The Recruiting Trip (The University of Gatica #1) (5 page)

Tyler slid out of the booth to let Anderson out. He sat back down after the coach had moved by the entrance where they had come in.

Aileen racked her brain for something intuitive to say. Here she had this moment alone with Tyler Jensen and she probably never would again.
Why do I always refer to him as Tyler Jensen? Why can’t I just think of him as Tyler now?
She shifted on the bench and tried to appear relaxed. “What made you come here, Tyler?”
Jensen.
Stop doing that!
“Why did you chose Gatica, say, instead of Stanford?” Good deep question. She was proud of herself.

Tyler sat back and put his arm over the back of the booth. If Aileen had the nerve, she’d have taken a picture with her iPhone. The guy could be a model.

“Stanford’s a good school. Education, athletics, football… it’s all there.”

“And warm weather. Which is a bonus with training.”

He nodded. “It is. However, I also like winter. The snow, tobogganing, all of it. New York gets all the seasons; all fall, winter, spring and summer. Stanford seemed to only offer a touch of spring and a lot of summer.”

“You like winter?” Why would someone choose cold icy days like today when they could settle for weather… well, anything above freezing. “Where are you from?”

She swore she saw a twinkle in his eye when he grinned sheepishly. “Texas. San Antonio, Texas. It doesn’t snow much there.”

“So you basically chose Gatica for the snow?” She realized she hadn’t heard an accent on him to give her a hint.

“When you put it that way, it sounds lame.” He looked out the window and watched some fresh snow flakes fall. “I chose Gatica because I knew I would excel here. It felt like I belonged here. None of the other universities I looked at gave me that feeling.”

She stared at him and a moment later made an effort to close her slightly hanging mouth. Beauty, brains and honesty. Yup, she could totally fall for him. She would definitely have to make NCAAs just so she could see him again next year. At Stanford, they wouldn’t compete anywhere together until nationals. Maybe that was a good thing.

The waiter came by and asked if they wanted any desert. Aileen declined and then felt bad Tyler said no as well.

“You didn’t have to say no on my account.”

A single eyebrow rose on his face. “If I order something and you didn’t, you’re just going to stare with those puppy dog eyes of yours at my cheesecake and then I’d have to offer to share it with you. Then you’d get mad at me for ordering.”

“I have a work out in the weight room tomorrow morning before the meet. Cheesecake won’t hurt me any.”
Puppy dog eyes?
She grew giddy from the silly compliment. “Do you always assume things about women?”

A sly look crossed his face. It made him incredible sexy. “Are you saying you aren’t a typical woman?”

Wow, he had charisma. “I can’t say I am… or I’m not. Comparing doesn’t get you anywhere you really want to be.”

“Except for hurdle times. You can compare there.” He reached out and touched her wrist. “A pretty thang like you doesn’t have to compare when you’re already ahead of everyone else. Woman, or track-wise.”

Coach Anderson approached the table and Tyler quickly sat back as if nothing had happened.

Which was probably true for him. Aileen, on the other hand, tried to suck in a few quick breaths without panting. She hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath.

“I’ve already paid the bill,” Coach Anderson said. “Is there anything else you’d like to see or do this evening, Aileen?”

Put the moves on your star athlete?
“I think I’m good. I’ll have an early start tomorrow morning if I want to get to the weight room before the meet starts.”

“Yes, about that,” Coach Anderson said. “I have to be at the track at least two hours before the meet starts. I can pick you up for seven-thirty or eight if you would like. I’ll have one of the athletes come by and take you to the meet when you are finished.”

“Okay. How about eight? Is that okay? I’ll need about an hour and a half to get everything in. I can meet you down in the hotel lobby if that works?”

“Perfect.”

Tyler helped her with her jacket when she fumbled trying to get it on. As they walked out into the cold, she fell instep beside him.

“Tyler!” A very large, muscular guy called out from the First Down as they passed it. The boy reminded Aileen of a fridge.

Tyler stopped walking. “Hold on a sec, coach.” He jogged over to the entrance of the bar and chatted quietly with the guy who had called him. He came back a moment later. “Do you mind if I stay?” he asked Coach Anderson. He didn’t even glance at Aileen. “Cody’ll give me a ride home.”

“No drinking. Don’t be late. You’ve got a lot of eyes watching you.” Coach Anderson glanced at Aileen.

“I know. I know.” Tyler saluted Aileen. “Nice chatting with you tonight. I’m sure I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sure.” She planned on secretly taping his race tomorrow so she could watch him anytime she wanted to. She watched him disappear into the First Down.

“Shall we get you back to the hotel?” Coach Anderson asked.

Coach Anderson picked Aileen up exactly at eight as promised. She had only packed one set of workout clothes: a short pair of grey jogging shorts, long knee high socks, red t-shirt and a grey with red zip up sweater.

It looked super cute, kind of sexy, and if she was completely honest with herself, perfect to workout in.

She slipped a pair of loose jogging pants over her legs and pretended to be annoyed that more snow had decided to fall throughout the night. The freshly fallen soft white outside hung on the trees and made the ground bright and beautiful.

Coach Anderson drove his car into the parking lot in front of a building called Lord Warriors. Aileen saw the bleachers and press boxes from the football stadium behind the building.

She covered her head with her hoodie and tossed her backpack over her shoulder. “It looks like an awesome stadium.”

“The press boxes were redone last summer. Student athletes get season tickets for all the home games. You haven’t watched a football game until you’ve seen a homecoming game here in Gatica.” He held the door open for her. “Do you have a weight room at your high school?”

She stepped inside and followed him down a hall. “Barely.”

He smiled. “Then you’re really going to like this one.” He opened a glass door. “What do you think?”

The bright room reflected light and mirrors. In front of Aileen, was a row of slightly raised boxes. Bars with large weights lay on top of each step. The weights were red and black. Behind them, and against the mirrors, stood a line of free squat racks.

“It’s pretty amazing.”

A stocky man in a red polo shirt came jogging over. “Coach Anderson!”

“James, this is Aileen Nessa. She’s going to be working out here this morning. Can you get her anything she needs?”

Aileen saw a look pass between the two of them that she couldn’t decipher.

“No problem,” James replied. He smiled at her. “Welcome to Lord Warriors.”

“Sure.” She pulled her hoodie off her head.

Coach Anderson opened the glass door again. “I’ll see you back at Wavertree when you’re done.”

James pointed to the raised boxes. “What kind of stuff do you need to do, kiddo?” He wasn’t much taller than her, but his voice boomed and echoed like a giant’s. “Do you need the free weights?”

“It’s mainly plyo box stuff. Do you have weight vests?”

James nodded. “You name it, we got it. Come on, I’ll show you around.” He began moving, not even bothering to check if she was following him. “This area is for all the Olympic lifting. Our footballers are on break since the season finished about a month ago. Right now they only lift three days a week and have the weekends off.” A banging sound of metal on metal let them know someone was in the weight room already working out. “Around the corner here to the left is the bench area. Our footballers go hard here.” He winked at her. “Glancing at your frame, I’m guessing you don’t spend too much time on the arms.”

She shook her head, not exactly sure what Olympic lifting was or why in world would she want to go ‘hard’ on her arms? A long, lean muscular body lay horizontal on one of the benches, his head obscured by the bench press in front of him.
Footballer.

“Well if you decide to give it a try today, just ask Tyler over there to help you.”

“Pardon?” Aileen was positive she had misunderstood him.

“If you want to try a bench press for fun,” James repeated again, a bit slower and hard to believe, louder, “Tyler Jensen can help you out. Or I can.”

At the sound of his name, Tyler sat up and looked over. He grinned and waved before wrapping a towel around the back of his neck. He marked something on a card and came over to them. “Hey, Aileen.”

“Oh!” said James. “You two have already met?”

Tyler towered over James, wearing a perfectly fitted white tank top and black basketball shorts. “We have.”

A phone began ringing in the office building on the far side of the room. “I’ll be back in a moment.” James jogged into his office and closed the door.

Aileen watched him go and tried racking her brain for something interesting to say. “How was First Down last night?”
Really? Why not just ask him if he hooked up? Better yet, does he have a girlfriend?

“Fine,” Tyler said, smiling at her. “What did you do?”

“Hung out at my hotel.”

“Exciting.”

She looked at him, purposely trying to avoid looking into his eyes. “Are you teasing me?”

He winked. “Maybe.”

“Why are you here?” she blurted. “Shouldn’t you be at the meet, warming up?”

He shook his head. “I’m out this indoor season. Football season ran a bit longer so Coach Anderson and I decided to give the indoor season a miss. It gives me an extra year if I decide to take it.”

“Oh.”

“So, coach’s orders are that I train through and get ready for outdoors which stars in about three weeks.” He shifted and glanced behind him. “James looks like he’s going to be busy a while. What kind of workout do you have? Coach Anderson mentioned plyos?”

“Yes. Are there plyo boxes here?”

“Let me show you the way.” He grabbed a bottle of water from a cooler and waited for her to follow. “Grab whatever you need from the fridge. It’s football only, but I’ll take the blame if you get caught.”

“Thanks.” She took a bottle of water even though she didn’t need it and stuffed it in the side of her backpack.

They passed the Olympic lifting area and Tyler waved at James who gave him a thumbs up.

“Is he your football coach?”

Tyler chuckled. “James? Nah, he’s way too nice. James is head of the weight training.”

Aileen halted when they came into the back section of the weight room. A row of different sized plyo boxes lined two walls. More free squats with racks of large weights lined the other two.

“The far plyo box has vests, bosu balls, and balance stuff in it if you need any of that kind of stuff.” He flashed her a grin. “Impressed?”

“Very.” In all her recruiting trips she had never seen a room like this.

“Well, why don’t you check out what you need and I’ll get back to my workout. I told Coach last night I’d drive you over to him after.” He patted her shoulder. “I’m in the other room if you need me. I’ll tell James to let you work out. Just come get either of us if you need help with anything.”

“Thanks.” She appreciated that he offered to give her space. Ironically, she didn’t care if others were in a room when she worked out, but the gesture to make her comfortable did not go unnoticed. When it came to sports, she became this entirely different person – confident.

She sat on one of the plyometric boxes and watched Tyler’s retreating figure. He had a great ass and his long, sexy frame deserved to be appreciated.
Eye candy.
That’s what Becky called good looking guys.

Sigh…and me with a sweet tooth.
Her workout wasn’t going to finish itself. She dug into her backpack and pulled out her earbuds, iPod with carrier to strap around her arm and her coach’s list. Plyos and jump squats. He wanted her to use a weight vest. She walked by each of the boxes, amazed at the amount of boxes. Back home she had a two handmade ones by her coach, one foot and two foot. The boxes here were set up high, low, higher, low, and higher again, and then low and so on. The last box on the far end looked to be nearly as tall as her, maybe five foot. Who jumped that high onto a box?

Beside the last box in her row was a bin. There were weight vests, small weighted balls with handles and other larger ones the size of basketball. She rolled one of those over to see what it was. MEDICINE BALL 5KG.
Weighted balls. Cool.

Not that she would be using those today. She picked up the five kilo vest, glad everything was labelled so it was easy for her to figure out what she needed. She set the vest by her backpack and hopped on a stationary bike to warm up.

Fifteen minutes later she was putting on the vest and slipping off her jogging pants. She switched her iPod to her workout music and checked her training. Twenty double leg jumps, ten single leg ones, drop to the floor for sit ups and push ups, repeat. She set her music to Superhero from the Script. She liked the song and it made her want to explode out of the blocks.

As she did her jumps she lost herself in the music and the rhythm her body created. She loved having the mirrors all around her. Not because she could stare at herself, but because she could watch her form, see if she was just going through the motions or pushing it as hard as she could. She never understood people who gave half effort. Everything had to be full out or nothing. Maybe that’s what made her a good hurdler. When she was a kid, her mother always said it would get her places when she grew up. Well, she was growing up and she wanted to make World Juniors in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She could go places with track and planned on making the most out of it. An education, travel, life experience, she didn’t plan on missing out on anything if she had the ability to do it. No way.

She finished her last set of plyos and jumped up and down on the ground, bouncing to the music. She fist pumped and added a few dance steps in the excitement of being done. She froze when she saw Tyler in one of the mirrors. He stood leaning against the wall where it ended. His arms where crossed over his chest, his muscles perfectly curved and rounded in all the right places. His eyes were bright as he watched her.

“Hey,” she said as she pulled an earbud out. She didn’t have to worry about her face coloring, it was already warm and red from her workout.

His gaze slid from her eyes down her body and back up again. He smiled appreciatively. He tried covering his blatant checking her by asking, “How do you get your socks to stay up when you’re jumping?”

She laughed. “It’s these massive calves I have.”

He glanced down. “They look pretty spectacular to me. They aren’t massive, they’re… perfect.”

His compliment surprised her.

It must have surprised him as well. He quickly straightened and made his face unreadable. “I’m all finished. Didn’t know how much more you had to do.”

She reached for the string of her earphones and went to pull the other earbud out. It caught on something, probably her hair, so she tugged it harder. “I’m almo—Shoot!”

He stepped toward her. “What’s wrong?”

She looked around her and checked her earbud. “I just pulled my earring out.” She dropped to the ground to try to find it.

He crawled over to her. “What’s it look like?”

“Gold hoop with a diamond on it.”

“Wow, that’s some nice boyfriend.” He kept his head down, his hand running over the grey Berber carpet.

“They’re from my grandmother. An early graduation present.” She smiled at his comment. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I’m surprised. I would think the guys at your school are lining up to date you.” He bent slightly to check under a plyo box.

She giggled. “No one’s lining up. I’m from a small town. Everyone knows everybody since third grade.” She swallowed, suddenly very aware of how she was sounding. “It’s not that I haven’t dated. Or had a boyfriend. I have. I just… I just wanted to focus on school and hurdles this year.” She didn’t feel the need to mention the last boy she dated had cheated on her. She had walked in on him making out with another girl from school at a party. Kind of embarrassing. She held her breath, not sure if she should ask him the same question. She bit her lower lip then blurted, “What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?” She was positive there were a million girls chasing after him.

He sat up on his knees. “I had a girlfriend last year. It’s just hard. Between football and track.  Things went really well last year and there were some big expectations I needed to focus on. Then I won NCAAs last year, I wasn’t expecting that.”

Aileen pictured some cheesy cheerleader with pompoms on her hips all mad because Tyler wasn’t giving her much attention. “You won some football thing last year too, right?”

Tyler chuckled. “The Jim Thorpe Award? It was this year actually.”

“Oops. Sorry. Congrats.”

He smiled. “Thanks.” He squinted just passed her. “Is that your earring?” He pointed by the other row of plyo boxes.

Aileen crawled over, not realizing that Tyler did the same thing. Their heads bonked into each other.

“Shit! Are you alright?” Tyler reached for her forehead and rubbed it lightly.

It hurt. It felt like the guy had a metal plate in his head and they’d barely hit each other. His fingers felt like magic against her skin. They were cool, slightly rough but gentle. “I’m okay.” She stayed on all fours not wanting to move away from his touch.

A sparkle of light from the ground caught her attention. “My earring!” She had to lean toward Tyler to pick it up. His face was inches from hers. She could feel his warm breath brush against her face. Her fingers hesitated over her earrings as she met his gaze. She swallowed hard and her eyes flitted down to his soft lips before dropping down to the floor. If she leaned just a little bit closer… she could just brush her lips against his for just a moment…

Taking a deep, slow breath, she forced the moment to pass. Her fingers curled around her earring. She was crazy to even think he might be interested in her, a silly recruit. “Found it!” She sat back and held up her earring.