Page 11 of Body Heat

“That goes to show what you know,” she snorted. “My Glock doesn’t have an external safety.”

“Really?” I glanced over her shoulder to look at the drawer where she kept her gun at night.

I must’ve looked concerned because she added, “You don’t need to worry about an accidental discharge. There are three independent internal safeties to prevent that from happening.”

I gave her a sheepish look. “I don’t know much about guns. Football has been my thing since my mom let me join a team when I was seven. It was only touch, not tackle, but I fell in love with it right away.”

She shifted on the mattress, sitting cross-legged and grabbing a pillow to set in her lap. “Your love for the game came through loud and clear when I saw you play on Sunday.”

“I don’t think the day will ever come when the game won’t still have my heart,” I admitted.

“Then why are you leaving it?”

Curling up to sit across from her, I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. “It's my mom. She’s been the only constant in my life, ever since I was a baby. She had me young but didn't let that stop her from being the best damn parent I could possibly ask for.”

Sera’s green eyes filled with confusion. “I’m missing the connection between your mom and retiring from football early. She’s really proud of what you've accomplished.”

“I know she’s proud of my career, and she’d never ask me to stop playing. This was my decision, and mine alone.” I looked around my master suite, taking in the huge space and pricey furnishings. “I've earned more than enough money to be set for life, so leaving football now won't hurt me financially. But like I told you before, I live and breathe football during season. It’s never been an issue for me, until now.”

“What changed your perspective?” Sera tilted her head back and stared up at the ceiling. “She’s sick, isn't she?”

I hadn’t been expecting her to figure out my mom’s secret so easily. “How did you guess?

“I figured it’d have to be something big for you to make a drastic, life-changing decision. And it was because of your mom,” she explained her thought process. “Then I remembered how she got a little shaky the other day, and you freaked out. At the time, I just assumed it was because you’re overprotective, but now I realize it’s more than that. Plus, I thought it was weird how she loves coffee so much but only allows herself one cup a day. And I spotted a weekly pill organizer in her purse yesterday morning. ”

“Damn.” I shook my head. “You're more observant when it comes to my mom than I am.”

“Don’t feel bad, paying attention to small details most people wouldn’t notice comes with the job,” she reassured me. “How bad is it?”

“She’s only forty-eight, but she was diagnosed with heart disease a few months ago. She has atrial fibrillation where her heart has an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke, or heart failure.” Just thinking about what could happen to my mom had me choking up, and I took a minute to pull myself together before continuing. “She didn't want to tell me until the season was over, but she almost passed out one morning and finally told me what was going because it was the only way to stop me from calling an ambulance to take her to the hospital.”

I was fiddling with the edge of the sheet, and Sera laced her fingers through mine. “I can see how the threat of a trip to the hospital would get her to confess.”

“She said she didn’t want the news to mess with my head and fuck up my season. But my mom means more to me than football. I can't run the risk of not being there for her when she needs me.” I squeezed her hand. “The only reason I’m finishing out the season is because she taught me to honor my commitments.”

“You’re a good man, Rowan Charles.”

I’d heard similar compliments before, but the words had more meaning coming from Sera. “That’s yet another thing I owe to my mom.”

As she rose on her knees and leaned toward me to brush a kiss against my cheek, I held myself utterly still. I knew that if I got my hands on her, I’d have a hard time stopping with only a kiss. It took everything I had in me not to drag her lithe body onto my lap, but I wasn’t going to let the need that’d been growing inside me day by day fuck shit up between us. I’d never doubted my self-control before, but Sera pushed me to the limits of my endurance.

Considering what we’d been talking about, I knew she’d meant the gesture to be sweet. I just had to convince my dick that she wasn’t trying to be sexy before she noticed it was about to bust through my shorts to get to her.

Chapter 9

Sera

After spotting the hard-on Rowan was sporting—which was impossible to miss, considering the size of what he was packing down there—I dropped back on the mattress and sat cross-legged again. It was either move away from him or jump his bones, and I wasn’t ready to cross that particular professional line. Not yet. I was a heck of a lot closer than I was willing to admit, though. “What’s the plan for today?”

“I need to lift and get a run in.”

His answer wasn’t what I was expecting to hear. “I thought it was your off day? Don't you ever take a break?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Not during the season. That’s why early retirement seemed like the only solution with my mom’s health situation.”

If he kept on being such a nice guy while we sat here talking in bed, I would end up tempting him into showing me exactly how bad he could be too. We needed to get this show on the road before that happened.

Thinking of the workout room he had in the basement that could easily compete with most small gyms, I asked, “Do you like to run inside or out?”

---