Game On (AN OUT OF BOUNDS NOVEL)

by Solheim, Tracy

  The decision before her was simple. All she needed to do was execute it. She fell asleep, her plans firmly made.

  * * *

  The rental car had arrived the next morning, but it was already late afternoon and she was still trouncing around the woods outside the cabin with Beckett and Troy. So much for her plans to hightail it out of there as soon as possible. She told herself she’d stayed because of Troy. The sight of the rental car brought tears to his eyes and a tremor to his mouth. He was still grieving the loss of his parents. A fact his older brother seemed oblivious to. Shane’s moodiness may have eased as a result of their marathon in his bed the night before, but his attitude toward his brother hadn’t softened one bit. Someone needed to serve as a human buffer between the Devlin brothers. She’d grown attached to Troy, and the boy was still too fragile to leave alone with his brother. She was staying to make sure he got the love and attention he needed.

  It was only a half-truth, of course. And she knew it. Carly could no more step away from the sexual pull that was Shane Devlin than she could give up breathing. Despite knowing nothing was ever going to come of their relationship, she remained at the cabin.

  She wasn’t sure how Shane spent his day, but he’d done his best to avoid her and Troy. When they arrived back at the cabin, he was standing at the island in the center of the huge kitchen, chopping vegetables. His hair was damp from a recent shower and he was dressed in a pair of cutoff jeans and a worn Dave Matthew’s Band T-shirt, his feet bare. He looked up when they entered, but remained silent. If he was annoyed about her staying, he was careful not to let it show.

  “Whacha’ makin’?” Troy asked, he and Beckett making a beeline for the counter.

  “Salsa,” Shane said. “We’re having Mexican for dinner.”

  Carly glanced at the three place settings on the table. Unlike Troy, Shane hadn’t acknowledged the arrival of the rental car that morning. Not that she expected him to wave her out the front door, but he’d been pretty adamant about her distracting him from whatever preseason rituals he meant to go through at the cabin. It seemed he’d changed his mind—at least for tonight. She wasn’t delusional enough to think he wanted her there for any reason other than to keep Troy entertained and out of the way. Fine with her. Keeping an eye on the boy was Carly’s main reason for staying, also. Or so she kept telling herself.

  “Can I help?” Troy asked.

  Shane didn’t look up from the tomatoes he was chopping, but his hand on the knife hesitated a second before he spoke. “Wash up first.”

  Troy scampered over to the sink.

  “And the dog needs to be fed,” Shane said.

  “I’ll do it,” Carly said. Shane arched an eyebrow at her before she disappeared into the pantry to scoop some food for Beckett. Yep, it was a good thing she’d stayed, she congratulated herself. Things between Troy and Shane were already working themselves out.

  “What have I told you about holding the knife?” Shane yelled.

  Then again, maybe not.

  * * *

  “Why are you still here?” Shane’s breathing was ragged as he stilled himself inside her. Carly released a deep sigh, opening her eyes. They were inches from his and he could just make out their vibrant blue color. Passion shimmered there. And something else he chose to ignore.

  It was midnight and they were naked in his bed. Her rental car had arrived promptly at ten that morning, but she hadn’t left. Tompkins was in custody and there was no need for her to hide up in the Allegheny Mountains with him anymore. Not that he was complaining. She’d kept the kid occupied all day, and now, well, now he was enjoying the other major benefit to having her here.

  “Because,” she said, forcing a groan from him by clenching her muscles.

  But he was stronger and wanted answers even though he had a feeling he wouldn’t like them. Burying himself deeper, he leaned down to take a nipple in his mouth. “Because, why?” he asked, blowing on the sensitive skin and causing her to squirm beneath him. She gasped softly as he toyed with the nipple and repeated his question. “Why?”

  “Because you’re mean to Troy,” she whispered.

  “I am not! I’m being nice to him.”

  Obviously, Carly disagreed. She sighed—this time not with pleasure—and gave him a haphazard roll of her eyes. He wanted to argue with her, but the more she squirmed beneath him, the more desperate he was to finish. He picked up his rhythm again and her expression went from incredulous to blissful in ten seconds flat.

  “So what you’re saying,” he said with a satisfied grin as he moved over her, “is that you are here for the kid and not for this.”

  “Yes!” she nearly screamed as he drove into her, making her come. “Oh, God, yes!”

  He wasn’t sure whether it was in answer to his question or not. But it didn’t matter. With a groan, he followed her over the edge. “Liar,” he mumbled against her ear as he collapsed over her.

  It took several minutes for their breathing to return to normal. Rolling onto his back, he gently tucked her into the crook of his arm. She was quiet, but he knew she wasn’t asleep yet. Her fingers glided over his chest, finally stopping over his heart.

  “This was only supposed to be a one-night fling,” she finally said, her breath softly caressing his skin.

  He tucked a hand beneath his head and stared at the ceiling. “Uh-huh.” Suddenly, he was regretting bringing up the subject. It had just been his ego talking earlier, wanting affirmation that he was more important to her than a twelve-year-old boy. He’d left the door wide open for “the relationship discussion” and he had no one to blame but himself. The thing was, his theory about getting over his sexual attraction to Carly in one night was a bunch of crap. Hadn’t he figured that out the first night he’d had her?

  Instead, sex with her was addictive. And not just the sex. Everything about Carly made him want more. More of her unguarded smiles. More of her casual caresses. More of her laughter. More of her. But in return, she’d want more of him. More than he was capable of giving.

  He played with her hair and tried to defuse the situation by turning on his Devil-of-the-NFL charm. “We could always renegotiate our original agreement to cover the rest of the off-season.” That way, they could continue as they were, but he’d have an out in two weeks when training camp started.

  She rolled onto his chest, leveling her face with his. “Oh no you don’t,” she said. “If you want me to stay and help with Troy, you just have to ask. You don’t get to use sex to sweeten the deal. I told you when he arrived I’d help him. But not because I want to sleep with you. That’s insulting.”

  Something flickered within his sternum as she spoke. He wasn’t sure if it was triumph or panic. Theirs was only a temporary relationship, the only kind Shane did. When the season started, he needed to focus all his energy on playing. It was the only way he knew to be successful. Yet the thought of not having Carly around made him break out into a sweat.

  “This,” she said, waving a hand between them, “this . . . is amazing.”

  The flickering in his chest became a drumbeat.

  “But,” she continued, her soft voice sad, “it isn’t going to be more than it is right now. You’re a total commitment phobe, I get that, Shane. And I’ve already survived a relationship with a superstar athlete. One which I have no desire to repeat.”

  The thing in his chest became a rock now as he watched tears fill Carly’s eyes. He hated what her ex-fiancé had done to her. Almost as much as he hated her putting them both in the same category—the one labeled jackass.

  “What I don’t get,” she said, “is why you can’t try to have a relationship with the only family you have in the world. It’s not like you can’t relate to what he’s going through.”

  Shane had no trouble identifying the feeling in his chest now. It was anger. He was really getting sick of everyone assuming he was the best person
to care for the kid just because they’d had similar life stories. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  “No!” she cried, slapping a hand on his chest. “You don’t get to be mad, either. You’ve fooled the rest of the world into believing you’re some independent, tough guy, but not me. Don’t sell yourself short. I know you’re capable of having a relationship with your brother.”

  He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look into her stormy ones. She thought he was capable of a relationship? Was she crazy? Carly had no idea how wrong she was. His mother had been so distraught that her husband no longer loved her, she hadn’t bothered to fight her cancer. She hadn’t bothered to stick around for the one person who did love her—her son. His father had been no better. He’d gone on to have a happier life with the son he’d actually wanted.

  Carly’s warm tears fell onto his skin, making him tremble. She had it wrong. He wasn’t incapable of relationships; he was just incapable of being loved. Raising Bruce’s kid would only prove that. The kid would abandon him for someone else eventually. Hell, if given the choice, he’d probably pick Carly as his guardian. Not that Shane could blame him. And not that it wouldn’t hurt just a little.

  She gave a frustrated huff at his silence before rolling off and putting her back to him. Shane opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Carly certainly made it sound as though their relationship was casual, but that didn’t matter. She had hopes and aspirations about him forging a bond with the kid. He knew he was going to get hurt in the end no matter what.

  * * *

  Carly refused to let Shane’s ambivalence about Troy dampen the boy’s adjustment to life without his parents, even though her heart was telling her she was entering dangerous territory. Her feelings for the Devlin brothers were complicated. She wanted to protect them—both of them. From each other and from the hard knocks life had dealt them. Something inside Carly couldn’t let either of them go until they’d forged a relationship together. The problem was, the more committed she became to that idea, the more committed she became to them.

  As the days passed, Shane seemed to relax, spending more and more time with her and Troy. Each day fell into a familiar pattern. In the mornings, he and Troy would argue about something they’d seen on SportsCenter as they prepared breakfast in the kitchen. Shane allowed Troy to help more and more with the cooking, unaware that the action only fueled the boy’s hero worship. While Shane worked out after breakfast, Troy cheerfully cleaned up, chattering to Carly about what he and Shane were cooking for dinner or the game films they were going to analyze later. In the afternoons the three of them took Beckett and hiked through the hills surrounding the cabin. At night, they all played cards or made s’mores in the fire pit.

  Afterward, in bed, Shane and Carly played their own games. She was grateful he had relaxed back into the teasing lover he’d been before. It was easier to handle her feelings toward him when the sex was lighter, more playful. There was a vulnerable man behind the loner’s mask he wore for the world, but she knew if she delved too deeply, he’d pull back. Just as he’d done the other night. His refusal to let her in had stung too much, sending up alarm bells of her own. She needed to be able to walk away unhurt, and she couldn’t do that if she let him too close to her heart.

  Later that week, Carly returned from the farm stand in town to find the house empty. Troy had mentioned wanting to go fishing, so Carly loaded up a basket with some cookies she’d picked up while she was out and headed down toward the stream. The sound of voices, deep in conversation, reached her before she made it to the water. She smiled as she realized that, in less than a week, Shane had gone from grunting monosyllables at Troy to actually engaging him in a conversation. As far as she knew, Shane still hadn’t uttered the boy’s name, but he was slowly making progress.

  “At least I don’t suck at fishing,” she heard Troy say.

  “There’s not much to suck at with fishing,” Shane said as he cast his line out into the pond at the mouth of the stream. “It’s mostly luck.”

  Troy grunted. “I suck at most sports.”

  Carly stood still, obscured by a maple tree, and watched as the two fished. Shane waded up to his ankles in the water, his torso bare to the sun, a pair of worn Levi’s hugging his thighs. Shiny Revo sunglasses glinted against the sun. Troy stood on a flat rock, barefoot, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, with a Blaze ball cap shielding his eyes. He held his fishing pole perfectly still. Beckett snored softly from where he lounged in the sun farther downstream.

  “Not everyone can be a star athlete,” Shane consoled the boy.

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t get the Devlin genes.”

  Shane gave a little snort before turning to look at Troy. “That’s nothing to be disappointed about.”

  “Says you. You’re a professional athlete. And so was Dad. I can barely throw a ball ten feet.”

  “There’s more to life than being a professional athlete, kid.”

  “Now you sound just like Dad.”

  Carly held her breath, unsure of how Shane would react to the comment. She watched as the muscles in his back tightened briefly before he relaxed, turning his attention back to his fishing pole and the pond.

  “Maybe because your dad had a point.”

  “Yeah, but both of you are really great at sports and I totally suck at every one I try. I’m an epic failure.”

  Shane coughed, or chuckled, she wasn’t sure. “Look, your dad, he was a freak of nature. As far as I know, most of the Devlins sucked at sports. Your dad had a gift and he used it to get as far away from the life that was his only option. Sometimes that little bit extra—like a need to escape—can make a person’s drive that much greater. I’m pretty sure it was that way for your dad.”

  “If it was a fluke, then how come you can play?”

  Shane didn’t bother hiding his laugh this time. “I was too stubborn to let anyone tell me I wasn’t good enough. I had something to prove.”

  They were silent for a few moments, serenaded by the cicadas and the gurgle of the stream where it met the pond. Before Carly took a step, Shane spoke again. “Look, just because you aren’t an all-star in Little League or soccer or whatever, it doesn’t mean you suck at sports or anything else. You’re a good kid. Real smart and okay to have around. You can do whatever you want in life. And as long as you’re a good person and do your best, you’ll succeed.” Reaching over, he grabbed the cap off Troy’s head, ruffling his hair. Troy beamed at him as Shane replaced the cap. “Now, shut up or the fish won’t bite.”

  Carly brushed away a tear and tried to control her breathing. With shaking hands, she realized the scene she’d just witnessed solidified the gnawing feeling hovering in her belly for the past few days. She was in love with Shane Devlin. Try as she might to prevent it, it had happened. Once again, she’d fallen in love with the wrong man. A man everyone—including himself—thought was incapable of love. As overjoyed as she was at Shane’s evolving relationship with Troy, she was frightened to death of her feelings for Shane. How had this happened? Was it possible he could change? Would she even want to stay and find out?

  Later that night, wrapped in the cocoon of his slumbering body, Carly wanted to blurt out her feelings for him. She desperately wanted to know what his reaction would be. Lisa had been right; Shane just needed a little time to get to know Troy before realizing he could let the boy into his life. The budding relationship between the two brothers gave Carly hope of a future for her and Shane.

  The only thing keeping her from telling Shane she loved him were thoughts of Maxim. The feelings she felt for Shane were different from those she’d once believed she felt for Max. Still, she’d poured everything she had into her relationship with him, only to have him leave her for another woman. The question keeping her awake tonight was, did she have the guts to risk being rejected again?

  Twenty

  Beckett carried a three-foo
t stick up the slope of the hill, the kid shrieking with laughter in chase. Shane smiled as dog teased boy. He’d meant what he’d said yesterday. He was a good kid and Shane had gotten used to having him around. Sure he was a little chatty, but he was smart and some of what he said actually made sense. The red-rimmed eyes and the quivering lip had all but disappeared. Not that Shane could blame him. He’d just lost both parents, for crying out loud. But he wasn’t as much of a pain as Shane thought he would be. In fact, this week had been much more relaxed than any he could remember.

  Glancing ahead, he saw the other reason this trip had been so enjoyable. Scrambling up the hillside in tight white jean shorts, Carly’s wiggling body never failed to arouse him. She laughed as Troy chased Beckett out of sight. Shane stopped beside a tree, taking in her long legs and wavy hair that felt like silk on his skin at night. As if sensing his wayward thoughts, Carly paused, peering over her shoulder to look at him questioningly.

  “Come here,” he said, leaning his back against an ancient walnut tree.

  She hesitated, looking ahead to where dog and boy had disappeared. With a sly grin she turned and jogged back down the hill, careening into him at the last minute. He wrapped her in his arms as her body came in contact with his.

  Shane took her mouth in a hungry kiss. She responded immediately, pulling her body in closer, allowing him greater access to her mouth. Christ, did she realize how much he needed her? How often thoughts of being with her consumed his day? It was a feeling that should have burned out by now or at least cooled. Instead, his desire for Carly seemed to grow stronger each time he touched her.