Page 46 of Rush

“And she must have said yes because you’re here.”

Nora smiled. “She quit singing professionally after they got married, but I remember when I was a little girl we would sing together every time I visited. Grandpa loved for us to put on a show for him.”

“I’d love to see a picture of you when you were little so I can visualize it better.”

“Just imagine a girl who was a little short for her age with frizzy brown hair and fat cheeks.”

Linc chuckled. “I was all teeth and ears. It took until I was a teen to grow into both.”

“I bet you were adorable. Did you always want to be a football player?”

His fingers moved up and down her back and she arched into his touch like a cat.

“Always. From the time I could hold a football at the age of five, I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life. What about you? What did little Nora dream of being when she grew up?”

Arm getting sore, she rolled until she was more on Linc than not, using his body for support. “Like now, even when I was little I couldn’t make up my mind. There was a whole summer when I was seven when I wanted to be a ballet dancer and refused to wear anything but a leotard and tutu. Then when I was ten, I wanted to be a vet until I realized there was more to it than just playing with cute puppies and kittens.”

“And now?” The stroke on her back disappeared as his hand found her ass and stayed there.

“Like I said, I don’t know. I suppose I’ll go back to school and figure it out.”

“Back home?”

Her heart picked up speed to the point she was worried he’d feel it. Was he asking for a specific reason or was she reading too much into his question? “That was the plan.”

The hand that wasn’t currently on her ass came up to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. His voice lowered an octave and turned gravelly. “Was?”

Her thoughts scrambled. What could she say? Did she put her heart on the line and admit he could change her world,all he had to do was ask? Or did she keep her cards close to her chest? They were too new. The latter was a better choice.

“Oz suggested I stay and offered to help me pay for tuition since I lost my scholarship.” She shrugged. “I’m still thinking if I want to take him up on his offer.” Linc didn’t have to know that Oz had offered months ago when she’d first arrived or the fact that she’d never once thought about taking him up on it.

He rolled them until she was now on her back and he was above her supporting himself with his arms. “Would it be selfish of me to admit I like the idea of you staying?”

She swallowed hard. “Are you asking me to?”

His thumb traced along the underside of her jaw sending tingles down her spine. “Yeah, baby, I am. For as long as you’ll have me.”

Not a declaration of love, but pretty damn close.

Chapter Seventeen

“Mediation has been set for the twenty-second at ten, three weeks from today. I’m hoping, if all goes well, we won’t need to go to trial.”

Linc sat across the desk from his lawyer in an office filled with mostly chrome and leather and that had large windows overlooking Willamette River—his old stomping grounds before he bought his house in Dunthorpe. Jefferies sat in an oversized chair with his back to the view, his suit jacket unbuttoned as he slouched in his chair.

“You need to change it.” The twenty-second was a date ingrained in his brain with a flashing red arrow. “That’s the first day of training camp. I can’t miss it.”

Jefferies sat forward and flipped open a calendar sitting on his desk. “I’ll see if I can get it changed to earlier in the week.” He looked across his desk to where Linc sat in a leather club chair. “Will that work?”

“Yeah. If you can make it happen that would be great.”

Jefferies nodded, scribbling a note. “Be prepared, even though the mediator will be made aware Sophie is non-verbal, they may still want to talk to her.”

Linc didn’t like the idea of Sophie being subjected to an interrogation but could think of no way around it—not if he wanted to keep her. “I’ll explain things to her so she won’t be as frightened. What about Nora? Will she be involved in the mediation?”

“Because you're not yet married, her involvement will only become pivotal if we go to court.” Jefferies tucked back into his chair. “We had a private investigator look into the Parkers,and I feel better about our chances if this does go to court. Whatever mud they sling, we’ve got plenty of dirt to throw right back.”

Linc had only met the Parkers the one time, so, other than what they looked like and that they live in San Antonio, Texas—which, as Jake liked to say on the rare occasion his parents were mentioned, wasn’t far enough from where he and Natalie had settled in Dallas for his liking—he had no other knowledge about the couple and was glad Jeffries was on the ball. “Whatever it takes.”

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