Beach Lane

“Hey!” Will protested. “The game isn’t always about brute force. Sometimes it’s about finesse.”

“Tell that to the National Football League,” Mack said. “I’m sure the commissioner will be interested in your point of view.”

Jake joined the huddle. “Are we going to play or not? We can’t let their bringing in a girl psyche us out. Susie’s been playing in these games for years. She can take care of herself.”

He paused and glanced at Trace. “How about your sister? Maybe Laila would want to play. She’s tall and it would even things up. It would freak Matthew, Luke and Kevin out if the shoe were on the other foot and we had a woman playing for us.”

Trace frowned. “I am not letting my sister get pummeled by that team. Laila was never the tomboy that Susie was.”

“Hey, it was just a thought,” Jake said defensively. “You don’t have to go all macho and protective on us.” He turned back to Mack. “Okay, then, you can’t let Susie get past you. The woman runs like the wind. Remember high school? She blew away every other sprinter in the region when she competed in track.”

Mack frowned at the whole lot of them. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, which one of us made all-American all through high school? No girl is going to get the better of me.”

“Not even Susie?” Trace asked doubtfully.

Mack gritted his teeth. “No, not even Susie.”

“Okay, then,” Trace said as their players fell into position.

“About time,” Susie’s brother Matthew taunted. “I was starting to think I had enough time to go back inside for more pie.”

He called a play, the ball was snapped and, sure enough, it was handed off to Susie, who made a remarkable move to her right to avoid Jake’s tackle. Mack streaked after her, picked her up off her feet and fell to the ground, cushioning the fall with his own body. Her expression startled, Susie stared into his eyes.

“You tackled me,” she said with an indignant huff.

“Just following directions,” he said. “You okay?”

She scrambled up. “Of course I’m okay, but this is touch football, you idiot.”

Mack stared at her. “I was told the rules had changed.”

She stepped closer until she was toe-to-toe with him. “Is that so?”

“Swear to God.”

She looked around at the other players, then nodded. “Okay, then. You won’t catch me off guard again, Mack Franklin, I promise you that.”

She stomped back across the yard to join her own team. Mack got the distinct impression he’d stirred up her temper in ways he couldn’t possibly envision.

Fortunately, the last play had been fourth down and his team had the ball back. He took the hike from center and started to run, only to have 110 pounds of fury cut him off at the knees. This time when he hit the ground, Susie rolled with him. She jumped up before he could catch his breath.

“Okay, now we’re even,” she said. “I feel better. How about you?”

He stared at her incredulously. “You’re a little crazy. You know that, don’t you?”

She grinned. “I’ve spent a lot of time being one of the guys. Don’t sell me short, Mack. I have moves you can’t possibly imagine,” she boasted, then grinned. “On and off the field.”

Suddenly heat flared in Mack’s belly. All of the moves he envisioned were in a bedroom, not in the middle of a yard with her entire family surrounding them. He reached out, snagged her hand and pulled her into his arms, then leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Do not taunt me, Susie. You’ll be asking for trouble.”

Amusement lit her eyes as she stared right back at him. “You don’t scare me. You’re all talk. I have years of experience to testify to that.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“All talk,” she taunted again.

It was Matthew who walked over, gave his sister an odd look, then broke up the standoff. “Hey, guys, we’re playing football.”

Susie blinked and looked away, her cheeks flushed. Mack dropped his hold on her and walked back to his own team, not sure if he was more disconcerted by her taunt or infuriated by it.

Will and Jake were grinning. “This O’Brien holiday tradition has just gotten interesting,” Jake commented. “You might want to keep in mind, though, that Jeff and Mick are sitting right up there on the porch watching. I’m not sure how thrilled they’re likely to be if you decide to seduce Susie right here and now. I know Mick, especially, talks a good game, but at heart, they’re pretty old-fashioned guys.”

“Seducing Susie never crossed my mind,” Mack said with grim determination. Making her take back her words, now, that was something entirely different.

Jake rolled his eyes. “Just like I didn’t pine away for Bree all those years she was off in Chicago writing plays.”

Mack just stared him down.

Across the yard he overheard Susie’s brother Luke arguing heatedly with Matthew.

“You’ve got to stop giving her the ball,” he told Matthew. “She’s not exactly a secret weapon right now.”

Susie marched right up to her brothers. “I am in this game to win it,” she declared fiercely. “Give me the ball.”

Mack had to hide a grin at the family squabble. He could hardly wait to see how it turned out. His money was on Susie. She was determined to run the ball past him and score. That grit was another aspect of her never-say-die spirit that he enjoyed. At least until today, when she seemed determined to use it to drive him wild.

On their next two plays after they got the ball back, Matthew tried passing downfield to Kevin, but Connor broke up the plays. On the next play Susie took a handoff and tried sprinting around Mack’s blind side. He caught her by the waistband of her pants and tumbled to the ground with her.

“You are so annoying,” she grumbled, but she didn’t scramble away from him quite as quickly this time. In fact, as she looked into his eyes, she suddenly seemed a little out of breath. He didn’t think it could be blamed entirely on her run or their fall.

Mack reached over to brush a streak of dirt from her cheek. To his astonishment, his fingers trembled as he touched her skin.

His own breath hitched.

“Susie,” he murmured softly.

She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away, either. “Uh-huh,” she said in a distracted whisper.

“We should stop this before you get hurt.”

She blinked for a second, then punched him in the ribs. “Me? What about you? Or Will, or any of the others?”

Mack held her in place, his gaze never leaving her face. “You’re the only one I’m worried about.”

“Just because I’m a girl,” she said, as if it were a curse.

“Just because you’re the girl I care about,” he said. He hesitated, scant inches from her mouth. He could kiss her right here and now. He wanted to. One look into her blazing eyes told him that was what she wanted, too.