He looked up from the sunny corner where her round, stone kitchen table was tucked beneath a bank of windows. It looked like he had several contracts spread in front of him and a yellow legal notepad full of scribblings. Great. He was working hard on business matters while she was sleeping away the morning. Yet again, he'd managed to get a leg up on her.
"Looks like you could use some coffee," he said. "I just brewed a fresh pot." As if he could read her mind he added, "I got in the habit of waking up early at training camp in college. Never figured out how to sleep till noon like some of the other guys."
She nodded and poured herself a large steaming cup of coffee, not trusting herself to speak until she'd imbibed a lethal dose of caffeine.
Hell, she barely trusted herself to be in the same room with Ty. If her dream was any indication of her sex-starved state, she was perilously low on self-control.
"I'm usually up early too," she said, feeling defensive and hating it. He sat back in his chair. "Something keep you awake last night?" She scowled at his low blow. Grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl on the kitchen island, she sat in the chair across the table from temptation.
"I had to take some work to bed," she replied. When she realized exactly how she'd taken her work tobed, she blushed profusely. Crap! She never blushed. As a fair-skinned blonde she'd had to teach herself early not to reveal her emotions so easily. Whether in personal or professional situations, keeping her control was vitally important.
"Mmm-hmm," he said.
Was she imagining the slightly mocking note in his voice? Or was she just feeling guilty?
As if the earth's rotation depended on it, she cracked open the top of the banana, peeled one long slice down to the bottom, then the next. Finally the firm, yellow flesh was ready for her to eat. Just as she was bringing the pointy tip to her lips, she looked up at Ty. His eyes were trained on her mouth, on the banana she had clasped in her hand.
Oh God, how had breakfast become so incredibly mortifying?
Her first instinct was to drop the banana. But something inside her wanted to punish Ty for taunting her in her dreams last night. She'd never felt like this before, so constantly tempted and on the verge of doing bad things.
She slowly brought the banana to her lips. Covering the tip with her mouth, she sucked in an inch, and then another, finally taking a slow bite, closing her eyes in pleasure as she chewed.
She heard Ty's coffee cup hit the table with a clatter, and she smiled. She felt much better when they were on an even playing field.
"Our first event is tonight," she said. "In Napa." He shifted in his seat. "Don't wear that little red dress again."
"Excuse me?" she said sharply, even though she would never wear something so sexy to a work function. Last night was the first time she'd ever worn the impulse buy; it was far more revealing than her usual style.
Her mother had always said that men couldn't control themselves, so there was no need to dress like a whore and tempt them to make a pass at her. And while Julie knew that her mother was bitter over the buxom young girls her father made no secret of sleeping with, she'd still taken the advice to heart.
"Don't get me wrong, you looked great in it. Too good. Way too good." She liked his compliment. Far too much. It was time to put Ty firmly in his place.
"Your team hired me to tell you what to wear. Not the other way around."
"I get that. But Montague is a dirty old man. You wear that dress and he'll be eyeing your breasts all night, trying to cop a feel when he thinks no one is looking. As it is, he'll be following you around all night like a dog chasing a juicy bone."
"You're the first person who has ever compared me to a dog bone. Now, that's a compliment to remember."
"You're welcome."
He grinned and she couldn't keep herself from grinning back. It was so easy, sitting with him like this in her breakfast nook, even when they were sniping at each other.
She gestured to his papers. "Got some contracts to look over?" He gathered up the papers. "My agent couriered over some new ad contracts. You wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork I have to deal with."
He was right. She'd believed football players were nothing more than big, dumb guys in tight white pants chasing a ball during hailstorms. She'd never thought of them as businessmen before. Now she knew better.
"Speaking of your agent, he sent over your appearance schedule. I've already crossed out several inappropriate events."
He stood up, picked up their empty coffee cups, and put them in the sink. She hadn't had the pleasure of seeing him in jeans and a T-shirt until now. Desire nearly undid her. Annoyed by her reaction, she added, "And I don't care who your dates are supposed to be for the charity events. From this point forward you're going stag, with me just one step behind."
"I'm all yours," he replied in a low, sensual tone, deliberately letting her explore the idea of his really being hers.
Just as she had in her dream last night when she'd tied him up and had her way with him.
"The only thing that's nonnegotiable is football camp," he added.
"I thought training didn't start until July?"
"It doesn't. I volunteer coach at a camp for kids. The best and the brightest." Julie was surprised, and she said thoughtfully, "It must be like looking in a mirror." She could have sworn his eyes clouded over. "Sometimes it is."
"There must be so much pressure on those kids," she said, and his eyes met hers. For a second, she saw everything he wanted to keep hidden.
It hit her square in the chest: She wanted to be close to him. But could she actually risk dropping the walls she'd erected to protect her heart to find out more about what was in Ty's?
"I've got to work out for a couple of hours. I'll grab my stuff so we can head to the gym." Just as quickly as he'd opened himself to her, he closed off, and she felt oddly alone in her warm and cozy kitchen.
Julie had a knack for hitting too close, Ty thought as he bench-pressed three hundred for ten reps. He was pushing himself, trying to work off some of the relentless energy pushing through him. Through the glass wall, he could see Julie sitting in the gym's cafe, talking on her cell phone, taking notes, and tapping on her laptop. She was always so focused, so driven. She didn't smile nearly enough.
She picked up a clear plastic cup with the green sludge the trainers insisted was "power" protein and took a sip. Her face scrunched up and her cheeks sucked in with obvious disgust. Yet another thing they had in common, he thought as she surreptitiously spit it back into the cup after looking around to make sure no one was looking.
She seemed distracted this morning, and he was hoping he knew the reason why. All night long he'd been falling in and out of triple X dreams of the two of them. Him on her, her on him. Doggy-style. Up against the wall. Sixty-nine.
In his dreams, he'd had her in every possible way. Was it too much to hope that she wasn't any more immune to him than he was to her?
He got off the bench and picked up an eighty-pound barbell to work on his triceps. How pathetic would he be if he got an erection at the gym? He had to stop acting like a teenage boy dreaming about getting his first piece of ass.
Dominic DiMarco, one of the veteran Outlaws, walked into the gym, and Ty watched him speak to Julie. When Julie laughed, jealousy drop-kicked Ty.
Dominic was one of the few guys on the team who went home alone after a game, who didn't burn it out with groupies hanging on to him. A girl like Julie was probably just what Dominic was looking for, the perfect gorgeous, smart woman to settle down with.