Now his dad was retired and the Sabers was his team to lead. It wasn’t his first time on the field as a Sabers player, of course, since he’d been drafted by the team last year, but back then he’d been nothing more than a benchwarmer. This was the first time Nathan walked the field as the Sabers starting quarterback.
Christ, how had all this happened? It had been a goddamned whirlwind starting with his dad announcing his retirement. These past several months had been some kind of otherworldly dream, like he’d been asleep all this time and it wasn’t real.
But as his feet crunched into the turf, it all felt solid. Real. As if he belonged here, like he’d always belonged here.
He could still remember the first time he’d walked out onto the field, after seeing his dad play. His mom and dad had just gotten together. Nathan had been fifteen at the time, and being around professional football had been new to him. This stadium seemed enormous, out of reach to a scrawny kid who had only dreamed of someday walking in shoes as big as Mick Riley’s.
And then his mom had fallen in love with and married Mick, and Mick had adopted him. He’d been one lucky sonofabitch to end up with a father who loved him as much as his dad did. He’d taught Nathan everything he knew about football. How to love and respect the game, and how to respect himself in the process.
Nathan couldn’t have asked for a better role model. And he was going to do everything he could to make his father proud of him.
He sucked in a deep breath and walked from one end of the field to the other, cognizant of the weight that now lay on his shoulders. When the Sabers had drafted him, he’d been excited to learn the game under Mick Riley. But he didn’t think he would play right away.
In college, he had worked hard, played hard, and he’d been a damn good quarterback.
Now he was going to have to be better.
“Hey, Riley.”
He turned to see the coach walking onto the field. He cracked a smile and reached out to shake Tom Butterfield’s hand. Tom had been hired on as head coach three years ago, and had been doing a kickass job. Nathan couldn’t wait to work with him as the starting quarterback.
“Hey, Coach.”
“Getting a feel for your turf?”
His turf. The crush of expectation already weighed on him. “Yeah. Feels good.”
“We expect great things from you this season.”
Nathan felt that squeeze of pressure in his chest. He shook it off. This was what he’d waited his whole life for. “I’ll give you everything I’ve got.”
Coach slapped him on the back. “You sound just like your dad. We’re going to miss him around here.” Dad had retired. He understood the reasons for it. The Sabers had won the championship last season. His dad was thirty-seven and he wanted to go out on top, plus he had the knee issue that had cropped up. He’d fought through it all season, and the docs said he needed surgery.
Sure, he could have rehabbed and come back. Mom and Dad had discussed it. Dad had even talked to Nathan about it, but in the end, it was his father’s decision to make. Man, Nathan was going to miss watching him play.
And now to step into his shoes, for this team, on this field?
Yeah, that was the reason for the tight knot in his chest.
One of many.
“Let’s go talk over the new season,” coach said.
Nathan pushed all those pressures aside and tried to remember to breathe. He plastered on his signature grin, the one that said “I’ve got this,” even when he didn’t.
“Yeah, Coach. Let’s do that.”
THREE
MIA LIVED FOR HER PLANNER AND HER CHECKLISTS. At this moment she needed them more than anything, because she had a million things to do. The movers were supposed to be here an hour ago and they were late. She had a separate furniture delivery that was supposed to be here this morning, and it was almost noon and so far no one had showed up. She had a client coming in at three. If stuff didn’t show up soon, she and her client were going to be sitting on the damn floor.
Not good. Not good at all. Her heart beat like a jackhammer in her chest.
She stopped and remembered her breathing. Falling to pieces wasn’t going to do anyone any good.
She pivoted and headed down the hall of her very spacious and very empty offices.
“Monique, are you in here?”
Monique, her best friend from college and her absolute lifesaver, was on the phone, so she held up a finger to silence Mia.
“You need to be here yesterday,” Monique said, obvious impatience in her voice. “We had a guaranteed eight a.m. delivery time and it’s now eleven thirty and no one is here. So get it done and if you can’t, then transfer me to the manager.”
Monique listened for a few seconds, then smiled, shooting Mia that look, the one that said she had it all under control. And when she nodded at Mia, Mia exhaled.
This was why she’d begged and cajoled and pushed Monique into moving from Texas to San Francisco to be her executive manager. No one had better organizational skills or the take-no-shit demeanor that Monique did. When Mia had decided to start up her company, she knew she wouldn’t be able to do this without having Monique on board.
Monique finally hung up. “The movers are on the way. They got hung up in traffic, then thought they could stop for lunch. I made sure to let them know their movers could have lunch after they delivered our furniture.”
Mia exhaled. “That’s why you’re the best.”
“Now I’m about to crawl up the ass of the supply delivery people.”
“Monique Parker, will you marry me?”
Monique laughed. “You are pretty and all, but I like dick. Thanks for the offer, though.”
Mia laughed. “Fine, then. Don’t marry me. Just continue to be awesome.”
“Girl, I’m always awesome. Now go away and let me work my magic.”
Mia walked away and wandered through the new offices, still unable to believe she’d managed to get all this up and running just as she’d envisioned. She had her brothers and her parents to thank for a lot of it, especially her brother Flynn. She’d been so hesitant at first to set up her company in the same city as one of her brothers, but Flynn had been instrumental in helping her. He had contacts everywhere, and he’d hooked her up with an amazing real estate agent who’d found the perfect office space in the Embarcadero Center, right in the heart of the Financial District.
The location and the space were ideal. They’d had the office re-carpeted and painted, and it looked fresh and new. Now all she needed was furniture.
Her phone buzzed with a text. She smiled when she saw Nathan’s name come up.
How’s it going?
She typed back: Insanity here. How about you?
He replied with: Intense. But cool.
She could well imagine. She was as excited for Nathan’s new beginnings as she was for her own.
She typed back. Let’s decompress together. Dinner tonight?
Yup.
She grinned. How does 7 work? Going to be crazy here.
It took him a few minutes to reply: Sounds good. Later.
She was still thinking about their lunch yesterday, and her response to his touch. It had been brief, but she had been surprised by the intensity of it. It was probably just her heightened nerves. She’d been wired lately because of all of . . . this. That had to be it.
Because good friends were hard to come by, so she didn’t want to screw it up with sex. Sex could ruin a great friendship, and she never wanted to lose Nathan.
And if that hot spark of attraction still remained between them, they were adults and they could handle it.
She shook it off and went in search of Monique to check on the status of those deliveries.
FOUR
AFTER TALKING TO BOTH HIS PARENTS ON THE PHONE, as well as his little brother, Sam, who never missed an opportunity to FaceTime, Nathan got to work. He’d leased a town house in Santa Clara, near the stadium. When he’d first moved here last season, his parents offered up their house for his use, but he knew they’d come and stay there as well, and while he loved his family, he craved independence. And privacy. God he’d really wanted some privacy.
He’d shared plenty of apartments in college, sometimes with several guys. There was nothing worse than three guys sharing one bathroom. This was his time to be alone. As he walked into his bedroom and bathroom, for the first time in his life he actually felt like an adult. It was about damn time. He’d stayed the extra year in college, not only to finish up his dual degrees in finance and mathematics, but to win the national championship again.