“My left leg was broken in four places in addition to the lower portion of the right being crushed. One doctor suggested I might not walk again.”
Of course. Because his hadn’t been a planned surgery like Casey’s. It’d been sudden and painful and violent. That still didn’t explain why he’d gone so far away from his family. Why he’d stayed. “Well, that doctor was obviously wrong.”
“Lots of rehab.” His tone said it hadn’t been easy.
A dog barked in the distance and another answered him.
“Wait—you were quarterback, weren’t you?” she asked, breaking the silence. “All the games today?” It was easy to picture his big hands wrapped around the leather of a football. “You know, that could be considered cheating.” She nudged his leg playfully with the toe of her sandal, and he smiled the way she’d wanted him to.
“Not quarterback. Wide receiver, but I was around a football a lot. Enough to beat you, evidently.”
“I want a rematch.”
One side of his mouth curved up. “Anytime.”
As in he would spend time with her anytime she wanted? Did he want that? “I bet your parents are proud of you, coming out here, starting a business, and becoming a…”
“Biomedical engineer, and I don’t really stand out.”
“Why? Because there are so many?” She couldn’t imagine him not standing far and above all others.
“Maybe, but my oldest brother was an Air Force pilot and now owns a charter business. My next brother was a Navy SEAL, the next a millionaire before he was thirty. My sister’s a psychologist, and let me tell you what a pain that is. She’d rival Casey in the asking questions department,” he added affectionately.
He continued describing his family and their lives. The admiration in his voice when he talked about his brothers was clear, and she could picture him as a little boy trying to live up to what he saw as legends. She didn’t need to meet them to know he’d still be the standout to her. “Was it hard being the youngest?”
He thought a second. “I think the age difference made it hard in some ways. My oldest brother left for college when I was two. All my brothers were out of the house by the time I was ten. Then my sister two years after that. I mostly remember chasing them, wanting to be a part of whatever they were doing. Wanting to play but never being big enough or fast enough.”
And football’s how he chased them. “I’m sorry you lost that, something you loved, but I’m envious of you, of finding your talent and using it to make a difference. I’d like to do that.”
“I’m sure you have talents,” he said, looking at her thoughtfully. “What was your dream?”
That was easy. “To get out of Texas, out of that town. I had all these plans to move to a big city and ride the subway to a job I had to dress up for.” She smiled, thinking about it. “I was going to live in an apartment with a garden on the roof overlooking all the bustling people with important places to go, but…”
“But what?”
She met his gaze and something in it made her answer honestly. “But then I got offtrack, got in the backseat of a car with a boy.”
She didn’t know what she expected Jake to say. She certainly wouldn’t have been the standout in the McKinney family tree.
“I wasn’t that into boys. I know it might not seem like that, given my circumstances, but—”
“Paige.” He waited for her to look up. “I’m the last person that would ever judge you. Trust me. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re on the right track and doing a hell of a job.”
She gave him a sideways smile, unable to voice how much his words meant to her. “Thanks.” His brown eyes continued to hold hers, making her fight her natural reflex to look away. She didn’t know what to do or what to feel when he looked at her like that. No one ever had. He clearly made her want to do a lot of things that were in no way part of her plan. “I should go in,” she finally said.
They stood at the same time and their bodies brushed in the move to get the screen door open. He followed her in and she set her nearly full glass in the sink.
“Should I put it here?” His hot breath brushed her ear, and she shivered when he moved in close enough that she could feel his heat. He reached around her and set his glass next to hers.
She knew what the man could do, the feelings he could elicit with just one kiss. She also knew that if she turned around, with his body just a breath from her own, she would feel it again, or at least she wanted to.
Hot palms closed over her bare shoulders, sending chills down her arms as he turned her slowly. His hands continued their nerve-tingling glide until they settled firmly on her waist.