A Younger Man

“Maybe he’d rather have three points than nothing,” he replied. “Here we go. Have you got your money ready?”

“I think college football needs some women coaches,” she sniffed. “A woman would have gone for it.”

The words were hardly out of her mouth when the center hiked the ball to the quarterback, who was supposed to catch the ball and hold it steady on the kicking T so the kicker could kick it. Instead of placing the ball on the T, however, the quarterback jumped to his feet the second he caught the ball. A heartbeat later, he threw a pass to his favorite receiver, who sprinted into the end zone before the other team even realized that the home team had just faked a field goal.

Stunned, the crowd went wild. Laughing in delight, Natalie grabbed her sons and did a little dance. “Yeah! Touchdown! Did you see that pass, guys? Right in the breadbasket! Looks like I won the bet.”

When her eyes laughed up into his, Max only grinned. All around them, people were celebrating the touchdown, but Natalie was too caught up in her victory over him to notice. Tickled pink with herself, she had a grin as big as Texas on her face and couldn’t seem to stand still. Jumping up and down, pumping her fists, she had no idea how cute she was. The boys were as excited as she, but Max couldn’t take his eyes off Natalie. She might have been a thirty-six-year-old mother of twins, but she looked like a high school cheerleader. Max had never seen her so carefree, and regardless of how many times he reminded himself she was his student and off limits, he couldn’t resist her. Taking advantage of the fact that the boys were watching the band as it jumped into a frenzied rendition of the fight song, he gave into impulse and reached for her.

His lips touched hers, and almost immediately he realized his mistake. She was soft and sweet, and the taste of her went straight to his head. If they’d been anywhere but in a crowd of screaming people and in full view of her five-year-old sons, he would have pulled her close and lost himself in the taste and feel of her. Instead all he could do was step back before her sons noticed that their mother’s teacher was on the verge of kissing the stuffing out of her.

When she stared up at him with stunned blue eyes, Max groaned. Don’t! he wanted to tell her. If she kept looking at him like that, he was going to reach for her again, and then he really would be in trouble. “It’s a tradition,” he said gruffly, nodding toward the kissing couples that surrounded them on all sides. “Everyone does it when we score.”

Dazed, her lips still tingling from his kiss, all Natalie could think of was the six touchdowns the team had scored last week. She’d missed that game, but she’d read about it in the newspaper. According to all predictions, this game was going to be even more of a runaway. Would Max kiss her every time the Eagles scored?

“Natalie? Are you okay? I didn’t mean to offend you….”

“What? Oh, no…I—”

“I’m hungry, Mom! Can we have some popcorn?”

“I want a hotdog…with chili!”

“I’ll get that,” Max told her when she looked down at the boys like they were speaking a foreign language. When she blinked up at him in confusion, he grinned. “I owe you.” When she just looked at him, he chuckled. “For the bet? Remember?”

She blushed. “Oh, no! I was just playing around.”

“A bet’s a bet,” he insisted. “So, we need popcorn, a chili dog, and I’m getting a sausage on a stick. How about you? What do you want?”

She should have said she didn’t need anything—somehow, the game was turning into a date, and she didn’t even know how it had happened—but she was thirsty and didn’t want to appear rude by turning him down, then getting something for herself later. “Just a cola. Do you need some help carrying everything?”

“No, I can get it. Stay here and enjoy the game.”

As he made his way through the crowd toward the aisle on his left, Natalie stared blindly at the action still going on down on the field and tried to calm the wild pounding of her heart. Max had kissed her! Touching her fingers to her lips, she could still feel the warmth that had streaked all the way to her toes the second his mouth had brushed hers. It had only lasted mere seconds, yet with nothing more than that, he’d shaken her to the core. What had possessed him? What did he want from her? She wasn’t one of his teenybopper freshmen students looking for a good time. Even at eighteen, that hadn’t been her style. She hadn’t slept around then and she didn’t now. She had responsibilities…children. She didn’t intend to forget that just because Max Sullivan had kissed her and made her go weak at the knees….

“Mom? You look kind of funny.”

“Yeah, your cheeks are all red. Are you sick, Mom? Do you have a fever?”

Jumping up onto the bleachers so he was eye level with her, Harry placed his hand on her brow and frowned into her eyes. Startled out of her musing, Natalie blinked both sons into focus and blushed all over again. How could she explain to her five-year-old sons that she was in la-la land because her professor had kissed her for all of five seconds? They wouldn’t understand, of course, and she couldn’t say she blamed them. She didn’t understand it herself!

“I’m fine,” she assured them huskily, forcing a smile. “I think I just got a little too hot jumping around. It’s warm today, isn’t it? I should have worn something cooler.”

She was wearing a thin, short-sleeved cotton blouse that should have been more than cool enough for the middle of September, but the boys were too young to notice that. Then the Eagle band broke into the school fight song, distracting them, and there were, thankfully no more questions about her “fever.” Standing beside them, her gaze directed unseeingly at the field, Natalie could think of nothing but Max…and the kiss.

Caught up in her thoughts, she didn’t notice that he’d returned until he suddenly joined her. Carrying a cardboard tray full of food, he grinned down at her. “What’d I miss?”

A dozen answers sprang to mind…the crazy need he stirred in her, the rush of her blood, the pounding of her heart every time he smiled at her. The last thing Max needed when it came to women, however, was encouragement. He was far too sure of himself as it was. “Just the kickoff,” she said lightly. “Here, let me help you with that.” She took the drink he’d bought for her, then handed the boys their food. “What do you say?” she asked them.

“Thank you, Professor Sullivan,” they said in unison, flashing their twin dimples at him.

“Can you make another bet with Mommy so we can get some nachos later?” Tommy added. “We really like nachos.”

“Tommy Bailey!” Natalie gasped, shocked. “You know better than that! Apologize right now!”

Chuckling, Max only reached over and ruffled Tommy’s red head. “You got it, sport. But how do you know your mom’s going to win the next bet?”

“Because Mom’s really smart,” he said simply, proudly. “She always wins when we bet.”

“So you’re a gambling woman,” Max teased, interest sparking in his eyes. “I would have never guessed.”

“We only bet on little things—like who can run the fastest or jump the highest,” she said ruefully. “If these monkeys keep growing the way they are, it won’t be long before they leave me standing in their dust.”

Max could just see her running with her boys, encouraging them, daring them to be the best they could be. She was a good mother—and her sons clearly adored her. So where was her ex? he wondered. She’d said he’d taken a hike, but to where? Had the divorce been amicable or hostile? Did she still love him? If she did, then she wasn’t as smart as he thought she was. The man had to be a fool. He’d walked away from a fascinating woman, and Max didn’t have a clue how he’d done it. Because he wasn’t even involved with her, and he was finding it harder and harder to keep his distance.