Game On by Tracy Solheim Read Free Book Online Page B

took the hand she offered as her husband appeared at her side.
    “Lisa, honey, you should be resting.” He wrapped his arm protectively around his wife’s shoulders.
    Shane felt like an idiot. It was clear he’d jumped to some very wrong conclusions.
    “Don’t be silly, Matt, I’m fine.” She trailed a finger down her husband’s chest. “I’m just going to have a cup of tea by the fire and let the girls practice their presentation on me. After that, Carly and I need to catch up on her trip to Mexico. She’s been home for two days and I haven’t heard the juicy details.”
    Shane sensed Carly stiffen beside him.
    “Li, I’ve got a pile of paperwork I left on my desk that I need to have finished by the morning. Can we get together for lunch tomorrow?” she asked.
    “Actually, I have your papers in the car.” What was he thinking? He’d just blown the chance to get her out of the house before she could fill in Coach on his earlier wrong assumptions.
    Carly turned to him, blue eyes wide and blazing. The look she threw at him should have shut him up. Except it didn’t.
    “Your secretary asked me to bring them,” he babbled on. Crossing her arms beneath a pair of very nice breasts, she contemplated him for a long, silent minute. If he were smart, he’d stop provoking her. Except he really liked provoking her. Clearly, he had a death wish.
    Finally, her eyes broke contact with his and Carly turned to her sister with a smile. “Bring on the lasagna,” she said cheerily. Too cheerily. Shane was left to wonder when she might let the axe fall.
    “Good. It’s all settled then. Shane, you and Matt can have your meeting, Carly can do her paperwork, and afterward we’ll
all
enjoy a nice family dinner.”
    Whoa, family dinner! No way!
    “Oh, I couldn’t impose, Mrs. Richardson,” Shane backpedaled. He’d rather be tackled by a three-hundred-fifty-pound defensive lineman than sit through a meal making nice with the coach’s family.
    “Nonsense. Penny has made her famous lasagna. It’s tradition to have a new player over for dinner. Surely you don’t have other plans already?” She eyed him carefully. It was the second time today he’d misread the play. He looked at the coach, who simply raised a brow at him.
    “No, ma’am.” Shane sighed.
    He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard Carly cover up a snort as he followed Coach out to his office in the carriage house.

Four
    Carly reviewed and signed off on the league policy changes and faxed them to the commissioner’s office, crossing off one task from the pile of work waiting for her in the morning. Afterward, she and Emma went through the girl’s closet to select the perfect outfit for the eighth-grade dance the following week; Emma persuaded Carly to loan her a Vera Wang shawl and matching shoes. Now, Carly stood at the breakfast bar slicing two loaves of crusty bread as Lisa carefully mixed the olive oil and the spices on a plate to dredge the bread in. She’d managed to satisfy her half sister’s curiosity about her trip without giving her any details about meeting Shane there. Not that he deserved her silence, but she had played a part as well, and the less her family knew, the better.
    “So it was fun spending time with Julianne again?” Lisa asked.
    “Things are always crazy with Julianne.” Carly tossed the bread into a basket.
    “Do you miss working with her?”
    She and Julianne had been roommates at boarding school. They were like sisters. For seven years, Carly had worked as Julianne’s publicist, working to get her designs noticed. She’d been living in Italy with Julianne when she learned Lisa had cancer and needed a life-saving bone-marrow transfer. It was the only time her father had ever initiated a phone call to Carly.
    Carly didn’t hesitate. She moved to Baltimore—and away from the media circus that was her life—to help care for Lisa’s kids during the busy football season. While Lisa endured several rounds of