11. Welcome to the Kingman Life

It took some long hours to work through the mess Willa"s uncles had left the books in. By the time I had them sorted out, it was real damn clear that George had been floating the business for years. It wasn"t even close to profitable.

At least he"d left plenty of money in the business bank account so that Willa didn"t have to worry about actually paying the bills, but she was not fucking happy when I showed her how much money the place was bleeding.

"The good news is that you can afford to hire the maintenance guy to fix the espresso machine." I showed her the details I"d found. "And you don"t have to worry about paying him, because it seems George has him on retainer."

Willa nodded and sagged a little. "I don"t know if that"s good or bad. Good for the moment, but how often does that piece of crap break down?"

"According to the books, a lot. And if you look here, the shop had no income on the days following, so I think Liam had the same idea as you and shut the place up for those days."

"I think maybe I"d better cook up some new fancy tea drinks and marketing to go with, because if I"m going to stay open, we have to sell more than our currently out of stock lattes." She yawned and stretched, putting her hands on her back, and looking up at the ceiling.

I followed her in that yawn. Practice was going to be rough in the morning.

"Holy crap, Hayes, it"s getting light out, the sun is coming up." She pointed out the door to the front of the coffee shop. There was only a crack in the door between the two spaces, but a thin ray of light shined through. "We were here all night. I"m so sorry. I didn"t mean to keep you here fixing this mess with me that long."

Well, shit. Wouldn"t be the first time I"d pulled an all-nighter studying and then had to hit the field. I stood and stretched and then wrapped my arms around Willa, resting my head on the top of hers. "Don"t worry about me. I got this, sweetheart. Sleep is for suckers."

It wasn"t. I full well knew the importance of rest, but I also knew how to push my body to its limits. For Willa, I would push to the end.

"At least let me make you a strong cup of coffee. I might think it"s gross, but I have a feeling it"s all I"ll be selling this morning." She made a stink face. "Unless I can convert more people to the goodness that is Earl Grey tea - hot."

"Make it so, Number One." I did the Captain Picard voice and two-fingered point, which was one of the dorkier things I"d ever done in my life. But it made Willa smile, and I swear I"d dress up in a full Star Trek uniform if it would make her happy.

"Get out of here with that impression. That was the worst." She shoved me toward the door, and I let her because I really did have to go home and grab my gear for practice.

An hour later, I was on the field, lining up for the next play. The familiar rush of adrenaline coursed through my veins, better than any cup of coffee.

The ball snapped, and I sprinted down the field, dodging defenders left and right. Chris"s pass spiraled through the air, a perfect arc heading straight for me. I leaped, snagging the ball out of the air, and tucking it securely against my chest as I landed in the end zone.

"Nice catch, Kingman," Coach called out, clapping his hands. "That"s the kind of move we need to win this weekend. Keep it up, kid."

I grinned, tossing the ball back to Chris. "Just doing my job, sir."

We were all going to need to bring our A-game if we wanted to take down the Miami Sharks this weekend. That meant running those pass plays again and again.Practice continued, with each of us pushing ourselves to the limit. By the time Coach blew the final whistle, I was drenched in sweat but feeling good about the way we were playing.

I also needed a nap. But what I was going to do was finally get that cup of coffee and hopefully bring a few more patrons along with me.

In the locker room, as we changed out of our gear, I brought up the idea that had been brewing in my mind to my brothers. "Hey, guys, Willa"s been having a tough time getting a steady flow of customers into the coffee shop. Would you come by with me this afternoon and post something on your socials? I figure if people think it"s a Mustangs hangout, they"ll come by. Give her a little boost, you know?"

Everett looked up from tying his shoes, a grin spreading across his face. "Count me in. I"ve been meaning to try out her crazy latte concoctions."

Shit. I"d forgotten about the fact she couldn"t make lattes. Maybe this wasn"t a good idea. "Uh, her espresso machine is down, but she makes a mean Earl Grey latte."

Everett made a face at that. But Dec and Chris didn"t seem bothered by it.

"I"ll call Trix," Chris chimed in and pulled out his phone. A couple of texts later and he gave me the thumbs up.

"She"s been itching to find a new coffee shop to write at when the words aren"t flowing for her. And I do love it when her words flow." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and I threw a towel at his head. His fiancée was writing a romance novel, and according to him, it was all sex scenes so far.

Declan shook his head at Chris, then clapped me on the shoulder. "I"m down too. But unless she"s staffed and prepared to have the Besties descend on her shop, I"d better not ask Kels to join us."

An hour later, we all strolled into the coffee shop, bell jingling merrily above the door. Willa looked up from the counter, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of four burly football players crowding into her tiny café.

"Whoa." She gave me a wave and did this cute WTF head tilt. "What are you all doing here?"

I leaned over the counter, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "We"re here to support our favorite barista, of course. And maybe bring in some new business while we"re at it." I showed her the posts we"d each done on InstaSnap, and Everett was already filming a FlipFlop with his feet up on one of the tables near the window.

She laughed, shaking her head. "Oh my god. Thank you. Okay, boys, what"ll it be? Just don"t order too fast, because the only espresso I"ve got at the moment is from my shiny new Nespresso from Wally World. But I promise I"ve got all kinds of other tasty beverages to caffeinate your afternoon."

Willa pointed to a chalkboard sign that she"d clearly spent quite a bit of time on. It had drawings of flags and bits of maps and indicated an around-the-world tour of hot beverages including Mexican hot chocolate, Earl Grey tea lattes, and something called café sua da from Vietnam.

"You came up with all of those ideas today?" God, I loved how creative she was, and under pressure at that. It was hot.

"Yep, and I think you boys had better become really familiar with making them, fast, because I"m about to recruit you as baristas." She pointed to the front of the café where the street parking was quickly filling up and more people were walking up the street, most wearing Mustangs jerseys and other paraphernalia.

What followed was a serious rendition of The Barista Bull in the China Tea Shop, a four act comedy where my brothers and I attempted to help Willa handle the unexpected rush.

Declan managed to burn himself on the Nespresso, while Chris slid glass mugs of coffee down the counter to waiting customers who were not as skilled at catching them as he was at passing. Everett, bless him, just ignored the actual orders Willa threw at him and started mixing up teas and syrups and other strange concoctions that I could tell by some patrons" faces were truly vile flavor combinations. But none of the chaos fazed anyone since they were also getting to interact with their hometown favorite Mustangs and get lots and lots of photo ops.

Through it all, Willa remained a beacon of calm, guiding us through it all with a smile on her face. She thrived in this chaos, and it was the sexiest thing to watch her in her element. She was so good with people and had them all charmed the second she took their orders. Even Everett couldn"t hold a candle to the way Willa made people feel welcome.

I felt a swell of pride and something deeper, something I wasn"t quite ready to name.

As the rush finally died down and the last customer left with their latte-ish drink in hand, Willa turned to us, her hands on her hips. "Well, that was... an experience."

"We killed it, didn"t we?" Everett asked, grinning broadly despite the smear of chocolate sauce on his cheek.

Willa laughed, tossing him a towel. "Let"s just say it"s a good thing you boys have football to fall back on. I don"t think the barista life is for you."

I flipped her open sign to closed. My brothers and Trixie, who I hadn"t even seen come in, said their goodbyes, and headed out. I lingered behind, needing to be near her and all that energetic charm a little longer.

"Thank you for today," she murmured, resting her head against my chest. "I know it wasn"t exactly smooth sailing, but it meant a lot that you all tried so hard to help the coffee shop out."

I kissed the top of her head, breathing in the sweet scent of sugar and tea. "It was fun. But I won"t be able to do it tomorrow or Sunday, we"ve got a game in Florida."

"Oh my god, I wish I was going to Florida." She fake pouted and her shoulders dropped. "I cannot tell you how much I miss the humidity. Why didn"t anyone remind me I was going to need a gallon of lotion a day in this damn three-hundred-days-of-sunshine hell hole of a mountain desert?"

I tingle ran up my spine and ended in me blurting out, "Then why don"t you come with me?"

"Yeah, right." She didn"t think my offer was legitimate. I was more serious than a roughing the receiver flag on the play.

"For real, flower." This was the perfect chance for me to show her that I could give her the freedom and adventure she craved. "Liam closed when the espresso machine was down anyway, so the regulars won"t even blink an eye if you"re not open. And we"ve got room on the jet for you with us. Come with me. It will be fun."

"You say ‘on the jet' like that"s no big deal." She gave me a sideways look and she still wasn"t convinced. "You know it isn"t, right? Not everyone has a family jet."

"The Kingmans aren"t any family." And if anyone could help me show Willa life in Denver was interesting, it would be my family. Today, more than ever, showed me I should have been relying on my brothers to help me win Willa"s favor. She had fun with us today.

"That"s the understatement of the year." She bit her lip and smiled up at me from under her lashes. "I really would like to come along though. If you"re sure it"s okay if I invade your man jet."

Yes. I got her. "Jules and the girls were already planning to come along too, so it will be perfectly boy-girl, boy-girl. I was going to be the odd man out, so see, you have to come to even the numbers out."

"By girls, you mean some friends of Jules?"

Oh, I was definitely waiting until tomorrow to let her find out she"d be riding in the jet with Kelsey Best. To the rest of us, she was just one of the girls, and she and Jules were definitely friends, so this wasn"t a lie. Just a fun secret. "Yeah."

As we boarded the Kingman private jet, I couldn"t help but grin at the look of awe on Willa"s face. "This is really how you travel to every game?" she asked, running her hand along the plush leather seats.

"Perks of being a Kingman," I said with a wink, guiding her to a seat at the plane"s table next to Jules and across from Penelope. "Stick with me, kid, and you"ll go places."

She laughed, settling in as my dad and Everett followed us onto the plane. I watched with more than a little giddiness as she easily fell into conversation with Jules and Penelope, their chatter filling the cabin.

A few minutes later, Chris and Trixie boarded. Upon seeing the table of girls, Trixie shoved Chris into the seat next to me and sat with the other ladies. Then Declan and Kelsey joined us. Willa"s eyes widened as Kelsey greeted her warmly and sat across from her.

"I"ll have to stop by your coffee shop when we get back," Kelsey said, her megawatt smile genuine. "Declan"s been raving about your interesting drink offerings."

Willa just nodded until Kelsey"s dachshund poked its head up out of her bag and made everyone laugh. "Is this the infamous Wiener the Pooh? I follow her on InstaSnap."

Pooh wiggled and barked until Kelsey handed her over to Willa. "She sure seems to like you."

"I think she probably smells my cat, Seven of Nine Lives."

Trixie snort-laughed and pulled out her phone. "You named your cat after a Star Trek character? I have a feeling we"re going to be BFFs, because this is my pet rooster named Luke Skycocker."

She showed her screen to Willa and that was all it took for my girl to relax.After the flight got underway, Willa showed even more how she fit in with my family so fucking easily. She already had the girls in the palm of her hand when she recommended some kind of romance novels about wolf shifters who played college football. She instantly won my brothers over even more than she had yesterday at the coffee shop when she started talking stats with them.

My dad watched on with a quiet smile, and during a lull in the conversation, he leaned over to me, his voice low. "She"s a keeper, son. Don"t let that one get away."

I swallowed hard, my heart swelling at his approval. "I don"t plan on it, Pops. Trust me."

When we arrived at the hotel, I walked Willa to the room she"d be sharing with Jules, trying to ignore the pang of disappointment that I couldn"t have her all to myself.

"Sorry about the separate rooms," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Coach"s rules."

She smiled up at me, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "It"s okay. I"m sure Jules and I will find some way to entertain ourselves."

As if on cue, Jules held up her phone with Kelsey"s face on the screen. "Ladies, pre-game pajama party in my room. Presidential suite, five minutes. Be there or be square."

Willa laughed, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek. "Duty calls. See you in the morning, superstar."

She took a few steps away, but I snagged her hand and pulled her back to me, giving her a quick kiss. Then I pressed my lips to her ear. "I"ve already proven I"m pretty good at sneaking around, so don"t be surprised if you find yourself kidnapped to my room after bed check tonight."

"Why, Mr. Kingman, aren"t you the naughty little rule breaker?" She laughed and wagged her finger at me. Then she broke away and jogged after Jules, giving me one last wink before she got into the elevator.

"Flower, there is nothing little about me." And tonight, I was going to prove that to her.