Page 66 of Ruff and Tumble

Cole didn’t want off. He wanted to be on and under and below. He wanted to bein.

“Is that favor opening up the bedroom door and letting Philip in?” Hailey asked without opening her eyes. She arched her back into his touch, the jut of her breasts so enticing that his exhausted cock gave a twitch. “Because if so, then it’s definitely too soon. I love puppies, Cole, I really do, but this is one place I refuse to let them in. I don’t care how many sad eyes you give me.”

Cole sighed, but only becausehiseyes weren’t the ones that had looked so sad. From the way Philip had watched the pair of them shut the bedroom door, clutching his battered football as they left him not-alone with Bess and Rufus and five other adoring playmates, you’d have thought they were locking him up and swallowing the key.

“There are some places a cold, wet nose should never go,” Hailey said. She smiled and added, “You were just in most of them.”

“I still think you were unnecessarily cruel to shut the door on the poor guy, but no, that’s not the favor.” Cole shifted so he was propped up on Hailey’s padded gray headboard. Of all the rooms in her house, this one felt the most like her. There was no sports memorabilia and no puppy gear, but the two of them lay sprawled on a large bed piled high with plush blankets. Oversized abstract paintings and more pillows than any human being needed added to the appeal, as did the bright-yellow vase full of daisies.

It was comfortable. Cozy. The sort of place you could stay for hours.

The sort of place theyhadstayed for hours. Cole was already late for the team shuttle to the airport. He’d have to hightail it directly there or miss the charter plane to Los Angeles.

“Would you be willing to watch the game with my parents this weekend?” he asked. His hand dropped from her breast to the soft undulation of her stomach, his fingers now circling her belly button instead of her nipple. “My dad’s home and doing well so far, but I’m worried about how he’s going to handle it. This is the closest the Lumberjacks have come in a long time, and if anything should happen—”

Hailey stilled the movements of his finger by placing her hand flat on top of his. They’d enjoyed this once already, with her hand guiding his between her legs, and the results had been enough to send him off in a spiral of lust and longing that hadn’t been sated until he was deep inside her. This time, however, there was nothing playful about her touch.

“Nothing is going to happen,” she said, her words heavy with emphasis. “You’re going to play football the same as you always do.”

“Yes, but—”

“You might win,” she continued. “Or you might lose. Either way, it’s still just a game.”

“I know, but—”

“Cole.” She struggled to a sitting position, her hair breaking around her shoulders as she looked down at him. He wanted to reach up and play with the tumbling locks, to trace the pattern of freckles he was coming to know so well, but that would be more of the same. Her breasts, her belly, the silken strands of her soft brown hair—they were distractions. They werepleasantdistractions, and he’d have appreciated more time to indulge in each one, but Hailey would never let him get away with it.Hemight be willing to cast his career and all its obligations to the wind for a chance to be near her, but she was a lot less needy than him.

It was a lowering reflection, but what could he do? He needed. He wanted. He yearned.

Fuck.He couldn’t remember the last time he’d yearned for anything as much as he yearned for this woman.

“You know it’s not going to be the end of the world if you guys don’t make it, right?” She sounded an awful lot like a teacher talking to a particularly obtuse student. He knew, because he’dbeena particularly obtuse student. “It’ll be disappointing, obviously, but nothing will have changed. You’ll still be you. I’ll still be me. And your father will handle the disappointment and move on with his life.”

Cole had to bite back a snort at that last bit. He and Hailey might not undergo an irrevocable change if the Lumberjacks lost, but he’d never hear the end of it from his dad.Ifhis dad survived long enough to deliver his lecture, that was.

“You can take your beagle over when you go,” he said, knowing that of all the arguments he might make on his own behalf, none of them would have as much impact as this one. “Hell, take two beagles. Take a whole litter.”

She remained unconvinced. Naked and sitting cross-legged among the piles of blankets and pillows, so appealing that his chest and cock ached as one, she was nonetheless immovable.

“It’s not that I mind spending time with your parents,” she said, softening as she reached for his hand. She twined her fingers through his. “In fact, I kind of adore them. But what good can I do? I’m not his doctor. I’m not his daughter. I’m just some random woman he met less than a month ago.”

Cole didn’t know how to explain that her presence had a way of bringing out the best in people—including the irascible, inflexible man who’d turned his only son into a football star through sheer force of will. She was kind and warm and giving. She didn’t make any demands that weren’t related to puppies. She’d charmed both his parents and the entire city of Seattle, making them believe she had the power to change a twenty-year curse using nothing but her heart.

“You’re not a random woman,” he protested. “You’re the good-luck charm, remember? If you’re there, he might be able to keep his stress levels in check.”

A grimace flashed over her face before being replaced by a much firmer set of the mouth. He knew that look, knew even more that it presaged her refusal to be budged and/or charmed, but he tried anyway. Lifting her hand, he turned it over and pressed a kiss directly in the center of her palm. She tasted of salt and sex, of the hours they’d spent in each other’s arms.

“Please, Hailey?” he asked. “I’ve done nothing but take from you since we met, I know, but—”

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll go. It’s fine.”

Nothing had ever sounded less fine unless he counted the time he’d thrown a football at his mother’s favorite sea-glass vase when he was five years old and shattered it to pieces. Only the fact that his aim had been dead-on had saved him from the grounding to end all groundings.

“This will all be over soon, and then we can take a break from football and family and everything attached to them,” he said. “Maybe we can even take that trip to Ibiza. It’s beautiful this time of year, remember?”

She gave a slight smile at the memory of that first conversation in her office, when he’d been so sure that all it would take was his fame and a little charisma to get his way, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “That sounds nice.”

“I mean it, Hailey.” He put his hand under her chin and tilted her face up, his voice thick with sincerity. “There’s more to me than football, I swear. In the off-season, I’m a totally normal guy. I go to movies and eat cheeseburgers and take Mia to story time at the library. I throw barbecues for my friends. Sometimes, I even…”