Covering Kendall(13)

If that made him old-fashioned, so be it. He loved the idea of coming home every day to a beaming woman, dinner on the table, and a few little rug rats to liven the place up.

He was used to hearing the house settle at night while he lay in bed, or the gentle patter of raindrops on the roof. The storm’s fury wasn’t letting up. Water slammed into the windows and broken tree branches thumped onto his house. He wondered if sleeping in a room with a gigantic clerestory window facing those trees was such a great idea tonight. Maybe he should move to another room, at least temporarily.

He wondered if Kendall was asleep yet. He needed to stop thinking about her, but he couldn’t think of anything (or anyone) else. He couldn’t stop remembering how she felt in his arms.



KENDALL PULLED ON a nightshirt a few minutes after Drew left and crawled into the bed. Normally, she didn’t mind sleeping alone, but tonight, she didn’t want to. She knew he couldn’t stay with her, but she wished he had. Even if they didn’t make love, she would have had someone to talk to while she tried to fall asleep. His house was only a couple of miles away, he’d said. He was probably already there, safe and warm in his own bed. She wondered if he slept with his hair in a ponytail, or did he let it fan out over the pillows? She sat up, adjusted her pillows once more, and sank into them. She heaved a long sigh.

He was incredibly sexy. Even more than that, he was interesting, funny, smart, and caring. And she’d kicked him out of her hotel room. She meant what she’d said to him about any involvement between them being career suicide for her, but she couldn’t believe she’d met a guy that had every possible quality she’d ever wanted and he was off-limits.

Again.

Maybe she’d get sleepy if she read a little. She reached out for the Kindle on her bedside table and reconsidered. She’d better check her e-mail one more time tonight. Who was she kidding—she wasn’t settling down any time soon. She was still thinking about Drew and how different her evening would have been if she’d asked him to stay. The wrapped condom he’d had in his wallet was still on the nightstand. He’d forgotten his slouchy knit hat; it was still lying on the floor in the corner of the room. It probably smelled like him too. At least she’d sent the books home with him . . .

“Oh, shit,” she said to herself. “My dad’s book—and my phone!”

She remembered slipping the phone into the plastic bag with the new book she was giving to her dad and rolling up the top to seal the contents before they’d set out for the hotel from the coffee shop. She’d thought putting the phone in a plastic bag was better than carrying it in her pocket, and it was raining so hard she was afraid the things in her handbag would get wet. She jumped out of bed, hurried across the hotel room, and dug through her handbag.

The small paper bags containing the salted caramel bars were a little smashed, but the bars were still edible. Everything but her iPhone was in her handbag. Maybe she left the phone in her coat pocket after all. She grabbed the still-damp coat off the corner of the couch and went through the pockets. No phone.

She flipped on every light in her hotel room and looked everywhere. No phone. It wasn’t worth calling the front desk to ask if she’d dropped the phone outside or in the lobby on the way up to her room. She knew where it was, and she also knew she had no way of getting it back: It wasn’t like she could walk across the field on Sunday afternoon and ask Drew McCoy if he’d seen it.

She’d have to make do until she could get another one. She couldn’t imagine how she was going to explain this to the Miners’ front office, either.



THIRTY-SEVEN HOURS LATER, the Sharks were playing the Miners in Sharks Stadium. Sharks players and fans had been anticipating this game since the season started. The winner would have first place in the division and an easy path to the postseason, which was always a great place to be in early October. It was a perfect day for football: Cotton-candy quality clouds dotted an impossibly blue sky while the sun warmed the sold-out stadium.

Drew spotted Kendall standing on the sidelines. She’d evidently abandoned the team suite to enjoy the crisp fall day with her colleagues and was having an animated discussion with a few of them while the teams lined up on the field for the kickoff.

He saw her laugh at something someone said to her. The guys standing with her were in suits and ties. She wore black pants, a team logo jacket, and a silver-colored silky-looking scarf tucked into her neckline. The rain-washed air put color into her cheeks. She brushed the bangs out of her eyes with one gloved hand. She was gorgeous, and it took everything he had to not run across the field and kiss her again.