Page 64 of Love Game

Danny started to rise, but a sharp jerk of the AD’s head stopped him. Before he could seek refuge in the cheap seats, Mike made his way toward him, climbing over rows and bounding down the shallow steps three at a time. He read the intent on the other man’s face as easily as he read defensive formations. The blitz was coming. Danny had a choice: scramble and run, or stay in the pocket and take it like a man.

“Probably should have stayed in your office, Coach,” Mack stage-whispered. “I think the big guy’s been looking for you.”

Danny didn’t bother to conceal his grimace as he watched his old friend approach. “Yeah, thanks for the heads-up.”

“Mack.” Mike acknowledged the older man with a nod but didn’t break stride. Mack didn’t bother to move, a fact that made it doubly uncomfortable when Mike dropped down right beside Danny. “Coach.”

Mike hadn’t even left the customary one-seat man buffer between them. A fact that did not bode well as far as friendly conversation might go. Danny shifted in his seat and eyed the other man. “Director.”

Mike leaned forward to plant his elbows on his knees and clasp his hands between them. He kept his eyes locked on the court below, but tension rolled off the man in waves. “I’d hoped I wouldn’t see you here.”

A pang of regret twisted Danny’s gut. This man was his friend. One of the few who had not only stuck by him when the shit hit, but who also reached out on a regular basis. Danny had been so busy avoiding his boss lately that he hadn’t noticed Mike had been dodging him too.

The warning Mike had given that day on the practice field came back to him. The man had gone out on a limb for him. Danny was lucky to have this job. Kate was too deeply ensconced in Wolcott for him to fool with her and walk away unscathed. Every word was true. Unfortunately, a warning was never going to be enough to keep him away from Kate Snyder. Hell, nothing short of a highly skilled assassin would have done the trick.

“You can save the lecture,” Danny warned.

The blunt assessment captured Mike’s full attention. “Huh?”

“There was no way it wasn’t going to happen.”

Mike’s eyebrows rose. “I’m scared of both the structure and the content of that sentence.”

Danny had to laugh. Letting his head fall, he rolled the knots from his shoulders and dropped back another five yards to buy himself a little time. These days, Mike looked a lot more like an academic than an all-American. In reality, the man was both. Not only was he smart as a whip, but he also had the heart of a ballplayer. Danny needed to remember that. Unlike the front office guys he’d worked for in the past, he couldn’t bully this one into letting him call his own shots.

“Listen—”

“No!” Mike hissed. “I get it, okay? She’s beautiful, she’s talented, she’s friggin’ six feet tall—”

Danny turned and dropped the heel of his foot on Mike’s instep. Hard. Hard enough to make the man suck air. “Stop right there.”

Mike gritted his teeth, then threw an elbow with enough force and accuracy to restore what little space the two had started with. “Dammit, Danny, just looking at her wrong can get you fired in the blink of an eye.”

“You think I don’t know that? You think she doesn’t?”

Mike slid to the end of the seat and turned to face Danny head-on. “Then what the hell are you thinking? It took you years just to get back to this point.”

The shrill threeeep of a whistle cut though the cacophony, and the disjointed thrum of bouncing balls ceased at once. Danny watched as the girls lined up to place their balls on wheeled racks parked at the far end of the court. One by one, they rushed to the middle of the floor, anxious to see what Kate had planned for them next.

Mike’s growl of frustration was muffled by his palm. “Is she really worth it?”

The silence throbbed around them. Alive. Pulsing with adrenaline. And like a rookie spotting his first opening in the defensive line, Danny dove headlong into it. “How’s Diane? Still worth it?”

It was a cheap shot and Danny knew it, but he was feeling cornered and didn’t care. Mike’s wife had been a cheerleader he’d fooled with on and off in their undergrad days. Then she turned up pregnant just after one of those “on” periods at the end of their junior year, and Mike showed up for practice that fall with a shiny gold wedding band on his finger.

All indications showed that the marriage was thriving. They’d had two more kids after Mike’s pro career petered out. Danny had been to their expensive-but-comfortable house for dinner and spotted the pencil marks on the doorjamb that made the house a home. But still, it wasn’t like Mike had been given a lot of choice once the dirty deed was done.

“I’m sorry.” Danny issued the apology in an instant. “That was… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. You know I love Di.”

Mike sagged back against the seat. “I’m not trying to bust your balls, man. I’m just… The stakes are high. It’s not just your job on the line here. I took a chance on you.”

Danny slumped, the weight of Mike’s reality pressing down on him until he slouched like a sullen teenager. “I know that.”

Tugging at his bottom lip, he watched as Kate divided her worshipful minions between the opposing baselines. Whistle clamped between her teeth, she walked backward until she reclaimed her spot at center court, then gave it a short, shrill blast. The soles of sixty sneakers slapped polished oak. When the first girl came close to touching her, another bleat split the air, sending them back in the opposite direction.

She toyed with them, sending them long then short, reversing their course on her whim, and smiling around the whistle’s rubber guard as their squeals and taunts filled the air.

He closed his eyes. It took little effort to conjure the image of her straddling him. Toying with him. Tormenting him. Pushing him until it felt like everything would explode—his dick, his head, his lungs, his heart.

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