by Maria Geraci
“So all this mess you’re in is because you wanted to help a friend. Does Phil know?”
“There you go, channeling Bambi again. For the record, I’m not that nice. That night was on me. If I hadn’t gotten Marcus so drunk that he didn’t know what he was doing, you’d have never heard of Brian Callahan. As for Phil, what I do in my off time is none of his business, even though he thinks it is. His only job is to get me the contract I want.”
All this time she’d been treating him like a spoiled celebrity who couldn’t control himself when, in reality, he was just a nice guy trying to do right by his teammate.
She was the world’s biggest shrew.
Yes, it was her job to keep him under the radar, but she’d pulled him away when he’d been celebrating with his teammates and flirting with girls who had been flirting with him. Nothing out of the norm for a healthy, red-blooded, unattached man. Except…
“What about Taylor?”
“Who?”
“Your girlfriend. Aren’t you dating Taylor Swift?”
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut again before shaking his head in disgust. “Do you believe everything you read?”
“Of course not—but, you mean, you aren’t dating Taylor Swift?”
“One date. Set up by a mutual publicist. We barely said three words to each other.” He opened the door to her Jeep and climbed in. “You driving? Because I need a ride to my car. It’s parked at the stadium.”
They drove in silence all the way back to the field. What could she say to him after everything he’d told her? She pulled her Jeep up alongside his car, killed the engine, turned to him and said the only thing she could think of. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For starters, for yanking you out of that bar. You were just having a good time and I was…” She blew out a breath. She shouldn’t say it, but after what he’d revealed tonight, he deserved the truth from her. “You’re right. I was jealous. Not that it makes any kind of sense.”
“Doesn’t it?”
Sitting in the front seat of her car, facing one another, they were just a couple of feet apart. It was dark but the security lights from the stadium provided enough illumination that she could see his expression. He looked as if he was about to—no, he couldn’t be about to kiss her. Could he?
“You’re wrong about the redhead. Like I said, she’s nice, but she’s not my type.” He waited for her to say something, but she couldn’t. Her throat felt so dry she could barely swallow. “Unfortunately for me, Adams, you’re my type, which puts me in a terrible dilemma.”
“It does?” she squeaked.
“Yeah. Because I know what’s about to happen shouldn’t, but I really don’t give a rat’s ass, because I’m going to do it anyway.” And with that, he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers.
#
He was too old and too tall to be making out with a girl in a parked car, but from the second Brian had seen her at the airport walking toward him wearing pearls and those four-inch heels, this was all he’d thought about. But it wasn’t just about sex. Something about Aubrey Adams drove him crazy. She was like a puzzle he couldn’t solve. He wanted to introduce her to his mother and bang her brains out at the same time.
She opened her mouth and he wasted no time deepening the kiss. She tasted just as sweet as he’d imagined and he couldn’t get enough. Deep down, he was an old-fashioned guy. He shouldn’t be trying to do her in the front seat of a car, but he couldn’t help himself. If he stopped now, she might just come to her senses and put a halt to the whole thing. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck and the way she was rubbing against him…
Snaking a hand beneath her cotton blouse, he lightly palmed a perky breast beneath her silk bra. He’d give anything to be able to lean down and take it into his mouth, but the logistics were all off. His knee slammed into the dashboard and he had to grit his teeth to keep from groaning in pain. “Remind me when this is over to buy you a Hummer.”
“What?” she asked, sounding dazed.
He went back to kissing her, playing with each breast until her moans grew louder, then he shifted in his seat as best he could and placed a hand on her knee. Slowly, he ran his palm up the smooth, firm skin of her inner thigh until he found the edge of her lacy panties.
She broke their kiss. “Brian—”
“Shhh,” he whispered. “I got you.”
He slipped one finger inside the crotch of her panties. She was wetter than anything he could have dreamed and he nearly lost it then and there.
It took everything he had to pull her arms from his neck and straighten himself in his seat. “We’re going back to my place.” It sounded like an order, but he didn’t think she’d mind.
He’d known once they got started it would be like this. Hot and crazy and out of control, and a part of him wanted to keep going, but he wanted their first time to be something she’d remember forever, and not because it was in the front seat of a car.
“Wait.” She sat up straight and tugged down her skirt. “I…what was that?”
“A bad attempt at foreplay. Trust me, I can do a lot better.”
She laughed nervously. “Then I’m in trouble, because…” She shook her head like she couldn’t believe what had just happened. “We can’t do this.”
“Believe me, we could, but I’d probably need physical therapy afterward. This car is too damn small, but my bed isn’t.”
“I mean, we can’t do this at all.”
She didn’t sound disoriented this time and he was beginning to get a bad feeling where this was headed. “Why not? I want you and you want me. We’re adults. We can do whatever we want.”
“You’re my client—”
“Phil’s your client and if that’s the hold up, then consider yourself fired.” The second he said it, he knew how impossible it sounded. He couldn’t fire her. Her firm needed the money and she was a professional. As long as he was a job to her, she wouldn’t allow herself to sleep with him, and he respected that, but he hated it, too. He raked a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.”
“The thing is, you’re right,” she said softly. “I do like you. Obviously, I like you a lot. But I’m not like those girls who want to be with you because you’re famous. I’m not a groupie and I’m not a one-night stand.”
“You wouldn’t be a one-night stand.”
“Okay, then a temporary fling. You have three weeks left here and then you go back to Tucson, or wherever your contract takes you, and I’m here permanently. Do you really see us lasting longer than that? Or trying to do a long distance relationship with your schedule?”
She had a point. His last girlfriend had lived less than five miles from his house, but during the baseball season he’d barely seen her. He didn’t expect a woman to give up her career for him, but he also couldn’t change what he did for a living. Did he want a relationship with Aubrey? He couldn’t think straight right now, not with the condition he was in.
He took a deep breath and willed his body to cool down, but it was next to impossible with her just a couple of feet away and the taste of her still in his mouth.
He dug in his pockets and pulled out his car keys. “I’m driving myself back to the resort. Please come back with me. I want that. Badly. But, I can’t guarantee anything past the next few weeks. If that makes sense to you, then…” He shrugged, unable to finish.
He got out of her Jeep and walked to his rental car, hoping more than anything that she was following him. But by the time he’d put the key in the ignition, she’d already driven out of the parking lot.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Every time Aubrey looked at him, all she could see was his big hand on her breast or the way his eyes darkened when he was aroused. She should have nixed it the instant he’d laid his mouth on hers, but his kiss had been addictive. If he hadn’t stopped, they would have ended up having sex in the front seat of her car. And then what? Getting personally involved with
Brian Callahan was the biggest mistake of her professional career. The past week had been awkward, at least for her. He, on the other hand, acted as if nothing had happened. Maybe for him, nothing had.
After a three game home series, the Bucks had gone back on the road to North Carolina to play a team out of Durham, and this time Aubrey had stayed back in Mimosa Key. For one thing, she needed some space. The temptation to sleep with him was just too great. And now that she knew the streaking incident had been to protect his friend’s reputation, she trusted him to behave himself. He didn’t need a baby sitter. He was more motivated than anyone to lay low and get back to his regularly scheduled life.
It was Monday morning and she needed to check in at the office, so she finished getting dressed, locked the door to her apartment and drove her usual route through Mimosa Key. Business was still slow. Felicity’s mother, who owned the Sunshine Emporium, a tourist shop down the street, had requested they create an ad to run in the local paper. The project was pro bono, but it would provide some much needed exposure.
And there was still the Barefoot Brides campaign. Aubrey had filled Felicity in with the behind the scenes wedding info and it had inspired Felicity to go in a slightly different direction for her second presentation. Jack had proven himself helpful and used his connections to find out the name of the PR firm they were competing with. The firm was headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and huge, so of course they had a contact at Brides magazine, and probably most other publications as well. How was their little upstart firm supposed to compete with that?
The last time they’d talked to Willow, she said they’d make a decision within the next few weeks. Aubrey had the sinking feeling that the three of them, Willow, Gussie and Ari, had hearts that wanted to go with Reed and Adams, but their heads told them to go with the big firm and, frankly, she wouldn’t blame them. After all, business was business.
She pulled into the Super Min and filled her Jeep with gas, paying at the pump the way she normally did. On the other side of the pump was an empty passenger van with the logo Sun Coast Assisted Living. The driver noticed her staring at the vehicle. “Hey there,” he said, giving her a friendly smile. He was young, maybe in his mid-twenties.
“Hi, yourself.” She thought she knew all the local businesses in Mimosa Key, but she hadn’t been aware of this one. “Where’s this located?” she asked, pointed to the logo on the van.
“Naples. I’m about to head out to the new baseball stadium to check it out. I’m Gary Young, the activities coordinator for the facility.” He walked over to shake her hand.
“Aubrey Adams. Nice to meet you. Do you plan to take some of the residents to a baseball game?”
“Yep. We have an outing scheduled for next week. I’m on my way out to the stadium to make sure they have enough handicapped seating.”
“What day next week?” she asked.
“Friday night.”
He looked at her curiously, so she explained. “It’s just… I know some people on the team. Maybe I can help out. Do you have a card?”
“Sure.” He dug into his pocket and gave her his business card. “That would be great. Thanks.”
“What about the residents who can’t get around? What sort of activities do you plan for them?”
“The usual. Arts and crafts. Music therapy. Unfortunately, nothing as exciting as a baseball game. It’s hard to come up with anything special for our residents who are bedridden.”
“I’m sure it must be,” she said, not knowing what else to say. He seemed like a friendly, upbeat kind of person. She imagined he would have to be to work with senior citizens who were disabled or no longer able to live independently. It seemed like such a noble job, compared with say…advertising products that people didn’t really need. Or playing babysitter to a rich professional athlete.
Gary finished up at the pump. “Nice meeting you, Aubrey.”
“You too. I’ll give your card to my contact at the stadium.”
He thanked her again, then waved good-bye and drove off.
Aubrey placed the business card in her tote and headed inside the store. She hadn’t been inside the Super Min since the day she’d brought Brian with her, but avoiding Charity Grambling in a town the size of Mimosa Key was impossible. Besides, it had been a week since she’d gotten donuts for the office and Felicity was beginning to grumble.
Charity was ringing up an order when Aubrey entered the store. Their gazes met and for the first time since she’d started coming in here, the woman’s dark eyes lit up like she was excited to see her.
Aubrey picked up her usual bottled water and bag of donuts and laid them on the counter. “Hello,” she said tentatively.
“Is this all?” Charity asked, her eyes darting out to the gas pumps as if searching for someone.
“Yep, that’s it.”
She handed over her money, but instead of giving her the receipt and going back to business as usual, Charity cleared her throat. “About the last time you were in…” She pointed to a copy of the Mimosa Gazette laid flat out on the counter. The front page had a picture of Brian hitting a ball out of the stadium and the headline read, Boom-Boom does it again! “I had no idea, that is, I really thought…”
Even though she didn’t deserve it, Aubrey decided to put Charity out of her misery. “You mean you’re sorry you basically called me and Brian Callahan liars?”
Charity’s head bobbed up and down in agreement. “Yes, that’s it. I’m…that word you used.”
“Sorry,” Aubrey repeated.
“Yes, like I said. That’s what I am.”
This was probably the best mea culpa Aubrey was ever going to get from Charity Grambling. “Apology accepted.”
“So, do you think Boom-Boom will be back? I’d love to get a picture with him. I could hang it on my wall back here.”
“He’s out of town right now, but I’ll ask him. I can’t guarantee it, though. He’s pretty busy.” All of which was the truth. Between team practices, games and out-of-town travel, he’d barely had time to relax and take in some sun. She hated to ask him to come back here and make nice with a woman who’d practically laughed him out of her store.
Charity’s face fell. “Of course. I understand.”
Aubrey took her purchases and went to the office. Jack was in Miami today, so it was just her and Felicity.
Her partner eyed the donuts and motioned for her to drop the bag in front of her. Normally, she and Felicity argued over who got to hold the donuts, but Aubrey hadn’t had much of an appetite lately so she gave in without a fight and placed the bag on top of Felicity’s desk.
Felicity bit into a chocolate covered donut and moaned with pleasure. “How’s the baseball player?”
“Due back in town this afternoon.”
“What’s going on with you two?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you sleep with him?” Felicity asked. “Because either you did and it was terrible and you wish you hadn’t, or it was so good you can’t wait to do it again, which would explain your fidgeting, or you haven’t done it yet, but want to, which would explain everything.”
“Everything?”
She put three fingers in the air, checking off each point one by one. “Moodiness, lack of appetite and no sense of humor. My guess is that you haven’t done the deed but you want to. Badly.”
“Oh, God.” She flopped down behind her desk. “Am I that transparent?”
“Just to me,” Felicity said kindly. She handed over a jelly donut. “Wanna talk about it?”
Aubrey waved the donut away, causing Felicity to make a face. “See? When have you ever turned down a jelly donut before? In the immortal words of Whoopi Goldberg, Aubrey, you in danger, girl.”
“Ha-ha.” Felicity gave her the look that said who was kidding who here. Aubrey sighed. “Okay, so yes, I want to sleep with him, to the point that it’s all I think about.”
“So what’s the problem? Unless…oh, hon, does he have a girlfriend?�
�
“No. And he’s made it clear he wants to sleep with me, too, at least he did that one night, but… I think I’m falling for him, which is a disaster, because he’s Mr. Hot Stuff Baseball and I’m Miss Nobody and he’s only going to be here two more weeks, tops, and then what? I’m left with a broken heart and he’s off to the next Taylor Swift.”
“Taylor Swift?”
“Never mind.” Aubrey’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the screen and immediately recognized the California area code. It was Phil Durant.
“I just talked to Brian. Why aren’t you with him in North Carolina?” he demanded. “Who knows what the hell might happen up there!”
Aubrey put on her most professional tone. “I’m sure everything’s fine. I’ve been keeping tabs on him through the team manager. Besides, it’s not like there’s going to be a repeat of the streaking incident.”
“How do you know? I have no idea what the hell made him get so drunk that he took his clothes off in front of a reporter. He’s always been one of my easiest clients, but if he’s done it before, he can do it again. Besides, like I said, I just talked to him and he sounds off.”
She wished she could tell Phil that he was worrying for nothing. That there wasn’t going to be a repeat of the streaking incident or anything similar, but if Brian didn’t want Phil to know the truth behind that night, then it wasn’t her place to tell him. “What do you mean he sounds off?”
“Like he’s depressed or something. Not that I blame him. Two weeks with a team called the Barefoot Bay Bucks and I’d be ready to slit my wrists.” Before she could respond to that he continued. “So, there’s been no negative publicity, but there’s been no positive publicity, either.”
“There was a wonderful article in the Mimosa Gazette,” she countered.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a local paper and the story was—”
“We don’t need some small town paper covering him. Brian Callahan is big news, doll. What we need is a national story that will get the owners’ attention. You do understand what I’m trying to do here, don’t you? My boy’s going up for a twenty-five million dollar contract renewal.”
