“Who’s who?”
“The girl who made you stop acting like a man-whore,” she stated bluntly. Hillary Carson was never one to pull punches.
“Wow, Mom. Tell me how you really feel.”
He wasn’t really upset that his mom had just called him a man-whore. He was just deflecting. Mainly because he had no idea what was going on between him and Julianna. Tonight, he would show up with a pizza, and at this point, he would consider it a victory if she let him in the house.
“Hey.” She put up her hands. “I just call ’em how I see ’em. Are you seriously going to deny behaving like a man-whore?”
“I’ll do anything to get you to stop saying that word.” This was not a discussion he was ready to have, but thinking about his mom knowing how many women he’d been with was actually worse.
A satisfied smile pulled at his mom’s lips. “Fine. Tell me about her. I’m assuming that she has a child.”
He almost choked on spit at his mom’s observation. “Why do you assume that?”
“Cole.” She looked at him with a pitying expression. “Sweetie, I know you think that you are subtle, but you’re not. Once you set your mind to something, you get tunnel vision. Your eyes are on the prize. That’s all you see. Which is a big reason why you’ve been as successful as you have.”
He just stared at her, still not exactly following how that equated to her not only knowing about Julianna, but also knowing that she had a kid.
His mom shook her head in amusement. “For the last few weeks, every conversation we’ve had has been about what it was like being a single mom. How I felt. What I went through. I have to admit that, at first, I was flattered and thought you were just trying to understand all I’d been through, to get to know me better. Then I thought maybe you’d gotten someone pregnant and I was going to be a grandma. But, seeing you today, how happy you look, combined with the fact that I’ve been reading articles about your lack of a social life, I put the final two pieces together.”
Cole had to admit that that was pretty impressive detective work. He figured that, if his mom knew all that, he might as well fill in the details she hadn’t already worked out. Hell, she’d probably figure it out even if he didn’t.
After walking over to the kitchen table, Cole pulled out a wooden chair and sat down. “Her name is Julianna, she’s twenty-six, and she has a ten-year-old son named Anthony. I met them at the football clinic Alex is running. The kid’s amazing. He has more natural talent than I did at that age—that’s for sure. He’s funny and smart.” He smiled as he thought about how excited Anth had gotten when he’d shown up at his doorstep with his bag.
“And what about Julianna? What’s she like?”
Cole let out a breath and raked his hands over his face. How could he put into words what she was like and do her justice? Shaking his head, he knew his mom was not going to let this go, so he had to at least try.
“God, Mom. She’s… She’s perfect. She works full time as a medical assistant. Then, from home, she works part time as a medical transcriptionist; and when they need extra money, she picks up shifts as a server for a catering company.
“She lives for Anthony. He’s her whole life. And from what her neighbor said, she would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. She’s obsessed with lists and schedules, but when her son dares her to run through the sprinklers after his practice, even when she has to get home so she can go to a catering job, she puts down her laptop and does it.”
He smiled as he pictured her running on the grass with her son, getting soaked. “And she is so gorgeous. I could just look at her face…forever. Never get tired of it.” He didn’t really think his mom would want to know about her body or what he could do forever with it, so he just said, “She’s like that song. She’s an angel in a centerfold’s body.”
“She sounds amazing.” His mom nodded and took a sip of her tea. “And how does she feel about you?”
Leaning back in his chair, he let his head fall back. “Good question. I just told her last night that I was interested in her. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out what was going on with me, with us. I mean, she’s not exactly the kind of girl I usually hang out with.”
“Thank God for that,” his mother said under her breath.
“You know what I mean. She’s a package deal. It’s not just her—it’s Anthony too. I know better than to mess around with a situation like that. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get her out of my head. I can’t stop thinking about her.”
“Tunnel vision,” his mom repeated, knowingly.
“Yeah. Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s suffering from the same issue I am. When I told her that I wanted to get to know her better, she said that she wasn’t looking for or interested in a relationship.”
“Good.” His mom smiled.
“Good?” Cole asked.
“Yes. I like her even more now.”
“You like her even more because she turned down your son?”
His mom had always been his number-one fan; it was strange to hear her take someone else’s side.
“I like her because she’s putting herself and her son first. Not letting herself be swept away by you and your charms, which I’m sure was not an easy task for her. From what it sounds like, she has her priorities and her head on straight.”
“So, you’re saying that I have no shot?” This conversation was quickly going from bad to worse.
“No. I’m not saying that.” His mom paused then set her hands on the table. “Being a single mom, one who really cares about doing the best job she can, is like juggling all these balls in the air. And if one of them drops, everything falls apart, and you are the only one there to pick up the pieces and try to get them all in the air again.”
“Okay.” Cole had no idea where this was going, but he really did want to understand what his mom was telling him. If she could give him some kind of a window into Julianna’s world, he was all ears.
“Letting anyone else into your world is scary because you know that you can keep the balls you have in the air, but if someone adds balls or drops yours, then you’re screwed.”
“So, you’re saying she doesn’t want to date me because of my balls,” Cole said in a serious tone, but he couldn’t help the smile that crept up on his face.
His mom crumbled up her napkin and threw it at him.
As he raised his hand to block the shot, he laughed. “Hey. You said it, not me.”
She let out an irritated huff, but she was grinning. “I’m saying that she just needs to know that, if everything falls down, you’ll be there to help her pick up the pieces.”
Cole nodded, knowing what his mom was trying to get at even if her analogy had included a lot of balls.
“So, eye-on-the-prize man, do you have a plan?”
“She kind of agreed to be friends, so I’m bringing a pizza over tonight and told her to pick out a movie with Anthony.”
“Friends is a good place to start,” his mom said with a secretive smile on her face, looking as if she knew something he didn’t.
Friends might be a good place to start, but that’s not where he planned on finishing.
Chapter Six
Julianna checked her phone for the twentieth time during the ten-minute drive home from work. Mostly, she’d been obsessively checking because she was waiting for a text from Anthony. She’d dropped him off this morning for camp and he’d promised to call her or text her every morning and night.
She also kept checking because Cole had texted her today and asked if he could take her out to dinner, which she’d immediately declined. Her reason? Monday was cleaning night. Was it a stupid reason? Yes. Was she hiding behind her rigid schedule to avoid being alone with Cole? Yes. Did she wish she’d agreed instead? Yes!
All day, she’d only been able to think about the what-ifs. What if she were meeting Cole for dinner tonight? What if she gave in to the overwhelming, electric chemistr
y they had between them? What if she forgot all about rules and responsibilities for one night and just felt?
Cole’s only response to her refusal had been, “Okay,” with a smiley face, and then it had been radio silence. She was pretty sure she’d blown her chances to find out the answers to her what-ifs. And maybe it was for the best. She was feeling at loose ends, and also a little anxious, because this was the first time Anthony had been gone for more than just overnight at his friend’s house, but it did not mean that she needed to act like it was spring break and go crazy.
Not that dinner with Cole was equivalent to spring break. Although she was pretty sure that, if she did spend any time alone with that man, flashing would be the least of her transgressions.
Pulling into her driveway, she sighed as she realized that she would be spending the night all alone. Robbie had Monday nights off, so he and Megan would be having family time. Anthony was at camp, and she’d turned down Cole’s invitation for dinner. Once she’d shut off the engine, she hesitated before heading inside because she knew how lonely it would feel.
For the last two weeks, Cole had been spending a lot of time over at the condo. In fact, he’d spent eight evenings and one entire Sunday there. And, he’d been a complete gentleman. He’d stayed firmly in the friend zone. And it had driven her absolutely crazy.
Other than when he’d told her how beautiful she looked—in creative and sometimes funny ways—every time they saw each other, there had been no flirting, no innuendos, no longing looks. Cole treated her like a friend.
Which was what she’d said she wanted. She also wanted to strip him naked and show him exactly how un-friendly he made her feel. He was just so toe-curling, drool-inducing, panty-melting sexy. And now that she’d gotten to know him better, his Adonis-like body and pretty-boy face covered in bad boy scruff were the least sexy parts about him.
Cole was funny, easygoing, and caring. Not to mention there was this air about him of complete and total command and competency, for lack of a better term. He was just so capable. After the time she’d spent with him, she truly believed there was no situation Cole couldn’t handle. Which had sent her sexy meter spiking into the red.
Last week, when Megan had asked him to hold the baby while she ate, he hadn’t even blinked. And when Chloe had filled her diaper and Megan had tried to take her back, he’d told her to keep eating, grabbed the diaper bag, and asked for a crash course in Diaper Changing 101. When his car had gotten towed because he’d parked in a permit-only spot, he’d laughed and called a cab. Anthony had asked if he was mad, and he’d said that he wasn’t; but, if he had been, it would have to be at himself because he’d been the one who’d parked where he shouldn’t have.
That little exchange had nearly brought tears to Julianna’s eyes. Whether Cole knew it or not, he’d just taught her son a lesson in taking responsibility for his own actions by living it. And that was the kind of parenting she’d always believed made the most impact.
Each minute she spent with Cole was making it harder and harder for her to remember who he was. That he was the star quarterback of the Miami Thunder. That he had more pictures on the Internet with random women than there were stars in the sky. Luckily, with just a few keystrokes, she could remind herself of those things.
Her phone beeped on the seat beside her and she jumped. Looking over, she saw that it was a text from Anthony saying that they’d just finished dinner and, now it was lights out. She quickly replied to his text and let him know that she loved and missed him. He sent another back.
Anthony: You too.
After seeing that text, she got out of the car and decided that, now that she’d heard from Anth, she wasn’t going to obsess over checking her texts every two seconds. As she opened the back door that led into the kitchen, she pulled up her list on her phone, which included bathrooms, vacuuming, and dusting.
Okay. So she would eat dinner, complete the items on her list, take a bath, drink a glass of wine, and maybe watch some Friends reruns. It wasn’t sexy, but it was safe.
She set her purse on the kitchen table, and just as she opened the freezer to see if there were any Hot Pockets, there was a knock at the door. She figured that it was Megan coming over to say that Robbie had gotten called in to work. Maybe she’ll want to order Chinese, Julianna hoped, since that sounded a ton better than a frozen pizza pocket.
Opening the door, she asked, “How does Chinese sou—”
She stopped. It wasn’t her curly blonde haired neighbor standing on her porch. Nope, it was her wildest, hottest fantasy in the flesh.
Cole stood in front of her in a pair of jeans that were worn in all the right places and a green shirt that made his eyes look even more vibrant, holding grocery bags that were putting his muscular arms on full display.
“I was thinking Italian, but we can order Chinese if you want.”
“What are you…? I didn’t know you were… I mean, I said…” Annnnnd just like that, her ability to speak flew right out the window.
A smile that sent tingles exploding through her body—like a can of soda when you shook it and popped the top—tilted on Cole’s perfect, full lips. “I’m here to cook you dinner. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to say no. And you did say that you were busy cleaning tonight which is why I brought them,” Cole said, with a quick nod toward the street as he turned to the side. There on her porch stood four women each wearing a Super Maids shirt.
What the…? This was too much. She didn’t want strangers cleaning her house. She began shaking her head, but he stopped her.
“And before you say no, I hired not one, but two, two-person teams so that one team could work next door. I also brought takeout for Megan and Robbie.” He smiled broadly as he raised a bag from Sergio’s Steakhouse, which Julianna had overheard Megan tell Cole was her and Robbie’s favorite restaurant.
“You don’t play fair.” Her stomach was doing somersaults at the thought of spending the evening with Cole. His inclusion of Megan and Robbie made it impossible to turn him away—not that she wanted to, and he knew it.
“I play to win.” The intensity in his emerald-green eyes shot straight to her sex as it pulsed heavily between her legs.
“What’s all this?” Megan opened her front door, her blue eyes shining with excitement.
“I brought you and your family dinner and also hired a service to help with anything that you need around the house,” Cole explained, as he handed her the bags.
“Oh my God!” Megan’s eyes grew wide as she took the takeout bag from Cole. “If she doesn’t marry you, Cameron will be legal in twelve years.”
Cole laughed and Julianna rolled her eyes as Megan thanked him profusely and started rattling things off to the cleaning team. Stepping to the side as her own cleaning team came through the doorway, Julianna tried to focus as she met and talked to the women who had been hired to clean her house. It was difficult, though, because she felt like she was having an out-of-body experience, like she was watching the entire thing from outside of herself.
Even though she knew she wasn’t dreaming, she pinched herself for good measure. Things like this didn’t happen to her. She wasn’t Cinderella. Or Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Or Jennifer Lopez in Maid in Manhattan. This was real life. And in real life, sexy professional athletes didn’t show up at your front door with a cleaning service and food for not just you, but your neighbors too.
When she switched her attention from the women who were asking her questions about what cleaning supplies she’d prefer them to use, to Cole, she saw the cotton material of his shirt pulling against his muscular back. He was standing at the stove. Cooking.
Or maybe they did…
* * *
“I got it.” Cole covered Julianna’s hand as she tried to reach for his plate.
“No. You cooked, I clean. That’s the rule in this house.” She looked at him with the most adorable stubborn expression that it was hard to take her seriously.
“I think
maybe some of your rules need to be broken.” He rubbed his thumb over the soft skin on the inside of her wrist. As badly as he wanted to pull her across the table and onto his lap and break every rule she had, he knew she wasn’t ready for that yet.
Tonight, he’d finally gotten her to relax, but it had been an uphill battle from the start. She’d tried to help the ladies who were cleaning—until they’d politely asked her to let them do their jobs. Then she’d insisted on chopping the vegetables for dinner, so Cole had physically picked her up, set her in the kitchen chair, and told her to stay. He’d also opened a bottle of wine and made sure to refill her glass when it had gotten low.
It wasn’t until after the Super Maids had left and they’d been halfway through dinner that she’d finally loosened up. They’d had an amazing meal even though he’d burnt the garlic bread and the noodles were overcooked. But she didn’t seem to mind. She had, however, moved all of her food into sections so that none of it touched each other, which for some reason, Cole had thought was more adorable than a Golden Retriever puppy.
Cole’s hand remained on Julianna’s, neither of them moving. He felt a slight tremble beneath his touch, and her eyelids grew heavy. The candle he’d brought—because he’d thought it would be a nice touch—was flickering and the light danced over her caramel-colored skin, making him want to kiss and lick every inch of her body. Okay, he would have wanted to do that even without the candlelight, but it was definitely adding to the crackling sexual tension between them.
He stood abruptly, before he went too far, too fast. He wasn’t kidding when he’d said that he played to win. He did—especially when his future and his happiness were on the line—which they were. In the short time he’d gotten to know Julianna, not only had she made her way into his heart and soul, she’d inserted herself into his future. Cole couldn’t imagine his life without her in it. He wasn’t about to jeopardize that because he was hornier than a desperate housewife watching Magic Mike.
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