The Player's Game

by Alice Gaines

  “Grant? No. Why would you ask that?”

  “Because of the video.”

  What was he talking about? “What video?”

  “You haven’t seen it?”

  “If I had, I wouldn’t be asking you.”

  “Go to that site where people post videos and type this in the search box,” her dad said. “Quarterback, wife, hotel.”

  She did, and up popped a tiny picture of her standing in an elevator with her date. Grant stood off to the side with his woman for the night.

  No. It was impossible. When she clicked on it, she was suddenly watching a silent movie of one of the low points of her life. Being in an elevator with a stranger she was about to have sex with. Then the whole thing played out just as it had that day at Savvy.

  “Where in hell did this come from?” she said.

  “Security cameras,” her father answered. “They’re everywhere these days.”

  Damn it all to hell. Then their two dates got out of the elevator, leaving her alone with Grant. Almost standing on top of him with her nose up in his face.

  “What happened between the two of you?” her father demanded.

  “Nothing.” God would get her for that lie. Plenty had happened, but there couldn’t have been a security camera in Grant’s suite, right? That would have to be illegal.

  Finally, the video went blank, but before she could catch a breath of relief, it started up again, this time showing her pounding on doors on Grant’s floor.

  “That doesn’t look like nothing,” Dad said.

  Finally, another angle showed her entering Grant’s room and the door closing behind her. Then the video ended. Mercifully.

  “You were with him,” Dad said.

  “We ran into each other by accident at a resort in South Carolina, of all places.”

  “Isn’t that where he’s from?”

  “Yeah, but he lives in Manhattan now.” She shouldn’t have had to worry about him being in South Carolina. Especially at a resort on a barrier island.

  “I don’t want you getting involved with him again,” her dad said. “He hurt you the last time.”

  “I hurt him, too.” There’d been plenty of hurt to go around. She wasn’t going to blame it all on Grant.

  “He’s not good enough for you. You’re an intellectual, and he’s—”

  “I know. I know.” A dumb jock. That was what her father had always called him and what she’d thrown at Grant that last night when their fighting had gotten out of control. If she could take back any words she’d spoken in her life, it would be those three.

  Then, he’d said something equally bad to her—that she’d only gotten her damned job because her boss loved football and wanted to hang around with him.

  She’d never even let herself think about that possibility. Sure, she’d competed against other candidates from top-level schools—people with the same confidence her father had needed to get to the top of his department at an old, proud university. But she’d deserved this job. Hadn’t she? The doubts still plagued her in the middle of the night. She wasn’t as smart and smooth as those other men were. As a result, she’d worked harder. And she was still doing it.

  “Katy?” her father prompted.

  She gave herself a good mental shake. “I’m not getting back with Grant, Dad, so you can just forget about it, all right?”

  “This sort of thing can’t look good to your senior partners,” her father said.

  “What sort of thing?”

  “Videos of you in an elevator with your ex. Then you knocking on strangers’ doors in a hotel,” he said. “It’s very undignified.”

  He was probably right about that. She checked the display again. According to the site, the video had had hundreds of thousands of views—so many people watching her make a fool of herself. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. I just will.”

  A knock on her door rescued her. Or maybe not. It was Jamison—the up-and-coming young star among the junior staff. Harvard grad. He even pronounced it Hahvahd. And he was wearing an Ivy League smirk. “Brandenburg wants to see you.”

  Great. The senior-est of all the senior partners. Even though the firm’s name was technically Brandenburg, Carter, Grey, Henderson, & Wagner, everyone referred to it as Brandenburg.

  “Something about a video,” Jamison said.

  “I have to go, Dad,” she said. “The higher-ups are calling me.”

  “Will you at least take my advice? Don’t get involved with the football player again.”

  “I’ll talk to you later.” Then she ended the call, got up, and walked past a still-smirking Jamison. Might as well get this over with.

  Chapter Three

  Katy had been in Jim Brandenburg’s office a few times since he’d first interviewed her four years earlier, and every time she’d seen it, his shrine to Grant’s team had grown. It now filled the entire credenza behind his desk. The prize of his collection, of course, was the jersey Grant had autographed for him, now framed and hanging where any visitor would have to stare at it.

  Katy did so now, as Jim gestured for her to take a seat across the desk from him. “You wanted to see me?”

  “I just wanted to know, are you happy with us?” Jim asked. He was a handsome man with the right amount of white at his temples and an engaging smile. His suit had probably cost in the thousands.

  Now, that was a loaded question. First, define happy. She didn’t want to overdo her joy at being with the firm, but an answer in the affirmative was expected. Second, his question could almost come out as a threat, with the right inflection. Nice job you got here. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to it. “Yes, very.”

  “Everyone treating you well?”

  “Absolutely.” A Hahvahd grad smirking couldn’t really be called mistreatment. She sat and waited for the next pro-forma question.

  “Work interesting?”

  If you could call defending an obviously guilty client interesting. “It’s keeping me on my toes.”

  He laughed, his voice filling the room. “Good, good.”

  She sat some more. After a while, he’d have to come to the point of this visit, and then, she’d find out how much trouble she was in.

  “Something’s come up on social media that I wanted to talk to you about,” Jim said. “It seems you were caught on video at a hotel recently.”

  “So Jamison said. I can explain.” Although she hadn’t quite figured out how yet.

  “No explanation necessary,” Jim said. “I only wanted to congratulate you.”

  Her jaw went slack for half a second before she caught herself. “Uh, thanks.”

  “You see…” Jim leaned toward her, his forearms on his desk. “…marriage is a tricky thing. What works for some people may not work for others.”

  “Are you and I talking about the same video?”

  “You and Grant with those other people.” He laughed again. “But the two of you ended up together. Touching.”

  It was a good thing there’d been no sound on the video because nothing about her conversation with Grant had been touching…unless you counted wanting to hit Grant over the head with something “touching.” “It wasn’t…really…”

  “And the two of you got together afterward and worked out your differences.” More like screwed each other’s brains out, but she wasn’t going to share that with Jim.

  “We talked some.”

  “That’s the spirit.” Jim straightened and beamed a smile at her. “Everyone finds their own way to a good marriage. Amy and I have had our ups and downs, but we’ve stayed together through thick and thin.”

  She could bet her next paycheck he and his wife had never met by accident on their ways to separate booty calls.

  Jim rose, walked a
round toward her, and sat on the edge of the desk. This close, she could make out the scent of his shaving soap and admire his perfect, male fingernails. Did he get them manicured? “I couldn’t be more thrilled you two are getting back together.”

  Oh, crap. He thought the fact she’d gone into Grant’s hotel suite meant they were reuniting. Jim would love that, of course. More opportunities for him to interact with his hero, the team’s star quarterback.

  Jim had never asked for anything like tickets or autographs. Grant had gifted Jim with the jersey when he’d met him. But Jim was a true believer in the team—a real fan with season tickets in the good seats. He’d probably love to get to know Grant better. Have a few beers and listen to Grant’s stories. That sort of thing. But he couldn’t do it if she and Grant stayed divorced.

  “One thing you’ll find as your career progresses is that you need a support team,” Jim said. “Nothing beats a solid marriage for that.”

  That’s exactly what she’d hoped to have when she and Grant had started out. She could help him with the highs and lows of his career—injuries and failures as well as victories. He’d give her emotional support and pick up the slack with meals and such when she was under deadline. He’d done all that through law school, but that had been only temporary. Somehow, he’d believed things would change once she found a job, and she’d be able to think about starting a family.

  “I’d like to see you happy in your marriage with Grant,” Jim said. “I’ll support you. Take some time off, if you need it.”

  Jim probably shouldn’t be involving himself in her marriage…or her former marriage. That should be off-limits for the boss. But this was Jim Brandenburg, and junior attorneys didn’t talk back to him. “So, you’d like me to get back together with Grant.”

  Jim’s smile almost lit up the room. “Exactly.”

  “And you’d give me time off to do that.”

  “Not too much. We can’t lose the services of such a talented young attorney for long.”

  Impossible. She couldn’t resurrect her marriage with Grant. They’d had too many fights and spoken too many words they couldn’t take back. Jim didn’t know all that, of course, and she wasn’t about to share all the sordid details.

  But he looked so happy at the prospect. Genuinely hopeful for her. Maybe in this rare case, a little lie wouldn’t hurt. At least, she could let him think she’d tried. Then, when things didn’t work out, she’d ease his disappointment by arranging for him to have dinner with Grant. The two men had gotten along in the past. Grant would do her that favor to help her out.

  And some time off would probably get her off of Winthrop’s loser of a case, which was coming up soon. If she won Jim’s approval—and backing in the firm—she might get something better to work on. And if she didn’t… Well, she wouldn’t think about that now. She had to pretend to patch up her marriage.

  Could she do it? Would Grant cooperate? There was only one way to find out.

  She rose. “Thanks, Jim. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

  He also got up. “I know you’ll come to the right decision.”

  And he stood right in front of Grant’s jersey when he said it.

  …

  Again, Katy surprised Grant. A couple of weeks after their encounter at Savvy, she called to invite herself over. She didn’t sound happy, but more…subdued. She said she had a favor to ask of him. Katy unhappy and needing his help. He couldn’t tell her to come over fast enough, and then he practically counted the moments until she got there.

  Now, the receptionist in his building had announced her, and he was waiting in the hallway for her to come up in the elevator. She was wearing her work clothes—as severe as any woman’s business suit he’d ever seen, and she’d pulled her beautiful hair back from her face and tied it with a scarf at the nape of her neck. “Sensible” heels completed her outfit. How many times had he seduced her out of that outfit before she’d had a chance to lay her briefcase down?

  That wasn’t where they were going today. As much as he’d enjoyed making love with her again, it could get to be a habit if he wasn’t careful. So today he gestured for her to go into the living room, and she went straight to the windows overlooking the river and stared out for a moment.

  After a few minutes, she turned to him. “This is nice, Grant.”

  “You’ve been here before.”

  “Only to deliver papers,” she said. “I never looked around.”

  Yeah, those visits had been short and painful. Neither of them had wanted to prolong them. “I can give you the grand tour, if you want.”

  She shook her head and just stood there for a few seconds. There was a definite droop to her shoulders.

  “Is something wrong?” He knew damned well there was, but he’d have to let her tell the story.

  “There’s a video of us on the internet.” She hesitated.

  He stuffed his hands in his back pockets. “I’ve seen it.”

  “It got around the office. Jim Brandenburg watched it.”

  “Ow. Sorry.” The Brandenburg firm could have been in the dictionary next to the word “stuffy.” Katy knocking on strangers’ hotel room doors couldn’t have done her career any good. “I’ll do what I can to clear things up—even taking the blame, if it will help.”

  “Can I sit down?” she said.

  “Sure. Where are my manners?” He gestured toward the couch. “Can I get you something to drink? I have beer…and beer. I could make coffee.”

  She sat on one end of the couch. “Nothing, thanks.”

  He took a seat at the other end. Well out of reaching-for-her distance.

  “Jim wasn’t upset about the video.” She took a breath. “He thought it meant we were getting back together.”

  “I see.” No, he didn’t. First, why would her boss think that? Second, what did it mean as far as this visit went?

  She smoothed her skirt over her legs in a nervous gesture. Why should she be nervous?

  “He was happy about it,” she said. “He encouraged me to make things better between us. Even gave me some time off.”

  Now this was starting to make sense. Her boss, the superfan, had fallen all over himself when Grant had met him. Real hero-worship, which was weird but happened even with grown-up, successful people. Katy used to joke she wouldn’t have gotten the job except for her star quarterback husband. Only she hadn’t really joked about it. Jim’s obvious admiration for Grant was the basis of a lot of her insecurity about her job. She felt she wasn’t really good enough but that Brandenburg had hired her so he could get close to Grant. Unfortunately, Grant had picked up on that from the beginning, and when the excrement had hit the fan in their marriage, he’d used that knowledge to say the one thing that would hurt her the most.

  “I couldn’t find the courage to tell him we’re not patching things up, and so now I have to pretend to try.” She bent over and put her face in her hands. “I’m really, really stupid.”

  “No, Katy.” He would not touch her. Sex was one thing, putting his arms around her while she was vulnerable another. “You’re not stupid. Ever. Period.”

  She glanced up at him, resignation in her dark eyes. “Do you think you could help me out?”

  “Pretend we’re back together again?”

  “I know it sounds…” She’d almost said stupid again. “Dumb.”

  “What’ll happen when we don’t get back together again?” Grant said. “Is Jim going to be disappointed?”

  “Maybe, but he only told me to try. He can’t dictate my personal life.”

  Although that was exactly what Jim was doing. And Katy was going along with him—all because of her damned insecurity.

  Now, she needed his help, and he’d do his damnedest to make up for the cruel remark he’d made in the past. “Sure. I’ll do whatever you need.”

  “Than
ks.” She straightened. “So, I guess maybe we could be seen around town together. It might put a bit of a crimp in your usual dating scene.”

  “I’ll live.” And he didn’t have anyone on the dating horizon. He hadn’t managed to think about someone other than Katy just yet. He would. Just not right now.

  “I have some time off,” she said. “Maybe we could take a trip together, as long as we make sure Jim finds out about it.”

  “I’ve got an idea.” A pretty good one, if he did say so himself. “The team is planning a public relations tour to support Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. Some of the wives are going along. There’ll be lots of local press in attendance along with video.”

  “And we’d get someone to post about our being together online.”

  “And once it’s up, I’d mention it in my social media, and my fans will spread it around,” he finished.

  She thought for a while and, finally, managed a smile. “That might work.”

  “Most of the time, it’ll just be day trips, coming home at night. But for Upstate and the Jersey shore, we’ll stay overnight.” He waited for that to sink in.

  He knew the team wouldn’t get them two hotel rooms. And she wouldn’t want to be caught on any security cameras sneaking around hallways again, so getting her own room was out. They’d be stuck together in some mighty pretty country.

  She bit her lip. “I guess we’d have to share a room.”

  “Hotel rooms generally have two beds.” As usual, he was in provide-and-protect mode. One part of him would always love her, and so he had a biological need to take care of her. That meant hands off her—or hands on, whichever she needed. God, he was a sap for her.

  “You’re right,” she said. “This could work out very well.”

  “You know me.” Finally, he reached over and made physical contact, no more than his hand on hers. “I would never touch you if you didn’t want it. I’d never do that to any woman.”

  “Yeah, I do know you, Grant.” She nodded. She always did that when she’d made up her mind about something. “You’ll make arrangements for me with the team?”

  “You bet.” Of course, he’d have to explain why he wanted his ex-wife along, but they’d probably be cool with it. This was New York, not the little southern town where he’d been born. “We meet at the team offices Monday morning at 8:00.”