by Desiree Holt
He bent down and planted a kiss on her lips. “Of course,” he repeated. “I knew it all the time. Great job, darlin’.” He tugged her ponytail. “Let’s eat and we can go over it again later. You can tell me what you still need and we can begin to create a list of the players.”
“I’ll bet a lot of them are already on Facebook. Everyone is on Facebook these days.”
“That will make it easy. We can do it together. After—”
“After we eat. I know. Let me just grab a quick shower.” She grinned at him. “By myself. Much as I love your version of showering together, I think tonight I’d like to eat before the late news.” She saved the file and unfolded herself from the chair. “Ten minutes, fifteen tops. Okay?”
“I’ll change and get everything set out.”
But he stood in the doorway a moment watching her walk away, admiring the sway of her hips and the sexy movement of her ass.
Face it, Reilly, you’re a goner.
He was. Tonight after dinner they would have a serious conversation. If she felt about him the way he felt about her—and he was pretty sure she did—they could make plans for the future. First, he’d give her the skinny on the fundraiser and the Coaches Conference and the other things he spent his time on. And tell her he wanted her with him Saturday night.
He decided they should eat first before he got into anything heavy. The food and beer would mellow them out and he could just coast into the conversation. Coast. Yeah. Very smooth. But what he planned to say was more important than almost anything else he’d done in his life and he didn’t want to screw it up. He damn sure didn’t want to be living in a different city than the woman he loved.
The more he thought about it, the more determined he was to make this work. She’d told him she loved him. He’d keep hanging onto that.
He made small talk during dinner, telling her about a couple of the interviews coming up for his show. Asked her if she’d finished her designs and what her boss thought. And what she had on tap next. They were sitting in the living room with fresh drinks when he brought up the subject of Hank. He wasn’t sure exactly how his friend would react to this situation, or if it had been his doing to begin with.
“Have you heard from Hank lately?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Not even a text for a couple of days. What about you?”
“Me, either. I tried him today but didn’t get an answer.”
Shay laughed. “Wherever he is in Wyoming they must be surrounded by the Grand Tetons with almost no reception. Usually I can at least get a text through but I haven’t been able to since the beginning of the week.”
“Me, either.”
At that moment, however, both of their cell phones went off. Shay pulled hers out of her pocket and laughed. “Speak of the devil.”
Joe looked at his and every muscle in his body tensed. Lisa. What now?
“This is business,” he told Shay. “I’ll take it outside. I don’t want to bore you with this stuff.”
“Hey. Your business doesn’t bore me.”
He faked a smile. “But I might have to do some yelling, and I don’t think I want you to hear me.”
Without making more of a big deal than it was, he headed out to the deck, sliding the glass door shut behind him. Sucking in a deep breath, he answered the call.
“Yeah, Lisa, what’s up?”
“Joe.” Panic laced her voice. “Joe, I need your help right now. You have to come.”
He struggled to keep his voice calm. “Is this about Gina?”
“Of course it’s Gina. Why else would I call you? Please, Joe, you have to come.”
“First you have to tell me what happened.” He looked at his watch. “It’s eight-thirty at night. Are you home? Did something go wrong at work for her?”
He could almost see Lisa dialing it back before she spoke. “Yes, something happened. She got fired. Canned. Booted out the door this afternoon.”
Joe frowned. “Why? I thought this was a good thing for her. Jesus, Lisa, she just got hired.”
Silence hummed across the connection.
“Lisa?” he prompted.
“Apparently she went to lunch with a couple of the other girls and drank one cocktail too many. She was sloppy drunk when she got back to work and they terminated her right then and there.”
“Jesus Fucking Christ.” Joe wanted to throw something. Would the woman never learn? How many stints in rehab would it take? “Where are you? At the apartment?”
“No. See, that’s the problem.”
“What’s the problem? Damn it, spit it out. What’s going on?” Silence. “Lisa? Tell me.”
“We’re at a bar near Westshore. I guess she came here after she got fired. Joe, she’s so blitzed she can hardly stand up. The bartender got my number from her somehow and called me. But I can’t handle her myself, and she’s about to cause a scene.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He did not need this right now. He’d get Gina out of the damn bar and get her home and then he’d remind both of them he was well and truly done. He’d discharged every sense of obligation he’d ever felt. If she couldn’t make the smallest effort on her own, he was done with it.
“All right. I’m on my way. Get her into the ladies’ room if you can. I’ll call you when I’m out front.”
“Thank you.” There was no mistaking the relief in her voice “You know I wouldn’t have called you unless—”
“Yes. I get it. But Lisa? I’m done after this. Period.”
Shay was standing in the kitchen when he opened the door from the deck, studying him with narrowed eyes.
“So what was such a big deal you went outside to have your conversation?”
Here was the tricky part.
“I hate to do this to you, but I have to go out for a little bit. I won’t be long.” He hoped. “I promise.”
“Can I come with? I’ll keep you company.”
“I’d love it, but I can take care of it faster myself.” He pulled her in tight to his body and kissed her hard, his tongue sweeping into her mouth. He was breathless when he lifted his head. “Think that will hold you until I get back?”
“Um, sure.” She looked slightly dazed.
“And then we’ll have the conversation I mentioned.”
Suspicion flashed in her eyes. “Care to give me a hint what you want to talk about?”
He brushed his mouth over hers one more time. “No, but I promise you’ll like it. Word of honor.” At least he hoped she would.
In less than five minutes he’d changed into jeans and T-shirt, shoved his bare feet into deck shoes, and was out the door and in his car. Driving as fast as traffic allowed to the bar where Lisa had told him they were, he alternated between swearing under his breath at how he’d let his involvement with Gina drag on this long and praying he hadn’t fucked up his relationship with Shay because of it.
The Hot Spot sat right on Kennedy Boulevard and luckily there was a parking spot right in front. He cursed the fact there was no alley where he could slip in and out easily, or no parking lot in back but it was what it was. He pulled out his cell and dialed Lisa.
“I’m out front. Can you manage to get her out by yourself?”
“I don’t know.” She sounded panicky again. “Can you meet us inside? I can at least get her out of the ladies’ room.”
Fuck. Double fuck.
“Yeah, okay. Get moving.”
He eased into the bar and hovered near the front door until he saw Lisa emerge from the restroom, holding Gina up as best she could. In two strides, Joe was next to them.
“Thank you.” She blew out a breath. “I don’t know what I would have done—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Save it. Let’s get her ass out of here.”
“Joe? Thass you?” Gina looked up at him bleary-eyed. “Good ol’ Joe. Always bails me out. Gimme a big fat kiss.”
Joe bit back his immediate retort. “Come on, Gina.”
“Hey, evr’one.
” She waved her hand at the room. “Look who’s here. The fam’s Joe Reilly. Gimme a kiss,” she repeated, pursing her lips.
“Yeah, Joe,” someone hollered from the crowd. “Let’s see you give her one of those famous Reilly kisses.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Hey, Joe.” A tall, beefy guy in a T-shirt and jeans swaggered up to them. “If you don’t want her, hand her off to me. Or maybe we could make it a threesome. I heard rumors you used to like threeways.” He looked at the crowd and grinned when people began clapping.
Joe gritted his teeth and forced a calm to his voice. He didn’t need to antagonize this guy. “Look, man, I’m just trying to help a friend. Get her out of here.”
“Yeah, I know all about your ‘friends.’” He winked and turned back to the crowd. “Right, everyone? We know all about Joe Reilly and his women.”
“We sure do,” someone yelled. “Go, Joe.”
Joe was about to lose it. “Do us both a favor,” he told the man, “and go back and sit down. Don’t make a bad situation worse.”
Instead the man took a step forward. “You gonna make me?”
Great. Just what he needed. A confrontation. “No, I’m just asking you man-to-man, to please give me a little space here to help my friend.”
“Hey.” Gina looked up at him, hair falling over her face. “Did someone say threeway? Always wanna’d ta have one with you, Big Joe.” She pursed her lips. “Gimme a kiss,” she begged again.
“Please, Gina.” It took tremendous effort to keep his anger in check. “Let’s just get out of here. Come on.”
“No.” She stopped, nearly falling backward. He barely caught her before she landed in someone’s lap.
“Guess you’re having trouble with your women,” another guy joked.
Joe used every ounce of control to rein in his temper when what he really wanted was to smash the guy’s face in. The last thing he needed, though, was to get into a bar fight. He glanced at the patrons and realized by now the little scene was the focus of everyone’s attention. Conversation in the bar was reduced to a muted hum as people turned in their seats at the tables and at the bar to watch what was going on with avid interest. A woman in a barely there dress hopped in front of them with her cell phone and snapped a series of pictures.
Fuck again.
“Please, everyone, I’m asking nicely. Just get out of our way,” he ground out through clenched teeth. He made another attempt to clamp Gina to his side and steer her to the door, but she dragged her feet.
“Not leaving.” She grabbed his shirt to steady herself. “Came to have fun.”
“Come with me.” He gritted his teeth and grabbed her arm. “Right now. Come on, Gina.”
Lisa reached for her friend’s other arm, but Gina jerked it away.
“Leave me alone,” she shouted. “Hey, everyone!” She waved her hand wildly. “Lookit me with Joe Reilly. But holy damn shit! He won’t gimme a kiss.” She puckered up her lips again and made loud kissing sounds.
“You tell him, lady,” someone shouted. “Give us a lip-lock for a good picture.”
“Jesus Christ.” Joe swore under his breath and reached out to yank Gina against his body again. “Lisa, get on her other side.”
He had to get out of here before he punched someone in the face.
Gina was as determined not to be contained as Joe was to keep her in check. She pushed Lisa away and gave Joe an unexpectedly hard shove, pushing him sideways into an empty chair. He threw up an arm to balance himself and clipped Gina right on the jaw.
“Ow!” she hollered. “You hit me! He hit me, everyone.”
Holy Jesus Fucking Christ.
He reached for her and caught her blouse instead, the fabric tearing in his hands as Gina tried to pull away from him. Somehow she lost balance and tumbled to the floor. She continued shouting at the top of her voice, swearing drunkenly, slurring her words.
“Hey!” she yelled from her crumpled position. “Lookit, everyone. He hit me and now he tore my clothes. Big Joe Reilly beats up women.”
“Get away from her,” a man yelled. “You into physical abuse with women?”
Someone else grabbed his arm and when Joe tried to jerk it away the guy swung at him and connected with his nose. There was no mistaking the blood trickling down his face.
Shit!
The guy still had hold of his arm. He shoved the man as hard as he could, pushing him into the people crowded behind him. More voices shouted at him and, crap, now everyone was getting into the act. By the time Joe could reach down to pick Gina up bodily from the floor, lights were blinking around him. Goddamn it! Half the patrons had their cell phones out videoing the whole fucking mess. They crowded close like hungry spectators at a rock concert or a crime scene. Joe Reilly in a bar fight manhandling his drunken girl friend.
Double fuck.
When he tried to lift Gina she gripped his shirt and pulled hard enough that it tore. Shit. What else could happen? No, not tempting fate with that.
The crowd was pressing in on him.
Thank God the bartender moved into the scene and moved to restore as much order as he could. Lisa was damn little help.
“Get to the door,” he snapped at her.
It didn’t help matters that he caught the toe of his shoe on something and staggered through the open door, nearly dropping Gina. Or that a crowd had gathered outside, watching with avid curiosity. He knew exactly what this looked like, Gina drunk as a skunk with her torn clothing and a bruise blossoming on her cheek, and him with a rip in his shirt and blood dripping from his nose.
Fucking great.
Of course half the damn bar followed them outside.
Cursing under his breath, Joe yanked open the passenger door of his car. He got Gina into the car and buckled in, and motioned Lisa into the back. Doing his best to ignore the mob with cell phones still in video mode, he jogged around to the other side of the car, using his shirttail to swipe at his face. He threw himself into the driver’s seat, cranked the ignition, and laid rubber as he peeled away from the curb.
Shit, shit, shit.
* * * *
Shay clicked through the channels yet another time without finding anything to watch. Nothing seemed to catch her interest. Oh, who the hell was she kidding? The only thing her interest was focused on at the moment was Joe Reilly and his mysterious phone call. If it was just business, why couldn’t he take it in the house? Why did he have to go outside as if he was hiding some mysterious secret?
All her carefully hoarded opinions of Joe “The Playboy” Reilly came thundering back at her. Maybe he’d just been playing a part this past week or so. Maybe he just wanted to get in her pants.
No.
Wait.
There were many panties Joe Reilly could get into without having to scam someone. She was being ridiculous.
Wasn’t she?
Cycling through the channels again, she came to one of the Fox Sports channels showing a repeat of the Joe Montana program and stopped on it. Maybe she should have stuck to this Joe and not gotten in way deep with the other one. But he’d been so damn good to her, warm and caring. Not to mention the hot sex. She’d finally believed him when he said he loved her. She’d certainly lost her heart to him, although truth to tell, she’d given it to him a long time ago.
Where the hell was Hank when she needed him? Her big brother could talk her through this, point out how foolish she was. Convince her this really was the new Joe, not the old one.
So where had Joe disappeared to? What about that call was so secret he couldn’t share it with her? If someone had an emergency, maybe she could even help.
Unsatisfied with her previous text exchange with Hank, she hit the Message icon on her phone and selected his number.
“Where r u? When r u coming home?”
There was a long pause and she wondered if he was out in a no-contact zone again. Then her phone chimed.
“Still working on project. U and Joe doing ok?”
Yeah, just great. She’d gone and fallen all the way in love with him and now she was afraid she’d let herself be tricked.
“Sure but be nice if u could b here.”
The answer came back almost at once.
“Glad things r good. Wrapping up here. Hope to be home soon.”
“Good.”
She wanted to say sooner rather than later would be good but she also didn’t want him asking probing questions from hundreds of miles away.
She tried to concentrate on the Montana special but her mind kept wandering. When she glanced at her watch she realized Joe had been gone three hours. What could possibly take him away at night for so long? What wasn’t he telling her? She was about to send him a text when the ring tone on her phone sounded. She was surprised to see Jilly Mackenzie’s ID. What on earth could she want this late?
“Hey, Jilly. What’s up? Everything okay?”
“Depends on your definition of okay, I guess.” Her voice sounded strained.
Shay’s stomach knotted. This didn’t sound good. “What do you mean?”
“Jason just got a disturbing phone call.” She said the words slowly.
“From?” Shay prompted.
“One of the guys at his firm who knows he was a Coyote. About Joe Reilly.”
Nausea threatened to rise to full bloom. “What about him?”
“Is he still there? Are you and he still, you know…”
Yes, we’re still “you know.”
“He’s out right now. What’s going on, Jilly?”
“I don’t know how deep your situation with him has gotten, but there’s something you should know about.”
“Like what?” She bit back her frustration. “Tell me why you called. I promise you the new Joe Reilly is nothing like the old one.” She hoped. “Just spit it out.”
“Okay.” She heard Jilly blow out a breath. “This guy told Jason his kid saw something on YouTube he should check out. At first Jason thought it was some kind of joke.” She paused. “I’ll warn you ahead of time it’s not pretty.”
“Oh my God.” Panic surged. “Was he hurt? In an accident?”
“Mm, not exactly. Go ahead and pull up the site and type in his name. I don’t have any details about it but you can call me back after you see it. I’m here for you.”