Faceoff (6 page)

He nodded slowly. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you would.”

She tipped her head to one side. “I’m not sure how to take that, Tag. D’you think I’m stupid about sports just because I can’t play them?”

He gave a slow smile that had heat trickling down through her body. “I’ve never thought you were stupid, Kyla.”

The heat intensified, spreading through her chest. “Thanks.”

“Coming home has actually been pretty stressful,” he confessed, turning the beer bottle in both hands and looking down at it. “I’m really looking forward to this week up here to decompress and have some down time.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “Me too. I guess.” Then she tipped her head. “How come so stressful?”

“Well. This move is relatively easy for me, compared to some of the guys who are uprooting their families. But they’ve put a lot onto my shoulders―I have to put a positive spin on it for the other guys. And the media. We never got that much attention in Phoenix. It’s just more than I’m used to.” He eyed her again. “What are you stressed about, Kyla? To the point of having panic attacks.”

“Sssh.” She cast an anxious glance around to see if anyone had overheard. But the other conversations going on drowned out their quiet one.

“Sorry.”

She looked at him and shifted again in her chair, sliding her butt down so she could bring her feet up and lean her head back, making it easier to look up at his height. “Stuff going on at work. They’re going to be naming the new partner in the next few weeks.”

“And that could be you?”

“Yes.” Her stomach clenched. “I’m hoping. I actually thought it was going to be today. Which is why I thought I couldn’t get away this week. Turned out…” She grimaced. “They postponed the decision and didn’t bother to tell me. I’ve been working really, really hard for this and…” Anxiety knotted her insides. “Hell, I don’t want to talk about work.”

“No man in your life who gets annoyed about the long hours?”

She shot him a narrow-eyed look. “No. I don’t have patience for men who get annoyed about my long hours.”

He nodded. “Okay then. Let’s neither of us talk about work this week. Let’s just have a relaxing week at the beach, playing around, having fun, just like old times. Sound good?”

She eyed him and her stomach relaxed, the knot replaced by a slow roll of lust. No. Tag didn’t mean anything like
that
. Old times meant when they’d been kids, just hanging out, running wild, swimming, waterskiing, catching frogs and building sand castles. Stargazing and sitting around bonfires roasting marshmallows.

Which all sounded wonderful too, scary wonderful, like that was a world she could never have again. She’d been so caught up in work, those times seemed like a dream, familiar and yet so unfamiliar to her lately that it was kind of scary. And that sex dream still haunted the edges of her mind and made her ache down low inside and Tag was still so very sexy and appealing. She nibbled her bottom lip.

“Yeah,” she finally remembered to reply. “That sounds good.”

Chapter Five

Sitting with the girls on the sidelines had never been Kyla’s favorite thing to do.

But there she was the next morning, with all the girls―Remi, Jessica, holding baby Caleb, and Emily― watching six men play beach volleyball.

And it wasn’t so bad. Two of the guys were her brothers and she ignored them, but the four Heller boys were oh-my-god gorgeous in board shorts and no shirts. They earned their living with their bodies. Well, the three older ones did; Matt was still in college, but he’d just been drafted and he’d soon be playing in the NHL too. So those bodies had to be in the peak of physical condition, and oh yeah, were they ever. Muscles rippled beneath skin that gleamed with perspiration in the sun. She watched Tag fearlessly dive for the ball, landing in the sand and rolling. With a shout of triumph, Matt spiked the ball over the net and it hit the sand before Scott could get to it.

“Damn,” Jessica said.

Which team was Kyla cheering for? Her two brothers and Jase played against Tag, Logan and Matt. She should probably cheer for her brothers, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Tag, and couldn’t help but feel happy every time they scored a point.

She’d had more sex dreams about him last night.

That annoyed her, because she was still all tingly and achy and hyperaware of him. What was going on? This was crazy. It was like the last twelve years had disappeared and she was a lustful teenager for him all over again.

“I need more iced tea,” she said. “Anybody else?”

“Can I come wiff you?” Emily asked, jumping to her feet.

“You sure can, sweetie pie. You can help me carry the drinks back. I bet those guys are thirsty too.”

She and Emily trudged hand in hand through powder-soft sand back toward the cottage. Crystal Beach on the south shore of Lake Winnipeg had the finest, whitest sand, fine enough to be annoying when it got in everything, but there was no denying the beauty of the wide sandy beach.

“Daddy says I’m gonna wearn to wawer ski this afternoon,” Emily said.

Kyla glanced down at her, startled. “Waterski? You?”

“Yes.”

She blinked. “I think your daddy drank too much beer last night. Maybe he’ll pull you on the tube though. That would be fun. We could ride together.”

Mom sat on the deck reading a book. “We came for drinks,” Kyla told her.

“You should fill up that big Thermos jug,” Mom said, setting aside her book. “And take some plastic cups.”

“Good idea.”

A short while later, Kyla carried the jug full of iced tea and Emily carefully held a stack of plastic cups as they returned to the beach where the game was just ending. Tag swiped a beach towel across his face.

“Good game,” he said to the others.

“Who won?” Kyla asked, pouring drinks.

“We did, of course,” Tag said with a grin. “Man, I’m sweaty. I’m gonna go in the water.” He guzzled back an entire glass of tea, nestled his cup in the sand and then headed to the lake.

“Good idea,” Logan said, following him.

Kyla watched Tag wade in. The lake was shallow here and you could walk out a long ways before it got deep, so she watched him, taking in his wide shoulders, the defined muscles in his back and his strong arms.

“It’s going up to thirty-one degrees today,” Jessica said.

“What’s that?” Remi asked. “I’m only used to Fahrenheit.”

“Hmm.” Kyla thought. “I’m not sure. It’s hot.”

Remi laughed.

“That’d be high eighties,” Jessica said, standing with the baby. “I’m going back to the cottage to change this little dude. Come on, Emily.”

“It’s hot already,” Remi said. “A swim sounds like a great idea.”

“Apparently we’re going waterskiing later,” Kyla said. “Do you ski?”

“No.” Remi grimaced. “Jase said he’d teach me how, but I’m not so sure I want to try.”

“I haven’t skied for a few years,” Kyla said. “But it’s fun.”

Silence fell between the two women as they watched the guys cavorting in the water, too far away to hear what they were saying, although a burst of laughter reached their ears. Kyla looked at the petite blonde. “So. How did you and Jase meet?”

Remi turned toward her with a smile. “We met in a bar one night. I asked him to talk to me to keep my friend Delise from trying to fix me up with some random guy. Then Jase’s ex showed up and he wanted
me
to talk to
him
to keep her away.” A shadow passed over Remi’s eyes.

Kyla shifted in the sand. “I…uh…heard that Jase’s ex-girlfriend is pregnant.”

“Yeah.” The corners of Remi’s mouth turned down briefly, then she smiled and met Kyla’s eyes. Kyla dropped her gaze to the sand. She wasn’t good at girl talk. Girls wanted to talk about things like clothes and shoes and men. Kyla would rather talk
to
men than about them. “It happened before we met. Like,
just
before. It’s weird. But it is what it is.”

“I guess so.” The whole scenario raised a bunch of questions, but it didn’t seem like a fun topic of conversation.

“Anyway, that was how we met, but we also ended up working together. Jase volunteers with a reading program and this past year he was at my school, working with my class.”

“You’re a teacher?”

“Yes.”

Kyla grinned. “No shit.”

Remi’s eyebrows lifted, but she smiled. “You grew up with Jase. I guess you know what he thinks of teachers.”

“Yeah. He had a rough time in school. It’s kinda funny actually.” She glanced back out toward the guys. “I’m going to give him a hard time about that.”

“Oh…” Remi stepped toward Kyla. “I don’t…”

Kyla looked back at the other woman. “Oh don’t worry. That’s what we do. He’s like a brother. He knows I love him. I mean… I don’t
love
him. I…he’s like a brother. You know. We’re
supposed
to give each other a hard time.” She paused. For an articulate attorney who had a reputation for presenting compelling arguments in court, she sounded like an idiot. She sighed. “He gave me enough grief in our younger days, believe me, I owe him.”

Remi still gazed back at her with a worried expression. Damn. Remi was trying to protect him. Jase, the big guy, the fighter, the guy who’d protect anyone on his team, and that included the family team. Kyla’d seen it. She sighed. “Sorry, Remi. I guess you have to understand our families.”

Remi’s mouth tightened and her eyes narrowed a little. “Yeah. I’m just an outsider.” She lifted her chin. “But if you hurt Jase…” She paused as if she wasn’t sure what kind of threat to use. Kyla felt her lips twitch. The little pipsqueak wasn’t exactly scary. Kyla almost laughed, but inside she also felt a pang of…what was that? Envy? That Jase had someone looking out for him like that? Jase, the last person in the world who needed protecting.

Or…maybe…
everyone
needed someone to look out for them. It was kind of sweet. Which almost made Kyla roll her eyes. And also feel a little burn of jealousy deep inside.

Stupid.

She smiled at Remi. “Don’t worry.”

The guys were coming back, wading through the shallow water, hair dripping. Tag lifted both hands to his head to sleek his hair back and the pose showed off his perfect shape, wide shoulders and chest tapering down to narrow hips. His board shorts rode so low on his hips it verged on indecent and Kyla couldn’t drag her eyes away from there. Then Tag hooked his thumbs in the wet shorts and tugged them a little higher. She blinked.

Jase grabbed Remi and wrapped her in a big wet hug that made her squeal. “Oh my god, you’re cold! You’re getting me all wet.”

He laughed and picked her up and started walking back towards his parents’ cottage. Kyla watched them go, then turned back to see Tag, Matt and Logan exchanging glances.

“There they go again,” Logan said. “Besides Mom and Dad, they’re the only ones with their own bedroom.”

“Where’d Jess go?” Scott asked.

“She took Emily and Caleb back to the cottage. Caleb needed a diaper change.”

“Better go see if she needs any help.” Scott and Michael both headed for the cottage.

“I’m hungry,” Logan said. “Let’s go find some lunch.” He and Matt started walking down the beach too. “Coming, Tag?”

“Yeah. In a minute.” He held the towel in his hands and stood next to Kyla. “How’re you feeling today?”

“Good.”

They were alone on the beach. Around the rocky point that separated the public beach from the cottages, the public beach was probably filling up with people, beach blankets and umbrellas, but here nobody else was out yet.

“You coming skiing later?” He rubbed the towel slowly over his chest.

“Sure.”

“Mom’s planning a game night tonight at our place. You’re all invited.”

Kyla nodded. “Cool. Just like old times.”

“Yeah.”

She studied him, his tanned skin gleaming in the bright sun, remembering the game nights of the past, how competitive he and his brothers were. And how competitive she was and how they’d had cut-throat games of Monopoly and Rummikub and Trivial Pursuit. She watched a drop of water slide down the side of his neck, then lower, slowly trickling down his chest. She wanted to go up on her tiptoes and lick that drop of water.

Heat suffused her body, and not from the noon sun overhead. Flashes of her dreams returned, hot glimpses of Tag naked, underneath her, on top of her. She swallowed. She lifted her gaze to his face and the heat in his eyes had her breath stalling. Tension arced between them as they stood there eyeing each other. When he looked at her mouth, her eyes went heavy-lidded and her heart began to thud.

“Oh man,” he said. He swiped the towel across his forehead, breaking the eye contact. She blinked. “Kyla.”

“What?”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Um…like what?” As if she needed to ask. She wanted to eat him up. But did it show that much?

He looked her in the eye again. “Your brothers would kill me.”

Her breath came in choppy little pants. Her insides went hot and liquid. “What am I supposed to say to that?” she said, her voice breathy. “We’re not teenagers anymore.”

“No. We’re not.” They were both remembering the last time this had happened. A long time ago. Heat built hotter between them.

She was used to going after what she wanted. She had a plan for her career and she worked to make things happen. If she wanted Tag, why couldn’t she have him?

Last time he’d tried to make a joke of it. As if he didn’t want her. This time, older, wiser, more experienced, she could tell he did. Was he really going to let their families stand in the way of what they both wanted?

“My brothers have no say in who I…” She stopped. They’d been tiptoeing around it and when it came to saying it outright, she found she couldn’t.

He smiled, that sexy lift of his wide mouth that melted her. She couldn’t breathe. Her body thrummed with sexual tension. “Think about it, Mac,” he said, his voice low and raspy. “We may not be teenagers but we’re here with our families. Every bed in both our cottages is occupied. You’re sharing a room with a three-year-old. I’m sharing a room with Matt.”

She couldn’t get air into her lungs and her heart thudded wildly against her ribs. She opened her mouth to tell him that she was very good at solving problems when she heard a little voice calling, “Auntie Kywa!”