LITMIR.BIZ

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hug. “You guys are going to be awesome when you get to play, but for now, we’ve got to let the big boys play. Okay?”

      They grumbled, but were quickly distracted when the crowd once again roared in approval and the band broke into the fight song. “Look, guys! See number 22? Oh, my goodness! He’s going to score!”

      Her eyes on the field, Natalie didn’t see Max Sullivan making his way through the crowd in the row behind her. He, however, spied her almost immediately. “Natalie? Is that you?” When she whirled, shocked, he laughed. “I don’t believe this! I didn’t know you were coming to the game!”

      “I didn’t know you were. This is too weird!”

      “Maybe fate’s trying to tell us something,” he suggested, grinning.

      “Or maybe this is fate’s idea of a joke…if you believe in that kind of thing.”

      “Maybe.” His gaze dropped to the two identical young boys staring up at him with wide eyes. “You didn’t tell me you had two boyfriends.”

      “We’re not her boyfriends,” Harry said, grinning. “She’s our mom!”

      “No kidding?” he said, pretending to be surprised. “She doesn’t look old enough to be a mom. You must be…”

      “Harry Bailey,” he said proudly.

      Struggling to hold back his own smile, Max said soberly, “It’s nice to meet you, Harry Bailey. I’m Professor Sullivan, your mom’s teacher.” When he held out his hand for a shake, Harry’s eyes widened to saucers as he carefully placed his small hand in Max’s much bigger one.

      On the other side of Natalie, Harry’s twin said, “Wow! You’re a teacher? How come you’re not all mean looking like the teachers at our school?”

      Max laughed. “Just lucky, I guess. And you are…”

      “Tommy Bailey,” he said with a grin, whipping out his hand for a shake. “We’re twins!”

      “You’re kidding? Really? I would have never known.”

      Impressed with the ease with which he captivated the boys, Natalie lifted a delicately arched brow at him. “I didn’t know you had kids.”

      “I don’t.”

      “Really? Then you must have a lot of nieces and nephews. You’re a natural.”

      “Actually, my parents were each married a number of times—” talk about an understatement! he thought wryly “—so I have a ton of stepsisters and brothers, and it seems like they’re all determined to have enough kids for their own basketball team. The kids are all as sharp as tacks and keep me on my toes. They’re doing a good job.”

      Just the idea of a dozen or more nieces and nephews talking circles around him made Natalie grin. “What’d they do? Trick you out of your car keys?”

      “No, just a trip to a go-cart track for some laps at the speed of sound.”

      Natalie saw her sons’ eyes go round and quickly warned, “Don’t even think about going there, boys. Maybe when you’re fifty-two.”

      “Awh, Mom!”

      Max chuckled, then nodded toward the field. “Hey, guys, look! It’s fourth down. I bet the coach calls a field goal.”

      “Surely not,” Natalie argued, frowning at the drama unfolding on the field. “It’s only fourth and two and we’re on the twelve-yard line. We’ve got to go for it.”

      Surprised, Max lifted a dark brow. “You know football?”

      She grinned. “Why, Professor, I would have never taken you for a chauvinist. Don’t you know any women who like football?”

      “No,” he retorted wryly. “Do you?”

      “Yes.” She laughed. “My mother. She’s a Dallas Cowboy fan. When I was little, we spent every Sunday afternoon in front of the TV, watching the Cowboys.”

      Impressed, he grinned. “So you know your stuff, do you?”

      “Well, I’m no expert, but yeah, I know enough to understand what’s going on.”

      “Good. Care to wager a little bet on the next play?”

      For an answer, she grinned and held out her hand. “Make it easy on yourself.”

      “I never bet more than two dollars,” he warned with twinkling eyes, then promptly closed his fingers around hers. “You’re on.”

      All around them, the crowd went crazy as the teams ran back on the field after a quick time-out. Natalie could almost hear the pounding of her heart and told herself it was because she was caught up in the game and wanted the satisfaction of winning the bet. If she could still feel the warmth of Max’s fingers around hers, she intended to keep that little bit of information to herself.

      “Looks like I was right,” Max said smugly, making no effort to hide his grin as he drew her attention back to the field. “We’re kicking a field goal.”

      “What?” Snapping back to attention, she frowned down at the field as the Eagles lined up for a field goal. “I can’t believe this! It’s only the first quarter! Why’s the coach playing it so safe?”

      “Maybe he’d rather have three points than nothing,” he replied. “Here we go. Have you got your money ready?”

      “I think college football needs some women coaches,” she sniffed. “A woman would have gone for it.”

      The words were hardly out of her mouth when the center hiked the ball to the quarterback, who was supposed to catch the ball and hold it steady on the kicking T so the kicker could kick it. Instead of placing the ball on the T, however, the quarterback jumped to his feet the second he caught the ball. A heartbeat later, he threw a pass to his favorite receiver, who sprinted into the end zone before the other team even realized that the home team had just faked a field goal.

      Stunned, the crowd went wild. Laughing in delight, Natalie grabbed her sons and did a little dance. “Yeah! Touchdown! Did you see that pass, guys? Right in the breadbasket! Looks like I won the bet.”

      When her eyes laughed up into his, Max only grinned. All around them, people were celebrating the touchdown, but Natalie was too caught up in her victory over him to notice. Tickled pink with herself, she had a grin as big as Texas on her face and couldn’t seem to stand still. Jumping up and down, pumping her fists, she had no idea how cute she was. The boys were as excited as she, but Max couldn’t take his eyes off Natalie. She might have been a thirty-six-year-old mother of twins, but she looked like a high school cheerleader. Max had never seen her so carefree, and regardless of how many times he reminded himself she was his student and off limits, he couldn’t resist her. Taking advantage of the fact that the boys were watching the band as it jumped into a frenzied rendition of the fight song, he gave into impulse and reached for her.

      His lips touched hers, and almost immediately he realized his mistake. She was soft and sweet, and the taste of her went straight to his head. If they’d been anywhere but in a crowd of screaming people and in full view of her five-year-old sons, he would have pulled her close and lost himself in the taste and feel of her. Instead all he could do was step back before her sons noticed that their mother’s teacher was on the verge of kissing the stuffing out of her.

      When she stared up at him with stunned blue eyes, Max groaned. Don’t! he wanted to tell her. If she kept looking at him like that, he was going to reach for her again, and then he really would be in trouble. “It’s a tradition,” he said gruffly, nodding toward the kissing couples that surrounded them on all sides. “Everyone does it when we score.”

      Dazed, her lips still tingling from his kiss, all Natalie could think of was the six touchdowns the team had scored last week. She’d missed that game, but she’d read about it in the newspaper. According to all predictions, this game was going to be even

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