In It to Win It

by Morgan Kearns

  She didn’t trust her voice so she just nodded.

  He nodded back. “We should probably get you a shirt before we go.”

  Again she nodded. She’d heard the words but couldn’t quite wrap her brain around the fact that she was standing in her bra and that it was cold outside. All she could think about was that Grayson was bleeding, that he could barely stand … and that the nightmare was over.

  The officer came back and put a t-shirt in her hand. “Jane,” he said softly, “put the shirt on and we’ll get out of here.”

  She tugged it over her head, shivering at the sensation of warmth on her cold skin. The officer put a hand on her back between her shoulder blades and she jumped. She’d known that he was only guiding her toward the door, but she couldn’t stop the flinch at the contact.

  “It’ll be okay,” the man in uniform said from behind her.

  Would it?

  She couldn’t be sure.

  The officer was close, his hand on her arm, helping her down the stairs. She didn’t brush his hand away because she didn’t want to fall. And since her legs weren’t working quite right, that was a real possibility.

  A thought occurred to her and panic slammed into her. She stopped suddenly, jerking her arm away. He paused on the stair below her. “Jane, are you okay?” More with the danger-to-herself-and-others voice.

  “Am I going to jail?” she asked in an unemotional monotone.

  Tears welled again as he smiled at her. Recognition sparked somewhere deep in her memory. She knew this officer. She’d met him before, but didn’t know his name. Yes, she did. She did know his name … but couldn’t remember it.

  His eyes were kind as he assured her, “I really don’t think so, Jane. It was self-defense.”

  “You’re sure? I shot him.” You have the right to remain silent, stupid!

  “I saw it, Jane. With my own eyes, I saw it. There will be an investigation but, as your friend, I don’t think there will be any charges.”

  So, she did know him.

  “Come on, Grayson is waiting for you in the ambulance.”

  Surprisingly, that gentle urging made her feel better.

  Maybe it would be okay. As soon as she could hold Grayson in her arms and lose herself in nothing other than him, then maybe … just maybe, she would be okay.

  On the periphery of her shell-shocked mind she noticed that lights flashed and neighbors gawked. She noticed that Molly was telling Clayton off, her finger in his face. Jane climbed in beside where Grayson was sitting on the gurney inside the ambulance.

  “I’m okay, baby doll. I’m okay.”

  When he opened his arms she slid into his lap and buried her head against his shoulder. She was tired, so very tired. She felt Grayson kiss the top of her head and she considered that she too might just be okay.

  22

  IT’D BEEN NEARLY A MONTH SINCE DEREK’S attack. With cold sweat dotting his skin and the out of control pounding of his heart, Grayson reached out to regain his sanity. Jane rolled into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder.

  His breathing slowed. His heart rate returned to normal. But he couldn’t find enough peace to sleep. He tightened his hold on Jane.

  The nightmare had been the same; the outcome different. Instead of Derek lying dead on the floor, it was Jane’s blood staining the floor.

  His heart kicked.

  He kissed her forehead and tried to think of something happier. But his thoughts refused to leave the events of that night.

  When he woke and found himself with a blinding headache in a dark closet he’d panicked. He could hear the soft lilt of her voice upstairs, she sounded in complete control of her emotions. His first instinct was to race to her rescue. He probably would have if his first step hadn’t dropped him to his knees.

  Her bag was on the floor near the door and he prayed that her cell phone would be in the pocket. It was. He’d dialed 9-1-1, informed the operator of his emergency then stalked up the stairs.

  Jane had been stone cold calm with her gun pointed at Derek. The sight had made Grayson’s vision blur. More from the stars of pain than the tears of relief, his macho side insisted.

  Even now he had to laugh at the lie.

  Jane sighed in his arms and tipped her head. He thought she was asleep until her lips pressed against his neck.

  “Go back to sleep, my sweet,” she whispered. “I’m okay. You’re okay. We’re okay.”

  He kissed the top of her head. He’d murmured those exact words to her when the nightmares that haunted her brought her seeking the comfort of his arms.

  “I love you, baby doll. I really do.”

  “I know. Now, sleep.”

  

  GRAYSON RUBBED AT HIS GOATEE WHILE he waited to be interviewed—again. Definitely not his favorite thing in the world. But Jane thought it would be a good idea to get his side of the story out to the world. The gossip rags were making Derek out to be a victim. Grayson knew that Jane was right.

  Even as his head understood that fact, he tried to convince the rest of his body that he wasn’t nervous. He couldn’t ignore the butterflies in his stomach or the fact that he was going to wear a hole in the carpet if Jane didn’t come out soon.

  Sure, he could have called Jane on her cell phone, but she wanted their relationship to be professional. So he would wait in the lobby—like a professional.

  There was a whole ‘lotta burgundy in this room, he thought as he continued another circuit around the room. He paused to watch the replay of an earlier newscast on a television mounted on the wall, and admired the pictures; large headshots of the major players in the KHB family. Jane’s smiling face warmed his heart. She was a beautiful woman. And she was his.

  “Grayson,” Nate’s voice boomed from behind him.

  Grayson turned and smiled. He stood and strode over to the other guy. Nate stuck out his hand and Grayson shook it. “It’s good to see you, my man. How are Roxie and Gracie?”

  “They’re good. Come on, Jane’s just finishing up.” Nate strode toward the large set of glass doors and waved a keycard over an electronic sensor. There was a click and Nate pulled one of the doors open. He extended a hand in a silent you first and Grayson walked back into another foyer type area that contained a maze of hallways and a bank of two elevators.

  Nate turned to the right and Grayson followed him through another set of glass doors, these ones were open. The newsroom was bustling with people, cubicles and desks dotted the gray flooring. They weaved through the labyrinth, making their way to the back corner.

  Molly waved from where she sat in front of a computer, weather maps on the screen. He waved back and smiled. He really liked Molly. She was a good friend to the woman he loved. Her stalker had bothered him from the moment he’d learned about the lunatic, and after what happened with Derek, he was terrified for her.

  Jane was at her desk, running a make-up brush over her nose and cheeks. She noticed him in the mirror she was looking in and he saw her eyes brighten. When she turned around though, she was all business.

  She stood and stuck out her hand. He shook it, fighting the urge to tug her into his arms and kiss that serious look from her face. “Thank you for coming in, Mr. Pierce.”

  He cocked a brow and grinned at her. “Please call me Grayson. May I call you Jane?”

  Nate laughed and shook his head. The big guy obviously agreed with Grayson; this whole act was ridiculous. Especially since the entire newsroom knew that Grayson’s psycho look-alike had attacked both of them in her house.

  “I believe Nate’s got us set up over here,” she said, walking over to where a camera rested on a tripod, facing a set of blue leather chairs.

  “Where do you want me?” Grayson asked, hoping to take her mind somewhere erotic. He noticed the spark of sexual electricity before she blinked. It was gone when she opened her eyes again.

  She motioned to the chair that was directly in front of the camera. He sat and she sat down in the other one. She cro
ssed her legs, the flowing black pant legs flaring out over her feet.

  Nate cleared his throat. “I know this isn’t your first interview but I just want to remind you not to look directly at the camera.”

  Grayson nodded, grateful for the reminder. His mind was all kinds of muddled, sitting so close, yet so very, very far away from Jane.

  “Rolling,” Nate said.

  “We’re going to run most of this in its entirety. I’d like to edit it as little as possible, okay?” Jane said.

  He nodded. “Sounds good.” It was about damned time he got to tell his story.

  Jane shifted in her seat and Grayson watched as she transformed into Sportscaster Extraordinaire. “Can you tell me about the man named Derek Reese?”

  “I met Derek Reese in college. We were roommates. One Halloween he dressed up like me, uniform and all. There was an uncanny resemblance. It was a bit disturbing at the time but I didn’t really think much of it.” He shrugged. “Then I went to the majors.”

  “And what happened?”

  “Would you believe that I wasn’t interesting enough?” he said with a bitter laugh. “As it turns out nobody cares about a country boy, who lives on a ranch and loves his mother. My agent insisted that I needed to be a bad-boy, that in order to get better endorsement deals I needed to smear my squeaky-clean image. I didn’t like that idea. At all. But when the paparazzi came home to roost, nearly running my mother off the road, I knew something had to change.

  “Believe me, I hated that my name would get drug through the mud. But also realized that there was a solution; a win-win solution; I got to live the life I wanted and everyone else got what they wanted too.”

  “Enter Derek,” she said.

  “Yep, Enter Derek.” Grayson laughed. “He was more than willing to live my life for me. I set him up in a Vegas apartment, gave him a fancy new set of wheels and he pretended to be me.”

  “So the party animal we’ve seen plastered all over the covers of tabloid magazines—”

  “Derek.”

  “The guy convicted of drunk driving?”

  “Derek.”

  “The guy accused of rape in New York.”

  “Derek.”

  With each pronunciation of the name, it became more of a curse. His blood was simmering below the surface and he took a deep breath to calm down. Jane seemed to notice it too, her fingers stretching toward his hand. She caught herself, though, pulling her hand back into lap.

  “Why come clean now?” Jane asked.

  He looked her in the eye and said with complete sincerity, “Because of Derek Reese I nearly lost everything.”

  “Can you be more specific?” Nate asked from behind the camera.

  Grayson made a point to avoid making eye contact with the lens and looked at Nate. “I’m not talking about my career or any other personal items … they can be replaced.” His throat tightened. He lifted his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.

  “Then what did you almost lose?” Nate pressed, already knowing the answer. Grayson didn’t doubt that Jane would make her photographer pay for steering the interview in this direction.

  Grayson looked Nate in the eye and took the bait. “I nearly lost the woman I love.”

  Jane gasped then coughed in an attempt to cover it.

  Grayson suspected that Nate knew exactly what he was doing. His thoughts were validated when Nate asked, “Anyone we know?”

  “One thing all you media types need to learn about Grayson Pierce,” Grayson said sarcastically, “is that I keep my private life private. And she wants to be in the spotlight even less than I do.”

  JANE TOOK CONTROL OF THE INTERVIEW again. “I’m sure that we’re not the only ones eager to meet the lucky woman who’s captured your heart.”

  Her heart fluttered when he smiled at her. “She really is something special. I’m sure that everyone will love her as much as I do.”

  She seriously needed to get off this topic before she jumped across the chair and kissed him. “I guess we should give you the last word. Is there anything that you wish to add?”

  He thought for a moment then shook his head. “I don’t drink. I would rather drive a four-by-four than a Porsche. I am a one-woman man, who is very much in love with one very special woman. If being who I am means that I’m boring and unmarketable, then … I’m boring and unmarketable. And I like it that way.”

  “I can say that I like you that way, too,” she said before the filter in her brain could stop the words.

  Nate laughed out loud. She was going to kill him. He’d purposely led the interview into territory that was personal. And not just Grayson’s personal life, but hers. She turned to glare at him. His laughter cut off abruptly, but humor remained in his expression and sparkling in his eyes.

  “I think I hear a phone ringing,” Nate said just before grabbing the camera and rushing off to hide in a corner somewhere.

  “Coward,” she called after him. He raised a hand in a wave, dismissing her as he retreated.

  Grayson laughed. His hand covered hers where it gripped the armrest. The contact cooled her temper. “Will this air tonight?”

  “Yeah. Then we’re going to air the other piece tomorrow night. Dale is beside himself.”

  He stood and took her hand, helping her to her feet. She gave into the need to feel his arms around her and leaned into his chest. He hugged her to him. The weight of his chin was welcome on the top of her head. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  His hold tightened. “You know, we’re probably going to be linked together in the media.”

  Jane sighed. “Yeah, I’ve thought of that.”

  “And?”

  “Grayson, I think I’m pretty okay with speculation about us. I’d just really like to wait to confirm or deny—”

  “Deny?’

  Jane laughed at his distaste of the word. “Okay, let me rephrase that. I want to wait to confirm our relationship until I’m ready.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I can live with that.”

  “I learned a lot from this experience.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I nearly lost the man I love in that attack.”

  “But you didn’t,” he said in her ear. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. You’re stuck with me for as long as you’ll have me.”

  “How does forever sound?” she whispered.

  23

  JANE GLARED INTO THE MIRROR, KNOWING full well that Grayson was looking at her reflection. She was pouting like a child. “Tell me.”

  “No. I’m not going to tell you. It’s a surprise.” Grayson went into the walk-in closet and returned with a dress bag. He held it out to her, the hanger dangling from his finger. “If you’ll wear this, please.”

  Dressed in tuxedo pants and nothing else, Grayson was pretty damn hot. She watched his muscles flex with each movement and seriously considered nixing whatever he had planned and just watch him strut around in those black pants all night—or at least until she took them off of him. He shook out a crisp white shirt and shrugged one sleeve into it before walking into the bedroom.

  She was so lost in the erotic plans of how she was going to remove his pants that she jumped when he called, “Ten minutes, baby doll. We don’t want to be late.”

  She rolled her eyes and swiped the mascara wand over her lashes. He’d been very tight-lipped about what he had planned for their last night before baseball took him from her life for the next few months. On the bright side, the Rockets played their spring training in Arizona instead of Florida. And his pilot’s license would cut the time between visits.

  A quick ziiiip of the black vinyl bag exposed red chiffon. She slowly, carefully pulled the dress out. It was beautiful; a halter top with flowing fabric that circled around her knees in elegant flutters.

  She finished pinning her hair up on top of her head, leaving a few brown curls to kiss her neck and brow. She had to admit she was a little nervous for tonight. She had no idea where they
were going. This was Salina; there wasn’t a whole lot to do that required tuxedos and elegant gowns. In fact, there wasn’t a single thing that she could think of.

  After slipping her feet into red platform heels that would bring her to nearly the same height as Grayson—She hoped that she would get a lot of time to take advantage of the vertical increase—she walked down the short hallway and down the stairs where Grayson was waiting at the bottom. He’d donned the shirt and had even added the jacket and a bowtie that was the exact color of her dress.

  “Aren’t you cute?” Cute wasn’t the right word though. The man was breathtakingly gorgeous. Again, she wanted to skip whatever was on the agenda for tonight and take him back upstairs and take her time undressing him.

  He looked down at himself. “I do, don’t I?”

  She stopped on the bottom step and for the first time ever was actually taller than he was. She kinda liked it. She smiled and leaned down to kiss him. He obliged, tilting his chin up to meet her lips with his.

  “Now will you tell me where we’re going?”

  “Not yet.” He ran a finger down her neck and picked up the locket just to let it thunk against her breastbone. “You’ll know soon enough.”

  

  JANE WAS QUICKLY LEARNING THAT SHE hated surprises. He’d promised her that he wouldn’t blindfold her again, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t ask her to close her eyes—with the threat of busting out the blindfold if she peeked.

  “Talk to me,” she whispered.

  His long fingers wrapped around hers and she instantly felt the calming influence his touch evoked. “What would you like me to say?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Okay. Well, how about … I love you? Or tonight will be perfect? Or you need to relax?”

  “Those are all good things.” She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat, trying to convince herself that she would not cry. Crying would seriously mess up her make-up and she didn’t want to look like a raccoon. “I especially like the ‘I love you’ part.”