Foolish Games (14 page)

Hank’s daughter had pink hair.
Will wasn’t sure why he found that fact so disconcerting, but he did. The Blaze GM was a taciturn, studious man who managed the team like the former military officer he was. It was hard to reconcile that personality with a father who’d tolerate his teenager dyeing her hair . . . pink.

Yet there Hank stood in Will’s great room, a bemused expression on his face as he watched his daughter coo at Owen. The baby was fascinated with her, studying the scene intently from his grandmother’s lap. Even more confusing, Sophie with the pink hair seemed very familiar with Will’s mother, as if they were long-lost friends. For her part, his mother chatted warmly with the girl but avoided making eye contact with Hank.

Damn it!
Will slammed his bottle of beer down on the end table. Could Julianne be right? Was something going on between Hank and his mother? He needed to have a serious talk with the team’s GM, and it needed to happen now.

He wandered across the room. “We need to talk.”

Hank’s cool eyes assessed him. “Yes, we do.” He followed Will to his study.

Will wasted no time getting to the point. “What are you doing in Chances Inlet, Hank?”

The GM leaned against an old pie keeper Will’s mother had lovingly refurbished, his hand shoved into the pockets of his khakis. “There are some pretty nasty rumors going around, Will. Tales of defensive players being paid to deliberately injure their opponents. Your name keeps coming up as one of a short list of individuals who can corroborate those rumors.”

Will stood stone faced, saying nothing. He’d already had this discussion with team management a month ago, and his position hadn’t changed.

Hank sighed and sat down in one of the leather chairs. “Look, Will, I know you’ve never been paid to take out another player while you’ve been with the Blaze. You’re one of the most respected guys on this team, not only for your play, but for your integrity.” He pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up on his nose. “But if you know something, for Christ’s sake, Will, cooperate with the league. The commissioner is going to come down hard on both players and teams. He won’t be so forgiving if you hold out on him.”

Will played with an old Hot Wheels car on his desk. It was one of the few toys he’d had as a child. Owen would have mountains of Hot Wheels and trucks and other toys to play with; Will would make sure of it. “I already told you, Hank. I don’t know anything.”

“Damn it, Will! You need to think about protecting your reputation. If you won’t do it for your team, do it for your wife and your son. And your mother,” Hank added.

Will spun around. “Ah, yes, my mother! Let’s talk about her. What exactly is going on with you two? I didn’t even know you were acquainted with her beyond a casual hello at a game. You and your daughter seem pretty cozy with my mom out there, though.”

Hank leaned back in the chair and peered at Will over steepled fingers. “Your mother is a very kind woman. She met Sophie at your wedding and they’ve become friends.”

Will was sure he would have remembered a girl with pink hair at his wedding, but he’d had other things on his mind that day. It also didn’t surprise him that his mother would bond with the girl. They were kindred, free spirits. But Hank was giving off a predatory vibe when it came to his mother. And Will didn’t like that one bit.

“And you?” Will asked. “Are you and my mother . . .
friends
?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know Hank’s answer.

“Whatever is or isn’t going on between your mother and me doesn’t affect you.”

“The hell it doesn’t! If you’re cozying up to her to get information about me, don’t.”

Hank rose from the chair. “If I want information about you, Will, I’ll ask you directly, as I have been doing over the past month. My advice to you would be to decide where your loyalties lie, before it’s too late.” He paused in opening the door. “And I’d never insult a beautiful woman like your mother by using her for anything. Not when she deserves a lot more.”

Will stood in the center of his study, dumbfounded. It wasn’t enough that he had a wife and child he hadn’t expected. Or a scandal of epic proportions hanging over his head. Now he had to worry about his mother and whatever Hank Osbourne’s interest in her was.

Julianne poked her head around the door. Her smile was radiant as she basked in the excitement of hosting a dinner party. Will would rather stick a hot poker in his eye right now than sit down to dinner with Hank and a petulant Brody. But one look at his wife and he realized he couldn’t deny her a thing.

“Dinner’s ready.” Since her confession earlier this afternoon, she’d seemed happier, more focused. But now, she looked at him shyly as if she were unsure how to deal with him. She held out her hand. “Come on, let’s eat.”

Will’s fingers grasped hers before he could think. Maybe it was better if he didn’t think but just enjoyed the feel of her hand in his.

 • • • 

Annabeth chewed her dinner without tasting it. Somehow, she’d assumed Julianne’s dinner party would consist of Gavin and his mother, Patricia. Will was very selective about who he socialized with and who he let in his home. It was just another example of her naïveté that she hadn’t suspected Hank, one of her son’s bosses, would be joining them for dinner.

Her entire day seemed to be thrown off balance with Hank’s arrival. He’d made his intentions clear to her in the shop. She just wasn’t sure how she wanted to handle it. Annabeth had been in relationships before, but not with men of Hank’s caliber. Mostly, she’d been with men who needed fixing or a rebound after a relationship gone wrong. Nothing about Hank Osbourne needed to be fixed. He was the most self-assured man she’d ever encountered—a fact that intimidated her but aroused her at the same time.

Hank raised his wineglass in a silent salute when he caught her surreptitiously looking at him. She quickly glanced around to see if the others noticed, but there seemed to be three separate acts going on at this crazy dinner party. Brody was doing his best to engage Sophie in conversation, teasing her about some event at the Blaze holiday party. And Will and Julianne, seated at opposite ends of the table, seemed to have eyes only for each other. In and of itself, that alone was a stunning development.

The scene she’d walked in on earlier this afternoon hadn’t really surprised Annabeth; she’d had an inkling there was more to this pretend marriage than either spouse believed. Truthfully, she was glad Will had feelings for his wife. Owen deserved a shot at the happy family she hadn’t been able to provide for Will. But the marriage wouldn’t survive if neither partner could trust the other, and Annabeth was nervous that building that kind of trust would take them longer than the few weeks they’d been married.

“My compliments to the chef.” Hank raised his wineglass to toast Julianne. “If you ever decide to give up designing, you could open a restaurant.”

Brody choked on his wine.

“Thank you.” Julianne shot a look at Brody. “Cooking is as much a passion as designing is. Sophie, I understand you design jewelry?”

Sophie beamed beside Annabeth. “It’s nothing fancy. Annabeth is selling it in her store.”

Will’s eyebrows rose a fraction.

“It’s been very popular,” Annabeth said.

“She is?” Julianne smiled at Annabeth. “In that case, I’ll have to come have a look. I love to wear jewelry that’s unique and one of a kind.”

“I’m going to work in the shop this weekend, aren’t I, Annabeth?” Sophie asked, and Annabeth nodded.

“How long are you planning on staying?” Will directed the question at Hank.

Hank didn’t take his eyes off Annabeth as he answered. “Through the weekend.”

Annabeth grew warm under both Hank’s and her son’s gaze.

“Well,” Julianne piped in, “that should give me plenty of time to shop at the House of Sophie.”

Sophie clapped her hands together. “Oooh. That’s my goal, to have my own jewelry design house.”

Annabeth didn’t hear whatever Sophie said next because the dueling gazes of her son and Hank were making her increasingly uncomfortable. Unable to take it anymore, she excused herself to go check on Owen.

She had no sooner reached the nursery when she heard the echo of a pair of footsteps following her. She prayed it wasn’t Hank. Or worse, her son. Instead, it was Julianne who followed her into the room where Owen slept peacefully. She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved. Definitely, she was surprised.

“Is everything okay?” Julianne asked as she gently adjusted the blanket covering her son.

“I thought I heard him crying, but he seems fine,” Annabeth fibbed.

Julianne glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “I meant, is everything okay with you?”

Her daughter-in-law was perceptive. Annabeth had tried not to form too much of an attachment with Julianne, knowing that she’d be gone from Chances Inlet in a matter of months and would probably never be back. But it was clear there was something more than just Owen pulling Will and Julianne together. She only hoped they both figured it out before it was too late.

“I don’t want to like you,” Annabeth blurted out.

Julianne’s eyes went from quizzical to sad, but she acknowledged Annabeth’s admission with a firm nod. “You don’t have to like me,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip. “As long as you always love Owen.”

Shame brought a flush to Annabeth’s face. “That was hateful of me, wasn’t it?” she whispered.

“No, it was fair.”

“No!” Annabeth shook her head vehemently. “It wasn’t. I’m the last person who should be judging any woman. You’re Owen’s mother, and whether this marriage lasts three months or thirty-three years, that’s not going to change. At the very least you deserve my respect. But I think it would be hard not to like you, too.”

A slow grin spread over Julianne’s face. “I’d really like that.”

Owen rustled in his crib. Julianne put a finger to her lips and motioned for Annabeth to follow her into the adjoining bedroom.

“Let’s start again,” Julianne suggested. “You rushed out of the dining room like you were upset. Is there anything I can do?”

“You could not invite Hank Osbourne to dinner.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“Aha!” Julianne bounced down on her bed. “At the risk of sounding thirteen again, I think he likes you.”

Annabeth picked up a pillow and, under the guise of fluffing it, gave it a firm punch. “He’s made no secret about that.”

Julianne sat Indian style on the bed, her chin resting on her hands and a broad grin on her face. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Why not?” Julianne protested. “He’s a very handsome man. And he’s got all his teeth and all his hair.”

Annabeth threw the pillow at her.

“Seriously, Annabeth. You’re a beautiful, financially independent woman with no one but yourself to answer to. Hank’s a pretty good catch, by all accounts. My friend Carly used to work for him. When I talked to her this afternoon, she described him as a very loyal, caring man who’d be devoted to any woman lucky enough to catch his eye.”

Annabeth was mortified. “You talked to your friend about this?”

“Well, I didn’t name any names, if that’s what you mean. But I wasn’t going to invite some man over here to leer at my son’s grandmother without knowing something about him!”

Annabeth didn’t know whether to smack Julianne or hug her. “How did you know there was any interest on his part, anyway?”

Julianne picked at a string on the bedspread. “I might have seen you two in the shop this morning.”

Annabeth plopped down on the bed beside her. “Does Will know?”

Julianne snorted. “I mentioned it, but he’s a bit obtuse. He believes what he wants to believe.”

Annabeth laughed at that. Her son would not be able to steamroll over his wife.

“He’s only in town for the weekend, Annabeth. There’s no harm in enjoying his company
and
enjoying his attention. You deserve it.”

She was right, Annabeth thought. She couldn’t get her heart broken in three days. Besides, he wouldn’t be able to discover all her faults in that short time.

There was a knock at the door followed by Sophie’s voice. “Annabeth?”

Julianne pulled open the door and smiled at Sophie. “Oh gosh, we left you defenseless down there with the NFL’s finest, sorry.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “I’m used to it. Hey, Brody says there’s a great little ice cream stand a few blocks from the inn. It’s called the Patty Wagon. It’s named after the innkeeper. Isn’t that cool? Daddy and I are going to go check it out. Do you guys want to come with us?”

Julianne gestured to the nursery. “Owen’s down for the night; I need to stay here. How about you, Annabeth?” Her smile held a challenge in it.

Annabeth wasn’t sure she was being wise, but there was something about Hank Osbourne that she wanted to explore. Perhaps, if she kept their encounters light, they could be friends. He was Will’s employer, after all. And Sophie’s father. She enjoyed knowing his daughter and wanted to keep that relationship intact.

“I think that sounds lovely.” Decision made, she linked arms with Sophie and headed out the door.

Julianne put her hand on her back and stretched.
“That’s the one thing about cooking that I don’t enjoy: cleaning up.”

Will harrumphed as he stacked the frying pan in the cabinet. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

Their guests had left nearly an hour ago, Brody leading the way to the small ice cream stand that was sure to be packed with holiday weekend tourists. She and Will had just conquered the mountain of dishes left behind.

“You know what they say: A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen.”

Will wiped the counters down. “This kitchen was pretty happy the way it was.”

“Hey, at least your house looks like somebody lives in it now.”

Will glanced around the first floor, a pained look on his face. “Yes, yes it does.”

Julianne stuck her tongue out at him. “Tell me the truth. Did you stay around to help me clean up because you really can’t stand to have your space out of order? Or was it because you wanted to be able to watch out the window to see when your mom gets home?”

Will draped a dish towel around the back of her neck and pulled her body into contact with his. “Or, option three, I wanted to be with you.”

His voice was a low rumble underneath her hands on his chest, and Julianne shivered. They hadn’t been alone since this afternoon, when clearly their relationship had hit a turning point.

“Option three works,” she whispered.

Will touched his forehead to hers. “We need to talk through a few things, Julianne.”

“Yeah.”

Will’s cell phone vibrated on the counter. Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he picked it up and answered brusquely.

“Roscoe, can’t this wait until tomorrow?”

He stepped away from her. Apparently, whatever it was couldn’t wait.

Will placed his thumb over the phone’s mouthpiece and sighed. “I’ve got to take this. You should probably get some sleep, anyway, while the baby is sleeping. We can talk tomorrow.”

His face looked strained, as if he wanted to do anything else but take this call. Julianne wanted to reach out and offer him comfort, but they weren’t there yet in their relationship. She felt they were getting closer, but she didn’t want to overstep the invisible boundaries that still kept them apart.

Julianne nodded, and Will disappeared into his study. As she climbed the stairs, she could hear Will’s angry voice as he argued with his agent. She checked on Owen before changing into a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top and climbing into bed.

But she was too keyed up to sleep. Instead, she crawled into the big chair under the dormer and pulled out the sketch she’d begun for Brody’s sister. Half an hour later, the gown was nearly complete; a few notes on the embellishments still needed to be added, but Julianne was pleased and relieved at the finished product.

A sound from the nursery alerted her to the fact that Will was checking on Owen. She heard his footsteps hesitate in front of the door to her adjoining room, before he left the nursery and moved down the hall to his own room. Julianne knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep if they didn’t finish what they’d started in the kitchen earlier. She just didn’t know if she had the nerve to make the first move. Maybe when Owen woke for his two
A.M.
feeding, he’d join her in the kitchen and they could have one of their quiet chats.

“Ah, the heck with it!” Julianne couldn’t wait another four hours to make her last confession to Will. She needed to do it now while she had the nerve.

His door was closed and she knocked softly, but there was no response. The shower was running in the distance. She debated whether to go in, but she’d come this far, so she forced herself to turn the doorknob and go inside.

Will’s bedroom was decorated in much the same style as the room Julianne was occupying, with one exception; the room featured a massive king-sized bed. The bed was situated in front of two sets of French doors leading out to the balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Fortunately, the sound of the shower drowned out most of the roar of the ocean. The door to Will’s bathroom was open, and steam wafted into the room.

The shower stopped, and now it was too late for Julianne to change her mind. She sank down on the bed in full view of the bathroom mirror and waited for Will to emerge. When he finally did, the sight of him stole her breath.

Clothed, the man looked like a Viking warrior, but naked, he looked like a Greek god. Droplets of water clung to his broad back, the lucky things making their way over his muscled torso, down from his tapered waist to his dimpled butt and finally to his hard thighs and defined calves dusted with blond hair.

Julianne’s nipples were painfully hard and she had to cross her legs to quell the tension between them. Will took a pull from a bottle of beer before grabbing a towel and drying his hair. Using the towel to wipe the condensation from the mirror, his hand suddenly stilled when he spied her reflection. Their eyes met in the mirror, but Will didn’t say a word or turn around. Slowly, he wrapped the towel around his waist and grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen. He swallowed two pills with a swig from his beer.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” he finally said, speaking to her reflection in the mirror.

“You shouldn’t be mixing alcohol and pills.”

He arched an eyebrow at her as if to say,
Look who’s talking
.

Julianne crossed her arms over her chest. “I wasn’t drinking that night!” She wasn’t sure if he’d heard her because his eyes had glazed over at the site of her aroused nipples. Rising to her feet, she attempted to take a step toward him.

“Don’t!” he growled, his back still to her. He closed his eyes and his fingers clung to the vanity. “I can’t do this tonight. We need to talk things out, but if you stay here now, we won’t be talking.”

“I just need to tell you something.”

“Not tonight! Please, Julianne, don’t you see? We started at this spot and everything got messed up. If we want this to work, we need to start at the beginning. We need to talk, but I’ve had a pretty shitty evening, and talking is the last thing I want to do with you.”

Julianne was beginning to get annoyed. “Well, thanks for the lovely compliment about my dinner. I just came in here to tell you something, but now I don’t think I want to.”

“Oh, for the love of all that is holy!” Will threw his hands up in the air as he turned and stalked toward her, his towel parting as he walked.

Julianne’s legs gave out at the sight of the magnificent body bearing down on her, and she slumped back down on the bed.

“Oh no, Princess.” He lifted her by her elbows, his fingers hot against her bare skin. “Say what you came to say, and then you’d better run for your life.”

Her hands hovered between them until they finally landed on his chest. He sucked in a breath at the contact. Will was right; she needed to spit out what she wanted to say before things got out of hand.

“I lied,” she breathed as his lips found the curve of her neck.

“You don’t say.”

He was being annoying again, and she dug her fingernails into his chest. He winced before pulling her in closer, his erection nudging against her. Julianne let out a breathy moan before using her lips to soothe the nail marks she’d left on his pectoral muscles.

One of his hands was pushing down her shorts as the other caressed her breast. Julianne needed to tell him before she totally lost her train of thought.

“I lied about the night on Sea Island,” she gasped.

Will pulled back to look at her, his eyes cloudy with desire as he sarcastically arched an eyebrow.

“Go on.”

She bit her bottom lip and took the coward’s way out by avoiding his eyes, instead focusing on his chest.

“That night. I remember it. All of it.”

He placed a finger under her chin, raising her eyes to meet his. “Prove it,” he challenged.

 • • • 

She’d pushed him beyond reason. Will had tried to warn her, but as usual, Julianne had been stubborn and wouldn’t listen. So now he was going to take what she was offering, the hell with talking. Talking was overrated anyway.

They were both naked except for the sexy excuse for a shirt she wore. Julianne slowly pulled it over her head, flinging it to the floor as though she’d practiced the move many times. Will’s mouth went dry at the sight. She took a step closer and their bodies were skin to skin, both of them hot and hard. Waiting for her to make a move was killing him.

Snaking her hands up over his shoulders, she cradled his jaw before finally pulling his head down to meet hers.

“You sure you’re okay with not talking about this first?” he murmured as his lips hovered above hers.

“Stop being such a girl and kiss me.”

It was all the encouragement Will needed. One quick move and he had her sprawled out on the bed. He crawled over her, taking his time, letting his lips get reacquainted with her body, inch by lovely inch.

“Will,” she gasped as he pressed tender kisses along the soft belly that had given him his son. She fisted her hands in his hair. “Come here so I can touch you.”

But Will wasn’t in a hurry. He’d dreamed about having her back in his bed for months now, and he meant to enjoy every moment of it. With his hands, he traced her hips, fuller now after childbirth. She writhed beneath him, her body anxious. He blew a quick breath on her nipples and she groaned, her hand gripping his shoulders.

When he was eventually face to face with her, he could see the desire, and desperation, reflected in her eyes. She didn’t waste a minute, pulling his head down to hers and kissing him. Will let her have her way for a moment before taking over, his tongue twining with hers. Julianne wrapped her legs around his waist and thrust her pelvis against his. He was on the verge of losing control, but he didn’t want the frenzied coupling they’d had on Sea Island. Tonight, he wanted more.

Pulling out of the kiss, he rested on his forearms and stared down at Julianne’s flushed face. She was panting beneath him, and that turned him on even more.

“Somebody’s in a hurry.” His own breathing wasn’t much better than hers.

“Well, that’s because one of us has been doing without for a long time,” she huffed. “While the other one . . . hasn’t.”

That was something he refused to feel guilty about, though. Yes, he’d been in a relationship throughout most of Julianne’s pregnancy. But had she told him about the baby, things would have been different. Obviously he thought so now, but if he was being honest, he wasn’t entirely sure.

He lowered his lips to her shoulder. “This is why we needed to talk first.”

“Yeah, probably.” A tear rolled down the side of her face.

Will erased its path with his lips. His hand caressed her belly before moving lower.

“It’s okay, Princess; I’m going to take pity on you.” He eased a finger inside her and her body clenched around it. Will sucked in a breath. “Is this what you wanted?”

She gasped. “It’ll do for right now.”

Smiling, he eased down to take possession of one of her breasts. They were fuller than he remembered and, as his mouth closed around her nipple, his body jerked in anticipation of what was to come. Julianne’s moans of pleasure were driving him wild, the rhythm of his thrusting finger meeting the cadence of her gyrating hips.

She came on a long, deep moan that nearly caused him to climax along with her. Will sank his teeth into her shoulder, then laved the tender spot with his tongue.

“Better?” Will asked when their breathing had returned to near normal.

“Mmm.” She smiled slyly before wrapping her hand around him.

Will closed his eyes at her touch. He wasn’t going to last long if she kept this up. Reaching over to his nightstand, he withdrew a condom from his wallet. Before he had it open, Julianne snatched it from his hand, pushing Will over onto his back.

“It’s my turn.” She deftly rolled the condom over his erection.

Will arched an eyebrow at her as she straddled him.

“Do your best, Princess.” He tucked his hands behind his head.

Julianne leaned down to kiss the tip of his nose, the move so unexpected it was erotic. The curtain of her hair created a sensual cocoon as she kissed his closed eyes, his jaw, and the corners of his mouth.

“Julianne,” he begged, and her tongue was suddenly in his mouth, this kiss more intimate than the last. He sucked on her lower lip and she reacted by grinding her ass against his erection.

“Julianne!” he nearly shouted.

Humming contentedly, she moved lower to gently suck on his neck. “Now who’s in a hurry?” she teased, a fingernail scoring his nipple, causing his body to buck beneath her.

That was the last straw. Will grabbed her by the hips, positioning her over the top of him, and thrust home. She was tighter than he expected, especially after having a baby. He had to catch his breath in order to slow himself down. Julianne’s sharp intake of her own breath refocused his attention.

“You okay?” he ground out.

“Oh, God, yes,” she breathed. “It’s wonderful. You’re wonderful.” She rose up on her knees before slowly coming back down. “Actually, I think
wonderful
may be an understatement.”

Slow wasn’t going to cut it for Will. He let her have her way for a few strokes before bringing her head down for a lingering, deep kiss. Grasping her hips, he increased the pace. Julianne threw her head back, and Will was mesmerized by the sway of her breasts. He leaned up to take one in his mouth.

She moaned his name. Pressing him flat against the bed, she adjusted their angle, still meeting him thrust for thrust. Will reached a thumb between them, searching for her sweet spot. She climaxed nearly immediately, a sob escaping her throat.

He wrapped her legs around his hips and flipped them over, driving into her until she came again. Only then did he let himself follow her over the edge. The ocean churned in the darkness as they lay on the bed, their bodies tangled together. It was several minutes before they both slowly came back to earth.

“Hmm,” Julianne sighed, a glow of faint contentment spreading over her face. “That was so much better than my dreams.” She stroked his calf with the insole of her foot, reawakening his sated nerve endings.