The Bridge to a Better Life (14 page)

“Hey, I resent that,” Jordan said, tilting his head back like he was a male model awaiting admiration.

“You would,” Blake called out. He’d been good-naturedly ragging other players ever since he first started playing team sports at the age of five. He realized he’d been missing this…a lot.

Brody Keller, the Chicago Titans’ wide receiver, gave him a playful shove. “I can’t believe you up and retired on me. I was going to kick your ass when we played this year.”

“You’re only sore because I retired before you could beat me.”

“He sure is,” Zack Durant, quarterback of the New Orleans Akkadians, said. “I’m pissed too. We were even at two wins apiece. Guess we’ll have to figure out some other way to break that tie.”

Everyone fell silent for a minute, and Jordan locked eyes with him.

“How are you really doing?” the QB asked.

His chest squeezed tight, but he lifted his shoulder. “About how you’d expect. I still miss Adam like crazy and find myself grieving at the oddest times when something triggers it.” Last night, it had been Adam’s favorite song coming on the radio as he’d driven back from his run. “And then there’s Natalie…”

“Ah…that girl,” Hunter said quietly.

Even though they all knew his reasons for retiring, he still said, “I want her back in my life. Right now, we’ve started as friends. It’s…I’m hopeful. She even agreed to cater our meals this weekend.”

“Good,” Logan said, clapping him on the back. “Now, how about you show us inside this place?”

When Grant bent down to pick up his black leather duffle, Blake saw the stretch Hummer parked catawampus in his driveway. His buddy was so big he’d almost blocked the view.

“Which one of you yahoos drove that monstrosity?” he asked.

“That would be me,” Jordan said. “Grant and I flipped for it, but he chose tails.”

“Everyone knows you always lose when you choose tails,” Zack said.

They’d argued over the science of the coin toss for years since it was one of the most important factors in a football game. Most of them were team captains who had been in charge of the coin toss. Some of them favored heads while a couple outliers were rabid about always calling tails.

“Don’t make me punch you this soon in the weekend,” Hunter said, and he and Zack got into each other’s faces and started playfully shoving each other, causing Touchdown to bark and leap at their ankles.

“Come on, girls, you can continue the pillow fight inside,” Blake said, herding them into the house.

After storing their gear, they piled into the kitchen. Suddenly the wide open space felt like a closet with all the giants hulking about. Sam dispensed beers to the ones who wanted a brew and made some juice for Hunter and Zack. Grabbing his own beer, Blake followed the guys out onto the deck where they all dragged a few more deck chairs around his patio table until they were seated in a lop-sided circle.

“God, smell that mountain air,” Hunter said and then promptly started to cough.

Grant reached over and pounded him on the back. “Guess he can’t handle the purity after all those New York fumes he inhales daily.”

“No,” Hunter said in a raspy voice between coughs, “I think I swallowed a bug.”

Everyone started laughing at that, and when Jordan rose to give Hunter the Heimlich, their hilarity spiraled out of control. Touchdown barked and then raced off, as if deciding he’d had enough. He caught Sam’s look and grinned. Yeah, they were thinking the same thing. These guys might be yahoos…but they were their yahoos.

The rattle of metal sounded behind them, and Blake craned his neck to see what it was. Natalie was standing at the side of the house, fingering a trio of gold bracelets, an annoyed expression on her face. He glanced at his watch and winced. He’d forgotten to put a note on the front door to tell her to come in and set up lunch. Instead she’d had to come around the back to look for him.

Hunter rose from his chair first. “Hey, babe. Good to see you. We were all worried about putting Blake in charge of feeding us, but it looks like he ordered up the best like usual. How have you been?”

“Fine, Hunter Punter. How about you?”

The grin she gave his friends made his breath catch in his throat. It was a bit like old times again…except
not.

“You guys were braying like hyenas,” she continued “No wonder you didn’t hear me knocking on the front door.”

“What can we say, Nat?” Jordan called out. “We like to walk on the wild side.”

The other guys rose as Blake did. He watched her walk across the rest of the yard, taking in the sight of her white capri pants, black T-shirt, and sexy gladiator sandals. The Celtic knot tattoo on the inside of her ankle had his mouth watering. He’d seen it before, sure, but he’d never had the guts to ask her when she’d gotten it or why. He only knew it had appeared after their divorce—and he found it incredibly hot.

The guys all kissed her, hugged her, and lifted her off the ground. “Okay, enough of all that,” she said, giving Grant a playful wink. “I need to let my people in.”

“I’ll do it,” Blake said, hoping to catch a look from her—anything that would tell him how they were doing today. They both knew it was weird, her being back with this group as the caterer, not as Blake’s wife.

“I’ll help you,” Sam said, slapping him on the back as if sensing his unease.

His status with Natalie was as changeable as the weather right now, and he knew it.

She
finally
looked at him as he slipped inside the kitchen with Sam. He lifted his hand in greeting, waiting for her to smile. When she didn’t, he felt more than a little unsettled. Having her with the guys brought back so many good memories for him, and he’d hoped she would feel the same. Then he opened the door and let two strangers into his house to set up the chafing pans and unpack the food. Now he understood why she hadn’t smiled. Things might be familiar, but they were also horribly different.

He wondered if that would ever change as far as Natalie was concerned.

Though she was loathe to admit it, Natalie had missed this motley crew of giants. Sure, they’d always been easy on the eyes and charming beyond measure, in the way most superstar athletes were, but they also genuinely cared about her.

Always had.

Even if she’d up and left their best friend for no reason.

They were loyal to Blake, so she’d felt self-conscious and awkward about seeing them today. But it had quickly become clear that they were doing their best to be nice to her. She could almost hear their pact. If Blake wanted her back, they were going to support him one hundred percent. Even if she’d been a bitch.

Grant picked her up from behind, making her scream. “I’m going to toss you over to Zack.”

They’d played this game with her many times. And yes, sometimes it was fun, but she was supposed to be working. She tickled his ribs, and he immediately let her go and released a high-pitched giggle.

“Hey, now, no need to be mean,” he said, putting plenty of space between them.

“I swear, if the guys in the league knew you were this ticklish, they wouldn’t have to tackle you.”

Brody advanced on him, and Natalie knew to get out of the way. A tickle fight was about to commence. She felt a strange sort of pride for having started it.

“Don’t you dare touch me!” Grant raved, but Brody, Logan, and Jordan rushed him, and soon the defensive lineman was running for his life across the yard with the others in hot pursuit. Touchdown raced after them, barking in short bursts.

Zack and Hunter exchanged looks.

“Guess we should probably follow them,” Hunter said. “They might run into a bear and get mauled.”

Zack snorted. “I’d love to see that.”

Natalie put her hands on her hips. “It’s time for lunch, so you’d best bring them back while the food is hot.”

Not that the chafing dishes wouldn’t do their job, but she knew these guys. Once they started horsing around, it was hard to get their attention until hunger descended. Then they turned into a pack of starving wolves. She didn’t plan on letting things unravel to that state of affairs.

“Yes, ma’am,” Zack said with a salute. “We’ll bring them back. And your little dog too. Assuming Grant still has his pants on.”

She shook her head. “Like I haven’t seen his ass before. How many times do you think you’ve pulled this sort of random crap around me?”

Hunter burst out laughing. “A lot. Not that we’ve ever pantsed Sam.”

No, no one would dare strip Sam’s pants off. “How many times have you gotten Blake?” She’d seen it happen at least twice. Both times had made her hot. And that was so not something she needed to be thinking about right now.

Zack scratched his goatee. “Probably a half dozen. He’s not the fastest, but he has pretty impressive evasion tactics.”

“And he’s mean,” Hunter added.

Yeah, Blake didn’t go down without a fight.

“All right,” she said. “Go get those morons and tell them it’s time to eat.”

She hated to sound like their mom, but this had always been her role with them, and it felt natural. At least she wouldn’t have to clean up after them this weekend. A few of them could be downright pigs.

Blake stuck his head through the open door as Zack and Hunter jogged off in the direction of Grant’s high-pitched giggles.

“Who are they pantsing?” he asked with a grin.

“Grant. He was going to toss me around, so I tickled him. It devolved from there.”

He strode forward, his sandy brown hair gleaming in the afternoon sunshine. Sometimes looking at Blake was blinding. It wasn’t just the mega-watt power of his grin. No, it was the easy power that radiated through his whole body, as natural as the electricity that ran through a house.

“So, you’re the instigator, huh?” he asked, standing beside her. “It’s good to have the guys here. I really appreciate you taking care of the food, Nat.”

She could feel the pull of other memories—various weekends when they’d hosted the guys together, as a unit. Her walls rose a few inches as an unwanted sense of yearning rolled through her.

“The Grand Mountain Hotel took care of the food,” she heard herself saying. “I was only the executor.”

When he didn’t say anything, she stole a glance at him. He was frowning.

“I thought we were friends again,” he said in a soft voice, one she had to strain to hear over the racket from Grant and the guys.

A pressure rose in her chest. “We are.” But how exactly could she backtrack to being friends with her ex-husband, particularly when she knew he wanted more?

He turned his head and stared into her eyes. She met his gaze and didn’t blink since he didn’t. There was hurt there, yes, but determination too.

“Guess who’s got Grant’s pants?” Jordan called out, emerging into view with a pair of tan shorts held high in his hands. “Too bad I can’t tweet this out.”

She drew her gaze away from Blake to watch Jordan catapult over one of the deck chairs like he was jumping into the end zone on a quarterback sneak. Everyone had agreed their gatherings were to take place in a cone of silence. If other people saw them out and about and tweeted about it, well, that was another thing.

“Do you want to hide Grant’s pants or should I?” Jordan asked them, shaking the article in his hand.

Like she’d touch them. “If you’re going to hide them, you’d better do it quick,” Natalie said. “They’re coming back.”

Sure enough, Grant was running toward the porch in nothing but his form-fitting black athletic shirt and a pair of navy underwear, his massive legs as big as tree trunks. The other guys were jogging behind him, laughing so hard they could barely keep up. Touchdown was now doing mad circles around his buddies. He was as out of control as the rest of them.

“I’m going to cut you, Jordan!” Grant called out as Jordan darted into the house. “Sorry about my appearance, Natalie.”

He didn’t blush—after all, these men were accustomed to using locker rooms—but he did cross his hands over his crotch. At least they’d only taken his pants. Sometimes the guys went a bit further.

“Grant!” Blake shouted. “Go put on another pair of pants. We have women around.”

“Shit. Right. Sorry again, Nat.”

“I’ll…ah…finish setting up if you can referee these guys into shape,” she told Blake, heading inside. “Good luck with that.”

It was hard not to admire the sheer perfection of Grant’s butt as he jogged into the house. Sure enough, her two female assistants stared at him as he came inside. Who could blame them? Grant was all muscle—every woman’s dream.

As she’d expected, her staff already had the food laid out buffet style in the kitchen, just like the guys usually preferred. Thick cuts of ham and prime rib filled the room with a delicious savory scent, which mingled pleasantly with the aroma of her famous dill-infused sour cream potato salad. A mountain of cheese and fruit lay on the four platters her staff had brought in. And of course, her special cheese dip was showcased in the center of a chip bowl.

Sam cocked his head at her as he grabbed a cube of Swiss cheese. “You’ve outdone yourself as usual.”