by Sybil Bartel
“Yes, I am.”
“One day, you’ll need me. I’ll wait,” he said it confidently as he held my office door open for me.
I was shaking my head at TJ when I stepped into the hallway. It was how I almost plowed right into him.
“Sie.” Dan grabbed my arms to steady me.
Damn it. “Mr. Ahlstrom,” I said curtly.
He lowered his voice to a sinister tone. “What were you doing at a condo on Collins Avenue last night?”
Anger straightened my spine and I spoke only loud enough for him to hear. “You followed me?”
“I came to your house to talk but you were leaving.” He didn’t even act sorry, he just looked pointedly at my left hand and frowned. “You’re still not wearing it.” He knew I wouldn’t cause a scene in front of any other players, and he was using that to his advantage.
I glanced nervously at TJ as he looked curiously between us, then I looked back up at Dan and whisper hissed, “We’re done. You’re done. Don’t you ever follow me again.” I pulled my arms out of his grasp and looked over Dan’s shoulder at his friend, the huge linebacker, Elliot “Sunshine” Washington. “Mr. Washington.”
Sunshine tipped his chin once.
Dan took in my purse and his eyes narrowed. “Where are you going?”
I put on a fake smile and deflected. “Do you have an appointment with Coach?” Following me, coming to my office two days in a row, he was crossing the line. “I didn’t see you on his schedule today.”
“Team business.” He glanced at my left hand again and his eyebrows drew even tighter together as he lowered his voice. “We need to talk. It’s important.”
I had no intention of talking to him. Ever. “I’ll let Coach know you stopped by.”
Dan moved slightly so his back was to TJ and Sunshine. “I’m serious, Sie. This is important.”
I raised my voice just enough for TJ and Sunshine to hear. “Coach isn’t here.”
Dan took the hint, sort of. “Then I’ll wait for him.” He angrily pushed into my office suite and Sunshine followed.
TJ chuckled as the glass door shut. “You told him.”
I purposely didn’t look to see what Dan was doing. “What team business does he have with Coach?”
TJ shrugged. “Dunno, but I heard a rumor that old man Burrows is laid up.”
“The owner of the team is sick?” I hadn’t heard that.
“That’s what I hear. Couldn’t tell it from seeing him last week though. He was yelling at defense, same as usual.”
There was nothing friendly about the owner of the team. He hadn’t said more than two words to me in five years. He just angry stared. “Well, I hope he gets better.” I didn’t care one way or another as long as it didn’t affect my job.
TJ glanced past me through the glass wall into my and Coach’s offices. “Strom does too apparently.”
“See you later.” I forced half a smile and rushed to my car.
I watched the new Mercedes SLK convertible pull up to the valet. Her red hair visible from a block away, she drove like she was mission intent.
Barely acknowledging the valet, she took the ticket as she scanned the outdoor seating area. I couldn’t see her eyes behind her sunglasses, but I knew the second her gaze landed on me because she stiffened.
I didn’t smile. Or get up. I stared.
In heels I never would’ve guessed she could manage, she and her pink suit swept toward me like a fucking hurricane.
“Mr. Brandt, I have a job. I don’t have time to come running out for some clandestine meeting because you decided we have unfinished business. Say what you need to say and I’ll be on my way.”
I didn’t like it. Not one fucking inch of it. The suit, the heels, the squared shoulders and perfectly pinned-up hair. I wanted to rip her jacket off, take her hair down and thread my fingers through the thick locks. “What do you do?”
Her back went even straighter. “I’m an assistant. Now if you’ll—”
“You married?” Assistants couldn’t afford new Mercedes.
Looking offended, she frowned. “No.”
“Divorced?”
“If I planned on getting divorced, I wouldn’t get married in the first place,” she huffed.
“Sit down,” I commanded.
She stared at me.
Not sure if she was gonna stay or go, I didn’t budge.
Two breaths later, she pulled a chair out and lowered herself to the very edge.
I studied her a moment then glanced at the valet as he drove off in her car. “Your daddy buy you that car?”
“I make my own money, Mr. Brandt.”
For now, I was letting the mister bullshit slide. I nodded slowly, my eyes never leaving her gorgeous face. “What’d you come from?”
She held her posture like a detainee in an interrogation. “Not that it’s any of your business, but my father was a preacher.”
A preacher’s daughter? Jesus Christ, I couldn’t even make up that kind of irony. Every second in her presence, I was more intrigued by her, which only fucked with my head. I’d come here to give her the money back and make a fucking point, not act like a pussy with my tail between my legs, begging her for attention. I grabbed the menu and handed it to her. “Pick something.”
Her hands remained in her lap. “I’m not hungry. I need to get back to work.”
I wondered what kind of an admin worked on a Sunday, but I didn’t ask. “You don’t get a lunch break?”
“Not one I’m going to spend on you.”
I got the double meaning behind the “spend” statement, but I didn’t give a fuck. She was here and I felt like I could finally fucking breathe. I wasn’t an idiot, I knew I had an uphill battle, but to what I didn’t know. I just wanted to erase everything between us that’d happened last night after I’d texted the client.
I slid the envelope across the table. “Put that in your purse.”
She stared at the money. “No.”
“Non-negotiable.” I wasn’t going to let money come between me and this woman. She was too damn good for that.
“I don’t take orders from you.”
The waitress showed up. Overenthusiastic, young and irritating, she smiled at Red. “Your boyfriend is so sweet. He wouldn’t even order a water until you showed up. What can I get you?”
I grabbed the envelope and slapped it on her tray to get her attention. “Here’s a tip. Don’t make assumptions. Now get us each something off the menu.”
Her smile dropped and her mouth made an O. “I’m so sorry, of course, right away. We have a great special today….”
I glared at her.
“I’ll just bring it.” She scrambled away.
Red looked livid. “That was five thousand dollars.” Her teeth clenched, she hissed at me like an angry cat.
A sexy, angry cat. “Now it’s gone.”
“What are you trying to prove? That you’re irresponsible and impulsive?”
It was a rhetorical question, but I answered it anyway. “Money isn’t going to come between us.”
“There is no us.” She leaned forward and dropped her voice to a furious whisper. “You’re an escort. You perform services. You performed a service. I paid you. End of story. We are done.”
I forced half my mouth to tip up when all I wanted to do was drag her ass across the table and spank the anger right the fuck out of her. Then I wanted to sink my dick inside that tight cunt and pound her into submission until she didn’t know a damn thing except my name. “You think I’m insulted by that? Try harder, Red.”
Her cheeks flushed. “I don’t care what you think. I’m only stating fact.”
I moved. I ripped off her sunglasses, grabbed the back of her neck and brought my face within an inch of hers. “You want fact?” I dropped my voice. “You’re here because you want to be here. You’re here because you’re squirming on the edge of that seat remembering how good I made you feel. You’re here because you know you made a mistake
last night.” I paused, then I did something I never do. I admitted I was wrong. “And so did I.”
Her chest rose and fell. “I don’t want your apology.”
“You’re getting it anyway.” I brushed my lips against hers and gave her more than I had to give. “I’m sorry, Sienna.”
Her eyes welled.
Any doubt I had about what I wanted from this woman disappeared. “We’re gonna move past last night.” Seeing her, holding her, I didn’t give a damn about giving up my clients. I just fucking wanted her.
“There’s nothing to move to.” She tried to pull back. “You’re… who you are.”
Panic flooded my veins with what I was about to do, but I tightened my grip and ignored the warning my brain was yelling. “Now I’m just a regular guy who’s gonna take you to lunch.”
She scoffed. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“It does now.” I could have told her that I didn’t fuck that client last night, but I didn’t. Trust was gonna have to go both ways. I knew it was a dick move not to tell her immediately, but for once, I wanted a woman to want me for who the hell I was.
“So what? You just quit? You were working last night.”
I laid it on the line. “I’m not escorting anymore.”
“Right.” Disbelief bled out of her tone. “Just like that, you’re done? For how long? Until you need money again?”
I kept my voice even, patient. “I don’t need money.”
“I don’t trust you. I don’t even know you, and I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”
“Good.”
She looked startled.
“Because you’re not getting a boyfriend. You’ve already got me, and I’m taking you to lunch.” I kissed her forehead then sat back because I saw the waitress approach out of the corner of my eye. “What do you want to drink?”
“I’m so sorry,” the waitress interrupted, nervously putting the envelope on the table. “But I think you made a mistake. I can’t take that, sir. That’s like, that’s… whoa.”
I glanced at Red.
She sighed. Then she picked up the envelope and put it on the waitress’s tray. “It wasn’t a mistake.”
I smiled. “What are you drinking, Red?”
“Sweet tea, please,” she said politely.
I winked then I glanced at the waitress. “I’ll have a Corona.”
The waitress burst into tears. “I really, really need this money. My son, he’s autistic. Oh my God, you probably don’t understand, but ohmigod.” She brushed at her tears. “I’m just… I’m crying!” She laughed. “But I want to say thank you, so thank you!” She leaned over and hugged Red. “Thank you so much!”
Red shed a tear.
Christ. I was shaking my head, but I was smiling at the fucking irony of it all. It’s why I didn’t notice them walk up.
“Who the hell is he?” an angry voice roared.
I looked up. Surprise didn’t begin to cover it. Fifty fucking scenarios flew through my mind, each one worse than the last. “Who the fuck are you?” I knew exactly who he was. Dan fucking Ahlstrom. The quarterback for Miami’s beloved professional football team. And he was looking at me like he wanted to rip me limb from limb.
“Sienna’s boyfriend,” he growled.
The waitress squeaked in fear.
This was not happening. “Dan—”
Jared interrupted me. One arm spread across his chair, looking calm as ever, he glanced at the waitress. “Go grab us those drinks, sweetheart.”
Dan glared at Jared as the waitress practically ran away. “I asked you a question.”
Oozing control, Jared didn’t even flinch. “And I asked you one.”
TJ and Sunshine stepped up behind Dan. The three of them made a seven-hundred-pound wall of professional football player intimidation and I’d had enough.
“Terence,” I snapped. “Did you follow me?”
The stiff set to his shoulders immediately slumped. “Ah, come on, Miss Sienna. Don’t ask me that in front of Strom.”
Dan’s glare trained on me. “Leave TJ out of this,” he barked. “What the hell are you doing? Who is this?” He jabbed a finger at Jared’s shoulder so hard, it pushed him and his chair back.
It happened so fast, it was like a movie.
Jared grabbed Dan’s wrist, kicked his chair back and was on his feet. He twisted Dan’s arm and wrenched it behind his back. Dan dropped to his knees and Jared slammed his head into the table. Holding him down with both hands, his boot digging in to the back of Dan’s calf, he bent and spoke in a murderously quiet voice. “You speak to her like that again, I will end you.”
“Fuck you,” Dan ground out. “TJ, Sunshine!”
Still in shock at the sight of what Jared had just done, the defensive end and the linebacker snapped their mouths shut and moved.
Jared was quicker. Still holding on to Dan, he kicked Dan’s feet, and spun them both to face TJ and Sunshine. Lethal, threatening, he spoke. “Do you know what they teach you in the Marines?”
Curious and like an impressed child, TJ’s eyes widened. “Special Forces?”
Sunshine slapped him on the back of the head then narrowed his eyes at Jared. “You break his arm, the team’s gonna sue you.”
“He speaks to my woman like that again, a broken arm will be the least of his worries.”
My heart jumped from my stomach to my throat and gooseflesh chased across my skin. His woman?
TJ held his hands up. “All right, man, we’re cool. Let’s all walk it off. No one wants the lady upset.” He smiled at me. “Looking real good today, Miss Sienna.”
Both Dan and Jared growled.
TJ took a step back. “It’s chill. I’m chill. Just keeping it real, giving the woman an innocent compliment.”
“Cut it out, Terence,” I warned.
Sunshine crossed his arms. “Let Strom go.”
Jared released Dan only to kick him in the back. Dan fell forward, catching himself on his left arm before his face hit the patio. His nostrils flaring with each breath, he did a one-handed push-up and got up real slow.
Sunshine offered him a hand, but Dan slapped him away.
TJ eyed Jared. “Do the Marines really teach you a hundred different ways to kill barehanded?”
Jared didn’t get a chance to answer.
Dan lunged. Head down, shoulder first, he went in for a tackle.
As if he was expecting it, without even blinking, Jared brought his arm out, elbow first. He made solid contact with Dan’s nose as his knee simultaneously landed a crushing blow below Dan’s belt.
Dan let out an inhuman roar and crumpled to the ground. His nose gushing blood, his hands on his crotch, he curled into a fetal position.
Sunshine dove at Jared.
Jared spun.
Halfway through the spin, his leg came up and his knee made contact with Sunshine’s shoulder a fraction of a second before his booted foot slammed into the side of his head. Jared’s martial arts strike took the force out of Sunshine’s attack, but it didn’t stop the linebacker. It only slowed his second pass, but Jared was two steps ahead. His hands on Sunshine’s ears, he brought his head down and slammed his knee up. Sunshine didn’t get his hands up in time. Stunned, he dropped to his knees as blood gushed from his mouth and nose.
Chest heaving, red splatters on his T-shirt and jeans, his face an impenetrable mask, Jared turned to me. “You okay?”
Speechless, I stared.
“Damn.” TJ took in Jared’s carnage and shook his head. “I shoulda joined the Marines.”
I didn’t know when I’d gotten to my feet, but I was standing. Then I was shaking. And once I started, I couldn’t stop.
“Sienna.” My name wasn’t a concern on Jared’s lips, it rumbled out of him. Low and drawn out, it was a warning like thunder in the distance, but I didn’t register any of it.
I shook harder. He could’ve killed them. Two football players who were trained to tackle three-hundred-pound men, and Jared
took them down like it was child’s play. He didn’t even break a sweat.
Jared reached for me.
“No!” My hands out, my breath gone, I backed up.
“TJ,” Jared barked.
“Way ahead of you.” TJ’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. “Come on, girl. Let’s hit it.”
Three police cruisers pulled up to the curb. Doors opened, boots hit the pavement and chairs scraped. My world was spinning out of control, and in the middle of it all was a man with tousled blond hair and a brown-eyed gaze that didn’t waver.
“Her purse.” Jared pointed.
“Got it, boss.”
A giant six-foot-six defensive end picked up my hot-pink Coach purse as a lethal, ex-marine, male escort stepped up and kissed my forehead.
“It’s gonna be okay. Go with TJ.” He put something rectangular in my hand. “Call Neil. Tell him what happened. The lock code is my address.” He backed up and tipped his chin at TJ. “Get her out of here, now.”
“Police! On the ground! On the ground!”
TJ tucked me under his arm and rushed me across the patio as Jared dropped to his knees and put his hands behind his head. Every restaurant patron had their phone out and pointed at either me and TJ or Jared and Dan and Sunshine as they all lay on the ground. So intent on getting us all on video, they barely moved out of our way as TJ plowed through the crowd and skirted the side of the restaurant.
By the time he led me around the corner to the back of the building, we had people following us and filming. As if it were an everyday occurrence, TJ kept his eyes ahead and didn’t say a word. His car was parked in a small employee-only parking lot, and he took me to the passenger side, opened the door then tucked me in, normal as you please. Seconds later he folded his giant frame behind the wheel and turned the key.
Jared’s phone heavy in my hands, TJ weaving us in and out of traffic on Collins Avenue, I realized my life wasn’t falling apart—it’d gone up in flames. I’d get fired once Coach saw those video clips, Jared was getting arrested, the team would sue him, and I was supposed to scroll through his client contacts to call someone named Neil.
Miserable, I glanced at TJ.