“No, not for a long time. You know that.”
“Do I?” Her smile told him she did. “Then what troubles could a man like you who has the world at his feet have?”
“A woman. A woman who is everything I don’t want in a woman, yet I can’t get her out of my mind. I’ve lived my life as well as I can. I’m not prone to meaningless relationships in exchange for physical favors.”
“Sex.” His nana laughed. “Call it as it is, Hunter. I haven’t lived this long not to know what sex is. I may not remember it well, but I do know what it is.”
Hunter chuckled. “Nana, I can always depend on you to cut through the bullshit.”
“Tell me about this woman.” Nana put down her needlework, clasped her bony hands in her lap, and sat back. Her bright eyes studied him intently.
“I don’t understand why this particular woman has such a hold on me.”
“Tell me more.” He could tell by his nana’s shrewd expression she had him figured out already. He wished he had himself figured out.
“She was born in a wealthy white family from back East. She lives in a beach house in Malibu and has more money than we’ll ever see. She doesn’t work for a living. She spends her life riding show horses and managing a racehorse farm. In fact, we’re competitors. She has a racehorse in contention for the Derby. Just like I do.”
“And that bothers you?”
“Hell, yeah, that bothers me. Shouldn’t it?”
“You tell me, Hunter.”
Hunter hated it when she looked at him like that, as if he should know the answers when he didn’t have a clue what the questions were. In fact, her expression reminded him of Lilli, who often looked at him in the same manner. Maybe it was a gender thing and he wasn’t supposed to understand.
Regardless, Hunter needed his Nana’s wisdom because he wasn’t able to work this out himself.
“We’re attracted to each other, yet we’re competitors, and I’m not sure I can trust her. We even have the same damn horse trainer.”
“I see, but none of this is the real issue, is it?” She reached over and patted his hand. Her hands were cold and dry. He smiled at her.
“No, it’s not. The real issue is that she’s taken residence in my mind and won’t leave.”
“You fear the power she has over you.”
Leave it to Nana to hit the nail on the head. “Maybe.” Hunter wasn’t ready to explain just yet. Not that it mattered, because his nana would figure it out anyway. “But she can’t be the one. She’s completely wrong for me and what I want out of my life. She’s not the woman I would want for the mother of my children. I can’t see her living here, far away from shopping and her rich friends.”
“Hunter, why is it so important for you to see her in that light? Perhaps she’s just someone who was meant to come in and out of your life for a short amount of time and teach you a lesson you need to learn. Not everyone is meant to be in our lives for all time.”
“Are you saying she’s probably just a temporary part of my life?” The thought depressed him, and he wasn’t sure why.
“Actually, I’m saying that you need to decide where she fits, if she fits, and how she fits. It seems to me that you haven’t given her a chance beyond the physical, yet by our conversation and the things you aren’t telling me more than the things you are, I think you want more out of this than you’re admitting to yourself.”
Hunter rubbed his chin and considered Nana’s words. “But what about Talia?”
“What about her?”
“I always felt she was the one for me.”
“I never did.” Nana spoke so quietly, Hunter almost didn’t hear her.
He sat back hard in his chair as if she had slapped him. “I never knew that. I thought you liked her. I thought you felt we were destined.”
“No, what you thought is what you wanted to think. I never said those words. I let you do what you need to do so that you learn what you need to learn, and you live the life you choose to live. Your life is not mine, whether or not I agree with your choices.”
Hunter shook his head, reeling from the truth he’d just been told. He’d always thought that Nana agreed with his belief that Talia had been the one. To find out differently was almost as shocking as it would have been to find out that his parents weren’t his parents. Talia’s acceptance by his family was a basic belief he’d held for years, and now he found out he’d been wrong.
“What should I do about Kate?”
“What do you want to do about Kate?”
“I wish I knew.”
“There’s your answer.”
Hunter scratched his head and squinted at her, wondering if Nana was finally getting a little senile, because she wasn’t making a damn bit of sense. “I don’t see an answer anywhere.”
“You’re not looking hard enough, my dear grandson. You’ve always known the answers. Just as you’ve always known that Talia was not the one. If she had been the one, I know you, and you would have given up your football career and followed her to the ends of the earth. She would’ve never asked you to do that. She couldn’t put her career on hold while you played football, all the while knowing a football career is relatively short compared to a person’s life-span.”
“Especially if the life-span we’re talking about is yours.”
That brought a chuckle out of Nana just as he thought it would. “You watch that smart mouth, boy, or I’ll wash it out with soap.”
“I love you, Nana. I just wish you weren’t so infuriatingly mysterious when giving advice.”
“You want me to give you the answer, and I believe you need to find that out for yourself. I can tell you what to do, but then you’ll forever wonder if I was right rather than following your heart and discovering where it leads you. Your heart didn’t lead you to quit football and follow Talia to what she considered her higher calling, did it?”
“She said I was selfish.”
“Were you behaving selfishly, Hunter, in your own mind? Or were you following your heart toward your destiny? Every path we take leads us closer to the place we’re supposed to be if we only listen to the thing inside us that makes us who we are.”
Hunter nodded. Pretty certain he wasn’t getting any more information out of Nana than he’d already gotten.
He left her home that morning with more questions than he’d arrived with, feeling more confused than he felt a day ago, and uncertain which direction he should take.
As soon as he returned to Seattle, the team would play one more game, and their season would be over. They had no chance of making the playoffs. Hunter had already rented a nice little house in California in an older but well-maintained neighborhood, with a swimming pool and even a guesthouse. As soon as the season ended, he’d be heading for warmer weather with his sister, and he’d also be less than an hour in traffic from Kate.
Should he put his trust in fate and see where things went, or should he continue to follow his own possibly misguided beliefs and deny that inexplicable thing pulling them together? Life was simple, and life wasn’t always easy, but life was certainly unpredictably exciting.
Kate made it more exciting than it had been in a long time. Perhaps that very excitement held the answer to at least one of his questions.
* * * *
The season ended with a loss. Usually the end of the football season signaled the beginning of off-season partying for Cameron. Every year, he’d leave gloomy Seattle for sunshine, sand, and bikinis. Sometimes Hawaii, Florida, California, the Bahamas. Where his heart desired.
Only this year, his heart wasn’t desiring sun. At least not the one in the sky. He had other desires, and he couldn’t quite come to terms with what those desires meant to a guy like him who’d avoided messy entanglements.
He should get out of town and away from Lilli. She was too intoxicating, and he couldn’t get enough of her. Thoughts of her permeated his every waking moment.
He should’ve thought about all this when he’d st
arted those dance lessons. Deep down, he’d known where they’d lead, and he’d gladly ventured down that forbidden path. How much further did he want to go?
He picked Lilli up for their next dance lesson and off they went. She fidgeted in the seat next to him, unusually restless.
“Sorry your season ended so—” She seemed at a loss for words.
“With a whimper, not a bang. Yeah, it sucks.”
“What will you do during the off-season?” Her question was innocent enough, yet he knew there was more to it.
“I haven’t made plans yet.”
“Hunter and I are going to California for spring horse racing. We won’t be back here until after the Derby.”
“Oh.” He caught himself stuttering as he fought a sinking feeling in his stomach.
“So this will be our last dance class together. For now, at least.”
“I guess we’d better make the most of it.” He pulled into an empty spot in front of the studio and put the car in Park. Lilli sat next to him, her hands in her lap and her face turned to the window.
“Lilli.”
She didn’t move. Cameron got out and opened the door for her. He took her hand and led her inside where they danced up a storm for a couple hours, said good-bye to the new friends they’d made, and once again settled back in the very same car.
“We can always go back next fall.” Cameron had to fill the silence in the car.
Lilli faced straight ahead and shrugged. “If you want. I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
“Inconvenience me?” Cameron laughed. These moments with her were the highlights of his week. If only he knew how she felt. She played everything so close to her chest and never really let him see what he meant to her. He probably did the same thing.
“Are you in a hurry to get home?”
She shook her head.
“Good, let’s take a drive.”
“Sounds good.” She smiled with a sweetness that surrounded his heart with joy.
He drove to a small park in Renton on Lake Washington and helped her out of the car. She took his hand.
“Where are we?”
“Coulon Memorial Beach Park,” he said, reading from the sign near where he’d parked.
“I’ve never been here before. What does it look like?”
“Lots of big, leafy trees, green grass, Lake Washington in the distance.”
They strolled along, unmindful of the chilly breeze blowing in from the lake. He laughed as a squirrel gave them hell for getting too close to his treasure trove.
“What is that?” she asked.
“A squirrel. He’s skimming across the ground and then scrambling up the side of this tree. Now he’s stopped several feet up and letting us have it. I guess we’re invading his territory.”
“Shouldn’t he be in bed by now?”
“I have no clue when a squirrel’s bedtime is. Do you?”
“No, I don’t. Maybe he’s heading home now after working the night shift.”
Cameron stopped and stared at the whitecaps on the water. Waves slid up the beach and retracted. Lilli shivered, and he pulled her closer to the warmth of his body.
She tilted her head upward, and he studied her beautiful face. So perfect. So incredibly kind. So much his.
He wanted her to be his. God, how he wanted it.
Before he could second-guess himself, he lowered his head, held her cheeks in his palms, and pressed his lips to hers. Just a brush, a taste of her sweet honey. Nothing more.
Or it wasn’t supposed to be. But it was. She kissed him back, her arms around his neck, her fingers threaded through his hair. She opened to him, and he accepted her invitation. She tasted of mint and sweetness and liquid passion bottled into one irresistible, heady fragrance. Her soft body molded to his, and their kisses turned passionate. He devoured her, exploring her mouth with his tongue. She ran her fingers over his face as if memorizing every feature.
The laughter of teenagers approaching them caused Lilli to draw back. Cameron sighed but held her close to him.
“We should go,” she said reluctantly. Her face was flushed, and her lips were wet and swollen from his kisses.
“I suppose.”
“I don’t regret what we did, and I hope you don’t.”
“I don’t.”
“Even if Hunter will have your hide?”
“Yeah, even so.” He took her hand, and they strolled back to the car. “Maybe I could visit you in California?”
“Maybe you could.”
Cameron settled her in the passenger seat and hopped into the driver’s side, feeling better than ever. This wasn’t over. He’d give her a little space and then—
He wasn’t sure what. He only knew he couldn’t let Lilli go.
Chapter 13—Muddy Track
Kate hadn’t seen or heard from Hunter in several weeks. She’d left without a word and had no reason to expect she’d hear from him. Still, the silence bothered her. It shouldn’t. But it did. She missed him and she really didn’t know why, but her life seemed a little emptier without him and his body in it. Though she didn’t exactly miss him watching her with that assessing gaze, which appeared to find her lacking, and forcing her to push herself to measure up to whatever high standards he’d set for the people around him.
She’d never been much for society parties, even though she liked her clothes. Lately, she’d shopped at less trendy, more out-of-the-way boutiques for bargains. She’d volunteered to help with a charity that raised money for a California Thoroughbred rescue, something she’d never thought much about before. Many racehorses ended up in pet food cans once their useful lives were over. The geldings had no value as breeding stock and were often unusable as riding horses. Even if they were sound, the retraining of a racehorse into a pleasure horse took more time than it was monetarily worth, unless the person considered it a labor of love.
As she walked onto the backstretch of Santa Anita on the third Friday in January, she heard a few of the female grooms tittering and giggling like schoolgirls.
“Oh my God,” the cute blonde named Traci said. “Did you see those muscles?”
“How could I not? He should be doing underwear ads,” said the tall redhead named Violet. They both shut up when Kate approached.
“Don’t stop on my account,” Kate told them as she leaned over the half door to inspect the cleanliness of Jet’s stall.
The two girls glanced nervously at each other.
“I just cleaned it about an hour ago,” Violet said, wringing her hands together. “But Jet’s a slob. I’ll pick it out as soon as they take him out for his gallop.”
“I’ll help her. It’ll be spotless.”
Both women stared at her, wide-eyed and frightened, as if she were an ogre ready to administer severe discipline to them. Their fear took Kate aback. Was she really that difficult to the staff?
“It’s fine. It looks great.”
Both girls nodded and skittered away as if they couldn’t get out of her grasp quickly enough.
Mitch laughed, and she turned to him.
“Am I really that awful? They’re scared to death of me.”
“You are hard on my staff.” He shook his head, still smiling. “I tell them your bite is even worse than your bark. You’ve been a trial to deal with, but I’m used to that.”
“I’m not the only owner you have who’s difficult.”
“Except for Hunter, you’re all difficult in your own way.”
“What makes Hunter different?”
“The horse comes first to Hunter.”
“Horses always come first to me.” The defensiveness in her tone drew a wry look from him. “They do.”
“Kate, I believe you believe that.”
“But you don’t?”
He shook his head. “You want to win at all costs right now. The farm and your pride come ahead of the horse.”
She sat down hard on a bale of hay, a little shocked by his boldly honest statement. Befor
e she could reply, a long shadow caused her to glance upward, way up.
Hunter?
Hunter was the man the girls had been tittering about?
She blinked several times only to find him still standing there. She should’ve known he’d be where Sid was once his football season ended.
Hunter wore faded blue jeans and a short-sleeved black T-shirt that hugged those lickable muscles and made her lady parts squeeze in giddy celebration of his presence. As usual, his dark eyes gave very little away. He could’ve been thrilled to see her, indifferent, or annoyed. She could take her pick, and she picked annoyed. She did have a special knack for getting under that man’s skin.
If he’d heard their discussion, he gave no indication. He nodded curtly at her and turned to their mutual horse trainer. “Mitch, I’m looking forward to seeing Sid this a.m.”
“Sid and Jet are both due for fast gallops this morning. Why don’t we head on down to the track.” He smiled at both clients, but not before he cast a knowing glance at Kate. Was her infatuation with this man—actually, not the man, but the body—that obvious?
She reached up to wipe drool from her face, relieved to not find any.
Hunter bowed his head and stood back. “After you.”
“Thank you,” she answered stiffly, wondering if their last night together was going to be their last night together.
Hell, she hoped not.
But then again, she hoped so.
She didn’t know what she wanted from him beyond what her body wanted. Her body’s wishes were damned obvious. Her heart’s were a lot more complicated.
* * * *
Hunter followed Kate and Mitch to the track. His gaze was glued on Kate’s shapely ass the entire time. She wore a pair of yellow shorts, not too short, and a loose top that left plenty to his vivid imagination. Despite her conservative clothing, his filthy mind was as excited as if she’d been naked, maybe more so.
He hurried to catch up with them so he wouldn’t be ogling her ass any longer. Up ahead, their two horses pranced side by side, eager to get to the track. Today they’d do a little racing against each other. Sid hated dirt flying in his face while Jet had a tendency to get lazy if he was ahead. Mitch’s plan was for the rider to guide Sid behind Jet where he’d have to tolerate plenty of dirt clods. Then he’d move Sid up so Jet could see him and push Jet into a faster pace. Everything would be controlled and neither three-year-old would be allowed to run at full speed.
Game Changer: Seattle Steelheads Football (Game On in Seattle Book 7) Page 12