Fourth Down (21 page)

That was by far the sexiest thing I
had ever seen. Poppy wearing my number. I used to give my teammates
a hard time when their girlfriends would wear their numbers. I
thought it was stupid. I didn’t get it. Now I got it.

When Poppy turned back around, I
grabbed her hips and dragged her down on my lap. Threading my
fingers in her hair I pulled her in for a kiss. A kiss that was
more appropriate for the bedroom than a crowded
airplane.

Poppy broke away, stifling
a giggle, when the flight attendant cleared her throat loudly and
said, “The seatbelt light is on. You need to be in your
own
seat,
Miss.”

Poppy moved over to her own seat, and
I helped her fasten her seat belt, primarily so I could keep
touching her.

“I take it you like my outfit?” She
asked me with an innocent smile and wide eyes that glittered with
mischief.

“Oh, yeah. I fucking love your outfit.
Where did you find the shirt with my number?”

“I found the shirt on eBay. The skirt
and boots are Brooke’s.”

“That’s a skirt? There’s hardly enough
material to count as a skirt,” I said, running my hand far up her
thigh to the hem of the skirt.

Poppy giggled again and slapped my
hand away. We were getting throat clearings and dirty looks from
the flight attendant again as well as several passengers, so I kept
my hands to myself for the rest of the flight, which thankfully was
only fifteen more minutes.

*****

“As much as I want to rip that sorry
excuse for a skirt off your body and make love to you wearing just
my jersey, that’s going to have to wait. We have your birthday to
celebrate,” I said to Poppy as we rode the hotel elevator down to
the first floor. The hotel that LSU had booked for me was swanky
and had a nice sports bar right off the lobby.

“Mmmm, we could celebrate upstairs in
our room,” Poppy murmured as I kissed her neck and moved one hand
under her skirt to cup her ass. Fuck. She was wearing a thong. It
was so tempting to take her back up to the room…or just push the
emergency stop button in the elevator. I could push her skirt up
and take her against the wall…

The elevator dinged, signaling our
arrival on the first floor, and I reluctantly removed my lips from
her neck and my hand from her ass. Poppy’s cheeks were flushed and
her eyelids were heavy.

“Okay, one drink, two max, and then
we’re going back upstairs,” I conceded. Away from the pressures of
school and work, and dressed as she currently was, she seemed more
like a carefree college girl. As much as she did for everyone else,
me included, it felt good to see her having fun for a change. Our
early interactions had been rocky to say the least, and when we
finally got together it was under the sad circumstances of my mom’s
death. We’d never been on an actual date or gone out just to have
fun. It was long overdue.

One drink turned into three, and that
was all Poppy could handle. I didn’t want her to be hungover
tomorrow. She was tipsy enough to want to drink more. So when I
couldn’t take the sight of her dancing around in that tiny skirt
any longer, I picked her up over my shoulder and headed to the
elevator, careful to keep my hand on her ass so no one else got a
peek of the thong I was looking forward to removing with my
teeth.

*****

The first thing I did when I woke up
every morning lately was to reach beside me, but today I only felt
emptiness under the sheets. Groaning I rolled on my back and
cracked one eye open. Someone had pulled open the heavy drapes to
let in the bright morning sun. That someone would be the person
missing from the bed. Why was she up so early and not still curled
up next to me?

I covered my eyes with my hand to
shield most of the sunlight as I searched the room for her. Ah.
There she was. Poppy was dressed in a tank top and very short
pajama shorts. Her long hair was loose and wild down her back. She
was headed to the door of our hotel room. Where was she going
dressed like that?

It took me a moment to realize it was
probably the knock at the door that had awakened me. Poppy swung
the door open wide so a room service attendant could push a rolling
tray into our room. If I hadn’t been butt-ass naked under the
sheets, I would have been up wrapping a robe around Poppy, so this
dude couldn’t check her out. Which he was attempting to do
discreetly as she signed the receipt. His eyes flickered to me and
then down to the floor after seeing the warning on my face. Good
boy. The kid, who couldn’t have been more than seventeen, scurried
out the door.

“Oh, good. You’re awake,” Poppy said
with a smile as she started uncovering plates on the tray. Mmmm,
the smell of pancakes and bacon wafted over to me and had my
stomach grumbling. “And it sounds like you’re hungry,” she
teased.

When she was close enough, I grabbed
her wrist and pulled her down on top of me. “Hungry for you,” I
murmured, nuzzling her neck and inhaling her sweet
smell.

“Oh, no you don’t. You have just
enough time to eat breakfast and take a shower before Mr. Hawkins
will be here to pick you up.”

It was weird to hear her call Coach by
his actual name. I had only ever called him Coach. Checking the
clock, I saw that unfortunately she was right, and my stomach
lurched with nerves this time.

As if she could read my mind, Poppy
ran her fingers through my hair and asked, “Are you nervous about
your interview?”

“No, not the interview. It’s not a
real interview anyway. Coach said it would be casual - a quick tour
of the new athletic facility, going over the job with him at his
office and an informal lunch with some of the other assistant
coaches. He’s already said the job is mine if I want it. What I’m
nervous about is being back on campus, back on the
field.”

Poppy pulled back to look at me
thoughtfully. “Would it help distract you if I showered with
you?”

Oh, hell yes.

An hour later, my stomach was full and
I had been thoroughly washed by Poppy. I never wanted to shower
alone again. She had offered to walk down to the lobby with me, but
I kissed her and left her in the room. It was way past time for me
to face my fears, and I would do it alone. I felt bad leaving her
alone all day, but she assured me she was looking forward to
relaxing by the pool and catching up on some reading.

At exactly 9:00 am, Coach pulled up in
front of the hotel and I slid into his low sports car.

“Ford. It’s good to see you, again.
It’s been way too long.”

“It’s good to see you too,
Coach.”

He laughed. “I’m not sure you mean
that, but I hope you will by the end of today. We could really use
your instincts and natural talent on our coaching team.”

Coach did most of the talking as we
drove toward campus, updating me on the possible recruits they
would sign for next year as well as a quick rundown of the other
assistant coaches. Several of the coaches that were there when I
played were still on the staff.

“You keep in touch with any of the old
team?” He asked me.

“I hear from McCauley from time to
time. Sounds like he’s doing well with the Colts. Other than that,
I haven’t been the best at keeping in touch.”

Again Coach laughed. “You got that
right. I thought I’d never get you back down here. I’m just glad
you weren’t already snatched up by another school.”

I was honored that Coach thought so
much of me, but I still had some doubts that I wouldn’t start
hyperventilating and have a full blown anxiety attack the second I
stepped out onto the field again, even if it was as a coach and not
a player.

As we neared campus I could actually
feel my blood pressure rising. Coach drove directly to the football
stadium and parked right in front of the main entrance. Being the
end of January, it was deserted. But I could remember like it was
yesterday the parking lot full of people tailgating before the
games. The smell of fall in the air as the team would arrive for a
home game. The insanely loud cheers from the crowd as we ran onto
the field to warm up.

Coach unlocked the team entrance, and
we walked to the tunnel that would lead out into the sunshine and
onto the field. Somewhere between the parking lot and the end of
the tunnel, my nerves and fear morphed into anticipation and
excitement. Stepping out into the light, I took a moment to turn a
full circle and take in the huge stadium where I had been a king. I
had ruled this field for three seasons. Coming back hadn’t driven
me completely into the darkness like I had feared. Instead it had
brought me back into the light.

It didn’t matter anymore that it
wouldn’t be my name the crowd chanted on game day. It wasn’t the
fame and adoration I had missed. It was the game.

Coach patted me on the back. “Now
there’s the Ford I knew. It feels good to be back, doesn’t
it?”

Still in disbelief that I might
actually be able to do this, I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, it
does.”

“Football’s in your blood, son. You
might as well accept your fate and come to work for me.”

It was unbelievably tempting to commit
right then and there, but I held back. There was still a lot to
talk about and figure out. Coach walked me through the locker rooms
and the part of the stadium that had been recently remodeled before
leading me across the street to his office in the brand new
athletic facility. All of the training equipment was now state of
the art, and my body itched to get a workout in here.

Sitting across the desk from Coach, I
listened to him give me the rundown of the job, including salary
and perks. Jesus, it blew my mind that I might not have to worry
about every penny anymore. That I would wake up every day to do
something that I loved instead of pouring drinks in a small nowhere
town.

When we went to meet the other
assistant coaches for lunch, I worried that I might get a mixed
reception. Other than Coach and my old teammate McCauley, I had
completely ignored everyone else who had tried to contact me. Would
my jackass behavior come back to bite me?

Turns out I didn’t need to worry. The
guys I knew just seemed glad to have me back, and the new guys were
open and welcoming. We ate burgers, drank beer and talked offensive
strategies. Shit, if this was what I had to look forward to, then I
was in.

When Coach drove me back to the hotel,
he said I could start as soon as I wanted. Ideally he would want me
back on campus by the first of March to get started on planning for
the fall season. That was only one month away. I mentally ran
through what I would need to take care of before I could move. The
pub only needed two weeks' notice, and all my shit was just sitting
in Grady’s basement. A month was plenty of time to arrange for
movers and find an apartment down here. I already knew the area and
where I would want to live.

In front of the hotel, I shook Coach’s
hand, thanked him and promised to give him my decision by the end
of next week. As I impatiently rode the elevator up to our room, I
tapped my foot. I hadn’t felt this good in a really long time, and
I couldn’t wait to share my good news with Poppy. Stepping into our
hotel room, I immediately knew she wasn’t there. The room was
silent and completely void of her warm presence. She must still be
down at the pool. I changed into my swim trunks and headed back
down the elevator.

Sliding my sunglasses over my eyes, I
stepped outside and scanned the pool for Poppy. My eyes landed on
her, and I was aware of my heart thumping in my chest. I had become
accustomed to the rush I felt every damn time I laid eyes on her.
She was lying on her back with one long leg bent on a lounge chair
across the pool. Her eyes were closed, and her face was tipped up
to catch the sun. The red bikini she wore left little to the
imagination, and I couldn’t wait to get her upstairs and pull the
strings on the side of her hips and the back of her
neck.

Walking over to where she lay so
enticingly, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her full soft lips.
Her big hazel eyes blinked open, and my heart thumped again.
Because as exhilarating as it was to get back in the game today, it
was even more so to be back here with Poppy.

From the moment I saw her walk into my
bar on Halloween, we had been working our way toward each other.
For the last month we hadn’t spent a night apart. She anticipated
my needs and was there for me in a way no one else had ever been.
Would I be able to leave her behind?

Standing there, staring into her eyes,
watching her mouth curve up into a smile just from seeing me, I
seriously doubted it. That left me with only one option.

Chapter Fifteen

Poppy

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your
captain speaking. Welcome aboard Delta flight 257 from Baton Rouge
to Buffalo. The weather is clear all the way up the east coast, so
we should have a pleasant trip.”

I buckled my seatbelt and leaned my
head back against the seat. Ford was shoving my carry on into the
overhead compartment. With his arms raised, his t-shirt rode up to
expose his washboard abs visible above his low slung jeans.
Gorgeous, delicious abs that I had explored thoroughly just last
night.