It Had to Be You (Chicago Stars #1)(48)

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Tell me the truth now.”

“All right! I like animals. It’s not a crime! Even when I was a child I couldn’t stand the idea of eating one of them.”

“Why are you so secretive about it?”

“I don’t mean to be secretive. It’s just— I’m not philosophically pure. I won’t wear fur, but I have a closet full of leather shoes and belts, and I hate all those hair-splitting discussions people try to push you into. Some of my reticence is habit, I guess. The housemother at my old boarding school used to make it rough on me.”

“How was that?”

“We once had a showdown over a pork chop when I was eleven years old. I ended up sitting at the dinner table most of the night.”

“Thinking about Piglet, I bet.”

“How did you know?”

“It’s pretty obvious you’re a big A.A. Milne fan, honey.” His eyes were warm with amusement. “Go on. What happened?”

“The housemother eventually called Bert. He yelled at me, but I couldn’t eat it. After that, the other girls came to my rescue. They took turns sneaking my meat onto their plates.”

“That doesn’t entirely explain why you’re so secretive about it now.”

“Most people think vegetarianism is a little kooky, and my kook quotient is high enough as it is.”

“I don’t think I ever met anybody other than football players who invests so much energy in pretending to be tough.”

“I am tough.”

“Sure you are.”

His grin annoyed her. “Just because I wasn’t strong enough to fight you off tonight doesn’t mean I’m not tough.”

He immediately looked so stricken that she wished she’d held her tongue.

“I’m really sorry about that. I’ve never hurt a woman in my life. Well, except for Valerie, but that was—”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

He turned off the heat under the skillet and walked over to the table. “I’ve explained what happened, and I’ve apologized every way I know how. Will you accept my honest apology, or is this going to be lurking around every time we’re together?”

His eyes were so full of concern she had a nearly uncontrollable urge to slip into his arms and ask him if he would just hold her for a few minutes. “I accept your apology.”

“An honest acceptance or one of those female things where a woman tells a man she forgives him for something, but then spends all her spare time thinking up ways to make him feel guilty?”

“Does Valerie do that?”

“Honey, every woman I’ve been close to has done that.”

She tried to slip back into her old role. “Life’s tough when you’re irresistible to the opposite sex.”

“Spoken by someone who knows.”

When she attempted to frame a retort, nothing came out, and she realized that she didn’t have any resources left to play the part she had staked out for herself. “Those sandwiches must be just about done by now.”

He went back to the stove, where he checked the bottoms of the sandwiches with a spatula, then lifted them out of the skillet. After neatly halving them, he returned to the table with two brown pottery plates and sat in one of the captain’s chairs.

For several minutes they ate in silence. Finally, he broke it. “Don’t you want to talk to me about the game today?”

“Not really.”

“Aren’t you going to second-guess me on that double reverse? The sportswriters are going to rake me over the coals for that one.”

“What’s a double reverse?”

He grinned. “I’m beginning to see that there are some definite advantages to working for you.”

“You mean because I don’t have any secret desire to coach the team myself?”

He nodded and bit into his sandwich.

“I’d never do that. Although I do think you might consider opening up the offense more and starting Bryzski instead of Reynolds.”

He stared at her, and she smiled. “Some of Bert’s cronies got to me in the skybox.”

He smiled back. “The reporters were upset that you didn’t show up at the postgame press conference. People are curious about you.”

“They’ll just have to stay that way. I’ve seen a few of those postgame interviews. A person would actually have to know something about football to answer the questions.”

“You’ll have to talk to the press sooner or later. Ronald can help you through it.”

She remembered that Dan still thought she and the general manager were personally involved. “I wish you wouldn’t be so negative about him. He’s doing a good job, and I certainly couldn’t function without him.”

“Is that so?”

“He’s a wonderful person.”

He regarded her intently as he picked up a paper napkin and rubbed it over his mouth. “He must be. A woman like you has a lot to choose from.”

She shrugged and listlessly picked at her sandwich.

“Damn. You’re sitting there looking like a mule that’s been kicked one too many times.”

“Gee, thanks.”