Page 16 of Touchdowns and Temptations

“I have no ulterior motives.”

“Please,” Cara replies, laughing gleefully. “Of course, you have no ulterior motives, which is why your first suggestion is a date without even giving me a chance to act as your new agent. Not a serious business dinner, no, a date is what Mr. McCarter wants.”

“Shall we call it a business lunch?” I ask. “Would that make you feel better?”

“Yes!” I laugh and she snorts. “I mean, no, I...”

“You what?”

“You're confusing me,” Cara mumbles.

The fact that men confuse women is really new to me. I actually think that it’s the opposite, that women confuse men and I bet Cara is especially good at it. She's getting more and more interesting.

“I'm confusing you?” I ask. “Why?”

“Because you want to go out with me.”

“That confuses you?” I ask and am now really at a loss as to what she wants from me. She's unbelievable. Does she have no idea what effect she has on a man? Hardly, otherwise she wouldn't react like this.

“You're amazing, Cara Catherine Corse,” I say.

“Noah,” she keeps moaning. “I can't. I really can't and I don't want you to say that.”

“Say what?” I ask. “That you're amazing and that I want to go out with you? That's just the truth. Do you get asked out so rarely that you're already uncomfortable with my courtship?”

I hear her breathing heavily. I wait, listening to her erratic breathing. I can't imagine that a woman like Cara would be uncomfortable being asked out on a date.

“You're not going to give up, are you?” she wants to know, avoiding my question.

“What if I say I no longer want you as a client? Then you won't have any leverage.”

I let her question run through my mind. She wants me too much as a client to turn me down. That's why this question is nonsense.

Still, if I don't have that leverage, I'll have to come up with something new to ask her. I think back and forth until I find the solution to the puzzle. If she rejects me, we're back to square one. Besides, she has no leverage because we can't work together. That's Cara's current reason for not going on a date.

“Actually, that would be the best thing that could happen to us, wouldn't it?” I say and Cara laughs.

“Excuse me?” she repeats. “You... you can't mean that.”

“If we didn't have a business relationship, nothing would stand in the way of our personal relationship. Our problems would be solved.”

“Relationship?” she asks, confused. “No one is talking about a relationship.”

“My god, Cara!” I groan, rolling my eyes. Does she have to weigh every word I say? I didn’t mean a relationship like a ‘couple’. Friendships are relationships in their own way, aren't they? “Of course we're still talking about a date. And of course, I still want to be advised by the best agent.”

“Idiot,” she giggles, “but you still won't get me on a date.”

I puff out my cheeks and groan in annoyance. This can't be true. “Don't you want to try it to see if you like it?” I tease. “What kind of sportsmanship is that?”

“I don't have any sportsmanship,” she replies promptly. “I hate sports.”

“Really?” What is she talking about? You can't hate sports with that body. “I don't think so. You don't hate sports.”

“Yes,” she insists. “I sucked at sports in school. Do you really think it's better now?”

“How can you compare PE 1to sports?” I ask. “I thought school sports sucked too.”

“You're a quarterback,” Cara replies, and I hear something rustle. “Sports are your life.”

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