Well Played

by Keeland, Vi

  “Yeah, that’s the one. I was using it. I normally do two reps of six, but Jeremy was using the arm machine right across from me. Every time he lifted, he made this grunting sound. Between the bulge of his biceps and that grunt, it was better than porn. So I lost track of how many lifts I did and stayed on the machine for way too long. My calf muscles were in knots for days. I legit couldn’t walk.”

  I laughed. “Oh no.”

  “Totally worth it, though.”

  “He seems like a really nice guy. Alex can’t stop talking about him when we get home. He calls him Brick. It’s really cute.”

  “Yeah, I heard the other coach call him that, too. Of course, it totally escaped me that his last name was Brickson, and my mind automatically went to wondering if he had a brick in his pants.” She leaned forward and squinted. “I wish he’d wear tighter shorts so I could get a look at the outline.”

  I shook my head and laughed. “You haven’t changed a bit since high school.”

  “What? Like you weren’t wondering the same thing. A man that nice, who donates his time to coach football, and has a body like that… There’s got to be a catch. No one is the full package.”

  My mind instantly flashed to Levi in his boxers last week, the night he fell out of the bed. Now that man had a very full package—one I’d thought about too often lately.

  “What’s his deal, anyway?” I asked. “He mentioned the other day that he’s lived in Beaufort for five years. It’s not a place people usually move to without a reason.”

  Kat nodded. “He owns a construction company. Came to town to build the new high school and never left. I think he lived up in Charleston before. He’s divorced. He and his wife lost a child—born with some sort of heart defect and only lived to age four. He played college football at Clemson, and his son was a huge football fan. So now he donates his free time to teaching kids football. Honestly, I’m not sure I could do that—be around a bunch of kids who are probably about the same age his son would be now, playing his son’s favorite sport.”

  “Wow. I had no idea. That’s really sad that he lost a child.”

  “He’s pretty private. Keeps to himself mostly. But my friend Annemarie was his receptionist for a while, so she gave me the skinny.” Kat opened her purse and dug out a ChapStick. She rubbed it on her lips as she spoke. “So what’s going on with you? Are you seeing anyone?”

  I shook my head. “I’m still getting settled in.”

  “Well, if you want to go out sometime, I’m game. There’s a new bar a few miles out of town that has a good crowd. Travis stays at his dad’s Thursday through Saturday morning since we share custody, so I’m always up for a Friday night out.”

  “That sounds good. I’m sure I’ll be more settled in a few weeks.”

  After practice, Kat and I walked down to the field together to help our boys carry their equipment. They might be playing football, but God forbid they carry a duffle, helmet, and pads. Jeremy walked over while Alex was shoving his jersey into his bag.

  “Alex is doing great. The rumors about him having a killer arm were all true.”

  I smiled. “Thanks. He’s been practicing a lot with his uncle lately.”

  Alex finished packing his bag and zipped it shut. When he stood, Jeremy rested his hands on my son’s shoulders. “He told me. How am I supposed to take credit for all of his accomplishments someday when he’s drafted into the NFL if Levi Miller is also helping him train?”

  I chuckled. “Ummm, if he stands on the podium and thanks anyone other than his mother, both you and his uncle will be hearing from me.”

  “Mom?” Alex interrupted. He pointed to the parking lot. “The ice cream man is here. Can I get something, please?”

  “Sure.” I dug into my purse and pulled out a five. Alex snatched it and took off running. “Hey! What about your equipment!” I yelled after him.

  “Thanks, Mom!” he yelled without looking back.

  I shook my head and bent to lift the duffle. But Jeremy took it out of my hand. “Let me. I’m heading to the parking lot, too.”

  “Thanks.”

  We started to walk side by side. “So Alex said you guys live over at The Palm Inn?”

  “We do. Alex’s grandfather passed away six months ago. He left part of it to Alex as an inheritance. So we’re living there while I work on trying to make a go of it.”

  “It’s a beautiful building. I stopped in once when I’d first moved to town and Mr. Miller gave me a tour. I do construction, but I’m a closet wannabe architect.”

  “Yeah, it’s a pretty incredible place.”

  “It’s got something like ten bedrooms, right?”

  “Fourteen. But ugh, don’t remind me. That just means more work. It’s pretty run down. I got an estimate for new air conditioning this morning, and it’s more than I expected to spend on the entire refurbishment.”

  “Do you have a GC?”

  “A general contractor?” I shook my head. “Well, I guess I do. You’re looking at her. I’m trying to save money by coordinating everything myself.”

  “Well, if you need any help or any recommendations for reliable workers, just let me know. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to get a few estimates for any big jobs. It still surprises me how much one company’s price can vary from another.”

  “Thanks. That’s very nice of you to offer.”

  “It would be my pleasure. Is the B&B open for business while you’re working on it, or do you have it shut down?”

  “It’s closed right now to guests. Well, except Fern. But she’s not really a guest. She’s more like a permanent resident. She was a good friend of Thatcher’s. Levi is also staying there while he’s in town, too. He owns the other half with Alex.”

  “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you divorced?”

  I shook my head. “No, but only because I was never married. Alex’s dad and I were engaged, but we didn’t actually make it down the aisle. He lives in New York. We haven’t been together in a long time.”

  “Well, why don’t I give you my number in case I can offer any help with finding good contractors?”

  “That would be great.” I dug my phone out of my pocket and handed it to Jeremy. As he typed, I said, “I might bug you for the name of a plumber, if you don’t mind. We had a few pipes burst the other day.”

  Jeremy looked up and smiled. “No problem at all. I’m happy to help. I’ll send you some later.”

  He had a really warm smile and was also pretty cute. I’m not sure I’d even noticed that when I’d spoken to him at registration.

  As he went to hand back my cell, Kat caught up to us. She noticed the phone passing, and her eyebrows rose with a smirk. “Hi, Coach. You look really good out there. I mean, the kids—the kids look really good out there.”

  “Thanks. They’re picking things up fast.”

  “Hey, Brick!” one of the other coaches called. “You got a minute?”

  “Sure.” Jeremy looked back at us and nodded. “Have a good night, ladies.”

  Kat wiggled her fingers. “We sure will.”

  “Bye.”

  When he was barely out of earshot, Kat was all over me. “You lucky bitch.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t play coy with me. I saw him give you his number.”

  “To give me a recommendation for a plumber for The Palm Inn. We need some new pipes.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  I laughed. “No, really. That’s all it was.”

  “Are you that oblivious? Coach wants to give you some pipe, alright.”

  Alex walked over with two ice creams. “I could get two with the money you gave me!”

  I ruffled my son’s hair. “Just because you can get two, doesn’t mean you needed to.”

  Alex shrugged. “You can have one, if you want.”

  “Hmmm. A SpongeBob popsicle with gumball eyes. Tempting, but I think I’ll pass.”

  “I gotta go.” Kat leaned in for a hu
g and whispered in my ear. “Hope his pipe is really long.”

  I laughed. “You’re nuts.”

  ***

  That night, Alex and I were getting ready to eat dinner when Levi walked in.

  He sniffed. “Did you fry chicken or something? It smells great in here.”

  I lifted the basket of golden brown chicken from the kitchen counter and tipped it so Levi could see inside before I set it in the middle of the table. “I did. It’s your grandmother’s recipe. I found a book of them when I was cleaning out room eight today. They’re all in her handwriting, too. Would you like to join us?”

  He licked his lips, staring at the chicken. “You sure you have enough?”

  “I learned from last time and made enough for a small army. Sit and eat.”

  He pulled out a chair before I’d finished my sentence. It made me happy that he seemed to enjoy a home-cooked meal. I’d always loved to cook, but the only man I’d ever done it for was Tanner. While he liked southern cooking, he was always concerned about eating healthy and gaining too much weight. Levi, on the other hand, seemed less worried about that. I set out mashed potatoes and green beans, and he filled his plate to the brim.

  “Do you always eat like that? Or is it just because it’s the off-season?”

  Levi’s brows drew together. “Eat like what?”

  “I don’t know. You seem to eat whatever you want.”

  He bit into a drumstick and shrugged. “Food is fuel. I’ll burn it.”

  I realized I’d forgotten to put out the butter for the mashed potatoes, so I grabbed it from the fridge. Walking back, I held up the stick. “You make it sound so easy. I might as well glue this thing to my hips, because that’s exactly where it will wind up.”

  Levi’s eyes dropped to my hips and flickered back up to meet my eyes. He didn’t say a word, but bit into his drumstick a bit more aggressively. Oh my.

  I cleared my throat as I sat and changed the topic. “I have someone coming tomorrow to give us an estimate on fixing the pipes upstairs.”

  Levi had capped them after the flood, but they needed a permanent repair before we could turn the water in that part of the house back on. Luckily, we didn’t need use of the second-floor bathrooms.

  “Oh yeah? Is it Morrow Plumbing? Pete Morrow’s father’s company?”

  “No, actually. It’s called Universal.”

  “Never heard of them. Are they local?”

  “I’m not sure. They were recommended to me, and I just called and made the appointment.”

  “I thought Coach was going to fix it,” my son chimed in. “Didn’t Travis’s mom say Coach Brick has a pipe he wants to give you?”

  My eyes flared wide. I’d been chewing a piece of chicken and started to cough.

  Levi’s eyes narrowed. He looked between Alex and me. “The coach wants to give you his…pipe?”

  I pointed to my throat as my face reddened. “Swallowed wrong.”

  Levi seemed to lose interest in his food as he waited for me to explain. I washed my chicken down with a glass of water, glad I at least had a reason for my red face.

  “I don’t think that’s quite what Travis’s mom said, Alex.”

  My son was oblivious to the innuendo. He shrugged and kept on eating.

  “Coach Brick is a general contractor,” I explained. “He offered to give me some referrals for the contractors we need.”

  Levi studied my face. “Uh-huh.”

  “He also gave me an air conditioning company to try. Did you see the estimate that the first company gave us?”

  “Yup. It’ll drain almost the entire operating account, and we won’t see a dime more if we wind up selling the place since the buyer plans to tear it down.”

  “We’re selling The Palm Inn?” Alex asked. “It’s going to get torn down?”

  I hadn’t explained that as a possibility. “We’re still trying to figure that out, honey.”

  Alex shoveled mashed potatoes into his mouth. “I like it here.”

  “Don’t talk with your mouth full of food. But I like it here, too.”

  Alex looked over at his uncle. “Do you not like it here, Uncle Levi?”

  “Of course I do. It’s just that…sometimes as adults we have to make decisions that aren’t always based on what we like.”

  “What are they made on then?”

  “Well, lots of things. Money and time, for example. A place like this takes a lot of both to keep running.”

  “So you don’t make a lot of money playing football?”

  I sat back and enjoyed my son’s impromptu inquisition.

  “I do, buddy. But—”

  Alex frowned. “Oh, I get it. You’re too busy. You’re going to go back to being a cruncle, aren’t you?”

  Levi looked to me for help. When all he got was a grin, he rolled his eyes.

  “How did we get from the pipes to me being a crappy uncle so fast?”

  I chuckled. “I’m not sure, but I’m glad we did.”

  Levi shook his head. “Why don’t we talk about neither? What plays do they have you running at football camp?”

  For the rest of dinner, the boys talked football. I was impressed at how much my son had learned already. He’d memorized most of the plays and was able to describe them to Levi using the right terminology. Just as we were finishing, one of Alex’s friends knocked at the door and asked him to ride bikes.

  “Can I, Mom?”

  I looked at the time on my phone. “For an hour. And no going off the block.”

  Just like earlier today, he bolted before I’d finished my sentence.

  Levi and I cleared the table. I set our plates in the sink and turned on the water to rinse them. “These are the little things I love about living here,” I said. “Never in a million years would I tell my son he could go outside and ride his bicycle unsupervised in New York City.”

  “Yeah, I get that.”

  As I loaded the dishwasher, Levi leaned against the counter next to it. He folded his arms across his chest and lifted an inquisitive brow. “So…the coach wants to give you his pipe?”

  I waved him off. “That’s just my friend Kat being cheeky. Jeremy was being polite and offered to help with referrals for The Palm. He’s a general contractor, so he has a lot of contacts. Kat is making it more than it is.”

  “You sure about that? Men don’t generally offer a woman help without wanting something in return.”

  “So you’re saying there’s no such thing as nice people anymore? Everyone just wants to get in each other’s pants?”

  “Not necessarily. It’s not always about getting into someone’s pants. But there’s usually something people want in return when they’re nice.”

  “Yes, they want kindness in return, Levi. When did you become such a cynic?”

  “I’m not a cynic. I’m a realist. Half the time, we don’t even recognize we’re doing it. It’s just human nature. If your rent is late, you’re a little nicer to your landlord because you’re going to need an extension. You have two weeks to return something and it’s been two and a half since you bought it? You walk into the store and smile at the lady behind the counter. You want in a woman’s pants, you offer to help her find the contractors she needs.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “Oh really? Well, you just helped me clean up after dinner. What exactly would you like from me?”

  Levi’s eyes flickered to my lips a moment. It was so fast that I almost thought I’d imagined it. But the heat between my legs told me I hadn’t. He looked away. “We’ll agree to disagree. But don’t say I didn’t warn you if the good coach wants more than to be helpful.”

  ***

  The following afternoon, I again sat with Kat on the bleachers, waiting for camp to end for the day. That woman had some sort of radar, because she didn’t seem to miss any hot-guy sightings.

  “Holy crap.” She lifted her chin toward the bottom of the bleachers. “I’m glad that guy wasn’t standing in front of me at the gym thi
s morning. I was doing thigh presses, and I might not have been able to open my legs to pee later.”

  A man stood at the railing watching the field. His back was to us, but the view was pretty damn great anyway. He had broad shoulders, tan skin, and the tapered V-shape of a swimmer. Not to mention, he wore a backwards baseball cap, which I’d always found sexy, for some reason. I was just about to comment that I might join a gym if that guy was a member, when the man turned around and faced the bleachers.

  Shit. I shut my eyes. Seriously? I did not need to see any more of Levi’s skin. As it was, I’d spent too much time daydreaming about piercing it with my fingernails. I was really glad I hadn’t commented to Kat now.

  But what was Levi doing here, anyway? And more than that, why didn’t he have a damn shirt on?

  Levi scanned the bleachers. Spotting me, he smiled and jogged up the stairs.

  Kat nudged me. “Oh my God, is that Tanner’s brother, Levi?”

  “It is.”

  “Christ on a cracker. Wow. He’s even more gorgeous in person than he looks on TV. You have to introduce me.”

  I inwardly rolled my eyes, but put on a southern smile as Levi approached.

  “Hey,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was passing by on my way back from the store, so I thought I’d stop and watch Alex play for a bit.”

  “Did you...lose your shirt at the store?”

  “No, wiseass.” He thumbed toward the other end of the bleachers. “There’s a kid down there in a wheelchair. He recognized me when I walked in and said he was a big fan. I had on a Broncos T-shirt, and he said he liked it. So I gave it to him.”

  “Oh…that must’ve been Cody Arquette’s older brother,” Kat said. “He’s got spina bifida, and he does love football. Comes to every game at the high school.” She held out her hand. “I’m Kat, by the way.”

  “Levi Miller. Nice to meet you.”

  “Does that always work, Levi?”

  “Does what work?”

  “You give away clothing when someone compliments you on it? Because if so…” Kat paused for a dramatic lash-batting. “I really like your shorts.”

  Levi laughed. “You ladies mind if I join you to watch for a while?”