Down by Contact - A Seattle Lumberjacks Romance

by Jami Davenport

  Tucking Scranton under her arm, she started stuffing her clothes into suitcases. After a dozen or more trips, she’d loaded everything in her car. The entire time, Mrs. Tremain watched, hands on her ample hips and a scowl on her face. The woman stood on the sagging front porch as Kelsie struggled down the stairs with her last load and watched as she drove away.

  The late September sun gave way to angry gray clouds and a heavy mist of rain, pretty much matching her mood. Her first inclination was to run to Zach. Despite their past, he’d take her in because that was the kind of man he was. Only she didn’t want his pity, nor did she want to be under his thumb, to let him realize how he held all the cards, while she played with an empty deck. Despite being financially and emotionally wrecked, Kelsie had her pride and her hard-won independence. Going to Zach would surrender both.

  When she’d finally left Mark, she’d made a promise to never put herself in a situation where she depended on a man for her very existence. She wouldn’t do it now. She’d rather live in her car. Only where to park said car?

  As she rounded a street corner on a virtually deserted side street, headlights shone in her rearview mirror, momentarily blinding her. Frowning and feeling a bit paranoid, she turned down another street. The black sedan followed a few blocks back. Another turn. Still, it was there. Kelsie slipped down an alley. The car followed. Heart pounding in her chest, she gunned it out of the alley, through a yellow light, and around another corner. She caught a glance at the sedan stuck behind cars at the lights.

  Patting herself on the back for getting away did nothing to alleviate the fears. Her hands shook on the steering wheel and her insides churned like an angry ocean. It’d been a few weeks since she’d been followed. She’d all but convinced herself the guy had been a figment of her wild imagination.

  Only he wasn’t. He was all too real. And he was back.

  She recalled Mark’s final words to her: I’m not done with you. I’ll make your life a living hell. Keep looking over your shoulder. You’ll never know when I’ll show up. At the time, she convinced herself they were idle threats spoken by a man accustomed to having things his way, except for a divorce he hadn’t wanted.

  Kelsie drove around for several minutes, chewed on her already trashed fingernails, and found herself on Zach’s street, despite her best intentions. Somehow being near the big lug gave her security. The type of security she’d not felt in quite a few years.

  No lights shone in the windows of his big house. Good. She inched into his driveway and squeezed her little car between his garage and a hedge of holly in a spot she knew was not visible from the house and couldn’t be seen from the street.

  It took several minutes for her heart to stop thumping, and her pulse to return to near normal. She gnawed on a piece of beef jerky she’d grabbed earlier from Zach’s house and drank some bottled water. Hopefully she wouldn’t need to pee until morning. Being homeless sucked big time. When she started making money, she’d never again callously disregard a person holding a sign on the street corner.

  Angling her seat back, Kelsie huddled under a couple coats and a blanket. Scranton burrowed under the layers with her and curled up in a ball on her chest. Pretty soon his snoring echoed through the quiet evening.

  Sure, she could ask Rachel or Lavender for help. They’d take her in, but she didn’t want to be in their way or cramp their love lives. Besides, Zach, so far, didn’t have any social life to cramp. In fact, her job included helping the loner build a healthy social life, even if she died trying. Except for her sleeping accommodations, this was perfect. He’d never see her parked here. Plus, the guy left home before sun-up and came back after sundown.

  So for now, she’d sleep in her car, spend all her spare time at Zach’s. Maybe she could eat and shower there. Sleep inside during away games. She huddled deeper under the coats, wondering if she could sneak in and sleep on the couch if it got too cold.

  Yeah, it could work. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was a plan. Kelsie closed her eyes, comforted by knowing Zach slept a few yards away.

  * * * * *

  Zach dropped into the chair across the table from Kelsie. He hated fancy restaurants, hated dressing up, hated wasting the money. Besides, he wasn’t in the best of moods anyway. The team lost another game, making their record two and two. He needed to be studying game film not wasting his time with this bullshit.

  With a long-suffering sigh, he glanced up at Kelsie. She stood behind her chair, glaring at him. His brows drew together as he gazed up at her. She gave him one of those look-down-her-nose frowns. He’d messed up. Again. He racked his brain in an attempt to figure out what useless rule he’d violated this time.

  “You’re forgetting something.”

  “Uh.” He glanced around, not that he’d find the answer anywhere but, damn, he couldn’t remember all this crap. He had a brain for football plays not for etiquette. “You look like nice tonight.”

  She continued to stand. He jumped to his feet and stood, vaguely recalling he shouldn’t sit until she did. Only she didn’t sit. She shook her head as if he was the most clueless moron she’d ever been saddled with, which was just about right, he figured.

  Zach sighed, feeling like an idiot without a clue. “I take it that’s not it.”

  “Zach, are you honestly this oblivious?”

  “Yeah, probably.” He raked a hand through his hair, smoothing it out, yet the action made her frown all the more. “I don’t know what you want.”

  “A gentleman pulls out a lady’s chair for her.”

  “Ah, hell.” With an annoyed sigh, he lumbered to her side and yanked out her chair. She sat down with exaggerated daintiness. He shoved the chair up to the table, dropping back into his own seat.

  “Try it again.”

  “Are you fu—” Zach paused. “Flipping kidding me?”

  “Keep your voice down. People are staring.” Kelsie glanced around the room. Zach noted the various people looking down their royal noses at him, just like Kelsie did. “We’ll keep practicing it until you get it right, understand? This is your test. We’ve gone over fine dining for the past week.”

  Zach tugged on the collar of his shirt. “I hate ties.”

  “I know, you’ve told me a thousand times over.” Kelsie moved to stand beside the chair. “Do it just like we practiced it.”

  Zach glowered at one old lady in particular who wouldn’t stop staring. She quickly looked away and whispered something to her equally wrinkled companion.

  Kelsie shot him an impressive evil eye as she sat down. He didn’t know the beauty queen had it in her.

  “That was inexcusably rude.” Kelsie folded her hands in her lap.

  Zach imitated the gesture. “So what? She was rude.”

  Kelsie was doing a lot of sighing. “You just don’t get it. Even though I dress you up, make you comb your hair and shave, you still look like a feral man posing in a suit, more at home in your bare skin than clothes of any kind.

  He shrugged, not doubting the truth.

  “Next week we’re getting you a civilized haircut and a decent suit.”

  “Not on your life. All this fancy-assed crap is bad enough without you turning me into some pansy like Harris.”

  “I hadn’t noticed Harris was a pansy. He seems quite masculine to me.”

  Irritation flowed through him. He hated being compared to Harris and found lacking. “You seemed to like a real man when I kissed you.”

  She didn’t rise to the bait. “Zach, I need you to put some effort into retaining this information.”

  “Listen, every minute I spend on this useless garbage is one less minute I spend watching game film.”

  “Haven’t you watched enough game film over the years?”

  Zach didn’t expect her to understand. Nobody understood but his teammates. It was about the game. It was always about the game. Nothing mattered but the game. Football was all he’d ever had, and all he ever would have. He’d fight heaven and hell to keep it i
n his life until he drew his dying breath. Kelsie wouldn’t get that, not at all. She’d never played the game. How could anyone who’d never felt the sting as pads smacked against pads, swallowed the gritty taste of dirt in their mouth, or smelled the freshly mown grass understand the brotherhood each player felt with his teammates—well, expect for Harris.

  “I want a ring. In order to get one, I have to be able to dissect everything the opposing offense is capable of doing, every week. I’m the one who calls the defensive formations. I’m the defensive captain. The guys look up to me and expect nothing less. I can’t let them down, but this damn manners crap is interfering with my ability to be a good defensive captain and teammate.”

  Kelsie sighed. “I’m not doing this because I get a perverse pleasure out of it. I’m doing it because it’s my job, and Lumberjacks’ management is paying me to teach you some social graces. If you’d cooperate, we’d spend less time going over the same information.”

  “You sure you don’t get a perverse pleasure out of making me jump through hoops?” He frowned at her, certain she did just that. After all, it was all about what Kelsie wanted, always had been.

  “Believe what you want. I have a job to do. So do you. Your job is to learn some basic manners so you don’t embarrass the team in social situations.” She snapped her napkin at him then folded it neatly in her lap.

  Zach imitated her actions, down to the napkin snap. “Happy?”

  “Ecstatic. You could turn down the charm a little. It’s blinding me.”

  In spite of himself, Zach laughed. Hell, he didn’t possess a charming bone in his big body, and they both knew it.

  “Now order a bottle of wine and go through everything like we practiced it.”

  “You mean sniffing the cork and all that bullshit?”

  “Yes, all that bullshit.”

  Zach grinned. “Keep it up, and you’ll be sounding like me.”

  “Not a chance in thousand lifetimes.” She graced him with one of her dazzling smiles, the same smile she used on him in high school when she needed a lackey to do some kind of dirty work for her. In a way she still did. She needed him to mind his manners so she could get a hefty contract with the Jacks and torture more unsuspecting players with her lethal charm.

  Despite all she’d done to him, he’d cooperate because he didn’t have an option, and somewhere deep inside, he wanted to please her.

  CHAPTER 9

  Illegal Use of the Hands

  Zach froze and listened. A sound, just a slight sound. There, he heard it again. Snoring? Someone, somewhere snored in his house—and it wasn’t him.

  He pulled back the covers and stood, wading through the clothes littering the floor. He grabbed the Ken Griffey Jr. autographed Louisville Slugger on the dresser and hefted it in his hands. He’d locked up his hunting rifles downstairs in the gun safe. The bat would have to do.

  A sliver of a moon shone through the open blinds. Zach slept with the window open, liking fresh air and a frigid bedroom. He wasn’t scared exactly, but adrenaline ran hard and strong through his veins.

  Wielding the bat, he crept through the house toward the noise. A floorboard creaked under his feet. He froze and listened. Again, the snoring. From his den, the room Kelsie called his man cave. He peeked around the corner of the doorway and spotted a figure huddled under a blanket on his couch.

  Damn.

  He could almost understand an intruder sleeping in his house back when the yard made the place look abandoned. But now? As a matter of course, he sympathized with the homeless. Heck, he’d been homeless himself a time or two in high school. He’d dedicated every Tuesday night for the past twelve years toward working with homeless kids, but he didn’t appreciate one sleeping on his couch uninvited.

  He paused. A heavenly fragrance floated toward him and nudged his memory. At least this person didn’t smell. In fact, he smelled damn good. Maybe some cross-dressing guy or something.

  A little black nose poked out of the edge of the blanket. A pair of dark, beady eyes glared at him and a small threatening growl sounded from the little rat. Only it wasn’t a rat, it was Kelsie’s despicable little foo-foo dog, Scranton. Which meant the body under the covers happened to be Kelsie’s.

  What the hell was she doing sleeping on his couch?

  His dick immediately rose to the occasion, always up for a pretty woman lying on his furniture. Damn, the thing needed to learn some discretion. Kelsie was a man-eater, not a woman to be toyed with if a man planned on keeping his balls intact and his heart whole. Not that she hadn’t already bitten off several pieces from both.

  Crawling out from under the blanket, Scranton stood on top of Kelsie’s chest. He growled again and showed his tiny yellow teeth. The hair stuck straight up on his back, which looked ludicrous and non-threatening on a scruffy poodle.

  Kelsie moaned and rolled over, knocking the dog—if you could call it that—to the floor.

  Picking himself up, the little shit launched himself at Zach’s ankles, as if his ejection from bed was Zach’s fault. His little teeth buried in Zach’s skin like a thousand needles. He tried to shake off the vermin without really hurting it.

  “Dammit, let go, you little shit.”

  Kelsie sat up, rubbing her eyes.

  “Call this damn thing off, would you?”

  Instantly awake, Kelsie leapt up and pulled Scranton into her arms. The little shit continued to growl and snarl at him. “You scared him.”

  “I scared him?”

  “Yes, don’t sneak up on us like that.”

  “Sneak up on you? You’re in my house.” Leave it to a woman to twist this around into being his fault. “I heard snoring.”

  “Scranton snores like a big dog.” Confusion replaced her usual cool demeanor. She stared up at him all rumpled from sleep and sexy as hell. Her normally perfectly styled blond hair stuck up in places and was plastered to her head in others.

  “No shit. He woke me up all the way upstairs.” He found her messiness adorably appealing. Her vulnerability called to every protective male instinct he possessed.

  “He has a bit of a respiratory problem.”

  “A bit? He sounds like my Uncle Wes after his billionth cigarette.”

  She shrugged. Scranton lifted one side of his lip, showing some teeth.

  “What are you doing here? It’s five a.m.”

  “Oh, it is? Sorry. I was working so hard I didn’t want to quit.”

  “You weren’t working. You were wrapped in a blanket sleeping on my couch.”

  “I was just taking a nap before I went back at it.”

  He didn’t believe her, not one bit. Whatever her reason for staying here couldn’t happen again. Not if he intended to keep her out of his bed and his heart. After that kiss a week ago, he’d be hard pressed to do so if she crashed on his couch again. Funny how life changed. He didn’t have a clue what her deal was, but she’d definitely come down in the world. Perhaps she’d sniffed out a temporary sugar daddy and figured she’d move in and make herself comfortable.

  Not going to happen.

  This Zach didn’t fall prey to conniving women. This Zach had been down that road a time or two too many. Especially with this woman.

  If Zach didn’t have money, she’d never give him a second look. That’s how women like her operated.

  Why she’d left her big-shot lawyer husband with his political aspirations, Zach didn’t understand. Those two shallow people made a perfect pair. There was a story here, but he didn’t give a damn what it was. Lord, just get him through the next several weeks with his heart intact and his dick zipped inside his jeans.

  Kelsie sat on the edge of couch. Even with the weary lines around her eyes and her defeated gaze she still radiated a natural beauty which put other women to shame. She looked so lost and discouraged. He grabbed the back of a chair to stop his feet from carrying him across the room to her. His ankle stung like hell where the rat’s teeth had left holes in his skin.

  Squaring h
er shoulders, Kelsie gazed up at him, a new resolve in her sky-blue eyes. “Well, time to get back to work.” She looked him up and down. Her gaze stalled out in the vicinity of his bare chest.

  Zach’s balls tightened and his cock ached to have her. “Hey, I’m going back to bed. Don’t make noise.”

  “Yes, sir.” She shot to her feet, stood at attention, and sketched a salute.

  A chuckle caught in Zach’s throat when he caught sight of her nipples through the thin material of her t-shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and he wished she wasn’t wearing anything. Their gazes met. Her eyes turned a dark, smoky blue, looking a lot like desire. At least he wanted to believe it was desire.

  Zach’s feet carried him across the room in a few long strides before he could jumpstart his common sense with a kick to the ass. So much for all his bullshit declarations regarding staying away from women like her.

  He reached out, drew her in and crushed her tall, slender body to his big burly one.

  She stared up at him, as her hands dangled limply at her sides. Her eyes fluttered shut as his mouth descended on hers. He couldn’t stop himself, and she made no move to stop him. He tasted her lips, sweet as his grandma’s homemade vanilla caramels. He’d loved those caramels, but not as much as he loved Kelsie’s lips.

  She hesitated for a moment, then wrapped her arms around his neck. Her soft lips moved against his, promising to make all his fantasies come true. His head denied it all. But his head wasn’t in charge right now. He angled his mouth, deepened the kiss. His tongue engaged in a sensual dance with her tongue and the rest of his body wanted some of that action.

  Kelsie let his lips have their way. In fact, she encouraged him. Her body relaxed against his. Her hips leaned into his hips. Filling his big palms with her fine butt, he pulled her midsection against his dick, rubbing her up and down against him. She hooked one of her legs around his waist, angled her hips to grind her crotch against his.