He looked around. Jill stood near the hostess stand, her beautiful brown eyes locked in on him.
His breath disappeared much in the same way it had when she’d shown up at his door the day before. He found himself falling down the same rabbit hole—paralyzed by the stun gun of her beauty, everything around him falling away as he got lost in her gaze, even from across the crowded restaurant. A nudge at his side brought him back to earth.
“Dude. What’s wrong?” James asked.
Maxwell swallowed hard, finally looking over at his friend. “Oh, I just saw someone I know.” He waved at Jill, beckoning for her to come over. “Wayne’s cousin. She’s moving back to Savannah to help out with Wayne and Carmen’s estate and to get involved with the kids.”
Jill grinned from the front of the restaurant, saying something to the woman at her side before she started weaving her way around tables toward him. He couldn’t look away from her for even a second as she came over. Someone at the table whistled.
“Damn, Maxwell, who’s this now?” his teammate Franklin said under his breath a few seats down.
“A friend,” he blurted. “I mean, a family member, I guess.” Defining her flustered him. If she was a family member, then he had no right to be this struck by her. But damn, how was he supposed to act like she wasn’t the most gorgeous woman he’d ever laid eyes on?
“Hey there, Maxwell,” Jill gushed as she sidled up to the table. Her handbag hung from the crook of her elbow again, but this time, she wore a blue jewel-tone dress that contrasted excellently with the brown-gold of her skin. Her long black hair was shiny and smooth, her full lips glistening pink. Every detail on her was flawless, and he could tell the entire team took notice.
“Jill. Fancy meeting you here.” He fought to restrain himself from sliding an arm around the luscious curve of her ass as she came near. No, that wasn’t an appropriate greeting for someone he’d only met once. Not appropriate at all. But something about her begged him to get closer. To bring her onto his lap and show her off as more than just the triplets’ aunt.
“Hope I’m not interrupting,” she said, flashing that brilliant smile around the table. She nudged him with her elbow. “You taking a night off? Or is this work?”
“We’ll call it work,” he said.
“Nobody’s working right now and you know it, Maxwell,” his teammate Rudy interjected, rising slightly from the other side of the table to stick his hand out. “And this fool didn’t do introductions. I’m Rudy. What’s your name?”
Jill shook his hand across the table while irritation streaked through Maxwell.
“Everybody, this is Jill. Jill, meet half of the Sharks.”
“If I’d known I’d be meeting so many important men today, I would have come prepared to get autographs,” she said, swatting Maxwell’s shoulder.
“You don’t want Rudy’s autograph,” Maxwell assured her, which earned him a smirky glare from his teammate. Rudy was the worst of the womanizers, so of course he’d be first to stick his hand out and force the introduction.
“You should eat with us,” Rudy said, gesturing to an empty seat at the end of the table. “They might pay more attention to us if we had a beautiful woman like yourself at the table.”
Maxwell rolled his eyes. The wait staff was excellent here, and Rudy knew it. “Rudy—”
“I can’t,” Jill said, batting away the suggestion while her gaze followed something in the distance. “I’m here for a business dinner, and I think my colleagues are being seated right now. I better run.”
“Good to see you, Jill,” Maxwell said, meaning it deeper than it sounded. It was unexpectedly great to see her again. And he wanted to see more of her. Immediately.
“I’ll text you about taking the kids this week,” she said as she stepped away from the team’s table. “Bye, boys.”
A few of his teammates blatantly watched as she wound through the restaurant, which also irked Maxwell. When Rudy leaned across the table and said, “Give me her number,” Maxwell laughed.
“You’re fucking crazy.”
“Why? She’s sexy as fuck, and I didn’t see a ring.”
“Don’t mean she wants to date your ass.”
“Like you’re dating that ass?” Rudy asked. “Come on. All I want is a night.”
More irritation streaked through him. His fingers balled into a fist beneath the table as he met Rudy’s gaze. “No fucking way. I’m not bringing your lady drama into my life. And if you get with her? That’s your drama, my life.”
Rudy grumbled as he settled back into his seat. Mark leaned forward, a few seats down, to pin Maxwell with a look.
“So she’s their aunt?”
“Yeah,” Maxwell said, narrowing his eyes. He hadn’t expected either of his buddies, both of them Mr. Happily Taken, to be interested in Jill.
Mark shook his head, glancing at James. “So this means we can do the triple date thing sometime.”
Maxwell scoffed. “Please. She’s their aunt.”
“So?”
He was a little uncomfortable with how outed he felt. The single members of the team had their eyes on Jill as a next conquest, while the taken guys recognized this for what it was: an opportunity for Maxwell to partner up. But something felt wrong about it.
Jill’s only goal was to step up for the kids. And that didn’t include exposing herself to unwelcome attention from a horny NFL player—himself—who appreciated every last detail about her.
So while Maxwell was more than sure just how attracted to her he was…he knew he needed to tread carefully. This was a family arrangement first and foremost. An arrangement that didn’t include the wild one-night stand he was used to indulging in when it came to beautiful women in his world.
And everything he did from here on out had to be done with the triplets in mind: their futures, their stability, their happiness.
Which meant Jill could only ever be a beautiful, glossy-lipped non-option.
4
The following evening, Maxwell paced the living room, trying not to look at his phone every ten seconds while the triplets played happily at their busy table, moving around blocks and hitting things with a plastic hammer.
Jill had texted him not long after their restaurant run-in the previous day, eager to set up a time to come over and visit—and possibly discuss next steps with the kids. And of course he was all for it—except for the fact that every time Jill entered his thoughts, all he could think of was how badly he wanted the next step to include kissing her perfect lips.
Jesus, Maxwell. Lay it to rest. She’s not here for you to hit on.
When the doorbell rang, Maxwell raced to get it. He tried to remind himself it wasn’t his excitement at seeing her that pushed him to a spring—no, it was just the fact that Saturdays were an extra-light training day before game Sundays, and he had plenty of reserves to burn off.
That was all.
He pulled open the door to find the curvaceous Jill waiting for him on his porch, glittering smile and all. She was dressed like she’d just come from the gym, in skintight leggings and a flowy tank top that allowed a neon pink sports bra to peek out.