by Tia Souders
Once they were out of earshot, she turned on him. “You think I have a thing for Gabe?”
Dean blinked. “Don’t you?”
“No!”
“What? Then who?”
Jinny hesitated, shifting on her feet, before her gaze involuntarily flickered over to Emmett, who stood nose-to-nose with Gabe, exchanging what she imagined were some very heated words. When her gaze slid back to Dean, she realized her mistake.
His confused expression morphed into one of open-mouthed shock as his head whipped to Emmett.
“Unbelievable.” The muscled flickered in his jaw as he turned on his heel and stalked back to Emmett.
“No! Dean.” Jinny scrambled after him, tugging on his arm, practically hanging off of it. She may as well have been a leaf blowing in the wind for all the effect she had.
“Gabe, can I have a moment with my best friend?” Dean said, not wasting any time.
“Sure. I’m done here.” Gabe shot Jinny one last lingering look then stormed off.
“Dude, tell me you aren’t messing around with my sister.”
Jinny wrung her hands in front of her, glancing between them, not knowing what she should do. Beg and plead Dean to let it go? Emmett wasn’t a toddler. He was perfectly capable of handling himself. So why did this feel so dangerous?
Emmett squared his shoulders as if preparing for a fight, which only made Jinny’s heart pound faster. She couldn’t take it. Stepping in front of Dean, she said, “It’s not like that. We haven’t even done anything yet.”
“Yet?” His gaze snapped to her.
“You know what I mean.” She glared at him. “We like each other.”
Dean laughed and waved a hand toward Emmett. “He doesn’t even know what that means, Jinny. I thought you, of all people, knew what kind of guy he was.”
“He’s not like you think he is.” Her voice shook, betraying her emotions.
“Jinny, it’s okay. Let us talk it out,” Emmett said. “Why don’t I meet you back at your room in a bit?”
Dean scoffed. “Over my dead body.”
“I’m pretty sure your sister is capable of making her own decisions.”
“Apparently not.”
“Dean—” Jinny started.
He turned his steel-blue gaze to hers, shutting her up. “I thought I made it clear I never wanted her involved with a teammate. Especially not you. But you just take whatever you want. Emmett does what Emmett wants. Do I have it right?”
“No. It’s not like that. Not with her.”
Dean snorted. “You know, when she told me she had feelings for someone at work, I assumed it was Gabe because that made sense. But this…” He shook his head and placed his hands on his hips. “This doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Dean, lower your voice.” Jinny glanced around the room. Some of the team members huddled around the blackjack table had begun to stare.
But he wasn’t to be deterred. He stepped even closer to Emmett, eyes blazing. “And when I mentioned it to you at the bar, you just smiled and went along with it. The whole time knowing it was you I was talking about. You must’ve had a pretty good laugh about that, huh?” Dean backed up and looked over at Jinny. “When I gave you my approval, it wasn’t for him.”
Emmett reached out and gripped Dean’s arm. In slow motion, Dean ripped it away, the vein in his forehead pulsing angrily.
Jinny held her breath in the passing silence, unsure of whether she should intervene, but Emmett beat her to it. “I care about her. More than I’ve ever cared about anyone. This is serious. I’m not just messing around or playing with her head. You have to believe me.”
Dean shook his head. “No, I don’t.” He took another step back and pointed. “You may still be my teammate, but you’re not my friend.”
With one final icy glare, he stormed out of the casino.
∞∞∞
Emmett
Emmett paused in front of Jinny’s room and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, that could’ve gone better.”
Jinny scoffed and leaned back against the wall. “You could say that. You didn’t have to come to my rescue with Gabe, you know.”
Emmett grimaced and waved her away. “I was so sick of hearing that idiot refuse to listen to your rejection. It was annoying. I mean, the guy is either totally desperate or clueless. Besides…” He stepped forward and reached out, gently intertwining her fingers with his. “Maybe it’s not so bad for people to know about us. Maybe I want everyone to know you’re mine.”
“Yours, huh? And when was that decided?”
Emmett’s pulse thrummed like a drum. Every time he was around her, he felt more alive than ever before. The more time he spent with her, the less time he wanted to be away from her. And it didn’t scare him. He welcomed it. Wanted it—this feeling of not wanting to be without.
He gazed down into her soft brown eyes. “You know you want to be mine. You always have.”
She laughed. “You’re so full of yourself.”
He moved his hands, gripping her by the waist and drawing her in. “So, tell me you want to be mine, then.”
“I don’t know what you’re asking.” The glimmer in her eyes teased him.
“You’re going to make me say it?”
When she nodded, he laughed and swayed with her in his arms, pulling her against his chest. “I feel like I’m in seventh grade again, but here goes.” He pulled away from her and slid his hands up her arms, noting the way her skin flushed at his touch. “Jinny Kimball, will you be my girlfriend, so Gabe will keep his grubby paws off you?”
She bit her lip, but there was no hiding her smile—it was bright and brilliant, just like her.
When she nodded and pressed her forehead to his, he contemplated kissing her despite how wrong it was, considering Dean wasn’t speaking to him.
“What about my brother?” she asked.
Emmett sighed. “He’ll get used to it. He has to,” he murmured against her lips before he pressed them to his.
He parted her lips with his own, taking in the heady scent of her perfume. He fisted a hand in her hair and tugged, the same way she tugged on his heart. Everything about her drew him in, and as he angled her head to the side, he felt himself fall.
Being with Jinny was a renewal, a breath of fresh air. She was everything good that life had to offer. Everything he had waited for. Everything he had been missing—that single piece of his life he had yet to find.
And now that he’d found her, he’d fight tooth and nail to never let her go.
He slowed the kiss, brushing his lips over hers once more, then gently nudged her back as he pulled away. “You better go,” he said, nodding toward the door to her room.
Jinny hesitated as if unsure whether to listen or not. Her lips were pink from their kiss, and he knew just how soft they felt on his, so when he nodded again to the door and she moved toward it, he sagged with relief. He didn’t think he had the self-restraint to be a gentleman.
She pushed her key card into the lock. “Goodnight.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“It’s our last day in Vegas,” she said, and in her eyes was everything she’d left unspoken.
“When we get back home, nothing changes. If anything, it’ll only get better.”
“Promise?” Jinny asked.
“Promise.”
She nodded and disappeared inside. With a grin, he turned around, trying to decide on the best plan of action for winning Dean’s approval, when a figure hovering a few doors down stopped him in his tracks.
Emmett glanced up to meet Gabe’s eyes and fought the sigh on his lips.
Gabe grinned. “It’s a cozy little relationship you got going there. Isn’t it?”
“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” Emmett pushed him aside and continued toward his room at the end of the hall, but Gabe followed.
“I mean, patient and therapist. How cozy. And only six weeks on the job. Man, she moved fast, huh?”
/>
Emmett whirled on him. He could say whatever he wanted about him, but not Jinny.
He poked a finger in Gabe’s slimy chest, trying to keep his temper in check. “Back off, Gabe, before you say something you’ll regret.”
When Gabe smirked, Emmett forced his fists to his sides before he put them to good use. The punk.
“I wonder what Garrison would say about this? Or Bannon, for that matter? It’s not like Jinny’s officially on probation or anything, but this year was supposed to be sort of a testing period, to see how she worked out. I’m guessing you’ll give her a stellar review at the end of the year. Thorough, too.”
Emmett clenched his teeth and cracked his neck. He was this close—
“But I wonder what Garrison will have to say when two of his star players”—he glanced down to Emmett’s bad knee—"or one of his star players, anyway, is feuding over a girl. And not just any girl, but his therapist. Sleeping with your teammate’s sister just seems like poor sportsmanship, don’t you think?”
Emmett lunged forward and grabbed Gabe’s shirt, ready to cream him. He wanted to cram his fist down his throat and make him eat it. But Gabe’s smirk broke through his anger.
Gabe wanted this. He wanted Emmett to lose control. If he assaulted him, Gabe won. With his injury and the Jinny situation, an assault would get him booted from the team. Three strikes, you’re out.
Slowly, Emmett peeled his fingers from Gabe’s shirt, releasing him. “You don’t know the first thing about it. Stay out of it,” he warned.
CHAPTER twenty-five
Jinny
Jinny glared at Dean for the umpteenth time. “This is ridiculous.”
“Don’t care.”
She scowled and turned her attention to the window. After her final therapy session with Emmett in Vegas and the team’s final game, the team had headed home on a private plane, while Jinny was stuck with Dean on some ridiculous train ride back to Pittsburgh.
The clanking of the rails beneath them filled the silence. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, “This changes nothing, you know. I’m going to be with Emmett whether you like it or not.”
“Whatever. I may have been a little slow on the uptake, but there is no way I was going to let you two have another thirty-six hours on the road unsupervised.”
Her head snapped in his direction. “Unsupervised? We’re not ten.”
Dean grunted, saying nothing.
“He’s not like you think he is,” she said for the millionth time.
Dean laughed, which made her see red. He was so irritating. It was a wonder her best friend wanted to marry him.
“Jin, he took two women as his date to the gala. Every time I see him, he has a new one on his arm. He goes through them like chewing gum, popping a new piece every time the old one loses its flavor.”
“That’s because he wasn’t serious about any of them. Sure, he took a lot of women out,” she said, exaggerating the word. “But that was it. He looks like a total player, I admit, but he’s really not. I got to know him. The real him. Most of these women just want money or fame or some kind of publicity to launch a career blogging fashion.” She rolled her eyes, thinking of one particular story Emmett told her about a pretty redhead he dated for a couple weeks before he discovered her true intentions. “He just never met anyone worth settling down for. Until now.”
“You?” Dean scoffed.
“Is that so hard to believe? Gosh, Dean. Do you even hear yourself? I’m your sister. You don’t think I’m worthy of a commitment?”
“Of course I do. Why do you think I’m so angry?”
“I don’t know. Because you’re a controlling jerk?”
“Guess again.”
“If Emmett’s so bad, then why are you even friends with him?”
That shut him up. Dean paused, the muscle in his jaw flexing before he finally answered. “I didn’t say he was all bad.”
“Can’t you admit there’s a chance you’re wrong about him?”
Dean sighed as Jinny continued to stare a hole through the side of his face.
“I liked it better when you hated each other,” he grumbled.
Jinny tipped her head to the side. “I admit, it seemed less…complicated. But I’m not sure it was ever hate.” More like a slow-simmering attraction. “So, are you going to let off? Are you going to make up with him and stop being stupid about this?”
Dean shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
Jinny threw her hands up in defeat and stared at the passing landscape. She’d almost had him.
“No matter what, he broke the bro-code. You don’t date a dude’s sister. Ever. You don’t kiss her. You don’t picture her naked. You don’t do…whatever it is you’ve done.”
“We did nothing!”
“And it better stay that way.”
Jinny groaned.
“He should’ve come to me first.”
Jinny bit her lip. “Maybe, but our situation is complicated. There was more than his friendship with you to consider, like us working together and what that meant.”
“Exactly.”
Jinny turned back to the window, so frustrated she wanted to rip her hair out. There was no talking to him right now. She may as well wait until Dean got home and spoke with Callie. She would make him see reason, surely.
For now, she was done discussing it. All her arguing with Dean accomplished was to plant a seed of doubt. She tried to ignore it, but now that she was away from Emmett, it was easy to wonder if this thing between them really was real, if she was any different than the women before her. Maybe he’d spend another week with her and realize she wasn’t what he wanted. She was too strong-headed, their working relationship too complicated. They’d gone from zero to a hundred this past week. Maybe that wasn’t the best foundation for a relationship.
Jinny worried her lip with her teeth, pushing the thoughts aside. Emmett promised her nothing would change once they got home. And she believed him. She had to.
∞∞∞
Jinny shuffled into the office early Monday morning with a gallon of coffee fueling her step. She and Dean had arrived home late Sunday evening, and she had hardly slept, anxious for her appointment with Emmett this morning. She needed to confirm their connection in Vegas hadn’t been a figment of her imagination—hadn’t been one big dream—that they’d continue on now that they were back in Pittsburgh.
She unlocked her office door, flicked on the lights, and stepped inside. Setting her coffee down on her desk, she sat and opened her calendar to prep for the week ahead.
She’d need to add James to her schedule after a twisted ankle in Vegas. Other than that, not much had changed in the ten days they’d been away.
She picked up her pen and began to fill him into her schedule when she heard a knock on the door. Gabe forced a smile from the doorway, which she reciprocated. Despite how annoyingly persistent he’d been, she wanted to maintain a solid working relationship. She only hoped he felt the same.
“Hi, Gabe. How are you this morning?”
Gabe motioned toward the hallway. “Uh, we’re having a staff meeting this morning in five.”
“Oh.” Jinny glanced at her wristwatch. “My first appointment is in thirty minutes. Do you think it’ll be long?” she asked, praying he said no. Her first appointment was with Emmett and she’d hate to be late.
“It should be fine,” he said, but she noted the way he wouldn’t meet her eye.
Frowning, she grabbed her coffee and followed him down the hallway, past the gym and the administration offices, and into the boardroom in the back. When she entered, she was surprised to find Coach Garrison and Craig Bannon in attendance. In fact, as she surveyed the room, she realized it was just the four of them. None of the other staff was there.
Her smile faded as she slowly made her way to the table and set her coffee down, a sinking feeling in her gut.
She lowered herself into a chair and glanced to Gabe, hoping for an indication as to
what this was about, but he wouldn’t meet her eye.
Bannon cleared his throat. “Ms. Kimball,” he said in greeting, his tone all business. “I hate to do this, but we wanted to have a little sit-down. Some things were brought to our attention following the Vegas trip, so we thought it best to clear the air.”
Jinny’s blood ran cold. This was about Emmett. She felt it in her veins.
Would they fire her? This couldn’t be happening. After only six weeks on the job, she’d either get a slap on the wrist or, worse, canned for an inappropriate work relationship. How completely mortifying.
Jinny folded her hands on the table, trying to suppress the blush rising to her cheeks. Her gaze flickered to Gabe, but he still refused to look at her. The coward. This had to be his doing. He’d ratted her out like they were in Kindergarten and Emmett had stolen his pencil.
“It’s been brought to our attention that you are seeing one of the Pumas star players. And that this player happens to be one of your current patients.”
Jinny hesitated. What could she say? Deny it? Insist it wouldn’t affect her work or the team?
She cleared her throat, mustering her courage to speak. “That is correct.”
Bannon sighed, while Garrison looked disappointed and splayed his hands over the table. “Look, I’m going to give it to you straight here. You’re great at what you do, and Bannon wants to keep you on staff,” he said, nodding toward the team manager. “But the situation concerns us. It presents certain problems. Problems that, being a new team, we don’t want to take on.”
“I can promise you, my personal relationships will not bleed into my professional life,” Jinny said.
Bannon frowned. “I don’t see how you can promise that since the two are so intertwined. We’ve been informed of the tensions building between Emmett and certain teammates due to your relationship.”
Dean.
Jinny seethed as Gabe finally turned to her. “I’m sorry, Jinny, but for the sake of the team, I had to tell them about this.”
