Payoff Pitch (Philadelphia Patriots)

by V. K. Sykes

  He took a few deep breaths and thought about the excruciating pain that had hit him when his ligament tore last season. That thought usually took care of a hard-on pretty quick. “I didn’t realize you already started. I figured you’d wait for me.”

  Teddy had shown up ready to start painting just as Noah was getting set for a workout downstairs. He’d figured she’d have coffee and wait for him to finish before heading up to start working. Then again, maybe she didn’t want to spend any more time around Cristina than absolutely necessary. The two of them had been circling each other for the past two days like a pair of UFC fighters feeling out their opponent, the tension between them thick, wary and vaguely hostile. It didn’t seem to matter what he said to his housekeeper, she still treated Teddy as an adversary.

  Without turning around, Teddy straightened and ripped off another length of tape from the roll. “I figured I might as well get going. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can move in, right?”

  The other day, when she’d given him the good news that she’d agreed to his proposition, Teddy had also said she wanted to take him up on his offer to redecorate her blah-looking bedroom. He’d tried hard to talk her into letting him build a basement suite for her, but she’d been adamant against it, citing the cost. While that kind of expense didn’t matter to him, it obviously did to her and he got that. But he also couldn’t help wondering whether her reluctance was partially due to lack of commitment to the job—at least the living-in part. He sensed she didn’t want him to spend a lot of money only to have the experiment not work out and see her move back in with Emma.

  Teddy’s determination to save money had obviously extended to her insistence that he allow her to repaint the room herself. If there was one thing she knew how to do, she’d said, it was wield a brush, roller and spray gun, having done a lot of painting back on the family farm. He’d quickly given up trying to talk her into letting him call in a professional painter. The next morning, his teammates Nick and Ryan had dropped over to help him temporarily move the bedroom furniture into the garage.

  Noah grabbed the spare roll of tape from the middle of the floor and tackled the corner next to the one Teddy was working on. As he started to apply a strip to the baseboard in front of him, he couldn’t help casting a couple of covert glances her way. She looked so damn luscious this morning it physically ached to watch her. Her breasts weren’t large, but they were perky and nicely rounded, jutting out against her white cotton shirt in tantalizing fashion. She’d tied her hair back in a low ponytail and didn’t have a stitch of makeup on as far as he could tell. Everything about her was fresh and sweet and real. Maybe it was because he was so used to women like Callie and the models he’d dated—women who as far as he could tell never showed their faces in public without taking an hour in front of a makeup mirror—that he found Teddy so refreshing. So genuine. If she had any pretensions, he hadn’t discovered them yet.

  She shot him a smile just before she bent over again. “It’s sweet of you to help, but I really can do this by myself, and you’re already so busy. Don’t you have a bullpen session this afternoon?”

  Noah chuckled to himself. For someone who claimed to know nothing about baseball, Teddy was catching on quickly. “Yep. You learn fast, girl. You must be great in school.”

  Teddy stretched her slim body to tape the last three feet of the section she was working on before answering him in a distracted manner. “I’ve always done pretty well whenever I get the chance to take classes.”

  She’d told him yesterday about her struggle to squeeze in courses at Temple as she worked slowly and steadily toward her Bachelor’s degree.

  Noah stuck a two foot piece of tape to the baseboard and then ran an assessing gaze over the length of the joint. “Damn.” He spotted a tiny gap between the sheet rock and the baseboard. “I can throw a baseball sixty-six feet and hit a glove—usually, anyway—but I can’t stick tape straight on a baseboard to save my life.”

  Teddy laughed as she turned to him. “You probably haven’t had much practice painting.” She knew his family had money, though he’d carefully avoided telling her anything beyond the bare minimum.

  Noah held up his hands. “Guilty.” He bent back down and repositioned the offending section of tape until he had it right.

  Teddy scrambled to her feet. “I’m going to start on the ceiling joints.” She grabbed the stepladder from the middle of the room and positioned it near the corner she’d been working on. “I don’t think there’s much else you can do right now. Unless you have another stepladder.”

  “No such luck, but there must be something else I can do.” She’d already taped around the windows and door jambs and had removed the switch and outlet plates and taped there, too. Only the ceiling remained. But he wanted to help as much as he could and definitely enjoyed being around her.

  He pushed himself to his feet as Teddy climbed up to the top step of the ladder. “Hey, you’d better let me hold that steady for you,” he said as the ladder wobbled a little. “Unfortunately, it’s a light duty model.”

  Teddy glanced down at him, her full mouth pulling into a skeptical twist. She wasn’t buying what she clearly thought was phony excuse to get up close and personal. Noah couldn’t exactly deny that instinct but genuinely worried that she could topple over when she had to stretch to reach up into the corner. He silently cursed the fact that he hadn’t gone right out and bought proper equipment for her once she insisted on painting the room herself.

  When he refused to budge, she rolled her eyes. “Noah, I’m not dumb enough to fall off a six foot stepladder.” She turned and stretched her arms up to start the tape in the corner where the ten foot high ceiling met the walls. “I’ll be careful,” she added without looking at him.

  He firmly grasped the edges of the ladder, eliminating the slight wobble. His eyes were more or less level with the bare patch of her back and it was all he could do not to run his tongue over it, tasting skin he knew would be soft and sweet. But why the hell did he keep putting himself in temptation’s way with her? He’d agreed that they had to keep the relationship between them to business and business alone, but every minute he spent with Teddy challenged that commitment. And, damn, he knew she wasn’t finding it easy either. If he knew female vibes, and he figured he did by now, Teddy was throwing enough of them off—consciously or not—to leave any red-blooded male with his tongue hanging out like Toby’s after a crazed run around the yard.

  “I know, but I’m not risking a lawsuit, babe,” he finally said, making a joke out of it.

  Oh, shit, I just called her “babe”.

  The word had flowed unbidden from his lips. But then again, why wouldn’t it? That was the word that came naturally to mind when he was confronted with a seriously desirable woman, especially if he happened to be staring at her very fine ass at the time. And God in heaven, Teddy Quinn was nothing if not desirable. A babe and then some.

  Teddy smoothed down the tape and then swung her head around to give him a look he couldn’t quite get a bead on. A second later, he backed away as she somehow managed to twist her body around until she faced him, her butt perched on the top of the ladder. Her easy physical grace in even the most awkward of positions drew his attention to her slim legs and pretty curves.

  But when she folded her arms across her chest like a cross teacher and glared at him, he had to stifle a laugh. She was clearly annoyed but still cute as hell, like a fluffy, blue-eyed kitten about to snarl.

  “You’re making this awfully hard, Noah,” she said in a voice that held a slight quaver. “Crazy hard.”

  He grasped the ladder’s fiberglass rails, high up where her thighs emerged from the shorts. Speaking of hard, his cock had turned to stone again and the downward drift of her gaze told him she’d damn well noticed the bulge in his jeans.

  “Yeah, but right now I’m not sure I give a damn.” He shifted his hand and gently stroked her bare leg. “Do you?” As he’d known it would, her skin felt warm an
d smooth under his fingertips.

  Teddy sucked in a startled breath but surprised him when she didn’t brush his hand away. She raised her knee slightly until it collided softly with his chest. The move wasn’t aimed at getting him to back off. In fact, it felt to him like she’d decided she wanted another point of contact between their bodies. Even through his shirt, the heat of her body cranked him up.

  God help him, Noah wanted all of her heat wrapped around him.

  * * *

  Oh, Jesus, why does he keep tempting me like this?

  Teddy stared into Noah’s dark, heavy-lidded gaze and felt like she was tumbling down an emotional well. She couldn’t begin to formulate a halfway coherent answer to his question.

  Did she give a damn?

  Of course she did, and her brain was still operating rationally enough to realize that an affair with her boss would lead to nothing but heartache and trouble. Even if they had a week or a month of glorious sex—and she knew without a shred of doubt it would be glorious—soon enough Noah would grow tired of her. He’d move on to another cheerleader or some other sexy hero worshipper that would make Teddy look like the skinny, freckle-faced farm girl she was. Even if he’d let her stay on as his dog walker, which seemed doubtful, how could she bring herself to live and work here after he’d rejected her as a woman?

  God, it was a total walking cliché, one she had no desire to become.

  And aside from the emotional pain, her dream of saving money and finally getting to law school could very well go up in a column of black smoke, too. And all for the sake of a few fun hours rolling around in the sheets, as admittedly enticing as that image was. Teddy trusted her instincts, and her instincts were screeching at her to back him the hell off.

  But neither rationality nor instincts were doing her much good at the moment, because she had never wanted a man as badly as she wanted Noah Cade. Not even close. One simple touch, skin on skin, had sent her hormones and emotions flaring into uncharted territory—territory she wanted to explore as much as she wanted to take her next breath.

  “I feel a little stupid up here, staring down at you,” she said, dodging the question for a moment. Maybe putting a little space between them would help her to think better, although thinking was definitely losing the battle to an extreme version of cave girl lust. No, it wasn’t just simple lust but a desperate thirst for him that was growing stronger by the hour.

  Yeah, thirst, that was it. Just a natural instinct and a totally understandable, basic response to a hot alpha male.

  Nothing to see here, folks. Just keep moving.

  Noah finally released his grip on the ladder as she shifted and carefully put a foot down on a lower rung. Still, he barely moved, stepping back mere inches to let her step slowly down, facing him as she used the rails behind her for balance. As her right foot left the last rung, Noah reached out his big hands and gripped her firmly at the waist, ensuring that she didn’t misstep and fall. It made her feel weightless for a brief moment as he held her. The rough brush of his calloused palms on her bare skin sent waves of anxiety and longing skittering across her body.

  And, God help her, she could feel herself getting wet. That was the last thing she wanted him to know. She silently cursed her decision to wear such skimpy shorts and clamped her thighs tightly together.

  She took a steadying breath and cautiously lifted her eyes. Their perspectives were reversed. Instead of her gazing down at him, Noah again towered over her, forcing her to tilt her head back. Her thoughts ground slowly and stupidly, and she didn’t trust herself not to say something really dumb. Or do something really dumb.

  Noah snorted under his breath, clearly exasperated. “I keep trying, Teddy, but you’re right, this is hard. Hard being around you and yet…” He hesitated a moment, as if he was unsure of himself. “Unless I’m reading you totally wrong, you’re feeling the same way I am. We’re like some chemical combination that just has to mix.” He dropped his gaze for a moment then let out a self-conscious chuckle. “I know that sounds kind of dumb but, hey, I throw baseballs for a living. I’ve never been great with words.”

  She had to clear her throat before she could answer. “I think you’re doing just fine, actually. I can’t quite put a name to what’s happening between us, but it doesn’t seem to want to let up. Dammit,” she added, truly frustrated.

  That surprised a smoky, deep laugh from Noah. Then his even smokier gaze locked on her with undisguised intent. He’s going to kiss me now. Teddy knew it as sure as she knew she was going to let him do it.

  She squeezed her eyes shut as his mouth neared hers, her heart pounding with heady mix of anticipation and fear. But instead of the gentle touch of his lips, she felt the rough stubble of his cheek slide across her face before he gripped her in a tight embrace. Instinctively, she tilted her head into the warmth of his body as she wrapped her arms around his brawny shoulders. Noah was breathing hard, and she could feel every thudding beat of his heart. She held onto him as tightly as he did her, sensing it had taken a huge force of will on his part to veer away from an action that might have changed everything between them.

  “No,” he ground out, his voice muffled against her neck. “It’s not right. Not after what you’ve said to me.”

  She felt his grip loosen but he didn’t let her go.

  “No,” she whispered into his chest. Even though this feels like exactly right. “Thank you, Noah,” she said, not entirely sure she meant it.

  “Great hug, though.” His tone had lightened, although it still held a husky rumble that made her shiver. His arms briefly tightened, but then he eased off.

  Teddy’s rational brain kicked in again. “Sure was. But it was a good thing Cristina was out shopping. I’d have hated for her to see us like that.”

  Noah stepped back with a wry smile, probably thinking to himself that Cristina had seen him kiss lots of women and wouldn’t have been one bit surprised.

  “I think I’d better do some shopping, too,” he said. “Specifically, a trip to Home Depot to buy a ladder that isn’t a hazard to your health.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll be back in about forty-five minutes.”

  Teddy gave him a grateful smile. “Good idea.” She needed some time to get her head back on straight, anyway.

  “Now, promise me you won’t climb back up on that thing again in the meantime,” he said, giving her a stern look. “I mean it, Teddy.”

  God, the man just made her heart melt. His concern was so obviously sincere that she desperately wanted to hug him again. Instead, she settled for a brief touch on his bare arm. “Your wish is my command, sir.”

  His sardonic snort as he left the room told her just how much he knew that wasn’t the case.

  But, oh, how she wished it was.

  - 12 -

  Teddy had never been to a major league baseball game in her life. For one thing, the tickets cost a small fortune these days. For another, she’d never had any interest. Sports weren’t her thing, and especially not professional sports played by grossly overpaid athletes.

  So, how had she found herself sitting in one of the best seats in the Patriots’ stadium on a sultry summer evening?

  Because Noah had insisted until she finally caved. He seemed to feel it was important that she see how he made his living, or at least that was her guess. Oh, he’d couched the invitation in terms of her needing a break from a boring life of dog walking and studying, but she’d picked up the vibe. He obviously thought she didn’t get what he was about and wanted to change that. And Teddy had given in because it was the least she could do. Since the day they’d almost kissed, Noah had been nothing but kind and gentlemanly and appropriately reserved. She suspected he felt both guilty about crossing the line with her and worried that she might bolt.

  Or maybe he was just being nice. Either way, Teddy so far had found living in his house less stressful than she’d feared. Even Cristina seemed to have slightly warmed to her, if only from the formerly sub-zero to the current chilly t
emperature.

  Not that she’d seen Noah much more than in passing. The man hadn’t been kidding when he said he didn’t spend much time at home. Every day had been a game day—part of something he’d called a “long home stand”—and so he spent his afternoons and evenings at the ballpark. Mornings were devoted to sleep, jogging and basement workouts, squeezing breakfast in between the outdoor and indoor work. When it came to pushing his body into a state of hyper-fitness, Noah Cade didn’t take a back seat to anybody.

  So, when he arranged for Teddy to take in tonight’s game with a couple of players’ wives, she’d agreed. She’d figured she might be numb with boredom after the first ten minutes, but if it made Noah happy, she was down with that.

  As it turned out, she was far from bored. For one thing, the atmosphere in the ballpark was electric. Philly fans were nuts for the Patriots. Whenever the team scored, or even threatened to score, the noise cascading around the multi-level stadium reached deafening heights. For the first few innings, Teddy had found herself jumping to her feet again and again, unconsciously imitating her seatmates Holly Bell-Carter and Maddie Miller, not to mention just about every other fan in the park.

  The game was flying by, too. The Patriot batters had brutally pounded the first Washington pitcher, scoring four runs in the first inning and then adding two more in the third and another in the fourth. The early fan euphoria had subsided a little, though, as the Nationals had chipped away at the lead and now trailed only 7-5 at the start of the sixth inning. A few jerks had even gotten on Noah’s case when he gave up four runs in the fourth, and Teddy had heard a few boos when he jogged from the dugout to the mound a few moments ago.

  She turned to Maddie, who seemed to know everything about baseball there was to know—which made sense since she was a sports journalist. “Why are those idiots booing Noah? He hasn’t even thrown a pitch yet this inning.”