His Seduction Game Plan by Katherine Garbera Page B

influenced by her feelings for Hunter, but a bigger part was to figure out what her father had always found in those boys he’d coached that he’d never found in her.
    When she came back in from the patio, the house was quiet except for the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway. Some of her earliest memories involved that clock. It had been soothing just listening to its solid ticking when her parents had been fighting. She walked over and sank down on the floor in front of it.
    The pendulum kept swinging back and forth, the way she swung back and forth between her options for the decision she had to make. One side Coach, the other Hunter.
    Coach...ah, that was so complicated.
    Hunter...well, it would be nice to just make the man happy and claim some of that happiness for herself.
    She heard her ringtone and picked up her phone, glancing at the locked screen. It was a Texas number but not one she recognized.
    â€œHello?”
    â€œFerrin, it’s Hunter.”
    His voice was dark and smooth, sending the good kind of shivers down her back. She hadn’t wanted to admit it but she’d missed him.
    * * *
    Hunter had gotten up early and driven over to the college. He’d figured that if he found some of the old practice tapes there maybe he wouldn’t have to ask Ferrin for them anymore.
    But when he arrived, he’d been greeted by former assistant coach Graham Peters coming out of Coach’s old office. Peters had been short and blunt—he didn’t have any tapes and he thought Hunter should let the whole thing go and leave the past in the past.
    As Hunter walked out of the gym and over to his car, he realized he had no other choice: he was back to needing Coach’s boxes. It was time to call Ferrin.
    Hunter had kept his distance. A part of him hoped she’d call and invite him over to look through Coach’s old stuff but she hadn’t. And he’d waited a week.
    The past seven or eight days had felt too long. He was used to action. Even though he knew he was moving only ten yards at a time toward the end zone, he still wanted some forward momentum.
    He’d been busy with his charity. Working with Gabi, Hunter was going to sponsor the local peewee football league at the children’s recreation center she’d helped Kingsley get permission to build. And there was a certain amount of work he could do to keep his days busy and his mind off Ferrin, but the nights...damn if he didn’t spend every night wishing he’d done more than kiss her on the beach.
    He was trying to be the good guy. But it was hard.
    He had made a few calls to the people they had in common. Coach’s old secretary at the college had given him Ferrin’s cell phone number when he explained that he had visited with Coach and didn’t want to disturb him by calling the house. Coach’s old secretary had always had a soft spot for Hunter back in his playing days.
    Though he knew it would be better if she called him, he dialed the number and waited.
    Her voice on the phone was sweet and he could picture the smile on her face as she spoke. He missed her.
    How? He’d known her a week but he missed her.
    He needed to get himself in check. He blamed Kingsley and Gabi and how they made him want to think about his own future in a way he hadn’t before. It was different with Kingsley’s first wife, who’d been a supermodel and had her own life. They hadn’t been much of a family.
    Until he’d seen Gabi, Conner and Kingsley together, Hunter hadn’t realized that he wanted one for himself.
    Ferrin broke into his thoughts. “Hunter. I was wondering if you’d given up and gone back to...where do you normally live?”
    â€œWell, you know I own a house here,” he said. “But I had been based in Malibu prior to moving up here.”
    â€œOh, why did you move?”
    â€œTo be closer to my godson.”
    â€œConner,