Boxed Set: Intercepted by Love (The Complete Collection): Books One - Book Six (11 page)

Every muscle and nerve in Cade’s body spurred him to go after Andie, but he clenched his jaw and swallowed, holding back.

The entire situation was his fault, plain and simple. He’d come to Itasca to escape the humiliation of throwing an interception in the last few seconds of the Super Bowl, not to fall in love.

But how could he help it? He was a goner from the day he spied Andie underground in the library, all absorbed in her study of King David and his wives. She wasn’t on the prowl for a man but was truly invested in her research. She had no clue about her beauty and how sexy she was, and she was kind and loyal to her family, too. She was the perfect one for him, or so he thought.

Until his past fucked it up. Grinding his teeth, Cade stomped his boots in the snow and headed for his apartment. He didn’t know how he’d do it, but someday, he’d show Andie he was worth her attention.

In the meantime, he had to find their dogs.

His heart sank as he approached his apartment. A crew of reporters stood around petting his Irish setter, Red, and Andie’s golden retriever and collie mix, Gollie. One had his hand hooked onto Gollie’s collar, and another one was feeding Red strips of meat.

The crowd spotted him coming down the hill and approached with their mics jutted forward like bayonets.

“When are you returning to LA?”

“Who was that hot redhead you were kissing?”

Kissing? They’d spied the kiss?

A photographer snapped his picture.

“Step aside and let me get my dogs.” Cade shoved the mics from his face.

“The commissioner has questions for you,” a female reporter said. “Rumor has it you threw the game away to pay off your sister’s gambling debt.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Then tell me why your sister bet heavily against the Flash? Isn’t it against your contract for family members to bet on games?”

“She’s not my sister. I have no other comment.” He tried to sidestep the swarm, but a photographer stuck a big lens into his face, snapping pictures. “Stop taking my picture.”

A female reporter stuck to him like flypaper. “Turning your back on your relatives? Got too big for your britches?”

“I have no family.”

The lowlife who shared his DNA had abandoned him when he was a baby with a cleft palate and shunted him to foster homes. Now that he’d made a name for himself, they were only too happy to give interviews and hit him up for money at every turn.

“You’re about to have one soon,” a male reporter jeered. He stepped aside. “I believe Miss Cash has a lot to say to you.”

Roxanne jumped forward and threw her arms around his neck, aiming to kiss him. He tried to duck, but was hemmed in by the crowd behind him. Her bright red glossy lips landed on his mouth, and when he turned to twist away, she smeared lipstick over his cheek.

Not giving up, she clutched him tight and made smooching noises, even if all she hit was air. Her fur-lined hood flapped over his face as he dodged and gasped to keep from being marked.

Around him, the crowd hooted and hollered, as people shoved pens and articles at him, yelling, “Autograph, autograph.”

Woof. Woof. Red leaped between Cade and Roxanne. He landed his slushy paws on her coat while Gollie tugged on the fur cuffs trailing down her front.

“Ewww!” the model thin blonde squealed. “Doggy breath. I hate doggy breath.”

Her flapping hands and animal-scented fur excited the two dogs who barked and growled with bloodlust frenzy. They nipped and tugged at her fur coat, trying to rip it off her body.

“Get these monsters off me,” Roxanne screamed. She tottered back and fell into a pile of road salted slush left behind by the snowplow.

The dogs jumped on her, chewing the coat. Cade wasn’t about to call them off. Served her right for wearing the pelts of precious animals. He was no gentleman, no pretty boy quarterback, and he didn’t give a damn.

Elbowing his way past the autograph seekers and reporters, Cade strode to the door of his apartment. Right before entering, he turned and held up his hand to fend off anyone from sneaking in with him.

A hand with a mic slipped past the door frame, so Cade grabbed the mic and said, “Tell LA, I will be back.”

Now that he had to prove himself to Andie, he’d face his problems full on. The running game was over.

# # #

Andie took the rest of the day off work. She sat in her father’s room, holding his hand. He was at least trying to interact, a marked change from when he’d first returned from the hospital two weeks ago after his stroke.

“Dad? Did you figure out why David brought back two hundred Philistine foreskins instead of the one hundred King Saul requested?” Andie’s voice trembled from the emotional roller coaster with Cade.

Her parents had been eager to meet Cade, and Dad had even spoken a word when she’d talked about Cade. He would have liked him, too. Her father, a professor, was a closet football fan, always hiding in his den watching the games, but never letting his erudite colleagues in on it.

He grimaced as he nodded, seemingly eager for her to continue.

“David loved Michal and wanted to make sure Saul didn’t renege on his promise for her hand.” Andie picked a piece of lint from her father’s face.

He raised one eyebrow, in the disbelieving way he always played to get her to go on and fiercely defend her theories.

“You’re doing it again, Dad. I bet you want to challenge me, don’t you? You want to say what everyone else believes, that David only married the princess Michal for political reasons, that he was a crafty guy, and he used Saul’s daughter to weasel his way into the kingdom.”

What appeared to be a nod and a half smile glided across Dad’s face.

She was amusing him. Good. She could use some theatrics both to distract herself from the pain deep in her heart and to bring her father toward recovering from his stroke.

“I say it was true love.” She wagged her index finger and tilted her chin up. “Back in the day, if a man were to behave inappropriately with a maiden, such as touching or kissing, and maybe even sleeping with her, he was required to marry her and pay the double bride price.”

Dad’s forehead wrinkled as if to say,
Indeed
?

“Yes, indeed. Who knows? Maybe David was able to sneak around with Michal in that big, big castle and pull her into a dark corner and have his way with her. Probably not, but by bringing double the bride price, and having King Saul count it out in front of his court meant that he was essentially implying to the world that he’d slept with her.”

The frown on Dad’s face was dangerous, as if he’d caught Andie disgracing herself. If he could speak, he’d be questioning her about Cade and whether he should be paying double or not.

Andie’s face heated, but she stood and stretched, looking out the window. Yesterday at this time, she’d been giddy and hopeful about Cade, in the throes of a new relationship. She’d grabbed the day,
carpe diem
, like her mother had said, and opened her heart full force to Cade.

Now? Her innocence was lost.

Behind her, Dad made a grunting sound.

“Oh, sorry, Daddy. I didn’t mean to drop off at the most interesting spot.” She smoothed the creased sheets on his hospital bed and sat at his side. “Obviously, I haven’t proved that he loved Michal when all he did was smear her reputation, and the argument could be made that she was the king’s last daughter and David’s only chance to become son-in-law to the king, and hence in line for the throne.

Dad’s eager nods showed her that was exactly what he believed. Like a modern day Scheherazade, Andie held onto that information for another day.

“I’m still working on my theory, but later events, including an obscure passage in the Bible show what David’s true feelings about Michal were.”

Andie kissed her father on the forehead, even as he rattled the rail of the hospital bed, clearly displeased with her cliffhanger.

“Get well, Daddy. Get well, so we can go to the library and explore this romance together, and you can try and disprove my conjecture.”

“Andie? Gollie’s back.” Her mother cracked the door open. “Someone rang the doorbell, and when I answered it, Gollie was sitting on the porch.”

The golden retriever collie mix skipped down the hallway and into her father’s sickroom. Andie bent and gave the dog a big hug. Gollie’s fur was matted with twigs and dirt from all her adventures, but she was back.

Behind them, her father grunted with approval and reached for the dog who approached him and licked his hand.

“Did you see who brought her back?” Andie’s heart thumped as she rushed to the living room window. It had to be Cade.

“No one. Whoever it was must have rang the bell and walked off. I guess they didn’t want the reward. Speaking of which, did you invite Cade to dinner? I want to thank him for offering the reward on the lost dogs. He must be a very generous man. And you didn’t tell me how your date went. Is he feeling better after his fall?”

Andie put her hand out to stop her mother’s torrent. “It didn’t go well, Mom. Cade isn’t who he said he was. His last name is Prescott, not Preston, and he’s a professional football player.”

“Why would that be bad?”

“You haven’t seen the news, have you?” Andie bit her lip to keep the tears at bay. “He got someone pregnant, and she caught up with him today.”

“Oh, my. I’m so sorry.” Mom wrapped her arms around Andie. “I was wrong. I’m usually not wrong about these things.”

“I know, Mom. Unfortunately this time, I definitely seized the wrong moment.” Someone rang the doorbell, and Andie disengaged from her mother. “If it’s Cade, I don’t want to see him. Don’t invite him in.”

“Sure, I’ll tell him you’re not feeling well.” She walked toward the door, as Andie shut herself and Gollie in her father’s room.

He raised his arm, beckoning her to his side.

“Oh, Daddy! I hurt so bad.” She fell onto the bed beside him.

His good arm hooked around over her shoulder, and he pulled her into an embrace, holding her as she sobbed.

She’d made the right choice to send Cade away. Her family needed her, and she loved them. It was time for Cade to learn that blood was thicker than water. She could never respect a man who’d skipped out on his own flesh and blood, even if that child had not been planned.

Five months later

“Mom, I’m home,” Andie unlocked the front door and smelled smoke. “Mom!”

She ran into the kitchen. A pot had caught fire on the stove, but her mother was not around. Andie grabbed a bin of flour and dumped the contents on the fire, putting it out.

“Mom, where are you?” She opened the window and rushed from the kitchen. “Mom? Where’s the dog?”

Her heart pounding, Andie hurried to her father’s sickroom.

Mom was sleeping in the bed with Dad, holding onto him. She sat up with a start, wide eyed and her nose scrunched. “I smell smoke.”

“I put it out already.” She grabbed her mother’s shoulders. “You’re exhausted. You must have fallen asleep. Where’s Gollie? She would have smelled the smoke and woken you.”

“Oh, I forgot about her. I let her out.” Mom glanced out the window, rubbing her eyes. “Did you see her?”

Poor Mom. She really was exhausted.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go look for her,” Andie said. It was still light outside since it was mid-July, and the sun took longer to set, especially at their northern latitude.

“I have to cook dinner.” Her mother yawned.

“No, don’t. I’ll cook or call for takeout.” Andie bent over the hospital bed and kissed Dad. “You doing okay?”

He barely nodded, but his eyes twinkled with pleasure at seeing her. As an only child, she’d always been close to both parents, but since she and her father studied the same field, archaeology, she was naturally the apple of his eye.

Too bad he hadn’t recovered his speech, but at least he had more movement on his paralyzed side. He was able to sit in a wheelchair and control it with a joystick, but he still required around-the-clock care. Meanwhile, Andie had had to take on a second job, waitressing at the local pizza joint, to help with the bills.

“We can’t afford to eat takeout, sweetie.” Mom patted her back. “Have you thought about taking that Hollywood job?”

“I don’t want to leave you and Dad.” Andie squeezed her father’s hand, heartened that his grip was stronger. “Who’ll come home and find the kitchen smoking if I leave?”

“We don’t want you to leave either, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Mom put her arm over Andie’s shoulder. “Let’s talk about it while we cook.” She looked toward her father. “You agree, don’t you, that Andie should take this job?”

Dad raised his hand with a thumbs up. Okay, so the parents had talked about this and agreed, but Andie wasn’t going to let them push her into it.

About a month ago, a Hollywood agent had called her out of the blue saying he’d heard she was the expert on King David and the romances between him and his many wives. Apparently, Andie’s activities on the ancient Israel reenactment forums had drawn his attention.

The offer was lucrative, easily six figures, to be a consultant on a movie series on King David and his wives, starting with the first movie about Michal, and then going through each of his named wives: Ahinoam, Abigail, Maachah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, and Bathsheba. It sounded like a hare-brained project, since Andie’s theory was that he only loved Princess Michal, but Hollywood always had a way of dragging out a series.

“Everything will be okay, Dad.” Andie kissed her father and left his room. She’d better find her dog who was probably hiding from the smoke. Chicken.

Gollie would never make a good watchdog. She was too friendly and always flopping on the ground, exposing her belly to be patted. As for smoke and fire? Fourth of July had been Gollie torture. She’d hidden under the bed and wouldn’t come out until the next morning.

Andie opened the front door and hollered, “Gollie, where are you?”

“There she is.” Her mother pointed to the dog who slunk toward her from the porch. Her nose was moving and she had a worried look. Yep, frightened of the smoke.

“Come here, girl. I put it out already.” Andie knelt and hugged her sweet puppy, then led her into the house where the dog struggled to squeeze behind the sofa.

“Help me clean up the mess,” Mom said from the kitchen. The burnt flour used to put out the fire was all over the floor and range.

Andie grabbed a broom and dustbin from the hall closet. Her mother definitely needed help, and with her two jobs, Andie barely had time to walk the dog, much less lend a hand with household duties. Another thing to feel guilty about.

“You should take the Hollywood job,” Mom said.

“I can’t.” Andie swept the floor near the stove. “They don’t even know how many movies they’ll make, and this could be a multi-year commitment. I asked them if I could consult from here, but they want me on the set to confer with the actors and actresses. I don’t see why.”

“Maybe living in Hollywood wouldn’t be so bad.” Mom took onions and tomatoes out of the refrigerator.

Actually, Hollywood would be the worst place. Her parents believed she was over Cade. They’d never had the full story, thinking she’d only spent a weekend with him on a casual date.

But being in Hollywood, where the Los Angeles Flash had their stadium on the shores of Lake Hollywood right under the famed Hollywood sign, would be pure torture.

She tried not to keep up with the tabloids, but face it, every time she logged onto the computer, she searched for Cade Prescott. Every. Single. Time.

She kept up with the gossip, the social media, the random images people posted of him on the internet, and his team news. She also cyberstalked Roxanne Cash, the woman who claimed to be pregnant with his child, a pregnancy that was in its seventh month.

Cade and Roxanne must have had some gag order agreement, because there was no news beyond the initial story. He hadn’t been seen with her, and they appeared to live separate lives, although Roxanne’s brother, Rob, continued to be Cade’s agent.

“Quiet much?” her mother mumbled at the cutting board. “Put on some water to boil for the spaghetti?”

“Sure, Mom.”

“I know you don’t want to leave me and Dad, but there’s something I haven’t told you.”

Something about the way her mother hesitated drew chills down Andie’s scalp. “More bad news?”

“It’s not bad news, per se, and your father and I didn’t want to burden you with this, but we can’t afford for your father to have the rehabilitation care he needs, even with your second job. We didn’t want to ask you for help, but if you took this Hollywood job, you could lend us the money, whereas right now, we’re behind on all our bills, including the rent, and your dad spends all his time in bed instead of getting the physical and speech therapy he needs.”

“Oh, Mom, you should have told me earlier.” Andie wiped her face with both hands. “I didn’t know. You know I’d do anything for you and Dad. I thought you wanted me here to help you.”

“I do want you, but you have a life to live, and with the extra money, I could hire an aide to help with your father’s daily needs. Of course, we’d rather have you here than the money, but …”

“But today’s fire, right?” Andie wrapped her arms around her mother. “I love you, Mom, but you’re exhausted.”

“I am, sweetie, and I’m not pushing you to take the job if you truly don’t want it. It’s only if you were holding back because of us, and you really would have liked to take it, then, I’m letting you know it’ll help us, too.”

She’d plumb run out of excuses. How could she have been so selfish, thinking only about avoiding Cade when it was clear her parents needed the money? Besides, maybe she could move them out to California. It wasn’t as if they had to stay in Itasca for any reason.

“I’ll take it, but you don’t have to pay me back. I owe everything to you and Dad, and I’ll be more than happy to send everything I make to you, minus living expenses, of course.”

Her mother bit her bottom lip, hesitating for a second. “We’ll miss you so much, but you have your own life to live.”

The whistling of the tea kettle cut short their embrace. While her mother tended to the spaghetti, Andie rushed to the computer to accept the job offer.

# # #

She accepted.

Cade read the text from his buddy, Ronaldo Silver, director and producer of the
Love Lives of King David
series. He should be happy and high-fiving himself, but instead, his heartbeat kicked up a notch and tightness seized his chest. After five long months, he’d finally get another chance.

True, the cloud of Roxanne and the baby hadn’t cleared, but he was doing the right thing, paying for Roxanne’s prenatal care and taking full responsibility, including future joint custody.

She wasn’t due until the third week of September, right after the start of the season, so he’d worry about the baby’s arrival later. Right now, the only job he had other than training camp was to convince Andie he was the man for her.

Cade texted a message to Ronaldo,
Great. Inform me of her travel plans.