Lone Star Valentine

Purposefully, he shut the door behind him, enclosing them in her private space. “I try.”

Her chin lifted another notch. “And you shouldn’t have barged in to the conference room.”

He ambled toward her. Set an apple Danish on her desk, just in case, then waited until she rocked back in her chair and met his eyes. “I’m aware you don’t need protecting,” he said.

She released another long, quavering breath. “Then why did you come to my rescue?”

She had a point. He wasn’t normally inclined to insert himself into situations where he clearly did not belong.

“Don’t know.” He inhaled the familiar scent of her signature freesia perfume, let his glance drift over the sexy waves of her honey-blond hair. “Habit?”

Lily groaned and put her face back in her hands.

Dropping down into a chair, he took a bite of the pastry. It had been sitting out for a while and was, as a result, rather stale. But still delicious in its own way.

Remembering how Lily always tended to reach for the sweets when stressed, he asked, “Want to talk about it?”

She pinched off a bite of pastry, held it between her fingers, then let it fall. Her gaze still on the bite she couldn’t bring herself to eat, she shook her head, admitting in a low, strangled tone, “There are no words.”

Gannon couldn’t fault her for being despondent. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to goad her back into fighting mode, however.

“For what kind of jerk your ex is? ’Cause if you need help—” he waggled his brow “—I can think of a few very fitting adjectives.”

She smiled, despite herself. Tore off another bite of pastry. Thought about eating it, then set it down again, without tasting. “He wasn’t always like that,” she said sadly.

He had made his own mistakes in the romance department, too. Gannon gave a sympathetic nod. “I know that.”

When Lily had first met Bode Daniels, the athlete had been ambitious to a fault but not a complete jackass. Just not the right guy for a softhearted woman like Lily. “I liked your ex better when he was the backup quarterback for the Gladiators, instead of a star player, too.” Something about sitting on a bench during most of the games humbled a guy. Million-dollar contracts, limitless endorsement deals and star QB status did the opposite.

Anxiety crept into her pretty turquoise eyes.

Gently, Gannon asked, “Do you think he’s serious about gaining custody of Lucas?”

Lily stiffened her spine. “No,” she said, oblivious to the way her action had also lifted the luscious swell of her breasts.

Ignoring the pressure building at the front of his jeans, he encouraged her to continue.

“The only thing Bode really cares about is playing football.” She paused, thinking, and raked her teeth across her lower lip. “In fact, I’m sure this wasn’t even his idea. He just got dragged into it by the members of his dream team, because it’s time for a new contract.” She sighed, shook off the veil of tension and predicted sagely, “This will all be over in a month, or less, as soon as he inks a new deal with the Gladiators.”

Given what was at stake, Gannon was not as sure it would be over. Or even if a new contract would be offered, given Bode’s lackluster performance the previous season. There was one thing he did know, though. Star athletes who were faced with dwindling careers could be as tough as nails to deal with.

Gannon downed the rest of his pastry. Finished, he wiped his hands on the napkin and forced himself to think like a lawyer, rather than Lily’s former friend and current—if only by default—protector. “What is your existing arrangement?” he asked casually.

Lily pushed away from her desk. “I have full physical custody, so Lucas resides with me.” She stood and paced to the window overlooking the town square. “Bode has the option to see Lucas every other weekend and one night during the week.”

Or, in other words, the status quo for a noncustodial parent, Gannon thought. Unable to bear the discouragement in her low tone, he rose and went to join her. “Has Bode taken advantage of that?”

Lily swung toward him, shivering slightly, her soft lips slanting downward. “Once a year—usually in the preseason—Bode asks me to take Lucas to a park in Dallas so Bode can be photographed with Lucas on the playground. Those ‘spontaneous’ photos of father and son are then released to the tabloid and legitimate press.” Cupping her hands beneath her elbows, she concluded bitterly, “Because Bode is so rarely seen with Lucas, his personal PR team makes sure that they get a lot of play in the media.”

Gannon could recall seeing a few of them himself. They’d done the trick, all right; even he had imagined Bode and Lucas had a great father-son relationship. “What about Christmas?”

A shadow crossed Lily’s lovely face. “Bode spends what time off he has in Aspen, with Viviana and their two babies, and an assortment of nannies and other help.”

Gannon couldn’t say he was surprised. “Has Bode ever asked to take Lucas with him on vacation or any other holiday?”

Lily sent him a droll look that upped his pulse another notch and made him want to console her even more. “What do you think?”

“He has not.”

“Correct.” She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, calves tautening sexily, her hips swaying beneath the snug fabric of her skirt. “Although according to the terms of our custody agreement, Bode is entitled to have his son with him on alternate holidays.”

Gannon’s eyes shifted upward, and his blood flowed hotter in his veins. He lifted his gaze from the tempting roundness of her derriere, guessing, “Bode just doesn’t take advantage of it.”

“It’s not what Viviana would want. Me, either, actually,” she continued with grim determination. “Considering how Viviana feels about the fact that Bode had a child with someone else before her.”

A silence fell.

Lily drew a breath. Then she raked her fingers through her hair, pushing the fringe of bangs off her face. “I’m sure this will all blow over. There are other ways for Bode to look good in the press in the next few weeks. I’m sure he and his team will find them.”

Gannon studied her outward control, which seemed fragile at best. “So you don’t want to counter with the offer of a couple of well-timed photo ops in the meantime, just to ward off any more trouble?”

Lily paused, then shook her head. “I let Bode be photographed with Lucas every summer because I want him to have some contact with his dad,” she explained. “And realistically, to date, I knew that was the only way it was ever going to happen.”

If—and only if—there was something Bode could get out of it for himself, Gannon thought.

Chin set, she continued, “I’m not going to let my son be used as a pawn in his father’s contract negotiations. Because I’ll tell you what would happen, Gannon. My ex would be all in, until the moment the new contract was signed. Then he’d want Lucas out of the way, again.”

She returned to her desk and picked up a framed photo of her little boy, looking down at it fondly. Smoothing her fingertips across the glass, she said, “Up until now, Lucas has been too little to really understand what was going on.”

Gannon hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Lucas yet. Maybe soon?

Walking over to take a look at the photograph, too, Gannon did some quick calculations. “He’s what? Four now?” With the same wavy blond hair, turquoise blue eyes and piquant features of his mother. The same lithe, fit frame, the same intelligent welcoming regard...

“Yes.” Lily swallowed hard. “And I’m not going to tell my son that we’re suddenly changing all the arrangements and he’s going to live with his dad part of the time only to have to turn around a month later and tell him that he’s not. And then have him confused and upset, for no reason.”

Put that way... “I wouldn’t allow it, either,” Gannon said.

Lily paced away from her desk, took a deep breath and set her hands on her hips. She gave Gannon a look that said while she was glad they were in agreement, she was no more willing to let him close to her again now than she had been the last time they’d seen each other years ago.

They’d argued heatedly back then...and clearly she was in no mood to forgive and forget.

She drew a bolstering breath. “I really do have to get back to work.”

Getting the message that was his cue to leave, Gannon retrieved his hat. But he kept his gaze locked with hers. “If you need me—”

“I won’t.”

He withdrew a business card from his wallet, borrowed a pen from her desk and wrote on the back. Fingers touching hers, he pressed it into her hand. “That’s my personal number. I’m available 24/7 until Liz gets back in town.” And maybe thereafter, too, if the two of them ever got their friendship back on track.