He hoped that woman was Kendall.
KENDALL HEARD THE front door of Drew’s house slam and heavy footsteps on the staircase landing outside of his bedroom. She’d awoken when Drew’s dad called out to his wife while he was looking for a clean pair of shorts, and she got into the shower as quickly as she could. If she was going to encounter Drew’s parents, she’d prefer to be fully dressed at the time.
Drew opened the bedroom door and hurried across the room, wrapping his arms around her.
“My parents are on their way to the airport. I love them, but it was time for them to go home for a while.” She grinned as she rubbed her face into his chest. “Did you get some sleep?”
“I did. Did you?”
“I smelled your perfume all night. I hated wasting a minute with you.” They held each other while minutes passed.
“I wish I didn’t have to leave.”
“I wish you didn’t, either.” He let out a long breath. “So, we’re meeting in Portland next Monday afternoon?”
She had personal days. It wasn’t a great thing to take a day off at the height of football season, but she was going to do it if it meant meeting up with Drew and spending some more time with him. “Maybe I should come back here,” she said. “You can show me around Seattle.”
“It’s a date, if we make it out of my house.”
She let out a laugh. “That might be a challenge.”
AN HOUR LATER, Drew pulled up in the departures lane at Sea-Tac Airport. He maneuvered his Subaru Outback into one of the parking places closest to the curb. The departure lane at Sea-Tac was crowded. Passenger cars and taxis wove in and out of the vehicles slowing and stopping to disgorge those flying to destinations all over the globe on an overcast October Monday morning. The announcement that all parked cars would be impounded and towed droned on the overhead speaker in the background.
There were hundreds of people on the sidewalk feet away from Drew’s car, but nobody seemed to notice the tall guy with the long blond ponytail and the curvy dark-haired woman who’d wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I don’t want to say goodbye to you,” she said. Her voice broke as her vision blurred with hot tears.
“We’ll see each other next week,” he murmured into her ear. “I promise.”
“I’ll miss you.”
“And I will miss you. So much.”
Drew’s mouth covered hers. He angled his head to slide his tongue into her mouth, and she tasted the water he’d been drinking a few minutes ago. His kiss was tender and gentle. He didn’t need to eat her face off for her to realize how much he wanted her. She fisted one hand into his ponytail. He leaned his forehead against hers to catch his breath. Her heart was pounding, her knees had turned to water, and she didn’t want to go.
They heard a knock on the driver’s side window and an unfamiliar male voice.
“Is this your car, sir?”
“Excuse me?” Drew said. He hit the button to lower the driver’s side window.
“Is this your car?” A cop nodded toward Drew’s Subaru. “You have thirty seconds to move it or I’m giving you a ticket.”
“How much is the ticket?” Drew asked.
“A hundred and fifty dollars.”
“Go ahead. I’ll pay it.”
Drew’s mouth touched Kendall’s again. He pulled her closer. She let out a little moan. She couldn’t get enough of him, he couldn’t get enough of her, and the cop spoke one more time.
“Okay. Here’s your ticket. Move your car in the next thirty seconds, or I’ll have it towed, Mr. McCoy. And, oh yeah: Go Sharks.”
Three hours later, Kendall hurried through San Francisco International Airport to the baggage claim area. She needed a cab to get to the office. She grabbed her phone out of her bag and hit Sydney’s number.
“Hi there. How’s it going?” she said when Sydney answered.
“Your lunch meeting cancelled, so if you’re here by one PM, things are cool. You got another phone call from Sherman Washington’s agent.”
“That guy’s aggressive, isn’t he?”
“His client wants to leave the Sharks. Does Drew know anything about him? You might want to ask before you talk with the guy.”
“That’s a thought. How are you doing? How was your weekend?”
“It was great. I went out, I had fun. I got away from the studying for at least a couple of hours. I loved it.” Sydney paused for a moment as Kendall stepped out onto the sidewalk where the cabs were lined up. “There’s one more thing. Cell phone pictures of Drew McCoy kissing a dark-haired woman in his car at the Seattle airport have been trending on Twitter for an hour or so now.”