Hot Item

by Carly Phillips

  “That’s true,” Sophie said.

  “And we’ve been together ever since—every night as a matter of fact,” Cindy said, smiling.

  Sophie pulled Cindy into a tight hug, glad Cindy had found happiness, and relieved that she and her friend had put their differences behind them. “I’m so happy for you.” She stepped back and smiled.

  But what lingered in Sophie’s mind was that she envied her friend’s ability to throw caution away and have complete faith in someone she cared for. Just because their tech people couldn’t pin the computer virus on Cambias’s e-mails didn’t mean they’d exonerated him. Yet Cindy was able to give Miguel the benefit of the doubt.

  Sophie hadn’t even begun to trust in Riley. But she and Riley had a lot of strikes against them. Sophie had lost her parents and learned the benefits of controlling the things and people around her, while Riley was his own person and did his own thing. That was strike one. He’d turned on her once before in defense of his relationship with Lizzie. Strike two. And as attentive as he could be at times, she couldn’t forget how much he loved to flirt with all women; she couldn’t guarantee he’d be around beyond the next date. Strike three.

  Three strikes and they were out. Game over.

  “Sophie?”

  “Hmm.” Sophie shook her head hard. “Sorry, we can go inside.”

  Cindy stopped her with a hand on Sophie’s arm. “In a minute. I have a question.” She stepped closer. “Did I ever tell you that my father was killed before I moved to New York?”

  Sophie’s throat swelled with emotion. “I had no idea.” But she could only imagine the pain her friend had suffered. Was still suffering. “What happened?”

  Cindy drew a deep breath. “An employee he trusted broke in after hours and stole money from the register. He set fire to the place to cover his tracks. My father tried to put it out before the firefighters arrived…” She waved her hand, obviously unable to continue.

  Sophie grabbed her friend’s hand, squeezing it tight. “I wish I’d known before now. Friends should share these things with each other.”

  Cindy nodded in agreement. “It’s not so easy to talk about. But now you know. Just like I know about your parents, and that they’re the reason you can’t bring yourself to trust that Riley isn’t going anywhere. You’d rather push him away before he leaves you like your parents did.”

  The words, uncomfortably accurate, stung Sophie’s already raw emotions. “That’s ridiculous. Riley’s not going to die on me. God willing,” she felt compelled to add.

  “But you’re afraid he’s going to get bored, or fall out of love or just plain leave you,” Cindy said pointedly.

  “Nobody said anything about love.” There was a lot in Cindy’s conclusion to address, but Sophie chose the most obvious, and the scariest, part of her friend’s speech.

  Cindy sighed, then linked her arm through Sophie’s. “I’ve given you enough to think about for now. Let’s go cake shopping,” she said, and led Sophie into the shop.

  Grateful for the distraction, Sophie lost herself in the gorgeous confections. Cakes in all shapes, from cupcakes to designer purses, caught her eye.

  Sophie strode to the woman behind the counter. “I have an appointment with Genevieve.”

  A young woman wearing a white apron smiled. “That’s me.” She held out her hand. “I’m Gen, the owner.”

  “I’m Sophie—” she shook the other woman’s hand “—and this is my friend and coworker, Cindy James. I’m looking for a unique cake for a unique couple,” she explained.

  “I just bet you are.” Gen glanced at Sophie and winked, as if she were privy to some secret.

  Sophie narrowed her gaze. “My uncle and his wife eloped and they never had a wedding reception, so we want this party to be extra special.”

  Gen leaned forward on her elbows. “Oh, come on. I saw the interview with your uncle. You’re marrying Riley Nash, aren’t you? You can tell me. Anything you say will be kept strictly confidential.”

  Behind her, Cindy chuckled.

  Sophie rolled her eyes. She was appalled that her uncle had publicly linked her with Riley at a time when she desperately needed distance. She also felt guilty.

  Although she was more than used to her uncle’s shenanigans, Riley was not. He didn’t deserve the unwanted publicity or the crimp this could put in his social life. She ignored the slicing pain in her heart at the thought of him with another woman and concentrated instead on what was fair and right. No matter how good her uncle’s intentions, no matter how noble his motives, he stirred up trouble and someone other than him usually took the brunt of the fallout. Riley didn’t need the upheaval in his life. Sophie had left a message on his cell phone, calling to apologize.

  “I’d like a cake in the shape of two hearts,” she told the woman.

  Gen took notes. “Pink hard coating?” she asked.

  Imagining the look on her uncle’s face when he saw the girly cake, Sophie nodded. “Bright pink.”

  “Wording?” Gen asked, glancing at Cindy.

  Obviously the other woman thought Sophie shouldn’t choose the wording on her own cake.

  Sophie gritted her teeth.

  “How about It took you long enough?” Cindy suggested lightly.

  Sophie grinned. “Two hearts as one,” she said, the words suddenly coming to her.

  No matter how often they bickered, no two people loved each other more and no two people deserved each other quite as much as Uncle Yank and Lola. As Cindy rightly said, they’d waited for this happiness long enough.

  Gen wrote up the order and tallied the bill. Sophie paid with her credit card. “Thanks for everything,” she said to Gen.

  “My pleasure. It will be delivered as promised on Saturday evening.” The other woman smiled. “So this is really a wedding cake for you, isn’t it?” she asked, trying again for inside information that didn’t exist.

  Sophie gave up. Ever since her uncle’s retraction, everywhere she went, people asked when she was getting married. They complimented her on snagging such a hot bachelor, and they all refused to believe the truth: that she and Riley were not a couple.

  In time, everyone would see it was true.

  LIFTING WEIGHTS was Riley’s way of blowing off steam. That he needed to stay in shape during the off season was an added bonus. Right now he had to vent angry, frustrated energy or else he’d explode, he thought as he tied his sneaker laces, ready for a workout.

  “Sophie called you to apologize?” Mike asked from his seat on the bench in the locker room.

  Riley nodded. “For her uncle publicly linking us together. For the fact that—and I’m quoting here—her uncle’s display must be cramping my fucking social life.” Riley kicked at the floor.

  “You added the word fucking,” Mike said.

  Riley nodded. “Sophie Jordan wouldn’t curse like that, especially not when leaving a message. Just like Sophie Jordan wouldn’t step out of her comfortable controlled world to take a chance on what might be the greatest thing that ever happened to her.” His voice rose to a fevered pitch. “That being me,” Riley said, in case Mike wasn’t paying attention.

  His teammates in the locker room turned and stared.

  “Man, you’ve got it bad. Does she know?” Mike asked.

  “Are you kidding?”

  Already finished with his workout, Mike rose and began stripping down for a shower. “Hell no, I’m not kidding. Does Sophie know you’re in love with her? Did you ever tell her?”

  Riley paused. Had he? Had he ever said the words aloud? Or had he turned on the charm and hoped she’d figure out what he was trying to convey? Just as he’d hoped she’d know that the other women he’d flirted with before meant nothing to him while she was the real deal.

  “I’ve been treating her like she was a mind reader,” Riley muttered.

  Mike grinned. “I’m loving this. The ladies’ man needs help.” He let out a whoop of laughter.

  “I’m so glad you find my
life amusing.”

  Mike wrapped a towel around his waist and started for the showers. He took three steps and turned. “Did I help get your head on straight?”

  Riley nodded.

  “Glad to help.” Still grinning, Mike walked away.

  Riley leaned against his locker, preoccupied with thoughts of all he hadn’t said and done for Sophie. Something he had to rectify immediately.

  To hell with his workout. Riley dressed and was out the door in record time. Unfortunately, the reporters knew his daily routine and accosted him outside on the sidewalk. It was early in the off season for the press to be hounding him, but not unusual for them to cluster where the team worked out.

  “Hey,” Riley said, pausing for a minute. “Any chance I can catch up with you all later?” he asked in his most affable tone.

  “Are you off to see your fiancée?” one of the reporters asked.

  Riley laughed. “Real life’s so boring you guys need to make up stories?”

  “Didn’t Yank Morgan say you’re involved with his niece?”

  “I don’t recall him defining that involvement.” Riley began to push through them so he could search for a cab on the street.

  Another reporter tapped him on the shoulder.

  Riley turned. “How about we schedule an interview?” he asked, anxious to see Sophie face-to-face.

  A redheaded woman he recognized from eSports Network suddenly appeared in the crowd. “Since you don’t want to talk about your social life, would you be willing to discuss your real father instead?”

  Riley froze. “What did you just say?”

  The woman, whose name was Veronica, shoved a microphone in front of his face in search of the elusive sound bite. “I asked if you’d sit down with me to talk about your biological father. Spencer Atkins is your father, isn’t he?”

  “Where’d you hear that?” Forcing air into his tight lungs, Riley treated her to his best grin under the circumstances.

  “Are you denying it?” she asked.

  “I’m questioning your source.” Because he couldn’t for the life of him imagine how the truth had leaked out.

  Whereas normally the reporters shouted out questions, vying for supremacy, the redhead had stunned her fellow reporters into silence. Apparently she had a scoop and he’d bet the revelation had already hit the news on her station.

  She cleared her throat. “You know I can’t reveal a source. Besides you’re the one in the hot seat, Mr. Nash.”

  Riley’s throat burned with pure anger at whoever had violated him and his family this way. “No comment.” He stormed through the reporters and hailed a cab.

  A yellow taxi approached quickly and he jumped inside. But instead of Sophie’s address, Riley headed to his apartment in order to call his parents in private. Damage control had to come before his love life.

  RILEY DIDN’T HAVE to call home. As soon as he stepped into the hallway and neared his apartment, he heard his phone ringing. He unlocked the door and ran inside, grabbing the portable receiver right before the answering machine picked up.

  “Hello?” he asked breathlessly.

  A quick glance at the machine told him he already had five messages. Definitely not a good sign, he thought.

  “Riley? It’s Dad.” His stepfather’s voice traveled through the phone lines, barely containing frustration already evident in his tone.

  “You heard?”

  “Everyone has heard. The question for me is exactly how such a thing got out.”

  Riley heard the familiar sound of grinding teeth, a habit Harlan had never broken in stressful situations. In his chosen profession, he had many of those.

  “I was mobbed leaving the gym,” Riley said. “Damn reporter took me off guard. I never saw it coming.” He took a deep breath. “How’s Mom?”

  Harlan let out a prolonged sigh. “As well as can be expected. Her friends here didn’t realize she’d been married once before. We didn’t hide the fact—it had just never come up. And since we wanted Spencer’s name buried, it seemed prudent to just look forward, if that makes sense.”

  Riley nodded. “It does.”

  “It’s really the fact that Atkins is gay that is causing an uproar.”

  “Mom didn’t know, so that should minimize the impact.” Neither had Riley, and now that the news was public, he’d have to deal with the fact on a more personal level. One he had pushed to the back of his mind.

  “No matter how you look at it, there’s an embarrassment factor for her, but she’s a strong woman. She’ll survive and do it well,” Harlan said with pride.

  Riley smiled. “You love her,” he said, not realizing he’d spoken aloud.

  “Since the day I laid eyes on her.”

  “She was lucky to have found you. We were lucky.” Funny, he thought, how in times of crisis, a person came to appreciate the things he had in life all the more.

  A long pause followed. “I feel the same way, son,” Harlan said. “Believe it or not, I tried to spare all of us this pain. And not just because of my position and career.” Emotion caused Harlan’s voice to crack.

  Riley’s throat filled as well. “I need to make sure Lizzie’s doing okay with the fallout, but give Mom a kiss for me and tell her I’ll call later.”

  “I will,” his stepfather promised. “I’ll also make damn sure I find out who leaked this scandal and see to it that they pay.”

  “It was bound to come out. Secrets can’t stay hidden forever.”

  “Some can and should,” Harlan said.

  A click followed. Harlan had disconnected the call.

  Knowing the older man, he was already on to other things, handling the crisis in a way only he could.

  Riley closed his eyes and thought about his daughter. Adults handling the news were one thing. A thirteen-year-old being publicly humiliated was quite another.

  He grabbed his keys. Next stop Lizzie and Lisa’s house.

  SPENCER STARED out the window of his expensive penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. His life had been a jumble of contradictions and clichés.

  A gay man marrying to hide his secret. Although at first he hadn’t hid his sexual orientation so much as wanted to change who he was. The late 1950s wasn’t a time when homosexuality was accepted or even understood. Hell, he thought, it wasn’t like his lifestyle was accepted everywhere in this country today. He didn’t regret trying to assimilate into the mainstream. He only regretted the hurt he’d caused Anne at the time.

  Because if he could have loved any woman in that way, it would have been his son’s mother. Anne was his Doris Day, a soft-spoken, sweet-natured woman who would bring any man to his knees. He’d loved her in his way and he’d wanted to make their life together work. Especially when he’d found out she was pregnant.

  Unfortunately, that was when things had started to shatter, both in their lives and inside Spencer. It had been difficult enough being with a woman when she couldn’t fulfill his emotional and physical needs but once she was pregnant, he had immediately felt himself grow distant. He’d started spending nights out at underground gay bars, stopping for an hour at a sports bar on the way home as his cover.

  Anne had hated the barrier he’d erected and he’d hated the lie he was living. The more he’d thought about how unfair he was being to her, the more he’d realized how much worse things would be when his baby was born. The decision to leave her had been the most difficult he’d ever made, but he consoled himself with the belief that she’d be better off without him.

  Spencer had come home drunk late one night and told Anne that he hated being tied down in any way. With Yank Morgan as his best friend, Anne hadn’t had to look far to see another example of what Spencer claimed to be: a man happier single than married.

  She’d moved back with her parents, who’d made it impossible for him to stay in touch with her, not that he blamed them. He’d been torn up inside already and he’d backed off, intending to let some time pass before trying once more to
be part of his child’s life. But soon after, Anne had met Harlan Nash, a successful man with a law degree and political aspirations, an upstanding man who wanted to marry her and raise her child as his own.

  Spencer and Harlan had met one night at the other man’s request. In that moment, Spencer had known his wife and child could have a better life, a normal life, without him in it. He’d shaken Harlan Nash’s hand and agreed not to contact either one of them again.

  However, he hadn’t promised not to watch from afar. He hadn’t sworn not to pull strings and make sure his son—an athlete as it turned out—had the benefits of having a father in the business. He’d steered the appropriate college coaches toward Riley—not that they wouldn’t have recruited the talented young man anyway. And he’d pushed Yank toward representing Riley Nash, making up a bullshit excuse for not going after the Heisman winner himself.

  If Yank had known or suspected the truth, he’d never let on. And as the years had passed on, Spencer had come to realize Yank was as much in the dark as everyone else. Keeping his secret had been the only way he knew to live and succeed.

  Until Lola had finally left Yank and come to him for a shoulder late one night and discovered him with the man he’d been seeing on and off for the past ten years. Bless Lola, who reminded him so much of Anne, she’d quietly accepted, without passing judgment, and hadn’t revealed his secret—until it had slipped out when Yank had broken his hip in an angry tirade, thinking Spencer and Lola were a couple. Then somehow, the news that night had leaked out, though, for whatever reason, the timing of the big reveal had been delayed until a couple of weeks before the draft.

  But as much as that news had sent Spencer into a tailspin, it was nothing compared to this revelation. This one had the potential to destroy other people’s lives. Including the life of the son he’d given up in order to protect him from precisely this secret.

  “THE IMPROMPTU MEETING of Athletes Only and The Hot Zone partners will now come to order.” Uncle Yank whacked his gavel hard against the table. “Now who the hell’s responsible for this?” He waved today’s paper in his hand.