“Thank you. I was so shocked. He brought me flowers, cooked me dinner, poured wine and even made dessert. He wrote me a terrible poem—it’s kind of become his trademark. And then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was sweetly romantic and the best night ever. I swooned. Okay, I don’t really know what swooning is, but I felt a little weak in the knees. Is that swooning?”

Tara laughed. “Sounds like swooning to me.”

“I agree. Who knew my brother was that romantic?”

Amelia grinned. “I did. He’s always making gestures like bringing me a single rose to work, or texting me to tell me he misses me. They’re not huge, but there’s nothing like having someone in your corner, you know?”

“Yes,” Tara said. “It means everything. Even after all these years, Mick will still call me every day to see how my day is going. It means so much to me. And he always wrote me a note when he left town.”

“Love notes, right?” Amelia asked.

Tara looked down, then back up again. It was so cute to see the stain of blush on her cheeks. “Actually, yes.”

“Flynn does that, too. It makes my heart melt.”

Mia had no idea what that was like. The few relationships she’d had hadn’t worked out. Not that she was all broken up about it since she hadn’t put her whole heart into those guys anyway. She’d never had that all-consuming kind of love that Amelia and Tara were talking about. Which was fine. She had her career to consume her. That was her love. It was all she needed.

Maybe someday she’d settle in with a nice, hot guy like Nathan. When she was ready to fall in love. Because if she was ready, she’d want someone like him. Hot, smart, funny, considerate . . .

Which reminded her . . .

“So next week is Nathan’s birthday,” Mia said.

Tara nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“Are you going to be in town still? I’d love to throw him a birthday party.”

“That’s a wonderful idea. And we could arrange to stay a little longer. What did you have in mind?”

“Nothing yet. But training camp starts not long after so I want to have a big blowout party for him. Invite all his friends and any family that would be available to come. Since you’re in town, we could always do it earlier.”

“His birthday is just a couple of days after I planned to leave. I could adjust my schedule. And maybe invite a few other family members. I know they’d love to come.”

“I could do the food,” Amelia said.

Mia looked at her. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“Why not? Flynn loves a good party and I know he’d pitch in and help me. Just let me know what day and I’ll arrange to take the day off.”

“That would be wonderful,” Mia said. “Thank you, Amelia. Okay, so we’ll need a venue. I could probably arrange the clubhouse at my condo.”

“Hey, I am an event planner,” Tara said. “Let Maggie and I work on that.”

Now Mia was excited. “This is awesome. Should we make it a surprise?”

Tara grinned. “Isn’t it better that way?”

“I think so,” Amelia said. “How often do you get to surprise a guy?”

“Not nearly often enough,” Tara said. “We’ll leave that part up to you, Mia.”

“I can handle that.”

They finalized what plans they could. Then Amelia had to head back inside to check on things in the kitchen.

Mia and Tara went back inside. Nathan, Flynn and Mick were still huddled around the table.

Nathan had watched Mia come in. They might have been talking football, but a part of his brain had been reserved for Mia. And when she’d left, he missed her. Watching her come back in made everything within him tighten.

Yeah, that was a big change in their dynamic. Sure, he’d always been happy to see her whenever they were together. But something was different now.

Now he wanted to put his hands on her, to pull her down onto his lap and kiss her and touch her.

“Okay,” Tara said. “Breaking up the shoptalk.”

Mick slipped his arm around Tara’s waist. “Hey, I’m retired.”

Tara slid into the chair next to Mick. “Babe, you might be physically retired, but you’re always going to be in the game.”

“He’s going to be missed,” Flynn said. “And he’s still got keen insights about the Sabers as well as our competition. We were just picking his brain.”

Mick leaned back. “You don’t need me anymore. Nathan’s got this all under control, don’t you, kid?”

All that warmth thinking about Mia suddenly dissipated. Nathan sucked in a breath, trying to calm his rapidly beating pulse. “You know I do.”

“Yeah, we all know it, too,” Flynn said. “This is gonna be one hell of a season.”

Nathan had spent the majority of the time listening to his dad and Flynn talk. For the most part, they were reliving the past season. The past season where Nathan had warmed the bench. Sure, he’d watched, he’d listened and he’d learned. But he hadn’t taken a single snap in a game situation. They’d had another backup quarterback, and as a rookie, Nathan’s job was to absorb, to learn the playbook, to watch his father in action.

Now the backup had been released, a new backup had been signed, and Nathan was suddenly the starting quarterback.

Physically he was more than ready. He knew this game, had known it almost all his life. Hell, he’d been ready from the day the Sabers drafted him.

Getting the team to believe in him? That was something else. You didn’t just walk out onto the field as the starting quarterback and gain the trust of the team. You had to prove yourself. He had a lot to prove.

His dad leaned over. “You know you got this.”

Nathan nodded and gave his dad a confident grin. “Yeah, I got this.”

Okay, so maybe it was more than getting the team to believe in him.

He had to believe it, too. And until he held the ball in his hand and started calling plays, it still didn’t feel real to him.

FIFTEEN

MIA SAT DOWN NEXT TO NATHAN AND RAN HER HAND over his back. “Everything okay?”

Funny how she could always pick up on his moods. “Yeah, it’s fine. How about you?”

She smiled at him. “I’ve had a fantastic dinner, and got to visit with your mom and Amelia. So far it’s been great.”

Nathan took a quick glance over the table. His mom and dad were busy talking with Flynn and paying no attention to them, so he smoothed his hand over her back. “Want to come home with me tonight?”

Mia gave him a questioning look, then shot her own glance across the table before answering. “That’s a loaded question.”

“Not really. Unless your answer is a flat-out no.”

“We have things to talk about.”

He arched a brow. “Things?”

“Yes. You know, about last weekend.”

He wasn’t sure he liked the direction of this conversation. “Okay. Let’s talk about them.”

“Not here, obviously. We’ll go to your place after we leave here.”

“Sounds good.”

What didn’t sound good was the direction of her thoughts.

Fortunately, they wrapped things up and his mom and dad said their good-byes.

“We’ll talk again, Mia,” his mom said as they hugged.

“Soon. I had a great time tonight.”

“Me, too.”

Amelia came out from the kitchen to say good night to everyone. Nathan hugged his parents.

“You want to come back to our house?” his dad asked.

“Uh, I have plans tonight.”

“Oh. Sure. Call me tomorrow.”

“Will do.”

After his parents left, Mia stood.

“Well, I’m going to head out,” she said, sliding a short glance at Nathan.

“Okay, see you later,” Nathan said. It was obvious Mia didn’t want to give his parents or Flynn any idea that they’d be meeting up later.

He was okay with that, but they were friends. It wasn’t a big deal for the two of them to hang out and he didn’t think anyone would blink twice if they’d left together. But he wasn’t Mia and he had no idea what was going on in her head.