Playing to Win

his friends.
    “If you’re all okay, I’ll see if anyone needs anything. Excuse me.”
    She wandered off.
    “Wow.”
    Cole turned to Tanya. “What?”
    “I don’t mean to be gossipy, because that’s not in my nature, but there were some serious fireworks exploding between you and Savannah.”
    He grinned. “You think so?”
    “I know so. Don’t you think so, too, Jamarcus?”
    Jamarcus looked at Cole, then back at Tanya. “No comment. I’m not getting my ass kicked over that one.”
    Cole laughed and clapped Jamarcus on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, man. Tanya is right. There’s something going on. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
    “Well, for what it’s worth, she’s beautiful. Nice, polite, and friendly. If I were you I’d grab her and never let her go.”
    “I agree,” Tanya said. “If you don’t, someone else will snatch her up and you’ll regret not taking the chance.”
    They were probably right. But it was difficult when the object you were chasing was doing her best to avoid getting caught.
    SAVANNAH WAS SO PLEASED. THE PARTY WAS FANTASTIC. Cole had spent the majority of the night hanging out with Jamarcus and Lon and mingling with his offensive line. He’d had some major one-on-one time with Grant Cassidy, the Traders’ quarterback. The two of them had huddled in the corner, having an intense conversation. When she’d inched over to eavesdrop to make sure they weren’t simply talking about women or sports cars or something else innocuous, she heard them dissecting plays.
    Perfect. It had gone much better than she’d hoped. He was bonding with his teammates, who all seemed to be having a great time. Cole was even talking with the coach, who had come up to her and told her that Cole’s performance and behavior was better than he expected—so far.
    She had hope. Of course, it was still only preseason, but she intended to take this one step at a time. Entrenching him with the team was a giant first step. Once they all had one another’s back, she’d concentrate on his personal image. Team play was vital, though, and this was an important night.
    Everyone started to filter out by eleven thirty or so, since they all had practice in the morning, and under the coach’s watchful eye, no one wanted to party too hard. She hadn’t intended for this to be a raucous night of debauchery, anyway. Just a night of food and drink and a chance for Cole to feel more like part of the team.
    After the last player left, the caterers came in and cleaned everything up. Savannah and Cole helped them carry the platters and tables out to their van, the furniture was restored to its rightful place, and his condo looked like it had before the party. The van drove off and she went into the closet for his vacuum.
    “What are you doing?” Cole laid his hand on her wrist.
    “Finishing the cleanup.”
    “I have a service that does that.”
    “I told you I’d take care of everything.”
    “You’re dressed way too nice to act as maid service. Though the mental visual of you in a short little maid’s uniform…”
    She rolled her eyes at him. He laughed, took the vacuum and slid it back into the closet. “Seriously. Sit down. Kick off your shoes and relax.”
    The last time that happened she’d ended up in his bed. “No, thank you. I think I’ll head out and let you get some sleep.”
    “I’m way too wound up to sleep. Come sit with me and you can tell me what you thought about tonight.”
    Debriefing was a good idea. She’d like to get his thoughts on his conversations with his teammates. She took a seat on the sofa, but kept her shoes on and her feet on the floor. “I thought it went very well. How did you think it went?”
    “It was good. I had fun. You spent the whole night working the room like a pro.”
    “It’s my job. I wanted to make sure you had the time to mingle.”
    “I did mingle. I talked to everyone. I did what you asked me to do.”
    She frowned. “I don’t recall asking you to do anything. Other than have this party, of course. If you really didn’t want to do it, you should have said something.”
    “I didn’t want to do it. But it turned out fine. I had fun. The guys are all great and we needed this. It was a good way to get us all together off the playing field. I haven’t really had time to get one-on-one with the offensive linemen, and Cassidy and I went over plays and talked strategy for the season. During practice it’s all drills and plays. There’s