Challenging the Center (Santa Fe Bobcats #6)(69)
“Well that’s rude,” she said.
“No, honey, that’s a man who knows what he wants and is willing to protect it. Don’t forget, protecting someone is his career. He’s gonna be damn good at it when it comes to something he wants.”
He shut the door gently, which was a good thing, because she couldn’t think of a single word to say.
Chapter 20
“Goddamn Peterson,” Michael muttered as he let himself into Stephen’s house. For the team, for friends, for brothers, Stephen had an open-door policy. His house was large, which worked because Stephen had a large personality. But it was just him and Mags rattling around in there. Made Michael realize he didn’t want a minimansion when he finally took the plunge and bought a place. Something small, at least at first, would do better. Josh Leeman had the right idea, buying a place to fix up. He’d have to start nudging the backup quarterback for some house-hunting tips.
The object of his annoyance was standing in the kitchen, rooting through Stephen’s fridge. “Did you say tomatoes and onions or tomatoes and olives?” Matt asked, then looked over his shoulder. “Oh, you’re not Trey.”
“No, I’m not.”
Matt’s smile grew wider as he took in Michael’s admittedly defensive stance and scowl. “Problem?”
“You know what my problem is.”
Matt shut the fridge door with his hip, holding a plate in each hand with sliced tomatoes and onions. “I’m guessing you don’t like that I gave your project a ride out here.”
“Don’t call her that,” he snapped, grabbing one of the plates from him before turning to walk toward the noise.
“Yeah, okay then,” Matt said quietly from behind him, just before they entered the screened-in back porch. Louder, he added, “Look who I found.”
There was a round of hellos from the guys, and two audible gasps from Mags and Cassie. Cassie stood and rushed over to him, her hand hovering an inch above his eye. “What happened?”
“Hell, Cass, it’s just a black eye,” Trey muttered. “Give the guy some breathing room.”
“You hush,” she said to her husband. For Michael, “Do you want an ice pack?”
“I can get some ice,” Mags offered, standing. Stephen just grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap, one large arm wrapping around her waist like a seat belt.
“He’s fine. Leave the man some pride,” Stephen said. Mags wiggled on his lap, and he bit her shoulder gently.
Michael fought not to gag. Carefully nudging Cassie’s hand aside, he leaned in and pecked her cheek. “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”
“Did that happen at practice today?” she asked, retreating to her seat beside Trey. Her husband automatically lifted his arm to wrap around the back of her chair.
“No, before. I’d rather not talk about it.” He sat in the only available seat left, which was between Mags’s empty chair and Josiah. Kat sat directly across from him, and he met her eyes for the first time since walking in. “Just a random thing.”
“He’s being nice,” Kat said, holding his eye contact. “He doesn’t want to admit he got it from me hitting him.”
Dead silence met this announcement, which was saying something for this group.
“With a tennis ball,” she added. Several aahs sounded, as if that made complete sense.
“You know, they use this thing called a racket in tennis.” Matt grasped the platter of burgers handed to him by Kat, then looked at Mags. “None of these is vegetarian this time, right?”
“You give a guy a black bean burger once on accident…,” Mags said, exasperated. Then she smiled. “They’re all fully animal fatty and delicious.”
“It was a traumatizing experience,” Peterson insisted.
“So you were playing tennis… with Kat?” Cassie asked, looking between them.
“Sort of.” Michael watched as Kat’s neck and face flushed. She wouldn’t look up now. “I happened to be there just as her coach needed a live target. Apparently, Kat works better aiming at flesh than a cone.”
“My kinda girl,” Stephen said, holding up his water glass in a toast.
Kat smiled at him at the head of the table, Mags still in his lap. “It was an accident, seriously. He should have ducked, but he got distracted. It was my coach’s fault more than anyone’s. I just feel bad about the game this weekend.”
“It’ll make for a fun press time in the locker room.” Trey grinned. “We should use the flight out to make up some awesome story about how you got it.”
“Saving a litter of puppies from a burning building,” Josiah suggested.
“No, nuns were being robbed at gunpoint,” Matt put in.
“Maybe he lifted a car off a trapped child,” Trey mused.
Michael sighed as the table erupted into laughter. Then he looked around and realized they were a smaller party than he anticipated. “You didn’t invite any of the rooks I mentioned?”
“We did. I just told them to come about, oh, twenty minutes from now. There’s plenty of extra food,” Stephen added quickly. “We made triple the normal. Seriously, they’ll eat. We just wanted a little time with you guys first.”