I CAST A stricken look at Pamela, Aiden's mother. She's a gorgeous woman with sun-streaked brown hair cut short around her jaw. I absolutely know where Aiden gets his good looks. You see it clearly in all three of her children. I'll admit Ty's handsome for an older man but their large, expressive eyes and bone structure come from their mother.

I stand from the bar stool and take a step after Aiden.

"Let him cool down," Pamela says.

I stop and turn. "He shouldn't need to cool down. It's over and done. I don't care what that jackass on TV says."

"The man in the store put his hands on you. That's wrong." Ty gives me a look that shows he's almost as angry as Aiden. "I think I'll go join Aiden for a few minutes." He walks out and I'm left with the women.

I'm not sure what to say. "He didn't hurt me," is all I can think of. I'm also relieved I told my father about the incident. I'm sure it will be on every sports channel by tomorrow.

Candice looks down the hallway where her father and brother disappeared before turning back to me. "I wish Aiden would have stayed in here. I haven't seen him flip a gasket in a long time. Remember when that guy flashed me and my girlfriends at the park, Mom?"

Pamela gives an exaggerated shudder. "Yes, I had to buy a new coffee table for the living room."

"He broke a coffee table?" I ask. It's not the image of the calm, controlled Aiden I'm accustomed to.

Candice laughs and looks at Steph. "What about the time he put his fist through the wall because that boy you were dating wouldn't leave when you told him to?"

Steph adds to the conversation with a laugh. "He came running down the stairs and threatened to take the guy's head off. When the jerk puffed up and stood his ground, Aiden punched the wall. 'That's what your head will look like in thirty seconds,' he told him."

The women laugh while I listen as they recount story after story of Aiden and his temper. Some end in physical fights but in most, Aiden destroys an inanimate object. I don't quite see the humor in this that they do.

Pamela must notice my expression because she tries to explain. "Aiden was the man of the family until Ty came along. Even as young as he was he took the job quite seriously."

I'm turned toward Pamela and there's a loud pop from someplace behind me and I jump.

"No worries. Dad and Aiden are shooting cans off the upper deck," assures Candice.

"With a gun?" I ask at the same time I hear another pop.

Candice shrugs. "It's just a .22 rifle. We have cans tied to a tree twenty yards away."

"I've lived in California my entire life. They have very strict gun laws and I've never owned one or fired one." I explain this with another cringe at the next shot.

Pamela pulls fresh rolls from the oven and brings a plate over with a separate plate of butter. "We'll teach you to shoot the next time you come over. If you want to live in New Mexico, you at least need to know your way around a gun. Now dig in and I'll go tell the men to start the barbeque or the women will be taking over their domain."

Pamela walks out and I'm left with Steph and Candice. "My brother has the hots for you big time," Candice says with glee.

I gulp. Oh joy this is not what I need to hear and there is no way it's true.

"Total hots. He couldn't take his eyes off your lips," Steph adds.

Damnit, she noticed too. I blush again for the second time today. "You both have it wrong. He's not happy about me joining the team. I don't even think he likes me."

Candice completely ignores my statement and claps her hands. "This is going to be the best Pronghorns' season yet."

***

Throughout dinner I avoid Candice's eyes as much as possible because she keeps making kissy kissy faces whenever her brother isn't looking. My cheeks are so hot from blushing I'm in a perpetual state of heat stroke. Candice couldn't care less if her mom and dad see her antics. They smile indulgently at her and sympathetically at me.

Aiden is good at ignoring most of her lunacy, but I think that's because he's missing her actions that would make him the most uncomfortable. He's also been quiet since returning to the table, and every so often our eyes lock. I haven't caught him looking at my lips once.

"I have an idea," Pamela says when we're mostly finished with the wonderful meal. "Why don't you move in here until you can find a permanent place to stay?"

I choke on my water. "Sorry, excuse me." I wipe my mouth with a napkin, take a quick look at Aiden, who appears to be as stunned as I am, and answer. "I can't do that, but thank you so much for the offer."

"Hogwash. Look at the trouble you've already had. The media will haunt you this entire first season, fans can be great or a pain in the ass. There's no middle ground with them, and no one would expect you to be here. Aiden's never around during the season."

"Because it's too far to drive and we're really busy starting tomorrow," Aiden adds gruffly.

"If it's too late for her to drive here, she can just stay at your place," Candice adds. The girl's a little devil in disguise.

"And how would that look, sister mine? The media gets ahold of that and both Jordan and I are toast." He looks to me for backup and keeps talking. "I'll help her find a place and I'll make sure it's somewhere safe that overzealous fans can't get into. We leave for the White Sands training camp in a few days and she'll be staying at the hotel with the rest of the team."

Pamela grumbles a bit but she relents. Not so the devil child. She's decided her brother and I make the perfect couple and it's now her priority to see it happen. I don't care how hot and bothered he leaves me, any relationship outside of friendship would be bad for us both. A girl can dream, though. First on my agenda after practice tomorrow is finding a sex shop where I can purchase a vibrator. I left my old faithful back in California and I'm feeling a definite need for some relief.

When the evening is over, Aiden's family walks us out to his truck. Again, I'm struck by the beauty of the house and surroundings. This is exactly what I want when I settle down and am ready for a family. I really like Aiden's family too and living here for the season wouldn't be a hardship. Aiden's right, though. We need to keep rumors to a minimum, and the drive to the stadium each day would be rough.

The ride back to my hotel room is silent for the first five minutes. Aiden hasn't glanced at me since we took off, and his voice surprises me when he starts talking. "If anyone touches you for any reason without your consent, you need to tell me."

Oh, boy. Aiden still has his panties in a wad over the douchebag at the convenience store. "Never happen," I say and watch from the light of the dashboard as his fingers curl tightly around the steering wheel.

"It will happen," he grinds out. "Coach Mitchel will know about this by now and we'll be having a meeting to discuss it. The last thing you want is to bring Coach down on your head. Roger Morely, the special teams coach, is bad enough and he won't be happy that he didn't hear about this from you as soon as it happened."

Aiden is making entirely too much of this. "I'll inform Coach Morely if I have more problems."

"And you'll inform me."

God, he's such a control freak. I really don't like being bullied and decide to keep my mouth shut in silent protest. He concentrates on driving and I doubt he notices. I, on the other hand, am overwhelmed by him. It's his damn smell and it won't stop wreaking havoc on my very in-tuned sexual awareness of him. He's a womanizer if the media reports are to be believed and as a teammate he's completely out of my acceptable list of male companions.

My perpetually wet panties while I'm around him mean nothing. I'm stronger than this attraction. I repeat that fact in my mind to convince myself.