Play Me

Goose bumps raced along my skin where Hunter dragged his fingers up and down my arm. “Coaching is the same thing. If you threw me into a boardroom full of suits to work out a business deal, they’d eat my lunch. What I do… what Mac does… it’s not your strength, sweetheart. But I’m sure if you put your mind to it, you could learn it.”

That made sense, and I laughed. “I did pick up the bat swinging into the locker thing pretty fast.”

“Yeah, you did.”

I snuggled in a little closer. “Thank you for explaining. I guess I can get a little sensitive about this since I’m a woman in a man’s world.”

And Hunter had me off kilter. I hadn’t been myself yesterday. Normally, I stayed in control. Around Hunter, I felt something else emerging, something I couldn’t understand yet.

“My mom was the same way. She was a reporter and had been assigned to my dad. She’s told me stories about what it was like to work in a prominently male field. Some coaches wouldn’t let her into the locker rooms. She even had one guy ask if she was reading from cue cards when she quoted some stats on his team. You two are actually a lot alike.”

I liked that comment about being like his mother a little more than I should have. Which was odd. I decided to put myself out there a little. “I’d like to meet her sometime.”

“She’d like that.” I looked up at his face but couldn’t read his expression. It was almost like he was processing the statement, as well. Hunter ran his free hand down his face, and just like that, it was gone. Maybe we were both in uncharted territories, but Hunter had had a serious girlfriend at one time. There had been several pictures of them together before he walked away from football.

Things were changing so fast. There wasn’t time to get caught up in something that would break my heart in the end. I shifted a little to get some space, clear my head. The movement made me wince.

“You sore?”

“Some.”

“Good. You’ll remember me every time you move.”

I laughed, and when my body relaxed Hunter brought me close again.

“That’s a little barbaric.”

“It might be, but you will think of me, and I’ll fucking love that.”

I bit my lip at the gruffness of his statement. It was true—and we were out of condoms.

Hunter’s phone beeped, and he shifted to see who it was. “Mac accepted the job. You have the email in your inbox.”

I shot up and smiled. “He did? That’s fantastic news.”

Finally, we were adding to our numbers instead of reducing them.

Hunter winked. “It is. You got yourself a coach, Ms. Wales. A good coach. I think Mac will be able to take this team far.”

There was so much to do. I whipped back the covers, and this time, Hunter let me go. I missed the connection more than I wanted to admit, but I pressed forward pushing away the thought. “Let me get my laptop so I can get the contract over to HR. We don’t have any time to lose.”

“Ain’t that the truth. I’ll go get you a coffee and some breakfast for us. Then we can see about the car.”

That squishy feeling came into my stomach. Hunter hated coffee but he was going to get me some anyway. I softly responded, “Thanks.”

He gave me a chaste kiss before he threw on his clothes and left. Nothing more had been said about last night, and I wasn’t sure what to make of that. Is his head just as messed up as mine? Or is this the way adults handle a one-night stand?

I put on his T-shirt before turning on my laptop. Mac’s acceptance was right there in my email, so I forwarded it to HR with a high-priority flag. I wanted it finalized before I got back to the office. I also emailed the good news to my dad. He texted me back.

Dad: Never doubt your ability to lead this team. With your focus and sheer determination, anything is possible when you keep the end goal in sight.

End goal.

Getting mixed up with Hunter wasn’t possible right now. A relationship wasn’t part of the plan. I needed this to work. I needed the board to realize I had the ability to run Wales Enterprises so the transition was smooth. The team had so many issues to fix. And if I let myself fall any harder for Hunter… I wasn’t sure what would happen.

I quickly dressed in my clothes from the night before and put my hair up. There was no time for a shower. Then I paced the room, unsure how to proceed.

Distance. I need distance.

Hunter probably wanted that as well. Getting involved would be messy. Too messy. And he wanted out of this gig as soon as possible.

The door opened, and I froze in the middle of what was probably my hundredth rotation around the room.

Hunter’s brow furrowed. “Everything okay?”

Set the tone. Take control of the situation.

I began to ramble. “I don’t want things to be weird between us.”

“Okay.”

I put my computer in its bag. I couldn’t look at him. “Last night we gave into our desires, scratched the itch. I don’t want things to be weird between us when we get back to the office. I don’t want it to cause problems with the team. We’re finally on the right track.”

When I looked up, Hunter’s head cocked to the side as he watched me. He put the coffee on the dresser. His face was once again unreadable, and I wasn’t sure what he was thinking.

Finally, he nodded. “Sure thing. Itch is scratched. I ran into Roy. Vehicle is fixed. His mama ended up making a roast for lunch instead of the biscuits and gravy.”

The way I acted toward Roy last night had been terrible. I’d been a crazy person driven to the brink. I knew I had to apologize.

Hunter shoved his things in his bag and walked out the door, saying, “I’ll check out with Ms. Pratt and meet you downstairs.”

“Okay.”

The door closed behind him, and I collapsed on the bed, knowing I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. Did Hunter want more? He seemed too mad at me, or maybe I was imagining the whole thing.

I had to stay the course.

I had to keep focused.

At least that was what my head kept telling my heart.

When I went downstairs, Hunter was waiting at the door with his aviators on. He had that bad-boy vibe going on with his jeans and short-sleeve T-shirt. Last night those arms had been wrapped around me, that body giving me pleasure. I closed my eyes for the briefest of seconds. This was for the best. I turned toward the front desk area and straightened my shoulders. “Thank you, Ms. Pratt.”

“Have a goodun’.”

“Thank you. You, too.”

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.

Hunter held the door for me, but his face was closed, his expression blank. His mouth opened and closed like he was going to say something. I waited, unsure what I wanted to come out of his mouth.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, Boardroom Kendall.”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m not a Barbie doll, Hunter. Stop being a dick.”

Abruptly, he turned to face me, and I stood my ground. He leaned forward to say something when my cell phone rang. He stepped away from me, and whatever moment we’d been about to have was gone. “Conquer the world, sweetheart. I’ll get the car. We’re headed back to the stadium.”

This time the endearment wasn’t said so sweetly.

Yeah, it’s over.

I sent the call to voice mail, but pretended to connect it as I turned away. Tears threatened to spill over, but I blinked them away. Why does this hurt so much? It had been two people giving into lust. That was it. Nothing more.

I dialed Wales Aviation to arrange a plane and a car. I would let Hunter take my car back to the stadium. My resolve would not last if I was stuck in the car with him for any amount of time. I had to get away from Hunter before I gave into the one thing I knew my heart wanted… love.

18

Kendall

I sat on the ridge that overlooked a larger pasture at my parents’ place. In the distance, I could see

some horses grazing. I had been home for nearly two weeks. When I’d arrived, it had felt like I was a target at a firing range. The team’s stunts were now blowing back on Wales Enterprises negatively, and the board had chewed me up and spit me out. It was bad. Really bad.

My dad ran a tight ship, which meant the board ran a tight ship.

When the interrogation had begun, Dad had offered to intervene, but I’d refused to let him; I’d needed to handle it on my own. Due to the size of Wales Enterprises, it wasn’t a one-man ship. I needed the board to believe in me. I’d managed to negotiate one season for the team. If they messed up again, there would be hell to pay.

And then there was Hunter.

Since I left him in Franklin, I hadn’t been able to get him out of my thoughts. Those dark eyes haunted my dreams. The security of being in his arms was like a distant memory.

I stared at the last text I had received from him that morning.

Hunter: I’m headed home for an early weekend. Mac has everything under control.

Me: I’ll be back on Monday and will set up a meeting to go over the progress with you and Mac.

Hunter: Safe travels.

Me: Have a good weekend.