Playing to Win

obviously satisfied and happy. He bent to kiss her, but she pulled away. “I need to go clean up.”
    “We could take a shower together.”
    “I really need to go.” She grabbed her clothes, but he stopped her.
    “Savannah. What’s wrong?”
    “Not a thing. This was a lot of fun. But I really should go.”
    She scooted down the hall and shut the bathroom door, appalled at what she saw in the mirror.
    Her bra still hung halfway down her arms. Her hair was a mess, her makeup was smeared and there was a blush all over her skin. Cole had left marks on her and—oh, god—was that a hickey on her neck?
    How old was she, anyway? She wasn’t a teenager in the throes of first passion. She was an adult. A sensible, capable, professional who should not have had sex with her client in his kitchen.
    That was twice now she’d utterly lost her mind.
    She washed up and got dressed, took a couple deep breaths, and went back out. Cole was having a glass of water in the kitchen.
    “Here, I poured you one. Figured you might be thirsty.”
    “Thank you.” She took a couple long swallows to lubricate her parched throat. “Now I really should go.”
    “Want to tell me why you run every time we have sex?”
    She paused, feeling awful that she kept doing this to him. She owed him an explanation. She turned, faced him.
    “Because we shouldn’t have sex.”
    “Why not?”
    “You know why not. Because we work together. I’m supposed to act professionally around you, not jump on your cock every time we’re alone together.”
    His lips curved. “I like you jumping on my cock.”
    “How are you going to take the work we do together seriously if we’re sleeping together?”
    “So far, there hasn’t been a whole lotta sleeping.”
    “Not funny, Cole.” She grabbed her purse and started for the door, mentally kicking herself for ever allowing her libido to have free rein.
    He moved beside her. “I’m sorry. I can tell this bothers you, but I don’t know why. I can keep professional and personal separate.”
    She opened the door and walked outside, but turned to give him a regretful look. “That’s the problem. I’m not sure I can.”
    He leaned against the doorway. “You know, Peaches, I’m not buying your practiced speech about professional and personal. You’re running because of something else. And if we’re going to keep seeing each other, eventually you’re going to have to start trusting me with your secrets.”
    Savannah gave Cole a pained look that told him she really wanted to do that.
    Cole wished she would, but instead, she turned and walked to her car. She got in and started the engine, her gaze meeting his for a brief second.
    Come on. Come back inside and talk to me.
    But she put her car in gear and pulled away.
    He dragged his fingers through his hair and shut the door.
    For a second there, they had been so close. Hell, for the entire night they had been close. Good dinner, great conversation, amazing sex.
    And then she’d slammed the door in his face as soon as the sex was over.
    If he were the kind of guy who’d get all emotional over shit like that, his feelings might be hurt. He might even take it personally.
    But he wasn’t that kind of guy, and he knew this wasn’t about him.
    This was about Savannah. And it had nothing to do with him being her client.
    He’d been making progress. He might not really enjoy taking instructions from her, but he’d seen the light. He was beginning to see the wisdom in her suggestions. He might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he wasn’t a total dumbass, either. A lot of whatshe’d been trying to tell him made sense. So he’d been listening, putting those words into action, and it was working.
    Which had nothing to do with what went on between the two of them when they were alone. He’d been honest with her when he told her he could separate business from personal.
    No, that wasn’t the problem. Something else was.
    And he wasn’t going to give up until he figured out what it was that kept sending her running out the door every time the two of them got close.



FOURTEEN

    GETTING HIS FRUSTRATIONS OUT ON THE FOOTBALL field had always worked well for Cole.
    Okay, maybe he also used to take his frustrations out in clubs, and on the media, but he’d been working hard on turning over a new leaf. This year he was going to leave it all on the field. New image and all that.
    Preseason was starting this weekend, and he was psyched up and ready for