The fall afternoon was crisp and cool, perfect weather for the extra sprints the players were doing to make up for their piss-poor attitudes. Blake had little patience for their whining and moaning about how tired and overworked they were. He’d blown his whistle and told them to start running and not to stop until he felt like they’d had enough.
“They think they’re tired now,” Blake muttered. “I’ll give them something to whine about.”
Cameron grunted as the players sprinted from one side of the field to the next. They knew better than to give it less than their all. If even so much as one kid slowed down, Blake would make them pay. Cameron understood they were nearing the end of the season, but the kids knew the drill by now. Prima donna attitudes didn’t go unnoticed or unpunished.
Of course, the end of the season also meant something else that Cameron didn’t want to think about. Being without Audrey had been keeping him up at night. She was distracting him at work, sucking the breath from his lungs. Every time he looked at her, every time he was around her and heard her soft laughter, he wanted to beg her to stay, tell her to think about Piper and how much the girl loved her.
Not just Piper.
But Cameron didn’t have the right to ask that of Audrey, especially after she’d caught him with Tessa. He was surprised she hadn’t yanked Piper and run for the hills.
She has faith in you.
Now he had to show her that faith was justified. But first he needed to make a decision about Denver. Over the past few weeks, the offer had become less important, less urgent. Every time he looked in the backyard and watched Piper play with her psychotic cat, Denver held less appeal. Every meal he shared with Audrey, or Post-it note he found, he wanted to burn the offer letter. Problem was, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to even tell her about the offer. He’d made the decision to turn it down before Audrey had a chance to put all the pieces together.
Blake whistled again and ordered the players to take a breather. They slowed to a stop, sweat dripping down their faces, chests heaving with exhaustion.
“Take a water break, gentlemen,” Blake told them.
Cameron was about to have a word with the offensive line when he spotted Drew Spalding exiting the field house. He wasn’t alone. An older man with thinning hair, a white polo, and a belly that spilled over the waistband of his khakis shook Drew’s hand.
Cameron elbowed Blake. “Hey, who’s that guy with Drew?”
Blake blew out a breath. “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise to be chill.”
A feeling of unease curled Cameron’s stomach. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Apparently he’s expressed interest in your job. Drew’s showing him around the facilities.”
“He’s interviewing candidates for my job?” Cameron glanced at Blake. “I haven’t given my notice yet.”
“But you’re going to,” Blake pointed out. “It’s only a matter of time, right?”
Cameron glared. “Says who?”
“Um…” Blake scratched his chin. “You?”
“Bullshit.” Cameron turned to confront the athletic director and put the man in his place, when Blake’s hand shot out and latched on to Cameron’s arm.
“Hey,” Blake warned. “When I said be chill, I specifically meant don’t go over there and beat the shit out of Drew.”
Cameron pulled his arm free. “I only did that once,” he pointed out, then stalked away.
Cameron’s long legs ate up the ground beneath him, his irritation growing with each step. In all honesty, Cameron was irritated with himself for allowing Drew to think he’d just bow out, that he’d give the smug bastard the satisfaction of getting rid of Cameron Shaw that easily.
And the man still deserved an ass beating for almost ruining Cameron’s squeaky-clean reputation at his previous school.
Cameron had never told anyone what Drew had done on the sly, mostly to protect those he loved the most. He hadn’t wanted to put his mother through the agony of thinking her son was a homewrecker, especially having lived with a cheating spouse. To this day, Cameron wanted to kick his own ass for getting involved with Drew’s wife. It had been the biggest mistake he’d made, and Drew had seen to it that Cameron continued to suffer.
He reached the two men just as Mr. Potbelly said his thanks, then turned to leave. Drew popped a bubble with his gum, then gave Cameron an openmouthed grin. Cameron wanted to knee the guy is his too-small balls.
“How’s it going today, Shaw?” Drew asked.
Cameron gritted his teeth together. “Yeah, don’t start with that bullshit. What’s with you interviewing someone for my job?”
“Technically that wasn’t an interview,” Drew explained. “I was just showing the guy around. His actual interview isn’t until next week.”
Cameron blew out an impatient breath. “I haven’t turned in my resignation yet, Drew.”
Drew waved a hand in the air. “A technicality. It’s a matter of time now.”
Cameron took a step closer to the guy and tried desperately to remember Blake’s warning not to kick Drew’s ass. “I know you think you can push me out of here, but it won’t work.”
Drew’s smile grew even more smug. “I’m not pushing you out of here, Cameron. You’re leaving on your own.”
“No, I’m not,” Cameron corrected him. “Because I turned Denver down.”
A flicker of doubt shadowed Drew’s eyes. But it was gone quickly. “No, you haven’t. You want your own team too badly to turn that down.”
“I changed my mind,” Cameron said with a shrug. “I’ve decided to stay.”
Drew ran his gaze up and down Cameron. “Bullshit.”
Cameron patted Drew’s face. “Nah.” He leaned closer and dropped his voice low. “I know you think you won this round, but I’ll never give you the satisfaction, Spalding.” He turned and walked away, mentally giving himself a pat on the back for not smashing his fist into the other man’s smug grin.
“Hey, is that lady friend of yours single?” Drew called out, but Cameron kept walking. “The blond one with the kid?”
Cameron immediately halted, but he didn’t turn around. He counted to ten and gritted his back teeth and willed his feet to keep moving, knowing that Drew was only bringing Audrey up to piss him off. Hell, it was working, but Cameron closed his eyes and gave himself a healthy pep talk. Behind him, he heard Drew approach, but Cameron still didn’t turn around. He knew he was being too generous by giving the man a chance to save his own skin by keeping his big mouth shut.
When Cameron opened his eyes, he saw Blake watching carefully, shaking his head in silent warning.
Then Drew spoke again and broke through Cameron’s waning calm.
“I was thinking of giving her a call,” Drew said in a low voice.
Cameron cracked his knuckles.
The man stepped closer and lowered his voice again. “She seems real…sweet,” Drew added with a chuckle.
Cameron didn’t give himself time to think. He spun around and landed a blow to Drew’s jaw. The man’s head was jerked back, but he recovered quickly and got his own punch in, square in Cameron’s eye. Fire exploded across his skull, drowning out Blake’s curses and hollers from the players.
Cameron knew he’d pay for his action later, but he’d been unable to stand there and listen to the prick taunt him about Audrey. Drew laughed as Cameron staggered back. Seeing the evil grin breaking across the man’s mouth, even as it dripped with blood, only fueled Cameron’s bloodlust for the other man. He lunged and tackled Drew to the ground, landing on top of him with a loud grunt. Drew struggled, but Cameron was able to hold the man back with another punch across the face, adding to the blood already decorating his jaw. Somehow Drew wriggled an arm free and clocked Cameron again, this time getting him across the jaw. The taste of blood immediately filled his mouth, but Cameron was too focused on the asshole beneath him to tend to his pounding eye and already swollen lip.
“Get off me, you animal,” Drew grunted as Cameron punched him again.
Behind him, he heard Blake coming to stop Cameron, but he ignored him and everyone else. The red haze clouding his vision wouldn’t allow him to do anything else but vent years of anger and hatred for the man who had made Cameron’s life a living hell.
“You’ll fucking pay for this,” Drew muttered around a mouthful of blood and an already black eye.
Cameron shrugged Blake’s hands off as he tried to pry Cameron off Drew. He grabbed a handful of Drew’s pretentious-as-shit polo and lifted the man’s head off the ground. “You ever mention Audrey again, I’ll end you,” he said in Drew’s face through gritted teeth. “You hear me? I’ll fucking end you.”
“Cameron!” Blake barked. This time he managed to haul Cameron to his feet, leaving Drew sprawled on his back, his head lolling to one side.
Cameron ignored the gawkers and whispers from the players and other coaches as he shoved Blake’s hands off. He stood over Drew and jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t ever forget that.”
“What part of don’t beat the shit out of him did you not get?” Blake questioned.
Cameron ignored the question and swiped a hand across his mouth, not surprised to see the smear of blood. His left eye was blurry and swollen and dripping with something. Probably more blood. Cameron had underestimated Drew’s agility, but he hadn’t cared because he’d gotten the last word. The whole thing had been worth it to see his nemesis lying on the ground like a defeated contender, face covered in blood, eye just as swollen as Cameron’s.
“Go get that checked out by the school nurse,” Blake told him.
Cameron shot him a get real look and kept walking.
Blake held his hands up. “Sorry for giving a shit.” Then he let out a humorless laugh and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Fuuuuck, Cameron.”
“Don’t start.” He kept walking until he was off the field, not glancing back to see if Drew was still pissing and moaning on the ground like a baby.
Audrey was attempting to make meatballs while simultaneously listening to Piper’s rambling stories about school. Audrey had already screwed up once by putting in too many breadcrumbs while Piper had been throwing math equations at her. She’d never thought that hearing “What’s two plus three?” would throw off her concentration while reading a recipe, but it had.
Of course, Cameron would probably tell her not to use breadcrumbs anyway. The man had an annoying habit of interfering with her cooking and dictating her recipes. She knew how to cook, thanks very much.
On the other hand, she’d grown used to his controlling ways in the kitchen. It was actually kind of cute the way he’d salt pasta water when he thought she wasn’t looking. The kitchen had gotten rather quiet after Piper had run down to friend’s house for dinner, and Audrey realized how late Cameron was tonight. He was usually through the front door by six thirty. It was seven fifteen and he still wasn’t home.
Should she call him?
No, that would be too needy. She wasn’t that person.
But what if something had happened? What if he had car trouble and his cell phone was dead?
He’s a grown man and can take care of himself.
Audrey forced herself to relax as the front door opened, then shut. Her pulse automatically sped up, and she chastised her own predictability. All he had to do was enter the premises and her skin got all hot and itchy and her heart did that triple-beat thing.
She braced herself for his appearance, forced her breathing to slow, but there was no sign of him. His footsteps faded as he made a detour to his bedroom. Okay, maybe he just needed to change his clothes first. Just because he hadn’t come running straight to her didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean she was all hot and bothered for nothing.
Audrey rolled her shoulders and waited for the simmering tension to ease, but it didn’t. It never did with Cameron.
She finished assembling the meatballs on a platter and slid them in the oven to broil. After setting the timer, she set off to find Cameron to let him know how long until dinner.
The back of the house was silent. She’d expected to hear the shower running and had a moment’s hesitation. The last thing she needed was to walk in on the guy with no clothes on. Or standing beneath the steamy spray.
Actually…
Bad Audrey!
She pulled herself together by the time she reached Cameron’s room. The shower wasn’t running, but she decided to announce herself anyway. You know, just in case.
“Cameron?” But he didn’t answer, and she didn’t let his silence deter her.
She stepped into his room, ignoring the messed up bed and the images that created.
When she came to the bathroom door, she stopped. There he was, in his typical coaching attire of athletic pants and hooded sweatshirt, leaning over the bathroom counter as he dabbed a wet washcloth to the corner of his mouth.
Audrey dragged her gaze away from his perfectly round ass and was about to ask him how his day had been, when she had a good look at his face.
His left eye was a swollen mess, decorated with a deep purple and red. And his mouth…Audrey gasped as Cameron touched the washcloth to the side of his mouth, trying to wipe away blood that oozed from a cut.
“What the hell happened to you?” she blurted out.
Cameron swiped at the cut. “I fell” was his curt answer.
“Off a cliff?”
His eyes dropped closed as a weary sigh escaped him. “Not now, Audrey.”
“At least reassure me that the other guy looks as shitty as you,” she said.
He cut her a glance. “He looks worse.” He might have been smirking, but it was hard to tell with half his lip bloody and swollen.
“Of course he does,” she muttered, and shouldered her way into the room. The place smelled like him, like his shampoo and minty toothpaste. His stuff was all over the place, a stick of deodorant on the counter and a towel hanging crookedly on the towel rack.
She ignored the intimacy of being in Cameron’s bathroom, of getting an eyeful of a pair of black boxers on the floor, and pushed him away from the counter.
“Audrey…” he said again with a sigh.
She squatted and opened the cabinet under the sink. “Hush,” she told him. “Someone needs to teach you some organization skills,” she said more to herself as she shoved past an unopened bottle of hair gel. When did he ever plan on wearing that stuff? And a box of…condoms?
Okay, don’t think about that.
Cameron sighed again. “Out,” he told her.
Audrey continued to ignore him as she finally spotted a first-aid kid. She actually hadn’t been sure he’d have one of these. At first she’d just been going to look for some Band-Aids. She stood with a victorious smile, but her grin slipped when she was confronted with his deep scowl.
She’d learned quickly that Cameron Shaw scowled a lot. But paired with the black eye and split lip, it was downright scary.
“You’re not putting anything on me,” he told her.
She set the kit on the bathroom counter. “Don’t be such a drama queen. It’ll get infected if you don’t treat it.” She actually wasn’t sure about that, but she needed something believable so he didn’t kick her out.
They were both silent as Audrey dug around the box and found some antiseptic wipes. She started on his eye first. “So this cliff,” she said as she dabbed the towelette to his bruise, “did it have fists and an ego as big as yours?”
Cameron’s brow furrowed as he attempted to narrow his eyes at her. At least that’s what Audrey assumed he was doing, because he winced and closed his eyes. The smartass in her wanted to chastise him, but the softie in her felt bad. Kind of.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to.”
Cameron cleared his throat, and Audrey attempted to back up, to give the man some space. But she soon realized there was nowhere to go. Her butt rested against the counter, because Cameron had refused to give her extra room, so she’d squeezed in as best as she could. Unfortunately, that left them standing closer than she wanted. Close enough to pick out the purple among the blue in the bruise coloring his left eye.
And to count the stubble shadowing his jaw, which still managed to look sexy with a cut lip and puffy eyebrow bone. Even so, Audrey steadied her breathing, because if she inhaled too hard, her breasts would brush against his chest. Bad enough they were in his bathroom, with a box of supersized condoms.
No joke, the man wore supersized condoms.
Because life was just that unfair.
She hadn’t really been able to tell, but the box had only felt about half full.
She blew out a breath. “Oscar de la Renta,” she muttered to herself.
“What’s that?” Cameron asked, his voice all husky and stuff.
“I said your eye’s all red,” she lied.
His deep blue gaze bore into hers from beneath half-lowered lids. “I didn’t ask you to come in here.”
“Quiet,” she ordered.
They were both silent for a moment while Audrey snagged another wipe for his eye.
“Where’s Piper?” Cameron asked.
Audrey carefully dabbed the bruise. “Eating dinner at a friend’s house.”
Cameron’s response was a grunt, a sound that was more a rumbling from deep within his chest.
“His name’s Drew,” Cameron stated.
Audrey shook her head as she set aside another wipe and moved to his mouth. “What is it with you and this guy?”
“He’s an ass.”
Audrey gave Cameron a droll look as she rewet the washcloth. “Lots of people are assholes. I don’t see you getting into fights with all of them.” She wrung the excess water from the cloth and dabbed away the dried blood on his mouth. “Hold still,” she told him when he winced.
“We don’t like each other.”
Audrey snorted. “Ya think?”
Cameron successfully narrowed his eyes this time. “Most nurses aren’t this rude.”
Audrey held the washcloth from his mouth and smiled at him. “I never claimed to be a nurse.” She touched the cloth to his mouth again. “I knew you wouldn’t do a good enough job cleaning this, and my OCD couldn’t handle it.”
“That’s the only reason, huh?” he countered.
“Yep.” After she finished cleaning away the dried blood, she dug for more antiseptic wipes to disinfect the cut. “So you got into a fight with this guy Drew,” Audrey concluded.
Cameron snorted. “You could say that.”
“Isn’t he, like, your boss?”
Cameron’s hand whipped up and snagged Audrey’s. “If you’re going to take his side, I’ll pick you up and toss you out of here.”
Audrey held her breath as Cameron’s fingers held her wrist in a tight grip, the damp washcloth dangling from her fingers. “Calm down,” she reassured him. “I’m just trying to understand.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to understand,” he muttered.
She felt an inexplicable need to help him, to soothe whatever war was battling behind those blue eyes of his. He looked like shit, sounded like shit, and she wanted to comfort him. But she knew when to back away, and Cameron was at a breaking point.
She held her hands up, dropping the washcloth to the floor. “Fine. Clean your own wounds, then.”
He muttered a curse as she turned and stalked out of the bathroom, trying to squash the hurt that unfurled in her belly. Audrey would be the first to admit that she could be a little meddlesome sometimes, and seeing Cameron hurt had touched her in a deep place that she couldn’t name. A place she’d locked away when she’d decided to keep people at a distance.
She bit back the sting of tears as she cleaned the dinner dishes while the meatballs continued to cook. Hell, she wasn’t even hungry anymore. Maybe she’d leave the dinner to Cameron and retreat to the guesthouse.
Then she heard him coming into the kitchen. She felt him standing behind her as she washed a bowl and set it on the rack to dry.
“I’m sorry,” he told her.
Audrey didn’t acknowledge him, because she wasn’t entirely confident she could keep herself together.
“There are things about me I haven’t told people,” he continued. “And I’m not used to someone caring so much.” When she still didn’t respond, he sighed. “I feel like I’ve spent half my time apologizing to you.”
“Maybe you should stop being an ass,” she blurted out. Okay, she hadn’t meant that to sound so harsh. But, damn, he’d hurt her.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
His agreement somehow still didn’t make her feel better. Cameron approached her and shut the water faucet off. Then he grabbed the sponge from her hand and set it down. “Will you stop for a minute so I can talk to you?”
“Talk or grumble?” she asked.
He went to the fridge and snagged a bottle of beer. “Want one?” he asked her.
She shook her head and waited for him to talk.
First, he popped the top off the bottle and pulled a long sip. After lowering it, he crossed the kitchen again and leaned against the counter next to her. “I had an affair with Drew’s wife.”
Well, then. That she hadn’t been expecting, even though that tidbit Lois told her about the married woman had never been far from her mind. Audrey opened her mouth, to find some appropriate response, but nothing came to mind. “You slept with a married woman?” she blurted, probably not doing a good enough job of keeping the disappointment out of her voice.
Cameron must have sensed it because he slid her a dark look. “I didn’t know she was married.”
“But didn’t you, like, go to high school with this guy, or something?” she wanted to know. “How could you not know the woman was his wife?”
“We both went away to different colleges, and at the time I was coaching football for a high school in a different town. I hadn’t seen or spoken to Drew in years.”
Audrey watched Cameron take another sip of his beer, suspecting he needed the moment to gather the details of the story. “And you saw no wedding ring, and she made no mention of a husband?”
Cameron lowered the bottle and stared down into it. “No. She was in pharmaceutical sales and traveled all over. We met at lunch when she accidentally picked up my sandwich instead of hers. I’d never seen her before, and she told me her last name was Jones.” Cameron looked at her and, for the first time, seemed more exhausted than angry. “I had no reason to believe she was married.”
Damn. Okay, so simple mistake. But still. Sleeping with another man’s wife. That was no bueno.
Audrey leaned back against the counter next to him. “So how did you eventually find out?”
Cameron blew out a heavy breath. “About a month later, Drew showed up at my house and landed a right hook to my jaw. Told me to stop banging his wife or he’d make me pay.”
“Make you pay?” Audrey repeated.
Cameron tossed back some more beer. “Apparently he’d been suspicious of Lauren for a while and hired a private detective to follow her around. The guy followed her to my house and snapped pictures of us through a window.”
Audrey swallowed and decided not to ask what the pictures were of. Her imagination was doing the work for her. She held back a shudder.
“Drew tossed a manila envelope at me and said if I didn’t quit my job as head coach, he’d send copies of the photos to every newspaper in the area. He wanted everyone to know what a home-wrecking bastard I was.”
“And you saw the pictures he had?” Audrey asked. “That’s what was inside the envelope he gave you?”
Cameron nodded. “Yeah. So I left my job, even though the school district had offered me another contract.”
Audrey stared at him. “You just quit your job?”
Cameron was silent for a moment. “I didn’t want my mom to find out. Bad enough she had to deal with a cheating husband. I didn’t want her to think her son turned out the same way.”
Something inside Audrey twisted at his words. She wanted to reach out to him and soothe the tension away from his brow, to take the pain away from the cut on his mouth. But she wasn’t sure he’d accept the comfort, so she kept her hands to herself.
“Your mom has no idea this happened,” she guessed.
“Nope.”
Audrey inhaled. “Does anyone know?”
“Blake and Brandon know about the affair. Nobody knows about the photos or the real reason I left my other coaching job.”
And yet he’d told her. Audrey squashed back the glimmer of hope that burst inside her. He’d confided in her, a very deep and painful thing for him. He told her something he kept buried from others. But it may not mean anything. Of course she wanted it to mean something. She wanted it to mean that he felt enough for her to share that part of his life.
“That was kind of a shitty thing for him to do. Bullying you like that.”
Cameron just shrugged. “I did a shitty thing to him.”
“Yeah, but not intentionally,” she pointed out.
“Didn’t matter to him. His marriage had ended, and he blamed me.”
Audrey watched Cameron peel the label from the beer bottle, noticing how his knuckles were bruised and covered with dried blood. “Sounds like it wasn’t much of a marriage if his wife was running around on him.”
Another shrug as he lifted the bottle to his lips.
“So how did you end up working for Drew?” Audrey wanted to know. “Seems to me like he’d never hire you after all that.”
Cameron laughed, but it lacked humor. “Now that’s a funny story. When Blake retired from the NFL, Drew hired him, and then Blake asked me if I’d be interested in being his assistant coach. Told Drew he’d only take the job if I came on board too.”
Audrey scratched her chin. “And you had no problem coming here and working for Drew?”
“I don’t really work for Drew. To be honest, I don’t see him that much. But yeah, part of me wanted to accept the job just to piss the guy off.”
“So you’ve just been one big, happy family?” Audrey asked.
Cameron snorted. “Hardly. But we’ve turned the team around, so Drew knows to keep his mouth shut.”
Audrey nodded and ran her gaze over Cameron’s bruised face. “Except for tonight.”
“Yeah, that,” he agreed.
“So you took this job just to rub your presence in Drew’s face?”
Cameron glanced at her. “Well, I took the job because I’d have a chance to work with my best friend. The Drew thing is just a bonus.”
She smiled, despite the situation. “How have you managed not to kill each other so far?”
“I usually have better restraint,” he answered.
“So what did he say to piss you off?”
Cameron opened his mouth, then touched the tip of his finger to his swollen eye. “Nothing out of the usual,” he finally answered. “I just lost it, I guess.”
Audrey finally gave up her restraint and rubbed the pad of her thumb over the cut bisecting his lower lip. “He must have deserved it, then.”
He gazed at her, and for a moment Audrey thought he was going to kiss her. But she didn’t want to hurt his lip any more than it already was, no matter how badly she wanted to soothe away his pain. “Why are you always defending me? I don’t need anyone to fight my battles.”
She offered him a smile. “You may not need it. But sometimes it’s nice for someone to have your back. Don’t you think?”
The way he looked at her, the way his eyes darkened, told Audrey she’d touched a nerve, something he hadn’t wanted her to see.
She cleared her throat when she realized Cameron wasn’t going to answer her. She’d made him uncomfortable, and she didn’t want to scare him away. “I have to take a few days in Boulder next week,” she announced. “I need to catch up on some work; then I’ll be back.”
One of his brows lifted. “You’re going to leave me here alone with a six-year-old?”
She offered him a teasing grin. “Consider it practice for when I go home for good.” Just saying the words was like swallowing glass. But Audrey needed to start accepting the reality that her time here would be over soon. No matter how much it killed her to leave, she couldn’t live in Cameron’s guesthouse forever.
“I don’t know,” Cameron said. “I think I might end up killing that cat.”
Audrey nudged his shoulder with hers. “I think you love that cat.”
“Love her?” he repeated with a horrified look. “The thing has chewed up every pair of socks I own. And two of my belts.”
“You’re telling me Pinkie Pie climbs into your hamper and pulls out your dirty socks?”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “Sometimes I leave them on the floor.”
Audrey merely looked at him.
“Okay, so I’m not the best housekeeper,” he admitted.
“It’s okay,” she said with a shrug. “We can’t all be perfect. Just make sure Piper’s in bed when the ladies come calling.”
A muscle in Cameron’s jaw ticked.
“Kidding,” she reassured him. “I know you have better judgment than that.”
“Do you?” he questioned in a low voice.
“Of course,” she stated, knowing she’d touched a nerve. She didn’t want him thinking she looked down on him. “You and Piper will be fine.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he muttered.
The oven dinged, effectively ending the moment.
She pushed away from the counter. “Dinner’s done.”