Tangled with the Tight End (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 5

five

NORAH

What’s wrong with me? Every time I see this man, I cut him down. Why? It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know him. I harbored no ill will toward him until I met him. It’s not like I was upset when he didn’t come to the wedding. Or that he missed the birth of his nephew. I was too busy celebrating both events for his absence to register.

As they all walk to the kitchen, I stand back to watch the kids. Gabriel is good-looking, but I’ve seen good-looking guys before. He’s larger than life, but we’re in the mountains. I’ve met lumberjacks. He’s grumpy or was grumpy after I hit him.

After you hit his injured knee. The one that has him forced onto the sidelines.

But Delbert Baxter is the worst grump I’ve ever met, and he growls and grumbles at everyone. It’s not like I let him ruin my day. So why am I tossing out landmines left and right for Gabriel to step on?

“Here.” Gino hands me a storybook, and I drop down to the floor.

“What do we have here?”

“Read.” He climbs into my lap as Angelo crawls over to us.

“Ah. I love stories about animals.” The boy is adorable.

No, it’s because he’s all those things. All those unattainable things. I’m stuck in Evergreen Lake with guys I’ve known forever, and he’s the pretty boy who can get a different woman in each city the team plane sets down in. Not to mention, he’s married. Divorcing but still married.

And…. He’s fucking hot. The total package. The total package I’ll never have.

I flip the pages and exaggeratedly tell the two cousins the story of a bear and a mouse. Their eyes widen with delight at each bright-colored page.

Damn it. I’m jealous. I’m jealous that my best friend found an amazing guy, who gave up everything to move to Evergreen Lake and raise a family with her. I want someone who looks at me like Marco looks at Eden.

Please. It takes everything I have not to groan and roll my eyes. And you decided this person should be Gabriel? The guy who is days away from leaving and going back onto the football field and never coming back? He didn’t even come to his brother’s wedding, his nephew’s birth, or his first birthday.

“Good story.” Gabriel rests his hip against the doorframe.

“Oh….” Once again, my face flames with heat. “I didn’t know you were listening.”

“I was quiet.” One corner of his mouth arches upward.

Gino grabs the book and climbs onto the sofa as Angelo rushes to join him. I boost him onto the sofa, and they settle beside each other. God, they’re cute.

“So….” I wipe my palms on my jeans and face him. “I’m sorry I was rude.”

“No.” He raises his hands in defense. “My attitude was uncalled for. But you hit a nerve.” He chuckles derisively. “Two nerves. I’m concerned about my knee and my future, and my parenting skills are crappy at best.”

Gino points to a picture. “This is Sam. He’s a bear. He naughty.”

“I think you’re doing pretty good. Your son is adorable. He’s clean, at a healthy weight, has good manners, and is smart.” I shrug and jerk my attention away from the boys. Don’t fall into the hype of wanting something you can’t have. You’re going to be stuck being a godmother, and that’s it. “Besides, all you were doing was trying to keep him safe.”

“Thank you.” He avoids my gaze by looking at something behind me and shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s not been easy. I put everything before him and his mother, and when she left him with me, I didn’t know what to do.” He licks his lips and bites the bottom one. “And I’m not a natural like you.”

“I….” Lord, I don’t know what to say to a compliment. “Thank you. I like kids.”

“I can tell.” He rolls his shoulders and finally meets my gaze, causing my stomach to flip. “No kids?”

“No.” I rush to the toy box, picking up toys along the way and dumping them inside with a clang and a plop. Somehow, telling him about my pathetic love life seems worse than getting a pap smear.

“That’s too bad.”

What’s too bad? That I don’t have kids? That I don’t have a guy who I can have kids with? Or just is it just too bad because now he knows I’m his sister-in-law’s best friend, and he must pretend to like me? Or even worse, he feels sorry for me?

“Let’s eat, guys.” Marco bounds into the room with a platter and nods toward the adjoining dining room. “After you.”

“I’ll help.” I rush into the kitchen, desperate for something to keep me busy.

“What do you think?” Eden marches toward me with a basket of rolls in her hands.

“The rolls look delicious.”

“Pl-l-e-e-ase.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m not talking about the rolls. But thank you, I followed your recipe.” She looks at me pointedly. “I want to know what you think of Gabriel.”

“He….” He’s sexy? That’s obvious. He’s nice? We’ve already established we’ve argued more than once. I clear my throat and snatch a stack of plates off the island. “He’s more pleasant than I thought.”

Eden laughs with a snort. “That’s a classic. I love it.”

As she brushes past me, she leans over and whispers, “When you two get married, I’m going to tell this story to the wedding party.”

“Stop.” I pin her with a glare as heat creeps up my neck. Shit. My objection would have more standing if I didn’t turn red as a beet.

“What’s wrong, ladies?” Gabriel ambles into the room with a boy on each hip, looking more at ease with each second.

“Nothing.” I march past him and ignore the tightening in my gut when I inhale his cologne, citrus, with some type of wood. The best combination in the world. Of course, he smells good. He’s rich and can buy the most expensive brands on the market. It has nothing to do with his underlying scent. It doesn’t.

“Don’t mind, Norah,” Eden says in a sing-song voice. “She’s usually Ms. Suzie Sunshine, but for whatever reason, she’s in a snit this week.”

If he asks if I’m on my period, or if she says I’m on my period, I’m going to punch her. Neither says a word as I force myself not to stomp to the table.

The table is laden with food trays–grilled shrimp cocktail, tomato basil soup, Ceaser salad, roasted chicken with vegetables, and chocolate lava cake. My mouth waters. I’ve been too busy to cook lately.

Once I get done at the bistro, I’m too exhausted to make a meal for just myself. Maybe Mom is right. Maybe I should date Sawyer. Are sparks even necessary? As long as we don’t have sex, sparks are unnecessary.

He’d eventually want to have sex.

Thirty minutes later, I’m full and slightly relaxed from the glass of wine. The kids have fallen asleep on the sofa, and we remain gathered around the table. Marco is at the head of the table, with Eden seated next to him. They’re holding hands, looking as happy as ever. While Gabriel and I are seated on opposite sides of the table

Eden leans forward and rests her elbows on the table. “What did you think of the lodge?”

“The place is top-notch. Good quality construction. Solid amenities. And the welcome package was Gino’s favorite. He devoured the cookies, leaving me only one. And everything else from the fruit to the cheeses were fantastic, so I’m not surprised that it’s a popular destination location.”

“Thank you. Lips & Hips provides the welcome package.” My neck heats as his eyes never leave mine. I need a fan. Or some ice water. Or a dip in the lake.

“Have you seen Gabriel play football?” Marco jumps from his seat and grabs the remote.

“I….” I cough and clear my throat. “I’ve seen a little bit, but not enough to recognize him.” Without his helmet and uniform on.

“Marco,” Gabriel groans and flops against the chair’s back. “She doesn’t want to watch me play football.”

“What woman doesn’t want to watch a good-looking guy play football?” Eden raises her hands, palms upward in question, and turns to me. “Right, Norah?”

Lord, she’s laying it on thick. Now my ears are burning. If they were trying any harder to throw us at each other, we’d be playing a game of Naked Twister.

“Eden, you realize your brother-in-law doesn’t live here, right? And I run a business here?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Eden clutches her chest in mock surprise.

“I mean, I don’t do the tourist thing. I’ve tried it before, and it blew up. I don’t do guys who have both feet out the door because that works even less, and you’re shipping us together like packages on a freight barge.”

“So, you noticed, too?” Gabriel rakes a hand through his hair, leaving the strands flicked in different directions. Like he needed to do something else to look hotter.

“It’s hard not to.”

The TV blares to life. It only takes Marco a second to have Gabriel’s image fill the enormous screen. He’s flipping hot. I’m not going to deny that. I’d be a fool to do so.

Eden smacks her hands on the table. “You’re not settling for some guy who doesn’t light your world on fire. Some guy like Sawyer. He’s nice enough, but not right for you. And we love you and Gabriel, so what’s the harm in wishing you’d decide to become a couple?”

“Sixteen hundred miles, his wife, his career, and if I had to guess, he isn’t a fan of small towns,” I mutter. Shit. Did I say that out loud? “And we’re not interested in each other in that way.”

If they wouldn’t notice, I’d crawl under the table and disappear.