Not that he expected a tackle. His offensive linemen were the best and would protect him while he stayed in the pocket.

Coach Lewis blew the whistle and came off the sidelines toward him.

“Still as cold-blooded as ever, Mick.”

Mick took the bottle of water handed to him and swallowed down a couple sips, then handed it off. “Thanks.”

“Your off-season workouts have added some muscle. Your timing is good. Arm feel okay?”

Mick nodded, ignoring the pinch in his shoulder and the aches in just about every damn joint in his body. “Just fine.”

Coach patted him on the back. “I’ve never seen you work drills this hard.”

“Just trying to keep those hungry young quarterbacks off my back.”

Coach laughed. “You know we have to recruit young talent. They’re no threat to you. Not for a while anyway.”

It didn’t matter. Mick was always aware that he was one injury away from being replaced in the game. He was thirty years old, and his time was limited. He took a glance to the sidelines where Brad Samuelson and Coy Bowman stood with clipboards in their hands. They knew every play; they practiced every day. They stood at the ready to step in and take his place. Young kids, eager to be the next big thing in professional quarterbacks. They were good, too. A little green, but good. Which meant Mick had to stay on his game if he wanted to continue to live his dream for a few more years.

As long as he stayed healthy.

They worked drills for a couple more hours, then hit the showers. When he stepped out of the locker room, Liz was there in a killer gray suit and high heels that looked like they could do some serious damage to a man’s private parts. She pushed off the wall and came toward him.

“Hoping to ogle some naked man flesh?” he teased.

She rolled her eyes. “If I wanted to see all of you naked, I’d have walked in there.”

True enough. Wouldn’t be the first time she’d strolled into the locker room and had conversations with one of her clients while they were showering. Most of the guys had gotten used to seeing her, though the younger guys usually dropped their tongues on the floor when she came walking in. She was definitely noticeable, and she knew it and used it to her advantage. Liz didn’t have a shy bone in her body.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Samuelson and Bowman looked good today in drills.”

“Uh-huh.” He turned and headed out the side door toward his car. Liz followed. “Your point?”

“You’re thirty now, Mick. Time to focus more on the game and less on some woman and her kid.”

He stopped, turned, leveled his gaze on her. “My relationship with Tara is none of your business.”

“It’s my business if she affects your game play.”

“Did you watch me practice today?”

“Yes.”

“How did I look?”

She lifted her lips. “Like the number one quarterback in the league.”

He clicked the remote and opened the door to his SUV. “Then stay out of my personal life, Liz, and go bother some other client who’s not the number one player in his position.”

She was afraid her son was growing too attached to Mick. And not only Mick, but Mick’s family. He Skyped with Ian and Steve, Mick’s cousins, on a regular basis, as well as whatever the hell those kids did online in that Warcraft game. Not that she really minded, since it was another avenue that was safe and kept her kid off the streets, and Mick assured her they were good kids.

But little by little her life as well as her son’s had begun to revolve around Mick. And Mick’s family. Now she was even planning a party for Mick’s parents’ anniversary, and that meant almost daily phone calls to Jenna, who she decided was an absolute riot. She had a wicked dry sense of humor, took nothing seriously, and she fiercely loved and protected her family. Tara could see why. Mick’s family was perfect. If Tara could choose a family for herself, the Rileys would be the kind of family she’d want.

But they weren’t her family and likely would never be her family. Sure, she and Mick got along great, but Mick had a lifestyle totally foreign to her. She was enjoying the hell out of playing the game with him right now, but it was temporary. Once his football season started up, he’d be busy, Nathan would start school and his football season, she’d dive into moving her business to the next level, and that would be the end of things. She just hoped Nathan wouldn’t be hurt over all this when Mick no longer had time for him.

Maybe it was time to start easing back a little. She was already having a little too much fun with him. And okay, that too much fun thing was engaging her heart and her emotions in a way she hadn’t expected. She hadn’t wanted to get involved with him at all, but he’d been insistent, and she hadn’t exactly been forceful in pushing him away. After all, the sex had been phenomenal, and oh, God, had she really needed some great sex in her life after years of drought. But now? Now things were starting to get serious, at least on her side of it.

So, yeah, it was definitely time to let go.

She leaned back on the chair and picked up her notebook, jotting down some shopping supplies for the party. Nathan was out with the team tonight, so she intended to enjoy her quiet time.

Until someone knocked at the door. She sighed and set down her cup of tea and the notebook, went to door, and peeked through the peephole, smiling when she saw it was Mick.

“Hi. What are you doing here?” she asked as she opened the door.

“I gave one of the guys on the team a ride home. His car’s in the shop and his wife had the other car,” he said. “He lives near you, so I thought I’d drop by.”

“Come in.” She closed the door behind her. “A little late for practice, isn’t it?”

“Offensive team meeting went a little longer than expected.”

“I see. Would you like something to drink?”

“Water would be great.”

“Okay.” She went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water, came back, and handed it to him. He was sitting on the sofa, so she went to sit next to him as he finished the bottle in a few long gulps.

She realized he had been looking at her notebook. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No. I was just working on some notes for your parents’ party.”

“Thank you again for doing it.”

“You don’t have to keep thanking me, Mick. You did insist on paying me, after all. Which is totally unnecessary.”

“Hey, it takes time out of your day to put an event together. Why not get paid for it?”

“Because it’s your family, and I volunteered to help because I wanted to, not because I expected money for it.”

“If we’d hired another event planner, we’d have paid them, wouldn’t we?”

“Yes.”

“Then enough talk about the money.”

“Okay.”

He looked upstairs. “Nathan home?”

“No, he’s out with some of the guys from the team tonight.”

“Oh. Will he be home soon?”

“I have to pick him up later.”

“Uh-huh.”

She arched a brow. “Did you come over to see Nathan?”

“Yeah, I’m secretly only seeing you so I can be Nathan’s best friend.” He pulled her onto his lap. “I think you know why I came over here.”

And just like that her heart started racing, her body temperature rose, and heat filled her. Lying against him like this, her thighs over his, her breast rubbing against his chest, put her libido into overdrive. The physical chemistry she shared with Mick was combustible.

She arched a brow. “So you thought you’d drop by for a booty call?”

He tilted his head back and laughed. “I assumed Nathan was home. So the answer is no.”

She affected a pout. “How disappointing. And here I thought you’d just come over to admire my ass.”

“You do have a great ass, Tara. I have no problem spending time worshipping it.”

“Really.”

His eyes went dark. “Yes. Want me to show you?”

Heat coiled low in her belly. “Oh, most definitely.”

He flipped her over so fast her head spun. He pulled down her shorts, dragging them to her knees. Her panties went next, and then his lips were on the globes of her ass, warm and making her pussy quiver. She clenched her fingers in the couch cushions, needy for what Mick could give her.

He slipped his hand between her legs, sliding his fingers along her pussy lips. “Is this what you want?” He tucked two fingers inside her, her pussy already wet and ready for his invasion.

She arched against him, pushing back against his hand. “Yes.”

Time without him meant time thinking about him, about being with him, about doing this with him.

“You’ve been thinking about me kissing your ass, huh?”

She tilted her head to look at him. “Among other things.”

He pressed his lips to her buttocks while he finger-fucked her. “I’d like to know what other things you want me to do to you.”

He swept his fingers over her sex, swirling them over her clit, and any thoughts she had flittered away. “I can’t think when you’re touching me like that.”

“Really.”

“Yes.”

“Then just make noises if you like what I do.”

She did, letting out a whimper when he rubbed her butt with one hand and her pussy with the other, especially when he trailed his finger between her butt cheeks, teasing her anus. The sensation was incredible, sparking her desire even more.

“Like that?”

“Yes.”

He teased her anus and slid his fingers into her pussy, fucking her with relentless strokes until she lifted her butt in the air against him, craving more of what he gave her.

And then she felt his finger at her back entrance again, and this time it was wet, whether from his saliva or her juices, she didn’t know. But he slid it past the tight muscles, and oh, God, it felt so good she cried out, arching upward to get more of the burning, pleasurable pain that seemed to make her pussy pulse, too.

He fucked her pussy with his fingers, using his thumb to swirl over her clit, while at the same time sliding his finger in and out of her ass. Her mind tried to process of all the sensations, and it overwhelmed her with the sweetest, most wicked pleasure she’d ever felt.

“I’d like to fuck your ass sometime, Tara. Would you let me?”

If it felt as good as what he did with his finger, she’d deny him nothing. “Yes. Yes, you can fuck my ass.”

She’d never felt anything like this, this lightning strike of intense pleasure that made her lose her mind. She arched her back, pushing against his hand as she climaxed with a wild cry.

Mick held her, giving her more of what she needed as she rocked through the pleasure, not stopping until she was spent and panting. Only then did he withdraw, roll her over, and kiss her. He went into the kitchen for a moment while she caught her breath, returning with a cold glass of ice water. He held the glass for her while she sipped, coating her dry throat.

It was very strange to be sitting on the floor naked from the waist down. Then again, she supposed there was no point in being modest with Mick. He’d pretty much seen it all.

“Thank you,” she said, leaning over to kiss him. “That was very nice.”

“You’re welcome.” He took her glass of water and swallowed down two quick gulps. He set the glass on the coffee table and sifted his fingers through her hair. “You make me thirsty.”

She climbed on his lap. “Is that right? Let’s see what we can do about that.”

His cock was still hard, and she surged against him, ignoring the fact he still had his pants on and she was naked. She reached for his zipper, taking her time about tugging it down, taking a quick glance up at his face to find him zeroed in on watching the movement of her hands.

She slid down on his thighs and pulled his pants down over his hips. He lifted to help her, and she freed his cock.

“Got a condom on you?”

“Pocket.”

She dug in his pocket and pulled out the foil packet, waving it back and forth. “I like that you’re always prepared.”

“Around you? Hell, yeah. I always want you, Tara. I think about making love to you all the time.”

She lifted her gaze to his and saw the heat in his eyes, glad to know he thought about her. She wrapped her fingers around his cock and stroked. He hissed, grabbed the condom packet from her fingers, and tore it open. “I need to fuck you.”

He reached for her hands and pulled her toward him, holding on to her while she lifted and held his cock, settling over him, sliding onto him.

Every time he entered her it was like the first time, a shock of awareness, a thrill of excitement as he expanded and filled her. Fully seated on him, she fanned her fingers over his abdomen and closed her eyes, just let herself experience the sensations as her pussy accommodated his cock, felt the flutters and contractions and pure joy as their bodies joined.

“Good?”

She opened her eyes and met his curious gaze. “Heaven. I love the way you fit inside me.”

He arched, and she gasped. “I like being inside you, Tara. I like feeling the way your pussy grips me, the sounds you make when I fuck you.”

She rocked forward, dragging her clit against him, and felt the walls of her pussy grip his cock in response. Mick grabbed her hips and pulled her toward him, then back, setting the pace.

“Yeah,” he said, watching where their bodies were connected. “Look down, Tara. See my dick pulling your pussy lips apart when I pump up inside you?”

She bent forward, watched his cock disappear inside her, then pull out, coated with her cream. “Yes.”

“I love the way you swallow me up.”

Her belly clenched, her entire body going up in flames at the way he touched her, the way he spoke to her, his touch, his voice, everything about him hot and sexy and filling her senses with fire. She leaned forward, pressing her breasts against his chest, running her fingertips across his jaw and his lips.

He cupped her face and drew her to him for a soul-shattering kiss, then grabbed her butt cheeks and lifted her up and down off his cock while his tongue dueled with hers. She gasped against his mouth, so close now she felt the stirrings of orgasm tightening inside her.

“Mick.” She pulled back just enough to search his face, her nails digging into his shoulders.

“Come on, Tara. Let me feel it.”

She held on for only a few seconds more, driving her clit against his body, letting the sensations take her to the ragged edge. Then she cried out and let go, latching on to his mouth as she came. Mick dug his fingers into her hair and kissed her deeply, held on to her as she shook against him with the force of her orgasm. He groaned against her lips as he thrust upward into her when he came, his fingers digging into her flesh. It was just so good to be held tightly in his embrace, to know it affected him as hard as it had her.

She blew out a breath and laid her forehead against his. “So glad you stopped by tonight.”

He laughed. “Me, too.”

They cleaned up and dressed, then sat on the sofa together watching TV while Tara made her notes. Her cell rang about eleven p.m., and she frowned as she went to grab it, thinking it was odd that Nathan would call early to be picked up from the party.

But it was Maggie, and her eyes widened as she listened, tried to calm Maggie down, then hung up and turned to Mick.

“What’s wrong?”

“Maggie’s having a meltdown.”

“About what?”

She chewed her lip, wondering how much she should confide in Mick about Maggie’s personal life, then decided she didn’t have much of a choice. “Her brother is a mess. He gets into a lot of jams, then expects Maggie to come to his rescue. She doesn’t know what to do, she’s in crisis mode, and she’s not clearheaded where he’s concerned because he’s her baby brother and she’s practically raised him by herself. We’ve been friends a long time and seen each other through some rough spots. I’d like to help her.”

“You need to go to her? I understand.” Mick stood.

“There’s another problem. Nathan. I was supposed to pick him up from the party at midnight.”

“I’ll get him. You go take care of Maggie.”

“Are you sure? I can go get Nathan now, then go to Maggie’s.”

“And Nathan would hate that. Write down the address, and I’ll pick up Nathan, bring him back here, and wait for you to come home.”

“God, Mick, I hate burdening you with my personal stuff.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and steadied her. “Things between us are personal, Tara. So write down the address and let me go get him, okay?”

She nodded, gave him the address and her spare garage door opener, then kissed him, thanked him, and ran out the door. As she climbed into her car, Mick stood at her open doorway, waving to her.

She waved back and a sudden pang of abject fear slammed into her.

How had he become such an important and integral person in her life?

And what was she going to do about that?

Disaster, was his first thought. Discarded paper plates and plastic cups and napkins and food and drink and furniture had been shoved out of whack. It looked like a crime scene. Or a party. The first thing Mick smelled was the alcohol, which had a stronger odor than the pizza, surprising considering there were about twenty or so empty pizza boxes strewn all over the room.

He picked his way through a throng of beefy football players, several jailbait-age inappropriately dressed girls, all of whom sized him up—were they serious?

“Anyone seen Nathan?” he asked of one of the guys, who looked up at him with a half-lidded gaze that spelled either drunk or stoned.

“Nuh-uh.”

Mick moved on toward the kitchen. So far he hadn’t seen an adult in sight. Good thing Tara hadn’t come to pick up Nathan. She’d be near fainting by now.

He found Nathan out back hanging with a group of three guys and two girls. And he was just about as shit-faced as the rest of the partygoers.

Not good.

“Mick! My man! Wazz up?”

“Let’s go.”

“Dude, let’s stay and party.” Nathan threw his arm around Mick. “Do you know who this is? This is Mick Riley, San Francisco’s quarterback.”

“We know, dude. Dude, you are one lucky sonbitch.” One of the guys grinned. “How awesome is it that your mom is with him?”

“Like, wow, you’re Mick Riley.” One of the girls stumbled out of her lawn chair and fell toward him, trying her best to look provocative.

“Whose house is this, Nathan?” Mick asked.

“Tim O’Banyan.”

“And where are Tim’s parents?”

“Cabo,” everyone said in unison, laughing as they raised their plastic cups to Tim’s parents in a toast.

Oh, shit. “Come on. We’re leaving. Say good night.” Mick should probably call someone and put a stop to the debauchery, but his only concern was Nathan and getting him home. He couldn’t be responsible for the entire team and their girlfriends.

“’Kay. Night, peeps.”

Mick led Nathan to his car and got out of there, figuring it was only a matter of time before the local cops made their appearance.

“Have a good time?”

Nathan grinned, hiccupped, then laughed. “Yup.”

“Do a little drinking?”

“Nope. Did a lot of drinking.”

“I can tell. Think that’s a smart idea?”

“Yup. Very smart.”

No point in trying to talk sense to him tonight. Mick drove in silence, listening to Nathan hum, then sing, burp, laugh, and rattle on nonsensically.

Unfortunately, Nathan started weaving back and forth in the seat. And Mick noticed he was getting paler by the minute.

“Nathan, you okay?”

“Not really. I think I might need to puke. Like right now.”

“We’re a block from the house. Can you make it?”

Nathan burped. “No.”

Shit. Mick pulled over while rolling down the window. Nathan unbuckled his seat belt and heaved out the window—all over the side of Mick’s truck.

Just fucking awesome. Mick sat there and waited it out while Nathan continued to vomit up whatever he’d had to drink. When he was finally done, Mick handed Nathan one of the towels he kept in his gym bag, then drove to the house and helped Nathan out of the SUV, carefully avoiding the door panel while he did so.

Nathan wasn’t too steady on his feet, so Mick had to throw his shoulder under Nathan and help him walk.

“Come on, buddy, let’s get you upstairs.”

“That’s a long fucking way up,” Nathan said, tossing his head back and staring up the steps.

“Uh-huh. You can make it.” God, the kid reeked. “Shower time.”

“I just wanna go to bed.”

“Too bad.” Mick took him into the bathroom and turned on the water. “Can you handle this, or do I need to do it for you?”

Nathan blinked. Weaved. Dropped to his knees in front of the toilet and threw up again.

Mick kneeled down and kept the kid from drowning himself, then tossed him, fully clothed minus his tennis shoes, into the shower. It seemed to help him a little.

“I feel terrible,” Nathan said.

“I’m sure you do.”

Mick turned off the shower, helped Nathan undress and dry off, then went to his room and found him a pair of sleep pants to slide into and shoved him into his bed.

Nathan was out cold two seconds later. Mick shook his head and turned off the light, then went in and cleaned up the mess in the bathroom.

By the time Tara came home around two thirty, Mick had warred with himself over telling her or not telling her. Turned out she wasn’t in the door a second before she knew something had happened.

She frowned. “You have vomit on the side of your truck. Is Nathan sick?”

“Sort of.”

She got a worried look on her face. “I should go check on him.”

“He’s passed out upstairs. Come sit down with me, and I’ll tell you what happened.”

“Passed out?”

She took a seat on the couch next to him.

“There were no adults at the party tonight, Tara. It was a free-for-all. And your son was shit-faced drunk.”

Tara’s eyes widened. “Oh.” Then her eyes narrowed. “Oh. Son of a bitch.”

“Yeah.”

She leaned forward and clasped her hands together. “How bad?”

“Pretty bad. I tossed him in the shower and cleaned everything up. He should sleep it off now.”

She laid her hand on his. “I had no idea this was going to happen. I’m so sorry you had to deal with it. And your truck. Good Lord.”

“My truck is washable. And your kid is going to be sick as hell tomorrow.”

She inhaled and sighed, then stood and ran her fingers through her hair. “I can’t believe Tim would have a party like that without his parents being around. Where were they?”

“Cabo, according to reports.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “Jesus. Wait till Coach finds out. And I’m sure he’ll find out. Were there girls there, too?”

“Quite a few. Underage. Hell, they were all underage.”

“Oh, Jesus. Thank God you got him out of there before the cops showed up. He is in so much trouble. And I was nowhere in sight.” She sat on a chair, looking lost and devastated.

“It’s a rite of passage, Tara. You couldn’t prevent this from happening.”

She shot an angry glare at him. “Rite of passage, my ass. Lots of kids make it through their teen years without getting stinking drunk. I need to pay more attention to where I let my son hang out. If I wasn’t—”

She stopped herself, but he knew what she’d been about to say. “You think if you weren’t with me, you’d be able to keep your thumb on Nathan’s every move? Come on, Tara.”

She lifted her chin. “I don’t know. Maybe. Between seeing you and the hours I work at my job and Nathan, it’s getting to be too much. I knew this was going to be a problem. I have to put Nathan first.”

She was angry and hurt and scared, and he had to give her time to think. The last thing he wanted was to come between her and her child or argue that it wasn’t his fault that her son had made a stupid decision. “I’ll get out of here so you can get some sleep.”

“Okay.”

She walked him to the door and held it open but caught his hand before he walked out. “Thank you for being there for him tonight.”

“Anytime.”

He walked to his car, feeling like somehow he’d been the one who’d done something wrong tonight.

But he hadn’t. Had he?