Hate the Game
Page 8
I thought back to the enticing secret in his bedside table. “Or maybe I’m just not looking hard enough,” I mused out loud. “I have to go.”
“There it is! I love it when you get that bloodhound tone. Go get ‘em, tiger!”
11
Sawyer
The unfortunate side effect of having someone live in my house who was after my secrets was that it brought to mind all the things I wanted to keep private. I studied the game like I was supposed to, but nothing stuck. I must’ve watched the same five minutes ten times before I decided to call it quits. I’d learned not to beat dead horses a long time ago.
At least now I knew she wasn’t there as bait. If she had been, she would have made a move in the sauna instead of shutting me down hard and running away. On the one hand, that made my life easier. I could relax and talk to her on a human level rather than playing defense all the time. On the other hand, now I was certain that she was there to do a job, and I was equally certain that she was a pro.
What I needed was a distraction. Not for me, but for the woman who was driving me crazy simply by existing in my space.
“Just like old Red,” I said, thinking of the dog I’d grown up with. “Throw him a bone to keep him away from the steaks. Damn it.” I knew exactly which bone to throw her way, but the idea of inviting him into my house set my teeth on edge.
“Got to make some sacrifices for the sake of my sanity,” I muttered, rolling my sore shoulder. I picked up the phone and dialed.
“What’s up?” Chase answered.
“What do we have going on tomorrow?”
“Not a damn thing, coach cancelled practice. Didn’t you get his text?”
“No, I’ve been busy. Did he say why?”
“His daughter’s getting induced and she asked him to be there. Grandbabies come first, I guess.”
“Makes sense. Well hell, why don’t we all blow off some steam? Get the guys over here, we’ll have a party.”
“What happened to clean and sober?”
“Nothing unclean or drunk about a pizza party.”
Chase was quiet for a second, then he chuckled. “She’s driving you crazy, isn’t she?”
“Completely insane. I need her distracted.”
“You think a house full of jocks will be enough to distract her?”
“I haven’t met a woman yet who that wouldn’t work on. Tomorrow at five, spread the word. And Chase?”
“Yeah?”
“Make sure Damian shows up.”
Chase was silent for a long time, long enough for me to check the connection. Finally he huffed a disbelieving laugh. “What?”
“You heard me. I told you, I need her distracted.”
“Dude. You do know she’s writing an article on you?”
“Yeah, so?”
“So Damian has more conspiracy theories about you than he does about aliens, 9/11, and the South Pole combined. He’s going to completely trash you. It’s career suicide, man!”
I grinned and leaned back into the soft couch cushions. “Nah, it’ll be fine. I know her kind. She isn’t going to print trash rumors, she’s going to want facts to back them up. Thing about Damian is, he has just enough truth in his theories to make him sound credible. She’s going to be running all over the place looking for proof.”
“And there won’t be any.” Chase whistled. “Diabolical, man, diabolical. She’ll waste weeks running down those dead ends.”
“Exactly.”
“All right, you got it man. Damian and the rest of us will be there. Assuming they don’t have anything better to do.”
“Bring as many as you can,” I said with a shrug. “Damian’s the important one. The rest are filler.”
After ending the call, I grinned up at the ceiling. “Do your worst, Addison Beyers. The faster you work, the more nothing you’ll find.”
Satisfied with myself, I turned the game back on. That five minutes had a secret in it, I could feel it. Now that I wasn’t obsessing over Addison, maybe I could see it. Nothing there, nothing there… wait. What was that? I played it again.
“Ha! Gotcha. Does he do it again? Yes! Man, that’s one hell of an Achilles heel.” I watched it again and again, crowing internally. The star player, the one everybody had warned me about, didn’t like to make sharp right-hand turns. He went out of his way over and over again to keep the puck on his left. The team he was playing against in the video hadn’t caught on, but the more I watched, the clearer it became. I knew exactly how to win on Saturday.
“Little Miss Addison doesn’t know who she’s up against. Finding weaknesses is what I do. It’s what I’m paid to do. If I can find Julio Tenant’s weakness when no one else could, finding hers is going to be a piece of cake. Speaking of cake… no. Coach would kill me. On the other hand, I did golf today. On the third hand, there’s no practice tomorrow.”
I argued with myself for several minutes, thinking all the time about the sheer quality of the cakes at the little bakery down the road. Eventually I decided I couldn’t justify the indulgence on my own. I snapped my fingers.
“But I’m not on my own, am I? What kind of a host would I be if I didn’t tell Addison about the decadence of Borrower’s Cakes?”
I shoved my hands in my pockets and started to whistle. For the first time in a long time, everything was going exactly my way.
12
Addison
I went back and forth with myself as I climbed out of the tub. Sawyer was just downstairs watching TV; he could come up any minute. But he had said he was going to be studying the game for hours, and it’d been less than an hour since I’d gotten in the tub. I had plenty of time.
“Time, schmime, that’s not what I’m worried about,” I told my reflection. I scowled, decided I didn’t like the look, and raised a brow instead.
Even to myself, I couldn’t verbalize exactly what I was worried about. It was almost a fear of success. I was almost positive that his side table contained evidence that he was still partying as hard as ever. Alcohol? Drug paraphernalia? The colors I’d glimpsed screamed deviant behavior. What brand of deviant behavior, though? If it was a collection of travel-sized liquor bottles, that would mean one thing. But what if it was a collection of pipes or pills?
“Ugh,” I said, clutching my stomach. “Why does that bother me so much?”
Somehow, thinking about snooping through Sawyer’s stuff was giving me the same level of gut-coring anxiety I’d had just before discovering my ex cheating on me. There was no reason for it to feel the same, but just telling myself that didn’t make the feeling go away. I tried to get angry at it to push it away, but it simply refused to budge.
“Fine,” I said. “Stay if you want, I’m still going through his drawers.”
I stalked into my room in naked defiance, and marched to the door. I had nearly opened it when I realized that my defiance wasn’t the only thing that was naked. Flustered, I hurried to my bags and pulled out my comfortably over-sized harem sweats with the deep pockets. After slipping them on, I pulled a cropped tank top on over my head. Since I wasn’t expecting to see Sawyer again before morning, pajamas seemed like the reasonable clothing option.
“Ugh.” I pressed my hands to my stomach again. “Oh, stop it! It’s not going to ruin my life if he has something terrible in there. It might even make it better, so just stop.”
Straightening my shoulders, I marched toward the door again. I didn’t remember it squeaking when I’d come in, but I opened it slowly anyway, just to be safe. Blood pounded in my ears as I crept across the wide hallway, my toes sinking deep into the lush carpet.
“Please don’t be locked, please don’t be locked,” I whispered as I reached for his doorknob.
It opened easily and without a sound. Breathing a long, slow sigh of relief, I hurried across the floor on my tiptoes, making a beeline for the end table.
“Okay, now you hush,” I told the drawer in a firm undertone. “Just slide open like a good drawer.”
“Okay, drawer, here’s the deal. I’m going to open you and you’re going to be quiet. Got it?”
Negotiating with drawers now? This job really is making me crazy. I shook the thoughts out of my head and reached for the drawer. I eased it open millimeter by millimeter until it was past the sticky part, then slid it the rest of the way. It was so full it nearly fell out into my hands, but I managed to catch it before it made a sound.
“Jeez,” I breathed, looking down at the contents. “Seriously?”
Sex toys. So many sex toys. Big ones, little ones, thimble vibrators, remote control vibrators, and other objects I couldn’t even identify. Curious, I slid one out of the drawer.
“Which way does it go? Like… ” I tried positioning it on an imaginary body, but couldn’t seem to figure it out. It looked like a cactus leaf, complete with rubbery spines, but it had various bulbs and appendages that pointed out in nonsensical directions. It wasn’t until I gave my imaginary body a partner that I began to understand.
Embarrassed, I quickly put it back in the drawer. As I shuffled it around to make space, I lost my grip on the drawer itself. Once again, I caught it before it hit the ground, but this time the sex toys weren’t so lucky. They bounced out of the drawer and tumbled across the floor. One of them turned on in the process and began to wiggle its intimidating way toward the hard bathroom tiles.
“Oh no you don’t!” Flustered and frantic, I grabbed it and turned it off, then began piling the toys back in the drawer. As soon as I started to slide it back into place, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Damn it! Get in there!” I hissed in panic.
It wouldn’t fit. One of the vibrators was in the way, and I didn’t have time to make space for it. I yanked it out of the drawer without thinking and shoved it into my back pocket, then shuffled the drawer closed as quickly and quietly as I could. The footsteps stopped. Had he gone back down?
The hallway carpet!
“Did you get lost?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and blew out a breath. Turning, I found him leaning against the doorframe. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes were narrowed at me. Swallowing hard, I attempted a smile.
“Um, no, I was just… uh… trying to remember where to put the bubble bath. It was a wonderful bath, thank you for letting me use it, but I don’t want to hold your bubbles hostage the whole time I’m here, so I thought I would put them back for you.”
He stepped toward me, looking around the room theatrically. “So where are the bubbles?”
Damn it. “I… forgot them?”
“Mm-hm.” He stepped closer and I took a step sideways, keeping my back away from him. “So you brought bubbles that you didn’t bring into a room that isn’t a bathroom, and decided that the best place to put them was a nightstand?” He closed the distance between us.
“Ah… something like that.” I backed into the wall hard, looking up at him. As I did so, the vibrator in my back pocket switched on. Of course I grabbed that one.
A low buzz sounded from my back pocket, as if a bee were buzzing around near my ass, and I felt the toy vibrating against my butt cheek.
The cheeks on my face flamed. Fuck.
I was terrified that he was going to be angry. He had every right to be. I’d been snooping through his things. But he only looked confused for a moment before understanding dawned in his eyes. Then he laughed. It was a low, husky laugh that sent shivers over my skin.
“That’s not how you’re supposed to use that thing,” he murmured. He closed the last few inches of space between us, filling my nostrils with his scent. My knees turned to jelly in spite of myself. I ached to press against him, to kiss him.
What the hell, Addison? Get it together!
“You’re right,” I said, tilting my chin defiantly. It was a mistake. I was poised for a kiss. I straightened my shoulders and hardened my voice. “It should be used to expose you.”
“Expose me?” He chuckled gently and pressed his hands against the wall over my head. “For what? Knowing how to please my lovers? Trust me, darlin’, with the right person… these things are magical.”
My heart beat fast in my chest, sending boiling blood to my cheeks and butterflies all through my belly. His hot breath brushed my cheek. His sultry gaze threatened to draw me irresistibly closer. I could almost feel his mouth on mine.
Before I could do something I would regret, he grinned at me and pulled away. Relief and dismay battled for dominance inside me. Not knowing what to do with myself, I leaned hard against the wall.
“Get some sleep,” he said. “Big day tomorrow.”
“Not more golf,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
He laughed. “Nah. I have a better idea.” He winked at me, then left the room without elaborating. I stood frozen until he was out of sight, then my knees gave out. I slid down the wall, slowly curling into a ball, and buried my face in my hands.
It should be illegal for one person to have that much sex appeal, I thought helplessly. I rose shakily to my feet, then realized the vibrator was still cheerfully buzzing away in my pocket. Mortified, I pulled it out, turned it off, and tossed it on his bed before fleeing from the room.
The bubble bath never did make it back to his bathroom that night. Conflicted, confused, and too hot to think straight, I curled up in my bed and pulled the covers up over my head. I considered calling Rebecca for a brief moment, but I knew what she would say. She would crow that she had been right, and would urge me to go finish what had almost started in his bedroom.
I couldn’t let that happen. It was an issue of integrity. I was supposed to be writing a report on him, after all. I couldn’t afford to have my perspective compromised. That was why my editor had sent me in the first place, wasn’t it?
“Well,” I said firmly as I tossed the blankets off. “I’m not about to let her down. I am a strong professional woman, damn it. I won’t be charmed out of this.”
Determination renewed, I pulled my laptop out of its case and began compiling everything I’d learned about Sawyer so far.
Keeps a drawer full of sex toys.
Team player on the ice.
Spends his evenings studying the opposition.
Spends his afternoons pursuing different sports in an effort to train his body fully for the task at hand.
Eats weird sandwiches.
Incorrigible. Charming. Sexy.
“Damn it,” I said again. There was nothing in the drawer but the sex toys. Were those really indicative of anything? So he had a full and adventurous sex life. Unless he was sleeping with prostitutes, it didn’t mean anything to my report. Whether it meant anything to me personally was a completely different story.
I deleted that item off my list and stared at what was left. Nothing worth printing.
Why doesn’t that disappoint me?
Shaking my head at myself, I sighed. I was losing the game, so why wasn’t I frustrated about it? Whatever he was hiding was still hidden, and for some reason, I was content about that. I would’ve been miserable to find evidence that he was still partying hard in secret. I scowled at that realization and closed my laptop.
“I’m better than this,” I told myself fiercely. “I don’t let my personal feelings get in the way, not now, not ever. Whatever he’s hiding, I’m going to find it, and I’m going to print it.”
My words were far more decisive than my feelings. I clung to them until I fell into a restless sleep, then sailed them through my dreams.
13
Sawyer
I woke up the next morning with her image swimming in my head. The way she’d looked in that tiny, breast-hugging tank top with those low-slung pants; the way she’d watched my mouth when I confronted her about the vibrator. Fuck, I cr
aved her.
I lay in bed longer than usual that morning, hazily dreaming in that waking twilight about what would’ve happened if I hadn’t stepped away when I did the night before. I recognized that look in her eyes. She had wanted it as badly as I had. With a lazy half-smile on my face, I let the scenario play itself out in my imagination.
“If only she wasn’t a journalist,” I sighed when I finally hauled myself out of bed.
I still didn’t think that she was out to trap me, but I had no doubt that she would use everything she was given. I fully expected the entire country to know about my toy collection and penchant for bubble baths within a week of her leaving. I didn’t much care about that. But hitting on a journalist would feed directly into the trash fire that was the media coverage of me, and I was going to avoid that if at all possible.
She wasn’t going to make it easy, apparently. I emerged from my room dressed for my morning workout just as she was slinking into the hallway dressed in the same outfit she’d had on last night, with an open robe tossed over it and her red hair flying around her face. She looked like a wild barbarian woman. I liked that.
“Good morning,” I sang cheerfully.
“Coffee?” She asked.
I shook my head. “Work out first, then coffee.”
She blinked at me. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Coffee before working out gets you dehydrated faster and kills your stamina. Working out before coffee gives the caffeine more of a punch, because your blood’s already moving. Come on, put on something you aren’t going to fall out of.”
She blushed, glared, and spun on her heel. Storming into her room, she slammed the door hard enough to rattle the pictures on the wall. I chuckled. God, she was adorable when she was flustered. Twice as cute when she was pissed. I frowned, considering. I hope she’s adorable when she’s happy too, or this is going to get weird.
I tapped on the door. “Are you coming back?”