Teo realized he was staring and pulled his attention away from his recently formed fascination with the blonde beauty. “We’ll get out of your hair,” he said as the doors opened. The light shimmered over her braid, and he made sure his mouth wasshut.
She wiggled her fingers at Akoni. “Bye,precious.”
Teo wiggled his fingers in response even though she’d been talking to Akoni. He stared at his hand like it had a mind of its own as he hurried away. He needed to get out of here, to get back to his life where he could focus on moving forward without stopping every few minutes to admire Cedar. Yes, she was an amazing person. And yes, it was normal for a man to notice a woman with her full lips and beguiling blush. But it was not acceptable for him to allow all of that to overrun his level head. He didn’t get overrun—on or off thefield.
At the end of the hall, he glanced over his shoulder to see Cedar moving slowly toward her cubicle, her back hunched and her head down. He’d seen that walk before—right after a receiver dropped the pass that cost them the game. It was the walk of someone who was defeated not only on the field but in theirhead.
He hated that walk. It tore at his gut to see a teammate, or in this case a pretty woman, beat themselves up. She had been laying face-down on her desk when he arrived. He’d thought she was catching a quick nap or something, not suffering. What did she have to suffer over? From where he stood, she had it all put together. A hearty dose of curiosity and that darn desire to take care of her burst through his veins like lightening. He jogged back. “Hey, everythingokay?”
She pressed her lips together. “Fine.”
“Really? Because you look like you just dropped a HailMary.”
She gave a self-depreciating chuckle. “You could say that.” She paused and then looked back and forth down thehallway.
Teo settled in—a trick his dad used many a times to get him to open up after a hard practice orgame.
“Are you waiting for me to spill my guts orsomething?”
Was he?Am I?“No. I just—um …” He moved Akoni to his other arm and patted her arm. “Hang in there, ’kay?”
“O-kay.”
His phone beeped. “Shoot.” That was theyou have five minutes to make the meetingbeep. He reached for his phone in his back pocket to turn off the recurring noise. With a sudden jerk, Akoni threw himself towards the floor, and Teo dropped the phone to save his son from pancaking his face into thecarpet.
Cedar bent to get the phone for him. She handed it over face-up. “Looks like you’relate.”
“Yeah—you wouldn’t think a baby would slow me down, but just getting him in a car seat will take five minutes. I’d give anything for ababysitter.”
“Five hundred.” Cedar took Akoni fromhim.
“What?”
“I’ll watch him until six tonight, but it will cost you five hundred dollars.” She jutted her hip out to the side and settled Akoni inplace.
“I thought you were an internhere?”
Her jaw flexed. The effect was kind of sexy, and he had to work hard to tamp down on the attraction that flared to life. “Today was my lastday.”
Akoni grabbed her braid and held on. With Teo, he never had to hold on, but Cedar was so much smaller that the kid must have felt the need. She didn’t flinch as he tugged a little on herhair.
Teo was torn. Meeting with his agent needed to happen. He’d put it off as long as he could; being out of the spotlight after Amy’s death was a tender mercy. Jumping back in was going to be hard enough—he wasn’t a razzle-dazzle type of guy—but being entertaining while feeding Akoni a jar of prunes or changing a diaper would beimpossible.
“I’ve already got the diaper bag.” She slipped it right off his shoulder, her fingers brushing his arm and leaving a trail of heatbehind.
Her offer was almost too good to be true. “If you’resure.”
“I’m sure. Here.” She programmed her number into his phone. “Call or text anytime.” She fumbled handing it back to him. “Today. You can call anytimetoday,” sheclarified.
He considered Akoni’s obvious comfort with Cedar and the easy way Cedar had with him, and a sense that this was a timely meeting—one that hadn’t happened by accident—brushed its way along his thoughts like a whisper in thewind.
He put one hand on her arm and leaned over to kiss Akoni goodbye. Her hair tickled his cheek, and he caught a hint of sweetened pineapple on herskin.
Cedar gasped, the sound so quiet he wondered if he’d imagined it. She pulled away, and the moment was lost into the waves oftime.
“I’ll call as soon as I’m done.” He began backing out of thebuilding.
Cedar picked up Akoni’s arm and had him wave goodbye. Akonigrinned.
