Line of Scrimmage (18 page)

“Thank you, Darling,” Ryan said with a big grin.

“I’m touched.”

“You’ll be missed,” Darling said. To the others, he added, “During these times that try a man’s soul, the best thing to do
is drink—heavily.”

His proclamation was met with loud cheers.

Beers were passed around followed by shots of Jack Daniels.

In the midst of the chaos, Ryan hugged Susannah.

“That went okay, huh?”

“It was great,” she said. “Perfect.”

He was soon swept away to do a shot with his teammates.

Susannah took advantage of the opportunity to escape into the kitchen where she found Nancy still in tears.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Susannah asked the younger woman.

“I just don’t know if I’m ready for all this,” Nancy said in her lilting Georgia accent. “Todd was content to play behind
Ryan. He thought he had years to go before he’d be in this position. There’s going to be so much pressure and attention .
. . ”

Susannah put her hands on Nancy’s shoulders. “All you have to do is provide a warm, soft place for him to land in the middle
of all the insanity. That’s your job.”

“Is that what you did?” Nancy asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

Susannah thought about it. “Not always—not as often as I should have,” she said, startled to discover it was true. “You just
do the best you can. That’s all any of us can do. And while you’re at it, enjoy the perks and use the clout you’ll gain as
his girlfriend—or maybe even his wife someday—to give something back to the community.”

“He wants to get married.”

“You don’t?”

Nancy shrugged. “I don’t know if this life is for me, Susie. I’m not like you. You’re so calm and cool all the time. I wish
I could be more like you.”

Susannah snorted with laughter. “I’m a mess inside, just like everyone else. I’ll let you in on a secret. When I first met
Ryan, I had no idea what a quarterback was.”

“That’s not true!” Nancy said, scandalized. “How could you not know that?”

“I grew up surrounded by women with a father whose primary interest in sports involved horse racing. I was in no way prepared
for the life I’ve led. You’ll figure it out, Nancy, just like I did. Remember—it’s not about whether this life is for you.
It’s about whether that
man
is for you.”

The man in question picked that moment to come into the kitchen, holding Kara on his shoulders. “There you are, honey.” Toad
put his arm around Nancy. “Are you okay?”

With a grateful glance at Susannah, she said, “I will be.”

Chapter 18

JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT, SUSANNAH TOOK A FINAL TRIP through the first floor collecting discarded bottles and cans.

Ryan came in after walking Darling and Cindy to their car. “What a great party.” His eyes were bright from excitement and
alcohol. “Thanks again for pulling it together so fast, baby.”

“You’ll have to think of some way to thank Carol.

She’s the one who pulled it off.”

“Hmm.” He scratched his chin. “I’m sure I can think of
some
way to thank her.”

“She’ll take whatever you’re doling out,” Susannah said, tying the garbage bag and leaving it by the back door to take out
in the morning.

Ryan snaked his arms around her from behind. “What about you? Will you take whatever I’m doling out?”

When she didn’t reply, he turned her around. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

Susannah looped her arms around his waist and leaned her forehead against his chest.

“Susie? What is it? You haven’t changed your mind in the last four hours, have you? I can’t believe I filled the house with
football players ten minutes after you agreed to give me another chance. Good move, Sanderson.”

“It was fine. They were very well behaved.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I realized something tonight when I was talking to Nancy about what to expect as the starting QB’s significant other.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve let you take most of the blame for what happened between us—”

“Most of it was mine to take.”

“But not all of it. I wasn’t as supportive of you and your career as I should’ve been.”

His face twisted with confusion. “What are you talking about? You came to every one of my games, you’ve led the team’s work
with Children’s Hospital—and continued that even after we broke up. How can you say you weren’t supportive?”

“I wasn’t supportive of
you.
I learned about football, mostly by being around it, but I never cared about it as much as I could have. I wanted you to do
well and not get hurt, but I could’ve been more interested in the details.”

“I wouldn’t have wanted that, Suze. By the time I got home to you, the last thing I wanted to think or talk about was football.
I told you the other day, I liked that you weren’t a football groupie. You gave my life balance. Without that—and without
you—I can’t imagine what these last ten years would’ve been like. I probably would’ve become one of those overpaid athletes
you read about in the police reports.”

“No
way.
You were too smart and too focused to take that path.”

“I don’t know.” With his arm around her, he flipped off the lights and steered her toward the stairs. “I might’ve been tempted
to become one of football’s famous bad boys—lots of boozing, a different woman every night, you know the type.”

“Highly doubtful.”

“We’ll never know, though, will we? Because I had my beautiful wife to keep me on the straight and narrow.” He rained soft
kisses down her neck, making her tremble. “And you, my love, have miles to go and promises to keep before you sleep.”

“Whatever do you mean, Mr. Frost?” she asked with a coy smile.

“You know.” He sat on the bed and kicked off his shoes. “I’m waiting.”

“You’ll just have to wait a little longer,” she said, heading for the bathroom.

He fell back on the bed with a deep sigh. “Hurry up!”

Susannah rushed through her nightly skincare routine. When she had applied her moisturizer and brushed her teeth, she took
off everything except the requested jersey, which fell to mid-thigh. The silky material against her bare skin made her feel
both sexy and like a nervous bride on her wedding night. In some ways it
was
like a wedding night. Everything was new again, and she was determined to make it work this time.

Filled with excitement and anticipation of all that was ahead for them—tonight and in the future—she emerged from the bathroom
to find Ryan in bed with his back to her. Turning off his lamp, she went around to her side. She smiled when she saw his eyes
were closed and his breathing steady. So much for his big plans.

She left her light on when she got into bed and turned on her side to face him.
How I ever thought I could live
the rest of my life without him, I’ll never know. Well, you
do know, but there’s no use thinking about that stuff
anymore. It’s all in the past now.
Susannah scooted closer to him and reached out to caress his chest.

He pounced.

She shrieked.

“You thought I was sleeping, didn’t you?” he asked with a delighted grin.

With her hand on her heart, she said, “You scared the crap out of me.”

“Do you
honestly
think I would go to sleep knowing you were about to come out here wearing
only
my jersey?” He lifted the hem of the shirt to make sure she had followed his instructions. His eyes went dark with lust when
he saw she had done exactly what he’d asked her to. “Are you
crazy?
”

“You were faking!”

“Yep.”

“And here I was thinking you’re all talk and no action.”

“Those are fighting words,” he said with a menacing scowl.

She had forgotten how much fun he was to be with. Nothing was ever simple or boring or routine. Not with Ryan Sanderson. “I
missed you, Ry,” she confessed. “I missed you every night. I hated going to bed alone after sleeping with you for so many
years.”

He pulled her closer to him. “I missed you so much it made me sick, especially when I imagined you sleeping with Henry.
Ugh.
Unbearable.”

She pressed her lips to his chest and ran her hand up and down his back.

“Why didn’t you ever sleep with him, Susie? Really?”

“I don’t know. It wasn’t for a lack of trying on his part, believe me.”

“Spare me the details. Please.”

“I just couldn’t bring myself to actually do it.”

“Why did you agree to marry him? I don’t get it.”

“He was very attentive and romantic. He said and did all the things I thought I needed and was just there for me. Then we
went to Chicago for a weekend, and he proposed. I was completely shocked.”

“You had no idea he was going to?”

“None at all.”

“Why did you say yes?”

“I was so numb and lost and afraid. He represented safety and peace to me. It’s hard to explain the place I was in at that
time. I had lost Justin, I’d lost you . . .

Nothing mattered.”

“He knew you were vulnerable and took advantage of that.”

“I don’t think there was anything sinister about his intentions, Ry. It wasn’t like that.”

“He took advantage of the situation to get what he wanted. You’ll never convince me otherwise.”

“Then I won’t try.”

“By the way, you never lost me. We got a little sidetracked, but you never lost me.”

“We almost got divorced,” she reminded him. “With any other judge we’d be divorced by now. I’d probably be married to someone
else and still missing you every minute of every day.”

“Then thank God we got the right judge.” He kissed her and caressed her breasts through the silky fabric. “Mmm, so hot . .
. ”

Susannah nudged him onto his back and carefully rested on top of him. “Does that hurt?”

“Not my ribs, if that’s what you mean.”

“Yes,” she said with a giggle. “That’s what I meant.”

“Thank you,” he said, reaching under the jersey to cup her bottom.

“For?”

“Giving me another chance. I’m going to make sure you never regret it.”

“I won’t.”

“You sound pretty confident.”

“I have faith in you.” She kissed him and sighed when his arms tightened around her. “Ry?”

“Yeah?”

“I want us to try again to have a baby.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “I’m so tired of being afraid all the time.

The doctors said it was a fluke, and I have to believe them. It’s not going to happen again.”

“That’s right. I’m ready to do my part.”

She chuckled. “Yes, I can tell.”

Turning them over so he was on top, he rolled his tongue over her nipple through the silky fabric as he entered her slowly.

She moaned and clutched his shoulders.

“We’ll fill this house with kids, if that’s what you want,” he whispered.

“Right now, all I want is you.”

Susannah wasn’t surprised to find Ryan sharing her pillow when she woke up the next morning. As she listened to her stomach
growl, she lay there for a long time wondering if she might already be pregnant. The last two mornings she had woken up starving,
and her breasts were ultra-sensitive like they had been from the very beginning with Justin. Of course that could also be
from all the attention they’d been getting from Ryan lately. Being ravenous in the morning, though, was unusual, and it had
been an early sign of pregnancy before.

After trying so hard to get pregnant the first time, she’d been totally in tune with her body and knew almost instantly that
she was pregnant. She’d just had a feeling about it. She had no such feeling now, just some signs that were hard to ignore.
Wouldn’t that be something?
With all we went through the last time that it could be so
easy this time. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Don’t even
think about it so you won’t be disappointed if it isn’t true.
Yeah, sure, don’t think about it . . .
She decided to make an appointment with her doctor to find out for sure.

Susannah got up to shower and get dressed. She debated over what to wear to Ryan’s press conference and decided on a simple
black dress that would also be appropriate to wear to see Henry. She zipped Henry’s ring into a compartment in her purse and
went to wake Ryan.

While he was in the shower, she went downstairs to make breakfast and an appointment for the following afternoon with her
doctor since it was probably too soon for a home pregnancy test.

Ryan came downstairs wearing a navy pin-stripe suit and a Mavericks tie. “Does this look okay?”

“You look wonderful.” She adjusted his tie and smoothed her hands over the lapels of the suit they had bought on London’s
Seville Row several years ago.

“Like a man who’s going out on top.”

He put his arms around her. “I went out on top last night—a few times as I recall.”

She groaned. “You always have to talk about it, don’t you?”

“What fun is it if I can’t talk about it?”

“Let’s eat so we can get going.”

On the way into the city, they listened to sports talk radio, which was abuzz over Ryan’s press conference. Most of the chatter
was about the fifty-million-dollar contract the Mavericks had offered for three more years and speculation that the press
conference was to announce Ryan and the team had reached a deal.

“If you’re Chet Logler, don’t you give Ryan Sanderson anything he wants?” one of the hosts asked.

“I would think so,” the other replied. “I know I would.”

Susannah glanced over at Ryan in the driver’s seat.

Clearly he wasn’t hearing a word of what was being said about him. “What are you thinking about?”

“I want this thing with Henry done.”

“Soon enough.”

“I want to go in with you.”

“No, Ry. I can’t do that to him. I just need a few minutes with him. You don’t need to worry.” She reached out to caress his
cheek where a muscle pulsed with tension. “Everything’s going to be fine. You need to be thinking about your press conference.”

“I can’t think about anything but you and that guy alone in a room together when you tell him it’s over.”

With a deep sigh, she rested her head on his shoulder.

A short time later, they pulled up to the First Mercantile Bank of Denver on California Street.

Ryan stopped her when she reached for the door. “If you’re in there for more than fifteen minutes, I’m coming after you.”

“It won’t take that long.” She leaned over to kiss him and got out of the car. Inside the bank, she took the elevator to Henry’s
second-floor office. His assistant greeted her with a smile.

“Hello, Ms. Sanderson. Mr. Merrill’s in a meeting.

Did he know you were coming by?”

“No, he didn’t,” Susannah said, wishing now she had made an appointment.

“I’ll let him know you’re here. I’m sure he’ll want to see you.”

“Thank you.” Normally, Susannah would balk at calling him out of a meeting but not today.

Henry’s assistant gestured for her to have a seat while she waited.

Susannah used the time to retrieve the ring from her purse. She curled it into her palm, which was suddenly damp from anxiety.

Five of her fifteen allotted minutes had passed when Henry came out of his office with a group of coworkers.

His face lit up when he saw her.

“Susannah.” He ushered her into his office as the others moved to the elevator. Today he wore a burgundy bow tie with a charcoal
suit. “This is a nice surprise.” He kissed her cheek and sat next to her on the sofa that overlooked the street. If she stretched
just the tiniest bit, she would have been able to see Ryan waiting for her in the car.