Line of Scrimmage (9 page)

“What’re you doing?”

“Remembering.”

“Remembering what?” he asked as she moved on to his ear, sending a ripple of desire shooting straight through him.

“How I used to be able to get you to do anything I wanted with just a few well-placed kisses.” She trailed her lips along
his jaw.

“I believe what you’re doing right now was how you ended up with a Chippendale dining room to show off Grandma Sally’s china,”
he said dryly, but his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest. He was in pain again but not from his injuries.

She giggled at his restrained grimace as he let her have her way with him.

“So what are you after now?” he asked with a grin, sliding his hands under her sweater to find the soft skin of her back.
He had forgotten just how silky smooth she was.

She felt like a dream he never wanted to wake up from.

She dropped gentle kisses on the battered side of his face. “I’m not sure.”

“Just so we’re on the same page, now would be a very good time to ask for anything you want.”

“How about a divorce?” she asked with a teasing smile.

Stung, he eased her off his lap and got up.

“Ryan . . . ”

He kept his back to her. “I’m going to take a walk.”

She got up and went to him. Resting her hands on his chest, she said, “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair in light of what I was
doing—”

He stopped her with a finger to her lips. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“You wanted some time to yourself, and I could use a minute, too.”

“Ry?”

He turned to her on his way out the door.

“I really am sorry.”

With a curt nod, he closed the door behind him.

She realized after he left that he had forgotten his hat.

Chapter 9

HE WAS GONE A LONG TIME. SUSANNAH MADE SOUP AND grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, but he didn’t come back, and she couldn’t
eat until he did. During his absence, snow began to fall softly at first and then more steadily. As she put several logs on
the fire, she worried he had fallen or reinjured his ribs or worse.

The afternoon had grown dark, and she was pacing in front of the fire by the time he finally came in, his hair white with
snow and his face red from the cold. He carried a soggy newspaper.

Susannah flew across the room and leaped into his arms.

He hissed from the pain of impact but scooped her up anyway.

“I’m sorry. I was mean, and I hate myself for hurting you.”

“Be quiet, darlin’, and kiss me, will ya?”

His lips were cold and demanding, but the kiss was hot, so hot that Susannah melted into him, oblivious to the snow dripping
all over both of them. He eased her back down without losing the kiss.

She pushed his coat off his shoulders, and it fell into a wet lump on the floor. Pulling back from him, she led him to the
hearth in front of the fireplace and urged him down.

“You’re so cold. Why did you stay out there for so long?”

“I went into town to get the paper.”

Her mouth fell open. “You walked four miles to get a paper? Are you out of your mind? You shouldn’t be doing that! You have
a perfectly good car sitting out there.”

“I needed the exercise. All this lying around is turning me into a noodle.”

She pulled off his boots and rubbed his feet through his socks. “Are your ribs okay? Do they hurt?”

“They weren’t hurting until you launched yourself into them,” he said, but there was amusement, not reproach, in his tone.
He toyed with her hair. “I like this concerned Susie. I’ll have to get you worried about me more often.”

“All I ever did was worry about you.”

He took her hands to stop her from rubbing his feet.

“You’ve never told me that before.”

She shrugged. “You’re forever climbing something, scaling something, flying something, testing your limits.

It’s bad enough you let three-hundred-pound men crash into you for a living.” She shuddered. “The other stuff was unbearable.
I spent a lot of time waiting to hear you were paralyzed or dead.”

“Why didn’t you ask me to stop?”

“Because that would be like asking you to stop breathing. It’s who you are. I couldn’t ask you to be someone you weren’t.”
“You’re very silly, do you know that?” She huffed with indignation. “Why does that make me silly?” “Because all you had to
do was tell me it bothered you, and I would’ve stopped.” He kissed her hands. “The team hates my
extracurricular
activities as much as you do. I’ve gotten in trouble with Chet more times than I can count,” he said, referring to the team’s
owner. “He says ‘insurance doesn’t pay for stupidity.’ If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard it a thousand times.”

“He’s right, but of course you know that.”

He shrugged. “You only live once.”

She rolled her eyes. “Are you hungry? I made lunch a while ago. I could heat it up for you.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

She got up and went into the kitchen. When the food was ready, she carried it into the living room on a tray.

Ryan had tilted his head back against the sofa and his eyes were closed.
He overdid it again,
she thought, kneeling down next to him. She combed his wet hair with her fingers.

“Ry,” she whispered, tracing his jaw with her index finger. He didn’t stir, so she leaned in and kissed him.

He awoke with a start and stared at her. “Do it again.”

She kept her eyes open and fixed on his when she did as he asked. But before the kiss could spiral out of control, she pulled
back. “You need to eat.”

“What did you make?”

“Tomato soup and grilled cheese.”

“Yum, cabin food.” He accepted the bowl of soup from her. “I used to crave that combo when I was here alone.”

“Why didn’t you just make it?”

“Without you?” he asked, horrified.

She smiled. “Eat up. I made you the usual three sandwiches.”

“My girl knows me.” He drained the bowl of soup and polished off three sandwiches in the time it took Susannah to eat one.

“How you manage to eat the way you do and not gain a pound I’ll never understand.”

With a big grin, he said, “Metabolism, baby.” He reached for a book on the coffee table. “
The Grapes of
Wrath?
Are you reading this?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

She laughed. “It
is
a classic, you know.”

“I read it in college.”

“So am I.”

He looked at her with surprise. “You’re finishing school?”

“Uh-huh. I took this semester off because of the wedding, but I should be done by the end of the year.

The Grapes of Wrath
is on the reading list for next semester, so I figured I’d get a jump on it.”

“That’s great, Susie. I always felt so bad about you leaving school to marry me.”

“We said I’d go back, but it didn’t quite work out the way we planned, did it?”

He smiled. “Nothing did.”

“The minute you signed on the dotted line with the Mavs, everything got so insane.”

“It was exciting, though, wasn’t it?”

“When I wasn’t terrified, I guess it was exciting.”

“Why were you terrified? I don’t remember that.”

She shrugged. “We had just gotten married. I wanted to settle in and nest, but we had nonstop obligations,events, fund-raisers,
fans, security, money. So much money. It was mind-boggling. I was so afraid you’d forget you had a wife or you’d forget to
come home.”

“I never did, though, did I?”

“You never forgot to come home.”

“I never forgot I had a wife, either,” he said emphatically.

“Never?”

“Not once. Ever.”

Susannah studied him. “All those women, Ryan, throwing themselves at you everywhere you went. You’re going to tell me you
didn’t ever, you know . . . ”

“I was never unfaithful to you. Never. Not once. I never thought about it. I never considered it. I never did it. I still
haven’t.”

“You’re not serious,” she said, snorting with disbelief.

“We broke up more than a year ago. In all that time—”

“There’s been no one else.”

She shook her head. “I know you. I know what you . . .

need. I find that very hard to believe.”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“There were rumors when we were still together,” she said quietly.

His face turned as stormy as the weather. “Whatever you heard, none of it was true.” He took her hand and looked into her
eyes. “You can believe the gossip mongers or you can believe your own husband.”

Susannah was torn. She wanted so badly to believe him, but there was a nagging doubt deep inside that left her chilled. She
must have shivered because he reached for her. The moment she was close to him she was warm again.

He kissed the top of her head. “I have something for you.”

“You do?” She tipped her head back so she could see him.

“Stay put. I’ll be right back.” He eased himself up, went down the hall to the bedroom, and returned with a small box wrapped
in red foil paper.

Puzzled, she asked, “Where did you get that?”

“I’ve had it for a while. I saw it in a window in Houston, and I’ve been hoping I’d get the chance to give it to you.” He
handed it to her. “Open it.”

She tore open the paper to find a jeweler’s box.

Inside was a charm: the number ten, encrusted with diamonds. “Ryan . . . ”

“Our anniversary was a big one, and we
were
technically still married.” He sat down next to her by the fire and put his arm around her. “I forgot a lot of important stuff
when we were together, unforgivable things. But I wanted you to know I remembered our tenth anniversary, even though we weren’t
together for it.”

Susannah rested her head on her knees and wept.

Ryan tipped his head into the groove of her shoulder and rubbed her back.

“I have no idea what to do with this new and improved Ryan.”

“I could offer a couple of suggestions if that would help.”

Lifting her head off her knees, she smiled and fingered the delicate charm. “I stayed home alone on our anniversary. I didn’t
see anyone or take any calls. I stayed in my pajamas all day.”

“I came up here and went for a long hike. I wanted so badly to call you. I should have. But things had gotten so hostile between
us. I wanted to tell you I was sorry and beg you for another chance, but I didn’t think that was the day to do it.”

“I wanted to call you, too,” she confessed. “You were the only one I wanted to talk to that day. I don’t know what I would’ve
said. I just . . . I missed you.”

He brought her into his arms.

She rested her head on his chest. “Thank you for this, and thank you for remembering,” she said, admiring the charm again.
“I’ll add it to my bracelet.”

“I was going to get you something bigger, something more significant . . . ”

“No, this is perfect. There’s nothing else I’d rather have.”

She returned the charm to the box and put it on the table.

“It’ll also remind me of ten crazy days one February.”

“Ten days that were maybe the start of something new?”

Raising her head to look at him, she said, “Maybe.”

He kissed her with a passion and a thoroughness that took them both by surprise. She was startled to realize the almost chemical
attraction they’d always had for each other had grown and intensified during their long separation. His tongue tangled with
hers, and the taste that was so uniquely his only fueled her desire for more. When she slid her hand into the back of his
jeans, he moaned and tumbled down on top of her.

Without breaking the kiss, he filled his hands with her breasts and pushed his erection into the V of her legs. He tore his
lips free of hers and dragged in several deep breaths. “Susie . . . God, I want you. I want you more than I ever have before.”

With a coy smile, she lifted her hips to press against his pulsing erection. “I know. I can tell.”

He gazed at her for a long moment before he dipped his head and reclaimed her lips. What had been frantic now became soft
and sensual. The air was electric with the sounds of wet mouths, urgent moans, the crackling of the fire, and the howl of
the wind. The lights flickered once, twice, and then went dark.

Ryan lifted his head. “Well,” he said with the dimpled grin that made her knees weak. “Isn’t this romantic?”

She laughed and brought him back down to her. “You planned this.”

“You’re damned right I did.” He kissed her cheeks, her nose, and her chin.

By the time he made it back to her lips, Susannah was desperate for him. Forgetting about his injuries, she held him tight,
and he winced. “Oh, God, I’m sorry.”

“I’m fine,” he whispered against her lips as he tugged at her sweater. “Take this off.”

She sat up, aware she was about to cross a line. But she wasn’t thinking about Henry or their engagement at that moment. No,
her every thought and emotion belonged to Ryan. His eyes, hot with desire, devoured her as he waited breathlessly to see if
she would do what he had asked. Filled with her own power, she let her fingers linger at hem. He ran his tongue over his lips
as he waited, waited. Finally, his patience ran out, and he reached over to do it himself. The sweater sailed over her head
and landed on the sofa.

Trailing her fingers over his chest, she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it aside. The hair on his muscular chest and washboard
stomach was bright gold in the firelight. “Ry,” she whispered when she uncovered the horrible bruises above and below the
tape on his ribs. “I’m afraid to touch you.”

“I won’t break.”

Careful to steer clear of his midsection, she caressed his chest. Even bruised and battered, he was magnificent. His nipples
stood at attention as she nuzzled through the soft hair to run her tongue over one of them.

He lay back on the floor, exhaled a long deep breath, and closed his eyes. “Once won’t be enough,” he said.

“You know that, right?”

“Hmm?” she asked, intent on what she was doing to his nipple.

“Susie . . . ” With his hands on her face, he found her eyes. “If you make love with me and then go back to him, you’ll ruin
me.”

His words were like a blast of cold air. She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair.

He reached for her. “Come back.”

She lay down next to him, resting her head on his chest.

“Are you warm enough?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“It’s going to get cold in here if the power doesn’t come back on. We’ll have to sleep by the fire.”

“We’ve done it before.”

“I’m going to hook up the generator for the fridge.”

He kissed her cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

“Do you need help?”

“Nah, I’ve got it.”

“Watch those ribs.”

“Yes, Mother,” he said with a teasing smile as he buttoned his shirt and pulled on his boots. Before he got up, he kissed
her. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“I won’t.”

Susannah curled up to watch the fire.
If he hadn’t
stopped me, we’d be making love right now.
She didn’t often think of Ryan as being vulnerable, but he had shown her more with one simple statement than he had during
all the bigger, deeper subjects they had covered during the course of that extraordinary day.

The firelight reflected off her engagement ring, and she realized she hadn’t thought of Henry in hours. In fact, she rarely
thought of him when she wasn’t with him. She loved Henry, but she wasn’t
in love
with him. She couldn’t be because she was still in love with Ryan. This time alone with him had shown her that. Now she had
to decide if she had it in her to give him another chance.

Ryan stomped through the snow to the shed where he kept the gasoline for the generator. “Fucking idiot,” he muttered under
his breath. “You could be in there with her right now. Why’d you have to stop her?”