He nodded. “Where would we go?”
“How about I show you my new studio?” She shrugged as if his answer wouldn’t matter. “If you’re interested.”
It mattered. Rob could see the truth in her eyes. He smiled. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
“Oh, my, I hope that’s a lie.” She gave him one of her saucy looks but underneath the facade he could see she was pleased and excited, and for whatever reason that pleased him.
“HEY, WHERE YOU off to, Perry?”
Halfway through the lobby, Rob cringed when he heard Woody’s voice coming from the bar. He wanted to ignore the guy, but then Woody was likely to run after him and see him leave with Tori. Might as well take out a front-page ad.
“Out.” Rob noticed the two young women sitting at the bar with some of the team, and then eyed the mug of beer in Woody’s hand just long enough to make the guy squirm. Naturally Rob wouldn’t say anything about him being underage. He just wanted Woody to back off.
“Pitch, wait.” Woody jogged up to him. “I told the two chicks at the bar I could get them your autograph.”
At one time Rob would’ve been flattered. “You give ’em one.”
Woody snorted. “I did. They want yours.”
Rob scrubbed at his face. “Yeah, okay, then I gotta leave.”
“Where you going?”
“Get me something to write on.”
“Come with me.” Woody jerked his head toward the bar.
Rob glanced over. Both women smiled. Shit. Rob followed the outfielder but stopped short of putting himself within conversation range of the women. “Hurry up, Woody, your window of opportunity is shrinking,” Rob murmured.
Woody moved fast, got something from each woman and passed it to Rob. “Their names are Amanda and Kristy. Can’t you stay for one drink?”
“No.” Rob scribbled his autograph, ignoring the phone number one of the women had tucked in the folded stationery he’d signed. “Here you go.” He nodded politely at the two fans.
“Come on, Pitch…” Wood lowered his voice. “It don’t look like I’m gonna get lucky by myself.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Perry?” The voice came from behind.
Now what? He turned to a bearded man in a suit. He wore a gold-plated hotel nametag.
“I’m John Goren, the night manager here.” He extended his hand, which Rob accepted. “I’m a big fan of yours. I was wondering if I might have a word…outside.”
Rob caught the man’s pointed gaze toward the parking lot and instantly understood this was Tori’s doing. “Sure. See you tomorrow, Woody.”
“Perry, one drink,” Woody murmured, and pleadingly spread his arms, but when he saw Rob wasn’t going to give in, he raised his voice so he could be heard at the bar. “You’re right, Pitch, chicks dig the long ball.”
Oh, God…one more word about the kid’s home run and Rob was gonna pop him. He kept walking toward the door, the manager alongside him trying not to smile. “He’s young,” Rob said, though why he defended the kid he had no idea.
Goren smiled then, staying silent until they stepped outside. “She’s over to your right.” He gestured with a discreet tilt of his head. “Have a good night.”
“Thanks.” He looked at the man, really looked at him, and saw the resignation in his eyes. The guy knew Tori. He’d been the one who’d let her into Rob’s room, and right now he wished it was him climbing into the Porsche with her. Rob shook his hand. “We’re old friends,” he said unnecessarily. “I appreciate this.”
“No problem.” A nod, and John headed for the opposite end of the parking lot.
A few seconds later, Tori coasted up to Rob. He opened the passenger door and slid into the tan leather seat. “Let’s get out of here.”
She jammed it into gear and got them onto the street. “Any problems?”
“No, but your friend John was helpful.”
She smiled, glancing in the rearview mirror. “The man’s a peach. He’s like a walkin’, talkin’ big ole teddy bear. I knew him in college.” Tori threw him a quick frown. “Don’t you dare get him in trouble for letting me in your room.”
“Would I do that?” he asked drily.
“No, I guess not.”
“You two ever have a thing going?”
“John and me?” She laughed softly. “No, just friends. An amazingly good friend, truth be told. He’s a year older and I can’t tell you how many times he bailed me out of tight spots. I admit, I was a handful in college.”
Rob chuckled. “Not exactly breaking news.”
She waited until she safely merged the Porsche onto the highway and said, “I never used to feel guilty for hitting John up for a favor. Not ever.” She paused. “As soon as y’all leave for your next stop, we’re going out for dinner. He probably thinks I’ll bail. By the way, where are you going next?”
“Georgia.”
“Ah, even hotter, stickier and more humid than here.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” he said drily, and took the opportunity to check her out.
She was good about concentrating on the road, which left him free to admire the fullness of her lashes and the perfect upturn of her nose. She’d been born into money but she sure hadn’t needed to spend any of it on improving her looks. Tori was a natural beauty with good bone structure, wide, full lips and mesmerizing eyes.
When he’d been with the Talons, the raunchy locker-room talk about her had really pissed him off. No one had been stupid enough to claim they’d done the owner’s daughter, but plenty of them had wanted to. He suddenly wondered if she knew about the remarks or even cared. Didn’t matter. He wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much now.
He lowered his gaze to her slim, toned thighs as she worked the clutch and his heartbeat immediately picked up. Bad enough he knew what she wore underneath, but man, if that dress was any shorter…
The Porsche slowed and she pulled off at a Chapel Hill exit that led to a couple of popular restaurants and a bunch of college bars. He’d come out here with one of the coaches two nights ago.
“We’re not going anyplace public, right?” he asked.
“Why? You have designs on me after all?
“I might.”
She shot him a look and then grinned. “Don’t get too cocky, son. You’re never safe from me no matter where we are.”
“You realize you sound like your father?”
“I know. Crazy, right?”
He’d thought he would get a rise out of her but she’d surprised him once again. “Are you guys speaking these days?”
“We are. I mean, it’s not like we’re having dinner together every Sunday but we talk from time to time. No screaming. Dinner or lunch occasionally. It’s all real civil like.” She turned into the parking lot of a strip mall; all but two shops were dark. “Here we are.”
She parked in front of a store where the sign had been removed. In the window a temporary one had been placed, indicating that Designs by Tori was opening soon. Transfixed, he stared at the place, even after she’d turned off the engine.
“What?” She nudged him. “What were you expecting?”
“I didn’t know what to expect.” Not this, he realized. Seeing her name on the sign, knowing she’d put her signature on the dotted line cemented the idea that Tori wasn’t the girl he’d known. She was a lot more like the girl he’d suspected was behind all the bluff and brass. Though last time he’d seen her, he’d have laid odds against this outcome. Sometimes it felt really good to be dead wrong.
“Told you I was serious,” she said, as if reading his mind. She leaned over the gear shift, but she paused just before her lips met his.
He knew she was waiting for his decision. The night could go one of two ways: he could take the walk or swing for a home run.
He closed the distance.
5
TORI’S SHARP INHALE pulled Rob’s breath inside her, which was lucky because he’d completely stolen her own. She’d thought
he was going to back away, tell her all the reasons this was a terrible idea.
Her hand went to the back of his neck anyway. The way he parted her lips with his probing tongue told her he wasn’t going to make a break for it, but just in case, she held on tight.
The way he used his tongue was a thing of beauty, a part of her fantasy life ever since their first kiss. Somehow he’d gotten the Tori playbook, the ins and outs of how she trembled when her lower lip was nibbled just so, and that a low growl at the back of his throat would send her to the moon…
If she didn’t stop now she’d never show him her studio. But this might be her only chance. Anything could happen. They were balanced on a thin wire, and a stray breeze could knock them back down to earth.
She gasped when he cupped her breast, found her aroused nipple through the dress. Her skin tingled and she trembled with a flare of need that wasn’t normal. Not for her. She liked sex, but she was okay with the occasional dry spell. Right now though, the longing to have him buried inside of her seemed as important as her next breath.
They kind of stopped kissing each other at the same time and he whispered, “We’re in a car.”
She giggled. “I know.”
“Okay.” He recaptured her mouth. His hand had never left her breast, and now his other one slid up the inside of her thigh. When he muttered a frustrated oath against her mouth, she knew it was because he was too tall to maneuver in the cramped Porsche.
A second later, the headlights of a car turning into the parking lot cut a swath of light across them. They both froze. Tori tried not to giggle again, something else that was new for her. She was many things, but a giggler wasn’t one of them.
Their mouths an inch apart, they listened for what seemed like forever before they heard a car door open and close not far from them. The lights from inside the adjacent store flooded the sidewalk.
“Oh, crap.” Tori rested her forehead against his. “Who opens up their florist shop at this hour?” She gave him a brief kiss on the lips then laid her head back on the headrest. “I haven’t met any of these people yet. Great first impression, me making out in the parking lot.”
Rob was smiling at her.
“What? Oh, I know.” She rolled her eyes. “It sucks being a grown-up and worrying about such trivial things.”
“We could take a drive and come back later. After they’re gone.”
“No, it’s all right. They didn’t see much. We hardly got warmed up.”
He cleared his throat and she noticed the front of his jeans. “I stand corrected.”
He gently tugged her hair. “Some things don’t change.”
“Comforting, isn’t it?” She reached over and dragged the back of her hand across his fly.
“Hey.” He caught her wrist. “Thought you didn’t want to make a scene.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“No?”
“All right. This is me crying uncle.”
He brought her hand to his lips, pressed a leisurely kiss just above her knuckles. “So, are we getting out of here or making a run for the door?”
No one had ever kissed her hand like that before and she rather liked it. Of course having Rob as the kisser was about all it took to make her quiver inside like a bowl of chocolate pudding. “A run for the door, it is. Race ya.”
She jumped out first, though having forgotten the key in the ignition and her purse on the floorboard slowed her down. By the time she got to the door, he was waiting for her, feigning a bored yawn.
Lifting her chin, she waved a dismissive hand. “Not bad for an old guy.” Her thoughtless words immediately bit her in the fanny. “Rob.” Appalled at herself, she reluctantly met his eyes. “I didn’t mean anything.”
“I didn’t read anything into it.” He touched the small of her back. “Unlock the door, Tori.”
Even if he hadn’t taken offense his mood had definitely shifted. And it was her fault. Her hand shook just enough that she couldn’t get the key in the lock and he had to take over the job.
She hesitated in the doorway, wondering if more should be said. No, moving on was the answer. “There’s not a lot to see yet so don’t expect much.”
“Got it.”
“Okay, then.” She was nervous. Crazy, because he wasn’t the type to judge her, but nevertheless true. Still unfamiliar with the layout, she felt the wall for the light switch. Finding it, she flipped on the overhead.
The front room was bare with the exception of a pair of watercolors leaning against the wall and the mahogany reception desk. By chance she’d found the antique at an estate sale when she’d come last month to finalize the lease.
“The walls are a boring white so beware.” She stepped aside to let Rob in. “I have the painters scheduled to start day after tomorrow.”
He seemed amused. “Didn’t know there was anything wrong with white walls.”
“There isn’t…if one has no imagination.”
“Good thing I can pitch.”
“Oh, honey, you have other talents.” She patted him on the butt, laughing with delight when he got her back.
“DID YOU DO THOSE?” Rob walked over to the two large framed landscape pictures leaning against the wall. He knew zilch about art, only that these were watercolors.
“I wish.” She came to stand beside him, leaning her shoulder against his. “Although I did take some art classes while living in Paris. But I’m just okay at it. Come on, I’ll show you the rest.”
She looped an arm through his and led him to the back, which opened up to three separate rooms. The place was much larger than he expected and in need of work from the worn carpet to the chipped walls. There was a table and two mismatched chairs but little else in the way of furniture. On the table were two large volumes that looked like oversize photo albums, a color wheel and swatches of fabric samples.
Tori walked over to the table and picked up the color wheel. “This dark red,” she said, indicating a color that had been paper clipped, “is for the accent wall over there.” She pointed to the one on the right. “There’ll be another accent wall in the far room but the rest of the walls will be varying shades of cream.”
“Are these offices?” He looked around, unsettled that he might be called back to Dallas, and she wouldn’t be there. It shouldn’t matter. Tonight was just that—tonight. Nothing long-term was going to happen between him and Tori. “Will you be here full-time?”
She shook her head. “Dallas will always be home base for me with the occasional trip here. I’ll have two local designers working out of this office. I’ve already stolen a top-notch guy from a firm in Raleigh,” she said with a triumphant grin. “He’ll run this studio, and then I hope to hire a recent UNC grad to help him. It would be nice to give someone just starting out a chance.”
“That’s terrific, Tori.” It made him wonder if her old man had bothered to notice that Tori had blossomed into a very remarkable young woman. No reason to think so—he’d never noticed her much as she was growing up. On the other hand, maybe it was his disinterest that had forced her to find her own way. Rob wasn’t great at figuring out what made people tick, so he relaxed and let his pride run rampant as he watched her describe how she planned to set up the offices.
Her enthusiasm was a thing to see. She paced the rooms, gesturing, talking fast and damn if she didn’t have enough ideas to make his head spin. He didn’t know squat about decorating, only that he’d written a sizable check to the woman who’d redone the beach house he’d bought in Malibu a couple of years ago.
“I’m boring you,” Tori said with an apologetic sigh. “I swear, I get so carried away.”
“You’re not boring me. This is a new you. Occasionally I have to shift gears.”
She smiled. “It’s going to take a couple of months to whip this place into shape.” She shrugged a little, lowering her lashes until they shuttered her eyes. “Maybe you can come back and see the finished product.”
“I’ll plan on it.”
/>
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“You tell me when.”
“Count on it.” The brief uncertainty from a moment before vanished. She slid her arms around his neck, smiled up at him then pulled him down for a kiss.
This simple, sweet brushing of lips didn’t merit his body’s intense reaction. His excuse was that he’d been keyed up for a few hours now, without any release. Pretty lame. He was too old to use that crap. Too old for just about everything these days it seemed. Except for the way he wanted this woman.
He lifted his head and jerked his chin to indicate the thick albums. “What are those?”
She’d turned to look, and his gaze followed the graceful curve of her slender neck, then fixed on the tiny mole near her earlobe. “Samples of my work, kind of like a portfolio.”
“May I see?”
She abruptly turned back to him. “You wouldn’t be all that interested.”
“I’m interested.”
“Okay,” she drawled doubtfully.
He trailed her to the table, waited as she flipped through the pages and tried not to speculate on the color of her nipples.
“I do homes mostly, but there are pictures of offices, too. That could end up being the mainstay of our business here. I’m hoping to snag clients from the Research Triangle Park halfway between here and Raleigh, especially since the economy doesn’t seem to have affected the techies as much as—” She laughed self-consciously. “Sorry, I’m getting carried away again.”
“No.” He shook his head as he took over turning the pages. “You did all of these?”
“Yes.”
“These are really something. You must be proud of yourself, Tori,” he said, meeting her eyes. They sparkled with pleasure, then turned slightly moist. “Your dad has to be proud, too.”
She blinked, high spots of color staining her cheeks as she looked down to focus on the page. “I have a lot to learn yet,” she murmured.
“Doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate what you’ve already accomplished.”
Extra Innings and In His Wildest Dreams Page 10
