks for stopping by, though.”
The guy stormed away from them.
“I’m in, by the way,” Tanner said. He did his best to sound like he didn’t give a shit. “I’ll be the assistant coach. How often do we practice each week?”
Harrison gave him a nod. “Twice. An hour or so. Games start in two weeks on Saturday mornings.” He raised an eyebrow. “At least you didn’t make me beg.”
“Don’t let it get around.”
“I heard you’re having a drink with Jordan,” Tanner said. “Maybe you crazy kids should detour to my place instead. I’ve got booze, bar snacks, and a big-screen TV.” He also had some pain medication, which he’d decided in the past half hour he needed desperately.
“Will they let me in your neighborhood twice in one day?” Harrison said.
***
JORDAN FOLLOWED HARRISON’S car as he drove through the gated entrance and pulled into the driveway of a very large house. Her parents’ place was nice, but Tanner’s was impressive. One thing was for sure: she needed a more expensive car to be in this neighborhood. She parked her ride parallel to Harrison’s, propelling herself out of the driver’s door. She looked and then she stared.
The house was painted a dark café latte color with coordinating stone façade surrounding the double front door, which was painted glossy black enamel and featured glass panels inlaid with bent iron accents. She couldn’t decide which to stare at first: the imposing house shaped like an inverted L, or the 180-degree waterfront view of Lake Washington sparkling in the sunshine.
“C’mon, girl,” Harrison said. “I’ll ask the old man if he needs any help with the stairs.”
“Fuck off,” Tanner said, but there wasn’t any heat in his voice. He braced himself on his crutches as he took one step at a time.
“He probably hasn’t seen the upstairs of his house in months,” Harrison explained as they trailed Tanner’s careful footsteps.
“I have too. I have an elevator.”
“Oh, yeah,” Harrison said to Jordan. “He has his own elevator.”
“The live-in nurse is currently in my palatial master suite for at least a few weeks,” Tanner said. “I’m on the main floor right now. It’s closer to the kitchen and the deck. It’ll be nice to enjoy my own Jacuzzi again at some point.” He cleared the last stair and increased his speed as he headed to the double front doors, which opened as if by magic.
An older woman with steel-gray hair pulled into a bun on top of her head, wearing horn-rimmed black glasses, and dressed in nurse’s scrubs featuring skulls-and-crossbones-print fabric stared at him. “You were released from Pacific Northwest Rehab three hours ago. Where the hell have you been?”
“Are you my mother?”
“I’m not getting fired because you’re noncompliant,” she said. She folded her arms across her chest.
“Nobody’s going to know if you don’t tell them about it,” Tanner said. Jordan wondered if he’d start pawing the tile beneath their feet with his cloven hoof.
“You’re going to elevate that knee, and you’ll need some medication. If you think I’m giving you extra because you were screwing around when you should have been resting, you can think again.”
“I’m paying for this?” Tanner said in disbelief.
“You bet you are,” she said. “Get in here.”
Jordan’s shock over Tanner’s house gave way to amazement. Most of the nurses she’d met were kind and caring professionals who focused on the comfort and recovery of their patients above all. Tanner’s nurse may have been great clinically, but her bedside manner left a lot to be desired.
Jordan’s rubber-soled shoes made no sound on the hardwood floor of the soaring entryway, which was bracketed by a curving staircase to the second floor. A rubbed-copper chandelier constructed of interlocking spheres and faceted diamond-shaped crystals illuminated by clear lights hung suspended from the ceiling. She trailed behind Harrison as she took it all in.
Tanner and the nurse were still bickering with each other in low voices, but she couldn’t make out what was being said. She wasn’t sure who’d win in hand-to-hand combat between them. His nurse seemed somewhat antagonistic.
She gaped at the two-story wall of windows that looked over the lake. A set of French doors opened onto a deck with painstakingly arranged outdoor furniture and a fire pit. Another set of stairs revealed a flagstone path to the lakefront, a wooden dock, and a speedboat tethered there.
“All this for one guy,” Harrison said into her ear.
She jumped a bit. “Oh! Oh.” She’d been lost in thought over how many days a year she’d be sitting outside on the deck if she owned this house, or relaxing on the cozy-looking living room sectional with a great book, a blanket, and a cup of tea if the sun wasn’t out.
“It’s a bit overwhelming, isn’t it? My place is a shack compared to this,” Harrison said.
“You’re full of shit. His place is bigger than mine,” Tanner said.
“It’s not on the Mercer Island waterfront,” Harrison said.
“It’s less than a mile away. Don’t whine.” Tanner reached out to pull one side of the French doors open. “How about we go sit down? My knee’s screamin’.”
“You have nobody to blame for that but yourself,” the nurse chimed in, but she followed Tanner onto the deck. He sat down heavily in one of the man-sized chairs flanking a love seat as she dragged an ottoman over to him and helped him prop his knee up. Jordan arrived in time to hear her say, “I’ll get you some ice and something cool to drink.”
“I like scotch.”
“You’re not having any until you’re off the pain meds, so you can forget about that, Mister,” the nurse said. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“How about a new knee?”
She flounced away as Jordan sat down in the chair next to Tanner’s.
Tanner could be an ass at times, but she’d seen a different side of him today. He’d probably be in a lot less pain right now if he hadn’t rocketed off the bench to stick up for a little girl getting bullied by a much bigger boy, not to mention showing up there in the first place. His attempts to blame Harrison for it were a bit comical. Maybe he thought people would think he was a pushover if he did something nice for other people. Who knew? Right now, though, she knew he was in pain. He was pale. There was the slight sheen of perspiration on his forehead and upper lip. He reached out to reposition his leg a bit, leaned back against the cushions, and let out a sigh. He seemed to be fresh out of wisecracks. He’d overdone
it, and now he regretted it.
“Harrison said you have a wine cellar,” she said.
“Yeah. I’m more of a scotch guy, but I picked up a case or two whenever I’d visit one of the wineries in Woodinville. I didn’t want to look like a caveman when people came over for dinner.”
Harrison dropped into the chair opposite Tanner’s with a chilled bottle of white wine, a corkscrew, and two stemless wineglasses. “I found this in the wine fridge.”
“Someone has to drink it,” Tanner said. “I sure as hell can’t right now.”
The nurse put a glass of iced tea down within Tanner’s reach and slid a pill into his palm. “Let’s see if we can get that pain level down a bit.”
“If you insist,” he said, but he swallowed the pill and eased back into the chair. “Jordan, would you like some wine?”
“Yes. Thanks,” she said.
Tanner’s eyes were closed. She stared at the thick, dark lashes resting on his cheeks. She’d need four coats of mascara and eyelash extensions to approach what he had naturally. Dammit.
“Hey, man. Want us to leave? You might need a nap,” Harrison said.
“Don’t go. That nurse has it in for me,” Tanner said. He took a sip of his iced tea. “Plus, I hate to drink alone.”
“Tonight the nurse, tomorrow the physical therapist,” Jordan said. Tanner let out a groan.
Harrison handed her a perfectly chilled glass of wine as they looked out at smooth blue water. She took a sip. She typically didn’t care for Chardonnay, but it was evident this wasn’t the cheap stuff. She sipped a little more. Citrus fruits with a hint of oakiness burst on her tongue.
“I don’t know if my man told you this, Jordan, but he’s got a fully outfitted gym downstairs. He also has a massage table.”
“What doesn’t this house have?”
Tanner’s words sounded like they came from a distance. “I still have to get in the car to go to Dick’s Drive-In.”
Jordan took another sip of wine and watched a yacht sail by on the lake. If she lived here, she wasn’t sure she’d ever leave. She’d have to have clients come to the house or something. Then again, she’d have to kick the guys out. Harrison and Tanner bickered like an old married couple. She might have to leave sometimes to maintain her sanity. The thought crossed her mind that if Harrison liked him, Tanner must not be all bad.
Necessary Roughness Page 5