the field plan together. He could do that, right?
Then he would get her to change the way she looked at him. The person she thought he was. He hoped. Show her she wasn’t just another addition to a long list she seemed to think he kept. He just needed to get her to listen to him.
Slow, he told himself. Just take everything real slow.
Okay. Now he knew what he had to do, but business first.
He mentally ran over his agenda for this trip. He’d be speaking to a couple of the coaches groups Scott had set up as part of his Coaches Conference. He was also meeting with the committee planning a big fundraiser for scholarships for athletes. He’d agreed to make an appearance at the event and use his connections to solicit sponsors and merchandise. Because it was close to his hometown and because football had been very good to him financially, he agreed to match all the funds raised from other sources. Keeping this out of the media until the last minute was the only promise he’d extracted from them.
That was the one thing he and Scott continued to disagree on—using his Coaches Conference program, his speeches, and his fundraising for publicity purposes. He didn’t mind personally soliciting people for contributions for worthy causes, or speaking to coaching staffs of varied sizes. As he changed the flow of his life, however, it occurred to him discussing his charity work would seem too much like puffing himself up. Telling people how wonderful he was for doing these things.
“We’ve been over this a bunch of times, Scott.” The agent’s words had irritated him. “You’re the one who told me I was too much of a publicity hound, remember?”
“I do. But that was more your life-of-the-party image. This is good stuff, Joe. People need to know about it. To see who you’ve become. Which is a damn fine person.”
“I’m the same person I always was,” he’d snapped. “Just older and wiser. And I don’t want to look like I’m buying a new image with money and good deeds. Doing this for a less than stellar purpose.”
“Joe,” the agent had begun.
“Isn’t it enough the gossip hounds aren’t after me anymore? That I’m off the gossip pages,” he’d pointed out. “That alone should make you happy. And I think it’s time to keep my private life just that. Very private. If I can tap into my connections to help people, I’m more than happy to do it. But I won’t use any of them to, as you say, polish up my image. I’d feel cheap doing it.”
“That’s very noble of you,” Scott had told him, “but hiding your good works won’t get people to take you seriously. You cut a pretty wide path through the female population for a long time, sport. Your bosses at Fox Sports One would love to see you settled down.”
“How about if I just promise to keep my social life out of the media? If people want to quietly discuss my other activities, okay, fine. No big publicity campaign, though. I mean it.”
“Wow!” Scott had grinned. “A conscience. My baby boy is growing up.”
This afternoon he would be meeting with the people putting on the fundraiser for athletic scholarships. The past few weeks he’d wrangled major commitments from former teammates and some of the Fox Sports One guys. He had Scott working his current sponsors and he even got commitments from a couple of his former backers. He felt good about not just reaching but surpassing the goal, especially with what he planned to contribute himself.
He gave a brief thought to telling Shay where he was going today but changed his mind immediately. Better to wait for the right moment, when things with the two of them were on a different footing. Between her firmly etched opinion of him and last night’s grope-a-thon, she’d just think he was blowing smoke to make himself look better. If he told her about his meeting today, just dumped all of it on her like that, she probably would. Cleaning up his image with her would take some work.
Instead he’d casually ask her if she was going to be home tonight. Tell her he had some game videos to review for his show—no lie, he actually did—and would she like to watch with him. Yeah, low-key it like that and hope she didn’t have plans.
If she was home when he stopped to change, he’d put on his friendliest face, not mention last night and see if he could at least get them on friendly footing. Yeah, okay. Good plan. Friends first. Then they could ease into the rest of it when she began to trust him. Which she obviously didn’t at the moment. He wanted to tell her how much he’d changed, how different his life was now, but he knew it would take a lot to convince her. He’d just have to set the stage.
On his way home after his meetings, he’d pick up Chinese food for dinner. Then he’d find the place that made those cookies she liked so much. They used to get them from a bakery in Granite Falls, a branch of the one in San Antonio. That should buy him some brownie points. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and looked up the San Antonio address. Right on his way home. Perfect.
Cookies. And maybe ice cream. They could watch the videos together.
He hoped.
He also hoped when Hank found out he didn’t cut off his balls.
As if conjured up by magic, his phone chimed and he saw a text from Hank.
“Settled in? Everything okay?”
Joe blew out a breath.
“Fine. Thx. All good.”
Yeah, right. Everything was just peachy keen.
* * * *
Normally, the day after she returned from one of her New York trips Shay hung around the house in slop clothes, read, and watched sports to decompress before going back to her current project, or starting a new one. A minimalist where makeup was concerned to begin with, on those days she never even swiped a lipstick over her mouth. She’d put her hair, usually still damp from the shower, up in a messy ponytail and pull on a very old Granite Falls Coyotes T-shirt with a faded pair of jeans shorts. Until she got a good read on where this thing with Joe was going, she didn’t want him to think she dressed in any way for him, so she stuck to her routine.
And what exactly was this thing? Maybe it was just once and done for him. Maybe he’d decided to satisfy her craving for him. God, she couldn’t stand it if that’s all it was. Then she really would have to kick him out of the house.
But what if he wanted more? What if he wanted…everything. Full-blown, all-out sex?
She told herself to quit overthinking it. So she’d had almost sex with her childhood hero. They were both adults now. Things were different. Hadn’t she decided she’d just take it for what it was, enjoy the ride while it lasted, and walk away with her pride intact? Anyway, he probably wouldn’t be around all the time. Not Joe the ladies’ man.
Passing the mirror in her bedroom, she got a glimpse of herself. Yeah, she looked like a first-class slob all right. Certainly a far cry from the glamorous females Joe was used to. Besides, he’d probably get back from his run, shower, and head out to hook up with whatever women were waiting for him.
Images from last night kept playing over and over in her mind and she couldn’t quell the little thrill of expectation wriggling through her when she heard his car pull up in the driveway. She did her best to focus instead on the glass of orange juice she’d poured. Maybe its icy coldness would smother the heat building inside her.
“Hey,
