Page 42 of Touchdowns and Temptations

A little ashamed of how I feel about his brother, I smile at him.

“Not anymore,” Noah says. “Daisy destroyed him completely. He hasn't had a relationship since and doesn't want more than one night, or maybe two if it went really well. He really loved her.”

Noah looks at me, and if I didn't know better, I'd say you can still see the pain in his eyes. He seems to care about what happened to his brother.

“It's so beautiful and so sad at the same time,” I whisper. “And ... and you? Did you have a ... Daisy?”

Noah looks up and meets my eyes. Goose bumps spread over my body, and my heart starts to beat faster.

“No,” he says and I let out a gasp of air. “I didn't, and did you? Did you have an Alex?”

“I don't date football players,” I answer and Noah sighs.

“That's not what I meant,” he says. “I meant did you have a high school sweetheart?”

“Who hasn't?” I ask him in return.

“Me?”

“Really?” I look at him, confused. “That's not possible.”

“Cara,” he says emphatically. “Don't change the subject. Did you have one?”

I look at him and sigh.

“Yes,” I answer. “I did.”

“And?”

“I had a high school sweetheart. That’s it.”

“Name, age, address,” he says. “And what the hell did he do to screw things up with you?”

“Well.” Avoiding Noah's gaze, I laugh mirthlessly. I twirl my wine glass in my hand, sloshing the contents back and forth. “He was more interested in my father than me. Like everyone else.”

Noah looks at me in surprise, and I raise my eyebrows.

“What?” I ask. “Did you think I was making this up?”

“No?” he replies. “I didn't. But not everyone is like that.”

“At least everyone I've met so far,” I say, sighing softly. “Not everyone, of course, just like not all women are only interested in your money.”

“You, for example,” he says.

“Yes, because I have more than enough of it and it's not important to me. I know that's easy to say when you inherit fifty million dollars. As the sole heir, mind you. But I really don't care. I would rather have grown up like you did. My father was never around. He never saw any of my school plays and didn't really know much about my life. Instead of coming to my high school graduation, he had to go to a prep camp in California. Sports always came first, and I don't want that.”

Noah can't get a word in as I monologue about my life and my father's role in it.

“I'm sorry,” he replies sincerely. “I'm afraid I can't say otherwise.”

“No,” I say with a sigh, “I'm sorry, we've gotten completely off topic. I had this boyfriend, like I said, and he was fascinated by my dad. At the time I thought it was cool, but eventually I realized it wasn't.”

“And that went on and on?” Noah speculates.

“Unfortunately,” I answer. “It was always the same. First, they wooed me, I fell for it, and then they told me they wanted to meet my dad.”

Noah purses his lips and sighs.

---