by Ann Jacobs
Marly hated the idea of living far from her family, but she wouldn’t complain. After all, Bobby had come a long way toward being the hero her life rotated around, and she wasn’t about to let him leave Memphis without her. “I know. If we move, we move. I’ll survive not being within an hour’s drive of my mom and dad.”
That was the first time Marly had come right out and said that. Bobby had assumed she would, but he liked hearing her say the words. “We’ll cross that bridge when it comes, but truth is, I’ll probably be on the trading block pretty soon after Keith gets back to work. That will happen in a hurry if he offers Tina the job and she accepts.”
Bobby was glad he had Marly persuaded that he had no sexual interest in Tina or anybody else except her. At least he hoped he did. The fact that some creep had dumped on her the way she’d finally told him made him want to kill the guy if he could find him—or wrap her in his love and make damn sure nobody ever hurt her again. “Want to get married soon?”
“Mom wants a year to plan the circus she has in mind.” Marly pouted, obviously not thrilled with the idea of Ringling Brothers coming to town to help celebrate her marriage, to him or anybody else.
“I bet we can persuade her she wouldn’t like the media circus that probably would happen if you marry me in Memphis. I’d like to do it quietly, with just your family and my mom and a few friends of ours, from the team. Since I’ve been playing every week, I’ve developed a phobia about reporters.” He had a sneaking suspicion Marly’s mom’s idea of a wedding would intimidate his mom and everybody from Hedgecock who might attend, and he didn’t want that. Especially since he was pretty sure Marly wasn’t enthusiastic about a huge blowout, either.
“You know, we could do it here, or in Hedgecock, except there aren’t enough hotel rooms there to handle even a few out-of-town guests. Or I could do the way a lot of players do and buy out a resort for a weekend and invite our guests there.”
Marly sat a few minutes, obviously thinking about the choices he’d suggested. “Going to Cabo or some resort like it would seem copycat, and I like to think we’re original. I vote for here, a small wedding for less than a hundred people, at my parish church with a reception at Dad’s restaurant.”
No, Marly wouldn’t want to follow anybody else’s pattern, and she seemed too frugal anyway to okay him spending fifty thousand or so to haul fifty or sixty guests to some popular Mexican or Caribbean resort. As far as her suggestion to do it here went, Bobby wasn’t too big on a church affair since he hadn’t been to Mass since he was too small to protest going, but it obviously meant something to Marly, or more particularly to her parents. He really didn’t want to get married in Hedgecock. He’d moved on from there when he left for college, and the only thing that drew him back now was his mom.
“I wouldn’t mind that. You can blame me for nixing the huge blowout if you want to. First thing, I don’t want to wait a year. Second, I have no desire to go on display for Memphis’ most intrusive reporters, especially since I’m sure I’ll have been traded long before a year’s up.”
Marly smiled. “I know you aren’t very religious, and I’m not either. But Mom and Dad will be happy if we get married in church. And I think I can make them believe I don’t want the hoopla either. My best friend from college had a three ring circus wedding last year, and the marriage didn’t last six months.”
After he pulled into Keith’s driveway and stopped the truck, Bobby leaned over the console and gave Marly a grateful kiss. She was so beautiful, but that wasn’t important. He’d found his soulmate and he wasn’t about to lose her over anything—particularly something as unimportant as the ceremony that would join them for the rest of their lives. “Let’s go in and see how Keith and Jack are doing, persuading Tina to come take care of them.”
“They’re in the game room. Mr. Connors said to send you in when you arrived. Just follow the noise. You’ll find them.” The middle-aged woman who answered the door wore a black and white uniform that reminded Marly of what female servers wore in four-star restaurants that boasted microscopic servings at obscene prices. She didn’t look any too happy when she answered the door and invited them in.
Mr. Connors? She’d never imagined Keith would have servants who called him “Mister”. The formality just didn’t seem to fit with what she knew of him, or the way he’d acted toward them last night. She and Bobby turned the corner and laughed out loud when they found Tina and Keith on the floor with Jack. Their mouths, even the baby’s, gave evidence that the pizza was already here and had been at least partially consumed. Both adults looked happier than Marly had ever seen them as they clowned for Jack’s amusement.
“Come on, join us. There’s plenty of pizza on the bar, and drinks are in the refrigerator. Tina and I just found out Jack likes pizza crust. She says it’s good for teething.”
Marly wasn’t all that sure she’d have tried feeding pizza to a baby, but then she guessed Jack was old enough to start trying some adult foods. “It looks like he’s having fun. You guys, too.” She put two slices of pepperoni pizza on a plate and handed it to Bobby. “Here you go. Plain, vanilla pizza. Just the way you like it.” She’d laughed at Bobby the first time they’d eaten at her dad’s restaurant, because he’d carefully picked all the visible ingredients besides the meat off his pizza before devouring it. Smiling at the memory, she served herself a slice of the pie that looked to have every imaginable topping on it. “This looks good.”
Bobby handed her a soda and took a beer for himself. “I haven’t figured you out yet, baby. You like beer with ribs but you want soda with pizza. I always heard pizza shouldn’t be eaten without beer.”
“Real Italians drink wine with their pizza.” Marly didn’t much care for the Chianti that was traditional with southern Italian food, either, but she figured her dad would cringe if she didn’t say it.
“Ugh,” Keith said, looking up at them as he and Tina took turns pushing toy cars back and forth for Jack to roll back to them. “I can’t stand wine of any kind. Give me a beer any day, or even a soft drink.”
Tina looked at him. “Uh, Keith, if you don’t like wine, why do you keep a huge refrigerator full of it in the kitchen?”
“For guests,” he said shortly. “Bobby, do you think your knee will be up to playing this week?”
“I guess.” Bobby sounded as confused at the sudden change of topic as Marly felt. “How’s the shoulder feeling after the workout today?”
“Sore. But I could play if I have to. I imagine that if I don’t get back on the field pretty soon, I’ll be out of a job. You’ve done amazing things considering this is your first year.”
They chatted for a while, until a pungent odor let Marly know Jack needed a change. “Shall I take him upstairs and do the honors?” she asked Keith.
“No. Let Tina do it. I’ve shown her around the house, so she knows where to find his stuff.”
Tina grinned. “I think I can find his room again. Come on, little guy, let’s go get changed.”
As Jack left, giggling in Tina’s arms, Marly figured this was going to work. Sure, Tina didn’t seem to fit in this elegant mansion the way the housekeeper did, but then neither did Keith. “Seems you’re getting along pretty well,” she commented to Keith when he moved off the floor onto a bar stool.
“She’s easy to relax with. And Jack already seems crazy about her. My only worry is how she’ll get along with Mrs. Gardner.”
“The woman who answered the door?” Bobby’s tone hinted that he doubted the housekeeper much liked anybody.
“Yeah. Jackie hired her when we first moved here. All the good I can say about her is that she keeps the place straightened up. I’m fairly sure she thinks I’m some sort of a caveman since I wander around the house in cutoffs and T-shirts instead of whatever it is she thinks the master of the house should be wearing.”
Bobby washed down the last of his pizza with a big slug of beer. “I’d fire her. Having hired help look down her pointy nose at me would be the
last straw.”
“Now, Bobby,” Marly chided gently. “There is something to be said for a clean house, and I can’t see you actually cleaning yours, even though you are pretty neat for a guy.”
Keith’s laugh sounded forced. “I’m not very neat, so I need someone to pick up after me. Mrs. Garner’s not all that bad. She’s always stayed out of my way as much as possible.”
“What if she’s not nice to Tina?” From the little Marly knew, Tina had lived a hard life. She deserved some peace if she was going to take this job.
“Then I’ll fire her and let Tina hire a cleaning woman she gets on with. I can live with a mess before I’ll make Jack do without her. He loves her already, and it’s only been a few hours.” Keith sighed, as if making that decision had taken a load off his back. “I shouldn’t have gotten upset when she mentioned the wine collection. It was Jackie’s. She liked ‘fine dining’, as she called it. It’s hard when I have to think of her.”
“I imagine it is.” Never having known Keith before, Marly was surprised at his sensitivity, but she understood it. After all, he’d lost Jackie and now was floundering around, trying to make a go on his own. “When do you want Tina to start?”
“Now.”
“Is she okay with this? After all, she’s just gotten here, and she might need some rest before taking on Hurricane Jack.” Bobby grinned, as if he could picture the havoc Keith’s eight month-old terror might instigate with a tired, new nanny.
Keith smiled. “I talked with Coach Lyle, and I’m going to stay home with them for the next two days. Between us, Tina and I should each be able to get a bit of rest, and I won’t have to subject poor Jack to Mrs. Gardner. I never saw another woman who seems to despise babies the way she does.”
Marly laughed. This was going to work out. She knew it. “We’d better go home and get Tina’s stuff,” she told Bobby. “Not that I’m anxious to lose our houseguest so soon.”
He bent over and whispered in her ear. “Liar. I know you can’t wait to get home so we can play with our toys.” Then he turned to Keith. “We’ll go get Tina’s luggage and bring it over here. I’m pretty sure she hasn’t even unpacked.”
Chapter 9
By Friday, Tina had settled in and Keith was back at practice. Bobby thought he looked rested for the first time since they’d gotten to training camp back in August. Coach Lyle had given Bobby the start but told him Keith would be taking over the following week. They’d talked for a few minutes in the parking lot before getting in their cars and heading home.
Not that Bobby hadn’t expected this. He knew now that he’d be traded to a team whose starting quarterback had bombed out or gone down with a season-ending injury at mid-season, and whose backup was a dud. But he wouldn’t be going alone, so it was okay.
He imagined taking Marly to the frozen North, or the balmy South, or anywhere in between. Even to the West Coast. It wouldn’t matter, as long as he had her with him. When his cell phone rang, he smiled at the sight of Marly’s name on the LCD screen and turned on the speaker phone.
“This week will be my last start. Coach just told me Keith will be ready in time for the Savannah game.”
“Then come home, honey, and I’ll console you. My practice was over early, so I wanted to get some planning done for our big day. I let Mom talk me into wearing a white dress, but I nixed the veil.”
“Hussy. You know you’re no wide-eyed virgin. But go on, wear that white gown, not that I think you can persuade even your own parents that your big jock fiancée hasn’t sampled you pretty thoroughly before the wedding.” Bobby loved to tease her, even when she bristled and let her hot Italian temper show. “Just remember, baby, I like you best when you’re wearing nothing at all.” Blood rushed to his sex as he recalled the game they’d played last night, with vibrating dildos and cock rings, and the arousing smell of heated oil they’d spent hours massaging into each other’s bodies.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Mom and Dad want us to come over for dinner. They’ve got something they want to give us.”
Bobby pictured some antique that was a family heirloom, or maybe a cookbook with all of Dom’s secret recipes. “I’ll manage the appropriate reaction, whatever it may be.”
But Marly wasn’t so sure. Her parents had given her older brothers houses when they got married, which was probably the only reason they’d stayed in the old neighborhood. “It might be a house, you know.”
“Nah. They wouldn’t buy us a house when they know we’ll likely be living somewhere else but here. Would they?” His voice had an edge, as if he figured this was somewhat likely.
“Remember they bought houses for my brothers.”
“Your brothers didn’t make several million bucks a year when they got married, did they?”
“No, but—“
“No buts. They can give us whatever they want to, other than a house. I’ll buy that for us, and I doubt it will be here in Memphis.”
“You don’t want to live here in the off-season?”
Bobby groaned. “No, baby. I want us to make a year-round home wherever it is that I end up playing. We can visit your folks whenever we want to. They’ve got plenty of room to put us up for a week here and there.”
Marly was torn. Her parents had given in on the wedding plans. They’d taken Bobby in their open arms and treated him like another son. She knew they really wanted to keep their kids nearby for family meals and outings, and it hurt to know Bobby was so emphatic about keeping families at a distance. Her family, that is, she thought uncharitably, because she figured he’d move his own mother in with them at the drop of a hat unless her romance with the Hedgecock banker ended up as Marly hoped it would.
“Is this going to be a problem?” His voice sounded cold over the phone, as though he wasn’t anxious to humor her and keep them close to Memphis.
“I don’t know. I’ve always thought we’d come back here, that this would sort of be our second home…that we’d live here once you retire.”
“Baby, I’ve just started. I’m hoping retirement won’t come into the picture for at least fifteen or sixteen years. Besides, what makes you think I wouldn’t want to go back to my own hometown?”
That made her furious. “Bobby, you’ve said a million times that you’d never want to go back and live in Hedgecock, Texas. You’ve never even taken me there for a visit with your mom.”
“And I don’t,” he ground out. “But I don’t want to live under the collective noses of your family, either. You want a place in Memphis, fine. We’ll pick a place out close to Keith’s place, or buy a bigger condo in the building where we live now. Why this sudden urge to stay close to Mom and Dad?”
Marly didn’t know. Maybe it was the wedding. Or maybe it was all the changes piling up on her life at once. “I don’t know,” she said after trying to figure out for herself what had her emotions on a roller coaster. “I don’t know why we’re arguing. Mom and Dad might have decided to give us that atrocious brass coat rack they got from her grandparents when they moved to a retirement home.”
“I don’t want that, either.” Bobby chuckled, though, so Marly thought she’d probably lightened his mood a bit. “I guess it would be easier to haul around the country than an entire house, so I might be inclined to accept it graciously. By the way, I’m pulling into the parking garage now, so you might want to get naked and meet me at the door.”
From the look on Bobby’s face Marly figured he hadn’t actually expected her to do it, but Marly greeted him wearing nothing but a smile. “I’d just finished my shower when I called you. I didn’t have time to get dressed.”
Bobby scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the sofa that faced the bank of windows overlooking the river. “Think somebody might see us?” he asked as he shucked his clothes and scooped her onto his lap. “The idea excites you, doesn’t it, baby?”
“You’re a bad, bad boy. If you didn’t keep me so hot all the time, I’d punish you.” She nipped at his neck, leaving a gro
wing bruise. He’d be mad about it in the morning, but he’d wear her mark the way she wore his, on her finger all the time and frequently on intimate parts of her body as well. “But I find all I want to do is love you.”
“Then let me inside, baby. I had a hard day at practice so you’ll have to put out most of the energy.” He lay back and dragged her over his hard, tough body. “Climb aboard. Every time I listen to your voice I get hard. It’s all your fault.”
She knew the glow would wear off eventually, and that Bobby would come home intent on sleeping or relaxing in the hot tub instead of this, so she’d enjoy it while it lasted. Stroking his warm skin, circling his nipples with her fingertips, she touched him with more love that explosive lust. He felt so good inside her, his sex throbbing inside her. Not thrusting, just filling her with a slow burning fire they might bank for later or let develop into a burning flame. Either one was fine.
Fine because she loved him. She even loved the fact that he’d wanted to be there for his old lover and to take care of his mother now that he was in position to do so. When she rode him like this, slow and easy, she couldn’t work up the resentment that she’d felt when he assured her he wasn’t going to live under her parents’ loving thumbs and he wasn’t going to let her do it, either. “That feels so good.” While he wasn’t moving much, he was getting her hotter with every teasing pulsation of his flesh inside her.
As hot as she’d been last night when they played with toys until they were both dripping with sweat from all the forceful sensations, the pure lust of it all. “Want more?” he asked, but she just wanted to stay there, with him inside her, needing the closeness and feeling of belonging that seemed to surround them, her tired hero still determined to bring her the release.
