To Win Her Heart (Players)

by Mackenzie Crowne

  “She really didn’t tell you?”

  Max turned back to Jessi’s cousin. His eyes gleamed with humor.

  “Tell me what?”

  Tim shifted his shoulders and grinned. “I’m not saying a word.”

  Max shoved his fingers into the pockets of his jeans. He liked Tim, always had, but the vicious mood weighing on his shoulders left him impatient with his typical teasing. “Then why bring it up?”

  Tim’s gaze flicked back to the door where Craig had disappeared. “Because the kid was pretty upset yesterday.”

  Every muscle in Max’s body went on alert. “Why was he upset?”

  Tim’s alarmed gaze snapped back. “Fuck. You don’t think…?”

  “Why?” Max grabbed his arm.

  “Shit. When Jessi told Spence she was quitting, he kissed her. I guess he figured it was his last chance to tell her how he feels. Alicia and Craig walked in on it. Craig stomped out of the studio pissed.”

  Max broke into a run before Tim finished speaking. Catching the eye of one of Ryan’s men, he pointed toward the doorway Craig had used. The bodyguard immediately sprang into motion.

  Whoever had written the letters was close enough to know about the doll. Max had witnessed the kid’s interest firsthand. Why the fuck hadn’t the FBI looked at him?

  With Tim on his heels, Max rounded the hallway in time to spot Craig disappearing inside Jessi’s dressing room. The second of Ryan’s men loped toward them from the opposite direction. Max didn’t wait for the armed man. He charged into the large dressing room and nearly slammed into the kid. Jessi’s assistant stood across the room before the darkened make-up vanity, her face a mask of startled surprise.

  Craig spun around, his eyes round as saucers. He clutched a single red rose in his fist.

  Max crowded him until Craig backed into the wall. “What are you doing in here?” He shifted his gaze between the rose and the stark white envelope on the vanity top and fury growled in his gut.

  Craig’s Adam’s apple clicked as he swallowed. A tinge of pink slashed his cheekbones. “I….” He held up the rose. “I wanted to leave this for Miss Tucker.”

  Max flexed his fingers. The need to pummel the kid into the ground was so strong the muscles in his arms quivered. He stepped forward, holding Craig’s nervous gaze, and spoke to Tim at his back. “Have the other guy return to stage front, just in case, and get Ryan back here as quietly as you can.” He waited until Tim’s hurried footsteps retreated into the hall. “And the note?”

  “What note?” Confusion wrinkled Craig’s brow.

  Max shifted his gaze to the vanity, six feet away, and nausea coated his throat. He’d arrived in the dressing room seconds after the teenager. Unless he was a magician, Craig wouldn’t have had the time to place the envelope where it lay. Max lifted his gaze to the woman Jessi considered a friend as well as employee. Alicia shuffled her feet and looked away.

  A band of helpless rage compressed Max’s chest. He had intimate knowledge of the stench of guilty fear. It radiated off Alicia in waves.

  He scrubbed a hand over his mouth. Just to be sure, he turned to Ryan’s man guarding the doorway. “Has anyone else been in here?”

  The young black man shook his head. “Other than these two, no one has come near Ms. Tucker’s dressing room since she left to go on stage.”

  Max absorbed the damning confirmation and bit back the string of vicious curses crawling up in his throat. He nodded. “I’ll need some latex gloves.”

  Ryan’s guard nodded and disappeared out the door. The gloves wouldn’t be necessary. Opening the envelope could wait for the authorities. Any hope Max might have harbored of Alicia’s innocence disappeared as her body tensed and she bolted for the door. He sprung after her, catching hold of her arm before she’d taken three steps. She spun on him and hatred replaced the fear in her dark eyes. Her scream of fury pierced the air as she swiped at his cheek with the nails of her free hand.

  He blocked her second attempt, aimed at his eyes, and clamped his hand around her free arm in a grip tight enough to numb the limb.

  “Take your hands off me!” Turning her head, she attempted to sink her teeth into his arm.

  Tempering his anger was impossible. He shook her like a rag doll, then had to block her flying knee with his thigh.

  “Need some help?”

  Max ignored Tim’s furiously spoken offer. He released one arm and pinned her to the wall with a forearm to her throat. Rage engulfed him, swirling through his mind like acid, and he had to fight the urge to crush her windpipe.

  Tears sprung in her eyes, and her body sagged as the fight went out of her. “Please.”

  “Let her go, son. She’s not going anywhere.” Ryan’s quietly spoken command pierced the fog of his rage, and yet, he had to force himself to loosen his hold.

  Jesus. Jessi.

  He lowered his arm to his side, and Alicia slid to the floor. He turned away from the muffled gasps of her tears as the returning bodyguard filed into the room behind Ryan and Tim. Craig stood several feet away. His wide-eyed gaze bounced back and forth between Max and Alicia.

  A sigh rippled through Max’s chest. Clearly, he’d scared the kid with his instinctive slide into violence. With his anger beginning to cool, disgust simmered in his gut. Jessi was right to back away now that she knew the truth about him. Once a street rat, always a street rat.

  He held out his hand. “I’ll see Miss Tucker gets your gift. You’d best go back to your seat.”

  His gaze flew to Max, eyes full of wary shock. He nodded, handed Max the flower, and shot one last glance at Jessi’s weeping assistant before he scurried out the door.

  “I never would have hurt her.”

  Max turned at Alicia’s whisper.

  She dropped her hands to her lap. Tears magnified the horror and guilt in the dark-eyed gaze that clung to his. “I swear. I was just trying to scare her into leaving. She already hates going on stage, and I thought….”

  Max breathed deep, fighting the urge to tear the dressing room apart with his bare hands. Jessi was going to be heartbroken by the betrayal of her friend, and for what? She’d already decided to leave on her own. Obviously, Alicia hadn’t yet heard, and he was tempted to slash her with the news, but she’d learn soon enough.

  Her face crumbled. “It’s just that, I love Spence and….” A sob shuddered through her body, and she curled in on herself.

  Max dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “And love makes fools of us all.”

  Chapter 29

  “Are you sure he’s here?”

  Kris rolled her eyes. “Relax, Jess. I left Max on the sideline surrounded by CC, Gracie, V, and Jake. Jake promised he wouldn’t let him go anywhere until the half-time show is over, and Gracie said she’d sit on him if necessary. So did CC and V.”

  Jessi caught her bottom lip in her teeth. “How did Gracie convince him to come?”

  Kris held up a hand. “I didn’t ask. He’s here. That’s all that matters, right?”

  Taut with nerves, Jessi paced the closed-off section of the tunnel leading to the field at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. Her plan to get Max to prove his love had been an epic failure. As if she’d needed proof. He’d given up Haven Place for her, and what had she done? She’d spit on his sacrifice because of her pride and anger. She choked back an inward snort. If anyone had some proving to do, it was her.

  “If you’ve decided I’m not worth the effort, just say so.”

  God, how could she have been so dense? Though it should have, the thought never once crossed her mind he would read her coolness and anger as a rejection because of the things he’d revealed about his past. Hadn’t Gracie warned her? Hadn’t Jessi seen with her own eyes how he used the darkness of his past like a shield, belittling himself before anyone else could? He’d expected her to rebuff him once he’d told her the worst of his memories and, like a blind idiot, she’d walked right into his self-defensiv
e predictions.

  Between the concert appearance and the painful chaos of Alicia’s betrayal and arrest, there had been no time to disabuse him of his faulty assumptions. With the danger to her over, he hadn’t returned to his condo that evening, and she had no idea where he’d spent the night. Her hope of clearing the air the following morning as they traveled to the Super Bowl never materialized.

  Stunned and hurt by his dismissal, she’d staggered onto the plane. Alone.

  Instead of delaying her trip until they settled things between them, she’d been the one to walk away, just as he’d expected she would. She’d spent the last two days berating herself for a fool and hoping against hope Gracie could pull off her plan to drag him here today. Though she’d started to dial several times, she couldn’t do it. Pleading for his forgiveness over the phone wouldn’t be good enough. He needed to hear her apology in person.

  The only bright spot since she’d left Manhattan was Elizabeth Krandall’s surprising capitulation. Jessi’s heart had leaped into her throat when his grandmother had called early Friday morning. In a clipped and angry voice, the Krandall matriarch had agreed to Jessi’s demands, with the stipulation she never hear another word from either Jessi or her grandson. With the deed to Haven Place transferred to Jessi in what had to be the quickest real estate transaction ever recorded, that shouldn’t be a problem—after today.

  “Almost show time.” Tim stepped through the privacy curtain, looking tanned and handsome in a pair of khaki shorts and a dark blue, short-sleeved golf shirt. He wore a huge smile. “Tuck just scored to put the Marauders up by twenty-one. You should have seen it. It was a thing of beauty.”

  Kris’s lips puckered in a smirk. “You’re such a dork.”

  He leered, stepped toward her, and yanked her to his chest for a steaming hot kiss. Twin dimples scored his grin as he lifted his head. “That’s not what you said last night, Sparky.”

  Kris’s gaze skidded to meet Jessi’s.

  “Sparky?”

  A bright pink blush rode Kris’s cheekbones. “Yeah, I shared the goodies with your cousin.” She rolled her eyes. “He wore me down, all right?”

  Jessi smiled, but she was too nervous to offer the ribbing the admission deserved. Tim laughed and, retaining his hold on Kris, turned his head to look at Jessi.

  “You know what you’re going to say?”

  Mostly. She’d gone over the words a thousand times in her mind and, if they fell on deaf ears, she didn’t have a clue what to do next. She swallowed. “Aren’t you going to try and talk me out of this?”

  Anticipation flickered in his eyes. “Hell no. I’m looking forward to it. It’s not every day I get the chance to watch my little cousin make a fool of herself on international television.”

  Jessi groaned and pressed a fist to her belly.

  Kris jabbed his midsection with her elbow. “Quit teasing her. She’s nervous enough already.”

  Nervous was an understatement. In a few minutes, she’d be taking the stage and announcing her retirement—in front of an audience of millions. As if that wasn’t frightening enough, she would also be laying her heart on the line in the gamble of her life.

  Tim cocked his head and held her gaze. “What the hell, Jess. Max deserves a little bit of payback, and you’re already guilty of blackmail. It’s not like Max’s grandmother is going to hate you any worse. Besides, while I can’t stand the idea of her coming out smelling like a rose with the press, with everyone slobbering over her generosity she’ll be less likely to come after you in the future.”

  That was the hope but, if this actually worked, Jessi was swearing off screwy plans permanently. Her blood pressure couldn’t take it.

  Tim obviously took her silence as agreement. He nodded. “Spence is all set in the other tunnel, and the entertainment director will be in to give you your cue.” He grinned. “Shit, the guy is so jazzed I won’t be surprised if he pisses himself.”

  Despite the ball of anxiety in her belly, Jessi laughed. The show’s director had been delirious over her request. Hoping to surpass the sideline sensation Jake and Gracie had caused five years ago, when Jake had proposed on the field, the giddy man had approved the change to the half-time program on the spot.

  Spence hadn’t been quite as excited, but he’d eventually given his consent to shorten the last song so Jessi could do her thing. Like her, news of Alicia’s actions had hit Spence hard. Since Alicia had been taken into custody, his anger over Jessi’s retirement had slid into acceptance, and he hadn’t once mentioned the kiss or his declaration of love. Neither had she.

  Whether or not they’d continue to work together in the studio, she didn’t know, but she’d worry about that later. For now, she had some proving to do—and a certain hunky cage fighter’s heart to re-win.

  * * * *

  Sweating and anxious for the tortuous exercise to be over, Max ignored the arm Gracie wrapped around his waist. Despite himself, he couldn’t drag his gaze from Jessi wowing the mesmerized crowd of seventy-five thousand football fans stuffing the stadium to beyond capacity. He breathed a stealthy sigh of relief as the glitz and lasers that had marked the half-time show slowly faded. A single spotlight blinked on. Spence, and the dozens of dancers flying through the air at their backs, disappeared and Jessi stood center stage.

  Dressed in white from head to toe like a mystical creature of light, she seemed to glow. Her long auburn curls shifted in the slight breeze, and she hit and held the impossible last note of their latest hit. The moment the song ended, the building erupted with the thunderous applause.

  Max’s chest shuddered on a ragged breath. Gracie tightened her hold. He glanced her way, and she offered him an innocent smile, but she wasn’t fooling anyone. Her bullying tactics to get him to Tampa had little to do with him watching his best friend compete for the championship as she claimed. Jessi was Gracie’s agenda and, while he loved her for trying, they’d all be better off when she gave up her push for happily ever after where it applied to him.

  As much as the knowledge hurt, Jessi finally understood what he’d tried to tell her from the beginning. Dragging things out would only prolong the anguish.

  “Are you happy now?” He arched a brow. “I came. I’ve seen her. She’s beautiful, and I’m still not the man for her.”

  “Men.” V rolled her eyes and winked at Gracie.

  “Tell me that in a minute.” Gracie bumped his hip with hers, and Jake chuckled at her other side. CC and V laughed outright as Tim and Kris arrived hand in hand.

  The hairs on the back of Max’s neck stood on end, and he eyed each of them in turn. “You’re all up to something. I want to know what it is.”

  “Shhh.” Unholy mischief glittered in Gracie’s eyes. “Watch.”

  She turned back to the field, and Max followed her gaze. From the front of the stage twenty yards away, Jessi patted the air in front of her in an attempt to silence the crowd. Spence appeared from the darkness at her back to stand at her side. She turned her head and blinked as if surprised to find him there.

  One of the show crew hurried forward to deliver a hand mic. The raucous, party atmosphere quieted as she lifted it to her lips.

  “If you’ll bear with me for a moment, I need to say something, and I only have ninety seconds before two incredible teams retake the field.”

  The crowd roared.

  “First.” She paused until the applause settled fractionally. “First, I’d like to thank you all, fans or not, for allowing Spence and me to perform today. It was the thrill of a lifetime and the perfect venue to conclude our touring career.”

  Gasps competed with cries of dismay as a rippling murmur moved through the stands. The breath left Max in a slow sigh. Good for you, baby. Though he believed her decision to retire from the stage would ultimately deliver the peace and happiness she longed for, he hadn’t been entirely convinced she’d actually go through with it.

  Spence leaned in so he could share the mic
. “Thank you, everyone. We’ve had a tremendous run.” He slid his arm around Jessi’s shoulders. “But all good things must come to an end, and no man has ever had a better singing partner.”

  She smiled and turned her cheek against his shoulder. He squeezed her briefly and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. The mic picked up his voice just before he released her. “Good luck, Jessi. Be happy.”

  He exited the spotlight, leaving Jessi alone. Her chest expanded with a deep, bracing breath and, though Max waited for her to take a final bow and follow, she didn’t move. Instead, she searched the people standing along the sidelines. Her gaze locked on him, and his shoulders bunched. A surge of energy blasted him like electricity racing through a high-tension line.

  Her lips moved in silent communication. I’m sorry, Max.

  He tensed. Sorry? Sorry for what? Oh, hell.

  She didn’t smile, and his heart ached at the shimmer of tears in her eyes.

  Her shoulders rose on a shaky breath, and she turned back to the crowd. “Before I go, you all know I’m rooting for the Marauders today. If I didn’t, my cousin would disown me.” She answered the immediate laughter with the stage smile he’d witnessed many times over the past few weeks. Tense and brittle, the false pleasure quivered on her lips and didn’t reach her eyes. “But I’d also like to introduce you all to a very special man. Since his grandmother is Elizabeth Krandall, I’ll wish the Hurricanes a good and healthy game as well.”

  More laughter followed and trepidation tiptoed up his spine. What the hell was she doing, calling out his grandmother by name? “Fuck. What have you all done?” he growled out of the side of his mouth.

  Gracie jabbed him with an elbow. “We haven’t done anything. This is all Jessi, but she has our blessing.”

  Jessi cleared her throat and drew his attention. “His name is Max Grayson. Some of you may have read his name in the papers lately along with his grandmother’s, and as you’ll see, you can’t believe everything you read.”