Payoff Pitch (Philadelphia Patriots) (12 page)

“I’m not going to let you off that easy. What exactly happened back on the farm? How old were you?”

She gave a little snort as she started to beat the eggs. “I was six, and a little too curious, just like you are now.”

He grinned as he held his hands up in a defensive gesture. “Okay, it’s obviously a state secret. I give up.”

She shook her head. “I was kidding. Look, you know how farmers get grain up into a silo, right? With an auger? Yeah, well, my dad’s auger in those days was practically an antique and not properly guarded, so when I put my hand near the chute…uh, into it, actually…well, you get the picture.”

Noah grimaced. “No way to reattach the finger?”

Teddy snorted. “No way to
find
it. But it probably made a nice little meal for some rodent hanging out in the silo.”

“Jesus, Teddy, that’s gross.”

“You wanted to know,” she mocked.

Noah stood up and eased around the corner of the counter to open the microwave. The unit’s drawer silently slid out at the touch of his fingertip. “I’ll nuke the bacon while you do the eggs.” He reached a long arm around her to snag the package of bacon, brushing her butt in the process. “Why don’t we make enough for the both of us? I eat alone a lot of the time, so it’d be nice to have company.”

Teddy froze for a moment at his glancing touch, inhaling his musky masculine scent. The scene felt both domestic and incredibly intimate—with Noah barely dressed and their bodies touching as they worked together to make breakfast. “I’m not really hungry,” she managed. “I had some yogurt and cereal earlier. Besides, an athlete like you can handle all those extra calories. I can’t.”

“Come on,” he scoffed, his lips quirking up into a grin. “You’re so slim and toned it ought to be illegal.”

When he ran his hand gently down her side and rested it on her hip, Teddy sucked in a startled breath. The warmth of his hand penetrated her shirt and felt wonderful, but it scared her, too. “Uh, Noah, what was that you said the other night about our
working relationship
?”

He gave an exaggerated sigh. “You’re right, but you should stop being so irresistible.”

Though her legs felt boneless, Teddy forced a laugh. “You’re just happy I’m feeding you.”

“Yeah, there’s that, too. I can’t cook worth a damn, though I can sure microwave the hell out of bacon.” He stared layering the bacon strips between paper towels.

“Did your mom teach you how to cook?” he continued as Teddy started to grate the cheddar. “Farm girls all learn how to cook, don’t they? At least they all seemed to back where I grew up in west Texas.”

Almost eight years later, Teddy still felt a stab of pain whenever someone asked about or mentioned her mother. Fifty years from now, if she was still on this earth, she knew she’d still feel it. “Sure she did. I doubt if there are many farm families where the only daughter isn’t expected to do her share of cooking. And cleaning. And barnyard chores. And anything else that needs doing.”

Noah punched a few buttons on the microwave until it started up. “Do you get home much?”

Teddy had told him earlier that she’d grown up on a farm in Susquehanna County, about three hours from Philadelphia. “Maybe once a month—certainly not as much as my dad would like. Neither he nor my brother can cook worth a damn.”

Noah frowned as he picked up his mug and took a drink. “Your mom’s gone?”

Involuntarily, Teddy’s hand doubled its speed as she raked the cheese up and down the grater. “She died about six years ago.”

“I’m sorry, Teddy,” he said from behind her.

Not wanting to get weepy, she didn’t turn around. “Thanks. It was rough at the time.”

And it still is. Who gets over losing their mother at nineteen?
She put down the grater, dropped a slab of butter into the omelet pan and turned on the range.

“Cancer?” he guessed.

Teddy shook her head. “Heart attack.” She added milk and a little salt and pepper to the eggs and started to whisk the mixture as if her life depended on it. Her mother had made a fantastic omelet and had taught her that you had to beat the living hell out of the mix if you wanted it fluffy. “Her family had a history of heart disease, but it was still a shock.”

Shock? It had turned Teddy’s life upside down. She’d withdrawn from SUNY Binghamton so she could stay home for a semester to help her dad cope with both his grief and the farm. The “semester” had then turned into the better part of three years.

“She must have been young,” Noah said. His eyes were filled with more sympathy than she’d expected, as if he could comprehend a loss like she’d suffered.

“Forty-seven.” Teddy said softly as she poured the egg mixture into the heated pan. Though she refused to dwell on it, she’d wondered ever since if she’d inherited those genes and could look forward to a similar fate.

“Bacon’s nearly done,” he said. With the microwave located so close to the range, their bodies kept touching briefly when either of them moved. “We have something in common, though I guess the impact was different for me. I lost my mom, too. She was twenty-nine when she passed, and I was only two years old, so I really only know her from pictures.”

She gazed up at him and couldn’t think of a single coherent thing to say to such a numbing revelation. “Oh, God, Noah, that’s awful.” She poked at the eggs until she had a perfect pancake shape in the pan.

“Hard on my dad, because it happened just like that.” Noah said, snapping his fingers. “She was out riding her horse on the ranch when somehow she fell off and smacked her head on a rock. No riding helmet.” He started to break the crisp bacon into small pieces. “I just wish Dad hadn’t gone right out and married the bitch who calls herself my stepmother.”

Teddy almost dropped the spatula. Noah’s tone had hardened to stone in a fraction of a second. “Why don’t you stop pulling punches and tell me how you
really
feel about her?” she said in an attempt to lighten him up again.

“Cute, but I’m not smiling because there’s nothing good I can say about Samantha Cade. Well, other than that she gave birth to the little brother I love.”

Teddy flipped the omelet. She didn’t want to press him but couldn’t manage to contain her curiosity. “How did you and your father get along after she married your stepmother? It must have been a tough family dynamic under those circumstances.”

Noah reached around her and grabbed the coffee carafe, refilling his mug. “Dad hated that Samantha favored Levi so…openly. So, he tended to lean in my direction whenever Levi and I had a problem. He and Samantha would duke it out, with Levi and me caught in the crossfire.”

The omelet was nearly ready. Teddy filled the centerline with the bacon chunks and grated cheese then folded it in half to finish. “It’s a miracle that it didn’t drive you and your brother apart.”

“Nah, Levi’s a good guy. All he’s ever wanted to do is please Dad.” He snorted. “Wonder why, huh?”

“Can you hand me a plate, please?” Teddy lifted the omelet pan from the burner.

Noah reached into the cabinet behind him and pulled out one of his heavy, gold-rimmed white plates, holding it out so she could lift the omelet onto it. “You said your family has a ranch?” she said, thinking the father must have some serious money, too, just like his son. “What does your father do?”

“He’s an engineer and a businessman. So is my brother.” Plate in one hand and cup in the other, Noah went back to the other side of the counter and sat down in front of his paper again.

Along with his curt response, by burying his nose in the paper Noah seemed to be making it clear that he didn’t want to continue talking about his family. But Teddy couldn’t resist one more question. “From what you told me, it’s not surprising your brother followed in your father’s footsteps. But what about you? How does your father feel about you being a baseball player?”

Noah shrugged as he swallowed a mouthful of omelet. “He’s fine with it, at least as long as I’m not beating the Texas Rangers,” he said with a hint of a smile. “By the way, this is a hell of a fine omelet, Teddy.”

“Thanks.” As the word left her mouth, Toby padded into the kitchen and stuck his nose in Noah’s lap, sniffing up at his plate. “Somebody else clearly thinks it must be good, too.”

Noah sighed as he patted the big dog’s head. “Great. Just what you want in your lap first thing in the morning—dog slobber.”

Teddy couldn’t help a grin. “Welcome to my world. Would you like me to take him away while you eat?”

“Nah, it’s fine. But I’m not sharing my frigging omelet.” He ruffed Toby’s head one more time and gently pushed him to the side. “Toby, sit,” he commanded.

The Poodle gave him a baleful look but complied. Teddy reached into the big jar of dog cookies on the counter and handed one to Noah so he could reward Toby for obeying.

“That was easy,” Noah said, clearly pleased. “You’ve obviously been working with him over the weekend.”

“A little.” Actually, she’d spent probably an hour each day doing basic obedience training with both dogs. Toby had proven to be a bit of a hardhead but was eager to please.

While Noah finished his breakfast under Toby’s careful supervision, Teddy got busy cleaning up the mess they’d made in the kitchen, putting away ingredients, loading the dishwasher and wiping down the countertops. When Noah was done, he took care of his dishes then turned to Teddy. “Thanks for a great breakfast. Now, I need you to come upstairs with me and check out the bedrooms.”

When Noah asked Teddy to come upstairs with him, her jaw had pretty much taken an express elevator toward the floor. Wincing—and damning his subconscious for throwing out what he
really
wanted to do with her—he hurried to explain that he wanted her opinion on the guest bedrooms since he intended to do some redecorating. That was true as far as it went, but it wasn’t the whole truth. He hoped she liked surprises, because he was about to spring one on her.

He’d bought the house last year knowing that the upstairs rooms needed work. The showpiece rooms like the kitchen and living room had been done over by the former owner, but the bedrooms hadn’t been upgraded or even painted in a long time. Not that he intended to waste money on some high-priced decorator to give him ideas—that would only be necessary if he eventually had to sell the place. And selling wasn’t currently on his radar, since he fervently hoped to play out the rest of his career with the Philadelphia Patriots.

As she made her way through the bedrooms, Teddy had declared them spacious and comfortable but altogether too gloomy. Already she had given him some good advice, especially on possible paint combinations. The only bedroom left was his, and no way would he take her into that one. He liked his bedroom just fine as it was, and he also didn’t want her to feel the slightest bit awkward entering his private space.

“We don’t have to go in there, Teddy,” he said as they stopped in front of the bedroom Cristina had prepared for her arrival last week. “Since you’ve been sleeping in it for days, you can tell me what you think without me intruding into your personal territory.”

Teddy gave him a warm smile and barely hesitated before pushing the door open. “Don’t worry, I like to keep things neat, especially when I’m in someone else’s house.”

Unlike the well-lived-in state of Noah’s own bedroom, the one Teddy had occupied couldn’t have been tidier. The bed had been crisply made and not a single item of clothes was lying about. Her suitcase must have been stowed in the closet, and all her grooming and personal items must be in the ensuite bathroom. Coming on top of the way she’d hustled to clean up the breakfast dishes, he figured she must be something of a neat freak.

“Are you sure you’ve actually been staying here overnight?” he said with mock seriousness.

She gave a light laugh that sounded sweet and almost musical in his ears. “Of course. Check with Toby, since he and I have been sharing the bed. It’s a good thing Poodles hardly shed at all or that cream duvet over there would be covered in black hair by now.”

Noah grimaced. “Disgusting.”

But dog hair or no, he couldn’t help seeing himself in that bed with the delectable Miss Quinn underneath him. There would be no dogs in that scenario, of course—just candlelight, soft music and a whole lot of naked skin.

Knock it off, man
.

“Since I think of this as a woman’s bedroom,” Teddy said, surveying the room, “I guess I’d opt for changing from this insipid beige to a pink-based color scheme. But I’d pick one of the dark pink shades, maybe almost a light berry, and add accents of white and something darker, like a blue-gray tone. And I’d ditch those dreary curtains and replace them with white shutters.” She walked over to one of the windows and looked out into the back yard. “Shutters for these big windows wouldn’t be cheap, though.”

Noah had pretty much tuned out everything after “dark pink”.

“You can redecorate this room exactly like that,” he said, “or do it in any of the other bedrooms if you’d prefer to have a different one. Redecorate whatever way you want—new paint, new shutters, new furniture, too. Spend whatever you like.”

Teddy gaped at him from across the room. “What exactly are you saying?”

She looked stunned and slightly wary. He crossed the room to get close to her again.

“Okay, Teddy, I’ll spell it out. I’m offering you the opportunity to live in this house full-time, just like Cristina does. God knows I’ve got a ton of extra room, as you’ve seen. And it would be great to know you were here for Toby and Sadie all the time, because I’m going to be gone a lot all season. Most of the time, in fact.”

“Oh, Noah, really…” The way Teddy put her hands on her hips and frowned at him made him wonder if she was going to give him a stern lecture or slug him.

He threw up his hands. “Just hear me out, okay?”

She eyed him with obvious skepticism but gave what he took to be a reluctant nod.

Noah leaned an arm across the high dresser beside the window. “I don’t think Cristina’s ever going to be willing to do much with the dogs, and frankly after what’s gone on these past few days, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable leaving them with her even if she were to have a change of heart. So, that means I’m going to need you to not only walk them and feed them every day, and I’m going to need you to stay at the house every time I’m out of town, just like you did this weekend.”