Payoff Pitch (Philadelphia Patriots)

by V. K. Sykes

  “Who are you calling old, girl?”

  She could see him grinning. “Dad, I think I’d better get myself into the shower,” she said, glancing at her watch. “I need to be someplace soon—someplace important—and I don’t want to look like I’ve just come in from the barn.”

  “Well, good. Although I’ve always thought a little hay in a girl’s hair is kind of cute,” he said. “Call me later and tell me how it goes, okay?”

  She laughed. “Count on it. I love you, Dad.”

  Teddy stood up and marched back into the house. She knew where Noah was going to be this evening, and she had a lot to do before she bearded the lion in his den.

  * * *

  After dropping off his car out front, Noah reluctantly strode into the lobby of the Four Seasons. The cocktail reception was in the ballroom, not, thankfully, in the Fountain Room. The last time he’d been in that restaurant had been when Teddy went toe to toe with his father. She’d been courageous and smart and so damn beautiful that morning that Noah been bursting with pride and a fierce desire to claim her. He’d even thought back then that they’d be able to work their problems out, but it sure wasn’t looking good at the moment.

  Damn, he missed her already, even though it had only been a few hours since he’d been with her. The fact that they might be close to the end of the line was ripping him up inside. The depth of his feelings for her shocked the hell out of him, especially given all the other crap going on in his life. His future with the Patriots and the issue with Baron Energy should be foremost in his mind right now, but they weren’t. Not even close, and no matter how much he might want to pretend it wasn’t so, Noah had to acknowledge that he’d fallen hard for sweet Teddy Quinn.

  He headed past the restaurant to the ballroom, his body drum-tight. This kind of gathering wasn’t his thing under the best of circumstances, and today was light years away from best. But he’d promised his father he’d go, so he’d put on an Armani suit and blue striped tie and headed out. He hated wearing suits but the industry moguls—including his father—would probably scowl if he showed up in anything else. Unfortunately, he’d have to get used to dressing like a businessman if and when he claimed his chunk of square footage in Baron’s sterile Dallas skyscraper, a prospect he viewed with loathing.

  Slowing his pace, he tried to shut his troubles with Teddy out of his mind and focus on the decision he had to make tonight—agree to speak on behalf of the industry or not. If he said yes now and it was announced at the party, it would finally get the monkey off his back and make his father a very happy man. The problem was that the meetings at the Quinn and Dillon farms had confirmed what his gut had been telling him for a while—that he didn’t want to do it. It was one thing not to buy into radical anti-fracking rhetoric, but quite another to be a media flunky who tried to tell regular folks that they had absolutely nothing to worry about.

  So, his decision should be easy, right? Yeah, but he kept coming back to the same troublesome point. Was it really something that he had to hold his nose and do for the sake of his family and his potential future in the company? That’s what his dad and Levi believed, and Noah did owe them a debt of loyalty. Though he’d done nothing to support the family over the years, they’d always been there for him anyway.

  Levi spotted him as he approached the ballroom. He was talking to a young woman in a black suit, probably a Four Seasons employee. She appeared to be checking people’s credentials. His brother reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a lanyard with Noah’s name and the Baron logo.

  “Been waiting for you,” his brother said with a grin. “You gotta put this on, bro, or security will toss you out.”

  I wish.

  Instead of acting on his impulse to hightail it out of there, he put on the badge and let Levi usher him into the ballroom.

  “How long do I have to stay?” Noah joked.

  He glanced around the room. It was quietly opulent, with crystal chandeliers throwing soft light over the crowd. Huge vases of roses were set on tables covered with crisp white linen. Strangers in power suits and designer cocktail dresses were milling about or clustering in small circles. A quartet played soft jazz from a tiny stage in one corner.

  God, he wished he was just about anywhere else—preferably somewhere with Teddy.

  “It’s only a two-hour thing,” Levi said, “and there’s not much more than an hour left. But it’s great that you came. The three of us are going to have dinner after it’s over.”

  “I might have to take a rain check on that,” Noah said. “I’ve been on the road all day and I’m beat.”

  It sounded like a lame excuse even to his ears.

  “Forget it. Dad insists.” His brother led him toward one of the open bars. “How was Cooperstown, anyway?

  Noah ordered a glass of red wine. “Interesting.” He hadn’t told Levi or his father that he was going to make a pit stop at Teddy’s farm. “I could never get tired of the Hall of Fame.”

  But his visit to the Hall wouldn’t be what he chiefly remembered from the trip. Nor would it even be his emotional meeting with Charlie Clancy. No, what he’d remember was Teddy and every minute they’d spent together, both the good and the bad.

  “Here comes Dad now.” Levi pulled on Noah’s sleeve, steering him away from the bar.

  Their father approached with a beefy, jovial-looking man and a tall, rail-thin woman in a tight black dress, her hair cut as short as Noah’s. It made her high-boned features look predatory.

  “Noah, I’d like you to meet Gloria Levitt and Chuck Mannix,” his father said. “Chuck’s the new Pendulum CEO, and Gloria is chief counsel for the industry association.”

  Noah shook their hands. He vaguely remembered Mannix from some event in Dallas years ago. Levitt he knew by reputation only. She was a corporate lawyer and industry lobbyist with strong ties to the White House. He assumed his father would have cleared the idea of Noah fronting the campaign with both these heavy hitters. No doubt that’s why the three of them had made a beeline toward him almost as soon as he appeared.

  Mercifully, Mannix threw him a couple of good-natured baseball questions and all four men got into it. Levitt looked simultaneously bored and supercharged—one of those people who radiate a restless energy that often smacks of impatience.

  “So, Noah,” Levitt finally butted in, “I hope you’re as excited about coming on board the campaign as we are about having you as our spokesman.”

  Adam Cade shot her a frown. “Noah hasn’t given me the green light on that yet, Gloria.”

  Levitt’s over-plucked eyebrows almost came together in a narrow line. “Oh, no? I’m sorry, then. Somehow I was under the impression that we were going to announce it today.”

  Noah shrugged. Who knew what his father had been saying to people? Or was it just some tactic on Levitt’s part? One thing he knew was that he instantly the woman.

  “Well,” Levitt continued, “I for one was certainly excited when Adam proposed the idea. Who better than a local baseball hero to counter the inanity of the environmental lobby? You’ll be perfect for giving people the truth instead of all that fear-mongering drivel those groups are constantly peddling.”

  The other three men smiled or nodded but Noah couldn’t help making a small grimace. “That would be truth as you see it, Ms. Levitt.” While he didn’t want to get into the politics tonight, he wasn’t going to listen to fatuous industry bullshit, either. “I think it’s a matter of conflicting interests rather than absolute truths. I definitely get the industry’s point of view, but I respect what the people on the ground are saying about fracking, too.”

  “Really? Well, then, please elaborate,” Levitt said, already starting to sound pissed. “I’m all ears.”

  Noah shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t come here tonight to get into a debate.”

  “Hell, Gloria,” his father said with a scowl, “Noah’s not on the witness stand.”

  “No, of course not, Adam,” she said, matching his sco
wl. “But I’m so very interested to hear what he has to say on the subject. It does seem rather relevant, after all, considering what you have in mind for him.”

  His father started to speak but Noah cut him off. “Okay, then, I’ll tell you. I recently spoke to a couple in Susquehanna County—Tom and Janie Dillon. They’ve lived in the Marcellus region their entire lives and own a small farm there. When Janie asked me how I’d like to have a fracking rig and an impoundment site a few hundred feet from my house, like Pendulum has at theirs, I didn’t have to think too hard about my answer. I realized right away that I damn well wouldn’t, and I suspect everyone in this room would feel the same if they were being honest.”

  Noah shifted his gaze to Mannix, who was studying him with a look of vague horror. “And then there are the water issues. Janie showed me their cloudy brown water, Mr. Mannix. It was pretty disgusting, and there’s a damn good chance that Pendulum’s fracking did that to their well.”

  Adam and Levi both rolled their eyes while Mannix started to bluster. “Now hang on a minute, Noah. I’m sure there’s a reasonable—”

  Levitt ruthlessly cut him off. “Noah, it’s starting to sound like you’ve been drinking the environmentalists’ Kool-Aid, not the water. Not one bit of that nonsense about groundwater contamination is backed up by science and hard evidence. If that well was compromised, it was by something other than hydraulic fracturing. The evidence shows that all the protests about ruining the land and the water are nothing more than self-serving bleating from people who hate anything to do with our industry.”

  “Gloria’s right about that,” Mannix said. Pendulum’s CEO kept his voice low and even, but his red face and annoyed squint told Noah how angry he was. “Those environmentalist radicals don’t care about jobs or progress or the country’s energy security. But the media just eats up their garbage without any sense of balance whatsoever. That’s why we need this campaign, Noah. The politicians and the people need to hear from both sides, not just from wing-nut lobbyists and the naïve folks they’ve fooled into believing their lies.”

  Noah quietly registered all the insults and objections, but not one of them accorded with what he’d just heard in Teddy’s hometown. Sure, he’d seen characters in the environmental action groups take it totally over the top—there were people like that everywhere—but the folks he’d met in Susquehanna were down to earth farmers and small business people who were rightly worried about their land and their communities.

  And no one in his right mind could describe Teddy as either a wing-nut or naïve.

  Everyone in the tense little circle seemed to be waiting for him to say something. But why would he want to keep arguing with the likes of Gloria Levitt and Chuck Mannix? In fact, why would he want to be here at all, surrounded by people he had nothing in common with? He’d felt way more at home in Ed Quinn’s homespun kitchen—even when he was getting peppered with hostile questions and comments—than he did hanging out with a bunch of overdressed executives from the oil and gas industry.

  Right now he just wished he was somewhere quiet with Teddy—or anywhere with Teddy, for that matter. He vividly remembered that when she took on his father at breakfast just down the hall, she’d been direct and firm but also completely respectful. The contrast between her behavior and that of Gloria Levitt couldn’t have been starker.

  And it would be Levitt—and people like her—that he would be working with if he agreed to front the industry campaign.

  Noah handed his wine glass to a passing waiter. “I’m afraid you folks will have to excuse me. I need to be someplace else.”

  He’d only been in the room for maybe fifteen minutes, but that had been plenty long enough for him to make up his mind. His gut, his heart, and his head were all telling him that he didn’t belong with people like Mannix and Levitt. Maybe he didn’t even belong with his father and brother, not if this was the life they insisted on him entering. He loved them and he did owe them a debt of gratitude, but he sure as hell didn’t owe them his soul.

  And it felt like that’s what he’d lose if he were to give up on his dreams and go to work at Baron.

  “I’ll call you later tonight, Dad,” he said. He hoped much later, after he tracked Teddy down. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to say to her yet, but his heart felt lighter with every passing second. That was all the confirmation he needed to know he’d made the right decision.

  His father sighed and gave him a rueful smile. “Are you sure you have to go? Levi and I were hoping to have dinner with you.”

  “I’m sure, Dad,” Noah said. “And I’m sorry.”

  “Me too, son,” his father said quietly, obviously getting the message. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “It was real nice meeting you, folks,” Noah said to Mannix and Levitt, throttling back the sarcasm as best he could. No need to be rude, although he was tempted.

  Mannix looked insulted and Levitt’s narrow gaze practically torched him. But Noah didn’t care. He turned and headed to the doorway.

  Levi caught up and grabbed his arm before he got too far away. “Jesus, Noah, don’t let Levitt fuck with your head,” he said in a low tone, glancing around him as if to make sure no one overheard. “She’s a ball-buster, but Dad can keep her in line. Come on, stick around and I’ll introduce you to some folks you’ll like.”

  Noah gently pried his brother’s hand away. “This might be your thing, bro, and I respect that. But fifteen minutes in here is all I needed to tell me once and for all that I could never do what you guys want me to do. I’m sorry, Levi.”

  When his brother opened his mouth to argue, Noah stopped him. “Look, I don’t want to let you and Dad down, but I can’t do this. It’s not me. It’s not how I want to live my life.”

  “It’s Teddy Quinn, isn’t it?” Levi said, frowning hard. “You’re letting her mess with you. But are you really going to put your goddamn dog walker ahead your family?”

  Noah grabbed him by the shoulder and gave him a stony look. “Don’t say another word, bro. I love you and I know you’re disappointed, but I won’t let you diss Teddy. Anyway, this is about me, not her or anybody else. We can talk later about how it affects you and the company, but my decision isn’t going to change.”

  He pivoted and strode through the double doors, almost slamming them open. When the big doors swung out, the first thing he saw was Teddy and it stopped him in his tracks. He couldn’t believe she was really here.

  And looking like a goddess.

  As she was talking to the woman checking the credentials, Noah took in her sleekly styled hair and the pretty, slim-fitting dress she’d worn the day they’d had breakfast here. Had she dressed up to crash the party? It sure looked like it.

  “I’m sorry, miss, but I don’t have you on the list,” the gatekeeper. “I’m afraid I can’t admit you.”

  “I understand,” Teddy said in a patient voice. “But could you perhaps take a moment and find Noah Cade inside? I’m quite sure he’ll want to see me.”

  “You bet he will,” Noah said.

  - 28 -

  Teddy spun around at the sound of Noah’s deep voice. She barely had a chance to inhale a breath, let alone say a word, before he took her arm in a firm grasp and led her back down the hallway to the lobby area outside the Swann Lounge. Was he angry with her for trying to barge into his party? He was hurrying her along like some brawny, silent bouncer giving a gate crasher the bum’s rush.

  Her heart felt like it was climbing out of her throat, pounding jackhammer-hard on its way up. It had taken every ounce of her courage to walk in the door of the Four Seasons, and now her nerve was rapidly deserting her.

  Noah looked so damn handsome that she felt like fanning herself. Somebody had once told her that a well-tailored suit was to a woman what sexy lingerie was to a man. Stealing surreptitious glances at Noah as he practically carried her away from the cocktail party, she knew that to be a fact.

  Teddy had dressed up, too, putting on her nicest o
utfit and doing her hair and makeup in the hope she could somehow talk her way into the party. She hadn’t had a concrete plan past that point, but it obviously didn’t matter now. Noah seemed to have no intention of letting her near the fancy shindig.

  She finally managed to catch her breath long enough to speak. “You must be mad at me for coming here. I suppose it was a stupid impulse, but I couldn’t stand the way we left things this afternoon. I just needed to talk to you, Noah. I needed to tell you…”

  But the words got stuck in her throat again, dammit. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down enough to tell him what she truly felt.

  You will not back down—not this time.

  “Wait until we have some privacy, okay?” He led her out a side door onto a shady and thankfully deserted terrace.

  When he gently turned her to face him, his expression seemed more puzzled than angry. “I know, Teddy. You came to tell me again not to do it. But it’s not like I hadn’t already heard that message loud and clear, and I—”

  “No, not that,” she interrupted, shaking her head hard. “That’s not at all what I intended to say.”

  When he blinked twice, she realized she’d truly startled him. But then he gently brushed his fingers across her cheek. “You can say anything you need to say, Teddy. Whatever it is, I want to hear it.”

  His touch and those words bolstered her courage. She reached up and rested her hand on his stubbled cheek, mirroring his gesture. Everything she’d struggled to say now seemed easy.

  “I had to tell you that I love you, Noah. And that I’ll love you no matter what you decide to do, or when you decide to do it.” When his lips parted on a surprised huff of breath, she managed a wry smile. “Believe it or not, I know I’ll keep on loving you even if I have to see your face on TV every day spouting drivel about fracking. I was an idiot to ever think I could do anything else but love you.”

  His hand slid from her cheek to her shoulder. “Teddy, I—”