Page 65 of Hello Quarterback

I leaned closer, whispering in her ear, “I’ll wear them for you every day if that’s what you want.”

“Might be hard to play football in them,” she breathed.

“I was thinking of other activities,” I countered, nipping at her ear.

“Keep talking like that and we’re not going to make it to Cottonwood Falls.”

I was about to agree, wholeheartedly, when a car came into the garage. She jumped, surprised by the visitor, and I chuckled low, reaching for the truck door to open it for her.

Her cheeks were flushed with color as she got in, and I shut it for her. We were going to Cottonwood Falls. Even if we had to stop along the way to... stretch our legs.

As I started the familiar path out of Dallas, my adrenaline hummed like it always did before a game. But this time, I didn’t have defenders looking to take me out or a win on the line.

I had a beautiful woman in the seat beside me and a decision to make.

We hadn’t defined what we had, and I knew I couldn’t stall forever. Could I give up on all my rules to have a relationship with her? A real one? I looked over at her, and when she caught me looking, she smiled.

It was as natural as breathing to extend my hand for her, to hold it as I drove with one hand on the wheel. She smiled over at me again.

“What?” I asked.

“I was just thinking about how good you’d look in a cowboy hat.”

36

MIA

There he went,holding my hand again.

The way his hand enveloped mine, all warm with rough callouses, strong, it was the best. I hadn’t felt this way about a man in so long, and here Ford was, making my heart go crazy just by lacing his fingers with mine.

I tried to enjoy it, live in the moment like I rarely allowed myself to do, but my brain was going crazy, wondering where we stood. He'd met my parents and said that I was meeting his family this weekend. That had to mean something, right?

The more analytical, logical side of myself reminded me that our agreement would soon reach its expiration date. The football season was just a few months from being over, and the board would vote on the Andersen sister acquisition in just a couple weeks.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. We were somewhere between Dallas and Cottonwood Falls, nothing but short grass prairies and gently rolling hills passing out the window. Every so often, an oil derrick broke up the prairie, beating its rhythm—a reminder that business never sleeps.

I looked away from the countryside and back to him. “It’s been fun getting to know you,” I said, squeezing his hand.

He smiled over at me, lifting my hand to his lips. “I’m glad it was you.”

My heart did a somersault at his words. “Me too.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if we were a couple, officially. The right answer could put me on the moon. The wrong answer would lead to a very awkward weekend.

So I promised myself that I would ask him on the way back home, when I had a chance to escape back to my house and not have to play nice with his family with a broken heart.

We rode in silence for a moment before I said, “What should I know about your family?”

He seemed to contemplate it. “How do you mean?”

I shifted in my seat, hooking my feet in the door pocket and asking, “Is there a word everyone hates? Or topics I should steer clear of?”

“Maybe I should warn you... I don’t know.”

I straightened in my seat. “Warn me about what?”

He glanced at me before looking back at the highway. “So there’s this pig...”

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