God, she never should have slept with him. His first game was this weekend. He'd be heading for the Bay Area a few days after that. She had a business to run. A thriving business with a waiting list for God's sake. It didn't matter how many times she raised her prices. She was good at what she did. The kids loved her and she loved them. She couldn't let them down. She couldn't let herself down.

Sliding off the bed, she hobbled across the room to her dresser, opened the drawer and pulled out a pair of panties. She slid them on, then hobbled back to the end of the bed to get her T-shirt. As she slid her arms into the sleeves, Cole came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of light blue silk boxers.

His body was amazing. He had long powerful legs. Muscular arms and thick muscular shoulders. Narrow waist. Just enough golden-tipped hair across his chest to make her want to run her hands over him one last time, just for the hell of it.

"Hey, what are you doing walking around? Get back in bed. Doctor's orders."

She kept her gaze on the floor, pretending to search for something. "I forgot about some things that I need to get done today," she told him. "I need you to go."

He padded across the carpet toward her and when she didn't look at him, he reached down and brushed the pad of his thumb over her jaw. "What's the matter?"

"I just need you to go, okay?"

"Let me make you breakfast. You're always taking care of everyone else. You deserve to be pampered." His voice was tender and gentle just like his lovemaking.

If he stayed another minute, she'd be begging him to marry her. Pathetic. "You have to go. I can't explain why exactly, you just need to go."

He headed across the room, grabbed his pants and slid them on. "Can you at least tell me why the rush?"

"I don't understand why you're making such a big deal about this," she said.

He rubbed his jaw. "It was the dirty talk, wasn't it?"

"No." She liked the dirty talk. The dirty talk was awesome. The way he'd described the things he was going to do to her before he did them had been incredibly sexy. Gosh, yeah, she had it bad for him. He definitely needed to go.

He found his shirt. "Sure you don't want to talk about this?"

"Positive."

"Okay," he said, sliding his shirt over his head. "If you want me to go, I'll go."

He was angry. She could hear resentment in his voice. What had she expected? For him to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless until she forgot why she'd asked him to leave?

A few minutes later, she heard the jangle of his keys. "I'll call you later."

CHAPTER 20.

A week later, Kari, Lindsay, Molly and all four of Lindsay's daycare kids sat around the picnic bench in the backyard and picked at their lunch.

Kari took three stabs at her salad with her fork and gave up.

Lindsay appeared lost in her thoughts. She still had a limp from her accident, but she no longer needed to use crutches, and the bruise on her face had almost disappeared.

The twins threw bread crumbs at each other, back and forth across the table, laughing every time they struck their targets.

Molly looked from Lindsay to Kari and sighed.

The littlest boy, Jonathan, looked at Molly and said, "Are they sick?"

"Yeah. Love sick."

Lindsay's brows snapped together. "Who's love sick?"

"You and Mom."

Kari frowned. "Summer school starts next week," she told Molly. "Shouldn't you be reading one of those books on the reading list?"

"You may be right about your mom," Lindsay said, "but I don't do love sick."

Kari stood, picked up her paper plate and dropped it in the garbage can a few feet away. "I'm fine," she said to Lindsay and Molly, "and I'm only going to say this once, so listen carefully. Max is not in love with me. He's going through a phase. He's older now and he's feeling pressure from his biological clock, no doubt telling him it's time to settle down. But he's not ready." She grabbed one of the tabloids she'd bought now lying in a heap on the center of the table. "Exhibit A," she said, flipping through the pages until she saw Max. She held it up and tapped her finger on the picture of Max with four women standing next to him. "Max couldn't devote himself to one woman in a million years."

"Those are his sisters, Mom."

Kari looked closer, frowned, then flipped to another page, tapping again when she found him next to a ridiculously gorgeous woman decked out in Armani.

Lindsay leaned closer for a better look. "That's Max's boss, the same woman Cole was with a few weeks ago. She and her brother own the Condors."

Kari tossed the tabloid to the table and grabbed another one. She flipped through the first few pages until she found another picture of Max. This time he was on the beach sitting next to a woman in a bathing suit. "Look at this," she said.

"That's you at the lake," Molly said, laughing.

Kari squinted. "How did they do that?"

"The paparazzi sit and wait on their boats with their telescopic lenses and shoot away," Lindsay told her.

"Yuck," Kari said, snapping the magazine shut. "That's a horrible picture."

"At least you don't look like a tiger with mad cow disease like you did in the picture of you and Max at the grocery store," Lindsay said.

"Thanks for reminding me."

Lindsay snorted. "You should see the one they got of me."

"That bad, huh?"

"No. It's great. I've been trying to get in touch with the editor all week to see if I can get the negative."

Kari didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she realized Lindsay was serious.

"Why can't you give Max a chance?" Lindsay asked.

"Because he doesn't love me."

Four-year-old Becky tugged on the bottom of Kari's shirt. "What is it, honey?"

Becky pulled her thumb from her mouth and said, "I love you, Kari."

Kari leaned over and picked Becky up, cuddling her tight. Becky smelled like baby powder and apple juice just the way Molly used to smell when she was small. "Oh, Becky, sweetie. You are the cutest thing. I love you, too."

"So what about you and Cole. What's your excuse?" Kari asked Lindsay.

"Cole isn't ready to settle down. I refuse to date a man who will turn me in for a newer model the moment I let my guard down."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"Yeah," Molly said. "You're both lame. Time for me to go read a book."

A piece of bread hit the side of Molly's face. "You two are going to get it now," Molly said, making the twins squeal as they slid from opposite sides of the bench and ran across the lawn toward the house.

Molly followed the boys. She stopped halfway inside the door leading into the house. "Don't forget about the game this weekend. Amanda's mom called earlier and she wants to talk to you about it."

Darn. Kari had forgotten all about the game.

"You didn't forget, did you?"

"Of course not."

Molly shook her head as if nobody in the world could possibly have a lamer mother than she did.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Lindsay asked after the door slid shut.

"Completely."

Lindsay sipped her iced tea. "I really do think Max loves you."

"Key word is think," Kari said. "Max keeps using the same word. He thinks he's falling in love with me. He thinks we should spend the rest of our lives together. I want him to know."

Molly poked her head out the sliding door. "Mom. Somebody is on the phone for you. It's a man."

Kari headed for the house. "It's probably Richard," she told Lindsay. But it wasn't Richard at all. It was Joey, the last person on earth she would have guessed.

"I need your help," he said.

The poor guy sounded like he had the flu. Breanne still hadn't moved back in with him. And after their therapy session, Breanne had refused to talk to Joey at all. "You know I would love to see you and Breanne get back together," Kari began, "but I don't know how I could possibly be of any help. Breanne's feeling vulnerable right now. Being pregnant does crazy things to a woman's emotions. She doesn't think you trust her..."

"I blew it," he said. "I do trust her and I know I'm going to have to prove it to her, but I just don't know how."

"What about the baby? You made it clear you weren't ready for kids. No woman in their right mind would live with a man who wanted nothing to do with his own child."

"I admit it. I was scared in the beginning. Freaked out. But I've done a lot of soul searching. I even read a couple of baby books. I'm ready. I know I am."

Kari's heart went out to him. He sounded sincere. "Did you tell Breanne all of this?"

"Yes. She doesn't believe me."

"I'll talk to her," Kari said, wishing she had the magic words to make everything better between the two of them.

The smell of hotdogs, garlic fries and beer drifted up from the stands of the Los Angeles Coliseum. Kari's stomach grumbled. The Steelers were the favorites heading into the contest. At first it appeared that the odds-makers were right, since the Condors seemed to have a serious case of first game jitters in the first half, committing false start penalties and misfiring in the passing game. Cole was definitely tight, completing only one of his first five pass attempts and throwing an interception that ended the Condors' first drive of the second quarter. But Mad Max kept the Steelers in check by keeping their number one running back from going anywhere.

"Oooh. Ouch!" Kari looked away from the field and covered her eyes.

"Dad's getting up," Molly said. "He's okay."

Kari peeked between her fingers. Molly was right. He was okay. With his great size, strength, and quickness he'd just rushed the Steelers' quarterback, bringing his opponent to the ground right before a three hundred pound lineman landed on Max's head.

"It could be worse," Lindsay told her after Molly went back to talking to Grant. "We could be in Las Vegas watching a boxing match."

"I know it's part of the game, but somebody could get seriously hurt," Kari told her. "Did you know that Merril Hoge hung up his cleats after doctors told him he risked death if he got one more concussion?"

Lindsay wrinkled her nose. "Whose Merril Hoge?"

"He was Steelers Iron Man of the Year two years in a row. Then he played for the Chicago Bears as a free agent until he was forced to retire early due to post-concussion."

Lindsay lifted a brow. "Somebody has been doing some serious research on the NFL."

"Max is Molly's father. It's perfectly normal that I would worry about him and do some research now that he's involved in Molly's life."

"Oh, puhleaz. You've had the hots for the guy since high school and nothing has changed in all these years."

"A lot has changed. I'm no longer a pushover for one thing. It takes more than a hot bod and a killer smile to catch my attention." Too bad she was a big fat liar. Deep down Kari knew she'd done the right thing by turning Max down. For starters, if Max truly loved her, he wouldn't give up that easily. He'd caught her completely off guard when they were at the lake. She'd been stunned by his proposal. At first she'd thought he was joking, but once she realized he was serious, it was clear he was proposing for all the wrong reasons.

"Maybe you should do a little research on destiny?" Lindsay said.

Kari kept her gaze on the field. "A predetermined course of events beyond human control. What about it?"

Lindsay shook her head in dismay. "You can be such a smart ass."

Kari laughed.

"My point is," Lindsay went on, "what are the odds of a big healthy football player like Mad Max needing a nutritionist? A zillion to one," Lindsay quickly answered. "Destiny at work I tell you."

"Look, there's Cole," Kari said, changing the subject. She didn't want to be here, not really, not when things were so painfully raw between her and Max. Not thinking about Max was proving to be difficult, even when she wasn't watching him play football. Every time he came to pick up Molly, she watched him from her bedroom window and wondered what she could have done differently to make him love her the way she needed to be loved.

Lindsay handed Kari the binoculars. "Cole Fletcher really does stand out, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he does," Kari agreed. "Cole called again last night."

"Again?" Lindsay asked. "Why can't he understand that no means no?"