The Quarterback Sneak (3 page)

I
nstead of craving a drink
to start his day, Liam hungered for Hayden’s pouty lips. He
contemplated the closed door to his guest bedroom. Was she still in
there, snuggled under the covers? Or had she snuck out at some
point? With his morning hard-on poking through his boxer briefs,
straight toward her door, like a compass pointing north, he dared
not check.

A knock sounded at the front door. Liam
grabbed a pair of sweatpants and pulled them on. He silently cursed
at the badge being waved in front of the peephole. Effective as a
dousing of cold water, it cured him of his erection.

He opened the door to a pair of plainclothes
cops. “What can I do for you, officers?” He had the feeling they
weren’t collecting for a police charity drive.

“Mr. McQueen, we’d like to ask some
questions about last night.” They introduced themselves as
detectives Ortiz and Addison. “We understand you were at the
club—Martini Madness?”

“Sure.” Scratching his day-old beard, he led
them to the living room.

“Shots were fired,” explained Addison.

The detectives declined a seat and began
rattling off questions. They seemed mollified by his answers.
Perhaps this was a formality. After all, Liam didn’t even know the
names of the guys involved. And no one was hurt. Thank God.

“What about Hayden Middleton? She was there
too?” Ortiz asked.

“Yeah, but she left with me.” Not exactly
voluntarily, but the less Liam said the better. Was lying by
omission a sin?

Ortiz nodded. “Do you know where we can find
Ms. Middleton now?”

Both detectives surveyed the living room.
Were they looking for evidence of her presence? A $5000 purse? A
stray high-heeled designer shoe? A lacey push-up bra tossed over a
lampshade?

“Mr. McQueen?”

“Uh…”

“Here I am, officers.” Hayden swept into the
living room, wearing only his jersey.

The fabric fell loosely about her shoulders,
breasts, and waist. Fortunately the hem reached mid-thigh, big and
long enough to cover her world-famous hips and ass. His hand burned
from the memory of slapping those sweet cheeks. Sweat broke across
his brow.
Please, God, let her be wearing panties. And please,
God, erase these sinful thoughts from my mind.

God, was no help. So Liam recited his other
bible, the team’s playbook, in his head while Hayden charmed the
detectives and answered their questions like Entertainment Tonight
was interviewing her.

“Liam, did you offer these gentlemen
coffee?”

Now, she was acting liked she lived here.
Stunned, he stuttered, “Ah, no… I can go make some.”

“No, thank you,” Ortiz said. “We’re done
here, for now.”

“Could I get an autograph for my son?”
Addison asked sheepishly. “He’s twelve.”

The detective wanted a sexpot’s signature
for his pre-teen son? For a second, Liam was stunned. Then he
realized the officer was looking at him. Liam happily scrawled out
a note and signature while Addison explained the boy’s dreams of
someday making it to the pros.

Hayden smiled and chatted with Ortiz as if
she entertained police officers everyday.

“Ms. Middleton, take good care of our
quarterback.”

“Oh, I will,” she promised as she walked the
detectives to the door.

It was on the tip of his tongue to explain
that this wasn’t what it looked like. Only he couldn’t figure out
what it was.

“Please, tell me you’re wearing panties,” he
said as soon she closed the door. He had to know.

Hayden twirled, arms out to display his
jersey, and then she faced him, her blue eyes full of mischief and
mayhem. Hands on her hips, she asked, “Why don’t you come and find
out?”

Her saucy grin heated his blood. He should
have known better than to ask. Been a better man than to objectify
a woman’s body, let alone the boss’s daughter. “Don’t tempt me,
Hayden.”

“I wasn’t much of a temptation last night,”
she pouted.

“Oh, you were a temptation alright. I’m a
Christian, not a saint.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Well, then, as far
as you know, I’m wearing panties. In fact, big, loose granny
panties.”

His laughter bellowed out. ‘Thanks, that
helps. A lot.”

“Good.” But as she passed by him, she looked
up at him with that seductive Jessica Rabbit come-hither glance.
Oh, he wanted to hither all right. He turned his head, unable to
look away. When she tugged up the jersey, giving him a view of a
full moon, the beast inside him howled.

In Sodom and Gomorrah he’d be a pillar of
salt right now. Instead he turned to stone—or at least one body
part did.

When Liam arrived at practice, a selection of
newspaper front pages and tabloid-site copies plastered the locker
room walls. One headline read:
The Saint Saves the Sinner
.
Another one read:
McQueen Rescues the Socialite
.

Various photos caught different angles of
them coming out of the club. One, he noted, proved that she did
have panties on at some point. Not that it mattered—the thong did
little to hide her luscious booty cheeks.

Jake Miller, the running back, said in a
falsetto voice, “Oh, Liam, you’re my hero.”

Liam laughed it off, ready for more
digs.

Digs that were good-natured, that is. “I
didn’t know you were that desperate for the starting position,”
blasted Romer, the rookie quarterback.

The kid seemed to forget that Liam had won
the spot days ago. Silence filled the locker room as his teammates
waited for his reaction.

Liam almost felt sorry for Romer. The kid
probably thought he’d walk right onto the field and be the star.
He’d thought wrong, and now the rookie had a chip on his shoulder.
In the past, Liam would’ve knocked it off. Now, trying to be a
better man—a man of God and a man of peace—he let it go. Holding up
two fingers he said, “Peace be with you, my brother.”

“Fuck that,” said Miller. He pushed Romer
into his stall full of cleats and equipment.

Afterward, the rookie suffered through a
brutal practice as Liam’s teammates made it clear who the Cougars’
leader was. Liam felt pretty good about that as they headed to the
showers.

Until the coach yelled over to him, “The old
man wants to see you, McQueen. At his corporate office. Get moving.
Traffic’s likely to be brutal, and Middleton hates to be kept
waiting.”

Crap.

Would he get a bonus for rescuing Hayden or
a pink slip for taking her back to his apartment?

L
iam hesitated by the open
door. With an ear to the phone, Marcus Middleton waved him into his
stately office at the Wall Street headquarters of Middleton Nuts.
Like many tycoons, the owner of the New York Cougars had his
tentacles in multiple companies. Some made him richer, others, like
the football franchise, were for his pure amusement. Everyone knew
the billionaire toyed with his team like a kid playing
Stratego.

While Liam stood off to the side admiring a
display case of antique guns, terms like margins, options, and IPO
flew over his head. He knew farming, football, and the Bible. And
women. Rephrase that, he knew his way around a woman’s body. No man
could claim to know how a woman’s mind worked. And Hayden’s brain
was in a class all by herself. It didn’t matter that she was
trouble, Liam still desired her.

“Just do it.” Hayden’s father slammed down
the phone and looked up. His expression softened from a stone-cold
businessman to a good ole’ boy. “Hello, son, take a seat.”

Son?
Liam slid into the leather
wingback chair in front of the imposing oak desk.

“I’ll get right to the point.” Middleton
turned the computer screen toward Liam. “My daughter spent the
night at your place.”

Liam eyed the photo that a gossip website
had posted of Hayden leaving his building. How had the paparazzi
known where to find her? He’d never been bothered outside his place
in Tribeca before. Wearing last-night’s dress, Hayden’s
cat-ate-the-canary grin suggested they’d done all the things he’d
wanted to do and more.

Shifting in his seat, he said, “Sir, I was
only trying to help her out. She needed a place to stay.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Yes, sir, I do.” Liam’s palms began to
sweat.

“Then explain this.” Middleton double
clicked and another picture of Hayden opened on his screen. “She
tweeted this to her followers. Millions of them.”

Suppressing a smile, Liam examined the
selfie tweeted from his guest bathroom. She looked so darn cute in
nothing but his jersey that he couldn’t be pissed. Instead an
unexpected wave of possessiveness hit him in the gut, as if the
jersey marked her as his.

The picture’s setting wasn’t
incriminating—but the included text was.

Spending the night at McQueen’s #hottie
#epicnight

No wonder the paparazzi had buzzed around his
building this morning.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”
Middleton’s fierce gaze settled on Liam.

The hashtags didn’t help his cause,
especially the last one. Liam scrambled for the words to explain.
He tugged on his collar for some breathing room. “Sir, I know it
looks bad, but I swear, she slept in my guest bedroom.”

Middleton leaned forward in his throne-like
chair. “What is wrong with you, son? Don’t you find Hayden
attractive?”

Stunned, Liam took a moment to answer. What
man wouldn’t think she was hot? He remembered a year ago when her
spread in
Maxim’s
100 Hottest was plastered around the
locker room. He’d been torn between staring at her and wanting to
rip down the pictures, then Middleton walked in and nearly stroked
out yelling at his players. Sure she’d gained a couple of pounds
since, but in all the right places. Places Liam wanted to explore
with his hands. His mouth. His—

Not the kind of thing a father wants to
hear.
“She’s beautiful,” he said simply.

“I’m relieved you think so. That will make
this less awkward.”

Where was this conversation going? “Make
what less awkward?”

“Your engagement to my daughter.”

Liam shook his head, sure that he heard
wrong. “What?”

“You heard me. The judge in Hayden’s case
wasn’t happy that she was at the scene of a shooting last
night.”

“But she didn’t do anything. She wasn’t even
drinking, and no one was hurt.” Had he just defended Hayden
Middleton?

“Regardless, this morning Judge Mayer was
preparing the paperwork to revoke her probation. He intended to
send her straight to jail for violating her court agreement.”

“Intended?”
Past tense?
Liam felt
relieved and uneasy at the same time.

“After I spoke with Judge Mayer, he had a
change of heart. That’s where you come in, son. He expressed worry
about the Cougars’ season and Hayden’s possible bad influence on my
quarterback.”

Liam might as well have abandoned her at the
bar. He hadn’t saved her from anything. He’d made things worse. So
why was Hayden’s father now smiling at him?

“I’m not sure which the judge loves more,”
Middleton continued, “football or his church. He backpedaled when I
explained what a
good
influence you are on her. He was
delighted to hear that she was out celebrating her engagement to
her born-again boyfriend last night.”

“But that’s not true.”

Middleton shrugged. “A technicality. We’ll
make the announcement later today. You’re the perfect solution to
Hayden’s problems.”

How could he decline without insulting his
boss? He eyed the gun collection. “Sir, with all due respect,
arranged marriages are not part of God’s plan.”

“Adam and Eve were an arranged
marriage.”

He knew the billionaire had a God complex,
but, wow, did he just say that?