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 no time to talk.”
She relaxed. “So you’re saying I made a good call?”
“You made a good call.” He stood and held out his hand. “Now come with me.”
He pulled her to her feet and led her toward the kitchen.
She frowned. “Where are we going?”
“Outside.” He grabbed two beers from the refrigerator and slid open the back door while she stepped outside. The humidity had lifted, so it was—for a change—a nice night. There was a breeze, crickets were chirping, and the sky was clear. They took seats on the chairs, Cole opened the bottles, and they sipped their beers. Savannah enjoyed the quiet after the sheer madness of the party, and Cole seemed content with the silence between them.
This was…nice. It was something a married couple would do after a party. Sit outside together and unwind. Or at least she thought that’s what they’d do. Since she’d never been married or even part of a couple, she really had no idea. All she knew was that being with Cole was becoming a habit, and it was more personal than professional. Which made her want to bolt.
“You’ve got that look in your eyes.”
She met Cole’s gaze. “What look?”
“The one that says in less than five minutes you’re going to grab your purse and run out my front door.”
She lifted her chin. “I have no such look.”
“Actually, you do. It usually appears after we’ve had sex.”
“It does not.”
He continued to stare at her, giving her his stoic, unflinching look.
“You think I run away from you.”
“I know you run away from me. You’ve done it more than once. More than twice.”
He was right. There was no point in denying it when they both knew it was true. She inhaled and let out an audible sigh. “I can’t help it. You scare me.”
“Why?”
She didn’t want to have this intimate, personal conversation with him. She wasn’t ready to talk to him about her feelings. She wasn’t the type of person to have open, intimate conversations with anyone about how she felt. Other than Liz, of course. But that was different. Liz knew her story and she understood.
“Peaches. Talk to me.”
“You’re like a mind reader sometimes. There’s one thing that scares me.”