by Shania Tyler
“All right, guys! Huddle up!” Ruby yelled loudly and every single one of them skidded to a halt, turned to look at her, and began to jog toward us. They clearly knew who was boss and, from the way they reacted, they seemed to respect her more than I’d ever seen a team respect any General Manager before.
“What’s going on?” one of them asked.
“Where’s Bill at?” another yelled, and I couldn’t help but notice the way that Ruby stiffened at their questions.
“As I’m sure some of you may have heard, Bill has left us for another team.” Ruby spoke through gritted teeth, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. “I’d like you all to meet your new coach, Major Lawson.”
She waved her hand toward me, and I took a step forward to stand beside her. Some of the men cheered while others looked frustrated. A couple of them looked absolutely appalled.
“You can’t be serious, Ruby!” one of them shouted from the back of the group. When the largest of the players shoved his way forward, his team members did their best to get out of the way. “We can’t seriously be letting this clown coach us.”
“We can, and we will if we want any shot at winning the Super Bowl this year,” Ruby insisted. “And you’d do well to remember that your coach deserves respect.”
“This guy doesn’t deserve anybody’s respect.”
I recognized the guy as their star quarterback. It was just typical that I would get the crap from him. “You heard what he did! Everybody did!”
“Everybody deserves a second chance,” Ruby told him and the way she said the words were as though she was reminding him of something. “You of all people should know that, Wills.”
I couldn’t help but admire the way she shut the guy down, taking no shit from anyone on the team as they looked me up and down.
“Does anybody else have a problem?” Ruby asked, and she scanned the entire team, giving each of them an ‘I dare you to try to say something about this’ look that told them all they had better keep their mouths shut if they knew what was good for them. I had to admit seeing a woman take charge of things was definitely a real turn on, especially in that skin-tight dress. Man, she made my loins ache.
Stop it! This is strictly professional. Get your head out of the gutter.
When she turned to me with a smile, I could see the concern on her face that said she wasn’t at all sure about what she was doing. “Are you going to be all right if I leave you guys to it?”
“I’ve handled worse than this bunch before,” I assured her, and I gave the team my own ‘I dare you’ look.
“Now, boys, are we all going to be able to play nicely or am I going to have to give some of you a timeout by the end of the day?” she asked the rest of the team again and several of them murmured profanities, which she seemed to ignore and take as part of their male chauvinistic bull crap.
“Well, then, what are you waiting for?” Ruby demanded, gesturing toward the field. “Back to work. We’ve got a Super Bowl to get ready for.”
With another set of grumbles, the men turned and began to make their way back out onto the field. As they began to jog around, getting back into the swing of things, Ruby turned back to me and gave me another smile. “Good luck with them. They can be one heck of a handful with the new guys. If they give you any trouble, just come and see me, okay?”
“If they give me any trouble, I am a big boy and can sort it out myself,” I assured her.
She gave me a raised eyebrow.
“We both know what your sorting things out looks like, Major Lawson. Please just come to me if you need anything at all.” She placed her hands on her hips, giving me that sexy sassy expression of hers all over again. “And I mean anything at all.”
Be careful what you say, or I might take that the wrong way. I could barely stop myself from biting my lip and showing her just what I really thought about her sentence.
“Got it, boss,” I told her instead and turned my attention to the team. I spoke up louder then so they could hear me. “Let’s get down to business, guys.”
* * *
5
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CHAPTER FIVE
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Ruby
I wandered back down toward the door, away from the practice field and, when I was sure that Major wasn’t paying attention to me, I slipped into one of the seats to watch from a distance. I was sure that the new guy could handle our team. I’d seen the teams he’d worked with before, yet I was still apprehensive to leave him alone on his first day coaching my team. I knew as well as anyone that the Buckskins could be a real handful when they got a bee in their bonnet and, from the way that Wills had gotten on at it as soon as he’d seen Major, I knew that I was going to be facing some negativity.
I watched in silence as Major began to put the team through the usual drills, doing the same thing Bill would have done day in day out, watching them as he got to know them. I could see him picking up on their moves, their strengths, their weaknesses. The more I watched him, the more capable I realized him to be and before long, my anxiety at the whole thing began to subside. He demanded authority and ordered the team around as though he had been working with them for years. Yet I could see several of them watching him closely, giving him the eye whenever he wasn’t looking, and I knew that I was going to have trouble with at least one or two of the guys. I knew they were apprehensive about having a new coach. After all, they had been working under Bill for so many years. It must have been odd for them.
“That’s enough drills,” Major yelled after around an hour. “Let’s split into two teams and get a little match going on. I want to see how you all work together.”
“What are we? Kids?” Wills yelled over to him, and I groaned, rolling my eyes at his need to always be the one to speak up. He was, in fact, like a kid, the kid who always felt the need to speak against the teacher and get himself into trouble—the guy who always got put on time out. He used his sense of humor to rally people to his side, and I didn’t need Wills getting the team riled up against Major.
Am I seriously going to have to take Wills into my office and give him a talking to? I watched how Major handled the most talented man on the team.
“What’s wrong, Wills? Scared your team is going to lose?” Major goaded him.
Several of the other men began to laugh at the flushed look that came upon Wills’ face. Bronson Wills had always been the big talker of the team, and he was dangerously close to cocky, although Ruby could admit that the kid had skills. And it seemed that Major knew just how to handle him.
“Let’s team up and get on with it,” Major yelled when Wills didn’t give him any back talk.
Finally satisfied with what I had seen, I pushed myself up from my seat and headed from the stadium back to my office.
“Hey, Ruby,” Mary called to me from the reception desk as I passed. “What was that all about with Scotty on Friday?”
For a moment, I wasn’t sure what she was referring to. Then I suddenly remembered the flowers that he had brought me and how he had handed them to her when I had refused to take them. I felt sick as I saw them sitting on the desk in a crystal vase.
“Oh, you know what he’s like.” I shrugged and rolled my eyes. “Always trying to get into someone’s pants.”
“So, he’s trying to get back into yours then?” Mary questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t even go there.” I shook my head at her. “That is never in a million years going to happen.”
“So, he’s on the market then?” Mary bit her bottom lip, and I could see from the look she gave me that she was hopeful.
“You are welcome to him, but I will warn you that he is not the kind of guy you want to go getting involved with if you have any self-respect whatsoever.” I shivered as I remembered what he had done to me and how he had treated me, especially in the last few months of our relationship when he had
barely given me the time of day.
“I think I’d be happy to let him disrespect me any day if you know what I mean!” Mary gave me a wink, and I couldn’t help but laugh. She had always been a loose woman, always talking about her latest conquests as though she was the guy doing all the playing.
“I thought you were seeing someone?” I asked, intrigued to talk about somebody else’s life for a while. I leaned with my elbows on the desk to talk to her. “What happened with that?”
“Oh, yeah, Keith. He started to get boring as hell. Started with the whole marriage and babies talk and I cut it off right there.” Mary shrugged but there was something in her eyes that told me that wasn’t altogether true. The flash that went through her gaze told me she was more cut up about it than that. “But you know the best way to get over a guy….”
“Is to get under another.” I laughed and rolled my eyes at her, remembering the line she always gave me whenever one of her trysts went bad.
“You got it, girl.” Mary looked at me over the thick rim of her designer glasses, and I had to admit that she was good looking in that smart girl cutesy sort of way. Any guy would be lucky to have her if she could handle sticking around for more than a few months. “So, what about the new guy?”
My heart skipped a beat at the mere mention of him, and I tried to force the sensation away. “What new guy?”
“Don’t play dumb with me.” Mary scowled and pushed her glasses up her nose a little. “He is so freaking hot. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”
“I’m not at all sure who you are talking about.” I laughed how young she sounded. “And for the record, that sounds like something my niece would have said back in seventh grade.”
“Well, if the shoe fits.” Mary shrugged. “Major Lawson is so yummy!”
“He is?” I feigned innocence. “I really hadn’t noticed.”
“Any woman with eyes can see that bulky, tattooed god of a man from a mile off.” Mary continued to give me a ‘are you a crazy, woman’ look, and I barely managed to stop myself from laughing again.
“Okay, so I had noticed but I’m sure he is taken anyway.” I wasn’t sure whether I was trying to put Mary off him or put myself off, but there was something about the way that I said it that made me think it was more for my own benefit.
Just then, somebody cleared their throat behind me, and I whipped around, almost jumping right out of my skin. Off balance, I stumbled awkwardly in my heels.
“Oh, my!” I gasped as I started falling, unable to stop. I tried to reach out for anything to hold on to, and my hand gripped flesh. My heart hammered in my chest as hands gripped my arms and held me up.
“It’s all right. I’ve got you.” Major’s deep voice hit my ears, and my cheeks burned red hot with embarrassment. Not only had he just caught me from a majorly embarrassing fall, but he had probably caught the tail end of our conversation. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mary wink at me.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.” I pulled quickly away from Major’s grip, all too aware of how his flesh on my own made me tingle all over. “I must have tripped on the rug.”
Oh, wow, what a lame excuse. I glanced down, not even sure if there was a rug beneath me, and I was relieved to see that there was.
“Oh, come on, Miss Bowman, we both know that you are falling for me.” Major smirked at me, and my heart leaped into my throat. He was still standing so close to me and when I tried to take a step backward, my butt came up against Mary’s desk. He grinned, as if sensing my retreat. “You know, if you wanted to know whether I was single or not, you could have just asked.”
“She most certainly does want to know whether you are single or not.” Mary spoke up for me, even as I opened my mouth to tell him that I wasn’t interested in whether he was single or not. The truth was that I was interested, even if that was just to learn that he was taken so that I could get these stupid ideas about him out of my head.
“In that case, she should probably know that I am, in fact, single.” Though Major spoke as though he was speaking to Mary, he never took his eyes off me, and I felt anchored to the desk by his gaze. My heart hammered in my chest, and my mouth grew dry as I felt him gazing me up and down with an expression that told me he liked what he saw.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working with the guys?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject. Major was clearly amused by the way I avoided the conversation.
“I gave them a five-minute break so that they wouldn’t go killing themselves on the field.” Major shrugged, “I was hoping to get my hands on all Bill’s paperwork so that I can take a look at some of the stuff he was working on before he quit.”
My heart still skipped a beat at the thought that Bill had quit on us, but it was slightly lessened by the fact that we had Major now. I wasn’t sure that he would be anywhere near as good as Bill had been for the team, but he was better than nothing.
“I will go and grab the key for his office,” I told him. “I probably should have given it to you first thing this morning anyway, considering it’s your office now.”
“Oh, gee, I get my own office?” Major mocked with a clap as though he was an excited school girl. I felt the urge to reach out and slap him but that would have meant having to touch him, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to feel those tingles again just yet, if ever.
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I get enough bullshit off the guys. Don’t you join in with them.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, boss lady.” Major straightened up, clicked his heels together, and gave me a salute that I couldn’t help but smile at. His charm was only growing by the minute. God help me.
* * *
Having grabbed the key to Bill’s old office from my own, we headed to the room on the other side of the building. Bill’s name was still up in gold on the door, and I made a quick mental note to get it taken down and replaced as soon as possible, though Major didn’t make any comment on it. Something told me that he wasn’t the kind of guy who was all that bothered about having his name displayed. He seemed like the kind of guy who would rather be judged on his performance than showing his name off on an office door.
“Here it is,” I told him as I unlocked the door and pushed it open to show him the small office that was crammed full of trophies, decorations, and ornaments, all having to do with the Buckskins and their success. Major stepped through the door with a whistle of appreciation and spun around in the small space so that he could see every inch of the posters that decorated the walls. “This guy really loved his team. Why did he leave again?”
“His wife wanted better shopping opportunities.” I shrugged and rolled my eyes. “Some women just can’t be pleased.”
“And what about you? What pleases Miss Bowman?” Major crossed his arms over his chest as he turned his attention to me to wait for my answer. My entire body stiffened at his question and I knew that he was talking in a romantic sense, but I could not allow myself to even think of going there.
“What pleases me is knowing that my team is taken care of and my coach isn’t going to desert me again.” I held out the key to his new office and dangled it in front of him as though it was the greatest prize ever. As he reached up to take it from my hand, and a part of me thought of snatching it away from him just to see what he would do, but that was the kind of thing that people did when they were attracted to someone, when they wanted another reason to interact with someone. I didn’t want that with Major. At least, I wouldn’t allow myself to want that with Major.
This is strictly business, I reminded myself quickly.
“I am not going anywhere.” His voice was both a promise and a threat as he took the key from me and, for a moment, I felt our fingers brush. The rush of electricity that shot through my body was like nothing I had ever felt before, and I took an involuntary step back. He looked at me curiously. “Is everything all right? You look a little flushed.”
“I’m fine,” I assured him with a nod. “I
t’s just a little hot in here.”
“Really? I think it feels fine.” Major laughed, and I was sure that he was used to women reacting in this way to his charm and his good looks. That made it all the more frustrating. I wasn’t some weak-kneed woman who would drop my panties at a wink. Although if he flashes that dimple again…
“Let’s get back to work, shall we?” I suggested. “We have been standing around too long, and there’s a lot to be done if we are going to get ready for the Super Bowl. We need a win this season.”
With that, I turned and headed back to the door, ready to leave.
“I’ll do my best to get you one,” Major replied and, from the way he said it, I knew that he knew as well as I did that if I didn’t get a win both my job and possibly now his own would be on the line. It was a dog-eat-dog world we found ourselves in.
* * *
6
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CHAPTER SIX
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Major
Oh, how I usually loved to watch women squirm when they spoke to me, but even I could admit that there was something about the way that Ruby squirmed that made it all the more satisfying. I could see in the tension of her body and the way she spoke that she was fighting it with everything she had not to show me that she was attracted to me. I didn’t want to be big headed but there weren’t many women, if any, who could resist my charms when I really turned them on. The truth was that I hadn’t even been trying with this one. Perhaps that was what made it all the worse. I hadn’t been trying and yet I still felt so damn attracted to her.
Even as I headed back to the field and the guys who had been taking their break, I couldn’t get her and her sexy curves out of my overactive imagination. For just a few minutes, I had been alone with her again, in an office that could have so easily been sealed off and made private with the click of a door and the turn of a key. Sure, she was my boss, and I shouldn’t have been thinking in such a way, but what could I say? I was a guy and guys have needs, especially when faced with such a beautiful woman.
