Players

by Rachel Cross

  A flash of color caught his eye through the window: that blazing hair of hers. He had the impression that she was always struggling to tame it, and today she had done so by pulling it up into a tight and prim sort of bun. His fingers twitched as if grasping at imaginary hairpins. Shannon Mahoney might benefit from letting her hair down in more ways than one. He tried to imagine her relaxed and laughing but couldn’t.

  She finished parking her truck and got out, pausing to wait until traffic had cleared enough for her to cross the street. Michael leaned forward and studied her with new interest. Clearly she believed in dressing low key, given the plain sort of clothes he’d seen her in the few times they’d met, but the jeans she wore today hugged her hips much better than anything else he’d seen her in. And the t-shirt was not oversized this time. Well, well. Miss Mahoney had a pretty damn good figure lurking under there. Who knew?

  “You know what?” he greeted her as she came through the coffee shop door and spotted him. “You’re really not a bad looking woman.”

  She stared at him, and then her cheeks turned rosy. “Gee, thanks. I’m touched. Is that your idea of ‘hello’?”

  “It was supposed to be a compliment.”

  “Needs work.”

  “Duly noted.”

  Still looking vaguely put out, Shannon pulled out the chair across from him and sat down. There was a menu on the table, and she chose to look at it instead of at him.

  Michael leaned forward, studying her more closely. “I’m serious. You play it down a lot—or maybe you just don’t know how to play it up—but the foundation is all there.” It was true. Full lips, clear skin—except for a light dusting of freckles that gave her a girlish look—and blue-green eyes that were flashing with irritation at the moment. “With a little effort, you could turn heads. Including Drew’s.”

  She still didn’t look pleased with him. The blush was coming back, though. Truth be told, he got a kick out of how easy it was to make her blush.

  He tried again to win her over. “This is good news. Smile, would you?”

  “I’m not comfortable with this line of conversation,” she said stiffly.

  “Sweetheart, you’d better get comfortable. Men notice things like a woman’s mouth or her body. If you’re not comfortable talking about them, how are you ever going to be comfortable doing anything with them?”

  Oh, yes. She was turning a darker shade of red by the second. No wonder she was awkward around Drew.

  He felt a flicker of pity for her. “Fine. We’ll table that conversation for another time.”

  “Oh, goody.”

  “So you’ve thought things over . . . Are you on board?”

  She didn’t answer right away but looked at him with such intensity that he could swear his body temperature began to rise. “Look me in the eyes and tell me one more time that you’re not here to cause problems for Drew or screw him out of his inheritance.”

  Was that why she wanted to meet face-to-face today? To see if she could spot something about him that would set off warning bells? Well, for once in his life he had right on his side. He put his hands on the tabletop and leaned in closer to show he had nothing to hide. “I swear,” he said slowly and deliberately, his eyes never leaving hers, “that I am here to protect my family’s interests, that’s all. And Drew’s all the family I have left now. Satisfied? Or did you bring a Bible for me to swear on?”

  “Maybe I should have. I still think there’s more to this than you’re telling me.”

  “Will you talk to Drew or not?”

  After a long moment, Shannon nodded, but she didn’t look all that happy with her decision. “I’ll talk to Drew, nothing more. So don’t try to slip in any changes to the deal later.”

  “Understood.”

  “And if he says no, you’ll walk away.”

  Her words made his gut twist. He tried not to let it show on his face, because she was still watching him closely. “I will.”

  Some of the tension in her body finally lessened. “Okay, then.”

  “So we’ve got a deal?” Michael held out his right hand expectantly.

  She eyed it with undisguised reluctance but put her own hand out to shake it.

  He closed his fingers around hers and tried not to smile when she tensed up. “Would you relax? You haven’t made a deal with the devil, I swear.”

  “We’ll see,” she muttered, taking her hand back. She started to push her chair away from the table and stand up.

  “Where are you going?”

  “We don’t need to actually eat lunch together. I just wanted to be sure before I said yes to anything, and I’m as sure as I’m going to be.”

  “So you’re going to make me eat alone? That’s just cruel.”

  Shannon looked a little confused, or maybe wary. “You want me to stay? I find that a little hard to believe.”

  Actually, he found exchanging barbs with her was something he was starting to enjoy. Did that make him a sadist or a masochist? he wondered. “We’ve still got a few things to talk about.”

  “Like what?”

  “Sit down and find out.”

  Frowning, she hesitated, but after a moment she sat down again.

  A young man with a crew cut and an apron stopped by their table. “Hi!” he greeted them brightly as he pulled a pen out from behind his ear and grabbed an order pad from his pocket. “Have you decided what you want?”

  Michael thought he heard Shannon mumble something under her breath that sounded a lot like “I hope so,” but he pretended he hadn’t. “Burger,” he said instead. “Medium rare with the works.”

  “And for the lady?”

  “House salad,” Shannon said flatly. “I don’t have much of an appetite this morning.”

  The waiter smiled and left, and Michael ran his hand over his forehead in a gesture of relief.

  Shannon frowned. “What?”

  “No soup today. The world is a safer place.”

  Was it his imagination, or did the corners of her mouth twitch slightly as if she was trying not to smile? She might just be warming up to him after all—not much but a little bit, he thought. Maybe it was the challenge she represented, but he realized with some surprise that he wanted Shannon Mahoney to like him. Or at least not to dislike him so much.

  Well, he could make the first step by honoring his end of the deal. “Now that we’re partners,” he said, leaning in again, “we should talk about my end of the bargain. Helping you with Drew.”

  “I . . . that’s not necessary.”

  “A deal’s a deal. We shook on it and everything. I may be a lot of things, but I’m not someone who goes back on his word.”

  She shook her head with a wan smile. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think I’d feel comfortable with it.”

  “With what?”

  “With . . . manipulating Drew.”

  “Who’s manipulating? I’ll just give you a few pointers on what guys like, that’s all. Think of me as your own personal advice columnist. Is there something shady about what they do?”

  “Well no.”

  “So?” She hesitated, and he marveled at the ethical dilemma she seemed to be having. Most of the women he’d met in his life had no problems whatsoever with blatant exploitation of whatever advantages presented themselves to them. This particular female defied all his expectations. “You want to get Drew’s attention, right?”

  Shannon sat frozen like a deer in headlights.

  “It’s all right to say it.”

  Finally, she nodded. Once.

  He felt that flicker again, like sympathy maybe. Who knew? He was in unfamiliar territory with this woman. “Then today is lesson one in how to win your guy. Forget what they say about the way to a man’s heart being through his stomach, okay?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I know exactly what you’re going to say. Something about the way she fills out her clothes, right? Or maybe about her bedroom skills? This is your profound bit of wisdom for me?”


  “No.”

  “No?”

  “Sure, men like a woman with a good body. Don’t women like a man with a good body?”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m sure you already know the answer to that question.”

  “Well, thank you, Shannon. I’m flattered you think of me that way.”

  “No, wait, I didn’t mean—”

  “But a great body alone will get you nowhere,” he continued, unable to keep from grinning at the discomfited look on her face. “Oh, it’ll get you some attention, but in order to hold it, you need something else.”

  The waiter appeared then with their lunches, and Michael sat back so he could slide his burger in front of him. “Enjoy,” the young man offered, setting Shannon’s salad down before her.

  Michael picked up his burger with both hands and took a large bite. He glanced at Shannon while he chewed. She didn’t touch her salad but only watched him expectantly. He took another bite and chewed it very deliberately.

  “Well?” she asked impatiently.

  There was something about her that made him unable to resist teasing her. “What?”

  “Unless your super secret tip to lure a guy in has something to do with that burger, you haven’t given me much to work with.”

  “Oh, that. All right, here it is.” He set the burger down and leaned closer to her, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper as he did so. He didn’t think she realized she leaned in, too. “The secret thing that men find irresistible has nothing to do with looks or clothes or the latest hairstyles. The thing no man can truly resist is confidence.”

  “Confidence.”

  He leaned back again and took another bite. “Yes.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Hey, don’t knock it. A man sees a woman who walks like she knows she’s got it all, and he can’t resist going after her to find out if it’s true. I’m telling you, there is nothing sexier, and I’ve known quite a few sexy women in my life. Next time you go to some big party or something with lots of people, take a really good look around at the women who are the center of attention. More often than not you’ll see they aren’t knockouts, at least not in the classical sense. They’ve got something much, much better.”

  “Confidence,” she repeated again, sounding less than confident as she said it.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “And I won’t lie to you, it’s hard to fake if you don’t already have it to begin with.”

  “So, in other words, I’m screwed yet again.”

  He knew what she was thinking. Thanks for nothing. “No,” he said, more gently this time as he sensed her rising frustration. “It just means you’re going to have to work to bring it out a little more. But, deep down, you’ve got it. You just need to set it free.”

  She made a derisive sound beneath her breath and finally began picking at her salad.

  Michael was no stranger to flattery, but it rankled him that she seemed to assume that was all his words were. “What? You think I’m just blowing smoke here?”

  “Well, what am I supposed to think? You saw me in there the other day. I turned into a bumbling mute the moment Drew appeared, and that was actually one of my better days.”

  She looked so forlorn sitting across from him. He had an inexplicable urge to make her feel better about herself. “So you’re awkward in social situations. We can work on that. But, trust me, Shannon, you’ve got moxie to spare.”

  Those blue-green eyes of hers looked up at him in surprise. They were nice eyes when they weren’t full of hostility or suspicion. Very nice.

  Michael lost his train of thought for a moment and had to force it back on track. Confidence, he reminded himself. That was what they were talking about. “I mean it,” he continued finally, feeling awkward and not liking the unfamiliar sensation of it. It made him put a little more bite into his words than he intended. “You just have to learn to channel it into other things besides minestrone and chainsaws.”

  One side of her mouth curved up slightly, and if she noticed the bite, she didn’t seem bothered by it. “Circular saws.”

  “Yeah, those, too.”

  Her smile grew, and it even looked as though she was trying not to laugh.

  He had succeeded in cheering her up. Funny how that made him feel better about himself, too.

  • • •

  “So why Drew?”

  Shannon finished the last bite of her salad and glanced up. “What do you mean?”

  “Of all the men in all the world, why is he the one you want?”

  She was beginning to lose her self-consciousness about the matter, around Michael anyway, at least to the point where she no longer felt her face grow warm when he mentioned it. That had to be some progress. “Are you really so surprised? He’s got a lot of female admirers.” She should know since she was the one making his dinner reservations for him.

  Michael had already finished his burger and now sat back in his chair and studied her while he idly picked at the French fries that came on the side. Something flickered briefly in his expression that might have been irritation. “But what is it about him? Looks? Money? Sense of civic duty?”

  Apparently she hadn’t completely gotten over being self-conscious. Poking at one last little part of a lettuce leaf on her plate, she avoided Michael’s eyes. “I don’t know. The whole package, I guess. He’s just a really great guy.”

  “Saint Drew. I’ve heard this story before.”

  She frowned at him. “I never said he was a saint, but is there something wrong with being a good guy?”

  Michael gave a small, rueful chuckle. “No, not a thing.” He turned his face to look out the window, his expression distant. “It just sets the bar awfully high for sinners like me.”

  She wondered if he would explain what he meant by that, but he remained silent. She didn’t think he was just trying to be cute. “You almost sound like you’re feeling sorry for yourself.”

  He turned back to her, startled. After a moment a wry smile spread across his face. “Me? Never. Somehow I doubt you would let me get away with that.” Clearing his throat, he pushed his plate of French fries toward her. “Here. Have some.”

  They did look tempting in all their greasy glory. She let him change the subject and reached for one. “Thanks.”

  “How long have you had a thing for my brother?”

  And we’re back to that, she thought. She squirmed inwardly. “Does it matter?”

  “Maybe, maybe not. Depending upon how long you’ve known him, you may want to approach things differently.” He put a French fry in his mouth.

  She mumbled something under her breath.

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “I said, about ten years. Give or take.” It was a conservative estimate, but he didn’t really need to know that, she decided.

  Michael nearly choked on his fry. “Ten years?”

  It was hard not to sound defensive. In fact, she was sure she failed completely. “Something wrong with that?”

  “No, but . . . Damn. Ten years and you’ve never told him how you feel about him?”

  She gave him a dark look and ate another of his French fries.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just a little hard for me to wrap my head around.” He stared at her thoughtfully. “Maybe I underestimated my brother.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever inspired feelings with that kind of longevity in a woman.”

  She frowned, trying to tell if he was making fun of her or not. No, she decided finally. He looked genuinely shocked and possibly a little pensive. She took pity on him. “Oh, you never know.”

  Michael glanced up at her, looking as surprised as she felt at her words.

  Now where had that come from? she wondered, carefully refocusing her attention on the fries. Since when did she care if Michael Kingston felt bad about something? It must be basic human decency, she told herself. Or maybe she was going soft.

  In
any case, he let it go unaddressed, for which she was grateful. “So, ten years . . . That would take it all the way back to high school, wouldn’t it?”

  She nodded, still very deliberately working on getting just the right amount of ketchup on her fry so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

  “Wait—were you and Drew in the same graduating class?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then that would mean . . . so you and I were actually in school together?”

  “For a year, yes.”

  He gave her a very thorough once-over as if trying to place her. “You and I—we never hooked up in high school, did we?”

  Shannon’s mouth fell open. “No, we certainly did not!”

  “So is that why you were really so mad at me the other day?”

  “What?” she sputtered hotly. “You are unbelievable!”

  “Oh, so we did hook up.”

  “You—”

  A slow grin spread across his face, and she realized he was playing with her.

  Taking a deep breath, she bit back a name she had been about to call him. “You get a perverse pleasure out of yanking my chain, don’t you?”

  “Kind of, yes.”

  “Aren’t you afraid I might back out of the deal?”

  “No, I think you realize it’s in Drew’s best interest. Besides,” he added with a knowing gleam in his eye, “I think you get a perverse pleasure out of putting me back in my place, so we’re developing a great little symbiotic relationship here. Don’t you agree?”

  “What? Oh, I’m sorry. I’m still recovering from the shock of hearing such big words come out of your mouth.”

  Michael started to laugh, and Shannon felt a kind of rush go through her. He might be right when he said she enjoyed taking him down a peg. There was something exhilarating about feeling so free to speak her mind to somebody the way she did with him.

  “I definitely would have remembered you if we ever did cross paths in school,” Michael said finally.

  “Drew doesn’t,” she admitted ruefully.

  “Drew doesn’t know you went to McKinley High?”

  “Doesn’t seem to, no.”