Forget Me Not (17 page)

“That’s very nice of you but—”

Gideon held up his hand. “Hold that thought. I’m not truly altruistic. You did agree to have coffee with me last night. I believe your stipulation was that it couldn’t be at my house.”

He stood directly in front of her and smiled. She stared at his kissable lips. She wanted to touch them, kiss them, have him kiss her all over her body.

“You can’t do that, Mr.—”

Gideon shook his head. “Please do not call me Mr. Wells again. You’re making me feel old. I can’t be much older than you. I’m twenty-seven.”

Janelle smiled. “So am I.”

“And I’m not getting any younger.” The truck driver lowered himself along with
several cases of flowers. “Where do you want these?”

“Please, I really can’t—”

“Yes, you can. And I apologize for interrupting you, but you make it hard to not want to stop you from being stubborn.” Gideon went to the door. “Will you unlock this so that he can deliver these
flowers
for you?”

She stood still for a moment, not used to having someone take care of her. After a beat, she went to the door and unlocked it. She propped it open the same way she would if her delivery driver had arrived. She placed a huge rock against it.

Janelle leaned her head into the door. “Penny!”

After some stomping footsteps, her friend showed up to the back door. “Yeah?”

“Show this gentleman where to put this inventory.”

Penny looked at the delivery driver and then peered over Janelle’s shoulder. “Whoa. Uh, yes, ma’am. You handle your business out here.”

When the driver and Penny disappeared, Janelle turned to Gideon. “Thank you for doing this. You didn’t have to.”

“Yes, I did. I came to town to help my family. I never meant to cause you any distress.” He approached her.

She remained in her spot, powerless to do anything else but keep her stare on him.

He continued. “And since you wouldn’t meet me for coffee, I had to come here.”

“People are talking.” She dropped her gaze for a moment. “They think we’re dating.”

“The paparazzi will make up a story to sell magazines or keep the hits on their Web sites up. I pay no attention to it. Thank goodness, someone in my life does look at that crap. I wouldn’t have known that you needed help.” Gideon brought his hand up almost like he wanted to touch Janelle’s face. He stopped himself and crossed his arms over his chest.

“How’s Queen Elizabeth?” Janelle chewed her lower lip.

“Good. Waiting for her surgery date.” Gideon took another step closer to her.

She lowered her voice. “And your brother?”

“Released from the hospital and home.” He peered up at the store when the driver and Penny appeared again to get the remaining load. “I know you’re kind of busy right now, but I would really like to take you to lunch.” He paused. “Or maybe dinner.”

Her heartbeat sped in her chest until it bounced off her sternum. Janelle snaked her hand to the back of her neck. Even in the cold of February, it felt sweaty and hot.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I have a store full of people who are taking my picture and filming me because of you.” She wrapped her sweater around her body and wished she’d worn something different, something more formfitting.

“People are going to talk whether you go out with me or not. Might as well have fun.” He smiled.

This time when he took a step closer to her, Janelle peered down. She noticed something around his leg. At first she thought he had one of those gun holsters around his muscled thigh. On closer inspection, she recognized he had on a hinged knee brace.

“Are you hurt?” This time Janelle moved closer to him.

Before Gideon could answer, she heard a clicking sound from behind him. She looked around him and noticed a photographer. Damn. She didn’t know Virginia had this many paparazz
i
in town.

“Don’t say anything.” Janelle shook her head.

“What?” Gideon’s eyebrows drew together.

“Photographer right behind you. I’d better go.” She started to pivot when she felt a hand clamp down on hers.

Janelle peered down at her hand first. When she saw Gideon had a hold of it, she took the time to pan up his long arm to his broad shoulder up to his face.

She didn’t know what to expect when she arrived at his expression. He looked more surprised than angry. Then he lowered his eyelids. Lust filled his gaze in a millisecond as soon as their stares connected.

“No one has ever looked out for me like that.” Gideon pulled her in, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pressed his lips against hers.

Janelle should have been offended. She should have pushed him away, slapped him, called the police. The way he genuinely stared at her and looked so grateful, the thought never entered her mind that he may be using her for publicity. She took his impromptu gesture to mean that Gideon felt grateful that she’d looked out for his interest instead of her own.

Right now, she enjoyed feeling this man against her body. His hard body pressed against hers for what seemed like hours but could only have been a few seconds.

When Gideon sank in deeper, allowing his tongue to part her lips and dive in her mouth, Janelle sobered to the situation, but not to stop him. When he upped the passion on the kiss, it felt familiar. Janelle touched his arm and felt his muscles through his jacket. The memory brought her back ten years ago to when a shy girl had her fantasies realized by a passionate boy at a community
-
center dance.

Gideon broke from the kiss and stared at Janelle. “I know you, don’t I?”

Janelle felt her mouth move but she couldn’t say anything.
He would call her crazy if she admitted she thought he’d kissed her back in high school.
She couldn’t admit that his one kiss had forced her to compare every man she dated after to him.

She unlaced her fingers from his and got out of his grip. When she peered around him, she noticed a second photographer had joined the first. Both couldn’t erase the smiles from their smug faces.

“You had better go. I’m sure this will end up on some site or tabloid somewhere.” Janelle started to retreat into her business.

“Wait. Can we talk?” Gideon started to go after her.

She shook her head. “Thank you for the supplies. Have a good day, Mr. Wells.”

As she closed the back door, she heard him say, “Shit.”

Exactly.

As Gideon ascended the stairs in his mother’s home, he couldn’t get Janelle out of his mind. He shouldn’t have kissed her. He couldn’t help it. For the last few years of his professional life, everyone around him, except for his immediate family, wanted something from him. Endorsements, a winning season, fame, his money, sex. Gideon had had to look out for himself…until today when an angelic woman had put his needs first.

He got to the top of the stairs and went into Gunnar’s old room. Since coming home, his older brother had been hell-bent on leaving.

“Hey, bro.” Gideon, who hid his new knee brace under his jeans, leaned against the door jamb.

He didn’t want to wear it, but after his appointment that morning, the doctor had insisted. Opting to not have surgery on his ACL, and instead agreeing to months of physical therapy didn’t sit well with the doctor. Gideon had to be the rock. Being sidelined for months would prevent him from being that glue.

Gideon hadn’t expected Janelle to notice the brace. His heart still melted from her concerned reaction. He couldn’t take the worry and judgment from his family. As soon as the delivery driver dropped off all the supplies, Gideon went back to Pick ’N Clip, ducked into the bathroom
,
and put the brace under his clothing. As long as he could keep his walk straight, he wouldn’t alert his family about his newly diagnosed condition.

When Gunnar continued packing, Gideon filled the silence. “Mom hates that you’re not talking to her.”

“She lied to me.” Gunnar shook his head.

When he told Gideon about Eboni’s miscarriage from ten years ago, Gideon had to pick his jaw up from the floor. After his initial shock, he brought home some reality to his brother. It had only been the three boys and Queen Elizabeth together for years. Gideon convinced his pigheaded brother that their mother would never do anything to hurt him on purpose. Bottom line, Gunnar needed to make amends with her before her surgery.

When Gunnar agreed, Gideon allowed him some time to be alone with Queen Elizabeth. Plus, he needed the privacy to try and call Dennis again.

The phone rang once, twice, and at the third ring, someone answered.

“Go to hell!” The line disconnected.

As Gideon started to redial Dennis again, his phone rang. He saw on the caller
-
ID screen that Dennis called him this time.

“Don’t hang up on me again.” Gideon knew his friend.

“Kiss my ass!” The line disconnected again.

Gideon paced the hallway upstairs. He felt his heart beating in his head. What the hell had made Dennis angry? Had he been put on the injured list too? Did he have months of physical therapy ahead? Was he unsure about his place with the team?

This time, Gideon opted to do a video chat. No way would his dear friend disconnect the call if he saw his face.

Dennis answered. Gideon had only seen the scowl Dennis carried on game day against the opponents. He had his dreads pulled back into a low ponytail. He had his eyebrows knitted together. When he breathed, Dennis looked like a bull about to charge.

“You have got some nerve.” Dennis’s mouth drew in a tight line.

“I’ve had a lot stuff going on, Den.” Gideon continued pacing when he noticed Dennis had started. “My brother got shot Super Bowl night.”

“Yeah, I had to hear about it on the news. You couldn’t tell me? I thought we were boys.” Dennis pounded his chest with his fist.

“We are. I wasn’t thinking about anyone but my family. I had to get home.” Gideon lowered his head, took a breath
,
and connected his stare to his friend before speaking. “My mom needs bypass surgery. It’s serious, man.”

Dennis stopped pacing, but the grimace remained. “You didn’t tell me about that either.”

“It’s not something you broadcast, you know. Her surgery is this coming Monday.”

Gideon’s friend’s face softened finally. “Tell her I said good luck.” He looked off to the side.

Gideon knew Dennis’s mother had passed away years ago from breast cancer, another reason not to tell him about Queen Elizabeth.

“Thanks, man.” Gideon coughed. “Did you hear the other news?”

“What? You getting married or something?” Dennis pressed his lips together.

“Yeah, right. No. Coach Brick came to see me.”

Dennis stilled.

Gideon swiped his hand over his throat. “I’m done. I’m on the injured list. Might as well say I’m off the team.”

“That’s rough. Guess you shouldn’t have run that last play.”

Gideon glared at his friend. “Even though it won us the game?”

“Yeah, but look at you. You’re a loose cannon. Coach doesn’t know what to do with you, which is a problem for me.”

“Why’s that?”

Dennis remained quiet for a while before he dropped a bomb. “I told Coach and the managers that when I signed on to be a Wolf, it was with the understanding that the team does a lot of running plays. If they support you running key plays, I need to go find a new team.” He shrugged. “Bottom line, I told them it was either me or you. I guess they made their decision since I haven’t seen Brick or heard from my agent.”

“You bastard. You couldn’t come talk to me about the plays first? You ran to the coach and managers like a bitch behind my back?” The knife in his back felt like it sliced through his heart as well.

“I’m the bitch? You’re the one who made the most important game of our lives all about you. We all have stories we want to tell our kids, Gid.”

Gideon had to sit down. The more he paced, the more it sounded like marching. He didn’t need to alert his mother and brother. “No matter what you think of me, I never did anything intentionally to hurt you or your career. You waited until I was weak and you buried me. You know, the phone rings on my end too. You could have called me.”

Dennis chuckled. “Why? You know it all. You have it handled, right?” He shook his head. “Good luck with rehab.” He disconnected the call.

If Gideon didn’t need his phone and the contacts in it, he would have thrown it across the room. As soon as he heard the front door slam, he went downstairs. His mother sat on the couch and looked like he had always remembered her. She knitted while watching TV.

He noticed a cup of tea on the end table next to her along with some cookies. Gideon couldn’t indulge if he wanted to be able to play next season.

He sat on the chair across from her. “Do you need anything before I go?”

“Yes, darling.” Queen Elizabeth put her knitting project down to regard her son. “Aren’t you going to thank me?”

Before Gideon could ask what he needed to thank her for, he thought about the day and his whole life. With his mother, anything could be fair game.

“Thank you for providing me with a great home and upbringing.”

“Honey, you don’t have to go back that far. Try again.” She picked up her tea and took a sip.

“Thank you for making that appointment for me.” He smiled and hoped that she wouldn’t want to delve any deeper in to what the doctor had said.

“So?”

No such luck.

“So I messed up my ACL pretty badly, but not so bad that I have to have surgery. That’s the good news.” His smile widened.

“But you need it?” she pressed.

“The doctor suggested I get it. But he also said I could heal with physical therapy.”

“Good. So how long will you have to wear the brace?” She smiled as she set her cup down.

Gideon peered down. Through his jeans, he saw the outline of the brace around his knee. “Six weeks for now
,
along with some physical therapy. Then the doctor will check on my progress.”