Page 10 of Play for Keeps

“I know!”

Millie laughed, and her stride hitched. Then, six feet eight inches of freight-train-solid man almost plowed right over her.

“Oh! Oof!”

His hands closed around her upper arms. Millie wasn’t quite sure if he was trying to catch himself or keep her from falling, but she figured intention hardly mattered as long as they didn’t end up on the floor of the main hall in a tangled heap.

“Sorry,” he breathed as he shifted his center of balance to correct their momentum.

Ty repeated the apology under his breath while he straightened to his full height once again, but she waved the annoying little word away. “I didn’t use my brake lights.” Too chicken to look directly at him, she cracked open the cover and peeked at the neatly typed schedule inside as she pivoted away from him. “So I guess I’ll see you at the airport this evening.”

“About that.” He fell into step beside her, waylaying her attempt to escape. “I was wondering what you’d think about giving me a ride.”

She wasn’t sure if it was his phrasing or the hopeful note in his voice, but something set off the warning bells in her head. She paid about as much attention to the clamor as a native New Yorker does a car alarm. “A ride?”

“Not that kind of ride,” he said with a chuckle. “Wait. No.” He drew to a sudden halt, and automatically, she stopped too. His forehead puckered as he gave the innuendo due consideration. “Yes to both kinds, if you’re willing.”

“Stop.” She raised a hand to underscore the command.

A wicked smile curved his sculpted lips, but he ducked his head deferentially. “A ride in your car to the airport,” he clarified.

She thrust her hip out, standing her ground. “You locker room jocks think everything is an opening, don’t you?”

“I am a playmaker,” he countered.

She rolled her eyes and directed her commentary to the trophy cases lining the deserted corridor. “Barely a week since I found him crying in his cups, and now he thinks he’s a player.”

His smile warmed, and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “I don’t think I am. I know.”

“Well, try to keep your pants zipped for the next six weeks, Romeo. I’m having enough trouble paying off the checks your mouth wrote without you adding a paternity test or two to the mix.”

The winning smile disappeared, and he looked injured. “That was uncalled for,” he said, his voice low and soft with disappointment.

“I’m sorry.” And she was. “A joke, and a bad one.”

He’d been getting too close, pushing all her buttons. She wanted to back him off a bit.

“Last week notwithstanding, I know how to handle myself both personally and professionally,” he said stiffly.

“I know. I apologize.”

Didn’t he understand? Didn’t he feel the buzz? She needed to distance herself, because having him so near was becoming too much for her to handle. Millie had spent the better part of the week reminding herself this was a dangerous situation for both of them.

Or maybe it was only dangerous for her. Maybe he wasn’t actually interested in her but just…felt lonely that night.

Either way, she needed to buckle down and tough it out. She could get through the next twenty-four hours without doing something she couldn’t undo. Then, once he was safely on a plane winging his way west, she could think about him.

“Aren’t you on my side?”

The question surprised her. She looked up to find him searching her face as though the answer might be tattooed on her forehead. She hoped he was getting a clear read on the indignation flaring in her cheeks. “What? Why would you ask me that? Of course I am. I’m the one who’s been standing right beside you all week.”

“I’m not questioning your loyalty to the school or your job, Millie. I’m asking you.” He paused long enough to take a deep breath. “Do you like me? As a person.” He added the last part in a rush, like he felt an urgent need to sew up any loopholes she might dive through.

Torn between being mortified and affronted, she did the only thing she could do when put squarely on the spot. She fired back with the truth. “Yes. Of course I do.”

“As much as I appreciate the ‘of courses,’ I’m well aware not everyone does like me, and I’m okay with that.” He gave her a wry little smile. “I’m not okay with you not liking me though.”

“I don’t,” she blurted.

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