Play Date (Play Makers Book 3) (47 page)

“She’ll stick by him for a week or two, depending on how he behaves. Then she’ll divorce him. After that . . .” His green eyes twinkled. “I’m on her like Bam on teach.”

She giggled. “Lucky Kerrie.”

Johnny eyed Sean intently, then said in a tone that left no room for dispute, “Let’s find some champagne. We’ve got a
ton
to celebrate now.”

Chapter 20

After two more hours, most of the partygoers had departed, leaving the McSpurlings alone on the redwood deck with their best friends, including Jason and Beth, who were still asking questions, trying to catch up. Johnny had sworn them to secrecy about the actual details of Coz’s firing, and Sean had asked for, and been assured of, discretion in regard to his relationship with the guy’s wife.

“We need to go,” Jason announced finally. “Pop’s stuck with the wild bunch. God knows what they’ll do if he runs out of stories.”

Beth stood too, then walked over to Bannerman, took him by the hand, and pulled him to his feet. “My hero.”

“Thanks, babe,” he said, clearly humbled.

When the San Diego Spurlings had departed, Rachel moved onto Bannerman’s lap and poured her heart into the kiss she had wanted to give him for hours. She didn’t care if the others saw it. It wasn’t a secret, was it?

She adored this guy more every day, and would happily love, honor and bang him for the rest of her days.

“Get a room,” Sean advised teasingly.

“Or the bucket,” Johnny added, his blue eyes twinkling.

Rachel gave him a fond look. “You’re as much a rascal as your brother is, John Spurling.”

“Oh, yeah, teach,” Bannerman interrupted in a sincere tone. “I promised Jayce you’d wear the mermaid dress to Dub’s wedding.”

“I vote for that, too,” Sean said teasingly, and Johnny the rascal chimed in with “Me, too.”

She laughed. “Too bad I promised Sophie I
wouldn’t
wear it.”

“Sophie?” Bannerman shook his head. “Since when does
she
get a vote? She’s just a cousin.”

“And the bride.”

“Oh, right.”

Rachel buried her face in his shoulder and giggled helplessly. Because he could read the phone book to her and she’d laugh.

Erica beamed. “Can you believe it? We’re all together. And Coz isn’t your coach anymore. How did Murf pull it off?”

“We should have thought of it sooner,” Johnny admitted. “As soon as he mentioned to the front office that the Triple Threat—
all
of us—were looking at other options, they folded like a cheap suit.”

“You threatened to leave too?” Bannerman murmured. Then he explained to Rachel, “That’s why he’s the big dog.”

“Trust me, I get it.” She beamed at the QB, then at Sean. “You’re a Lancer forever. And after a decent interval, you and Kerrie can date. No more talk of Vegas, promise?”

“I’m all about dating, I promise.”

“Long walks? Ice cream?”

“You read my mind.”

She sighed with relief. Now it was up to Kerrie. Either she’d be “the one,” or she wouldn’t. At least now they’d know. And if they turned out to be soul mates? Then things really would be perfect.

At that moment, a voice boomed from the doorway. “Hey, boys and girls!”

Patrick Murphy, the hero of the hour.

Sean strode over and gave him a brisk handshake, thanking him profusely for getting Coz fired. Then Johnny did likewise, pumping his agent’s hand before turning to Bannerman and explaining,
“This
is why we signed with Murf. He’s an effing genius.”

Rachel hung back, partly to let the men get it out of their system, and partly because she was eyeing the pretty woman in the dark green suit who was standing behind the sports agent. Young—too young to be his wife. Dark hair, a gracious smile, medium height, and an eye-catching chest that defied gravity.

Even more remarkable were her eyes. Rachel hadn’t known many green-eyed people in her life, or at least not that she had noticed. Sean was the first to have made an impact, given the deep emerald tone to his eyes that sparked every time he smiled.

This woman’s were equally gorgeous and twice as huge.

Murf pulled his pretty companion into full view. “Everyone, this is Emily’s cousin, Darcie Kildare. The future of the agency, and with any luck, Bam Bannerman’s new agent.”

Bannerman eyed Darcie’s breasts proudly. “Man, talk about qualifications.”

Rachel dissolved into giggles against his chest, but assured Darcie, “I’m so sorry.”

Darcie arched a teasing eyebrow. “I’ve been forewarned. And the good news is, I can handle anything he dishes out.”

“You think you can break me?” Bannerman demanded.

“I
know
I can,” Darcie told him with a playful shrug.

They all laughed, then Murf said, “She doesn’t officially start until next Saturday at the NFL bash in LA. But I couldn’t resist introducing her ahead of time.”

“We’re so thrilled,” Erica enthused. Then she assured Darcie, “You work for a hero. You know that, don’t you?”

“I’ve known for years,” she agreed. “And not just because he put me through college
and
law school.”

Sean shook Murf’s hand again. “Thanks again, buddy. I’ll owe you forever. And Darcie? See you next Saturday.”

“Wait, Sean!” Erica cleared her throat as though realizing she had sounded too anxious. Then she said more calmly, “Stay for a while. Let’s all get to know each other.”

Rachel arched an eyebrow at the overeager hostess, suspecting Erica saw Darcie as a solution to the Kerrie problem. And why not? Rachel had noticed it too, hadn’t she? For just one, traitorous moment?

Green eyes, unmarried, uncomplicated? Pretty as a picture?

Except Sean wanted Kerrie. And Kerrie loved Sean. So that was that.

“I’ll take a rain check,” Sean said with his trademark smile. Then he shook Darcie’s hand. Shook Murf’s hand again. Exchanged hearty hugs with Bannerman and Johnny. Then unsurprisingly, he kissed Erica on the mouth and told her, “Great party, babe. I’ll owe you forever.”

Rachel sighed. Balance had truly been restored to the universe.

Then he grabbed Rachel herself into a loose embrace and brushed a kiss across
her
lips. Not as hot as the one Erica had received, but still something of a surprise. “Thanks, honey,” he said cheerfully. “See you tomorrow.”

“What the fuck?” Bannerman demanded.

Johnny burst out laughing. “Don’t fight it, Bam. She’s part of his harem now.”

Sean grinned, gave them a final wave, and strolled into the house and toward the front door.

“He’s adorable,” Darcie said with a mischievous smile. “Is he taken?”

Erica answered quickly. “He’s dating a good friend of ours. But don’t worry, we’ll find you someone just as hunky.”

Darcie’s eyes danced. “Sounds good.”

Bannerman turned to Rachel. “We should go too, right?”

“Absolutely.” She smiled at the group, then approached Murf for the first time, extending her hand. “We can’t thank you enough.”

“I’m counting on that,” he said with a confident smile. “Use your influence with your fiancé. And remember my offer.”

“Hey, Bannerman!” Johnny interrupted in his strong, clear QB voice. “Get over here.”

The halfback seemed shocked but complied without question.

Bannerman was taller—bigger—than the quarterback but it didn’t seem to matter when Johnny slapped his hands down on his shoulders, looked into his eyes, and said commandingly, “Great job.”

“Thanks, QB. I’m a lucky guy.”

“I’m talking about the way you found that little kid,” Johnny told him, tightening his grip. “It makes me proud.”

“Thanks, John.”

If they had been wearing helmets, Rachel was sure they would bang their heads together. Instead, they just nodded, friend to friend. Teammate to teammate. Hero to hero.

And because there was nothing left to say, Rachel stepped up to Johnny and brushed a kiss across his cheek. Then she gave Erica a hug, smiled again at Murf and Darcie, and looped an arm through Bannerman’s.

• • •

As soon as they reached Bannerman’s red SUV, she kissed him amorously. “What a night.”

“Yeah, it was the best.”

She touched his jaw. “Did you
ever
see anything so amazing?”

“I told you, teach. Yours are the perfect size for me.”

“What? Oh . . .” She laughed ruefully. “I meant watching Coz get fired.”

He grinned. “Yeah, that was epic.”

She thought about it all. Seeing balance restored to Sean. Being serenaded by the sexiest man on earth, then singing her heart out with him. Seeing the Triple Threat reunited.

Being in love.

Snuggling against his chest, she murmured, “Say it again.”

She expected him to tease her with his usual “How many times do I have to say it?” But instead, he pulled her closer and insisted reverently, “I’m in love.” Then he kissed her and added in a husky, Elvis-inspired voice, “I’m all shook up.”

“What a relief,” she whispered. “Because I’m all shook up too.”

In case you missed it,

here’s an excerpt from

the first book in the series,

Play by Play
.

Former college football star Jake Dublin’s wildly popular sports blog also details his personal life. And lately it’s all about Sophie, the pretty young woman who just moved into his apartment building. His readers know her only as “Elevator Girl,” and they’re all rooting for Jake to score.

The blog posts and banter with his followers is all in good fun, and he fully intends to come clean with the woman he’s wooing and wowing. That is, until she confides that she grew up in a house full of jocks and even dated a few. Her verdict? Never again!

Jake knows he needs to confess. But somewhere along the line he fell in love with Sophie and can’t stand the thought of losing her. So he procrastinates, and blogs, and digs himself deeper into a hole, until it all leads to a showdown that’s so nail-biting, not even the best play-by-play guy could ever have seen it coming.

Chapter One

Jake Dublin: THE OPINIONATED SPORTS GUY

July 14, a.k.a. three weeks before the official NFL preseason begins

Yep, we’re getting close, folks. For my preseason predictions, scroll down a few paragraphs, because today I’m opening with an ode to women. If you visit this blog often, you know that’s not something I normally do. Sure, I have opinions on (nearly) everything and I’m not afraid to embarrass myself by expressing them publicly. Dogs on the couch? Smoking in bars? Hybrid vehicles? Check, check and check, and the list goes on.

But girls/women/humans-of-the-female-persuasion? I try to avoid that topic. For one thing, my experience is limited since I married my junior high girlfriend. I never did the traditional dating thing before marriage, and truth be told, we got married
way
too young, stayed married way too long, and broke up way too painfully. Oh, and I didn’t cheat during the marriage, so no dating there either. After the divorce, I wasn’t interested in another committed relationship (to put it mildly), and I had the good fortune to meet a nice assortment of open-minded women who weren’t looking for romance, just a good time.

Once again, no need to date.

That worked great until yesterday, when I stepped into the elevator at my condo building and saw a girl. Something about her activated the long-dormant dating instinct. I gotta admit, I did
not
see this coming.

So there we were. She was carrying a big box of DVDs, and since I hadn’t seen her around before, I figured she was moving in. Since words are my business, you’d think I then said something witty, but it went something like this:

Me
: Just moving in?

Elevator Girl
: Yes, this seems like a nice place.

Me
: Do you need some help?

EG
: That’s sweet of you, but I’ve got it under control.

Okay, so that phrase—“that’s sweet of you”—kind of threw me. Any guy worth his salt knows it has tons of different meanings. Sometimes it’s out-and-out flirting, right? Sort of like when they marvel at how strong you are when all you did was pick up a twelve-pack of beer. But sometimes it’s a put-down, like “that’s so sweet of you to think you can score with a hot babe like me.” And then there’s the patronizing, mom-ish meaning: “That’s so sweet to try and carve the turkey at age 3, but let’s let daddy wield the big knife, shall we?”

I couldn’t get a handle on what the elevator girl was trying to say. It didn’t seem like a put-down, but not exactly flirting either. And to complicate things further, I actually
am
a very sweet guy (not that the ex would agree with me on that).