Playing for Keeps (Texas Scoundrels) (11 page)

He stifled a grin. He’d been surprised by her blush-filled greeting, but thought she’d looked adorable with color creeping into her cheeks. Who would have figured her as the blushing type? The thought made him smile and wonder where else she might blush.

His imagination ran a little wild and he shifted uncomfortably on the seat before putting a halt to those thoughts. He’d never be elected to sainthood, but he couldn’t deny his attraction to her. She had the kind of legs that he liked, long and shapely. He’d bet they were smooth and silky, too. When she’d bent over the safe earlier, he’d stared at her ass. His temperature hadn’t been the only thing to rise when he’d imagined cupping her sweet little bottom in his hands.
 

She had the kind of body to drive a man to his knees, long, slim and curvy in all the right places. But he liked her eyes the best. They were expressive and revealed exactly what she was thinking. He couldn’t remember ever meeting anyone like her, or at least he’d never cared enough to remember.

She pulled into the parking lot and found an empty space behind a school bus. After she killed the engine, she sat staring out the windshield to the fading sunset. “My dad will be here,” she finally said.

Realization dawned quickly. The angry father, seeking redemption for the wrong done to his daughter. “I take it he knows then.”

She nodded and her long, wavy auburn hair swayed gently. “He knows.”

“Are you warning me because I’ll have to contend with an outraged father?”

She turned to face him, a slight smile curving her peach-tinted lips. “My father has never been outraged in his entire life, so I seriously doubt it. I just thought you should know.”

He didn’t say anything. By the way her forehead puckered, he suspected something else was on her mind.

“Jed, I’m not prepared to answer questions about you.”

He thought about that for a moment and understood what she was trying to say. Hart was small town, and small town folk loved gossip, especially something as scandalous as his presence.
 

She drew in a deep breath and slipped a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “All anyone has to do is see you and Austin together to know the truth.” She unfastened her seatbelt and turned in her seat to look at him. “Austin and I live here, Jed. This is our home.”

“You afraid I’ll embarrass you?” What did she think he was going to do? Get roaring drunk and break up the place? Screw anything in a skirt that came within ten feet of him? She had a pretty low opinion of him, and he didn’t like it.

“No.” She settled her hand on his arm. Her touch may have been innocent and meant as reassuring, but all he could think about was the feel of her skin sliding over his.
 

Her lips parted and she let out a breath.
 

He stared at her mouth. God, he wanted to kiss her.

“This isn’t coming out the way I’d hoped,” she said. “You coming here is going to mean to these people that you’re acknowledging Austin as your son.”

Yeah, he got it. Once he walked into that gym, there’d be no turning back. Word would spread like wildfire that Austin Somerfield’s
real
father had come to town. The local diner would buzz with the gossip that Dani Hart had an affair with someone like him. Hushed whispers and speculation would fill the local laundromat or the baby food aisle in the town’s one and only grocery store. Someone with a reputation, someone the press had labeled a bad boy had brought a smirch to their quiet, cozy little town. A man who shirked his responsibility to the town doctor’s daughter and left her alone and dying with a child to raise. The gossip, he was sure, would be anything but kind, and once again, miles from the truth.

He placed his hand over hers and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. In all honesty, he had no idea how long he planned to remain in town, but he didn’t think it’d be more than a few days. He wouldn’t be around to protect her or Austin from the gossip. Once he left, people would find some other grist for their rumor mill. His life was elsewhere. He belonged elsewhere.
 

“I knew that when I agreed to come.” He knew, yet he was still determined to keep his promise.

She closed her eyes and he had the wild urge to reassure her it wouldn’t be as bad as she was obviously imagining, but he couldn’t. He knew better.
 

She opened her eyes and he saw her concern. There was little he could do to alleviate it short of leaving. He was between the proverbial rock and hard place. If he left, he’d disappoint his kid. If he stayed, then his son would have to face the rumors. Fate had brought them together. What choice did he have but to face it one crisis at a time? His life was too screwed up to do much else at the moment.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“If you are.”
 

He’d only meant to give her hand another squeeze, hoping to convey that for now, he’d remain by her and Austin’s side. The last thing he’d meant to do was give a slight tug on her hand to pull her closer, but he did. Telling himself pushing that wayward lock of hair behind her ear had been his only intention was nothing but a big, fat lie. Especially when he slid his fingers along her jaw to cup the back of her head in his hand and draw her in to share in his insanity.
 

“Jed?”

He ignored the confusion in her voice, concentrating instead on how her eyes darkened with desire. Her lashes fluttered closed as he brought their mouths closer together. The instant their lips touched, he knew he was screwed. One kiss from this woman would never be enough. When her lips parted, he swept his tongue inside, tasting, tempting, taking.
 

His body throbbed with anticipation. Despite their location, he deepened the kiss. She made a sound, a sexy little purr that spiked his libido. God, he wanted her.

The sound of a car door slamming brought him crashing back to reality. She scrambled away from him so quickly, his pride took a hit. Rationally, he understood, but he wasn’t feeling rational. He was horny and for about five seconds, he’d bet she’d been willing.

She dug into her purse, then pulled down the visor and checked her reflection in the mirror. “We should go,” she said, reapplying her peach lip gloss with her finger.
 

He might have bought her cool, unfazed response if it weren’t for the fact that her eyes were still simmering with awareness. “You know this isn’t over.”

She reached for the door handle. “Of course it is,” she said, then exited the Jeep.
 

He chuckled. No, it wasn’t. Not by a long shot.

*

Griffen’s insides were trembling by the time Jed pulled open the heavy door leading to the gymnasium and not just out of fear of what lie inside when people saw Jed and Austin together. He’d kissed her. And she’d let him. Worse, she’d liked it. A lot.
 

The squeak of tennis shoes on the gym floor, the shouts of the boys and their coaches as they warmed up for the game met her, along with the face splitting grin of her son when he spotted them. She scanned the crowd already gathered for the last regular season game and located her father center court. He stood and waved, and she waved back before heading in his direction.

“Here we go,” she muttered under her breath, when they climbed the bleachers to the fifth row where her father waited for them.
 

Jed took her elbow and guided her up the bleachers. “It’ll be fine.”
 

The sound of his low, sexy voice sent a shiver rippling down her spine. She struggled to ignore that little sensation of pleasure and concentrated instead on not falling on her face.
 

Griffen stiffened when her father stood. He kissed her cheek in greeting, then looked pointedly at Jed. She chanced a look over her shoulder. Jed’s expression was blank, unreadable, and she’d have given anything to know what he was thinking.

“Dad, this is Jed Maitland.”

Jed extended his hand toward her father. “Dr. Hart,” he said, his deep voice strong and confident.

Griffen held her breath as she waited for her father to make the next move. She should have called him and warned him Jed was coming to the game. But she’d figured Austin would’ve told him, so she hadn’t bothered and realized her mistake too late. This couldn’t be easy for her father.
 

Thomas grasped Jed’s hand. “Jed. Glad you could make it. Austin’s been talking about nothing else all day.”

Griffen expelled the breath she’d been holding and sat. “Austin stays with Dad on Saturdays while I’m at the store,” she said, mortified to discover her voice was as unsteady as the rest of her. Her heart pounded, and she chastised herself for being ridiculous.
 

She really needed to pull herself together. This had nothing to do with Jed meeting her dad, and she knew it. Thomas Hart was not the type of man to cause a scene in public. It wasn’t like he and Jed would scrap it out right there in the middle of the gym.
 

No, she was a wreck because Jed had kissed her and, for the space of those few moments, she’d lost every ounce of common sense she possessed. There’d been nothing pragmatic about her response to Jed’s kiss. Her body had come wholly and vibrantly alive and it scared the hell out of her.

For Pete’s sake, get a grip
.
 

Feeling more than silly, she took several deep, slow breaths in hopes of regaining her composure. Parents and students filtered into the gym and she nodded to those she knew, ignoring their curious glances as they spotted Jed beside her. Brian Packard, Austin’s buddy’s dad, approached them and sat beside her father. With nothing more than a nod to her and Jed, Brian began talking to her father about the upcoming tournament the following weekend.
 

Griffen cast a glance at Jed. He sat with his arms braced on his knees, his attention on the court. Would he be proud of her son? Would he congratulate him on a game well played, or would he only point out the mistakes as Ross had done the few times he’d bothered to come to any of Austin’s games?
 

The referee blew the whistle and she turned her attention to the court as the teams took their places. Austin, as center, stood in the middle of the circle with the opposing team’s center while the referee held the ball over their heads. The ref tossed the ball high and Austin leapt for it, pushing the ball toward the home team’s basket.

Jed didn’t move, his jean clad thigh pressing against her as he watched the game. While Austin charged agilely up and down the court, Jed said nothing, but his leg tensed against hers every time Austin attempted a basket. By the time the buzzer sounded the end of the first half, the Hart Stallions held a ten point lead.

As the boys filed off the court to their respective locker rooms for a half time break, Jed straightened and looked at her. The smile on his face and the pride shining in his eyes warmed her heart.

“He’s good,” he said with enthusiasm.

Never once in all the years she’d been married to Ross had he expressed pride in Austin’s accomplishments. He’d never commented on Austin’s natural athletic ability, and he’d never beamed like Jed was doing right now. Now that she thought about it, Ross was so self-serving he only bothered to attend functions that might have helped him impress his clients. Instead of going to one of Austin’s games to support their son, he’d done so to show people that he was a great family man. What a crock of crap. Ross may have been the only father Austin had ever known, but in twenty minutes, Jed, the very last man on earth she’d ever expected, was more of a father than Ross had ever been.

“He must get it from his father,” she whispered, her throat too choked with emotion to manage much else.
 

A tear escaped and slid down her cheek. Jed slowly lifted his hand and cupped her cheek in his palm, the pad of his thumb wiping the moisture away. “Why the tears?” he asked, his voice a low, intimate sound that scraped against her emotions.

She couldn’t speak, the gentleness in his tone, the warmth of his touch, unnerved her. She shook her head and pulled away when all she wanted to do was lean into him and kiss him again. But she didn’t. How could she when she couldn’t even tell him her fears were coming to fruition? That he wasn’t the worthless prick she’d initially believed?

She turned her attention to the court and pretended to watch the Stallion cheerleaders’ half-time routine, wondering how to tell him that if he was willing to be a father to Austin, she wouldn’t stand in his way. Oh, she’d fight him to the end if he ever tried to take her son from her, but deep in her heart, she believed Jed had the capability to be good for Austin. This Jed, the proud father, not the man who drank too much or played too hard and would only be a bad influence on her impressionable son.
 

“Excuse me.” A young man approached them. “Aren’t you Jed Maitland?”
 

“Yeah,” he said and looked at the teenage boy.
 

“Could I have your autograph, Sir?” he asked, thrusting a pen and paper napkin in front of Jed.
 

“Sure. What’s your name?” he asked the boy.

Griffen looked away. What was she thinking? As the kid praised Jed, telling him how much he admired him, she realized she had to be out of her mind to even think of him as good enough to be anything but a bad influence to Austin. Jed Maitland was
not
father material. He was a celebrity, a professional football player with the morals of a starved mongrel. Even if he did want to play a role in Austin’s life, what kind of role would that be? Give his son season passes and see him only when he managed to be competing locally?