"Perv." She smacked his chest, but she didn't try to move out of his arms. "Brothers or sisters?"
He shook his head. "I wish."
She paused for a moment, her eyes softening, her fingers unconsciously stroking his biceps. "Ex-wives?"
"Hell, no."
She raised an eyebrow at that. "Hobbies."
"Crushing the offense."
She cocked her head to the side. "What does that mean?"
"I'm a linebacker, sweetheart. My job is making sure no one gets through the line."
"What about your spare time? What do you like to do when you're not playing football?"
He grinned wickedly. "How about I show you again right now?"
"Cole!" She smacked his shoulder. "Apart from that."
He shrugged. "Helping out a teammate's camp for kids and doing some reading with a literacy program."
Cole was used to people looking at him like he was a walking bank account. Like he was a hero, a sports god. But no one but his grandmother had ever looked at him like this, like she saw something inside him that pleased her.
Anna's mouth was a light brush of pleasure against his. "Favorite color?"
He licked the curve of her lower lip, made her shiver against him as her ni**les hardened into his chest. "Green."
It sounded like she was having some trouble breathing evenly as she asked, "College?"
"University of Las Vegas."
"Major?"
"Football."
She gave him a hard look. "Do you ever think about anything else?" He shot her another wicked glance and she quickly said, "Never mind. Forget I asked. But apart from football, what classes did you like best?"
"Probability. Statistics." Jesus, why was he telling her these things? "It's one of the reasons I like football so much. Coming up with plays is a lot like the problems I used to do in class."
Her answering smile stole his breath. "I thought you all just ran around and jumped on each other."
"You're so sweet. So naive. Good thing there's nothing I'd rather do than teach my sweet little schoolteacher all the things she doesn't know."
He cupped her ass and pulled her tighter into him, ready to move onto the next part of getting to know each other better.
"Wait," she said breathlessly, "I still don't know where you were born."
"Vegas."
"What about your parents?"
He gave her his standard answer. "I don't have that many memories of them."
"How old were you when they passed away?"
He'd been asked this question a thousand times at press conferences and interviews, but never with such palpable concern.
Never by anyone who really cared.
"Five.""Cole." She stroked his cheek, her fingertips feathering pleasure across his skin. "I'm so sorry."
He forced a shrug. "My grandmother took care of me. She was great."
"You're great, Cole."
And then, finally, he was back to where they started, with his mouth a breath away from hers.
The chorus to I Just Called To Say I Love You played from her purse.
"Oh no. I need to get that."
She pushed out of his arms and pulled the phone out of her purse on the kitchen counter.
"Hi, Mom. I was going to call, I swear. It all happened so fast." She shot him a wild look. "You want us to come over? Right now?"
Cole fought back panic. Meeting the parents wasn't something he did. Hell, there'd been no chance of that from one-night stands.
But he'd married Anna.
And her family wanted to meet her husband.
Fuck.
It had all seemed so simple in the club, when he was kissing her, and holding her, and looking for a Hail Mary pass that would fill his grandmother's dying wish.
First the paps. Now Anna's parents and siblings.
What would be next?
Anna looked so panicked--he hated to see her doing anything but smiling or crying out in ecstasy--that when she sent him a silent question with her eyes, he found himself nodding.
"Okay. Yes, we can come. Back in San Francisco. No we haven't eaten." Her eyes grew bigger. "Everyone's going to be there?" She swallowed hard. "Fantastic." She put the phone down. "We're having dinner with my family." She put her face in her hands. "What am I going to tell them?"
Shit. He'd asked her to lie to his grandmother. But he couldn't ask her to lie to her own family.
"The truth."
She lifted her head. "Are you kidding?"
"I know how important family is, Anna. I'm not going to ask you to lie to them."
One corner of her mouth lifted, but it wasn't a smile. It was a grimace. "I appreciate that, Cole. But I can't tell them the truth."
"Why? You think they'd tell the press that this isn't a real marriage?"
Pain flashed in her eyes. She blinked and it was gone. "No. They would never betray me like that. I can't tell them the truth because they'll think I'm a desperate fool who had to marry the first man who asked."
Hating to hear her talk about herself like that, he had to pull her back into his arms before he set her straight. "No one who knows you would ever think you were a desperate fool."
He felt her relax in his arms and let himself enjoy holding her. Until now, he'd been totally focused on sex. But this, the warm, soft comfort of her, knowing he was comforting her too, was surprisingly nice.
She lifted her head. "I have a feeling things could get pretty messy tonight. Can you follow my lead?"
Did she have any idea what she was asking him to do? Cole Taylor wasn't a follower. He was a leader. And yet, this tiny woman was asking him to hand over the reins.
Even stranger was the fact that he actually wanted to do it, wanted to help her, any way he could. Because she didn't deserve to have her life turned upside down by a football player with ulterior motives.
"I'll do it. On one condition."
Her sweet lips parted slightly, the plump lower lip slightly damp from where she'd been chewing on it. "You're making this a trade?"
"Oh, I think you'll like my terms."
Her skin flushed and her eyes gave away the desire she didn't have the first clue about hiding from him. "You're awfully sure of yourself."