by Jaci Burton
One of the things Zach was great at—and he was great at a lot of things—was reading signals. Josie’s signal was clanging loud and bright, and it was telling him to kiss her.
He was more than ready to kiss her. He leaned in.
She pulled her hand away and stood. “So, it’s getting late.”
He read that signal loud and clear, too. It was a big N-O. So maybe his signal reading was a bit off tonight.
Time for him to make an exit. He stood.
“Yeah, sure. Game day tomorrow, so I have some things I need to do to get ready for that.”
“I hope your game goes well,” she said as she walked him to the door.
He turned to face her. “You should come to a game. See how good the boys are.”
“You think that would affect how I grade them?”
He frowned. “No. I meant you should see how good Hope High’s football team is this year. I would never ask you to adjust your grade, Josie. And if you don’t know me well enough by now to know that—”
She laid her hand on his chest. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just a little sensitive about it. It’s just that—”
“It’s happened before?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“I would never ask you to do that. And when you grade Chase’s and Paul’s work that they did this week, I want you to know it’s their work. They were either on the field with me or in my office all week working on their papers. Papers that I read. And sometimes made them rewrite.”
“I look forward to seeing what they’ve done.”
He opened the door, regretting the way they were leaving things. “Good night, Josie.”
She leaned her head against the doorway. “Night, Zach.”
He walked out and got into his truck. She’d closed the door and turned out the light.
Shutting him out.
Damn.
He started his truck and backed out of the driveway.
Okay, maybe he’d missed that signal by a wide margin.
He might be a little off his game.
He blamed the cat.
Chapter 4
* * *
JOSIE FINISHED READING through Chase’s and Paul’s papers, then entered their grades into the system.
What they’d written wasn’t A-level work by any means. But their journals weren’t half-bad. And their analyses of the poetry had shown some actual thought.
Zach’s influence, no doubt.
At least the boys were caught up now. The work they’d done was decent, which meant they were now on the passing side of things in their overall grades. That should make Zach happy.
Not that she was at all concerned about Zach’s happiness.
Since she was finished for the day, she closed her laptop and grabbed a stack of papers to bring home and grade over the weekend. She slid it all into her bag and turned the lights off in her classroom, then made her way to the parking lot.
She heard the noise out on the field, just like she heard it every day. The yelling, the whistles, the sounds of grunts. Normally she ignored it, but she knew there was a home game later tonight. She placed her things in the backseat, closed and locked the door and shoved her keys in the pocket of her skirt, then walked toward the field, figuring she might as well get a glimpse of practice.
The bleachers were mostly empty except for a few adults sitting in the first row. She didn’t recognize them, so she made her way up to the third row behind them and took a seat.
She spotted Zach, who was currently in conversation with one of the players, Paul Fine.
Paul was nodding, and Zach appeared to be lecturing in a very loud voice.
“Isn’t he just so hot?” one of the women said.
Josie blinked. Considering the woman had to be about thirty, she certainly hoped she was referring to Zach and not Paul.
“I swear I would let that man do dirty, dirty things to me,” the other woman said.
“Not if I got him first.” This was said by the first woman, whom Josie decided to call Blond-Haired Woman.
“Not that it matters,” Auburn-Haired Woman said. “It’s like he doesn’t even know we’re alive.”
Blonde turned to Auburn. “Right? I mean, I was in the front row at open house, talking to him about Scott. He was polite and friendly and then, nothing. He has to know I’m divorced, right?”
Auburn nodded. “You would think a hot single guy like Zach Powers would know who every available woman is in this town. But have you ever seen him out with anyone?”
Petite Brunette, who’d been sitting silently to the right of the other two, finally spoke. “He hangs out in crowds, usually. I saw him one night last week when Tyrone and I were out to dinner at the pasta house.”
Blonde grabbed her wrist. “Tell me everything.”
Petite Brunette shrugged. “He was with some couples and some women. Drinking beers, laughing.”
Josie remembered that night. She’d been there, along with Jillian and several of their friends, both men and women.
“But were any of those women his date?” Auburn asked.
“No clue. Didn’t seem that way to me. It wasn’t like he was making eyes at any of them or touching them.”
“Okay, so just friends,” Blonde said. “That’s good news. That means he’s available, and I still have a shot.”
Josie rolled her eyes, determined to ignore the rest of their conversation. She’d mainly just wanted to watch the practice.
She actually liked football a lot, and she noticed Zach organized this practice well. Having experience as a pro football player seemed to have served him well as a coach. Hope High had an excellent quarterback this season, as well as a dynamite defense. From what she’d seen so far, Zach had made serious improvements to this team.
When Zach spotted her, he made his way up to the bleachers, much to the gasping and whispering of the three women below her, who all turned and gaped when Zach sat down next to her.
“Thought I saw you up here.”
“I was on my way out but thought I’d stop and see how practice was going.”
He made sure to keep his distance, then nodded at the three women who were unashamedly watching them. And when he continued to stare at them, they quickly turned back around to face the field. Only then did he turn his attention back to her.
“Sorry about that,” he said, giving a head tilt to the women.
Her lips curved. “Apparently you’re very popular.”
“Yeah. Whatever. So, are you coming to the game tonight?”
She hadn’t intended to. “Do you want me to?”
“Well … yeah. I’d really like you to come.”
She felt a ridiculous little thrill of excitement zing through her nerve endings at his words. “Then I’ll be here.”
“Good. I’ll see you after the game.”
His face lingered close to hers, not too close to be improper for school grounds, but close enough that she wanted to reach up and touch him. Her breathing quickened and his eyes darkened and, oh, this was so, so good.
But like last night, the timing just wasn’t right. He backed away. “See you tonight, Josie.”
“Sure, Zach.”
She watched as he walked away and down the steps. He made sure to wave to the ladies, who waved back.
When she turned her gaze toward the field again, she noticed three sets of eyes on her.
“Are you dating him?” Auburn asked.
Not that it was any of her business, especially since Josie was a teacher and Auburn was a parent. “Of course not. We’re both teachers here.”
“Oh,” Blonde said. “You’re my son’s English teacher, aren’t you? Ms. Barnes?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you looked familiar. So you and Mr. Powers aren’t … together?”
Josie resisted rolling her eyes again. “No. We’re teachers and friends.”
“I’ve seen you two together at the No Hope At All bar,” Petite Brunette said.
>
“Yes,” Josie said. “We often hang out there with a group of our friends.”
“But not alone together,” Blonde said.
And she’d had enough. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to leave. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
She walked down the steps and along the breezeway toward her car. When she got in and started it up, she exhaled.
Geez. Inquisition much, ladies?
Not that she could blame them, really. Zach was a good-looking single guy. Who wouldn’t want to go out with him? She did. She’d even had him at her house last night. And had been primed to kiss him.
He’d wanted to. She’d wanted him to. She’d wanted him to kiss her since the summer.
But then those same old fears and the ghost of relationship past had crept in, and she’d stopped him.
She was going to have to put that past to rest so she could have some fun. Because she really needed to have some fun. And who better to have that kind of fun with than Zach?
She started her car and drove off.
Chapter 5
* * *
IT WAS FOURTH down and a yard to go on the other team’s thirty-yard line. They were deep into the fourth quarter, and Zach knew his guys wanted to go for it. They were up by three points, and they needed this touchdown to seal the deal. But if they lost this opportunity to score, it might be their last chance in the game.
Was he a risk taker?
Hell yes, he was. He always had been. Plus, he needed his guys to know he believed in them. He held up the field goal team and signaled for the offense to stay on the field. He sent in the play, and his guys huddled up.
They got set, and he leaned forward to watch the snap. Robertson, the quarterback, lunged forward, his entire offensive line digging with him, including the backs, who pushed their quarterback over the line.
Zach nodded. Easy first down, and the crowd cheered with approval.
They weren’t playing a fluff team. It was a larger school, and a lot of the players were bigger than his guys. The score was close because his team had been going toe to toe on both sides of the ball. He was damn proud of them.
So, when Robertson pitched the ball to Adams, the running back, who ran it in for a touchdown, Zach didn’t give the boys a hard time for the end zone celebration. The ref’s whistle would pull them back in line.
The defense did their job in the last minute and kept the other team from getting anywhere near Hope High’s end zone. When the ref signaled for the end of the game, Zach nodded in satisfaction.
“That was a close one, Coach.” Gene, one of his assistant coaches, slapped him on the back.
“Yeah, but we came out on the winning end of it.”
“We sure did. The boosters will be happy about that.”
Yeah. While he appreciated the boosters, Zach’s focus was on his kids. Teaching them football. And winning. And that there was a life beyond football, something he wished he’d learned when he was still in high school.
They still had a lot more games to play, but Zach felt confident about his Eagles. He was determined to take them to the state championships this year.
There were always parents of the kids—and several prominent boosters—lined up on the sidelines after the game. There were the inevitable questions from parents who were pissed off their kid didn’t get enough or any playing time, or the ones who wanted his opinion on how their son played. Then the boosters had comments or questions or an invite to an event.
He ignored them, instead heading to the locker room to talk to his kids.
The noise level in the locker room was painfully loud. His boys were hyped, and he couldn’t blame them. Beating a great team was always cause for celebration.
“All right, all right, let’s bring it down,” he said as he walked into the center of the locker room.
The chatter stopped, as it always did when he used the tone of voice that let them know he had something to say.
“Good game. You dug deep and held them when it counted, and you came up with scores when we needed it most. You worked as a team. That last drive, you stood on one another’s shoulders and pushed for that touchdown. And then defense held tough to get us the win. I’m proud of all of you. Now, go out and celebrate, but don’t do anything stupid, because there are a lot more games to play. And where do we want to go at the end of it?”
They all yelled, “State” as loud as they could.
“That’s right. Have a good weekend.”
While they cleaned up and got dressed, he went into his office and made some notes on the game. He wanted to make a few changes in some positions next week. While they had played well, they could do better, and switching some things around would make that happen. He’d discuss it with his assistant coaches on Monday before practice and get a feel for their thoughts on some of the switches he wanted to make.
He finished up his notes, put his paperwork in his bag, and picked up his phone to check messages. There were several. Some he filed away to deal with later, but there was one from Will Griffin.
Good game. We’re all headed to Emma and Luke McCormack’s house for pizza and beer. Come on over.
Since he was hungry, that sounded like a good idea. He checked the locker room first to make sure the kids had all cleared out.
They had, so he locked up and left.
Fortunately, Hope was a small town, and unless you lived on the outskirts, it didn’t take long to get anywhere. So within ten minutes he’d parked in front of Luke and Emma McCormack’s house.
He knocked on the door and heard Luke bellow, “It’s open,” so he walked in.
He was immediately greeted by Luke and Emma’s three dogs. Luke, a K9 cop, had a beautiful German shepherd named Boomer who greeted him with a fierce tail wag. Emma had a pit bull named Annie and a Labrador named Daisy, and both of them butted in for attention as well.
“Hi, you guys. Aren’t you just so cute?”
“Oh, sure, you’re all sweet with Emma and Luke’s dogs. But you barely tolerated Tumbles.”
Josie walked into the entry, holding a bottle of beer. She looked—amazing. He didn’t know how someone wearing low-slung jeans and a T-shirt and tennis shoes could look amazing, but she did. Maybe it was the long chain that disappeared into the scoop neck of her T-shirt, or the way the jeans hugged her curves, or maybe the fact that everything about her turned him on.
“That’s because none of these dogs tried to attack my ankles.”
She shrugged. “Minor details.”
The dogs scattered when Luke called them, so Zach walked with Josie into the kitchen.
“Everyone’s out back,” she said. “There’s beer in the cooler outside, and wine in the fridge. Good game tonight, by the way.”
“Thanks.”
He followed Josie through the door to the backyard. There was a good crowd of their friends out there.
“There’s the hero of the night,” Luke said. He got up and grabbed a beer from the cooler and handed it to Zach. “Great game.”
“It was an outstanding football game,” Emma said. “Mikey’s sorry he missed the game, but he wants you to know as soon as he’s old enough, he’s there. She was holding her baby, Michael, who was getting bigger every time Zach saw him.
“It was so awesome, Mr. Powers,” Jane and Will Griffin’s son, Ryan, said. “And that wide receiver you’ve got is fast.”
Zach pulled up a lawn chair next to where Ryan was sitting on the patio next to his sister. “He is fast. He caught a lot of passes tonight.”
“He’s Jimmy Fine’s son, isn’t he?” Luke asked.
“Yeah.”
“Huh,” Luke said. “Good wide receiver. I hope he does well.”
“What does that mean?” Emma asked. “You know Paul’s father?”
“Let’s just say I know of him.”
“Care to elaborate?” Zach asked.
Luke scanned his gaze over the kids, then looked back at Zach. “We’ll talk later.”
> Zach nodded.
If Luke knew of him, that meant Paul’s dad had had some run-ins with the local law enforcement. Zach would have to keep a close eye on Paul to make sure he stayed out of trouble, both academically and otherwise.
His gaze shifted to Josie, who also looked concerned after Luke’s comment.
Sports notwithstanding, home problems could affect a kid in a lot of ways.
Even though Hope High was a small school, Paul had a really good chance of getting a football scholarship to a decent, if smaller, college. But colleges weren’t going to take a chance on kids who had failing grades.
After they talked for a while, Luke got up and went into the garage, so Zach followed him.
“Oh, hey,” Luke said, reaching into the garage refrigerator. “Need to restock the coolers.”
“Hand something over to me, and I’ll help.”
Luke straightened. “I’ll bet you came in here to ask me about Jimmy Fine.”
“I did.”
“We arrested him twice for passing bad checks.”
Zach grimaced. “Well, shit.”
“Yeah. He can’t keep a job. Laurel’s got hers over at the market, plus, she’s working nights at the convenience store, but they’re having trouble making ends meet. I think Jimmy’s burning all their money on drugs, but we haven’t been able to bust him on a drug charge yet.”
Not the news Zach wanted to hear. “That’s gotta be hard on both the wife and the kid emotionally.”
Luke nodded. “We’ve got a line on a couple of local dealers, so it’s only a matter of time until we catch Jimmy.”
“Which would probably be the best thing that could happen for both Paul and his mom.”
“Yeah, it would be. But only if Laurel will see it as a wake-up call and kick Jimmy to the curb.”
“All right, thanks for the info, Luke.”
“You bet. Now, help me carry this beer into the backyard.”
Zach smiled. “You got it.”
* * *
ZACH WAS GOING to have to step up and work some extra time with Paul.
He thought about ways he could engage the kid. Chase had been a lot easier to deal with this week when he’d worked with both of them on catching up with their schoolwork. Of course, it helped that Chase’s parents had been on board and willing to step in and assist. It had been clear that Jimmy could have cared less other than making sure his kid stayed on the team. And Laurel had just looked nervous. During the game tonight, Zach could tell Paul’s head had been somewhere else, which was probably why he was struggling academically.