Playing For Keeps (9 page)

“I’ll let her know.”

“Put Tyler back on.”

Mike said goodbye to his son, calling himself
all kinds of a fool. He had no business offering Jacelyn Ross a
ride home. Hell, she probably wouldn’t even take it. She’d probably
be embarrassed to be seen with him—afraid her colleagues might see
her with the likes of him. More than ever, that notion was getting
to him, big-time.

o0o

Nervous about her upcoming meeting, Jacelyn
couldn’t concentrate on the computer screen before her. So she was
glad when Jake Lansing arrived. She liked the young associate
professor who’d set up the Sports Studies curriculum, except that
sometimes he was overly enthusiastic and tended to sidestep
protocol.

“Hi, Jake, come on in.”

A small, wiry guy with lots of muscles, he’d
played college soccer and had been on a semi-pro team for a while.
“Hi, Jacelyn.” He entered the office and scanned the room. “You had
this painted.”

“Yeah. Since there was no second
summer-school session, I could let maintenance come in and disrupt
everything.” She nodded to the light-yellow walls with Degas and
Renoir prints hung on them. “The color brightens it up. Now I just
wish we could get the Outreach Center painted.” Rising from her
computer, she came around the desk. “Everything’s over at the
table. We can meet there.”

“Coach Kingston isn’t here yet?”

“Ah, no.” She wasn’t sure he’d even show up.
She wasn’t sure she wanted him to. Sitting down, Jacelyn reached
for her notes.

Jake blurted out, “I heard about Craig
Anderson’s course.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah. We’re going to get blamed for it,
aren’t we?”

“We?”

“The Sports Studies program. They’re going to
say the enrollment’s down in other business classes because of
us.”

“Well, that’s probably true, Jake.”

“Anderson’s enrollment is down because he
bores the kids to tears.”

“How would you know that? This will be your
first year teaching at Beckett.”

“My sister’s a student here. She and her
friends talked to me about it. He reads from his notes, never uses
multimedia materials and makes business about as tasteless as dry
cereal.”

She’d heard that, too. But Craig was tenured,
and it was tough to do anything about his teaching practices.

“Can I be frank?”

Jacelyn leaned back and crossed her legs.
“Sure.”

“I hope you’re not thinking about giving him
anything from our program to compensate.”

Oh, Lord. Wouldn’t Craig love that? “What on
earth could he teach in the sports program?”

“Maybe an accounting course or a statistics
course. But they’re supposed to be geared toward sports business.
We’ve already got someone in the Sports Studies area to teach
them.”

A knock on the door precluded her answer.
Both looked up to see Mike standing in the doorway. “Am I late?” he
asked. He still wore the black jeans and shirt he had on earlier,
though he was sweaty from the heat.

“Jake and I were just discussing the Sports
Studies program. Come on in.”

Mike covered the floor in a few long
strides.

“You know Jake, right?”

“Of course.” The men shook hands with obvious
warmth. Mike sat down next to Jacelyn. His big shoulders filled up
the space between them.

“How’s the settling-in going?” Jake
asked.

“I was helpin’ out Marcus Stormweather. He
wanted to take the stairs, so I’m plum tuckered out.”

“Word has it you’re in as good shape as your
guys.”

He certainly looked it, Jacelyn thought.

“I need to be to keep them in line.”

“You keep them in line with your
fairness.”

“I think we’re boring Dr. Ross.” Mike faced
her. “Should we talk about the purpose of today’s meeting?”

“Jake?”

“The speaker series.” He opened a notebook.
“As liaison to the team, I was hoping you’d be part of it.”

Jacelyn cocked her head. “I thought we were
brainstorming possibilities today.”

She felt Mike stiffen beside her though she
was right to question Jake’s presumptiveness.

“Not that I wouldn’t want you to do this,
Mike. I just thought we’d bat around ideas.”

Mike glared at her. Hell, she was going to
have to watch every word she said. She was trying to be fair, but
he needed to meet her halfway.

“Let’s see what you already got set up.” His
tone was strained. “And decide who from the team could do the best
job.”

Jake handed her and Mike copies of a list.
“We haven’t confirmed all of them. But this is what we’re hoping
for, if we can get these people.”

Mike skimmed the names. “Steve Wright’s a
nice guy and is a big supporter of education. Plus he can give you
solid insight into Major League Soccer.”

“You know him?”

“The sports world is small.” He read further.
“I know Frank Scarce from ESPN, too. I did some PR things with
them. I can give them both a call if you want.”

“That’s great, Coach.”

“The PGA guy is confirmed, isn’t he?” Jacelyn
asked, scanning the list.

“Yeah, he and Nancy Baker, the number one
rookie of women’s basketball. Actually, she’s going to head up a
panel on women’s sports.”

“So you’re missing the coaching angle,”
Jacelyn stated.

“Yep.”

“Tim Mason’s a good speaker,” Mike
offered.

“I’d rather have you. You’re more accessible.
The kids would love you.” Jake ducked his head. “As a matter of
fact, I was hoping to persuade you to do some teaching.”

Mike glanced at Jacelyn. She held her tongue.
Jake shouldn’t be discussing this either without her input. But she
didn’t want to make another wrong move with Mike.

“What course would you want me for?” Mike
asked Jake.

“The one called Sports Stakeholders. We’re
going to examine the interaction with athlete, coach, owner,
business and media. I thought you’d be perfect as you’ve been both
coach and player. You also have connections to get speakers for the
other parts.”

Jacelyn tried to remain calm. “We haven’t
talked about staffing that position, Jake.”

“Lew Cavanaugh wants one of the Bulls to
teach it.”

She drew in a breath. “In any case, before
you make any job offers, we need to talk.”

Mike’s face was inscrutable.

“However, I do think asking Coach Kingston to
be a speaker is a good idea. What do you say, Mike?”

Again, his face was tight. But he smiled at
Jake. “I’d be glad to do it. Just let my assistant know where and
when so we can schedule it.”

“Fine.”

After taking care of other details that
concerned the team, Jake stood. “Thanks, Coach. I’ll be in touch.
And don’t forget to contact those other two guys.”

Mike stood, too. “I won’t.”

“Jake, could you wait a minute? I’d like to
talk to you alone.”

“Sorry, Jacelyn, I gotta pick up my daughter
at the day care by five.”

“All right, but come and see me
tomorrow.”

“Sure thing. I gotta run.” He left the
office.

She turned to Mike and smiled weakly. “Thanks
for your input. I’m sure we’ll be talking soon.”

He gave her a quizzical look.

“What?”

“Didn’t you talk to Kyle?”

“No.”

“He was supposed to call you.”

She glanced at her office phone. The message
light was blinking. Crossing to it, she pressed play. “Jacelyn,
this is Hal. I’d like to talk to you. I’ve tried your cell, too.
Call me.”

She shook her head, and listened for the
second message.

“Mom, it’s Kyle. Kay and I are bookin’ for
the beach with Tyler. Coach said he’d give you a ride home. Gotta
go. Love you.”

She drew in a breath.

“If you’d rather not be seen with me, you can
call somebody else.” He nodded to the phone. “Like Professor
Hal.”

Jacelyn stared at him. “I told you once I
wasn’t ashamed. I’m just surprised you want to take me home.”

“I don’t.”

“What?”

“I’m mad as hell at you, Dr. Ross. But your
son asked for my help. You need a ride because he’s takin’ my kid
to the beach.”

“All right.” Now she was feeling cranky.
“Let’s just do this.”

She grabbed her purse and some books and
headed for the door. Mike stood aside for her to go ahead of him,
then took her books without asking so she could lock up. He didn’t
return them.

“I can carry those.”

“Us dumb jocks like to do grunt work,” he
said nastily.

“I’ll carry my own damn books.”

“Not when I’m around.”

“Fine.”

Neither spoke as they headed to the elevator.
The ride down was funereal. Outside, a blast of heat hit them. “The
weather’s hot,” she said to break the silence.

He didn’t respond.

They walked toward the parking lot. Several
players passed them.

“Hey, Coach.”

“There’s the King...”

“New recruit, Coach?”

They reached the lot. Jacelyn was stunned as
she glanced around at the cars. “The players drive Porsches and
Mercedes?”

“Yeah.” He was ahead of her now. “Amazing,
isn’t it that for guys so stupid we manage to make enough money for
these babies?” He stopped at a red Ferrari and pulled out his keys.
“Your chariot awaits, ma’am.”

o0o

Mike began to wonder if maybe she was right
about him and his team being big kids. He was acting like a child,
being a jerk. He was mad at her and he knew why. He had a thing
about the dumb jock issue. She sat stiffly on her side of the car,
hands folded in her lap. Her lightly tanned arms looked good in
that dress. He hadn’t noticed her appearance before. Of course,
he’d been seeing red most of the time he was with her today. Still
angry, he stepped hard on the gas pedal when he reached the main
road.

“Please slow down.”

He didn’t. “I won’t get a ticket. The cops
love athletes.” He winked at her; it wasn’t a flirty gesture. “My
license plate says The King so I’m all set.”

She scowled. “You don’t take Tyler in this
car, do you? There’s no back seat and he shouldn’t—”

“Sit in the front because of the air bag. I’m
not a complete idiot, you know. I rented an SUV for the month he’s
here.”

The silence went on.

A few minutes later she flicked on the radio
to some highbrow station that played opera. In Italian.

He gritted his teeth.

It seemed to take forever to reach her house.
Pulling into her driveway, Mike stopped but let the engine idle. He
had no intention of getting out of the car. “Here you go, little
lady.”

“Are you being intentionally obnoxious?”

He nodded to the radio. “Are you?” He flicked
off the music.

She turned in her seat. A smile broached her
lips. “We’re behaving like teenagers having a fight.”

He laid his head back against the black
leather. It was cool and his temper began to calm. “I know.”

“You were offended by the incident in the
teachers’ lounge today.”

“Yep. So I struck back at you.” He glanced
across the seat. “I don’t believe you’re a bad mother. Kyle’s a
great kid. I just said those nasty things because of what happened
earlier.”

“I wasn’t supporting their remarks, Mike. I’m
sorry for what they said.”

“I’m sorry, too. For what
I
said.”
He turned off the engine and swiveled toward her. “And Jake Lansing
was out of line today. He shouldn’t have said anything without
consulting you. I’d kill one of my players if they did something
like that.”

“I’m not happy about his behavior.”

“They all treat you that way?”

“Who?”

“The guys here.”

“No, men in academics are pretty fair. It’s
just a few who drive me crazy.”

“Are you sayin’ it’s because Lansing’s in
sports?”

“Please don’t jump on everything I say.
Jake’s a nice guy. He’s just eager to make the program work. And
for the record, I wasn’t objecting to your participation in the
speaker series or teaching.”

“That’s good to hear.”

She held out her hand. “Truce?”

“Yeah.” Her skin was soft. Feminine. And her
scent, when it wafted over him, reminded him of a dark bedroom and
satiny sheets. Suddenly it seemed warm in the car.

She tilted her head to the side. “Want to
come in for a drink? Maybe we can work on our social skills
together.”

“Okay. But before we do that, I wanna say
something about that meeting.”

“What?”

Man, this was a risk, but he was going to
take it He hoped like hell she didn’t laugh at him. “I been
thinkin’ all along I’d like to teach in the Sports Studies program.
I was gonna talk to you about it as soon as the dust settled. I
know professors have to have advanced degrees, and I only have a
BS, but it’s in business. I’d like to try out teaching and being an
adjunct would be a good way to get my feet wet and see if that’s
what I want to do.”

“Won’t you stay in coaching?”

“I’m not sure. Most times, I like it. But I
need to do something with my brain—I have for a long while. Now
that I have Tyler, I’m thinking of a different lifestyle. One less
erratic. I’ll have to decide soon, though. I’ll be offered the
assistant coach position when Smitty retires in a couple of years,
and I’m not sure I want it.”

“Would you consider going back to school so
you could teach full-time at a college?”

Mike was surprised at Jacelyn’s interest and
at the fact that she thought he would get more education, so he
could actually teach at a college. Most of the women in his past
would have been shocked at his proposal. “Yeah, I’d go back to
school in a flash, but I’m not positive I want something full-time,
either.”

“All right. I’ll think about the Sports
Studies course.”

“Now I’ll have that drink.”

She smiled, reached for her seat belt and
released it.

It snapped back and caught part of her hair.
“Ouch.”