by Desiree Holt
Tony had pushed himself out of his chair and come to look, also. Tyler moved to the other side of Rafe, drawn by a sick fascination with what she might see. She peered over Rafe’s arm when she felt him tense beside her.
“R u fcking hm? I want 2 kno.”
“Where r u? U belong with me.”
“U don’t need hm. Gt rd of hm.”
“U R only safe with me.”
Tyler looked up at Rafe, swallowing hard. “Does he really think he can frighten me into going to him? I’m not even sure who he is. But it couldn’t have been Ed,” she pointed out. “He’s right here.”
“But he could be making his calls from his office,” Rafe said. “From the concourse. Hell, from the men’s room. Son of a bitch.” A muscle worked in his jaw.
“He’ll make himself known,” Rafe assured her in a tight voice. “He’s building up to it.” He handed the phone to Tony who made some notes on his own. “Tyler, did you make that list I asked for?”
She nodded. “I e-mailed it to you.”
“Send it to Tony so he can forward it to the office. They can get started on it.”
Tony watched it come through on his cell. “Okay, off to one of the day guys. I’ll get on this myself, also, as soon as I’m back in the office.”
In less than fifteen minutes, the two men were finished and Rafe had made several notes in his phone.
“I e-mailed you the files on Broder and Sinclair,” Tony said. “I’ll have someone get started on Spinelli.”
“Thanks very much. Let me know what you find. Tyler, let’s go.” He held a hand out to Tony, who had risen from his chair. “Thanks for making the trip. I appreciate it. I could have stopped by the office if you wanted.”
“No problem. Besides, I got all this additional info.” He smiled at Tyler. “And I got to spend some time with a pretty woman.”
Tyler swore she felt herself blush.
“Thanks, anyway.” Tony started to walk away but at that moment his cell phone rang. “Yeah? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yes. Take them away. Thanks for the call.” He thumbed the phone off and turned to Rafe and Tyler. “That was the crew who just finished the new security system at your place, Tyler.” He glanced at Rafe. “A florist delivered a vase full of flowers big enough to fill a funeral home. Rafe, put someone on this.”
Rafe nodded. “Already on it. Got the name of the florist and I have one of the guys checking it out.”
“Good. All right. Tyler, we’re on top of this. Don’t worry about it.”
Ha, she thought. Easy for him to say.
“See you tonight,” Rafe told the other man. Then with his hand at the small of her back, he urged Tyler out of the office and toward the parking lot.
Chapter 10
It wasn’t bad enough that this asshole trying to scare her to death had stepped up his game today. But, he’d thrown her off her own game. She had made up her mind that tonight she would go as what she thought of as the new Tyler Gillette. She changed clothes four times before she was satisfied with her look. Or at least as satisfied as she was going to get. She’d finally settled on a silky navy cocktail dress that clung to her body without looking like she was stuffed into it. She left her hair loose, and instead of teasing it to death, she just used a blow-dryer and a brush to get it to curl softly around her face. And she had a very light hand with her makeup, settling for smoky eye shadow, a soft blush, and a tinted lip gloss. She looked in the mirror when she fastened her earrings and hardly recognized herself.
Okay, Rafe Ortiz, prepare to be wowed by the new Tyler Gillette.
Rafe was waiting in the front hall when she came down the stairs, looking so elegant in his tux she wanted to lick him all over. That was if she could get the stick out of his ass he’d shoved up there after last night. She swallowed her satisfaction, however, when he looked at her and his eyes nearly fell out of his head.
“I take it you approve?” She tried to hide her smile.
“You look…very nice.”
“Wow! My head might turn with such high praise.”
Something close to hunger flashed in his eyes for a moment. Then they shuttered and he looked at his watch. “We’d better get going.”
Just as they were about to walk out, the sound of staccato drums echoed in the air A call, not a text. She took her phone out of her little skinny purse and looked at the screen.
“Blocked.” She held it up to show Rafe.
“Answer it.” That muscle was twitching in his jaw again.
“Really? Now?”
“Now.”
She pressed Talk. “Hello?”
Silence.
She repeated it. “Hello? Who’s there?”
Then a voice that sounded like it came from the bottom of a well said, “Did you fuck him?”
Tyler’s hand shook and she dropped the phone.
Rafe picked it up and held it to his ear, listening intently. Finally, he disconnected the call and handed the phone back to her. Then he took out his own cell and sent a text.
“Just letting the office know to check the cell towers on this latest call.”
“It doesn’t seem like they’re getting very far with this.” She could feel the erratic beat of her heart. Every time this idiot called it shook her up.
“It doesn’t always, but we’ll damn sure keep trying.” He handed her the phone. “Turn it off, put this back in your purse, and let’s get going.”
“Turn it off?”
“We probably wouldn’t hear it at dinner, anyway. Let’s give ourselves a break for a few hours.”
“Fine by me.” She pressed the Off button and dropped the phone back in her purse.
They were silent on the drive to the Conquistador Club. So much was running through Tyler’s brain. She wanted to know what Lone Star had dug up on Chad and Nate, if anything. Rafe had given her very little information after he’d checked the files. Why did he think geeky Ed would be a danger? But right now she knew she had to put the whole thing out of her mind, or she’d be a basket case when they got to the club.
If conversation was absent, a thick cloud of tension certainly wasn’t. It was so heavy it was palpable. Tyler would bet every single one of the false eyelashes she hadn’t put on tonight that more than half of it had sexual overtones.
He wanted her. It was right there in his eyes every time he looked at her, until he got control of himself and blinked it away. She’d seen it that morning. He was determined last night would never happen again if he had to lock her in her room. Well, she’d just see about that. Last night had been about way more than sex, and she wanted to see if it was real or just her overactive imagination making it into something it wasn’t.
As they drew closer to the club, a swarm of butterflies decided to take up roost in her stomach and beat their wings to the tempo of a Latin dance. She wondered if Rafe knew just how nervous she was. Without all her outrageous makeup, her equally outrageous outfits, and at least three drinks in her system, she felt totally and completely vulnerable. How would people react to her? Would she know what to say to anyone?
Never let them see you sweat.
An old adage but one that she kept silently repeating to herself.
Rafe’s friends would be there. The same friends who had seen her year after year doing her Tyler Gillette imitation of a woman with too much money and too few brains. She wondered how they’d react to her tonight, without the war paint and cold sober, her first major appearance as the new Tyler Gillette. If only her knees would stop knocking.
God! She was making herself so nervous she was afraid she’d throw up.
Then they were at the club and a valet was opening her door. He had just helped her out of the car when Rafe came around and cupped her elbow with his hand.
He glanced down at the needle-thin heels on her shoes. “I don’t know how you walk in those things. I’d fall on my face.”
Oh! A joke! She relaxed infinitesimally.
And then they were inside and the butterflies began the next dance. Rafe gave their name to the woman at the door but she apparently didn’t need it.
“Always so good to see you, Rafe.” She smiled at him. “And you, Miss Gillette.” The smile wasn’t quite as warm now.
“Thank you. I’m happy to be here.”
And you’ll be a lot happier to see me when you find out I’m not going to act like an out-of-control bitch tonight.
The woman cleared her throat. “May I say you’re looking very nice tonight.”
Tyler barely kept her jaw from dropping. “Oh, um, thank you.”
Well, she thought. Another person who thought she’d looked like a painted whore before? Funny, she mused, how we never really see ourselves as others do.
But I’m not going to regress. I’m finally starting to like myself.
Well, she’d gotten past the first obstacle tonight. Next came Rafe’s friends.
She looked around as they entered the huge dining room. The room was nearly full with people chatting and drinking. There was hardly an empty seat anywhere. She’d paid so little attention to what the event was about before that she’d been stunned to learn it was a scholarship fundraiser. But now she saw the banner stretched across the top of one wall with a podium in front of it. On an easel to the right of the podium was a huge poster, also with the name of the event, and with a picture of Joe Reilly.
She took a good look at the picture for the first time and wondered if all football players were gorgeous. She’d ignored them as a group, all except for Rafe, who definitely gave gorgeous new meaning.
“Where are we sitting?” she asked Rafe as he guided her toward the front of the room.
He nodded to a table not far from the podium. “Same place I always sit.”
“With your friends,” she guessed. Of course. Other years she’d deliberately ignored him, or pretended to, putting on her very stupid act. “I hope—” She stopped.
“It will be fine.” His voice was a little less harsh and held the first note of sympathy and understanding she’d heard from him.
He guided her easily through the crowd of people standing around, chatting, sipping drinks. Several people greeted Tyler, most of them with stunned looks on their faces before they got themselves under control. She managed to give everyone a cordial greeting and tell them how pleased she was to be representing the Hawks tonight.
“They must think I sent a clone tonight,” she whispered to Rafe.
“Actually, I think they’re stunned at the real thing.” He squeezed her arm. “Are you doing okay?”
“So far.” She gave a shaky little laugh. “But the evening’s far from over.”
“You can do it,” he murmured. “And I’m right here.”
Yes, but as her bodyguard, her keeper...or what she really wanted?
Rafe nodded to everyone and exchanged smiles as he kept them moving. She faltered a moment when she spotted Chad sitting at a table off to her left. Although a very attractive woman was sitting next to him, his eyes were glued to Tyler and followed her progress through the room. She shivered slightly at the look on his face. There was something just so ravenous about it. And possessive. Where had that come from?
“Problem?” Rafe murmured in her ear and turned to look over at Chad. “Just keep moving and be thankful we have to behave tonight.”
“Why?”
“If he makes a move in your direction, I might have to deck him and that would destroy the line of my tux and ruin my reputation for self-control.”
“Oh, ah, well…”
“Come on, we’re almost there.”
Then finally they were at their table and everyone was looking at her with great interest.
“Say hello to Tyler Gillette,” Rafe said as he held out a chair for her.
A few jaws dropped and a couple of people frowned momentarily before smoothing out their expressions. Apparently they had seen her previous performances here. But they all nodded and there was a smattering of friendly hellos as Rafe introduced her to everyone. She tried to file away all their names away for later. Joe Reilly, the guiding force for the event, and his wife Shay. Jake Russell and his fiancee, Erin Brody. Mike and Shana Lazarus. Jilly and Jason Mackenzie.
“Nice to meet you.” Okay, now what? She wasn’t quite sure how this new Tyler should act.
“I’m pleased you’re sitting with us this time.” Joe Reilly smiled at her, a warm smile that did a lot to ease her nerves. “On behalf of the scholarship fund, I want to thank the Hawks for their incredible contribution. It will greatly increase the number of scholarships we’ll be able to award.”
She hoped her own smile didn’t look as stiff as it felt. “We’re happy to do it. My father has always believed in supporting young athletes. I think everyone should be thanking you for your commitment to it.” Then she unfolded her napkin in her lap and reached for her glass of ice water, taking a slow sip.
“I’m going to hit the bar before they bring the food.” Mike Lazarus stood up. “Can I get anything for anyone?”
Only one person took him up on his offer.
“Tyler?” he asked. “Something for you?” He winked at Rafe. “In case Rafe forgot to ask you.”
“Nothing, but thank you.”
Rafe looked surprised when she didn’t order a drink, but he shook his head also.
Tyler inhaled and let out a slow breath, calming her jittery nerves. She was stunned when Rafe actually reached for her hand beneath the table and gave it a gentle squeeze. She glanced sideways at him but he was engrossed in conversation with the man to his right. Jason? Right, Jason Something.
She took a moment to look around the room, taking it all in without the haze of alcohol. Tony Castillo’s words about her father suddenly popped back into her head. Was it possible he hadn’t known how to deal with his grief? But they could have grieved together, couldn’t they? If he didn’t know how to raise a daughter as opposed to a son, they could have stumbled through it together.
People could change. She knew that. Look at what she was doing with herself. Did the gruff Kurt Gillette want to change, too? Was this whole setup with Rafe protecting her a way for him to reach out to her and try to build a relationship? Difficult as it might be, she’d have to give it some thought, and see what his next move might be.
She was still lost in thought when Rafe nudged her and whispered, “Wake up, Tyler. Someone’s talking to you.”
She blinked. “Oh, sorry.”
One of the women, Jilly, if she remembered right, laughed, but it was a friendly sound, not disparaging.
“So it seems Rafe has been hiding something from us,” she said.
Tyler frowned. “Excuse me?”
“He hasn’t brought a woman around us for a long time,” she explained, a smile teasing her lips.
“Right.” This was Shana speaking now. Yes, Shana. At least, Tyler thought. She was pretty good with names. “I even tried to fix him up with my sister but they were never more than friends.”
“Oh,” she protested, “We’re not—We’re just—” Just what? What should she tell them? She wished Rafe would jump in.
But when he did she was stunned.
“She’s definitely something, isn’t she?” he asked.
Okay, that was about as noncommittal as it could get. But he didn’t deny the whole thing and she wondered why.
“Are you a big football fan, Tyler?” Shay asked her. “I think all of us are immersed in it one way or another.”
Great. Just great.
“I, um, well, that is—” Could she sound any more like an idiot? She should just lie, for heaven’s sake.
“Tyler hasn’t been as involved in the team as she’d like,” Rafe broke in smoothly. “But that’s going to change pretty soon.”
It was? She turned to him and hoped the shock she felt didn’t show on
her face.
“You should get Rafe to bring you to some of our get-togethers,” Shana said. “These guys like to pretend they’re still in high school and relive the glory years. And we like to laugh at them.”
Tyler didn’t know what to say. “That’s very nice of you to offer.”
“I’m sure she’d enjoy it,” Rafe said. “I’ll make sure it happens.”
And wasn’t he just full of surprises tonight.
“Maybe Shay will give us another of her impromptu performances,” Mike said with a grin.
Shay Reilly smiled but a red flush crept up her face. “You guys ever going to let me forget it?”
“Not if we can help it.” He turned to Tyler. “First time Joe brought her to the house we were having a pickup football game in the backyard—”
“Which they do whenever it’s possible,” Shana broke in. “The boys and their toys.”
“Anyway,” Mike went on, winking at his wife, “Shay used to try to get Joe and her brother Hank to let her mix it up with them when they tossed the ball around in her yard. So when someone tossed the ball and it headed toward her, she just jumped up, caught it, and ran it to the end of the yard for a touchdown.”
Everyone at the table laughed, including Shay. Tyler wondered what it would be like to feel that easy and relaxed with people. Not that she couldn’t let it all hang out with Betsy and Lynn, but there was an altered feeling to the connection between and among these people. A different flavor. And when she glanced at Rafe she saw him looking at them the same way.
It amazed her that these men had been friends since high school. That had to be at least fifteen years ago. Where was that school? Oh, yeah, Granite Falls. About an hour from San Antonio, she thought. She and Betsy and Lynn had formed what she called a defensive friendship. Their bond defended and protected them against the lack of a real family environment and parents too involved in their own lives to care about their children. But these people had come together because of a milestone and bonded as friends.
“I guess you’ll be sitting in the owner’s suite, right, Tyler?”