Chapter 2
“Men, Power-Down Talk in ten minutes,” Dean said.
The guys had put in a grueling practice that had made him proud, but Dean was still getting calls about their off-the-field behavior. That needed to be addressed.
They got to the locker room and turned off their phones. They held them aloft to show the black screens and set them in their lockers. The coaches, including him, powered down too and set their phones in a line on a bench.
“That was a solid practice. You should be proud of that effort,” he said, running down a list of the day’s best plays.
“Off-field, though, we’re still jumping off sides.
” He stared them down. “You are the biggest, toughest men on this campus, bar none. I hear some of you always travel in packs, like the wolves you are on the field. During games, we are one body. These are your brothers. On campus, though, you will not hunt girls as a pack.”
There were some snickers and exchanged looks.
“You know who you are. You know what I’m talking about.
Ask yourself something. Should you need back-up to flirt with a hundred-and-fifteen-pound teenage girl?
You gotta have the offensive line help you make that play?
If you need to corner a woman with two other guys, you’ve got no game.
” He could see Lamar grinning out of the corner of his eye.
“Coach is right, and you best listen to the man. He keeps it one hundred. Back in the day, he got more pussy than anyone. The boys called him Hef. He had all the bunnies hopping.”
Dean frowned. Sometimes Lamar tried too hard to remind the guys that they’d once been one of them.
“That true, Coach? For real?” Jameson asked.
“Can we call you Coach Hef?” Darnell called out, causing the locker room to erupt.
“Sure, if you want to run the hill till you puke,” Dean said mildly.
Another round of laughter.
“For real, Coach. How come you got no girl?”
“When I want a woman I have one,” he said coolly.
That caused a third eruption.
“And I don’t need back-up. Know why? Because we already have the best advantage there is.
Biology. Women are hardwired to want the biggest, strongest guy in the room.
Back in the day, in the wild, they needed us to protect them.
That’s still in them. You don’t need a gang.
She’s already intimidated by you. You’re the alpha male.
Start acting like it. And by that, I don’t mean start fights or drag a girl anywhere she’s not inclined to go.
The time to impress them with strength is when they’re in trouble.
Darnell knows what I’m talking about. He saw a frat boy slip something in a girl’s drink and punched the asshole in the face. ”
“And got pulled in to explain himself,” someone said. “Could’ve gotten kicked out.”
“Is he still here? Darnell, did we have your back?”
“Yeah, Coach was there at the closed hearing, talking about if a guy don’t want to get beat down, maybe he best not try to perpetrate a sex crime when a Wolf is in the house.”
“Darnell, tell me something. Did the girl give you her number?”
“Yep. Not only her. I got a whole lotta numbers that night.”
“There endeth the lesson, men,” Dean said, picking up his phone.
“Hey, Coach, we saw you talking to the physics professor. Gonna hit that?”
“Yeah, come on, Coach! We heard she hates football,” Darnell said. “You say we can get anyone we want by biology. School us, man. We need to see how it’s done.”
“See you tomorrow,” Dean said.
“I beg your pardon?” Meghan asked, stepping back from her dry erase board and looking at the department chair, Jeff Dewey.
“Head Coach Ulrich is here for a tour of the lab. You’re going to be his guide.”
“I don’t understand. Why would a football coach need a tour of our labs?”
“I don’t know, but he asked. Sorry for the short notice, but I need you to be a team player,” Jeff said with a small smile.
She sighed. “This is crazy. I have lectures this afternoon. This morning I was counting on having time to—” She broke off as the gorgeous coach stepped into the doorway.
“Coach Ulrich, great to see you,” Jeff said. “Ready for Ohio State this weekend?”
“We’re ready. They’ve got deep talent on their team, so it should be a great game.”
“Wouldn’t miss it. Here’s Meghan.”
Meghan looked Dean Ulrich over. He wore black trousers and a black polo shirt with the Ebert University logo over his heart.
At the fundraiser he’d worn a suit so she hadn’t seen his arms. They were really nice arms with very big muscles.
She wondered what he did with them. His playing days were behind him.
So these days he what…held a clipboard? He didn’t need muscles like that for everyday use.
Did he just use them to lift weights for the fun of it?
It was sort of a waste of his time, but if a man was going to waste his time, he could find worse ways. They were really gorgeous muscles.
When she glanced up, he looked amused.
“Do they sell those shirts on campus?” she asked, cursing the blush that had already started to bloom.
“Was it the shirt you were admiring?” he asked with a tone that said he knew it wasn’t.
“What else?” she said lightly as she shuffled her papers into a pile so she could find the keys to her office.
“They probably do sell them somewhere on campus, but we order them from a catalogue.”
“That must be nice, having your wardrobe paid for by the athletics budget and being able to wear comfortable clothes all the time.”
He glanced over her silk blouse and polyester-lycra blend slacks.
She was actually quite comfortable in the pants.
Although they clung a little too tightly to her butt.
Again, the extra weight was not helpful.
She wore plain black clogs on her feet, which were also definitely comfortable, but not attractive.
They’d been battered by snow, salt, sun and rain for three years.
“What are you working on there?” he asked, looking at her white dry-erase board that stood on an easel. It contained a series of equations that were way beyond what anyone like him would understand.
“I don’t really have time to explain it.”
“Sure you do. Your class isn’t until one.”
“No, I don’t. I have a lot of work to do before then. I’m going to give you a ten-minute tour of the lab and then I’m going to get back to work.”
He smiled. “You think so?”
“Yes,” she said tightly.
“You remember how I’m the breadwinner? Me and the frivolous work I do?”
“I—I’m sorry about that. I’d had wine on an empty stomach. Always a mistake. I wanted to be polite, but I missed the mark. Again, sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for being honest. I like it when women tell me the truth about what’s on their minds.”
“Meaning what? That women are more duplicitous than men?”
“Women are more complicated and more guarded than men. You’ve had to be.”
She stared at him. That was a very interesting statement. Did he mean in the workforce? Or elsewhere? “I’m really curious—but no, I don’t have time for this.”
“You should make time for me.”
She drew her brows together. “Why is that?”
He smiled. “You’re supposed to be brilliant. You tell me.”
“Because you’re the dean’s prized possession and he said so?”
“I’m no one’s possession. Try again.”
She sighed and leaned against her desk. My chairman would not interrupt my day for nothing. You promised him better seats to the game? And if I don’t comply with your whims, he’ll move me to an even smaller office? Down near the chemistry lab that constantly smells like sulfur?”
He shook his head. “You applied for a grant from the Baker Foundation. So did Dr. Sunavasan from the chemistry department. So did a lot of other scientists from around the country. Know who’s a big football fan?
George Baker of the Baker Foundation. He really wants to have dinner with me to talk about football.
I said sure, but I’d like him to meet a couple of our most promising scientists who have applied for grants from his foundation.
Dr. Sunavasan gave me a tour of his lab this morning and told me all about the work he’s doing.
Pretty impressive stuff. Of course my degree was in Applied Mathematics, so normally I’m partial to physicists. Less so today though.”
Oh my God! She froze and swallowed, her face going scarlet. The Baker Foundation grant was for a significant amount. And also, Applied Mathematics? Oh. My. God.
“Applied mathematics? I had no idea.”
“It’s in my bio on the school website. It was foolish of you not to find out about me.”
“How was I supposed to know I needed to find out?”
“Because men like me are the ones who have access to guys like Baker, as you so aptly pointed out last night.”
Meghan felt like a complete fool. “I’m very passionate about my work and interferences with it make me impatient. But I’m not—well, anyway, there seems to be no limit to the number of apologies I need to make to you. I’ve behaved really badly.”
“That’s true. Someone needs to take you in hand.”
“Take me in hand? You mean guide me?”
“It’s a conversation for another day. Are you going to show me your lab or not?”
“Yes, of course. If you’d still like to see it?”
“I’m not here to admire your windowless office.”
Meghan nodded. “It’s this way,” she said.
Dean grilled her with questions. He’d stayed up late reading her papers and the descriptions of the research she’d been doing.
She was a brilliant scientist, but not a very good communicator.
He guessed a lot of physicists weren’t, since her somewhat disorganized manuscripts had been published in peer-reviewed journals.
He had a feeling that her grant application wasn’t going to be as well written as her competitors’ were. She was also several steps away from yielding results that could be translated into real-world applications.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, glancing up at the clock.
“Your work is interesting. I’ll email you the information about drinks with Baker.”
“You weren’t impressed,” she said, tilting her head.
“Not as impressed as I wanted to be.”
She looked instantly crestfallen. It made him want to take her in his arms to comfort her.
“Listen, Sunavasan has a lot more experience presenting his research. He’s a full professor. It stands to reason he’d be good for an impromptu presentation. I caught you off guard today.”
“You don’t think I have a chance?”
“I wouldn’t say that. Baker’s not a scientist. Wear the red dress, and you’ll likely stay in the running.”
She scowled at him. “That is a terrible, sexist thing to say. As if I’d want to get funded for that reason. I’d much rather it go to Dr. Sunavasan if his work and his presentation are better.”
“They are. Skip drinks with Baker and work on your research. You’ve got a brilliant mind. I’m sure you’ll get a lot of funding over the course of your career.”
He stepped out into the hall.
“Mr. Ulrich?”
“Yes?”
“I appreciate your honesty and that you gave me a chance even though I was rude last night and today.”
“Dr. Marshall, you don’t need to thank me for that. You know how I said guys like me always have access to guys like Baker?”
“Yes.”
“Well, women like you always have access to guys like me.”
She stared at him, uncomprehending.
“You could’ve stopped traffic in that dress. Baker gave me an excuse to see you again.”