Playing to Win

shielding her skin from the brick while he tunneled hard into her, his balls filling fast with come. He ground against her, releasing his hold on her breast so he could grab her hair and pull her head back for a punishing kiss. She gave exactly what she got, whimpering against him and making him crazy. He felt her tighten, knew she was coming again from the sounds she made. He couldn’t hold on and let go, his climax so hard and fast it made his legs buckle. He leaned against her and gave her all he had, powering up into her with one last, hard thrust, emptying himself with a loud groan.
    He needed a minute to catch his breath. They were both panting. Savannah raised her gaze to his, hers so trusting and open and filled with an emotion he couldn’t name.
    “Wow,” she whispered, her lips lifting in a sexy smile.
    “Yeah.” They adjusted their clothes.
    “My hair’s a mess. And I’m sure I’m blushing a hundred shades of pink,” she said.
    He pulled her to him and kissed her again, this time slow and easy, which was all he’d meant to do when he took her outside. “You look beautiful, like you always do.”
    “You always know just what to say.” Her lips curled in a warm smile that never failed to punch him in the gut.
    He grabbed his phone. “Halftime’s over. We should go back inside before someone comes looking for us.”
    He slipped his hand in hers and led her back around toward the back door. But what he really wanted to do was take her home and make love to her again, this time slowly, without clothes on, so he could love every inch of her body.
    He’d do that later.



TWENTY

    FOUR GAMES INTO THE SEASON, AND THE TRADERS remained unbeaten.
    It was still early, but Cole was filled with a sense of destiny. The team was firing on all cylinders. Defense was a beast, holding teams to few or no points. Recorded sacks were off the charts, their best season so far. Offense was hot everywhere, from the running to the passing game. The offensive line was blowing open holes everywhere and giving Cassidy plenty of time to stay in the pocket and get the passes off. It was a perfect storm.
    They’d even won on the road. Coming off two road games in a row, the team was confident there was no one they couldn’t beat. And Cole knew after playing in the NFL for a lot of years that confidence was everything in this game. You had to believe you could win.
    They all believed they could win.
    While he’d been playing, Savannah had been working on setting up his foundation. The paperwork had been set up and they were ready to get started on the first playground and communitycenter. He’d been advised to wait until the off-season to begin work, but once the idea had formed, he didn’t want to put it off. He might not be able to be as hands-on during the season as he would be when he wasn’t playing, but there was no sense in delaying. The faster the playgrounds were completed, the sooner the kids would have somewhere to go.
    After practice today he was meeting Savannah, the contractors, and family, friends, and teammates at the playground site. They were going to get their hands dirty. He was anxious to dig in.
    Concrete had already been poured and construction started on the community center, but in the meantime they were going to work on clearing out the area for the playground. That meant mowing and weeding and clearing out trash.
    That his teammates had offered to help meant more to him than he could say. Savannah had been the one to mention it to them. He never would have thought to say anything to them, but they’d all gone out for dinner one night after a home game, and she’d brought it up and said they could use some volunteers to clear the field.
    His entire offensive line had spoken up and said they’d help. So had Grant Cassidy, the quarterback. So had Kenny, Jamarcus, and Lon.
    He’d been surprised. Savannah had laid her hand on his arm and told him this was what it was like to have friends.
    He was realizing that. People had his back now, both on and off the field.
    Another thing he had her to thank for.
    He picked up Savannah and they arrived at the field early enough to go over the plans with the contractor. Everything was on time and in order. The community center would take about six weeks to build. The foundation was already in the process of hiring staff for the center. Everything was falling into place.
    His teammates and family arrived, and everyone dug in right away clearing debris