Second Chance Hero (27 page)

Fifteen minutes after seven. He’d never pegged her as one who’d back away from a challenge.

When he’d issued it, he’d had no idea what he was offering. After an afternoon relishing the thought of her company, he still had no idea. But over the years he’d learned to trust his instinct. All he knew was he wanted to talk to her and now he had his chance.

The door opened and Mallory entered to a smattering combination of “good job coach” and congratulatory pats on the back or high fives.

As she slowly made her way toward him, he admired the way her jeans embraced her body, the way the navy t-shirt she wore showed off her oh-so-delectable curves.

He could imagine her as spokesmodel for his latest development. She was the perfect symbol of Ranch Estates. Part urban chic, part country waif. But considering the fact that she hated everything those estates embodied, he figured he’d better count her out for now.

Even her walk was whiskey slow. One long burn until it hit you where it counted.

Sweet anticipation punched him in the gut as she finally approached the table in a slow, self-assured walk.

“Mr. Alexander.”

Her voice rolled over him making him think of the Gulf Coast after a summer storm, deceptively gentle with a killer undertow.
 

He’d just let her think she was in charge.

Gesturing to the seat across from him, he corrected, “Brenton, please.”

Within a few seconds of her taking a seat and agreeing to call him by his first name, a waitress named Pearl had taken their drink orders, telling “Coach Baber” hers was on the house.

After accepting, Mallory settled back against the seat and started right in.

“So you have a business proposition?”

All business. He smiled and shook his head.

“That I do. But I never talk business until dinner’s over.”
 

“And here I was thinking we’d do business first and dinner later.” The look she sent him said she owned this town, the way her finger rested lightly against the side of her lips had his blood pressure higher than recommended.

Oh, she was very good. But he’d been making and breaking deals for far too long to let a little sex appeal ruin everything. “I’ve learned I need to know my partners before making any arrangements. And I’ve learned dinner is a great way to do just that.”

He was saved from her answer by Pearl’s presence. The silver-haired waitress delivered Mallory’s diet soda and his iced tea before taking his order of a cheeseburger and onion rings. She simply asked Mallory if she wanted her usual. And then she pointed out the new addition to the menu. The Mal Baber combo. A cheeseburger with mayo, no onions and extra crispy French fries. After a few seconds more of congratulations, Pearl headed to the kitchen to deliver their orders.

As soon as she was gone, Mallory frowned. “So you figure you can get to know people over one dinner?”

“Not actually get to know them. But I have a better idea about what drives them.”

She sipped her soda and leaned forward. “All right then. Based on the last five minutes, the five minutes I agreed to give you anyway, what can you tell about me?” She ended the question with a flirty smile.

That smile reminded him to proceed with caution. He didn’t dare make this personal. At least not yet.

At the same time, he figured he’d learned quite a bit about Miss Mallory Baber in the last five minutes.

“Well, let’s see. You’re somewhat conscious of your diet, but not overly so. The soda, cheese and mayo on the burger and french fries.”

“That was easy.”

She wasn’t a bit impressed, but he was a long way from done.

“You’re most comfortable in surroundings you’re familiar with. After all you picked Charlie’s for this meeting. You like attention, but not too much. You’ve practically basked in joy with every ‘good job, Coach Baber,’ but you cringed when you saw the Mal Baber combo on the menu.”

“I didn’t.”
 

Her incredulous tone made him smile even more, but he didn’t bother to argue the point with her.
 

“You’re considered ‘one of the guys’ in this town, even by the women. Which to my way of thinking is a sacrilege. A woman who looks, talks and walks like you should never be thought of as one of the guys.”

That had her speechless, and while she was there, he figured he might as well get things honest before they went any further.

“But you don’t think of yourself as one of the guys. Not a bit. You’re fully aware that you’re a beautiful woman, and you’ve decided to make sure I know it. You’ve probably tied every male in this county around your little finger with that smile of yours. They don’t even know they’ve been had. You, Coach Baber, are a con artist. But that won’t get you what you want from me.”

All flirty pretense was gone from her face, anger replaced it. Restrained anger, and he had to admit that was sexier than the simpering smile, the seductive walk or the finger beside her lips.

But she knew she’d been caught, and she wasn’t going to deny she’d been using her sex appeal to try and get to him.

“What will get me what I want?”

He stirred his tea. “Like I said. Dinner first business later.”

Oh he did love the negotiations. She didn’t even realize they were ongoing. But they were. He’d called her bluff. Now they’d settle in for the long haul. Her initial five minute time limit long forgotten.

“They don’t see me as a guy.”

“Sure they do. How many women get high fives and pats on the back when they walk in a crowded diner?”

She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “How many women coaches win state? Probably equal numbers. Plus half the guys in here asked me out back in high school.”

Interesting choice of words. “Asked?”

“I went out with a couple of them. See that guy over by the front counter in the John Deere cap?” She pointed with her straw. “That’s Beau Parker. He took me to senior prom. That’s where he met his wife Alyson. And that guy over by the jukebox.” She nodded. “That’s Jeremy Richards. We dated the month after senior prom before he left town to work the summer harvest. He’s married to my friend Ginger.”

“Any more?”

She shrugged. “More asked. But with my daddy being the coach and my five brothers still around, it made life kind of difficult as far as dating went.”

“I notice Beau and Jeremy were a part of the high five crowd.”

He’d noticed more than that, and it surprised him. The men in this town must have been conditioned against seeing Mallory Baber as anything more than sister material.
 

“I guess I’m just a high five kind of girl.”

Maybe to men under ten and over eighty. Somehow Brenton didn’t think Mallory would appreciate that thought.

Time to move on.

“So when did you know you wanted to coach?”

She finished her first soda and sat the glass at the edge of the table. “When did I not know would be more like it. I grew up on the field and at the games with one of the greatest high school coaches around. It came naturally. When did you decide to take over small towns and turn them into booming metropolises?” She ended the question with an innocent smile that reminded him of an interview he’d seen Katie Couric conducting with an indicted mob boss. She’d had that same look before she’d gone in for the killer questions.

He figured he could either put off the question as business or answer with some sort of candor. This situation called for the latter.

“I could never imagine Serendipity as an urban center. But there’s certainly room for growth. To answer your question, I made this move for my daughter. I wanted her to grow up in a safe environment, but I wanted her to get a well-rounded education, and your schools offered that. And then there was your softball team. Nina’s been approached by Olympic scouts. She lives for the sport. I didn’t want her lost in a huge program.”
 

During the conversation Pearl had delivered their food. Brenton didn’t necessarily want to eat right then, but he figured the normalcy might keep Mallory talking. And he wanted her talking. Wanted to hear more about who she was and what made her tick.

As he reached for his burger, he watched, completely aware of Mallory’s reaction to his reason for living in Serendipity at the same time he pretended not to notice.

She ignored her food and her drink and stared at him dumbfounded. So much for normalcy. “So in a way, it’s my fault you’re here?”

He finished his first bite and offered her an onion ring. “I hadn’t thought of it like that, but now that you say it, I guess you’re right.”

She turned down the onion ring and sat there looking so deflated he almost felt a little sorry for her. “Hey now. None of that. Ask me another question. But remember no business.”

She scooted the french fries around on her platter. “How much money did you make when you sold your Internet company?”

A topic he truly enjoyed. A moment he relished remembering. “Millions. Many, many millions.”

She finally tried a fry, but she didn’t seem to enjoy it much.

“Did you always plan on being a millionaire or did you just get lucky?”

He could practically hear the venom dripping from her words.

“Rarely are millions made by the man with no plan. But luck certainly played a role.”
 

She’d yet to take a bite of her burger. Her soda sat untouched. And she was breaking her crispy french fries to bits. He was going to have to make her angry again. It was either that or push her hair from her face and tilt her head back so her eyes met his. And if he did that, he couldn’t be held responsible for what happened next.
 

“Actually, the same could be said about women. Rarely are women won by the man with no plan. Like convincing you to meet with me. I planned that. Made sure I was sitting right up front next to you.”

She pushed her plate away. “You had no idea I’d know about your meeting with Mayor Jenkins and the board.”

He finished the last of his burger and tried again to offer her an onion ring. When she just sat there, waiting, he shrugged as if it made little difference to him.
 

“True. But I wanted to meet with you anyway.”

“We’ve met lots of times. I’m your daughter’s coach for God’s sake.”

“I think you know what I mean.”

This hadn’t been his plan earlier, but he’d learned to trust his gut. He wasn’t going to back down now.

She looked around the diner and he could tell she was making sure no one was paying attention to them.
 

She leaned closer. “I think you better spell it out.”

He waited a few seconds, using the silence that surrounded them to heighten the moment. And silence there was, in spite of the cacophony of country twang roaring from the jukebox and voices blurred together with register rings and yelled orders from the waitresses to the kitchen help.

After a few seconds, he finally spoke. “It’s fairly simple. I want you.”

Good Lord Almighty. The man had just sat there after finishing a burger and offering her onion rings and said he wanted her.
 

He was out of his mind.

While she sat trying to ponder a coherent response, Pearl chose that moment to come over and make sure everything was okay.

“You sure, honey? I can’t remember the last time you didn’t eat Charlie’s fries.” Pearl shot Brenton an evil glare and Mallory was thankful someone realized the cause for her lack of appetite.

After assuring Pearl that she was fine and listening to Brenton effuse about the best burger in Texas, Mallory watched the waitress walk away and then spoke through gritted teeth.
 

“You want me? You sit there knowing I can’t stand you or what you represent, knowing I’d like nothing more than for you to move to Arkansas...or...or, Iowa, or maybe even Mars, and you say you want me. What am I supposed to say to that?”

He looked so smug, so damn sure of himself sitting there watching her. What she really wanted to do was reach over and scratch his eyes out. Damn it all. She was losing!

“I guess I interpreted your entrance the wrong way.”

Oh, he knew very well what she’d been doing. How dare he turn it around on her? “You know I was trying to...I don’t know. But it wasn’t this.” She slapped her napkin on the table. “I’m done with this discussion.”

He sat back, regally, and she could imagine him sitting just like that, watching her take her clothes off piece by piece. The thought left her breathless, excited and furious. With herself as much as him.

“I told you we’d discuss business after dinner.”

“This is your business?”

“You can’t tell me it’s a surprise.”

No she couldn’t. But somehow while they’d been talking, she’d forgotten. He seemed genuinely interested in her life. Somehow he’d figured out what bothered her most about living in Serendipity. She’s always been just another one of the guys. And he’d called her beautiful. And he’d asked about her job.

She was a fool.

“You know my brother thinks you’re a fine upstanding man, or he would have never sold you his land.”

“Your brother is a smart businessman. And you don’t need to remind me about your five protective siblings. We were just discussing how difficult they made dating when you were younger. Let me ask you something, Mallory. How difficult have they made dating since you came back home?”

His finger was slowly brushing back and forth across the table, and she could almost imagine it touching her in the same smooth way.

“So this is some kind of altruistic offer? You want me because I don’t have a date every Friday night?”

His hand stopped moving. “Don’t sell yourself short. I never do anything for charity. At least not if I don’t get something in return. I don’t want you because I feel sorry for you.”

He leaned closer, elbows on the table, hands under his chin. And Mallory tried to pretend they were talking about ERAs and batting percentages. Problem was, her imagination kept making her naked. Crazy!

His voice merged with her thoughts.

“And from the minute you sashayed into this diner, I could imagine running my hands through your hair and all over the rest of your body.”