“Dating him?”
“No.”
“Tempted?”
“No.”
“Because you’re dating someone amazing?”
“Not really.”
Barbara smiled. “So you’re either into girls or you’re lying.”
Nicole laughed. “How are those my only choices?”
“I don’t believe any woman can be around Hawk and not wonder what it would be like to have her way with him. He’s got that body of his. Plus, he’s actually nice. I know it seems unfair, but there we are. He’s single and he likes to play. Rumor has it he’s a real gentleman out in public and a wild animal in the bedroom. They say he can go for hours.”
Barbara fanned herself. “Not that I have any personal experience. He doesn’t get involved with married women and I wouldn’t cheat. At least I don’t think I would. No one’s ever asked.”
Nicole didn’t know what to say. This definitely fell in the category of too much information.
“He used to play professionally,” Barbara continued.
“I’d heard that.”
“It’s an amazing story. He got his high school girlfriend pregnant. Everyone said they wouldn’t make it, but they got married anyway. They lived on macaroni and cheese while he was in college on a scholarship. Had the baby, were blissfully happy. Then Hawk got drafted into the NFL and started making big money. Instead of living on a golf course somewhere, they bought an average house in a regular neighborhood here, in Seattle. Raised their daughter.”
This was the expanded version of what Raoul had told her, Nicole thought. Although she hadn’t known about a child. Hawk was a father? He seemed too flashy and sexually charged for that.
“Then Serena, that’s the wife, got cancer. It was maybe six or seven years ago. Hawk quit the NFL to stay home with her. She died and he became a single dad. He took the high school coaching job because he wanted to give back. He sure doesn’t need the money.”
Barbara pointed to the pretty blonde Raoul had introduced Nicole to earlier. “That’s his daughter.”
“Brittany?”
Barbara looked at her. “You know her?”
“We met earlier. She’s dating Raoul, my employee.”
“That’s her. She’s absolutely perfect. Good grades, head cheerleader, interested in saving the planet. Loves her dad. I console myself that even if I was single and Hawk was desperately in love with me, Brittany would be a challenge to any relationship. She’s a real daddy’s girl. But who can blame her?”
Nicole studied the teenager urging the crowd to cheer, then turned her attention to Hawk. He paced along the sidelines, a clipboard in his hands.
“So he’s not a jerk,” she murmured.
“Not even close. You still not interested?”
“He’s just someone I know,” she said. “Nothing more.”
Not that she wanted more. He was the kind of trouble she didn’t have time for.
She watched him point to a couple of kids and send them into the game. He was totally focused and intense, and he never once glanced in her direction, damn him.
NICOLE SPENT the rest of the game watching the plays and trying to figure out what was going on while listening to Barbara fill her in on everything from which teachers might have a drinking problem to which parents were divorcing. It was an information dump that made her head spin.
When the game ended, Pacific High School had beaten the other team 38 to 14. Even her untrained eye had told her that Raoul was an outstanding quarterback with an arm that never seemed to get tired.
She stood and thanked Barbara for sharing her section of bench, then rubbed her numb butt as she made her way to the railing. Raoul and Brittany stood close together, talking intently. The blonde reached up and touched his face. Then Raoul saw Nicole and hurried over to the railing.
“What did you think?” he asked.
“You’re great,” she said honestly. “I was incredibly impressed. Even knowing nothing about the game, I could tell you did really well. How far can you throw a football anyway?”
Raoul grinned. “We were awesome tonight. The whole team really pulled together. No one player can make or break a game.”
“I see you’re already training for your sports interviews,” she teased.
Hawk joined Raoul and gave him a high five. “Great job,” he said, then turned to Nicole. “Our boy’s going all the way.”
She ignored the implied connection. “I’m happy to hear it.”
“So how many can you take in your car?” Hawk asked.
“What?”
“Kids. How many can you take in your car?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.
“She drives a Lexus Hybrid,” Raoul said. “So four, but the three in the back can’t be huge. They won’t fit.”
Hawk nodded. “I’ll have them meet you in the parking lot.”
She made a T with her hands. “Who are they and why are they meeting me anywhere?”
“Pizza,” he said. “We get pizza after the game. The players, their girlfriends, a few kids from school. It’s a tradition. I like to keep them busy while the adrenaline is still pumping. Hanging out at a pizza place is safer than just cutting them loose where they could do something stupid and hurt themselves. Not all the kids drive, so we need rides.”
She was aware of Raoul standing right there. For some reason she wasn’t comfortable refusing in front of him. Maybe it was because she knew he didn’t have anyone on his side. But if she agreed, she knew she would feel as if she’d been manipulated into doing something she didn’t want to do. Worse, Hawk would probably assume she was only hanging out on the off chance she got to spend time with him.
Why did everything have to be a complication?
“I’ll be waiting in the parking lot,” she said, her teeth clenched.
“I’ll have the guys look for you. They know where we’re going. I’ll see you there.”
“Not if I can help it,” she muttered.
JOE’S HOUSE OF PIZZA was one of those great neighborhood places with plenty of tables, a jukebox and delicious smells of fresh garlic, peppers and tomato sauce.
Nicole hadn’t eaten dinner before the game but didn’t think she was starved until she walked into the building and took a breath. Suddenly she was weak with hunger and desperate for the recipe.
The four boys she’d brought with her drifted away as soon as they arrived. They’d been polite, but obviously terrified that she would want to join them for the evening. She’d thought about explaining that she wasn’t interested in interfering with their good time when she realized she didn’t really know anyone here. The only parent she knew was Barbara, who hadn’t come. The only other adult of her acquaintance was Hawk and she was confident he would be holding court with his players. Not that she wanted to sit with him.
It would probably be best if she just left, she told herself. Maybe she could order a pizza to go.
She was already in line at the counter, leaning on her cane, when something large and warm settled on the small of her back. She’d never felt the touch before, but she recognized it. Recognized it and melted from the inside out.
How was it possible for her body to react so strongly to one man? What combination of chemistry and cosmic humor made her want to turn around, pull Hawk close and demand that he prove all the things Barbara had said about him weren’t just cheap talk?
She carefully sidestepped his touch. Instead of taking the hint, he grabbed her hand.
Just like that. Palm against palm, fingers lacing. As if he owned her. As if they belonged together. Worse, he wasn’t even looking at her. He was talking to some father.
She wanted to pull her hand free and demand that he stop touching her. She wanted to tell him that they weren’t together, they would never be together, and ask him what the hell was he thinking. She wanted to see if
