Playing For Keeps (26 page)

Man, he had to get out of this town. He was
having a hell of a time not thinking about her, not going to her
house, not grabbing the phone and dialing her number. He needed to
be back on his own turf. Dinner was finally served—more fancy
shrimp stuff that Ty and Kyle raved over and Mike pushed around his
plate. He watched the boys. Nowadays, they acted like brothers. His
earlier concern, that he’d made a mistake there, too, came back to
him. His kid was going to have withdrawal symptoms soon. Just like
Mike. They were addicted to the mother/son duo, all right.

After dinner, the program began. First, Tim
Mason spoke. He told the crowd how much the Bulls had enjoyed their
first summer training camp at Beckett and how they were hoping for
a long association.

Damn.

Then Jake Lansing took the podium and pointed
out all the benefits of the Sports Studies program and that they
were looking forward to the Bulls’ contribution to the courses. He
cited the speaker series and the first real teacher, the King, in
the curriculum. The team cheered and the Business Department
clapped politely.

Finally, the program ended with a video with
captions superimposed over the footage. Mike, the day he suited up
to give Turk a lesson... “Oops, the rookie gets Kinged...” Mason
bullying the new guys... “Mason massacres Martin...” Gage tending
to a sprain... “Our own personal angel...” Then there was candid
footage in the dorms. The guys having a pillow fight, studying
plays, sparring in a computer game. It ended with Mike’s “dance
lesson” with Marcus. There were ear-splitting whistles and raucous
applause as Marc tried to teach Mike to do the steps and he tripped
over his feet. All for Jacelyn.

He shot a quick glance at the next table
over. Her gaze flew to his.

You did this for me?
her look
said.

I’d do anything for you,
his
answered.

“Hey, Dad, how come you were learning how to
dance?” Ty asked.

“Because I was outta my mind,” he quipped,
thinking he
was crazy
—to believe she cared enough to make
this work, to believe a jock and a professor could make it, even to
want somebody like her in his life.

Finally, the video, and the program, were
over. Jacelyn approached them while everybody made to leave.

“Hey, Mom, have a good time?” her son
asked.

“Sure. It was fun.” She looked uncertain. “So
what time are you leaving tomorrow?” she asked Mike. Her eyes shone
with vulnerability and he wanted only to hold her and tell her
things would be okay. But of course, they weren’t.

“Early.”

Kyle socked his arm. “Not too early. We’re
going to be up late, Coach.”

At Tyler’s request, the boys had arranged
another sleepover at the Smiths’. Ty, Kyle, Timmy and Ron were
spending the night on the living-room floor with Millie at home to
chaperone.

“Hey, little guy,” she asked Tyler, “will I
see you again, before you leave?”

His boy’s expression was almost panicky.
“Will I, Daddy?”

Mike put his hand on his son’s shoulder.
“Yeah, sure.” He looked at Jacelyn. “We’ll come by your house on
our way out of town, if that’s okay.”

Ty inched closer and grasped Jacey’s legs.
“Don’t want to say goodbye,” he whispered softly.

Jacelyn bent down and hugged him.

“I know, sweetie. I don’t want to
either.”

Mike knew how both of them felt.

o0o

Still wearing the slinky, way-too-sexy dress
she’d bought for the farewell party when she thought she’d be going
with Mike, Jacelyn pulled in to his driveway behind his Ferrari.
Compelled to see him, and without thinking about what she was
doing, she got out of her Camry and approached his house; the
breeze played peekaboo with the hem of her outfit. She stood at the
front door for a minute, trying to calm her racing heart. What if
he kicked her out? What if he was with someone? Oh, God.

Don’t think.
She rang the bell.

No answer.

She rang again.

After the third time, she felt tears spring
to her eyes. Why wasn’t he answering?

Then he did. Dressed in gray fleece shorts
and nothing else, he pulled open the door. For a minute, he just
studied her. Then he said in a cold, grave tone, “Are the kids all
right?”

Raising her chin, she shook back her hair and
tried to compose herself. “Yes.”

He stared hard at her. His fists clenched at
his sides, as if he was trying to resist touching her. She didn’t
know what she’d do if he asked her to leave. A feeling of raw panic
rose inside her. Finally, he stepped aside and allowed her into the
house.

The foyer was dim and Jacelyn’s heart pounded
like a thousand drums. He remained stone-faced. Again, she felt
emotion prickle the back of her throat, moisten her eyes.

He asked, “Why are you here?”

“I...” She swallowed hard. “I don’t
know.”

He shook his head as if he was
disappointed—disgusted—with her. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have
come.”

“Mike, please, don’t send me away.”

“What do you
want
from me,
Jacey?”

“You’re leaving tomorrow. I need to be with
you. I couldn’t stay away.” She glanced upstairs. “Please,
I…please.”

This time, he turned his back on her. “I
think you should leave.”

“I don’t want to leave.” She sidled up close
and touched his shoulder. “Make love to me.”

He stiffened.

“Please.”

He waited an interminable few moments, then
turned around. His stony look had been replaced by one so intense,
so poignant, she sucked in a breath. Cradling her face with his
hands, he kissed her nose. “All right.”

He bent over and scooped her into his arms;
without saying anything more, he strode up the steps. In his room,
he stood her by the bed. He didn’t turn any lights on, though,
leaving the space illuminated only by the moon coming in through
the shutters. Gently, he unzipped her dress, easing it off her
shoulders. He kissed her skin there—butterfly-soft brushes of his
lips. Letting the dress drop to the floor, he knelt, removed her
shoes and stripped off her stockings. Again the soft kisses—on her
stomach, this time. He stood and unclasped her bra, cupped her
breasts, his eyes flaring with heat and need. He picked her up
again and set her on the bed. Her hair spread out on his pillow and
he leaned over and inhaled its scent.

The tenderness of his ministrations caused
the tears flow. She couldn’t believe she was losing all this.

Shedding his own clothes and lying down
beside her, he brushed away the moisture on her cheeks. Then he
kissed her eyes, her nose, the underside of her jaw. With exquisite
care, he kneaded her breasts, slid his hand over her rib cage, her
stomach, then he touched her intimately. When she was ready, he
cradled her into his chest and slipped inside her.

There was more tenderness and a poignancy so
acute it only made her tears flow harder.

“I’ll put on some coffee while you get
dressed.” Mike watched as she headed for the bathroom. He could
really get used to that view every morning but nothing had been
decided.

“Do I have time for a shower?” Her voice was
stronger this morning, which was a good thing. Her vulnerability
last night had just about ripped him apart. By tacit agreement,
they hadn’t discussed the future, but instead had concentrated on
their physical connection with each other.

He checked the clock on the nightstand. “A
quick one. Kyle said he’d bring Ty back by nine and we’re cuttin’
it close.”

Stopping at the door, she gave him a poignant
look. “I’ll hurry. No way was I going to give up making love this
morning.”

“Me either, babe.” Trying to lighten the
mood, he said, “Scoot, or I’m gonna take you again, right against
that wall.”

She disappeared into the bathroom.

He called out to her, “I’ll get your stuff
from the car.” She had clothes in the trunk, she’d said, to wear
home. Trundling down the stairs, he stopped to make coffee, then
headed to the door. When he yanked it open, he startled.

“Kingston.”

Mike just stared at Jacey’s ex; finally he
got his wits about him. “Worthington. What are you doin’ here?”

Neil glanced at the driveway. “Well, I
originally came to talk to you about Kyle. I got your address from
the college.” He shook his head. “That was before I saw my wife’s
car here. I don’t suppose she just dropped by this morning.”

My wife.
“I wouldn’t reckon that was
any of your business, pal.”

“It certainly is if it affects my son.”

A son you pretty much ignored up until
now.
Still, if the guy was willing to strike up some
relationship with Kyle, Mike would be damned if he let his own
anger interfere. “What’d you want to say about Kyle?”

He looked past Mike. “May I come in?”

What the hell? They were all adults. He
refused to be ashamed of the incredible night of love making he and
Jacelyn shared.

Neil entered the house and Mike led him to
the living room. “Sit.”

Stiffly, Neil took a chair. “Where is
she?”

Mike hesitated. “Upstairs.”

“I guess that means she didn’t keep her part
of the bargain. I was afraid of this.”

His blood ran cold. “Bargain?”

Worthington jammed a hand through his hair.
Mike hadn’t seen him quite so agitated before. “I thought she
wouldn’t, so I came here to talk to you about it.”

“About what?”

“Jacelyn not associating with you anymore.
She said she wouldn’t see you again and would keep Kyle away from
you in hopes that he’d get over this godforsaken desire to change
his major.”

Mike felt as though he’d been tackled hard
and gotten the wind knocked out of him. “Jacey agreed to that?”

“Not exac--”

There was a noise on the steps. In seconds,
Jacelyn walked into the living room, looking like a fallen angel.
Her hair was damp from the shower and her light complexion was rosy
with heat. She wore only his bathrobe. It skirted the floor, and
right now she was trying to tie it shut, but even the belt was too
long. She was peering down, studying it. She glanced up finally.
“Oh, my God.”

Neil stood and swore violently. Mike shot a
glance at him. He seemed genuinely angry, and something else. Holy
hell, was the guy still interested in Jacey? A quick and horrible
thought sliced through Mike’s brain. Earlier when Neil arrived,
he’d said
my wife.
What if Worthington wanted Jacey and
Kyle back? Was that where all this was going? Had she only wanted
to fuck Mike one more time then was getting back with the
brainiac?

“Neil, what are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to Kingston. I feared you
weren’t going to do what you said you would.”

Jacelyn seemed flustered. Guilty. Belting the
robe as tightly as she could, she swallowed hard. “I...”

Mike closed his eyes. She’d really done this
awful thing.

He felt a hand on his arm. “I didn’t agree to
anything,” she said softly.

He looked at her. She was standing next to
him, staring up at him.

Neil intervened. “Did you or did you not
agree to consider getting these Kingston people out of Kyle’s and
your lives in hopes that
his
absence would allow Kyle to
see reason?”

She faced him again. “Mike, please—”

“Answer the question, Jacelyn,” he said
simply.

“All right, I agreed to
consider
it.
I told you last night things were all confused, all murky. But I
never agreed to
do
it.”

Neil stood. “Damn it, Jacelyn. Put your son’s
welfare above your hormones. Can’t you do that for Kyle?”

“I’d do anything for Kyle.” She shook back
her hair. “But I never thought that getting him away from Mike is
the right thing.” She gripped Mike’s arm. “I never said you were a
bad influence on him.”

“But you didn’t argue I was a
good
influence on him either.”

She cocked her head.

He added, “If you’d even consider this
obscene proposition, lady, you must have serious doubts about my
place in his life.”

Neil stepped forward. “Of course she does.
The boy is hero worships you. Why else would he forsake music?”

Mike started to defend himself, but stopped.
What would be best for Kyle? Could he help the boy he’d grown to
love like a son? “Can’t you just cut Kyle some slack here, and see
that maybe your dreams for him don’t make him happy?”

“Kyle is the best young pianist in the state,
if not the country. How can you ask me to allow him to throw all
that away without trying to change his mind?”

Again, Mike bit back his temper. “Because it
doesn’t make him happy?”

“He was happy until you came to Beckett.”

“He says he wasn’t.”

Neil shook his head. “He’s not even twenty
years old.”

Jacelyn stepped forward. “You married me when
I was twenty, Neil.”

That stopped the guy for a minute.

She added, “Kyle knows his own mind, at least
for now.”

Worthington flushed. “I’d work on this out
with him but nothing will be effective if the Kingstons are still a
part of his life.” He frowned at Jacelyn, scanned the bathrobe, and
said in a voice full of emotion, “I certainly hope you intend to be
dressed before my son arrives.”

She checked the clock on the mantel. “Oh,
God. He should be here any minute.”

Neil glared at her. “You’re making me wonder
if you’re the one who’s the bad influence on him.” With that he
turned and walked out.

o0o

Jacelyn was shaking by the time the door
slammed. Mike stood frozen like a statue. Finally she asked, “Would
you get my clothes? I don’t want to be in a bathrobe when the kids
get here. Then we need to talk.”