had run its course. Or there never really was a curse at all. Either way, for the first time in a long time, she dared to feel free. Dared to hope that maybe the nightmare she’d been living was over.
Adele moved into the baby’s room and pulled Zach’s hat from her head, setting it on the desk next to her laptop. She dared to hope that Joe wouldn’t turn into a jerk Saturday night when she went out with him.
She liked Joe okay, the little that she knew of him. He was kinda cute in a cowboy-redneck sort of way. The kind of cute you’d see in a John Deere ad. Along with his Southern accent, he seemed to have nice Southern manners, too.
That next Saturday night, over beef fajitas and a pitcher of margaritas at El Rancho Restaurant and Cantina, Adele discovered that Joe Brunner did have nice manners. He held the door for her and helped her on and off with her jacket. Mostly though, she learned that Joe loved three things. High-school ball. College ball. And pro ball.
“That game made history,” he said, referring to a game he’d played at Virginia Tech. He’d picked her up at eight, dressed like a lot of other guys from west Texas, in a beige Western shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons, new Wranglers, and a pair of Justin’s. A straw cowboy hat covered his brown hair. “You live in Boise right? They have a good program up there in the WAC.”
Despite his obsession with football, she also learned that he really was a nice guy, and she felt like a horrible woman because she kept comparing him to Zach. He wasn’t as tall or handsome, and when she looked at him, she didn’t go all weak like she seemed to do when Zach was around. Which should have been a point in Joe’s favor.
Several times during the course of dinner, Adele attempted to change the subject from football. Not only because she wasn’t a fan, but because the subject brought her thoughts back around to a certain retired quarterback. And when she thought of Zach, she thought of her shameful behavior in the girls’ bathroom. And when she thought of her shameful behavior, her stomach got tight, and her skin got all hot.
“Tell me what you do when you’re not coaching,” she’d asked Joe as she rolled up her first fajita.
“I own the Whistle Stop Mart.” His light green eyes looked into hers across the table, and he smiled. “It’s not very exciting, but I make good money selling gas and potato chips.”
When he smiled like that, she could almost forgive him for being such a ball fanatic. “Do you like it?”
“I do. It has its challenges. Not like coaching though. I love coaching.”
Clearly. “Who won the game last night?” she asked, giving in for the moment.
He paused in the act of eating and looked at her as if she had a single digit IQ. “Cougars. Didn’t you go?”
“I had to work.”
The topic changed to her writing for a few minutes, then Joe mentioned that he read books about sports, mostly football. Of course.
By the time Joe handed the waiter his credit card, Adele had caught a tequila buzz. Which helped dull the pain of so much football. “Didn’t you have a girlfriend you dated for quite a while in high school?” she asked, still making an effort.
“Yep. Randa Lynn Hardesty. She was a cheerleader.”
Figured. All ballplayers dated cheerleaders, didn’t they?
The waiter returned with the check, and Joe calculated the tip and signed the receipt. “And my first wife.”
“First wife?” Adele reached for her coat and slid from the booth. “How many have there been?”
“Just two.”
He stood and helped her as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. “And you’ve never been married, right?”
She shook her head and looked up at him. “Clearly, I’m a slacker.”
After dinner, Joe drove her home and held her hand as he walked her to the front door.
She wished she felt something. Even a little of what she’d felt when Zach put his hands on her would have been nice, but it just wasn’t there. “I had a great time tonight,” she said, and shoved her free hand into her coat pocket. “Thank you.”
“I had fun too. Maybe we can go out again.”
“Maybe, but with my sister being in the hospital, I’m really busy.” She remembered her date with Cletus, and she held her breath, waiting.
Joe smiled and squeezed her hand. “I understand. With coaching and everything, I’m really busy, too. I don’t have a lot of time to date. So, the next time I have a free night, I’ll give you a call. If you’re free, too, we can grab a bite again. No pressure.”
She felt such relief that she fought the urge to wrap her arms around him and give him a big hug. He hadn’t turned into a jerk like Cletus. Maybe the curse really was over. “I’d like that, Joe.”
“Good.” He dropped her hand and turned to go. At the bottom of the steps he stopped and looked up at her. A smile still curved his lips as he said, “I imagine that you have some good-lookin’ girlfriends.”
She thought of her friends in Boise. “Yes.”
“It’s not even ten. Why don’t you call ’em up, and we can all party at my house. I’m in the mood for a skin sandwich.” He rocked back on his heels, and said, “I’ll provide the meat.”
Chapter 9
Sunday afternoon football played out across Zach’s huge TV, but he paid zero attention as Denver hammered the 49ers.
“She’s pretty and interesting and I really liked her. I wanted to see her again,” Joe said from his side of Zach’s big leather sofa. “We kind of said that if we both weren’t busy we’d go out again, and then…And then I kinda told her to get some friends so we could have a threesome. I said, ‘I’ll provide the meat,’ and I don’t even know where that came from, Z. One second I was looking up at her, thinkin’ about how good she looked, and the next I was talkin’ about a skin sandwich.”
Joe looked so miserable, Zach figured it was best not to laugh at his friend. “Did you say ‘skin sandwich’?”
The defensive coach nodded and took a drink of his Lone Star. “I’m pretty sure.”
But there was only so much a man could hear before he burst out laughing. It bubbled up from his chest and shook his shoulders. He had to set down his Pearl to keep from spilling beer in his lap.
“It’s not funny.”
From where Zach sat, it was funny as all hell. And a load off, too. Joe hadn’t so much as kissed Adele, and he was fairly sure there wouldn’t be a second date between the two of them.
“I hadn’t even been thinking about a threesome, and then I just opened my mouth and started going on about it. It was like something took over, and I had no control.”
Unfortunately, Zach knew the feeling, and his laughter died. Where Adele was concerned, he obviously had no control either. Just thinking about his loss of control scared him. Anybody could have walked into that bathroom while he’d had Adele up against the wall, his hands on her bare breasts, his hard-on pressed into the hot crotch of her jeans.
Not only did his lack of control scare him, it shocked him to the core. In his life, he’d enjoyed some fairly wild stuff, but he’d never put himself or his reputation at risk. He’d always kept control. Always called the shots. Been very careful not to create a scandal, and he didn’t even like to think about what would have happened if the football coach had been discovered going at it in the bathroom by a couple of high-school girls.
“I’ve never had a threesome,” Joe grumbled as he took another drink of his beer. “You probably have.”
Zach shrugged. “They kind of lose their shine after a while.”
“I don’t think I can ever face her again.”
There was no way Zach could avoid Adele. It just wasn’t possible. Tiffany and Kendra were friends and on the same dance team. They were bound to run into each other again.
