by Kelly Oram
Val’s head finally cleared and she came back to herself. “Still completely arrogant, I see,” she said, her voice returning to its normal strength.
I smiled at the old insult. “But no longer slutty.”
Her lips curled up, though I could tell she was trying very hard not to smile. The action drew my gaze to her lips and my whole mouth turned to paste. I lowered my face halfway and waited for her to meet me in the middle. I wanted to kiss her again, but I needed her to make the move. I had to know she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
“Give us a chance.”
“It’ll never work,” she said. Her eyes were on my mouth now too, and her breath was coming fast.
“At least if it doesn’t, it won’t be because we didn’t try.”
She swallowed hard and wet her lips but didn’t move to kiss me. The distance between us was torture. “Kiss me,” I whispered.
“But, Kyle, I think we—”
“Don’t think. Just kiss me.”
Finally, she let her eyes flutter shut and slid her hands up over my shoulders as she brought her lips to mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I lifted her up onto her toes to deepen the kiss. I waited until my body screamed at me for air before I set her back on her feet. Panting hard, I leaned my forehead against hers and took a moment to catch my breath. “It doesn’t get more right than that, Val.” My voice sounded husky and full of emotion.
Eyes still closed, she let her arms fall to her sides and laid her head on my shoulder, resting against me as if she needed a hug. I obeyed and wrapped her in a gentle embrace.
“You live in L.A., Kyle,” she whispered sadly. “My life is here. I’m starting grad school in a month, and you’ll go off on tour with your new album.”
“But I’m here now. Give me one day. Just today. If that works, then give me tomorrow.”
She pulled her face out of my neck and looked up at me with glossy eyes.
“We’ll take it one day at a time,” I promised. “Let’s just see where that gets us before we worry about anything else.”
She searched my face for answers, clearly worried about what the future might hold for us. Whatever she was looking for, I was determined to show it to her. She was so strong all the time, in every other aspect of her life. In this one area I could take that burden from her. I could be the strong one this time. I could be her rock if she needed one.
I didn’t know what our future held. I had no idea how we would overcome the obstacles already set in our path. But I knew I wasn’t going to throw in the towel without putting up one hell of a fight first. Giving up wasn’t something I knew how to do.
That’s the great thing about life. Anything is possible if you want it bad enough. And right then, holding Val in my arms, with the taste of her kiss still on my lips, there wasn’t anything I wanted more than I wanted to make things work with her.
“Okay,” she finally said.
Cheers went up all around us from the handful of people in her office. I’d forgotten we had an audience. Val looked as if she’d forgotten that fact, too. She blushed bright red but laughed and accepted the congratulations from her coworkers.
“So…” I slipped my arm around her waist. “Can I take you to lunch?”
Val sighed. “Actually, I can’t. Bryce, Jacinta, and I are meeting with some potential patrons this afternoon.”
A petite black woman interrupted Val, clapping her hands excitedly. “He can go in my place.” She shook her head when Val started to argue. “You can schmooze without me. I’m just the numbers, and the Greshams already know all the numbers. You and Bryce are the heart of this organization. It’s the two of you they’re really investing in. You don’t need me.”
My brain slammed into a mental brick wall. Bryce? Who the hell was Bryce? And why did it sound like he and Val were some kind of golden couple?
Val looked torn for a minute as her eyes darted back and forth between her coworker and me. “You sure it’ll be okay?” she finally asked. “The Greshams are very conservative, and Kyle is…”
I smirked and filled in the blank for her. “Capable of behaving himself.” At her skeptical look, I added, “When I have to.”
“Actually, having him along might work in our favor,” a smooth, deep voice said.
If the six foot tall, blond haired, hazel eyed, preppy, pretty-boy douche stepping forward was this Bryce person, then “golden” was a very apt description.
Val smiled at the newcomer and said, “Kyle, this is Bryce Carmichael. He’s the legal half of our F is for Families family. I never could have gotten the organization up and running without him.”
Bryce laughed. “Not true. She’d have found a way. Nothing stops Val from getting what she wants.” The jerk stuck his hand out to me, flashing a big pearly-white smile that had the nerve to look sincere. “It’s nice to meet you. Val’s told us a lot about you. Welcome to the Family.”
“Thanks.”
I tried not to be a jackass and crunch the guy’s hand as I shook it, but I kept my reply short because I was nowhere near the actor Cara was and I doubt I could have hidden my instant dislike of this guy. I was jealous as hell, because while I knew they weren’t dating I had to wonder if they used to. It was obvious that they were close.
I reminded myself that two seconds ago Val was kissing me, not him. And she’d just agreed to be my girlfriend. I smiled at the thought and decided I didn’t need to hate the guy. I held Val just a little tighter to my side. She smiled at me when I squeezed her and turned her gaze to Bryce. “You’re really okay with Kyle coming tonight?”
“Sure. He’s your greatest V is for Virgin success story, Val. What could be more convincing?”
Val’s face lit up. “Excellent argument, Counselor,” she said. “As always.” She turned her bright eyes on me and said, “You want to be my show-and-tell for the afternoon?”
Hell yes, I did.
Val and her best friend Bryce Carmichael carpooled to work every day in Bryce’s very expensive BMW convertible. It was flashy and pompous, and something my parents would have approved of. And Val loved it. Girls and convertibles. I will never understand it.
I was squished in the tiny backseat because Bryce had offered to drive wherever it was we were going, and I was too much of a gentleman to let Val ride in the back. “Home first, Jeeves,” Val said as she buckled herself in. “I need to change.”
Both of them were dressed in business attire. Val in a pencil skirt, blouse, and heels, and Bryce in a dress shirt and slacks—though he wasn’t wearing a tie, which I had to admit, earned him a couple of cool points.
“You’re fine how you are,” Bryce said. Val cut him a serious look that made him groan and argue. “Your house is out of the way.”
“Bryce, don’t even try it. You know this is a battle you will lose.”
“But the Greshams are serious Giants fans.”
“I won’t hold it against them,” Val replied flippantly.
Bryce groaned again and switched lanes to get on the freeway going the other direction. Their familiarity with each other was almost as annoying as having no idea what they were talking about. “What’s going on?” I asked, hoping my irritation was well buried.
“Val’s getting her way,” Bryce said, “same as always. And adding twenty minutes to our drive because of a hat.”
“It’s a lucky hat,” Val said, as if that explained everything. She turned in her seat and grinned at me. “The Greshams are a very wealthy older couple from Palo Alto. They could never have children of their own and fostered kids for over twenty years. Now that they’re too old to foster children, they’re looking to back an adoption agency as a way to stay involved, but they’re very particular about what kind of agency they want to support. We’re one of the handful of nonprofit agencies they’re considering.”
“If we can convince them we’re the right fit,” Bryce said, glancing my way in his rearview mirror, “they’ll fund the majority of our expenses for years.
Then we could put a lot more effort into placing children rather than making sure we stay afloat.”
I was surprised by the zeal in his voice. I recognized passion when I saw it. He was every bit as sincere as Val with this whole adoption thing—a true do-gooder just like her.
“So what does any of that have to do with a lucky hat?” I asked when Val caught me frowning.
Her grin doubled in size. “Robert Gresham is a huge baseball fan so he’s taking us to a game. The Giants are playing the Angels today. I can’t go to an Angels game without my lucky hat.”
She was a baseball nut? I was so surprised I didn’t even know how to respond. Never in a million years would I have guessed that. “Are you a sports fan in general or just baseball?” I asked.
“I’m an athlete.” She shrugged. “I appreciate competition no matter what sport it is. Volleyball is my favorite, but baseball is a close second, and the Angels are my team.” She shot Bryce another no-nonsense look, then said, “The hat is necessary. My dad gave it to me when he took me to my first game. I was six. I’ve worn it to every Angels game I’ve been to ever since. Over the years I’ve gotten a handful of my favorite players to sign it.”
I smiled, despite being cramped in the back of a typical rich-guy car. Finally, something we had in common. I loved sports. Couldn’t play them to save my life, but I loved watching them. Personally I was a huge Lakers fan, but baseball was cool too, and I’d happily take Val to all the Angels games her heart desired.
“What about basketball?” I asked hopefully. “Do you like the Lakers at all?”
“I’m not religious about them, but I wouldn’t turn down tickets to a game.” She wriggled her eyebrows and added, “Especially not where your seats are. You should have tried that approach four years ago. If you’d dangled courtside seats in front of me, I might have said yes to a date.”
Whatever look was on my face made both Bryce and Val burst into laughter. “How do you not know this about Val?” Bryce asked.
His question pissed me off, but only because he had a point. As much as I liked Val, she was practically a stranger to me. I tried not to glare at the guy and said, “She never gave me a real chance to get to know her.” Swallowing back my hostility, I forced myself to smile and added, “But I’m looking forward to learning everything about her now that she finally will.”
We pulled up in front of a small one-story house. It was a few decades old but well-maintained. Painted yellow with white trim and shutters and rose bushes beneath the front window, it looked like something a grandmother would live in, and yet, somehow it made sense that Val lived here.
“Two minutes!” she promised as she jumped from the car and ran inside.
I used the opportunity to ask Bryce some questions that I’d been dying to know since I first saw him. “So, how long have you know known Val?”
Bryce turned in his seat to face me instead of looking at me in the mirror. His answering smile was friendly—as if he didn’t consider me a threat at all. “Since she moved here. I was in my second year in law school and was a TA for one of her classes her freshman year. I knew of Virgin Val—I’m adopted too, and I’d always thought her story was cool—so I recognized her instantly. I asked her to coffee, we swapped adoption stories, and we’ve been really good friends ever since.”
Really good friends? Yeah, right. No guy is just “really good friends” with a woman. “Did you two ever date?”
Obvious? Yes. But I didn’t care. I wanted to know.
Bryce laughed. “I would have in a heartbeat if I’d ever thought for one second that Val was interested, but she’s never acted anything but platonic with me. Over the years I’ve learned to accept her friendship for what it was. I care about her enough that I just want to see her happy.”
While I sat there trying to decide exactly how much he was in love with Val, he studied me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. He glanced back toward the house and the smile fell from his face. “I’ve never seen her respond to anyone the way she did to you in the office earlier,” he said, concern etching his brow. “Seeing the two of you together made a lot of things about her make sense.”
“What do you mean?”
Instead of answering my question, he said, “Be careful with her. Don’t hurt her.”
“I don’t plan to.”
I must have sounded defensive again because he lifted his hands as if to say he was backing off. “I know,” he said. “I can tell you’re sincere, but it’s hard to not worry. I’ve seen her hurt before and it’s not something I want to see again.”
My curiosity piqued at this hint to Val’s dating history, but before I could ask, Val came back. She’d changed into jeans and a snug Angels T-shirt that made me forget all about the conversation I’d been having with Bryce. Her hair was in a ponytail and pulled through the back of an old, faded baseball cap. Sure enough, it was covered with signatures.
This was a brand-new side of Val that I’d never seen. Usually I’d describe her as beautiful, hot, gorgeous, or sexy, but right now she was just plain cute. A smile crept over my face and Val grinned to match it.
“I approve of the lucky hat,” I said. “Sports Fan Val is a look I could get used to.”
…
The Greshams showed up at the baseball game dressed for a golf tournament. The only indication that they were in the right place was the San Francisco Giants cap Mr. Gresham wore on the very top of his head trucker-hat style. He looked like a jackass, but he’d sprung for amazing seats right behind the away team’s on-deck circle, which thrilled Val to pieces, so I didn’t begrudge him his lack of style.
They stood when we arrived, and Mr. Gresham gaped at Val’s attire. “The Angels?” he gasped, not quite insulted, but almost.
Val gave him a very solemn look and said, “Mr. Gresham, I’ll be frank with you. I could really use your money for the agency, but I don’t want it badly enough to root for the Giants when they’re up against my Angels. Not now, not ever.”
I almost burst into laughter. It was a bold move that I don’t know if I’d have made, but Val would forever be Val. Whether she was standing up for her right to not have sex, or root for the away team against the boss, she would never compromise her personal standards.
Mrs. Gresham chuckled under her breath while her husband blinked at Val in astonishment. Then, without warning, he threw his head back and let out a big belly laugh. “A woman of true principal,” he teased. “I can respect that.”
Val gave him a smile that would one day win her an election, and they fell into comfortable conversation. Until the Giants took the lead with a three-run homer in the bottom of the second, that is, and Val started shouting insults at the Giants. By the seventh, the Angels were behind six to one and Val had gone beyond slinging insults to arguing with the umpires and trying to coach the Angels.
The Greshams seemed as surprised and amused as I was, but the resigned look on Bryce’s face suggested he’d sat through many games just like this. “She’s like this every time,” he said, reading my thoughts.
Laughing, I pulled Val’s hand into mine and laced our fingers together. “Should we go get some corn dogs or something?” I asked. “Let you walk off a little steam before you get us thrown out of the park?”
Val slumped back in her chair with a disgusted sigh as one of the Angels struck out and ended the inning. “He went down looking,” she groaned. As the player walked back toward the dugout, she shouted, “You can’t hit the ball if you don’t swing, Trout! That’s twice in a row!”
Unfortunately we were only two rows away from the field, which was well within hearing range, and that comment earned her a glare from the center fielder in question. When she caught his attention she blew him a kiss and yelled, “Don’t worry, you’re still my favorite!”
The guy tried to hold his glare, but he broke down and laughed. “Thanks, gorgeous. I’ll hit the next one just for you,” he said as he disappeared into the dugout.
I chuckl
ed to myself. Nobody could resist the woman. “Should I be worried about the competition?” I teased, bringing her hand to my lips.
“Only if he homers it on his next at bat.”
She met my eyes and sighed, a lot of her aggression gone. “Sorry. I’m just frustrated because they’re better than this. It’s one thing to lose if you’re trying your best, but they’ve given up.”
That made Bryce laugh. “She’s like that in the office, too. Never lets anyone slack off, and never gives up.”
“I’m not the only one,” she replied. “You’re the one who sees every adoption we handle through to the end.”
That comment finally got them all discussing the reason they were meeting today. I’d been worried that I would be bored while they talked shop the rest of the afternoon, but this meeting seemed more like they were interviewing Val to become one of the family. I found the get-to-know-you session fascinating and extremely enlightening. I learned more about Val in those last two innings than I had the entire time I’d known her.
The Greshams did ask a lot of questions about the adoption agency she ran, and there was some business talk, but for the most part they were more interested in the people running it than the organization itself. They wanted their money to be in good hands.
It was during the bottom of the ninth that the real question of the hour was finally brought to the table. Val’s BMW convertible driving, friendly to everyone, Stanford Law do-gooder, fellow adoptee, best guy friend said, “Well, I believe Val has now told you everything there possibly is to know about herself, and with her team currently losing an embarrassing eight to one, you have now seen her at her worst.”
I chuckled at that along with the Gershams. Val was definitely not a gracious loser. (Not surprising, considering she wasn’t personally capable of losing.)
“The only question left,” Bryce said, “is can F is for Families count on your patronage?”
As much as I hate to admit it, I understood why that woman in Val’s office had spoken of Val and Bryce as if they were some sort of power couple. Bryce was basically the male version of Val, and together they were downright formidable. They had me sold, but the Gershams hesitated.
