Backfield in Motion (7 page)

Her hair fell to the floor at an alarming
rate as Shanna snipped away. Mac tried not to watch.

Finally, as everyone in the salon oohed and
aahed, Shanna spun her around. Mac gaped at the stranger looking
back at her in the mirror. This person could not be her. No more
split ends. No more dishwater. Her golden hair framed her face and
fell a few inches below her shoulders. Wispy bangs feathered across
her forehead.

“What do you think?” Shanna grinned.

“I think I don’t look like me.”

“Of course you do. We just brought the woman
inside out into the light. We gave you a sassy haircut to match
your sassy personality.” Eunice preened like a proud mama who’d
just given birth. In a way, she had.

“You look beautiful, Mac.” Rachel
gushed.

“You’re gonna knock Bruiser on his nice ass.
He’ll never know what hit him. The boy will be begging for a little
of your special kind of magic.” Lavender winked at her
co-conspirators.

“I’m not doing this to knock Bruiser on his
ass. I’m doing this to be taken seriously by Veronica to earn that
scholarship.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Lavender rolled her
eyes. “Bruiser will be all over you.”

Mac allowed her wayward, sex-starved
imagination to conjure up an image of Bruiser fucking her brains
out. Not a bad idea, really. She glanced up guiltily to find Shanna
and Eunice reading her as if she’d written those dirty thoughts on
her forehead.

“
Our
Bruce and this Mackenzie?”
Eunice narrowed her eyes and studied her, while Mac squirmed.

“We’re just friends.”

“Bullshit.” Lavender turned to Eunice.
“She’s got the hots for him.”

“I do not,” Mac protested, mortified. Heat
spread across her cheeks. She’d muzzle Kelsie and Co., or, even
better, send them on a one-way trip to anywhere she wasn’t.

Eunice’s predatory smirk struck fear in
Mac’s heart. “You’re just the type Bruce needs, much better than
those shallow, emaciated little bitches he parades around for photo
ops.”

“Bruce is an opportunist. He likes his
money,” Shanna added without a bit of resentment.

“When my Bruce gets a look at you, he’ll
drop to his knees and give you the world. We’re that good, aren’t
we, Shanna?”

“We are. She’s going to be his game
changer.”

Game changer? Her? Mac? The woman all the
guys considered just one of the boys?

Shanna nodded and smiled smugly. “The
selfish bastard has met his match.”

Mac hoped like hell she hadn’t met hers.

* * * * *

Bruiser walked into the burn unit carrying a
box of decadent chocolates, handmade at a little store in the
Fremont district. He grinned at Elliot sitting up in the bed,
bandages covering most of his body after his recent surgery. “Hey,
buddy, you’re up. How ya feeling?”

The boy genius and ass-kicker in checkers
frowned and shrugged his bony shoulders.

Bruiser sat on the edge of Elliot’s bed. He
took the lid off the box and held it out to Elliot. “Check this
out. Best chocolates in Seattle.”

Elliot stared in the box and took out one
chocolate. “Thanks.” No smile. No reaction.

“Try it.”

“Later.” Elliot set the foil-wrapped
chocolate on the nightstand. He stared past Bruiser and out the
window.

“You need to start moving around. Stretch
out your new skin so it doesn’t shrink too much. How about you and
I walk up and down the hall a few times.”

Elliot sighed, as if he carried the burdens
of the world on his thin shoulders. Finally he met Bruiser’s gaze.
“Do you think I’ll ever have a girlfriend?”

Bruiser choked and blinked a few times.
Damn, he hadn’t seen that one coming. “You’re a little young to be
worrying about that now.”

“I’m eleven. Girls think I look like a
monster. They’re actually afraid of me, like I’m not human.” He
held up a gnarled and twisted hand. His mouth turned down in a
bigger frown.

Bruiser considered Elliot’s words. “The only
woman worth having is one who sees beyond what’s on the outside to
the great person on the inside.” Bruiser mentally patted himself on
the back for his good answer, even if it made him the world’s
biggest hypocrite. After all, he rarely looked deeper than a
woman’s bare skin.

“What would you know about that?” The kid’s
perceptiveness set Bruiser back on his heels for a moment.

“Uh, because I’ve been there. When she
didn’t get what she wanted out of me, she found someone else who
could give her the money and fame she craved.” Bruiser laughed.
“The joke’s on her. That next year I started in the NFL, and she
ended up with a third-string quarterback who’s been cut time and
again.”

“Now you can have any woman you want.”

“Sometimes that’s a curse.”

“No way.” Elliot squinted at him through the
thick lenses of his glasses, as if not really buying Bruiser’s
bullshit. Only it wasn’t bullshit. It was the honest-to-God truth,
and Bruiser lived with it every day. Women didn’t look beyond
Bruiser’s football fame and outward appearance, didn’t give a shit
about what was inside. Not that he didn’t do the same thing,
because he did. Yet, here he was counseling this kid on looking
beneath the surface. Who the hell was he to talk?

“It can be. People take you at face value
and don’t think you have anything else to offer.”

“If they take me at face value, they’ll
think I’m a monster.”

“You’re not a monster. You’re going to
recover and surgery will take care of the rest.”

Elliot didn’t look convinced. Not one damn
bit. Bruiser didn’t blame him. Not only did Elliot struggle with
physical scars, he struggled with the deep emotional scars of
losing his entire family.

“I understand you drove your friends away.
You were really mean to them.”

“They either stared at me or couldn’t look
at me.” Elliot crossed his skinny arms over his chest and set his
jaw.

Bruiser changed tactics to tough love. “Get
used to it. Be strong and stare right back. Don’t let anyone keep
you from living your life. Give people a chance to get to know you.
In fact, give them a reason to want to look deeper.”

The kid studied him with an intensity that
was unnerving. “Is that what you do?”

Well, crap. Honesty would complete destroy
the point Bruiser was trying to make, while dishonesty would
confuse the kid because obviously Bruiser did superficial really
well. “Hey, we’re not talking about me.”

“Cop out.” Elliot threw Bruiser’s own words
back in his face. “You don’t like talking about stuff, letting
people see you beyond football and all those underwear ads.”

Out of the mouths of babes
. Bruiser
searched for one of his usual quick-witted answers to deflect
personal questions. Standing, he leaned against the windowsill and
put on his casual face.”You don’t think I’m a good example?”
Bruiser asked. No one had ever been that bluntly honest to Bruiser
before, not like this sixty-year-old in an eleven-year-old body.
Hell, Bruiser didn’t break the law, do drugs, or cause any kind of
scandal to the team. He just did his thing and did it well. Sure,
he lent his face and body to more endorsements than he could
recall, but all the money went to a good cause, along with a good
portion of his salary

“Do you think you are? You’re physically
perfect, and you don’t let anyone see inside. Why should I? I’d
trade my brains for your looks any day. It’s easy for you to spout
this crap when you don’t have to deal with people staring at you in
horror or hugging their kids close as if you’re a danger to
them.”

Bruiser sucked in a sharp breath like
someone had punched him in the gut. Unwelcome memories of another
time slammed into him. How the hell did this kid who’d only known
him a few weeks see him more clearly than family and friends who’d
known him for years?

Thank God Elliot’s nurse walked in and
interrupted the conversation. Bruiser excused himself and got the
hell out of there.

The truth hurt like a hammer to the head,
and he damn well didn’t want to face it.

Chapter 6

A sexy angel answered the door of the little
bungalow, and Bruiser’s tongue rooted itself to the roof of his
mouth while his brain forgot his name. Holy shit, Mac never
mentioned a sister, and a really freaking hot sister at that.

Shoving his shock out of the way, he lowered
his voice and slipped into full seduction mode. “Hey, gorgeous.”
Skipping her face, his gaze ran down the woman’s elegant neck and
nestled in the ample cleavage of a tight, sequined pink dress,
right where he wished his hands could settle on two healthy mounds
of incredible tits. Bruiser swallowed and tried to force a few
clever words out of his mouth. None came. Not a one. This never
happened to him. So much for seduction mode. Try dumbshit mode
instead.

“Hey,” she said right back in a sexy,
breathy voice.

Bruiser just stared. Damn, it wasn’t like he
hadn’t been around tons of hot women, but there was something about
this one. She seemed so guileless, so innocent, almost like she
didn’t have a fucking clue what a knockout she was. In his world,
that was damn near incredible. An angel with the heart of a
seductress. His type of woman.

The babe turned around and grabbed a frothy
pink shawl type thing, giving Bruiser an incredible view of a
nicely rounded ass. He cleared his throat and swallowed. His
fingers itched to stroke that ass then give it a firm smack.

“Okay, I’m ready, but I feel seriously
overdressed for the middle of the afternoon.” She turned back
around.

“You’re ready?” He blinked and tried to
process this hunk of information.

She smiled, a big, bad, sassy Mac smile.

Bruiser did a double take. His jaw dropped
open so far it almost came unhinged. “Mac? Is that you?”

“Hard to believe?” Her megawatt smile lit
this side of the earth and gave a new reason for global warming. In
fact, this particular corner of his world was experiencing a heat
wave.

Bruiser nodded. “Like fucking
hard
to
believe. Seriously, that’s you?” Even though his dick liked what it
saw, part of Bruiser was weirdly disappointed.

Mac had been the only woman he knew who was
not hung up on her appearance. Now she was like all the rest. He
couldn’t explain how he could be so turned on and disillusioned at
the same time, but he was. His cock wanted to get her naked and his
heart wanted the real, no-pretenses Mac, which was fucking
dysfunctional on so many levels.

In a split second, her expression changed as
if a cloud blocked out the sun. “Yes, really. It’s me. Who did you
think it would be?”

“I thought you had a sister or
something.”

“Nope, I’m the only female in my immediate
family.” Mac picked up a little purse and took small, mincing steps
toward him on some pretty damn sexy high heels.

He had to grin. Yup, this vision of
loveliness was Mac after all. “Ever been in heels before?”

“Not if I could help it.”

“Hang on to me, baby. I’ll take you for a
ride.” Bruiser held out his arm, and she grabbed hold as she
attempted to walk in those shoes. This was going to be a good
night; he could feel it in his bones
and
his dick.

Okay, dumbshit, that’s no way to think
about Mac. Hell, for all you know she could be gay.
Most of the
guys on the team speculated she was, and Bruiser never really gave
it much thought one way or another. He sure as hell was giving it a
lot of thought right now, hoping like hell Mac didn’t play for the
home team. What the hell, he’d take Brett’s word for it.

Thinking of Brett gave him a stab of guilt.
Bruiser really was a selfish bastard. Brett had a thing for Mac. A
good buddy would further that relationship along, not think about
himself.
Besides, the last thing Mac needs is a guy like me.
A nice, kind stable guy like Brett fit her like a comfortable pair
of slippers, while Bruiser fit as well as those heels she
wore—great for appearances but not the least bit practical in the
long run.

He walked her out to his red and white 1958
Corvette, his baby. He only pulled her out of the garage for
special occasions.

Mac gripped his arm tight as she stared at
the car with greedy eyes. “This car is fucking incredible. You
never told me you had a car like this.”

Bruiser shrugged, enjoying her pleasure in
the car.

“I wanna see the engine.”
Oh, yeah, pure
Mac
.

“Later. I’ll be fed to the steelhead in Lake
Washington if you show up with grease on that dress. Your
girlfriends are a formidable bunch.”

“We can’t let that happen—to the fish.”

He chuckled. “Kelsie scares the crap out of
me. She can be all kinds of serious scary.”

“She scares me, too.” He felt her gaze on
his face. “You know about fish?”

He shrugged one shoulder. Only Brett knew
that he liked to fish. “You’d be surprised what I know about.”

She didn’t look convinced as Bruiser helped
her in the car. She pulled lipstick from her purse and carefully
applied it, dabbing at a smear on one corner of her mouth. Bruiser
stared at her full red lips and forgot to drive. His pants felt two
sizes too small and his cock two sizes too big. He swerved just in
time to miss a street sign.

“Been driving long?”

He let out a long breath and stared straight
ahead, embarrassed as hell. “You think?”

“I think you’re behaving strangely. I don’t
look that different.”

He snorted, unable to come up with any other
response.

* * * * *

Mac forced her eyes straight ahead when all
she wanted to do was stare at Bruiser in that tux. His broad
shoulders filled it out just right. There couldn’t be another man
on earth who did justice to a tux like Bruiser did. But then
Bruiser did justice to just about anything, including a well-worn
pair of jeans.