Page 14 of Fumbling for Affection

“It has a lot of potential and I know Lilliana and I could make an enormous success of it.” His father frowned, but Lucas dug his heels in. This was his chance. For this deal to work, they’d have to include him.

“It would be an even bigger success if it had a successful, well-known name behind it. People would flock to the restaurant owned by the legendary Lucas Rodriguez,” his dad boasted.

“I’m not legendary, Dad.”

“Not yet, which is why you need to keep playing. Let us worry about the farm and you worry about staying on your feet and protecting the pocket. Your quarterback needs all the time he can get.” Jon shook his head, and Lucas smiled tightly. He knew it was futile telling his dad that Bash didn’t hold on to the ball any longer than others did. Jon was a typical armchair quarterback.

His mom yawned, and Lucas looked at the clock. “Early shift?” he asked, and she nodded.

“Last one tomorrow and then I’ll be back on day shift.” His mom was a radiology tech at the hospital. She preferred x-rays to dirt, and she enjoyed working in health care, not farming. “Are you seeing anyone?” she asked.

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Lucas joked as he stood up.

“Leave him be, honey,” Jon said, tucking his wife against his side. “He needs to focus on work, not girls. They’re only a complication that will distract him.”

“Nothing wrong with a little distraction,” she said, pulling Lucas in for a hug. She smelled like apples and cinnamon. Cinnamon, that’s it! He’d been messing around with recipes in his head, but something was always lacking. Until now.

Lucas detoured to the large chest freezers and helped himself to several bags of frozen strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Thawing in the car wouldn’t matter for what he had in mind. And if his mental recipe failed, well, God created smoothies for a reason.

He turned onto the highway with a full belly and an optimistic heart. His dad hadn’t shut him down. If he could get JJ on his side, it would help, but JJ liked to brag about Lucas’s NFL success almost as much as his dad did. Lilliana would have more sway with them. All she had to do was give them the puppy-dog look with her big brown eyes and they’d collapse like a house of cards.

Right now, a pair of light-brown eyes did it for him. Maggie Buchanan was the walking definition of a complicated distraction. No matter what he did, he annoyed her. Even in college, he’d annoyed her. Most women would have been flattered by the lengths he’d gone to be near her. Joining student council. Volunteering at the blood drive. Making popcorn bags on movie night. Helping with bingo at the senior center. All worthwhile activities, but none that he would have volunteered for if she’d hadn’t been involved.

He thought she’d like the idea of the Tetons joining the baking contest. Instead, she’d acted as if he’d ruined her life. Like a wart, he smiled at the memory of their sparring and the few moments before that when it looked like she might be interested in him. Not might. Was.

Lucas wasn’t good at a lot of things, but he could read people, and Maggie was interested. In him. She didn’t want to be—which bothered and puzzled him—but she was interested, and he sensed it wasn’t because of his job. A job which required that he study the opposition. Find their weaknesses. Exploit them. He wouldn’t exploit Maggie, but he planned to smash the barrier she’d put between them. I’m taking you out, Maggie Buchanan, and you’re gonna love it.

Chapter 7

You have got to be kidding me . Maggie watched Lucas’s slow progression down the aisle. Stopping to speak with each vendor and buying something from everyone. A reusable shopping bag hung over each arm and a coffee carrier was in one hand. He moved with grace and ease and made carrying his haul look effortless.

Except for congratulating him after the Tetons’ opening game win—which she couldn’t avoid since her family was waiting for Cal—she’d avoided him. He’d stopped at Brewster’s several times, but each time she’d seen him in the hallway, she’d escaped into the supply room. Penny had spotted him once in the parking lot and had texted Maggie a warning. She’d gotten a few strange looks as she’d leaned against the bathroom wall in the women’s public restroom, reading a book on her phone while waiting for Penny’s all-clear message. But now, at the farmers’ market, she was a sitting duck and from the way he kept watching her, he knew she was a flight risk.

“Oh, there’s Lucas,” Nanna said behind her, sounding happy.

“And his hands are full. I like that your young man brings treats.” Grandad said.

“Oh, no. He’s not my anything.” Maggie needed to squash this idea. Their muttered, Aha, and Riiight, followed by head nods and winks, weren’t reassuring. “Seriously, he’s more your friend than mine. In fact, he’s all yours.” Maggie brushed her hands together as if she was all done with him.

“Hello, Buchanans,” Lucas said, walking up to the booth and setting down the coffee carrier. Nanna and Grandad welcomed him as if he was a long-lost son instead of the plague that he was. Lucas handed them the iced coffees, mentioning they were decaf. “And, Vivi said you always like your drink warm,” he said to Maggie, handing her the paper cup. Their fingers brushed, and the sudden awareness almost caused Maggie to drop the cup.

“Thank you.” Maggie dried her hand on her half apron. She wouldn’t cry over spilled coffee, but she would over what smelled like a raspberry mocha.

“Do you have a second? To talk?” he asked.

“We’re pretty busy.”

Lucas looked around the nearly empty corridor. Some vendors were even packing up. “Clearly.” They stared at each other. Neither budging. He shrugged his massive shoulder, saying, “Fine. We can talk here. I have nothing to hide.”

Nanna nudged her out of the way so she could clear off the table. Nanna’s movements were slow and exacting as she packed the soaps and folded the tablecloth. It was obvious she wanted to eavesdrop. Nanna huffed and her shoulders slumped when she finished. She carried the box to the other end of the booth, humming the Rolling Stones’ classic song, “Satisfaction.”

“I didn’t enter the contest to ruin your life, and I wish you’d stop avoiding me. It was a work thing. I didn’t have a choice,” he explained, watching her as he took a drink. Maggie remained silent. “If I’d known you’d be this upset, I would have passed the reins to someone else, but the Tetons would still have been in the competition.”

“But there would have been one team. One team, Lucas, but because of your stupid, over-inflated ego, you had to make this into a competition and now there are two.” She glared at him. Cal had bragged to her about what had happened at the team meeting. He’d thought it was a brilliant idea and it would force Harper to say something nice about the team, especially since the owner had agreed to match whatever funds they raised. Lucas was the mastermind behind elevating the team’s image and ruining Maggie’s one chance.

The smell of her drink tickled her nose, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of drinking it. At least not when he was watching her.

“Maggie,” he said, sounding like he was placating an upset toddler. “Everything is a competition, and you’re naïve to think otherwise.” Maggie set her drink down before she tossed it at him. How dare he? She was closer to thirty than twenty, and she knew plenty about how the world worked. From what she’d seen and experienced, the world worked better with cooperation, not competition.

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