Illegal Motion: A Loveswept Classic Romance (9 page)

The last time he’d seen that emblem, the bulges under it had been formed by heavy padding. “The Carolina Rebels!” he shouted. Hostile feelings about his former team’s nemesis were ingrained and hadn’t disappeared simply because he no longer played the game.

“My favorite team,” Willa answered honestly, pointedly looking at Nick’s shirt.

Nick grimaced. His innocent choice of apparel must have come off looking like a direct challenge. “How could you be a Rebels fan? Your dad played for the Jaguars.”

“When Dad was first drafted into the NFL, he played for Carolina.” Nick nodded, familiar with her father’s career. “Well, the Rebels were a new team at the time and not very good.” He smiled in agreement. “I always liked to root for the underdog, and when Dad was traded to the Jaguars a few years later, I was already a diehard fan.”

“He wasn’t upset when you rooted for the enemy?”

“Heavens no. He encouraged me to maintain my loyalties. Besides,” she added, smiling broadly as she reminisced, “it was something to argue about. Dad loved a good debate.”

“I have a feeling that’s an inherited trait.”

Willa looked at Nick, her eyes shining in agreement before her smile turned wistful. “I haven’t thought about those days, before I went to college …”
Before Dad got sick
, she thought, looking beyond Nick, into her past.

“I thought your dad was a great man. At least as far as football was concerned,” Nick commented quietly. The pain that shadowed her eyes for a moment bothered him. He felt bad that what had started as a warm memory for her had somehow turned sad. “You loved him very much.” She didn’t have to answer for Nick to see the depth of feeling she had for her deceased father. It shone in her face and in her eyes. For a blazing instant Nick knew a deep-seated need, stronger than anything he’d ever felt, to be the recipient of that kind of look. From her.

A little taken aback by the ferocious wave of desire that engulfed him, Nick frowned and turned back to the counter. In a tone sharper
than he intended, he said, “Set the table if you plan on eating this while it’s still warm.”

Her smile evaporated at his change and sharp words.
Had she imagined the scene that had just taken place?
It seemed like every time they made a connection of some kind, something happened to break it. But for the life of her, this time she couldn’t guess what it was. She was curious about the almost desperate look that had briefly registered on Nick’s face when he commented on her love for her dad.
Maybe I imagined that too
.

Frustrated that she couldn’t be around Nick for ten minutes without losing her temper, she determined to be civil, no matter his mood. “The plates are in the upper left cabinet. I’ll pour the coffee and get the silver.”

Nick seemed to accept her unspoken request for a truce. He waited until they were seated and eating before he spoke. “I’m sorry I snapped.”

Willa looked up from her plate and saw that he was sincere. She shrugged, but didn’t chance talking quite yet.

“If you want to talk about him, I don’t mind. It might help me understand so I don’t inadvertently hurt you in the future.”

A part of her locked onto the word “future.” “We, that is my dad and I, moved around a lot as he moved around the league. We settled in Virginia
just as I started high school and I finally thought I’d found my niche.”

“And did you?”

A smile wandered across her face. “No. I grew six inches before my junior year. The only boys taller than me were the guys on the basketball team, and their interest in me was limited to getting me to play b-ball and getting Jaguar’s autographs. When it came to anything social, they chose the petite cheerleader types.”

“They must have been blind,” Nick muttered. Willa glanced up at him and he nodded for her to go on.

“Being tall and gawky was bad enough, but people always seemed to expect me to be something special because I had a famous dad, which made me feel doubly awkward. I constantly failed to measure up to everyone’s expectations. So I concentrated on studying instead. Then, when I was a senior, I discovered my long legs were actually good for something.”

Unbidden images of her long legs wrapped around his waist wreaked havoc with Nick’s senses and he forced his gaze to the untouched food on his plate, certain that the use she had discovered for her legs couldn’t come close to the one he’d imagined.

“… track and field,” she finished, then
glanced up when Nick let out an audible sigh of relief. “Anyway, the point is, I spent most of my school years—high school and later college—on the track, or buried in a textbook. My dream was to open my own pro training facility one day. Still is.”

“You said you and your dad. What about your mom?”

“My mom died when I was very young.” She put her fork back on her plate. “I don’t remember her at all.” Her voice softened as she spoke. “Dad used to tell me how much that would have bothered her, since she was the one who got up a dozen times a night with me when I was a baby.”

“A real tyrant right from the start, huh?” Nick chuckled, hoping this time he could sustain the rapport developing between them for more than a few minutes.

“My mom used to pretend not to hear me until my dad got so fed up with my caterwauling that he’d get up. It was his favorite ‘poor dad’ story, but I don’t think he really minded.”

A picture of a tiny baby with soft red curls came unbidden into Nick’s mind. “I don’t think I’d mind either.” He didn’t realize he had spoken out loud until Willa cleared her throat. To cover his embarrassment he asked, “You ever think about having kids?”

“Sure. I didn’t have any close relatives, my parents were only children, and I used to fantasize about having dozens of brothers and sisters to play with.” Her face was dreamy, but also shadowed with pain.

She quickly concealed it, but not before Nick, who’d forgotten his food the moment she started speaking, noticed. “Why didn’t your dad remarry? Would it have bothered you?”

“No, I don’t remember my mom. I would have welcomed the chance to have one. But Dad said he’d already found the love of his life and he was content with that.” Willa had never truly understood that, not believing that in a whole world filled with people, there could be only one perfect mate for each person. She shivered involuntarily when she looked up to find Nick intently staring at her. She realized, somewhat uncomfortably, that her dad’s feelings were becoming easier to understand all the time. “Do you have any brothers and sisters?” she asked a bit too brightly.

“Nope, just me. Dad said I was enough of a handful and he wouldn’t subject his worst enemy, much less my mother, to dealing with two of me.”

“They sound like smart people,” she teased, unable to resist. “Do you see them often?”

“They’re both dead.” When she looked
guilty for asking such a potentially painful question, Nick quickly reassured her. “It’s okay. It was sad, but not tragic. My parents were older when they had me. Dad had a bad heart and died a number of years ago. Mom died shortly after.”

Nick stopped for a moment, then said, “She died in her sleep, but I always kind of thought she just wanted to be with Dad.” He felt uncomfortable, and a little shocked, that he’d revealed thoughts he’d never shared with anyone—not even Sky—and his voice turned brusque. “I’m damned glad they weren’t around to see me arrested.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized who he was saying them to. Both of them were startled into silence by the abrupt return to reality. Nick and Willa looked at each other for a long moment, neither knowing what to say to defuse the suddenly charged atmosphere.

Willa escaped by rising and carrying her empty plate to the sink. She hadn’t even remembered eating during her conversation with Nick. Was the warm intimacy they had shared just an illusion?

She braced her hands on the sink, drawing in her breath and her courage before turning to face him. He was standing right behind her and she
came smack up against the hard wall of his chest. She stared at the word “Jaguars” for a long time before finding the nerve to look up at him. Her eyes widened in surprise. The hostility and accusation she’d expected to find weren’t there.

“Willa, I know we have a lot to discuss,” he said seriously. A hint of that knee-weakening smile surfaced as he added, “I guess that would take the prize for the understatement of the year.” At her pained attempt at returning his smile, he said more soothingly, “I honestly don’t understand what role you played in all of this, but I can’t ignore that something else is happening here.”

Willa’s eyes misted slightly, and her lower lip trembled, knowing that that “something else” would end this morning before it really had a chance to begin. “I, uh …” She cleared her throat, trying in vain to dislodge the sudden lump there. “Nick, before I explain, I want you to know that I never meant to hurt you.”

Nick’s eyes narrowed at her choice of words, and Willa knew she’d been right when she saw the warmth in his blue irises slowly fade to an icy shade of steel. Chilled to the core, she said, “I know you believe I helped ruin your career, but give me a chance to explain.”

Nick’s brain shouted at him to come to his
senses; after all, she had just admitted her guilt. What more did he need to know to end his silly infatuation? And he knew then that he was doomed, because when he looked into those green eyes glittering with tears, guilt showing as plainly as if she had spoken the words, God help him, all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and kiss her until he could shake the crazy idea that, like their parents, he, too, had found his one and only.

Unable to stop the thought from becoming the deed, he pulled her tightly against him, molding her body to his, exulting in the perfect fit. His kiss was both seeking and punishing; trying to find the answers to his questions while chastising her for making him feel so strongly.

Willa responded immediately. Whatever else happened, they shared something unique that neither had the strength to deny. Even as her words had extinguished the light in his eyes, she knew the flame of desire burned too hot to stop him from kissing her—or her from responding. It was as if, by kissing her, he could use her response to him as punishment for her guilt.

It soon became obvious to them both that if this was a form of punishment, they were sharing the same jail cell.

Nick pulled away first, tilting his head back
slightly to suck in a lungful of air. He rubbed his hand over his face, his other arm kept her molded to his body, his hips kept her pressed against the counter.

She didn’t try to pull away, not because she thought he wouldn’t let her, but because she didn’t want it to be over so soon. Given the close proximity of their bodies, Nick’s response to their kiss was very evident. She braved a look at his stormy eyes. The confusion she saw was both encouraging and disheartening.

“Nick, I want—no, I need—to tell you what happened last summer.” He started to say something, but she placed a finger on his lips; the texture and warmth of his soft flesh almost undid her resolve. “You have to hear me out. It’s the only way I’m going to get through it.”

Nick seemed to consider her statement, then released her. Turning back toward the table, he picked up his coffee mug and without a word pushed through the kitchen door.

Willa grabbed the counter behind her for support. How could he be so passionate one minute and so remote the next? Could it be possible the kiss hadn’t affected him too?

She drew on every ounce of strength she possessed to collect her scattered emotions and form them into some semblance of resolve. Collecting her coffee mug, she pushed through the swinging
door after him, determined to keep him there until he heard her side of the story. What happened after that she would have to leave to fate.

Willa found Nick staring out of the huge window in the living room. It was her favorite room, the cozy, worn furnishings attesting to the fact that the room was used frequently. Willa loved the view of her small patch of unspoiled Virginia countryside and was secretly glad Nick had chosen this room for their confrontation. And she was certain that confrontation adequately described what was about to take place.

“Nick, I need you to listen. Really listen.” She waited for him to turn, knowing that no matter how difficult it proved to be, she had to look at him while she spoke.

If his shuttered eyes hadn’t destroyed her confidence, his words killed her hopes completely. “Just tell me straight out. Spare me any theatrics or emotional requests for my support. I want the whole story. Don’t leave anything out.” He watched her facade of control crumble, and added a bit more gently, “This is my life, Willa. Please, tell me the truth.”

She wanted to go to him, to hold him and soothe his wounded pride, to try to renew his faith in her innocence. But that was exactly what
he’d asked her not to do. So she took a deep breath and began.

“First, you have to understand what my life was like before I met Eric.” The scowl that engulfed Nick’s face at the mention of Eric’s name wasn’t encouraging.

“I gather from what you’ve already told me that you were more or less ripe for the picking,” he said bluntly.

Willa winced at his painful but accurate assessment. “When Eric showed interest in me, I was more than just flattered. I was shocked. By the time he joined the team and went on to become a star, I was in college, so I’d never met him.” Or you, she thought, then dismissed that line of thinking; it would only make her more nervous. Willa took a fortifying sip of coffee before going on. “My father had passed away several years before and I was in school getting my master’s, so my contact with the team was limited to an occasional visit to Doc Abbott. Actually I met Eric while visiting Doc at the practice field.” Willa glanced down into her mug barely noticing Nick’s increased attention at the mention of her old friend.

“Is that where you always met Doc?”

Startled by the question, she looked up at Nick, but his expression was still closed. “It depended
on the time of the year. If it was during football season, I’d drop by the team’s practice facility. If not, I went to his office in Alexandria. Why?”