His eyes fixed hers with a determined stare. “I’ll need you here for the party tonight. The commissioner has decided to crash the event and I’d like you to be available to answer any questions about the case if he has them.”
She rolled her eyes at his lame excuse for keeping her close but she didn’t protest. After all, she did have killer shoes and a dress to wear. “As long as you understand that I’m only attending in my capacity as your lawyer.”
His smile was smug as he thrust his hips against hers, causing her to involuntarily clench around his length. She couldn’t hold back the contented sigh that escaped her lips.
“We’ll see about that.” Jay rolled off her and began shoving his legs into his boxer briefs and jeans. Bridgett let out a resigned sigh as the sexy dimples on his ass disappeared, knowing it was likely the last time she’d see them. Her phone vibrated on the bed. “If that’s your brother, tell him if he doesn’t leave you alone, I’m going to trade his ass to Buffalo.”
She wrapped the robe around her body. “I can handle my baby brother.”
Jay paused in buttoning his shirt to level a thunderous gaze at her. “He has as little to do with us as my mother does, Bridgett.”
“You seem to keep forgetting, there is no ‘us,’” she reminded him.
The smug look was back on his face again as stalked over to where she sat on the bed. “There’s an ‘us,’ Bridgett,” he said as he leaned over and nuzzled the skin along her shoulder. “If you’d like more proof, stick around tonight instead of crying off to the B and B with only Mimi to protect you. I promise you’ll enjoy the next round of negotiations as much as you enjoyed these.”
“Is that what I am? Some prize to be won?” Her throat grew two sizes too small again as she tried to force the words out. “A thrilling business deal to be negotiated? What happens if you get what you want? Will you take off again for the next best thing?”
Anger flashed like lightning in his eyes and that cocky smile morphed into a flat line of irritation. “I’ll see you tonight, Bridgett,” was all he said before he walked out of the door.
Bridgett hated the fact that she was actually looking forward to seeing Jay later.
• • •
“You’re what?” Charlie braced herself on the arm of the wrought iron chair to keep from falling out of it. Jay reached over to steady his sister as they both tried to absorb their mother’s announcement.
“I’m taking a sabbatical,” his mother repeated.
“To do what?” His sister looked as though their mother had just told them she was an alien, and Jay was finding it hard not to laugh at Charlie’s reaction. Except his own reaction was only slightly less skeptical than hers. Melanie Davis had let her work define her for over thirty years. It was hard to imagine her outside of a research lab.
His mother threw up her arms. “I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll go exploring around the world. You can show me the sights in Europe. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
Charlie managed to stop choking on her orange juice seconds before Jay reached over to perform the Heimlich on her. She waved him away frantically. “You want to travel? With me?” Charlie croaked out.
“Sure.”
His sister’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Is this some kind of punishment or something?”
Jay reached over and gave Charlie’s hand a squeeze, trying to stem her overreaction. He knew what was really making her anxious. She needed to tell their mother about the baby. Tell her, he mouthed, but she ignored his plea, shaking her head violently before yanking her hand away.
“Of course not,” his mother said, her face growing paler. “It’s an opportunity for us to enjoy some time together.”
“Well, the opportunity for that has long passed, Mother.” Charlie stood up jerkily, nearly upending the table. “I don’t want or need a babysitter. Or a doting mother.”
“Charlie!” Jay called but she had already stormed off. He glanced back over at his mother’s face. It was still and drawn, but not defeated. The women in his family possessed the same stubbornness, it seemed.
“Leave her, Jay. I didn’t expect she’d jump at the idea. It’s going to take some time for her to accept that I want to have a bigger role in her life. In both your lives.”
There was that uneasy feeling again, just like the one he’d had both times he’d spoken with his mother this weekend. “What’s going on here, Mom? This isn’t just about a sabbatical. What’s brought this on?”
She stared out at the vineyard spread out below them, the vibrant colors resembling a painting. It was a few moments before she spoke and Jay found he was growing increasingly anxious. “I’ve shared an office with the same woman for four years now. Brenda Rippen. She was your age, believe it or not.”
Jay sighed at his mother’s use of the word was.
“Mmm,” she said. “My answer doesn’t have a happy ending. Brenda’s husband wanted to start a family, but she kept putting him off. She told him she had plenty of time but she wanted to get a few articles published before she had a baby. A few weeks ago, she got on the highway to drive home from work and a tractor trailer T-boned her.”
“Jesus,” he whispered.
“At the funeral, I made the mistake of telling her husband that it was fortunate that they hadn’t had children yet.”
Jay sucked in a breath as he moved his chair closer to his mother. “You were only trying to be sympathetic.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “I was being obtuse. And unfeeling. I thought that if she had children, they would miss their mother. Her husband asked me if my children missed their mother.”
He watched her struggle to swallow. “He was coming from a bad place. Grief will make you say crazy things.”
His mother turned to look at him, her blue eyes moist. Jay didn’t think he’d seen his mother cry. Theirs was definitely not an emotional family. “Don’t be coy. I’ve been an absent mother for years. After your father died, it was easier to bury myself in my work. When I had Charlotte, well, she was Lloyd’s from the very beginning. Sometimes I think he resented having to share her. Especially with you.” She patted his hand. “But I’m glad she has you.”
“She has both of us, Mom. We’ll work it out.”
• • •
Several women holding poster board signs were huddled outside the junior college stadium where the Blaze were practicing. Security guards kept them out while a small horde of television crews filmed it all.
“Great,” Mimi said from beside Bridgett in the backseat of the same town car that had chauffeured her from the airport. “A total of five women showed up for a protest”—she made air quotes with her fingers—“and the media outnumber them three to one.” The car made its way through the gate. “These days it’s no longer ‘film at eleven,’” Mimi continued. “Everyone can watch events unfold instantaneously. They don’t wait for all the facts. Fans will make up their mind like that.” She snapped her fingers.
“There are so many other issues more important than this,” Bridgett said as the car parked near the track circling the playing field. “This is supposed to be a game.”
Mimi gaped at her. “Wow. For someone so smart, you are naïve. This stopped being a ‘game’ a long time ago, Bridgett. The NFL is a nine-billion-dollar-a-year industry. Trust me, its image is important to all of those owners, players, and sponsors raking in the dough every week.”
Bridgett shook her head as she got out of the car. The whole thing still seemed ridiculous to her. In less than ten days, a potentially specious lawsuit involving cheerleaders—make that one cheerleader—had mushroomed into the lead story on the nightly news.
The sounds of whistles and cleats pounding the turf enveloped them as they walked along the track toward the sidelines. Asia Dupree—the Blaze’s director of media—waved at Bridgett. The two had met when Brody signed with the team several ye
ars ago, but they’d become friends this past year thanks to Bridgett’s sister-in-law, Shay.
“Thanks for meeting with us,” Bridgett said after she and Asia exchanged hugs. “This is Mimi Livingston. She’s helping us handle some of the media issues relating to the case.”
Asia smiled warmly as she shook Mimi’s hand. “Unfortunately, this thing has begun to take on a life of its own. Other teams are fighting similar cases, but for some reason that bitchy blogger decided to target us with even more damaging gossip. Not that any of it is relevant.” She grinned slyly at Bridgett. “Although, you do have some ’splaining to do, girl. We need to hit the bar after practice so I can get the scoop. The gang back in Baltimore will be jealous that I got the four-one-one before they did.”
Mimi snorted. “She claims there’s nothing going on. Of course, McManus hasn’t taken his eyes off her since she got out of the car, despite the fact one of his players is hunched over on the field.”
“A player’s hurt?” Asia quickly turned to see who might be injured.
Bridgett glanced farther down the sideline. Sure enough, Jay’s stare was fixed on her. He looked imposing behind his aviator sunglasses, his arms crossed belligerently over his chest. Imposing and sexy as hell, especially when the breeze ruffled his hair. But she forced her feet to stay put. She needed to stick to her plan to put distance between them. It was the only way she knew how to survive the rest of this weekend.
“That’s just Jervais Stubbing, an offensive lineman,” Asia said with a sigh. “He always tries to dog it in practice the day before a game.”
The shrill sound of a whistle focused their attention back to the subject they’d come to discuss. “That’s the end of practice. The players will shower here before they get back on the buses for the hotel, so we have about twenty minutes or so to discuss your plans.” Asia directed them to the first row of seats in the stadium. “Let’s go over here.”
“Bridgett!” Brody shouted her name before they’d reached the bleachers.
With a sigh, she turned to the other two women and excused herself. Brody had been badgering her for three days and there really was no way to put this conversation off any longer.
“We need to talk,” her brother commanded as he stalked toward her. “Privately.” He reached out and shackled her wrist with the extra-long fingers that allowed him to be the premier tight end in the NFL. Right now they were likely bruising her wrist as he pulled her toward the tunnel leading to the locker room.
“Let go, Brody.” Bridgett tugged to no avail as she tried to keep up with his long strides. “I. Am. Serious. Let me go now or I’ll post those pictures of you wearing Ashley’s tutu when you were four.”
His eyes narrowed to slits as he dragged her into a small office beside the locker room. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“All it takes is one click of a button on my phone,” she said. “Come to think of it, Mimi and Asia would probably be delighted to have that as a distraction to all the other stupid press the team has been getting. Good thing I scanned it in already.”
Brody released her wrist, his face incredulous. “Seriously, when did my sisters all turn into hormonal psychos? You used to be the reasonable one.” He tossed his helmet on an empty chair. “And don’t even get me started on Gwen.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry if Gwen’s marriage crisis means she can’t cater to your every whim right now, little brother, but we all have to grow up sometime.”
“Hey, I can take care of myself. And believe me, I’m all in favor of her divorcing that jerk’s ass. Skip’s lucky I didn’t castrate him after the way he talked about Shay last year.”
“Okay, well, I’m glad we got that all cleared up.” She started for the door. “Believe it or not, I’m working this weekend and I have more to discuss with Mimi and Asia. Who knows what garbage the blogger is going to feed these protesters next. I’ll see you tomorrow after the game.”
“Whoa!” Brody blocked her path as if she were a defensive lineman trying to get to the quarterback. “You’re not going anywhere until you explain what the hell is going on between you and McManus.”
“Say the word and I will trade his ass to Buffalo, Bridgett.”
She looked past her brother’s shoulder pad to see Jay leaning nonchalantly against the doorjamb, his feet crossed at the ankles and each hand tucked beneath the opposite armpit. Brody made a growling sound and suddenly she was suffocating from the weight of alpha male egos permeating the small room.
“You can cut my ass, for all I care,” Brody said, his voice quiet, but lethal. Displaying the fearlessness that made him a Pro Bowl player, he turned and stalked toward the man who held his career in his back pocket. “If you so much as make her sniffle, your ass is mine.”
“Brody!” Bridgett jumped between the two men, placing a staying hand on her brother’s chest while shooting him a quelling look. “Tutu.”
Jay’s only movement was to arch an eyebrow at his star player. Brody huffed but he came to a stop two feet from Jay, leaving Bridgett sandwiched between them. He leveled his trademark baby blue eyes at her. “Tell me he isn’t the one.”
Bridgett’s mind whirred in confusion. “Isn’t the one what?”
“The guy who broke your heart.”
She sensed Jay stiffen behind her, but she was glad she couldn’t see his face. “I don’t understand, Brody,” she whispered.
“Damn it, Bridgett, that stupid blogger said this relationship between you two goes way back. I want to know if this jerk’s the one who messed you up.”
Her chest ached at the fierceness in her brother’s eyes and his voice. “Nobody messed me up,” she lied. She couldn’t have this conversation with her brother. She would not have it in front of Jay.
Brody lifted his eyes to the ceiling, mouthing something to the heavens. His expression was a mix of compassion and uncertainty when he looked back down at her. “I may not have a PhD like my wife, but I’m not stupid, Bridge. I see the way you close up around other couples. I watch you recoil whenever someone brings a baby near you. Sometimes you get that pained look when you’re in a room full of happy people as if their joy is crushing you. I hate that haunted expression you get. Someone let you down, destroyed your faith in love. You said as much last year when I was trying to find my way with Shay.” He gripped her shoulders. “I’d do anything to take that ache away from you.” Brody’s face hardened as he pinned his gaze over her head. “Anything.”
Bridgett had to work to steady her breathing and keep her tears at bay. She was touched by her brother’s words. All this time, she’d thought him oblivious to anyone other than himself. Or his new wife. A small smile escaped at the thought that perhaps her baby brother had grown up after all.
The air grew still behind her. The only indication that Jay remained was a tightening of Brody’s jaw. Bridgett didn’t like Jay hearing how vulnerable he’d left her after his desertion in Italy. She needed to get her brother out of there. Lifting her hand from his chest, she cupped his cheek. “Thank you, Brody. But this isn’t what you think.” She tried to muster as much conviction in her voice as she could. “But I love you for your very spirited protection of me.” She stretched up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Get your head back in the game and stop worrying about me. I’m fine.”
Brody hesitated before wrapping his arms around her. “I’m not kidding when I say I’ll kill him,” he whispered.
“I know.”
Her brother savagely eyed the man who was technically his boss before sliding past him and out the door, his cleats clicking loudly on the cement. The silence he left in his wake was charged as a maelstrom of emotions coursed through Bridgett. When she finally dared look at Jay it was to find him studying her much like one would analyze a puzzle. He hadn’t moved an inch from his original stance, but his contemplative stare was making her uncomfortable.
“I shou
ld be getting back to Mimi and Asia,” she said.
“We need to talk,” he commanded at the same time.
Neither one moved. Bridgett didn’t want to talk. Not to this Jay. Her heart ached to speak to the Jay she once knew, but he was long gone, replaced by the über-sexy man who used power and money to get what he wanted. And he wanted her. Correction: He didn’t want all of her. Just her body. She needed to keep reminding herself that she deserved more than sex.
Thankfully, they were saved by the arrival of Linc. “Boss, I think you should see this.” He shoved his iPad in front of Jay, but Jay kept his eyes fixed on Bridgett. “Boss?”
Jay blinked as if to refocus his vision and his thoughts before glancing down at the iPad.
“Son of a bitch!”
Twenty-one
“He’s likely set himself up for racketeering charges,” Bridgett practically shouted into her cell phone. “Stuart, I’m going to need a little backup here. We’re getting into uncharted legal territory for me.”
Jay watched as Bridgett paced his office, her cell phone plastered to her ear. She was wearing a dress that hugged every curve and dipped low enough in the back that he almost got a peek at the dimple just above her nice round ass. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair because if he could see that damn dimple, then every other jerk at the party could, too. All the more reason to keep her locked in here with him. Her high heels sparkled in the light when she pivoted to pace back the other way. Jay took a bracing sip of Scotch, trying to quash the heat that shot to his crotch at the thought of her wearing nothing but those damn shoes while she straddled him in this very chair.
“Why are you grinning like a fool?”
He roused himself from his fantasy to find Bridgett had finished up her phone call. She’d stopped pacing and was now standing next to him. Too bad the expression she wore wasn’t one that said “I’m going to rock your world.”
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