Chapter 14
The team dinner didn’t always include friends and family, but they’d agreed that this one would since they’d had time to meet before to discuss the upcoming game. They would also have the following morning together. It was an advantage of getting in the night before.
Dean, dressed in a custom navy suit, greeted the guys’ families who’d flown in.
Then he joined Darnell and the pack of players whose parents couldn’t be there.
Darnell was one of his star running backs and certainly the most outspoken of the guys.
He reminded Dean a lot of Lamar, but he was also prone to getting into trouble.
It was always better when Tyson was in the mix.
Like Darnell, he was a natural leader, but he also provided some restraint.
The sophomore quarterback was talented, but he was nowhere near established enough as the team’s leader to take control of the older guys if they got wild.
Dean put a hand on Darnell’s shoulder and leaned in. He wanted a whiff of the kid’s breath. They all knew better than to tie one on the night before facing LSU, but drinking in New Orleans was tough to resist.
“So, Coach, I hear you went to see Conga Line.”
“I did. You would’ve fit right it. It was a lot of girls gossiping.”
Darnell laughed. Dean was glad he didn’t smell booze.
“I can’t see you there. Thought you were strictly war movies.”
“War movies?”
“Talking about this is how Navy Seal training applies to how we’re going to train to play football. Zero Dark Thirty preparation and working as a unit.”
“Nice to know you were paying attention.”
“So what wisdom you got to share from Conga Line?”
“None.”
“Didn’t think so. The woman you were with must have some sweet box to get you to take her to that flick. A girl’d need to have something like bourbon-flavored whipped cream up in there.”
“Sounds about right,” Dean said.
Darnell’s brows shot up. “Damn, Coach.”
“So you do remember I’m your coach, not one of your boys? I’m gonna remind you next week on Tuesday during drills too. Don’t bother to eat breakfast. You won’t keep it down.”
Darnell grinned. “You’re too serious, Coach. I know you and Coach Berry talk pussy. He talks that almost as much as football. You can’t be his friend without—God damn,” Darnell exclaimed, looking past him.
Dean turned and saw why all the heads had turned. Meghan wore a snug green dress with a scoop neck and very high heels. Her red hair hung in tousled curls around her face and spilled over her shoulders and onto the ivory skin of her throat and upper chest.
God damn was exactly right.
“Is that the physics professor? From the alumni party?” Sean asked. “Did she dye her hair red?”
“She’s a redhead. Working her way back to her natural color,” Dean murmured, unable to take his eyes off of her.
“How you know? She with you, Coach?” Jameson demanded.
“She is with me.”
“God damn,” Darnell repeated when Meghan paused and turned, bending slightly to drop something into a trash can.
“She looks good. I like me some red hair. She should keep it that color.”
“No, she should let her own hair color grow out,” Dean said, still staring at her, like every other man in the lobby.
“How you know what her color is? You known her for a long time, Coach?” Jameson asked.
“No, fool. How you think he know?” Darnell demanded. “He seen some strawberry hair that wasn’t on her head.”
Dean turned and gave the players a look that immediately silenced them. A moment later, Meghan was at his side, smiling and shaking hands with his players.
“I really enjoyed your last game. Congratulations on breaking the college’s rushing record, Darnell.
Your ability to evade a tackle is so impressive.
To redirect your momentum instantly like that…
remarkable. I played back your thirty-seven-yard touchdown run several times.
It’s fun to watch. As a physicist, I’d categorize you as a mechanical marvel. ”
Darnell stared at her for a moment. “God damn,” he mumbled. “I gotta say, the admiration is mutual. Watching you cross a lobby in high heels…damn. You’re a marvel, too.”
“Oh shit,” one of the guys said, grabbing Darnell’s arm and pulling him back. “Coach gonna kill you in practice, boy. Sorry, Miss Marshall—Professor Marshall. We’re gotta go catch the van to dinner.”
Dean watched the players spill out through the glass doors onto the street.
Meghan slid her hand down to intertwine her fingers with his. “Was he flirting? I wasn’t. You know that right?”
“I do.”
“I wish I’d gone to school here. The football players at my school never looked twice at me.”
“You didn’t wear that dress in front of them.”
“I guess not. I didn’t wear much in front of them,” she said.
He gave her a sideways glance.
She laughed. “What I meant was that I spent a lot of my time in the library or the lab. I didn’t interact with any athletes.
There were a few of them in class, I think, at the beginning.
But I was in school in the Midwest, and it was cold a lot of the year.
I wore jeans and sweaters to keep warm. Also, I wasn’t a fan of mascara under lab goggles, so I think my face sort of blended into the white walls, like a chameleon. I would’ve made a good spy,” she joked.
“I don’t think you’ve ever been as invisible as you think. A guy would have to be blind not to notice you.”
“You say that because I’m your type.”
“You are definitely that. Here’s our car,” he said, tightening his grip on her hand as he led her out of the lobby.
“Hey, it’s the driver from our tour,” she said, delighted.
“Yes, I have an arrangement with her. I’ll give you the number, and she’ll drive you tomorrow too if you want to go anywhere while I’m with the team all day.”
“That’s so great. I think I’ll take my laptop and work at one of the cafes on the river.”
“Whatever you want,” he said, thinking about far more than the drive to a cafe.
“I had the most wonderful time tonight,” Meghan said, her head buzzing from the lemon drop martinis she had at dinner.
She was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, taking off her earrings and makeup.
“I love listening to you and Lamar.” She dissolved into giggles.
“He’s the only one who can get you to let down your guard.
It’s kind of a shame because you’re so witty.
You’re as funny as he is, you know? When you choose to be. How long has he been your best friend?”
“My best friend?” Dean asked from the bathroom doorway. “We’re not thirteen-year-old girls. We’re men.”
“Do you have a closer friend than Lamar?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Never thought about it.”
“I bet he considers you his best friend.”
“I bet he’s never thought about it.”
“Hmmm. My best friend from college lives in Wisconsin. My best friend from high school lives in Indy. I miss them both. I have some friends in the department, but it’s not the same.
People are married and have kids. And the other single faculty in our department are sort of strange.
One doesn’t shower often enough. I am rambling.
Wow! Lemon drop martinis taste like candy, but they sneak up on a person.
” She walked to him, happy to have her uncomfortable heels off. She turned. “Unzip me please.”
He rested his hands on her shoulders. “You know what would’ve looked great with this dress? An emerald necklace.”
She sighed. “I know. I thought the exact same thing. The lowish neckline meant there was too much white skin and nothing else. I had a gold chain and pendant, but it didn’t look right when I put it on.
I have a smoky crystal necklace that would’ve worked okay, I think, but I didn’t bring it.
I was nervous about the flight and just…
well, didn’t think. That gold and emerald necklace would’ve been the most beautiful. ”
The zipper descended with a snick, snick sound. Dean’s hands slid into the dress, warm on her sides. He pulled her back against him and kissed the side of her neck.
“Mmm,” she said, reaching back. She found his designer shirt and followed it down. “You’re so handsome,” she murmured, turning her head to catch a glimpse of him in the mirror.
He caught her wrist and pulled her hand away from his groin. “Too bad you’re in trouble or you would’ve gotten to enjoy the things I’m going to do to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what I said.” Still holding her wrist, he wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her up against his body. She could feel his erection against her, so hard and enticing. She really wanted him.
“Well, but after you punish me.”
“Maybe. If you’re good and don’t try to argue.”
She shivered. On and off during the day, she’d wondered what he planned to do to punish her. She knew well enough that Dean never really let things go until they were settled. And his idea of settled generally involved her being draped over his lap for a hard bare-bottomed spanking.
“I will be good. I always am,” she said firmly.
She hardly ever reached back to try to keep him from getting to her backside.
Only once had she tried to get off his lap in the middle of a punishment.
And she’d learned her lesson because he’d made her stand bent at the waist over the dresser with all the lights on and her legs dangling, knees apart.
He’d talked to her like she was a naughty schoolgirl, chastising her for not saying she needed a rest rather than trying to fling herself on the floor like a child having a tantrum.
She couldn’t understand why that had been so humiliating, but it had been.
And yet when he’d taken her to bed, she hadn’t wanted him any less.
As much or more in fact. She wanted to please him.
That was the problem. He could so easily take on the role of every authority figure she’d ever wanted to impress.
Possibly, she needed therapy. Until she got it though, she really just wanted to keep having three or four orgasms a night.