Cami’s Georgia Patriots Romance Collection

by Cami Checketts

  “Why me?”

  “There’s something about you that I could never say no to.” She grasped his shoulders, lifted herself onto tiptoes, and kissed his cheek.

  Mack savored the softness of her lips against him and the sweetness of her scent. It was an appealing mix of vanilla and musk. He about grabbed her and pulled her in for a real kiss but she slipped into her car. He grasped the door. “So, you’re saying you want to date me?”

  “I’m saying I’m interested in a monogamous relationship with a huge, studly offensive lineman,” she said. “Yes, I want to date you.”

  Yes! He almost punched a fist in the air. Whatever odd thing was going on with her, it didn’t matter to him. He wanted more time with her. Once she knew him better she’d tell him about it. “I have to fly back home tomorrow night for a meeting with some sponsors Monday morning. Can I be with you tomorrow?” he rushed out.

  “Are you a church-goer?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Meet me at the First Presbyterian Church of Georgetown, Colorado at precisely ten a.m.”

  He grinned. “I will be there.”

  “Plan on dinner with the family after. It’ll probably be fish.”

  He laughed. “I like fish.”

  “You like everything.” She blinked up at him and he wanted to tug her back out of the car and kiss her, but she hadn’t dated anyone in four years. She was probably only twenty-one or twenty-two, so basically, she hadn’t dated since high school. Crazy. She had an interesting story and he wanted to know it, but mostly he wanted to do this right and take it slow and be with her.

  “I mostly just like you,” he said.

  She put a hand to her heart. “You’re a charmer, Mack Quinn, I don’t care what they say about you.”

  He chuckled and only a lot of self-control allowed him to say, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” and close her door. He watched her drive away. And he cursed himself for promising not to Google her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sariah sat in the hard pews, with Josh on her right side, wondering if Mack was going to show. Her family usually tried to squish in one row near the back of the chapel, but Hyde, Lily, and Teresa were here today and Sariah had been forced to admit to everyone that Mack was coming, so she could save him a spot. She checked the entry one more time—empty. She glanced at her phone—ten a.m. on the dot. The gaping open spot to her left probably confused her fellow church-goers. Sariah had never brought anyone to church.

  Hyde leaned across Josh, put both hands over Josh’s ears and muttered, “If he breaks your heart, I’m going to rip him apart.”

  “Good luck with that one,” she said.

  “I don’t care how big he is, you haven’t seen me mad.”

  “I’ve seen you psychotic, like right now, and it doesn’t look good on you.” Usually she loved her surrogate big brother, but she didn’t need to be reminded that she’d been stood up. It hurt enough.

  Hyde gave her a tight smile. “You just wait and you’ll see psychotic. I’m not putting up with him hurting you when I warned him.”

  Josh squirmed and looked up at Hyde. “Why you covering my ears?” he said, very loudly, just as the pastor stood at the pulpit.

  Several people turned around. Josh lifted his hands, all innocence. He was so cute the people just smiled and turned back around.

  Hyde gave her one more concerned look. Sariah loved Hyde, but he must not know Mack very well. Mack wouldn’t hurt her. She discreetly checked over her shoulder. The door remained stubbornly closed. At least not intentionally. At least she didn’t think so. She sighed. What did she know? She’d trusted Tyler the two-timer. They’d dated for six months and she’d never seen through his lies.

  The church door whooshed open and Sariah whipped around to look. Mack walked in. She’d seen him in a suit the night of the Patriots’ party. Seeing him in a suit for the second time was just as delicious as the first. The perfectly-tailored navy blue suit complimented his muscular, broad frame. His blue eyes sparkled at her and his blond curls were gelled and smoothed away from his handsome face.

  “Mack Quinn is at my church!” Josh was so excited he yelled, interrupting the pastor’s opening remarks.

  “Shh,” Mary and Trudy said together.

  Sariah just stared at Mack as he eased in next to her. He reached his arm around her shoulder and whispered into her left ear, “Sorry for being late. An accident blocked the freeway.”

  “It’s okay.” He was here. She wanted to jump up and cheer.

  The congregation was buzzing. They’d gotten used to seeing Hyde Metcalf over the past year but to have another Patriots’ football player coming to church with the Udy family must’ve pushed them right over the edge. Especially since it was Sariah he had his arm around.

  The pastor cleared his throat but the chatting continued. Sariah ignored it as she stared up at Mack. His gaze was solely focused on her as well. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured.

  Her cheeks heated up but she fired right back, “Not as beautiful as you.”

  Josh climbed onto her lap. “Can I sit by you, Mr. Quinn?” he asked, all innocent and cute.

  Sariah didn’t want to be displaced from Mack’s side, but she would do anything for Josh. Mack easily solved the dilemma by unwrapping his arm from Sariah’s shoulder, plucking Josh off her lap and onto his left leg. He was so big that was all the space Josh needed.

  Josh grinned. “You’re so tough,” he said, very loudly.

  Sariah laughed. She glanced up and most of the congregation was crane-necking.

  “We’d like to welcome Mack Quinn to our congregation today,” the pastor said. “Can we please proceed with the prayer now?”

  People whipped back around. Mack kept his left arm around Josh but wrapped his right around Sariah again. She settled into his side and didn’t know when church had been so exciting, or comfortable. Mack was a great mixture of both for her. As soon as the prayer ended, Josh started whispering excitedly in Mack’s ear. Mack responded to her little brother, even as he pulled Sariah tighter against his chest and abdomen. A thrill shot through her. The pastor’s words, everyone’s interested glances, and Hyde’s concerned looks all went over her head. The only thing she could focus on was Mack Quinn.

  * * *

  Mack felt like a giant in the small dining room of the Udy home. He’d enjoyed church, whispering with Josh and holding Sariah close. Maybe he’d moved too fast, keeping his arm around her throughout the meeting, but only Hyde seemed to be giving him the stink eye. Her parents, family, and the rest of the congregation welcomed him openly. He met so many people after church he couldn’t begin to remember any of their names. Luckily, he had Sariah’s family down.

  Mack had helped peel and chop potatoes on the back patio table with Josh before dinner while everyone else did “more important jobs” in Josh’s words. He loved being around Sariah’s little brother. The little guy was full of excitement and football trivia and seemed to idolize Mack, almost as much as Hyde.

  Now everyone was squished around the large dining room table, passing food and chatting. Josh had made sure he was sitting between Mack and Hyde. Sariah was on Mack’s right side with Josh on his left. She seemed a lot more comfortable with him on her left so he tried to stay on that side whenever he could.

  There were several conversations going on so Mack felt comfortable to just ladle food onto his plate, eat, and observe. There was a lot of food—trout, a venison roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, and homemade rolls—and it all tasted good. Mack was grateful that the family seemed to have plenty of food and they all dressed nice. The house was small and worn, but it was clean and he felt love here just like at his parents’ home in Rhode Island.

  “Mr. Quinn, sir,” Josh said through a mouthful of potatoes, “do you think the Rocket and Hyde can take you to the Super Bowl again next year? Hyde won’t promise me anything.”

  Mack smiled at Hyde over Josh’s head. He’d always liked Hyde and
hoped they could get past this weird vibe of Hyde trying to protect Sariah from Mack. In fairness to Hyde, Mack hadn’t heeded his warnings, but how could Mack have stayed away from Sariah?

  Hyde gave him a tentative smile back and ruffled Josh’s hair. “I keep telling you, bud, if I promise and it doesn’t happen that makes me a liar.”

  Josh wrinkled his nose. “Then just make it happen!” He shoved a bite of roll dripping with jam into his mouth and said around the bite, “Right, Mr. Quinn?”

  “First of all, it’s Mack.”

  “Oh, good luck with that one,” Hyde said. “It took me months to get him to call me Hyde.”

  Everyone laughed at that and Lily said, “You’re his idol, give the kid a break.”

  “I’d better be your idol,” Hyde said, leaning down and kissing her.

  “Stop that,” Caleb groaned, but they were all smiling.

  Lily whispered something only for Hyde’s ears.

  Mack met Sariah’s gaze, wishing he dared kiss her, but he wouldn’t be doing it in front of her family.

  Josh tugged on his sleeve. “I’m serious, Mr. Quinn, sir. If you promise me, I know nobody can get through you to the Rocket and then the Rocket will have all kinds of time to get the ball to Hyde, and you know Hyde is the best receiver in the world! How can you not make the Super Bowl?”

  Mack loved this kid, but he agreed with Hyde. The Super Bowl wasn’t something any team could guarantee. “We will try our very best, Josh.”

  Josh sighed and mopped up some gravy with a chunk of roll. “I guess that’s all I can ask of you, Mr. Quinn.”

  “I can ask you to call me Mack.”

  Josh looked up at him. “Okay, sir, I’ll call you Mack. If you bring your brother, Kaleb Quinn here to meet me. He’s the best singer in the world!”

  Mack laughed and the conversation shifted to talking about Kaleb and Jasmine and then everyone wanted him to recount the story of being kidnapped last spring. The dinner and afternoon were pleasant and Mack felt accepted and comfortable with her family. But he really wanted to get Sariah alone again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sariah thought dinner and hanging out after dinner went well. Hyde seemed to calm down and Josh and the rest of her siblings made the conversation fun and interesting. The time went too fast before Mack was saying, “I have to make a five o’clock flight.”

  Sariah’s stomach and neck tightened. He was leaving. Would he want to come back? He’d said last night that he liked her and wanted to date her but the fact remained that he lived across the nation and she wasn’t going to be flying to Atlanta anytime soon with her school schedule and job of being with Teresa. She had more money than she’d ever had with Hyde paying her much too generously for being his mom’s companion and she didn’t want to mess that up. She knew Hyde had also paid off her parents’ home and set up education funds for each of them, but her dad wouldn’t allow any more generosity than that.

  She stood and watched as Mack said goodbye to everyone then she started toward the door with him.

  “Why don’t I walk Mack out?” Hyde said suddenly.

  Sariah whirled and glared at him. “Over my incapacitated body.”

  Everyone started laughing and Lily tugged Hyde back onto the couch by her. “She’s okay,” Lily said quietly.

  Sariah’s dad was giving Hyde odd looks, probably wondering why he was taking over his role.

  “Thank you for dinner,” Mack said again to her mom. “It was delicious.”

  “Thank you for being here,” her mom said.

  Her dad walked with them to the door, shook Mack’s hand and said goodbye. Sariah wondered if he was bugged by Hyde trying to act like he was the father figure.

  Finally, they were outside and alone. It was a chilly spring day. She hugged herself for warmth. Mack’s arm came around her and with his large body sheltering her from the wind, she was much warmer. He escorted her around his Jeep where it might be possible her family couldn’t see them. She wouldn’t put anything past her family though. Brandon had probably rigged a drone to video them from the sky. She glanced around but didn’t see anything.

  Mack stopped and wrapped both arms around her, simply holding her close. Awareness shot through her. He was so tough and appealing to her.

  “Thank you for letting me be with you this weekend,” Mack said.

  Sariah tilted her head up to look into his blue eyes. “Thanks for tracking me to the ends of the earth.”

  He chuckled. “I would’ve, you know?”

  She bit at her lip. “So now that you’ve found me, and gotten to know me a little bit, was it worth it to be more persistent than Colonel Sanders?”

  “Colonel Sanders?” His brow wrinkled.

  “He was rejected by 1009 restaurants before one agreed to his ideas.”

  Mack’s throaty chuckle made her silliness all worth it, but then his gaze deepened. “You could reject me 1009 times and I’d keep coming back.”

  Sariah’s heart leapt. The man for her would have to be persistent, but would Mack truly be that persistent? “So all your effort to find me was worth it?” she asked again.

  “I don’t know yet.” There was a teasing glint in his blue eyes.

  “Aw!” Sariah tried to pull back out of his arms but he held her tight. “So, when are you going to know?”

  “After you kiss me.”

  The words were said bravely but Sariah could tell they hadn’t rolled off his tongue. “How long have you been planning that line?” she asked.

  “Since the first time I saw you.”

  His blue gaze seared through her as he pulled her onto her tiptoes and bent down close. Sariah’s breath was coming in short pants and the cool spring air was suddenly blazing hot. She wrapped her hands around his broad shoulders, reveling in the muscle underneath her fingertips.

  “What are you waiting for then?” she asked, her voice shaky.

  Mack grinned slightly. “Our audience to disappear.” He tilted his head toward the front of her house. Through the Jeep’s windows her siblings pressed against the living room window were quite a sight.

  Sariah sighed, knowing they wouldn’t be going away any time soon.

  Mack chuckled, swept her off her feet and cradled her against his chest. Sariah gasped for air, clinging to his neck for stability.

  “This isn’t going to get them to go away.”

  “No,” he agreed, “But this will make it so they can’t see us.” With her still in his arms he knelt on the gravel drive and then spun around onto his rear and leaned against the vehicle.

  Sariah leaned into him. “You’ll ruin your suit.”

  “I have other suits.” He focused on her lips and murmured, “But this is the first time I’ve gotten brave enough to kiss Sariah Udy.”

  Sariah could hardly think straight, let alone catch a breath. He smelled like his delicious sandalwood cologne and he looked even better. She ran her fingers up his neck and entangled them in his short curls. “Well then, you’d better not miss it.”

  Mack smiled and his lips finally met hers. Warmth and joy rushed through her as he tenderly kissed her. There was nothing demanding about this kiss, it was as if he was savoring the connection rather than trying to passionately claim her, but there was still plenty of passion and sparks swirling between them. Mack’s hands were safely around her waist so she didn’t have to worry about him touching her neck or scars.

  The kiss wasn’t long, but it still overwhelmed her senses. Mack tasted like her mom’s blueberry cobbler, his lips were soft and warm, and his body was hard and surrounded hers as if he would not only keep her warm, but protect her from every future harm or worry.

  He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. No words were needed between them and for once Sariah didn’t want to give a smart-alecky quip. She simply wanted to stare into Mack’s blue eyes and have his muscular arms hold her close.

  The front door opened and his head swiveled toward the sound. Josh came around th
e back of the vehicle. “What are you two doing?” he demanded.

  Mack chuckled and Sariah buried her head in his chest. He lifted her onto her feet and stood quickly beside her. “I’m just telling your sister goodbye.”

  Josh’s eyebrows lifted. “Well, don’t do it on the ground.” He looked at Sariah. “Mom and Dad wondered if you were okay and asked me to come check.” His eyes widened, “But I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

  Smart. Send the innocent little boy to check on them. “I’m good.” She looked up at Mack. “I’m as good as Mom’s blueberry cobbler.”

  Mack’s gaze was full of her. “You taste better,” he whispered.

  “That’s weird,” Josh said.

  “I’m coming in now,” Sariah said, though she didn’t want to let Mack leave. This weekend had been magical for her and she wanted it to continue.

  “Bye, Mr. Quinn, sir.”

  “Uh-uh, you said you’d call me Mack.”

  Josh’s dark eyes filled with a mischievous light. “I said if you brought Kaleb Quinn to meet me, I’d call you Mack.”

  “Josh!” Sariah shook her head. “Stop being so conniving.” She looked up at Mack. “You know what the baby of the family is like.”

  Mack simply smiled. “I know all about being the youngest.” He moved quick, darting to Josh, picking him off the ground, and tossing him in the air like he was a baby.

  Josh howled with delight. When Mack caught him, he gave him a quick squeeze and said, “We’ll see what we can do about you meeting Kaleb. Can you please call me Mack?”

  “Yes, sir, Mack sir.”

  Mack chuckled at him and then set him on the ground. “I’ll see you soon, bud.”

  “Bye, Mack.” Josh ran back into the house, slamming the door behind him.

  Sariah checked and everybody was still unfortunately pressed against the window. She focused back on Mack.

  “I guess I’d better go before they send somebody else to check on us.” He smiled but he also pulled open the driver’s side door. She didn’t want him to go. She wanted to spend every minute with him. She had vacation days from school she’d never used. What if … No. She wasn’t brave enough to suggest she take days off school so she could stay with him twenty-four hours.