Authors: Theresa Ragan
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Max stirred, and then rolled to his side when something jabbed at his shoulder.
“What are you doing here?”
Max opened his eyes. The television was on and Lindsay was hovering over him. At first he thought he was having a nightmare, but then he remembered he was in Kari’s house. “What time is it?”
“It’s eleven thirty.”
“In the morning?”
She smiled. “At night.”
He sat up. “I must be getting old.”
“Aren’t we all? Where is everyone?”
“Molly’s upstairs asleep and Kari is out with her new boyfriend.”
Lindsay wrinkled her nose. “Are you talking about Richard?”
“Why, how many boyfriends does she have?”
“Apparently zero.” The expression on her face served only to confuse him further. “Richard is not her boyfriend. He’s had reservations at this la-de-da restaurant for months, before you were even in the picture.”
“She’s not dating him?”
She laughed. “He’s a friend.”
Max sat on the edge of the couch, rubbing his face. “I think his feelings for her run a little deeper.”
“Maybe so, but why would you care? You don’t have feelings for Kari, do you?”
“Of course I do. She’s the mother of my child.”
“Oh, well, of course...the mother of your child.”
Her sarcasm did not escape him.
“Max,” Lindsay said, plunking a hand on her hip. “I’m going to do you a favor and put you out of your misery...and that’s not something I usually like to do.”
He waited.
“Kari likes you...a lot.”
“Then why is she out with another man?”
Lindsay took hold of the remote and shut off the television. Then she went to the door and held it open for him. “Because he asked her out to dinner and she likes to eat.”
Max stood.
Lindsay sighed and added, “Richard is a diversion, a means to help her get her mind off of you.”
“If that’s true, why hasn’t she told me how she feels?”
“Because unfortunately, she’s just as stubborn and pigheaded as you. If you ask me, the two of you are a match made in heaven.”
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Kari’s heels clicked against pavement as she made her way across the parking lot and toward the practice field. Three days had passed since Kari had last seen Max. Dozens of fans stood around the sidelines, hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite NFL players. Although Max wasn’t the tallest man on the field, he easily stood out from all the other players.
Kari looked back over her shoulder at Richard who waited for her in the car.
He waved.
As she neared the sidelines, she watched Max break out of a drill and head her way. A dozen kids and their mother’s pushed and elbowed her out of their way as he approached.
Max signed notebooks and shirts and various other items before he gestured at Kari, telling her to come forward. “Sorry kids,” he said, “but I have to talk to someone and then finish my drills.” He lifted the ropes for Kari to come through.
She ignored the looks of envy as she weaved through the crowd, ducking under the ropes to get to him. Max took her arm and ushered her away from his zealous fans. “What’s going on? Is Molly okay?”
“She’s fine.” With his pads and full gear he was intimidating as all hell, but she inhaled and reminded herself that it was only Max under all that padding. “Sorry to bother you,” she said. “I didn’t think you would be allowed onto the field today.”
“The coach talked to Dr. Stone this morning for clearance. I told him you had already signed the papers.”
“Oh. Then I guess I didn’t need to bring these.” She felt ridiculously overdressed in her fitted cream colored suit and matching heels that kept sinking into the turf. She reached inside her briefcase, pulled out a stack of bound papers, then held them out for him. “Everything has checked out fine, Max. Your blood work looks good. Your cholesterol numbers are all normal. You’re in great shape. I think you can forget all about the family curse and start planning your future.”
A tick set in his jaw.
She thought he’d be pleased.
He looked past her to her car. “Is that Richard?”
She followed the direction of his gaze. “Yes. He found Molly and me the perfect home. We’re off to look at the house now. If I like it, we’ll go to his office and make an offer.”
“Moving, huh?”
“It’s time. Molly and I need a place of our own.”
“Where are you moving to?”
“If we like the house...South Gate.”
His brow creased. “I don’t think I like the idea of my daughter living in that particular neighborhood.”
She wasn’t in the mood to argue with him. “Well, I just wanted to give you these papers in person and tell you despite everything we’ve been through, it was a pleasure working with you.” She held out her free hand for him to shake. She might as well be eighteen again because nothing had changed. Max still managed to make every nerve in her body zap and zing.
He scowled and pretended not to notice her hand. “I want to take Molly to the lake this weekend,” he said. “My family will be there. Molly wanted me to ask you to come along, so what do you think?”
Kari bit into her bottom lip. “I can’t go, Max.”
“The entire Dutton clan will be there. Bring Lindsay with you. It’ll be fun.”
“I don’t know...”
He looked past her. “You’re not dating that pencil neck, are you?”
“He’s not a pencil neck. He’s a very sweet man.”
“So, you are dating the guy?”
“Not unless you count two dinners and a show as dating.”
“You went to dinner with him again?”
“Do you always have to answer a question with a question?”
“Do you?”
She sighed. “Here,” she said, trying to give him the papers again.
“Where do you expect me to put those?”
She took a closer look, starting at his cleats and working her way up well-muscled thighs and extremely hard abs, across a thick chest and neck, stopping at his square jaw and firm lips. “I see what you mean.” She tucked the papers back into her briefcase.
“I’ll get them from you this Friday when I pick you and Molly up at the house,” he said. “Eight o’clock in the morning. I want to get an early start. We’ll be staying a couple of nights, so make sure you pack enough clothes.”
She started to protest.
“The truth is,” he said, “I’m having some trouble connecting with Molly and I could use your help.”
Kari pursed her lips.
“I think we both owe it to our daughter.”
“I’ll go,” she said, “for Molly.”
“Why else?”
“Yes,” she said, “why else?”
“And don’t forget about the opening game next week,” he continued in a cheerful voice. “Just do me one big favor and don’t bring your realtor as your guest.”
She rolled her eyes.
“If you’re real lucky, I’ll get another pass into the locker room.”
“Lucky me,” she said.
His smile made his blue eyes twinkle.
“I better go.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“If you really want to make points with Molly, call her later and tell her to invite a friend to the lake.”
“Thanks,” he said, giving her a long hard look she couldn’t define. “I’ll do that.”
She turned to leave, gasping when he swatted her bottom.
His fans loved his macho man attitude and they cheered as Kari shook her head and walked off. She looked over her shoulder, but Max wasn’t watching her walk away as he usually did. She stopped and watched him instead.
When she climbed into the car, Richard glanced at the papers sticking out of her briefcase. “He didn’t take the papers?”
“No. He said he’d get them from me this weekend.”
Richard backed the car up and drove out of the parking lot. “What’s going on this weekend?”
“Looks like I’m going to the lake with Molly and Max’s family. He’s having a hard time bonding with her. I owe my daughter that much. I want to show her that Max and I can be friends. I think it’s important for her to know she now has two parents and can count on us both for love and support.”
Richard nodded. “Did you see the look he was giving me? Mad Max thinks there’s something going on between us.”
“You think?”
Richard laughed as they drove off. “It’s obvious you’re in love with the guy. Why don’t you just tell him how you feel? Life is too short to have regrets.”
“No,” she answered a little too quickly. “What Max and me share can’t possibly be love.”
“Could have fooled me,” Richard said. “Did I see him slap you on the ass?”
She laughed at the sound of a curse word coming out of Richard’s mouth. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you were jealous.”
He stopped at the light and looked over at her. “I’m insanely, wildly jealous, but you’ve already made it clear where I stand. I just don’t know why you’re lying to yourself. Women swoon at the man’s feet on a daily basis. Why would you be any different?”
“You’ll just have to take my word for it.”
He smiled—a handsome smile. Richard had straight white teeth and a nice strong line to his jaw. There was some definite intensity in Richard’s chocolate brown eyes. But her heart didn’t pitter patter when she gazed at him, and no matter how hard she tried to conjure up feelings for the guy, it just wasn’t happening. Turning her gaze to the window, she watched the trees pass by in a blur. Every time she laid eyes on Max her body hummed like a well-tuned car. Her body was still humming.
God, Richard was right. She’d fallen for Max all over again and she’d fallen hard and who the hell was she trying to fool?
CHAPTER 17
From her upstairs bedroom window, Kari watched Max climb out of his SUV and make his way through the gate and past the newly planted rosebush. He stopped to smell one of the blooms. She couldn’t help but smile at seeing a big man like Max stopping to smell the roses. She sighed. A part of her wished Max had invited her to the lake because he enjoyed her company and because he wanted to start over and give them a fighting chance at happiness...not because he needed her help with Molly. But even if Molly wasn’t involved, she needed to remember that this was Mad Max; the guy on the front page of nearly every sports page. The guy who was often quoted in interviews, listing the pleasures of single life: coming and going as he pleased, answering to no one.
“He’s here, Mom,” Molly shouted from the kitchen.
Kari was still in her bedroom packing. She turned, surprised to see Lindsay standing in the doorway of her bedroom, leaning casually to one side, a folded newspaper in one hand. “They’re called stringers,” Lindsay said, her voice thoughtful.
“What? Who?”
Lindsay unfolded the paper and handed it to her. “I wrote Patti Bertram a letter about men like Cole and Max.”
“You wrote a gossip columnist about our problems?”
“Don’t worry, I changed the names to protect the so-called innocent. Besides, she’s an advisor not a gossiper.”
“What a relief.”
“Patti Bertram says that Weasel and Jerk have all the signs of a stringer.”
“You’re giving me a headache, Lindsay. Who is Weasel and Jerk, and what is a stringer?”
“Weasel and Jerk are the names I used for Max and Cole in the letter I sent Ms. Bertram. A stringer is a man who has relationships with women, but never marries them. A stringer strings women along. He likes having a woman, sleeping with a woman, eating with a woman, all without ever making a real commitment. He often tells women up front that he never intends to marry, so, if and when he decides to leave the relationship, the woman he’s dating has no reason to complain because she knew from the start what she was getting herself into.”
Kari grinned into the mirror, making sure nothing was stuck between her teeth. “There’s nothing going on between Max and me, so I’m really not sure why you’re telling me all this.”
“I know you have feelings for him and I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
“You’re over-analyzing,” Kari said. “Not every man can be easily categorized. A stringer to one woman might be the perfect man to another. It’s all about chemistry and timing. If you ever stopped condemning every man you met, you might have a chance at having a future with someone.”
Kari handed Lindsay her newspaper back and then grabbed her things. “Ready to go?”
Lindsay wagged a finger at her. “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Kari answered with a smile. “Are you coming, or not?”
“Give me five minutes.”
At the top of the stairs, Kari stopped for a moment and listened to Max and Molly as they tried to hold a conversation.
“How are you, kiddo?”
“Good.”
“Do anything interesting this week?”
“No.”
“Nice weather we’re having.”
“Yeah.”
She’d heard enough. Max was right. He needed help.
Kari trotted down the stairs. Through the front window she could see Cole getting out of his car and coming up the walkway toward the house. “What’s Cole doing here?”
“He’s joining us for the weekend. Is that okay?”
“Fine with me,” Kari said. “But I don’t know about Lindsay.”
“I thought they were hitting it off.”
“They were until he failed to call all last week. The picture in the paper of Cole and some actress didn’t help much either.”
Another car pulled up behind Cole’s.
Molly’s best friend, Amanda, climbed out of the car. Kari excused herself, then went outside to talk to Amanda’s mother, waving to Cole on her way to Amanda’s car. A few minutes later Kari headed back toward the house.
“You invited Amanda?” Molly asked Max.
He nodded.
“Thanks!” Molly said to Max as she ran out the door to greet her friend.
“You’re welcome,” he called after her. “Why don’t you and Amanda put your bags in the back of my car while we wait for Lindsay.”
He turned to Kari. “That was a good idea to have me ask her friend to come along. Thanks.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
After Cole transferred his bags to Max’s car, he headed their way. “Did you see today’s paper,” Cole asked as he handed Kari a folded newspaper.
Kari was relieved to see that it wasn’t the same page Lindsay had shown her five minutes ago. On the front page of the entertainment section was an eight by ten picture of Kari and Max running from the grocery store. On the upper right hand corner was another smaller picture of Kari yelling at the paparazzi. Her eyes were narrowed and her nose was scrunched up. “I look like a monster,” she said.
“Not a monster,” Cole assured her. “More like a tiger.” He put out his claws and mimicked the face she was making in the picture. Kari didn’t laugh because another picture caught her eye; a picture of Max and Molly at the bowling alley. The headline read:
Mad Max: The Family He Never Knew He Had.
“I never saw paparazzi at the bowling alley,” Kari said, looking at Max.
“One of the kids’ parents must have sold the picture to the media,” Cole offered.
Kari groaned and handed the paper to Max.
“We better bring this with us,” he said. “Molly needs to know what she’s up against.”
“I’ll go see if Lindsay needs any help,” Cole said but before reaching the front door, Lindsay stepped outside, stopping when she saw Cole. “What are you doing here?”
“Max invited me along. Why, is that a problem?”
“I guess not, but it would have been nice if certain people would have clued me in.”
Max and Kari both reached for Kari’s bag at the same time and headed for the car.