Taming Mad Max

by Theresa Ragan

  His date must have moved her chair when he wasn’t looking because suddenly she was sitting so close her leg had become one with his. She rested her long, pink fingernails on his arm. “Tell me, Max. Why’s a good-looking guy like you still single?”

  Max raised one eyebrow. “Just lucky, I guess.” He took a swig of his beer, 155 calories, 13.4g carbs, and swallowed a twinge of guilt by going off the “plan” Kari had set up for him. He looked around, past the fire pit and toward the entrance leading from the patio to the pool and bar where people were dancing.

  What was he doing here?

  He grew tired of blind dates years ago, but Cole promised him this particular girl was different, just a regular gal, he said.

  His date must have thought he was joking about being lucky because she laughed, leaned her chest into his arm, and whispered, “I bet you’re built like a horse.”

  Max nearly spit out his beer.

  Sure, he’d hung out with a lot of loose women over the years, groupies as some of his teammates liked to call them, women who liked to party and considered it a challenge to get laid by a pro athlete, but this girl just hadn’t struck him as the groupie type. For one thing, her clothes weren’t too tight and her makeup wasn’t too heavy. But he was pretty sure a “regular gal” wouldn’t ask him if he was built like a horse on the first date. Before he had time to respond, both girls stood.

  Relief flooded through him. He looked up at the ladies. “Leaving so soon?” He stood to see them off. “It was nice meeting you—”

  “Max,” Cole interrupted.

  Max turned to Cole.

  “They’re going to the ladies room.”

  “Oh.” His date did not look pleased. Her dimples completely disappeared and her eyes lost all their sparkly cuteness. He forced a smile, dropped to his seat, and hoped he sounded sincere when he said, “Hurry back.”

  Both women gave him a pitiful look before they headed off in the other direction.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Cole asked, leaning into the table, looking more perturbed than worried.

  “Nothing. Why?”

  “I set you up with a beautiful girl and you stare off into space like you have somewhere else you’d rather be.”

  “Yeah, well, after listening to what she had to say about hairballs and reproductive organs, she wanted to know if I was built like a horse. I don’t know if she wants to ‘neuter’ me or ‘do’ me. I thought you said she was a ‘regular’ girl.”

  “She’s a veterinarian. You can’t get more regular than that. The moment she starts to whinny though, you’re free to go, no questions asked. Otherwise, don’t screw this up. Contrary to what the public may think about women falling at my feet, it’s been way too long since I’ve gotten any.”

  Max didn’t have much to say in response to that. He knew the feeling, but the truth of the matter was there wasn’t any chemistry between him and the veterinarian. According to the NFL, at thirty-three, he was getting old, which must be true, since he’d never given a damn about chemistry before.

  “So, did you hear the latest scoop on Williamson?” Cole asked.

  Max shook his head. He liked Williamson. He was a team player and he did a damn good job of keeping everyone’s spirits up when the Condors needed it most.

  “They traded him to Seattle. I guess the young back didn’t get much action in the preseason. He said he sensed something going down, but he didn’t know what until last night.”

  “Who’d we get in his place?”

  “Hoffman.”

  Max leaned back in his chair and chuckled. Obviously his agent hadn’t told him everything.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “That son-of-a-bitch wants my job...holy shit!” He could hardly believe what he was seeing. Kari had just entered the club. He never would have taken her for the club sort. And he never would have imagined her looking so damn hot in a simple black dress. Her hair, a mass of soft curls at her shoulders, accentuated her small heart-shaped face and big round eyes.

  Cole followed his gaze. “Holy shit is right. Who’s the redhead?”

  “I have no idea who the redhead is, but the petite one in the black dress is Kari Murphy, the nutritionist I was telling you about.”

  “She doesn’t look plain.”

  “I never said she was plain.”

  “You implied it earlier.”

  “I said she was cute.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s what I mean. Cute implies plain. In the eight years I’ve known you, you’ve never once dated a woman I would describe as cute.”

  Cole leaned back in his chair and took another look, a long look...long enough to make Max uncomfortable.

  “She is cute though,” Cole said, “I’ll give you that. Who’s the other girl though, the tall redhead at her side?”

  Max spared only a quick glance, quickly deciding he didn’t want Kari to see him. “I told you, I have no idea.” As soon as his blind date came back, he was going to plead stomach cramps and get the hell out of here.

  Cole tossed a peanut in his direction. The nut bounced off the menu. “Is something wrong?”

  “No,” Max said. “Why?”

  “You’re hiding behind the drink menu.”

  Max set the menu back on the table. When he saw Kari and the redhead glance outside, he bent over to adjust the hem of his pants.

  “What’s gotten into you?”

  “Nothing,” he said, still bent over his shoe. “Just tell me they’re not coming this way.”

  “They are definitely coming this way.”

  “Max,” Kari said as she came through the open doors leading to the outside patio. “What a surprise.”

  Max left his pants alone and came to his feet. He tried to look surprised to see her. “Wow. This is a surprise. You have no idea. I was just getting ready to head out. What are you doing here?”

  “I have a friend inside who’s getting married.”

  Cole cleared his throat.

  Max gestured toward Cole. “I’d like you to meet my good friend and teammate, Cole Fletcher.”

  Cole came to his feet. At six foot six he towered over Kari. “Nice to meet you.” He wasted no time turning to the redhead and offering her his hand. “And you are?”

  “Lindsay,” the redhead drawled as if she was bored already.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” Cole asked.

  “No, thank you,” Lindsay said. “We’re here for a bachelorette party, and I think the bride-to-be just arrived. It was nice meeting you both.”

  The redhead wasted no time abandoning Kari and heading back inside.

  Cole looked perplexed. “I don’t think she liked me.”

  “She liked you,” Kari assured him. “She takes care of small children all day and doesn’t get out much. I’m sure she was only nervous.”

  Cole grimaced. “How many kids does she have?”

  “Oh, no,” Kari said with a smile, lifting Max’s mood and making him wish she was his date tonight instead of the woman who chattered on about hairballs and heartworm prevention.

  “They aren’t Lindsay’s children,” Kari explained. “She runs a daycare.”

  “Perfect. I love a girl who’s good with kids. Do you think you could give me her number?”

  “You’ll have to get that out of her yourself. But her name is Lindsay Baker and she lives in Burbank. She likes Daylilies and Butterfingers and she’s a sucker for a guy who can dance.”

  Cole laughed.

  Max could hear the sound of approaching giggling.

  He looked over his right shoulder, hoping the girls they came with had ditched them.

  No such luck.

  “Max, look what I found,” the veterinarian said excitedly, grabbing his arm and pressing her body close to his as she hopped up and down and showed him a twenty dollar bill. “It was right on the ground over there. This is my lucky day.”

  The veterinarian noticed Kari and made no qualms about checking out the woman she obviously c
onsidered to be her competition. As she let her gaze roam slowly over Kari, she looked like she might growl. “Who’s this?”

  “Kari,” Max offered, trying to act cool and calm and maybe even a little collected as he made introductions.

  He dared to look at Kari’s face as he gestured toward the woman whose breasts were pressed into his side. “And this is...uhm...”

  “Brooke,” the woman ground out after he failed to remember her name.

  Brooke reached around Max and forced a smile as she shook Kari’s hand. “Very nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you, too,” Kari said and Max could tell she meant it.

  An awkward moment passed before Kari said, “I better go find Lindsay.” She took a step back and gave a little jaunty wave before she turned to escape, leaving Max to feel like a cad, as if he somehow betrayed her.

  Damn. This was exactly why he’d sworn off dating. Women. They made him crazy.

  #

  Kari headed toward the bar where Lindsay, Carol and another friend, Pam, had gathered. Kari pushed her hair out of her face and straightened her shoulders. She refused to let that man get to her. And yet her determined state of mind failed to stop her from feeling as if she’d been sucker-punched. Today at lunch, she’d actually believed Max when he told her he hadn’t been with a woman in over a year. But now she realized he’d been playing the game, just as she first thought. He’d thrown a Hail Mary and hoped for the best. She mentally shook her head at how easily he charmed her with that aura of charisma he sprayed like a skunk.

  Mad Max hadn’t changed a bit. Thank God she’d run into him tonight and saw for herself what sort of man he still was before he hooked her and reeled her in again with his smooth talk and dazzling smile. What a fool she was to think he might have actually grown up.

  “Who’s the sexy hunk you were talking to?” Carol asked.

  Kari took a sip of the lemon drop Lindsay had ordered her and said, “That’s Mad Max. Football Player, aka Don Juan reincarnated.”

  “I knew those guys looked familiar,” Pam said, flipping her long ebony hair over one shoulder. “I want to get my hands on the taller guy. What’s his name?”

  Kari played with the lemon wedge on the edge of her glass. “That’s Cole Fletcher, Condors’ quarterback. Go for it, but I think he has his eyes on Lindsay.”

  “Who are you kidding?” Lindsay asked. “Look at him. He has his eyes on the blonde, and it’s pretty obvious he’s not looking into her eyes. If Mad Max is Don Juan reincarnated,” she added, “then his friend used to be Cassanova and Valentino combined.”

  “And isn’t that the whole point of our being here tonight?” Carol wanted to know. “This is my bachelorette party, my last night out with the girls as a single woman. I don’t care if those hunky guys are here with dates, or not.”

  Carol swallowed the rest of her Cosmopolitan in one gulp and set her glass on the counter. “I’m going to get one of them to dance with me.”

  Looking better than ever in tight designer jeans and a low cut lavender blouse that showed off just enough cleavage to spike interest, Carol stood and brushed herself off. Her new shorter haircut flipped at the ends and made her look twenty instead of thirty.

  Kari, Lindsay, and Pam watched Carol stride across the dance floor, through the open door to the outside patio, and right to Max’s table.

  Neither woman at Cole’s table looked pleased as Carol explained this was her last night out as a single woman, and she wanted to dance.

  Lindsay pulled out a ten and slapped it on the bar. “Ten dollars Cassanova jumps at the chance to dance with Carol first.”

  Kari added a ten of her own. “I’ll put my money on Mad Max.”

  “I don’t know,” Pam said as she tapped her chin with a polished nail and gave the matter serious thought. “This is a tough one. But I think I’ll have to go with the quarterback.” She added a ten to the pile.” He looks like the bigger player out of the two. And I don’t mean football.”

  Kari took another swig of her lemon drop. “You think so?” Then she inwardly admonished herself for getting involved in such a childish bet in the first place.

  “Definitely,” Pam said. “Look at them. Mad Max isn’t the least bit interested in the girl he’s with. I noticed that as soon as we walked into the club...way before those women ever went to the restroom.”

  Lindsay and Kari both turned toward Pam.

  “What? Just because I’m married I can’t look?” Pam snorted. “Mad Max is not interested. Look at his body signals. A man’s eyes are the biggest giveaway when it comes to determining if a man is interested in a woman. If a man returns your gaze, or if he holds eye contact with you longer than you'd normally expect, chances are he’s interested.”

  Lindsay smiled and held her drink for a toast. “To eye contact.”

  Pam frowned. “I’m serious. And I’m the only married one here, which means I must know a little more than the two of you.”

  “I think we’ve both been put in our places,” Lindsay told Kari as they clinked glasses.

  “It’s the small gestures a guy makes,” Pam went on, “the tone of his voice, and the way he looks at you that tells a woman how a man feels. From what I observed a few minutes ago, I’d say Mad Max has the hots for our little Kari.”

  Kari hissed. “You may be married,” she said to Pam, “but you’re definitely out of touch with reality. If the man has the hots for me, why is he over there having drinks with a gorgeous brunette?”

  “Good point,” Lindsay said.

  “According to Lindsay,” Pam countered, “you only started working with him today, which means he probably already had the date set up. What’s a guy to do?”

  “But then why did he ask me to dinner tonight if he already had a date?”

  Lindsay gasped. “You didn’t tell me he asked you to dinner.”

  “It’s not right to assume,” Pam told Kari. “One of the four agreements...you know...the book by Don Ruiz. Anyhow, maybe his friend called him up after he got home.”

  Kari threw up her hands in disgust. “He’s a player. And besides, I’m not the least bit interested in Max so let’s just drop the whole thing. It’s stupid and childish.”

  “That’s not what your body language was saying when you were over there talking to him,” Lindsay pointed out.

  Kari turned to Lindsay. “Not you, too? Since when did you become the queen of seduction? You haven’t been on a date in what? A year? Maybe two?”

  Lindsay examined her nails as she said, “Put it this way. I’ve never met a man I couldn’t have.”

  Pam nodded as if she knew what everybody was going to say before they said it. “Your abundance of confidence attracts men like honey attracts bees.” She looked at Kari. “You could learn a few things from Lindsay.”

  Kari grunted and wondered why she wasn’t at home, asleep in her big comfy bed.

  They all watched Max push his chair from the table. He stood, took Carol’s hand in his, and led her to the dance floor.

  Kari snatched the money from the bar and tucked it into her purse. “Looks like I won.” So why she wondered, did she feel like such a loser?

  CHAPTER 5

  Kari drove up Max’s driveway and parked her car in the same spot as yesterday. If Day Two was anything like Day One, she was never going to survive two weeks as Max’s nutritionist.

  Destiny was playing dirty tricks on her by putting her in charge of his health. In a way, she held his future in her hands, since she could refuse to clear him as healthy, maybe even cause him to lose his job. But she knew she’d never do that...not unless his health was seriously at risk. Revenge wasn’t her style.

  And what about their daughter? Molly hadn’t asked about her father in years. If Molly knew Max was her father, and discovered Kari had kept that knowledge from her, she would be devastated. Keeping Max’s identity secret from her daughter hadn’t bothered her in years, since she felt as if she’d done her best to try and contact hi
m. After receiving no response from Max, she had convinced herself she did all she could and left it at that.

  She certainly never expected to see Max face to face again.

  Kari climbed out of the jeep and gathered the groceries she picked up on the way to his house.

  After watching Max entertain the ladies last night, she wasn’t keen on seeing him this morning. But luck was on her side, she figured, when Max’s sister greeted her at the door.

  Breanne took one of the bags out of her hands. “Sorry about the scene with Joey yesterday. I really don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

  Kari followed Breanne to the kitchen. “Fatherhood is a big responsibility. I’m sure it will just take some time before he comes around.”

  “Joey wants me to consider giving the baby up for adoption. I could never do that.”

  “Do you have any idea why he might be so afraid?” Kari asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When it comes to the fears and expectations of new parenthood, men and women aren’t always on the same page. He’s probably afraid of what this baby will do to your relationship. He’s still in college, right?”

  Breanne nodded and set the bag of food on the granite counter. “He works during the day and takes classes at night.”

  “Maybe he’s worried about money. How will he provide for the baby and for you? Or maybe he’s wondering if he’ll have time for himself after the baby is born? If he hasn’t been around a lot of small children or babies, he might be wondering how he’s going to help. Babies are messy and they cry a lot.”

  Kari stopped when she saw the frown creasing Breanne’s forehead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just trying to guess what might be going through Joey’s head.”

  “I never thought about all of that stuff before,” Breanne admitted. “Since I first learned I was pregnant, my focus has been on holding the baby in my arms. But you’re right, it makes sense that he might be scared.”