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“Sorry,” she said with a small grin. “I’m nosy—at least that’s what my sister always says—but I didn’t peek at your screen.”
“It’s my daughter, Christine. I forgot to text her when I landed, and she was just checking to see if I’m here. She arrived a couple of days ago.”
“Oh, really? So, you’re here to take a vacation with your daughter?”
“Yes. I originally planned to travel with her, but I had a last-minute meeting with the team’s GM and a PR rep yesterday to deal with news of our star quarterback’s knee injury.”
“That requires a meeting?”
My lips twitched in amusement. “You have no idea how much of a PR crisis that can be. If the fans learn that their favorite player has a sprained knee, they’ll panic. In their minds, next season will be over before it even begins.”
Heather chuckled, and it was a throaty sound that somehow slipped behind my ribs. I wanted to hear more of it, maybe while the two of us were tangled in bedsheets, satisfied in the best way and just enjoying each other. That thought was strange as hell because I wasn’t the cuddling type.
And she’s too young.
I felt the need to keep reminding myself of that.
“That sounds intense,” she said, and it took a moment for me to even remember what we were talking about since my mind had run off in the wrong direction. “I didn’t realize a coach would have to worry about that sort of thing.”
I grunted, thinking about the tension headache I had during the entire meeting, and Heather’s smile widened.
“I’m guessing that’s not your favorite part of your job?”
“I’m a coach. I care about the game, not sitting through three-hour meetings to plan a press conference just so the fans don’t freak out.”
“Not into dealing with all the noise, huh?”
I stared at her for a moment. “Yeah. That’s exactly it.”
“Well, at least you’re on vacation now. I’m here for a wedding, and everyone else arrived yesterday. So, I guess we’re both a little late.”
I couldn’t help thinking that I was glad for that. The resort was large, and I might not have had the chance to meet her if we weren’t traveling alone today.
“I’ll be here with Christine and Audrey until Sunday,” I said.
“That’s when I leave too.” Heather tilted her head to the side. “Christine is your daughter, right? Who is Audrey?”
“Christine’s mother. They’re both waiting for me at the resort.”
“Oh.”
One word. One syllable. And it seemed to convey more than a full sentence ever could. Especially when Heather scooted back, putting as much distance between us as she could in the small space while two spots of color appeared on her cheeks.
“I’m sure you’re going to have a great time with your wife and daughter this week. The resort is supposed to be amazing.”
There was a small voice in the back of my mind telling me to keep my mouth shut. That letting Heather think that I was married to Audrey was the best thing to keep me from taking her to bed the first chance I got.
Because she was still too young for a forty-two-year-old man like me, no matter how much I wanted her.
But I didn’t like the way she pulled away from me or the embarrassed expression on her face. She tried to hide it with a smile as she kept talking about some of the resort’s attractions that she’d read about online, but I could see through it. This wasn’t the real smile she’d given me when she thanked me for helping her out like any decent man would do. And it really wasn’t the flirty grin she flashed when she suggested that she owed me.
I needed to correct her false assumption, but as I opened my mouth to tell her that Audrey was my ex-wife, my phone went off again. It was a call this time, and I pulled it out because I figured it was probably Christine. When I saw Audrey’s name on the screen, I quickly rejected the call. We were pulling up in front of the resort now, so she could wait a moment to speak with me.
But Heather saw the name on the screen. Her eyes darted away as I glanced at her, but the way her shoulders slumped as she bit her bottom lip told me what I needed to know.
“Heather-”
“We’re here,” she said, the plastic smile in place again.
