His Seduction Game Plan (12 page)

Thirteen

F
errin's mom met her at the airport with a big hug and a sympathetic ear. She took her home, where Dean made himself scarce and they watched
Mean Girls
while eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

“So what happened?”

“I met a guy.”

“How?”

“He's one of Dad's former players. He stopped by to see Coach,” Ferrin said. She'd thought getting away from the pressure cooker of California would ease her pain but she was still hurt and confused. Maybe even more than before she'd left.

“A football player?”

“Yeah, Hunter Caruthers. He played in the NFL,” she said.

“I think I've heard his name,” her mom said, suddenly sounding evasive. “But I don't think it was because of football.”

“It wasn't. He was arrested for murdering a college girl,” Ferrin said. “He didn't do it.”

“I figured that if he wasn't in jail,” her mom said. “So what happened?”

Ferrin put her spoon in her bowl and set it on the coffee table, turning to face her mom. Suddenly she burst out crying and her mom reached over and pulled her into her arms.

“What happened, honey?”

“It got to the point where I didn't know what to believe. He didn't tell me everything he knew about what happened the night of the murder and then it came out on a TV program.”

“Honey, I have a confession to make. Joy called me after she saw you on E! So I've heard about some of this. I just wanted to let you tell the story on your own terms and in your own time.”

“It's okay, Mom. We were dating and he kept asking to see some of Dad's old stuff. Boxes the college sent over for him since they are retiring him. He said it was my decision, no pressure. But in the end, I couldn't take it. Was he using me? And why was I allowing that? I thought I was going crazy.”

Her mom rubbed her back and stroked her hair, and Ferrin realized that despite being twenty-five, she needed that. “I don't know what to do.”

Ferrin sat up, wiped her eyes and crossed her legs underneath her. She thought about Hunter. How he'd listened to her talk about her father and helped her learn how to catch. All the things they'd done together moved through her mind like a movie montage.

“You know, after Joy called me, I went on the E! News website and saw pictures of the two of you together,” her mom said, “and I'll tell you something you might not want to hear. Ferrin, you looked happy. You looked like you were finally enjoying your life instead of just going about your routine. Maybe that's all he's meant to be to you. A memory of a wild time. Only you can decide that.”

“Right now I'm hurt and a little angry.”

“That will pass and then you'll be able to think about him more objectively. I have a couple of books I put on your nightstand for you to read,” her mom said.

“Thanks.”

“You're welcome. Dean is taking us shopping at the outlets tomorrow and then out to dinner. He said you deserve to be pampered.”

Her stepdad was a great guy. Her mom had gotten lucky when she'd found him after the divorce. Ferrin realized that maybe she was afraid to trust Hunter because he was more like Coach than Dean. She knew that she'd never found any closure with Coach and she was beginning to think she never would.

She wasn't the child he'd wanted, but then she wasn't too sure what he did want.

It was easier to fall back into analyzing her relationship with her father than the mess between herself and Hunter. Hunter had disappointed her, she realized. She'd thought he was different. Not only from her father but also from all the other men she'd dated in the past. She'd wanted something from him that maybe he couldn't give her.

She just wasn't sure.

Gabi called her on the third day she was in Texas and Ferrin almost didn't answer the call. But at the last minute, she decided to pick up. They had a friendly conversation, and when Ferrin told Gabi that she was returning to California on Monday, they made plans for lunch.

Ferrin felt better after the call. She was beginning to look forward to going back to Carmel. To getting some closure. Once she got to her father's house, she'd take care of providing the material to the college for his tribute and then let Hunter and her father sort out if Hunter could look through those old boxes.

A part of her thought if there was any evidence in them that could shed light on the real murderer it needed to be found. But Ferrin knew she didn't have to be a part of that. She'd finish what she started in California and then come home and pretend that she'd never been there. Not the healthiest attitude but for right now that was all she had.

* * *

After one week in Texas, Ferrin wasn't sure she was ready to face Hunter or her father, but she was back in California. She arrived at San Francisco International Airport and made her way out toward baggage claim. When she got there, she noticed Hunter standing off to the side.

He was wearing faded blue jeans, a battered leather jacket, a baseball cap and sunglasses. He didn't say anything but she could tell from his body language the moment he spotted her.

She had thought she'd gotten over him. Or at least to a place where seeing him would be no biggie. She was wrong.

Her heartbeat raced and she felt something in her stomach that felt like excitement. She'd spent days reading about bad boys and the women who loved them. But it seemed she'd gleaned nothing from those books.

He lifted his hand from his side in a little wave and she waved back. She went to the baggage carousel to retrieve her suitcase and Hunter came to stand by her side.

“How was Texas?”

“Hot. Relaxing,” she said. “Why are you here?”

“Because Gabi told me you were coming back today. After a long flight the last thing I want to deal with is a rental car and traffic. So I thought I'd offer my services as a driver.”

A driver.

He hadn't texted or tried to call her the entire time she'd been gone. What had she expected? She'd told him to leave her be and he had. But she'd been disappointed. It had confirmed what she'd been telling herself—that he was simply using her and now that he was close to getting what he wanted, he didn't need her.

“Which bag is yours?” he asked.

She spotted the brightly colored floral-print bag that she used for travel. It was huge. Usually too heavy for her to carry.

She pointed to it and Hunter groaned as he lifted it off the carousel. “What do you have in this thing?”

“The essentials,” she said. “You can put it down and I can get it.”

“It's fine. So do you want a ride back to Carmel?” he asked.

“I...yes, I guess I would. We need to talk anyway,” she said.

He nodded, shouldered her bag and led the way out of the airport to short-term parking. He'd brought his sports car with him and stowed her bag in the trunk before opening her door for her. “Top up or down?”

“Down,” she said, hoping the breeze blowing around them as they drove would keep conversation to a minimum.

“Okay.”

“I have been talking to Joy and your father about his stuff. And I think he's agreed to let me look through it, but only if you do it with me.”

Her jaw dropped. “Why?”

“Your dad said that you thought it was important to take part in the tribute the college was doing.”

She wrapped one arm around her waist and fumbled in her handbag for her sunglasses as they left the parking garage. The sky was clear and bright but there was a definite chill in the air coming off the bay.

“That's nice.”

“Nice?”

“Yes. I reminded him that he had put football first all these years and it was time for him to at least be rewarded for that dedication. Do you still think you will find something in the files?”

“I hope so,” he said. “Even if it's just a lead.”

“I hope you find the answers you are looking for. What will you do then?” she asked.

“Pursue it.”

She looked at him as he drove through the city traffic to the highway that would take them to the coast. He concentrated and drove with a singular skill. He noticed her watching and looked over at her for a split second before putting his eyes back on the road.

“What?”

“You didn't try to call,” she said.

“You asked me not to. I wanted to give you time to relax and think. I'm here because I waited as long as I possibly could before seeing you again.”

“A week.”

“Yeah, I wanted to go to Texas after two days, but Kingsley said to respect the space you'd asked for.”

“You talked to him about me?”

He nodded.

“I talked to Gabi about you.”

“I want to start over, Ferrin. Me and you. But this time no secrets. No shame. No hidden agendas.”

“I don't have anything I'm keeping from you,” she said.

“Me either. You know everything now,” he said. “Will you give me another chance?”

Saying no when what she wanted more than anything else was to say yes would be the dumbest thing in the world so she nodded.

Hunter pushed his sunglasses up on his head. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, thank God. I thought... I thought I'd lost you forever,” he said. He took her hand in his and squeezed it tight. “Thank you.”

“This might not last. I have done a lot of thinking about us the last few days and I have come to the conclusion that you were like the bucket list. Something exciting and different. I'm just afraid to let myself think it might be more. It's different for you. You're used to playing games. I'm not.”

* * *

But this had ceased being a game to Hunter that night they'd gone to Seconds and he'd realized that she meant more to him than he had expected. He was struck again by a paralyzing fear that he'd do the wrong thing and send her running away again.

“I'm not playing games with you, Ferrin. I had a lot of time to think and I realized that the longer I let this go on, the less chance I had of actually keeping you in my life.”

“Letting what go on?”

“Manipulating you to get to Coach.”

“Manipulating me?” she asked. “Are you kidding me?”

“No. Listen, I thought I'm used to doing whatever I have to in order to get what I want. You don't end up playing pro ball well if you aren't willing to sacrifice. And I have. But I can't do that any longer. I'd been trying to ensure you thought it was your idea to let me look at the boxes and then I realized that was no way to start a future.”

“You think?” she asked.

“Dammit. I'm making a bigger mess of things, aren't I?” he asked.

“Well, you're certainly not making things better,” she said. But he noticed she wasn't really mad.

“All I'm saying is that I'm sorry. I was wrong about a lot of things and I can make up reasons that are probably true, but what I know is that from the moment you opened that door and I realized that you were Coach's daughter everything changed.”

She chewed on her lower lip and turned her head to the side to study him. “Why?”

He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. The reasons were so deeply personal that he was afraid to say them out loud. “I guess I was attracted to you.”

“Attracted?”

“Yes.”

“Lust? That's the reason why things were different for you?” she asked.

He swallowed hard; he heard the tension in her voice and was pretty sure it was anger.

“No. But it's easier to say
desire
than
affection
. I don't believe in love at first sight.”

“Me either. I mean, I get the science of attraction and I know about pheromones and hormones and how sometimes we see someone who our physiology makes us believe is the best one to mate with, but love at first sight...?”

“Yeah, crazy, right? But there it is, Ferrin. I think when I saw you, you knocked me on my ass. I figured I'd talk to Coach, get a yes about searching the boxes and then take you to dinner. But he said no and you said yes...everything got complicated then. I was still trying to get to the end zone, do what I'd come there to do, but you were slowly getting by my defenses without even trying.”

She leaned closer to him and a waft of her floral perfume surrounded him. He closed his eyes, remembering the scent of it on the pillows in his bedroom. He wanted her. But he wanted her back for good. He was trying so hard to be cool and discuss this logically but there was no logic. He needed Ferrin to forgive him.

He knew that without her by his side he was never going to be able to figure out how to move on from the past. There were no answers that old videotapes could give him, that would bring him closure, if he alienated the one woman he needed to be with.

“Hunter, what are you trying to say?” she asked.

He took a deep breath, turning away from her and staring out at the highway. “I need you, Ferrin.”

“Okay. How?”

“In my life. I thought I was saying that.”

“Why now?” she asked. “The only way this will work is if we give each other time.”

He nodded. He could do that. The end game. Ten yards at a time. But hell, he was tired of taking the ten-yards-at-a-time approach. He wanted a Hail Mary pass that he could catch and take into the end zone and end this game.

But he'd respect her wishes. He'd meant what he said about wanting to start over, and the only way he could do that would be to convince her she meant more to him than the past.

He wasn't sure how, but she'd taken control of his life. He knew she hadn't tried to do it. It had just happened. In those conversations about their fathers and football. The way they'd learned each other inside and out by spending time together.

He pulled to a stop in front of her house, parked the car and turned to face her.