Payoff Pitch (Philadelphia Patriots)

by V. K. Sykes

  Teddy couldn’t help a grin. “Welcome to my world. Would you like me to take him away while you eat?”

  “Nah, it’s fine. But I’m not sharing my frigging omelet.” He ruffed Toby’s head one more time and gently pushed him to the side. “Toby, sit,” he commanded.

  The Poodle gave him a baleful look but complied. Teddy reached into the big jar of dog cookies on the counter and handed one to Noah so he could reward Toby for obeying.

  “That was easy,” Noah said, clearly pleased. “You’ve obviously been working with him over the weekend.”

  “A little.” Actually, she’d spent probably an hour each day doing basic obedience training with both dogs. Toby had proven to be a bit of a hardhead but was eager to please.

  While Noah finished his breakfast under Toby’s careful supervision, Teddy got busy cleaning up the mess they’d made in the kitchen, putting away ingredients, loading the dishwasher and wiping down the countertops. When Noah was done, he took care of his dishes then turned to Teddy. “Thanks for a great breakfast. Now, I need you to come upstairs with me and check out the bedrooms.”

  - 9 -

  When Noah asked Teddy to come upstairs with him, her jaw had pretty much taken an express elevator toward the floor. Wincing—and damning his subconscious for throwing out what he really wanted to do with her—he hurried to explain that he wanted her opinion on the guest bedrooms since he intended to do some redecorating. That was true as far as it went, but it wasn’t the whole truth. He hoped she liked surprises, because he was about to spring one on her.

  He’d bought the house last year knowing that the upstairs rooms needed work. The showpiece rooms like the kitchen and living room had been done over by the former owner, but the bedrooms hadn’t been upgraded or even painted in a long time. Not that he intended to waste money on some high-priced decorator to give him ideas—that would only be necessary if he eventually had to sell the place. And selling wasn’t currently on his radar, since he fervently hoped to play out the rest of his career with the Philadelphia Patriots.

  As she made her way through the bedrooms, Teddy had declared them spacious and comfortable but altogether too gloomy. Already she had given him some good advice, especially on possible paint combinations. The only bedroom left was his, and no way would he take her into that one. He liked his bedroom just fine as it was, and he also didn’t want her to feel the slightest bit awkward entering his private space.

  “We don’t have to go in there, Teddy,” he said as they stopped in front of the bedroom Cristina had prepared for her arrival last week. “Since you’ve been sleeping in it for days, you can tell me what you think without me intruding into your personal territory.”

  Teddy gave him a warm smile and barely hesitated before pushing the door open. “Don’t worry, I like to keep things neat, especially when I’m in someone else’s house.”

  Unlike the well-lived-in state of Noah’s own bedroom, the one Teddy had occupied couldn’t have been tidier. The bed had been crisply made and not a single item of clothes was lying about. Her suitcase must have been stowed in the closet, and all her grooming and personal items must be in the ensuite bathroom. Coming on top of the way she’d hustled to clean up the breakfast dishes, he figured she must be something of a neat freak.

  “Are you sure you’ve actually been staying here overnight?” he said with mock seriousness.

  She gave a light laugh that sounded sweet and almost musical in his ears. “Of course. Check with Toby, since he and I have been sharing the bed. It’s a good thing Poodles hardly shed at all or that cream duvet over there would be covered in black hair by now.”

  Noah grimaced. “Disgusting.”

  But dog hair or no, he couldn’t help seeing himself in that bed with the delectable Miss Quinn underneath him. There would be no dogs in that scenario, of course—just candlelight, soft music and a whole lot of naked skin.

  Knock it off, man.

  “Since I think of this as a woman’s bedroom,” Teddy said, surveying the room, “I guess I’d opt for changing from this insipid beige to a pink-based color scheme. But I’d pick one of the dark pink shades, maybe almost a light berry, and add accents of white and something darker, like a blue-gray tone. And I’d ditch those dreary curtains and replace them with white shutters.” She walked over to one of the windows and looked out into the back yard. “Shutters for these big windows wouldn’t be cheap, though.”

  Noah had pretty much tuned out everything after “dark pink”.

  “You can redecorate this room exactly like that,” he said, “or do it in any of the other bedrooms if you’d prefer to have a different one. Redecorate whatever way you want—new paint, new shutters, new furniture, too. Spend whatever you like.”

  Teddy gaped at him from across the room. “What exactly are you saying?”

  She looked stunned and slightly wary. He crossed the room to get close to her again.

  “Okay, Teddy, I’ll spell it out. I’m offering you the opportunity to live in this house full-time, just like Cristina does. God knows I’ve got a ton of extra room, as you’ve seen. And it would be great to know you were here for Toby and Sadie all the time, because I’m going to be gone a lot all season. Most of the time, in fact.”

  “Oh, Noah, really…” The way Teddy put her hands on her hips and frowned at him made him wonder if she was going to give him a stern lecture or slug him.

  He threw up his hands. “Just hear me out, okay?”

  She eyed him with obvious skepticism but gave what he took to be a reluctant nod.

  Noah leaned an arm across the high dresser beside the window. “I don’t think Cristina’s ever going to be willing to do much with the dogs, and frankly after what’s gone on these past few days, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable leaving them with her even if she were to have a change of heart. So, that means I’m going to need you to not only walk them and feed them every day, and I’m going to need you to stay at the house every time I’m out of town, just like you did this weekend.”

  He moved even closer to her and, with all the gentleness he could manage, put a hand on her shoulder. “That’s at least half the time until October. After that, I’ll be away in Florida for almost two months next February and March before the season opens and the road trips begin all over again. I really need your help, Teddy.”

  If I’m still pitching in the major leagues by then, that is.

  Teddy frowned as she shook her head, her silky red hair falling gently over her slim shoulders. “Noah, I understand all that, and I can see how that kind of arrangement would make sense to you. But even if I wanted to accept your offer, I share a house with my partner and I have other clients I have to take care of, too. You’re my most important client, no question about it, but I have other obligations and I have to maintain my business.”

  He didn’t take his hand away and, surprisingly, she didn’t shake him off. “Of course you do. Look, you can still work for your other clients. Toby and Sadie aren’t a full-time job, so no problem there. And as for your partner—Emma, right?—you’ll still be able to afford to pay your share of the house expenses, so I don’t think that would be an issue. I’ll pay you at the same rate as this past weekend, seven days a week, and you can take whatever time off you need when I’m around. I don’t think money would be a problem for you at all.”

  That seemed to stop her in her tracks. He thought her mind might be spinning through the financial calculations as she inhaled deeply a couple of times before she spoke again. “That’s very generous, but you’d be paying a ridiculous amount for dog care. I know you can afford it, but....” She didn’t finish the sentence.

  “Sure I can. Other than maintaining this big house, I don’t spend a lot of what I earn. But when I do buy something or hire someone, I want to get the absolute best.” Noah shook his head and took his hand from her shoulder only reluctantly, because, hell, he really enjoyed touching her. He kept his gaze focused on the blue eyes that looked up at him in so
me combination of disbelief and apparent interest. She was clearly tempted, so he doubled down.

  “Like I already told you, my peace of mind is worth a lot, especially right now with the way things are going for me on the field. And having someone I totally trust taking care of Aunt Roz’s dogs…well, Jesus, Teddy, how do you put a price tag on something like that?”

  She winced. “Make me feel guilty, why don’t you?”

  He shrugged and gave her what he hoped was a humble, non-threatening smile. “Like I said, I need you.”

  “But what about Cristina?” Teddy said, sounding worried. “I feel like an interloper in this house when you’re gone. She barely speaks to me.”

  He frowned, surprised by her response given her earlier nonchalance about Cristina’s cool reception. He wondered if she was searching for a reason to say no. Of course, he’d expected surprise and even a degree of hesitancy, but he was offering her the best pay and working conditions she’d ever had or probably ever would have in the pet care business.

  Then again, he supposed he could understand her doubts—not just about her business obligations and about Cristina, but about living under the same roof as an unmarried man who’d previously stepped over the edge of what should be a strictly businesslike relationship.

  “I’ll deal with Cristina,” he said in a way that left no doubt he meant it. “She’s loyal to me, and she’ll come around when she sees how important I think this move is.”

  She gave him a doubtful look.

  Another thought suddenly struck him, and it made him ashamed that he hadn’t thought of it before. “Ah, Jesus, Teddy. I’m sorry. Until just this second I never thought about the fact that you might be, uh…uncomfortable moving into a bedroom up here.” He glanced toward his bedroom just a few feet away. “I mean, it’s a little close…” Noah didn’t think he had to finish that particular thought.

  Teddy clearly caught his drift but stayed quiet, her face a polite mask.

  “I think there might be room to build you a small suite in the basement,” he said, thinking fast. “Maybe we could take a chunk off the training room. I’d be happy to do talk to an architect about that if you wouldn’t mind being down there.”

  Teddy’s pretty mouth formed a perfect “O”. Clearly, he’d managed to shock her yet again.

  * * *

  Noah seemed to have a ready answer for every one of Teddy’s concerns, but she still felt rattled and wary. At the very same time, her business instincts were screaming at her to accept before he had a chance to change his mind. The arrangement Noah was proposing would be fraught with potentially epic emotional land mines, but how could she turn up her nose at such a lucrative job?

  “Um, you’ve given me a lot to think about, Noah, and I will. But I need a little time.”

  And a little distance from you, buddy, since both my head and legs turn to Jell-O every time you touch me or even look at me.

  “Take all the time you need. In the meantime, think about those color schemes, too,” he said as he strolled back out to the hall.

  Teddy smiled wanly after him as he headed down the hallway. It was pretty clear he thought he already had her on the ropes, and he probably wasn’t wrong.

  She tottered to her bed, flopped down with a throw pillow clutched to her stomach, and stared up at the ceiling fan slowly rotating above her. In just a few days, she’d already started to think of this bedroom as her room, and this bed as her bed. And she actually liked sharing the bed with a big and slightly smelly dog. It had become comfortable and already familiar here, despite the ice war Cristina was waging against her. Was that comfortable sense mainly because Noah had been out of town the whole time? How would her feelings about staying here change when he was sleeping just down the hall or eating across from her in the kitchen or dining room?

  His idea to build her a suite downstairs was kind and generous but also ridiculous. Even if she decided to say yes to living here, she wouldn’t think of putting him to such huge extra expense. Especially not when there was no guarantee that their arrangement would last any length of time. No, if she said yes to his proposal, she’d be sleeping right here, in this very bedroom.

  But how the heck would she deal with the fact that every time she saw the guy she wanted to leap his bones? Even more to the point, could Noah treat her like he treated Cristina? A purely platonic, businesslike relationship?

  Surely he wasn’t thinking in terms of some kind of friend with benefits situation, was he? Though his interest in her was clear, he had backed off, seeming to realize how problematic it would be for her to be anything more than his dog walker. Nothing else really made sense.

  From that perspective, Teddy understood where Noah was coming from. His aunt had thrown him a wicked curve by asking him to take her dogs. It was a huge responsibility, especially for a single man with a demanding job that required him to be constantly travelling all over the country. Noah had made it clear that he couldn’t say no to Aunt Roz, and that left him with no choice but to secure the most reliable care for Toby and Sadie he could find, no matter what the expense. Teddy guessed she filled that bill perfectly, at least in Noah’s eyes—or would fill it perfectly if she lived on-site like his housekeeper.

  And, like he’d said, he obviously could afford to pay whatever it took. Teddy had a rough idea what veteran pro ballplayers earned, and Noah didn’t seem to run through money like some of them did. The big suburban house befitted someone of his stature but wasn’t extravagantly kitted-out. He apparently had only one car—Cristina had her own Volvo—and as far as she knew he didn’t have any other toys like boats or expensive motorcycles. Baseball and golf seemed to be his life.

  But a full time babysitter for his dogs? To her, it just seemed like a crazy and extravagant use of money, and it would take some time to wrap her mind around it. Money meant little to him but a lot to her. She’d been scuffling to make a living since the day she left the farm, working tough jobs while squeezing in university classes as often as her finances and her time would allow. She still clung to her dream of law school, but with every month that passed with little or no savings set aside, she felt that dream receding.

  Suddenly, though, fate had thrown an opportunity her way if she was prepared to overcome her scruples and grab it.

  Working for Noah and living in this house would enable her to save good money and finish her remaining classes at Temple faster. In fact, she could probably keep taking care of the dogs even after she enrolled in law school, using the steady income to pay her way through. If she did that, she’d have to break from Emma and Dog Nanny Pros, since with school she wouldn’t have time for any clients other than Noah. But Emma already knew and accepted that Teddy didn’t intend to stay in the business for the long term.

  Then again, maybe all that was just a pipe dream. After all, she was still several credits away from her undergraduate degree, and who knew how long Noah would be playing in Philadelphia? Plus, Toby and Sadie were getting to be canine senior citizens, too.

  Even more to the point, what if Noah ended up with a steady or even live-in girlfriend? It seemed highly unlikely that a guy like him would stay single for much longer. Would she really be able to handle Noah and a lady friend doing the nasty right down the hall from her? And would a girlfriend even want someone like Teddy living in the same house as Noah?

  There were so many potential problems to think through that Teddy thought her head might explode.

  Still, stacked up against all those obstacles was the fact that this could be the break she’d been looking for. The way to not only pay for school but also get through much more quickly than she’d originally planned.

  She focused on her breathing for a few moments, inhaling and exhaling deep, cleansing breaths to calm her jangling nerves. By the time she felt centered again and had risen to her feet, she’d made a tentative decision.

  * * *

  Noah shut down the treadmill, his breath coming hard and fast. Grabbing the towel from arou
nd his neck, he wiped away the sweat stinging his eyes then gave his arms a quick rubdown. He tossed the towel back around his neck and downed half a bottle of water before leaving the training room for the adjacent clubhouse.

  Until he pitched yesterday in the brutal Atlanta heat, he’d thought his conditioning was back up to his pre-injury level. He’d worked the treadmill and the strength machines for months, not just to rehab his elbow but just as importantly to rebuild his stamina and overall conditioning. Five innings and sixty-five pitches under tough major league conditions later, Noah had been forced to conclude that he still had a ways to go.

  There were just no shortcuts. No substitutes for endless hours of grueling work in the training room. With thirty-three years on his clock, everything became just that much harder. But whatever it took to make it all the way back—whatever sacrifice he had to make—Noah would gladly accept. He did not want to pitch like he had in Atlanta. He did not want to watch baseballs bouncing off the scoreboard or see the hangdog look in the manager’s baggy eyes when he told Noah he was done for the day.

  Screw that.

  He glanced up at the clock on the wall opposite his locker. Three-thirty. Already time to go over the game video with his pitching coach, Javier Marquez. Marquez liked to sit down with his pitchers the day after their outing and analyze their performance while everything was still fresh in their minds. Hurrying now and with no time to shower, Noah peeled off his wet shirt, toweled off his torso and grabbed a fresh shirt from the stack in his locker. After he ran his fingers through his mussed-up hair, he stuck a fresh bottle of water under his arm and headed for Marquez’s office.

  He hoped he’d be able to fully focus on the video and the discussion, but so far this afternoon his mind had been wandering back to Teddy. His proposal had almost knocked her flat on her lovely ass, there was no doubt about that. How could it not? Teddy wasn’t like Cristina. Housekeepers often lived in their employer’s house. But dog walkers? Not likely. Who the hell besides a Hollywood actor or a hedge fund manager could afford a live-in dog nanny? Baseball players with fat contracts could, of course, but most players who owned dogs also had a wife and sometimes kids to look after the family mutts.