Payoff Pitch (Philadelphia Patriots)

by V. K. Sykes

  “Well, what if I were to get you a face-to-face with the head man at Baron Energy? That way, you could tell him exactly how fracking is affecting your land and your people. And you could hear what he has to say, too—directly from him, not filtered through company spokesmen.” He grimaced. “Propagandists, you’d probably call them.”

  Teddy’s stomach dived and she found herself scrambling to answer his startling proposal. Though she wasn’t dumb enough to think she could make the slightest dent in Adam Cade’s plans to frack the hell out of her county, how would she look if she rebuffed Noah’s offer? She’d lose all credibility with him, wouldn’t she? He’d be even more convinced that she was just another closed-minded, overwrought activist who preferred protesting to engaging in real dialogue.

  He had her over a barrel. Though just the thought of confronting a corporate titan like Adam Cade—her employer’s father, for God’s sake—made her a little weak in the knees, when would she or anybody like her have that kind of opportunity to voice her concerns to one of the biggest players in the entire oil and gas industry? If nothing else, at least the man would get an earful from her.

  She pressed a hand against her stomach. The damn thing felt like it was dancing the tango. “Exactly how were you thinking of making such a meeting happen?”

  Noah was so big that even with the console between them, Teddy felt like he was right on top of her. She wanted both to shrink away and to throw her arms around him, drawing in his intoxicating, masculine heat.

  “Easy. My father and brother are in town right now. We’re going to meet for breakfast tomorrow.” He hesitated for a moment, as if considering. “Maybe you could join us for coffee right after. If that works for you, I’ll call Dad first thing in the morning and let him know you’re coming.”

  Tomorrow morning!

  Now Teddy felt like throwing up for sure. Noah’s idea had gone from a theoretical possibility to an immediate problem in the space of a few seconds. “Did they take in your game tonight?” she said, stalling for time.

  “Oh, yeah. Levi called to commiserate when I was driving home.” His mouth turned down. “I hated for them to see me pitch like that.”

  “I’m sure they understand that you can’t be perfect every time out.” At least she hoped so, for Noah’s sake.

  He wiggled his hand back and forth to indicate so-so. “Dad’s been great about my career. But after I blew out my arm last year, he started making it clear that he thinks it’s time for me to hang up the cleats and take my place in the company.”

  Teddy bit the inside of her lip to hide her shock. Did that mean Noah was closer to Baron Energy than he’d given her to understand?

  Don’t go jumping to conclusions.

  She wasn’t sure she wanted to learn the answer but forced herself to ask the question anyway. “But what do you think, Noah?”

  He shrugged. “I just want to play baseball for as long as I can.”

  Well, that was a non-answer if she’d ever heard one. Still, she decided not to press him. Not now. Not when she still hadn’t said yes or no to meeting his father.

  “After we talked the first time, I called my dad and told him I was working for the scion of Baron Energy,” she said. “He hadn’t made the connection about you either.”

  “Scion, huh?” He barked out a gruff laugh. “Yeah, not many people get the connection. Baron is a big enough company, but nothing remotely like the Exxons, Chevrons and Chesapeakes. And it usually flies under the radar, except of course for that unfortunate bribery incident you reminded me of the other night.” He shot her a little grin. “But since you’re still here, I’m assuming your dad didn’t threaten to disown you unless you quit your job with the enemy.”

  Teddy had worried that the conversation with her father about Noah might be a difficult one, but he’d taken the news in stride and his calming words had helped her to throttle back her anger.

  “I don’t suppose it would be right to blame the son just because we don’t like how the father conducts his business, would it?” her father had said in a mild voice after Teddy explained the situation.

  “I suppose not,” she’d replied. “But you’re such a diehard Patriots fan that Noah could probably never do anything wrong in your books.”

  “That’s not true, Teddy,” he’d countered. “Because I’ll tell you this—if Noah Cade ever mistreated my little girl, he might just find out what a hay baler looks like—from the inside.”

  Teddy had laughed, and the strain she’d been feeling had eased. “So, I think you’re saying I shouldn’t quit over the Baron connection.”

  “Hell, no. Not when he’s paying you the kind of money you told me about, and not as long as he’s behaving himself with you. You let me worry about Baron Energy—you just take good care of those Cade Poodles. Just do your job, honey.”

  Her ever-practical father.

  Noah gently poked her in the shoulder, pulling her out of her brief reverie. “Well, what do you think? Will you come tomorrow? It would be great for you to meet Dad and Levi, and giving them holy hell would be a bonus, right?” The reflected glow from the porch lights revealed Noah’s faint smile even though his gaze remained intent.

  She peered at him, torn about what to do. There were a whole lot of reasons why the meeting might be a good idea—starting with the fact that it would please Noah—but there were just as many reasons why it might be the worst idea she’d ever heard.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked, hoping she didn’t sound like a coward. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the opportunity, but things could go downhill pretty fast, don’t you think?”

  Noah gave his head a quick shake. “Look, I get that the discussion has the potential to go thermonuclear in about five seconds flat, but I’ll make sure it doesn’t. Dad can be a hardass, no doubt about it, but he’s not some cartoon character or a stereotype of the evil corporate mogul. He’s a smart guy and a good businessman, and I think he’ll listen to you.”

  Teddy grimaced. “I just wish I had more time to prepare. I’ll probably end up sounding like a babbling idiot.”

  Noah’s barely-there smile broadened into a grin of satisfaction. “I don’t buy that for a second. You’re a great advocate for what you believe in and I’ve got the scars to prove it. Want to see them?”

  Before she could say anything, Noah closed the small gap between them and kissed her firmly on the lips. She barely had a chance to respond before he pulled back. “Let’s pick this back up after we get tomorrow morning out of the way.”

  Teddy started to sputter. “But…”

  “I’ll let you know the details when you come in the morning to walk the mutts.” Noah reached for the door handle. “Sleep tight, Teddy.”

  And just like that he was gone, leaving her speechless.

  - 18 -

  Teddy cursed as she struggled to get her best silver hoop earrings into her earlobes. Her hands weren’t exactly rock steady. She supposed that wasn’t surprising since she’d managed only about three hours of restless sleep. She’d tried to mask her fatigue with makeup, but her reflection in the bathroom mirror still weighed in on the haggard end of the scale.

  When she fed and walked Toby and Sadie at seven, Noah had come downstairs looking almost as jittery about the coming meeting as she was. She’d been forced at that point to summon up every ounce of courage to resist bailing on the meeting. Most of the night she’d been imagining the worst—that the discussion with his father would degenerate into an embarrassing shouting match. Though she had no intention of letting her temper get away from her, she wouldn’t be bullied either. And if Noah just sat there and let his father rail at her, well, she didn’t see how they could continue to have any kind of relationship, working or otherwise.

  But she’d known right then that it was too late to back out, because one look from Noah had made her realize she simply didn’t have the heart to disappoint him. She’d just have to go through with the meeting and hope their r
elationship survived without permanent damage.

  At least the news about Toby was good. Noah had texted a few minutes ago, reporting that the dog’s blood work had come back clean and his temperature had dropped back to normal. Dr. Clark thought he’d probably eaten something questionable outdoors but said it was fine for Noah to take him home today.

  Emma stuck her head into the bathroom. “Hey, you look absolutely amazing! And I totally love that dress.”

  “Thanks. It’s only the second time I’ve worn it. You know how much I like wearing dresses. Not.”

  Still, she had to admit that the sleeveless, sleek-fitting sheath in turquoise with burgundy horizontal stripes looked pretty darn good on her, especially when combined with the matching burgundy lace flats. Noah would probably fall over in shock since he’d never seen her in a dress. In fact, he’d pretty much seen her in only two things—her less than sexy dog clothes and her clearly more appealing birthday suit. And just thinking about the latter—and that incredible night in his bed—made her insides tighten from both nerves and pleasure.

  “Well, you look even more awesome than the first time I saw you in it,” Emma said, grabbing a brush and arranging Teddy’s freshly washed and dried hair in a soft fall down her back. “Those oilmen are going to be blown away just looking at you.”

  “I don’t care how they think I look.”

  Well, that wasn’t quite the truth. She cared a lot about what Noah thought and didn’t relish leaving a bad impression on his father and brother. “I care about whether they actually listen to what I have to say or just humor me.”

  “I know it isn’t going to be easy for you. But as long as this makes Noah happy, right? Chalk it up to maintaining good client relations.” In the mirror, Teddy saw her smile. “If nothing else.”

  “Got it,” Teddy said, trying to sound confident. “Good client relations.”

  Unfortunately, her roommate’s pep talk simply made her even more nervous. The last thing Teddy wanted was to screw this up, for Emma’s sake as much as her own. On top of the strong sense of commitment she felt toward Noah and the dogs, their fledgling company needed the work and income. But for the life of her, all she could think of were the many ways that today’s meeting could go off the rails.

  “Well, gotta make tracks,” she said in a falsely jovial voice. “Don’t want to keep the boys waiting.”

  Noah had told her to meet them at the hotel dining room at ten. A corporate tycoon like Adam Cade wouldn’t wait around, and there was no way Teddy wanted to risk infuriating Noah, in that or any other way.

  * * *

  Noah strode through the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel and went up a short flight of marble steps to the ornately regal Fountain Room restaurant. The hostess greeted him by name, ushering him to a window table where his father and Levi were in animated conversation.

  In deference to the upscale hotel and to his father—who would be wearing his usual bespoke power suit—Noah had worn a light gray linen sports coat. He’d paired that with a black T-shirt and black chinos, which was about as formal as he was prepared to go on a hot summer morning. His father would never wear something that casual on a business trip, which was another reason Noah had a hard time imagining he’d take his father’s place someday. Life as a big-time executive had simply never appealed to him.

  Adam Cade had his back to Noah as he approached, but Levi spotted him immediately and jumped to his feet. “Bro!” he said, holding his arms open. “It’s been a while.”

  Noah returned his brother’s embrace. Damn, but he loved Levi. They didn’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but their strong childhood bond had matured and stood the tests of time and distance.

  Adam Cade rose and held out his hand, smiling his Texas, good-old-boy smile that had charmed both friends and foes for his entire career. He gave Noah a quick once-over, head to toe, with a faint lift of his eyebrows. “Good to see you, son.”

  No hugs or touchy-feely stuff with the family patriarch. And no matter how old Noah might be, his father always seemed to exercise a subtle judgment—even over what he wore.

  Noah grasped his father’s calloused, roughneck hand.

  “Good to see you, too, Dad,” he said a little awkwardly.

  Well, why wouldn’t he be nervous? Getting together with his father was always fraught with potential hazard. Today, the emotional land mines were strewn thick below the surface, just waiting for an errant foot to step on them.

  Noah took the seat next to his brother and directly across from his father. Naturally, Levi had claimed the chair with the best view, one that overlooked the Swann Fountain in the center of Logan Square. A couple of little kids were rioting in the pool, running from one spouting jet of cool water to the next. He couldn’t help thinking that he’d rather be doing that than sitting down for breakfast with his always-intimidating father.

  Trying to squash the guilt that particular thought had raised, he poured a cup of coffee from the carafe in the middle of the table and picked up the menu. “You guys order yet?”

  Levi shook his head. “No, but we’ve already decided what we’re having. So, how’s the arm this morning?” He looked genuinely worried.

  “Not great.” Noah had debated whether to be honest with them about his condition. But since Levi had a great nose for both baseball and whatever was going on with his brother, he’d decided there was no point in trying to deny the crappy situation.

  His father’s heavy brows almost knitted together as he frowned. “Levi said he could tell you were hurting when you walked off the mound.”

  “I thought your delivery was different,” Levi said. “Like you were holding back instead of throwing full-out like you used to.”

  Used to. Well, bingo, Bro.

  “Something’s going on with my shoulder.” Just saying the words made Noah’s gut tighten. “I hate like hell to have to do it, but I’ve decided to get an MRI. I’ll have a better idea what’s going on after that.”

  As much as he’d wanted to avoid undergoing the scan, he’d finally concluded that there was no point trying to stick his head in the sand. Unless the MRI results were truly dire, he figured he could probably still convince the team that he could pitch through the pain for the rest of the season.

  “Jesus.” Levi blew out a sigh. “First your elbow and now your shoulder. That totally sucks, man. You worked so hard to come back.”

  Noah grimaced, but a server came over to take their orders before he could reply. Despite his jumped-up nerves, he had an appetite so he ordered a combination of eggs, scrapple and pork roll. Levi chose the same thing while their father stuck to his traditional three scrambled with Canadian bacon.

  Adam Cade rubbed his jaw, as was his habit when he was about to say something he thought was important. “Noah, I hope everything turns out for the best, I truly do. But this news makes me think it’s even more important that you start to seriously consider your future.”

  Shit, here it comes, even before breakfast shows up.

  He couldn’t say he was surprised. “Okay, let me summarize to save you some time. Yes, I’m in the twilight of my career. I’ve been injured, undergone a long rehab, and maybe now I’m injured again. I should finally realize that it’s time to hang it up and get on with the rest of my life. A life in the executive office that’s already waiting for me in Dallas.” He kept his voice as neutral as possible. “How did I do?”

  “One of the most important things a man can know is when to quit,” Cade said, ignoring Noah’s question with his usual laser focus on making his own point. “Doesn’t matter if you’re a baseball player or the head of a corporation or a politician or anything else. You want to go out when you’re on top, or at the very least while you’ve still got people’s respect and your dignity is intact.”

  Noah clamped down on his instinct to curse. “And you think I’m about to lose those things, do you?” he asked in a hard voice.

  Levi grabbed Noah’s forearm and gave it a quick squeeze. �
��Dad didn’t say that, man. I think what he’s trying to do is ask whether it’s worth it to try to keep going, especially with this new shoulder issue. You’ve worked your ass off trying to get back to where you were before the surgery, but maybe you’ve done enough. Maybe it’s time to think about calling it a day. Does it make sense to have more rehab, maybe even more surgery, now that you’ve been demoted from starting to middle relief?”

  Noah knew that Levi didn’t mean to stab him in the heart with that particular message, but that was pretty much the result. He’d been fighting those same thoughts non-stop, and to hear them come out of his brother’s mouth made the pain sharp and deep. He couldn’t deny that Levi had asked a damn good question.

  Still, he couldn’t find it in him to answer in any coherent way.

  His father, though, sensed they were making headway with him. He leaned forward, his craggy, distinguished features intent. “I’ll be sixty-five this year, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to still be working eighty hour weeks when I’m past seventy. The succession plan at Baron is clear. Our Board members are behind it. If you’re ready, you’ll have my chair when I leave. But we all know that you’ll need a good deal of seasoning before that can happen, Noah. Five or six years isn’t that much time—not when you need to head up at least one of the company’s divisions before taking my job.”

  Noah shook his head. “I could work there twenty years and still not know half as much about the oil and gas business as you do. You should be able to find people in the company who are a lot better qualified than me to take over.”

  All three men knew that Levi would never get the top job at Baron Energy, and even Noah could see why that made sense. Levi wasn’t temperamentally cut out for the CEO’s office, and their dad had made that clear to his younger son not long after Levi joined Baron. Over the years, Levi had grown to accept that hard truth, but Noah knew it remained a wound between father and son that would probably never fully heal. Levi had told him more than once that the only way he could stand not getting the top job was if his brother took it.