Holding Holly (Love and Football Series) (5 page)

Holly hadn’t arrived back at the table yet, so he texted his mama and his teammate Drew McCoy: I’M SAFE. STUCK IN NOEL. WILL CALL YOU TOMORROW MORNING.

Twenty minutes later, Derrick had ordered additional food for Holly and her grandma to carry out. He’d also settled up with the pizza guy on both the autograph he’d promised and the bill. He hefted two shopping bags full of food and beverages while Holly clung to his arm. The pizza guys flipped the “closed” sign over and locked the front doors behind them.

The weather conditions had deteriorated significantly in the hour and a half or so since they’d walked to the pizza place. Derrick was glad Holly knew where she was going. He wouldn’t have had any idea how to get her back home in near white-out conditions. Packed ice and snow crunched under their feet. The blowing snow smacked them in the face.

He wondered if they could move faster if he carried her.

She pulled him around the corner and onto the street where her grandmother lived. There wasn’t a car on the road right now. He saw the glimmer of light from the houses on either side of the street, but he couldn’t see details. The only sounds that registered was the howling of the wind.

“Does it snow like this all the time?” he asked her.

“What?” she said.

He put his mouth closer to her ear. “Where’s your grandma’s house?”

“Halfway up the block.”

They were both bent almost double against the swirling wind and snow. Every step was an effort for him. He couldn’t imagine how she could stand up in this. He dropped her hand and reached around her waist to pull her into his side. If they couldn’t make it to her grandma’s house, they’d freeze to death out here.

“Come on, Holly,” he shouted. “We’re almost there.”

He felt her arms wrap around him. “Three more houses,” she shouted back.

He kept moving forward. The top of her stocking cap tickled his chin. He saw a porch light up ahead through the whirling snow and hoped it was her grandma’s house. Holly tugged him forward and did her best to stay upright.

Mercifully the porch light did belong to Holly’s grandma’s house. They fought their way up the front steps, and Holly tried to grip the doorknob in one shivering hand.

“Let me do it,” he said. He swung the front door open, ushered her in, and slammed the door behind him. A burst of snowflakes followed them inside.

Holly’s grandma was already off the couch and hurrying over to them. “I was ready to call the police.” She reached out to wrap her arms around Holly. “You’re shivering. Come in here where it’s warm.”

“It’s so cold,” Holly managed to get out.

Derrick was cold, too, but not like she was. He’d been so busy trying to get her to talk to him he hadn’t even noticed the weather. He couldn’t believe that a two-block walk had turned into a life-or-death situation that fast, either.

Holly’s grandmother helped her pull off her coat, hat, and gloves while nudging her closer to an iron stove in one corner of the family room. “Derrick,” she called out. “Come on in here. You must be freezing.”

“It’s my fault we weren’t home sooner,” he said to Ruth. “Is she okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Holly’s grandmother said. “Honey, why didn’t you leave when you saw it was getting so bad outside?”

“We were talking and I . . . I . . .” Despite the fact Holly was obviously cold, she pulled Derrick closer to the iron stove. “It’s my fault, Grandma,” she said. “Don’t be mad at him.”

The lights in the house flickered.

Chapter Five

H
OLLY FINALLY STOPPED
shivering a few minutes later, but she wondered if she’d just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. The differences between her life and Derrick Collins’s could not have been more glaring. He’d pulled off brand-new, expensive hiking boots inside her grandma’s front door, and then dropped an equally expensive—and equally brand-new—North Face jacket next to them. They landed on the threadbare carpeting that covered the floors of Grandma’s manufactured home. He still wore what she was sure was a cashmere scarf around his neck as he sat on the worn couch in the family room, which was covered in old blankets.

Grandma managed to make enough to live on from her little yarn shop, but luxuries like new furniture and updated decorating weren’t in her budget. Holly had stayed with her grandma plenty of times over the years, and neither of them minded their humble surroundings. It was home. They had enough to eat, a roof over their heads, and bought clothes and other necessities at a thrift shop in Wenatchee. They squeezed out a little extra to get pizza once in a while or maybe see a movie at the teeny theater in town that showed classic films. Holly was also paying her grandma rent while she was here, despite the fact Grandma had refused the money repeatedly. It would help Grandma pay the electric bills.

Speaking of electric bills, after some pretty intense flickering, the lights and the electric heat thankfully stayed on. Wait until Derrick found out that they didn’t have cable TV, either, Holly thought.

She’d make more money when she graduated from nursing school and got a job, but she wondered if the years of making every cent last as long as possible would stick with her. Saving money was never a bad thing. She was currently in a house, however, with a man whose annual salary was more than both she and Grandma would see in a lifetime.

The less-than-fancy surroundings didn’t seem to bother him. “Is it okay if I put my feet up?” he said to her grandma before using the (worn) footstool in front of the couch.

“Of course it is. Make yourself at home,” Grandma said. “Would you like something to drink, Derrick?” She nodded toward the kitchen. “I can put the kettle on. We have tea, cocoa, or I could make some coffee if you’d like.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I’d actually love a glass of water, please.”

“Coming right up,” Holly said.

She escaped to the kitchen. Shabby chic was in fashion, but Grandma’s home was just “shabby.” It was clean, however. She grabbed a glass out of the cabinet next to the kitchen sink and filled it with fresh water. Her grandma had put the food Derrick brought into the refrigerator already. She was supposed to be relaxing, but she was in the other room fussing over Derrick instead.

“Why don’t you sit down and relax, Miss Ruth?” she heard Derrick say. “I’ll go get that salad we brought you. Maybe Holly can help me find a bowl to put it in too.”

“I can get it,” she heard her grandma insist.

“Oh, no. You have a seat. I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.” Derrick rounded the kitchen door and grinned at Holly. “Your grandma needs some salad.”

Holly pulled the to-go container out of the refrigerator, grabbed a fork out of the drawer, and put them down on the kitchen counter. She handed him the glass of water he’d asked for. “Do you need anything else right now?”

“I’m good,” he said. “Then again, there’s something I forgot.”

“What do you need? Maybe I can help.”

He moved closer to her, and she tipped her head back to look up at him. He reached out to cup one of her cheeks in his big hand. “I had a great time tonight. Thanks for having pizza with me.”

“I had a nice time too. Th-thank you for inviting me,” she stammered. There was so much more she’d like to say, but she was tongue-tied again. He was moving closer to her, and he reached out to put his drinking glass down on the counter.

“Maybe we could try this again when we’re not in the middle of a snowstorm,” he said. “I’d like a second date.”

She started nodding like one of those bobbleheads, and forced herself to stop before he thought she was even more of a dork.

“Yes. I . . . Yes, I would too. I . . . that would be fun.”

He took another half-step toward her. She did her best to pull in a breath.

“Normally, I would have kissed you good night at your front door, but getting us inside before we froze to death seemed like the best thing to do right then,” he said.

“Oh, yes. Absolutely. I—”

He reached out, slid his arms around her waist, and pulled her close. “I don’t want to disrespect your grandma’s wishes,” he softly said. “She said I needed to treat you like a lady.”

Holly almost let out a groan. She loved Grandma, but they needed to have a little chat later. “Sorry,” she whispered.

He grinned at her. “I promise I’ll behave myself, unless you don’t want me to.” She couldn’t help it; she laughed. “Plus,” he continued, “she said you have to be up very early in the morning to go to work, so we’ll have to say good night.”

Maybe she didn’t need sleep. One thing’s for sure, she had no interest in stepping away from him right now. He surrounded her, and she wanted to stay in his arms. Her heart was beating double-time, the blood was effervescent in her veins, and she summoned the nerve to move a little closer to him as she let out a happy sigh.

He kissed her cheek, and laid his scratchier one against hers. A few seconds later, she slid her arms around his neck too. “Good night, sweet Holly. Thanks for saving me from the snowstorm.”

She had to laugh a little. “I think you saved
me
.”

“We’ll figure out who saved who later,” he said. She felt his deep voice vibrating through her. She wished he’d kiss her again. Maybe she should kiss
him
.

He must have read her mind. He took her face in both of his hands. “Don’t tell your grandma,” he whispered. His breath was warm on her cheek.

“Tell her what?”

“I’m going to kiss you.”

Her head was bobbing around as she frantically nodded yes. She probably looked ridiculous, but he didn’t seem to care. Her eyelids fluttered closed as his mouth touched hers, sweet and soft. It wasn’t a long kiss, but she knew she’d never forget it. She felt the zing at his tender touch from the top of her head to her toes.

“A little more?” he asked.

“Oh, yes.”

His arms wrapped around her again, and he slowly traced her lips with his tongue. It slid into her mouth. He tasted like the peppermints Noel Pizza kept in a jar on the front counter. They explored each other for a while as quietly as possible, but maybe not quietly enough.

“Holly, honey,” her grandma called out from the family room. Holly was
absolutely
going to have a conversation with Grandma when Derrick was out of earshot, and she stifled a groan. All they were doing was a little kissing. He rested one big hand on her butt, which she enjoyed. “Would you please bring me some salad?”

Derrick let out a snort. “I’ll get it for you, Miss Ruth,” he said loudly enough for her grandma to hear.

“She’s onto us,” Holly said softly.

“Damn right.” He grinned at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” His voice dropped. “We’re
definitely
kissing on the second date.”

“I’ll look forward to that.” She tried to pull in a breath. Her head was spinning. She couldn’t have stopped smiling if her life depended on it. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay in my room instead? You need a good night’s sleep. Don’t you have to go to practice?”

“I’m sure your room is very comfortable, but I’ll be fine out here. Sweet dreams,” he said.

She felt him kiss the top of her head as he held her. She took a deep breath of his scent: clean skin, a whiff of expensive cologne, and freshly pressed clothes. “You, too,” she whispered. She reached up to kiss his cheek. “Good night.”

Fifteen minutes later she was ready for bed, and she slid between flannel sheets. She set her alarm for four
AM
. Hopefully the wind still blowing snow against her window would stop, and the streets would be plowed enough for her to walk the three blocks to Caffeine Addiction in the morning.

She could hear her grandma’s voice in the family room, and Derrick’s much deeper one. She wanted to hear what they were talking about, but she concentrated on calming breaths as she waited for sleep to come.

He’d asked her out again. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this excited.

A
N HOUR OR
so later, Derrick cleared the dirty dishes off of the family room coffee table, got to his feet, and said, “Is there anything else I could get for you from the kitchen, Miss Ruth?”

“Oh, no,” she said. “You don’t have to do that. I can clean up.”

“Absolutely not,” he teased. “You relax. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Holly’s grandma had forgotten her earlier reserve about him, and told him story after story about her granddaughter. Her obvious pride in Holly’s hard work and perseverance, and her love for her granddaughter, warmed his heart. He knew his mama and grandma bragged about him too. He wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they seemed to think he was.

He hoped he could live up to the person his loved ones believed him to be. He wondered if he could do anything in his life comparable to the brave actions of his grandpa, who’d fought in World War II and marched with Martin Luther King. Derrick’s dad had served his country, too, and Derrick’s brother, Trevon, was still in Afghanistan. Playing in the NFL was a pretty big deal, but he wanted to make his mark on the world as well.

He loaded the few dirty dishes into the dishwasher and returned to the family room to find Holly’s grandmother drowsing in her big chair. He reached out for one of the blankets Holly had brought him before she went to bed and carefully spread it over her grandma.

“Good night, Miss Ruth.”

Her only response was a soft snore. He grinned to himself and grabbed the TV remote. If he kept it down, hopefully she’d get some good rest.

It had been years since he’d encountered a noncable TV set. He settled on a grainy news broadcast from Seattle and pulled some more of the blankets around himself. According to the newscasters, he wasn’t getting out of here anytime soon. The passes were closed due to white-out conditions and resulting avalanches. They wouldn’t reopen until the snow stopped falling. He fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone, and got up from the couch to approach the living room window.

Two bars. He’d better text McCoy and Taylor and tell them he was stuck. He’d call his coach too. Just thinking about explaining why he was a hundred miles from home right now made him stifle a groan. If he couldn’t get coverage, though, he couldn’t call anyone at all. Maybe the cell coverage was better elsewhere in the house. He’d try the kitchen first; there was a window in there. A couple more bars popped up as he got closer to the window. Thank God.