The Heart Of The Game

by Pamela Aares

  “Thank you.” Though he wanted coffee, he wanted her more. He lifted the tray and twisted around, placing it on the table beside the bed. “Although I was considering a different sort of breakfast.” He took her hand and drew her to him.

  He’d intended a slow, easy beginning, but as his arms closed around her body and she opened to his kiss, slow wasn’t in the stars. He pressed her away and stripped the sweater over her head. She put a hand out. He didn’t want to read her sign to stop; his body already raced with hot want. But he sat back, honoring her signal. She stood and walked into her bathroom without a backward glance.

  He eyed the coffee. Caffeine wouldn’t do anything to slow his racing pulse or the hard throbbing in his groin, but it would at least blast him back to reality. Yet before he could lift the cup, she was back, naked and smiling.

  “I thought we might need this.” She brandished a condom packet with a sexy shimmy. “The standard breakfast tray here doesn’t come with such amenities.”

  An hour later they lay breathless across the bed. When he reached for her again, she twisted away.

  “Breakfast,” she said. “And then I want to show you something. And after, if you’d like to stay, you can cheer my team on in the pick-up match Parker has arranged for later this morning.” When he didn’t immediately answer, she added, “I promise you won’t have to ride.”

  He circled his fingers around her wrist. “You make a lot of promises. But I already pointed that out.”

  She stiffened and drew her hands away. Her eyes darkened. He’d meant to tease, but evidently he’d hit a nerve. He wondered what promises she’d made that she regretted. Or hadn’t been able to keep.

  “I’d love to see you play.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for a coffee cup.

  “It will be cold.”

  “The ride?” He took a sip.

  “The coffee.” She took the cup from his hands. “I’ll get more.” He reached again for the cup, but she didn’t release it to him.

  “Italians never drink cold coffee. Both my hospitality and I would be remiss.”

  He let her have the cup. “No one could question your hospitality, Zoe.”

  The words were playful, yet he was aware of the tension that wound in him as she hurriedly dressed and left the room.

  He’d never been so confounded by a woman in his life. Her story about hearing his voice— his voice before she’d ever met him—had shaken him. He’d heard stories about such experiences and never believed them. There were always explanations for such occurrences. But the explanation for hers had shocked him: him traveling through time to be with her before he met her, to comfort her before he even knew she existed—it just wasn’t possible. But in some deep part of himself, he was touched that he’d been a part of her crazy experience. The universe never spoke to him in such mysterious ways. Or maybe he’d just never been open to hearing. He dropped an arm over his head. Or maybe he was simply too sane.

  His thoughts rumbled on as he lay in the quiet of her room. He’d never had a woman cry in his arms after making love. And he’d surprised himself. Tears weren’t anything he’d been very good at facing before. But Zoe’s tears had reached in and loosed an unknown strength, strength he wanted to wrap around her and use to comfort her.

  He was still puzzling over the change as he rolled out of bed. Something sharp poked at the bottom of his foot. He reached down and picked up the delicate gold necklace he’d noticed her wearing when he’d stripped off her dress. The chain had broken but the tiny horse charm hadn’t been crushed. He coiled the chain and dropped the necklace onto her bedside table.

  He dragged on his pants and dress shirt, and then lifted his jacket from where he’d tossed it to the floor the night before. As he slipped it on, her scent rose from the wool, firing a hot pulse of raw wanting, despite the hours of satisfying sex they’d enjoyed.

  He’d done a damned poor job of keeping things light, of keeping his feelings in the realm of simple and straightforward. But nothing about Zoe Tavonesi was simple and straightforward. He’d better remember that and get a grip.

  “This is the place.” Zoe eased her horse to a stop at the crest of a hill, and Cody rode up beside her. She glanced over at him. “I wish you’d let me borrow riding pants and boots from Adrian. You two are nearly the same size.”

  He’d already pointed out that his khakis and cowboy boots were plenty functional for a leisurely ride in the Sonoma hills. He didn’t need perfect uniforms for any activity other than baseball, he’d told her as they’d left her stables. That had made her laugh, had broken the tension that had settled into the morning. Or maybe just getting out under the open sky had done it.

  Montana was magnificent, but as they’d climbed the hills behind the Tavonesi compound, Cody hadn’t been able to find easy words to describe the rolling hills dotted with scattered outcrops of rock towers and stretches of oak groves. After the recent rain, grass had sprouted up, casting the hills in a patchy carpet of brilliant green.

  Zoe spread her arms in a sweeping gesture.

  “Right over there, on that rise. That’s where I was painting when I heard your voice.” She shaded her eyes with her hand. “See any wizards or fairies?”

  Her accent made the word wizard sound like an incantation and made him smile.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Just haven’t thought about wizards in a while.” Decades probably.

  Her sparkling laugh reached deep into him.

  “I’ve almost finished the painting I began that day—I’ll show it to you. I’m planning on—”

  She stopped talking. Whatever she was planning, she’d obviously decided to keep the thought to herself.

  “When I first started painting up here, I was forceful with my brush, so determined to get down on canvas what my mind had already decided was here. But after a few afternoons, I started to see this place— really see it—and let the hills speak. I discovered surprising and marvelous beauty I wasn’t searching for.”

  Her words seared deep. He knew the drive to make an experience into what one had determined it was supposed to be, the struggle to control an outcome as well as the path to it. And he hadn’t had much experience with letting go, letting the world talk back. Except with animals and nature. But never people.

  “And then that one afternoon, I heard your voice.” She brushed at a strand of hair blown loose by the morning breeze. “I sound ridiculous.”

  “No, not ridiculous.”

  “Crazy, maybe?” she said, raising a brow. “It all sounds so much more believable in Italian,” she said with a light laugh.

  With the sun beaming behind her, framing her hair and face in a golden glow, she could’ve been mistaken for a wood nymph. He laughed at his poetic imagery. Maybe he was the one touched in the head.

  “We should head back.” She turned her horse in the direction they’d come. “Parker may be lax in many ways, but he is very particular about starting events on time. Even casual polo matches.”

  Though Cody would rather scoop her from her horse and kiss her until words were impossible, he turned his mount and watched Zoe. She rode with strength and balance, grace and ease. And yet there was a wild energy in her movements too. A wildness that called to him loud and clear. He’d like to see her barrel race. Naked. In a private arena. Just the two of them.

  His horse nearly ran into hers. She’d stopped, and he hadn’t even noticed.

  “Those must be very deep thoughts you’re having,” she said with a light laugh.

  Cody shifted on the gelding and hoped the effects of his fantasy weren’t too obvious.

  He’d never imagined that he’d feel desire and admiration and near uncontrollable wanting all at the same time. He was beginning to have a taste of the stuff of country-music songs and Hollywood blockbusters. If he wasn’t careful, Zoe Tavonesi could make him crazy.

  “Do you think in Italian?” he asked, hoping to divert her attention and his. “I’ve alwa
ys wondered how people decide which language to use and when,” he added, hoping to draw her into conversation. If they didn’t talk on the way back, he just might drag her from the horse and into the soft green grass.

  And he guessed Parker wouldn’t take that very well.

  To his relief, she urged her horse forward. “It’s not always a decision. In fact, sometimes I’m not even aware what language is coursing through my head. But I’m most comfortable speaking Italian, of course. It’s the language of my home.”

  Her home.

  Last he’d seen a map, Italy was seven thousand miles away. And they sure as hell didn’t play baseball there.

  And what the hell was he doing having such thoughts anyway? He slapped at his jeans, hoping to shake himself up.

  Maybe there were wizards in the woods.

  Watching Zoe play polo was torture. Her finesse and strategic moves, her amazing communication with and control of her mounts, and her blistering competitive drive was beyond what he had imagined. As she thundered down the field, the knotting in his belly was familiar but unwelcome. She knew her strengths and her limits, surely. Or did she?

  In the sixth chukker the score was tied at three goals each with barely a minute to go. Parker rode in on the ball, and his mallet caught Zoe’s stirrup. Cody saw what was coming. His rodeo reflexes kicked into gear and he darted onto the field. He was halfway to her as she fell head first between her horse and Parker’s and into a storm of hooves.

  “Don’t move,” he said when he reached her. The other riders had cleared the area and dismounted, and he waved at them to stay back.

  “For goodness’ sake,” she said as she sat up. “I know you’ve seen plenty of riders fall off horses.”

  “Not with seven other horses bearing down on them full speed. Polo is a dangerous sport.”

  Head cocked and grinning, Zoe eyed him and gave a shaky laugh. “This from a man who rides half-wild broncs and squats in front of balls flying at him at a hundred miles an hour?”

  “Okay, busted. But I still think you should hold still and—”

  At the flash of fire in her eyes, he stopped himself. Hadn’t he sworn off his bad habit of giving advice, even sometimes when it was asked for?

  Zoe scowled at Parker, who had dismounted and rushed to them. “Parker Tavonesi, you owe me one.”

  Aronelli trailed Parker with an ice pack.

  “Put that on Parker’s head,” Zoe said, waving the ice pack away. “I’m fine.”

  But Cody saw the way she favored her left ankle as she stood. He offered his arm and she took it.

  “Finish them off,” she said to Aronelli with a finger wag to Parker. “There are forty-five seconds left in this chukker.”

  “Don’t let her play on your sympathies.” Parker was smiling. “We Tavonesis have used less drastic events to have our way with opponents.”

  Zoe let out a series of what sounded like very pointed expletives, in Italian, and Parker grinned first at her, then at Cody.

  Evidently Parker thought he had the measure of the situation between Cody and his lovely, fire-spouting cousin.

  But as Cody helped Zoe to a bench near the sideboard and replayed his reaction to her fall, he knew he didn’t have a bead on the situation at all. He’d seen many a rider take worse knocks, but never had his heart been in his throat as it had been when he watched her plummet to the ground.

  She accepted an ice pack from one of her grooms and stretched out along the bench with her feet up. And cast him one of her easy half smiles.

  After Aronelli scored the winning goal, Zoe let Cody help her into the house. She directed him down a long hallway to a set of double doors. “There’s a recliner in here,” she said.

  She punched at the keypad and cursed when it beeped at her. She tried again with the same result. Grumbling and muttering, she bent down and lifted an edge of the plush carpet. She unfolded a slip of paper with numbers scrawled across it. “I always forget the code for this room,” she said.

  The door clicked. As Cody passed through the doorway, he noticed the barrel locking system. No one could force a door like that.

  “This library and the adjacent study are father’s sanctuary,” she said. “But he’s off somewhere.” She tucked the slip of paper back under the edge of the carpet.

  Cody noted the unspecific somewhere. But his attention was here. Now. On her. “Maybe you should put your foot up in bed?”

  “Now there’s an idea,” she said with a sexy smile that he wanted to kiss off her face. He leaned toward her, intending to do just that, when she put a hand to his chest. “But Vico is coming in half an hour to go over notes from class with me. You can stay if you’d like. It shouldn’t take long.”

  He heard the offer under her words and wanted more than anything to take her up on it.

  “I promised my sister I’d meet her for dinner,” he said, wishing that he hadn’t made the arrangement.

  “Ah. So even you make promises.”

  His sister hadn’t been happy that he’d refused to join the family at his mom’s house for Thanksgiving. The least he could do was hook up with Kat for a post-holiday dinner at her favorite restaurant in the city.

  “Take my car,” Zoe said. “I’d never stand in the way of fun with a sister.”

  Right. A car. His brain really was scrambled. He’d completely forgotten that Jake had driven them to Trovare the day before. Had it only been a day? Seemed like ages. And yet not nearly long enough.

  “Or Parker can drive you,” Zoe added. “He has to go into the city.”

  Lips pursed, she searched the room. She shook her head slightly before turning to him.

  “Maybe you could help me settle into the living room. My father’s pretty particular about who comes into this room.” She perched on the edge of a recliner. “He spends hours in here on those computers. I wonder what could possibly command such attention.”

  Two big monitors sat on the massive desk. But what caught Cody’s eye was the safe framed into the bookcase behind it. Santino Tavonesi was a mystery. For Zoe’s sake he hoped the truth of the man didn’t pan out to be anything like the picture Cody was forming in his mind.

  He settled Zoe on the couch in the living room just as Parker came in with a large ice pack.

  “I’ve iced, Parker.”

  “Ice again, my darling.”

  “God forbid that someone should really be hurt. You two would call in the medical helicopters.”

  Cody was relieved when she allowed Parker to tuck the pack around her foot.

  With Parker hovering, Cody didn’t feel he could say the goodbye he’d planned to share. He mumbled something about being in touch and didn’t miss the wry smile on Parker’s face. The whole family probably knew he and Zoe had spent the night in her bed.

  “Take it easy for a couple of days,” Parker said as he brushed a kiss to Zoe’s cheek.

  “I have my scintillating viniculture notes to study,” she quipped.

  “Not the easiest of patients,” Parker said as Cody walked with him out of the house. “She thinks she’s invincible. Runs in the genes.” He stopped and patted the riding pants he still wore. “Damn, I left my phone. I’ll be right back.”

  Cody took the opportunity to wander around the side of the house. And stopped when he saw Vico fiddling with a box near the back entrance.

  “Service call?” he said as Vico looked up.

  Vico’s pinched expression morphed into an oily smile. “Adrian mentioned that their irrigation system was run by a main system.” He straightened up and brushed off his hands. “I’d like to put one just like it in our vineyard in Sicily.”

  “Got it,” Parker said, brandishing his phone as he strode up to Cody. He spotted Vico. “Gualdieri. Didn’t know you were here. Have you two met?”

  “Yes,” Vico and Cody replied simultaneously in similar flat tones.

  “Great,” Parker said, toying with his phone. “Damn, I was trying to update this thing and I think I just e
rased all the data.”

  Vico thrust out his hand. “Let me see it.”

  Parker handed the phone over. Cody watched Vico’s eyes light with an odd intensity. Maybe the guy really was a geek.

  “I doubt you erased everything,” Vico said with authority. “The only way to completely destroy information is to encrypt it or incinerate the device. And even with encryption you can usually figure out the key.” He tapped on the screen. “This is the newest model, isn’t it?”

  “It is.”

  Vico slid screens up and down and side to side, rapidly tapping in information.

  “Okay, it’s not going to let me... No, that won’t work. What’s your passcode?” He grinned. “I could probably figure it out, but why waste the time?”

  “Passcode?” Parker said, palms lifted.

  “The numbers you use for access.”

  Parker grinned. “Seven, three, nine. Spells out sex.”

  Vico didn’t laugh and neither did Cody. His attention was on Vico.

  Vico typed in the numbers and then swiped the screen. He squinted and typed in something else. “No one realizes the power of these small devices,” he said without looking up. “A person could run a war with one of these, if they were smart enough. Of course, the devices have limitations. But they’re quite powerful in the right hands.”

  Cody watched as Vico continued swiping and typing. A few minutes later and with a triumphant flourish, he handed Parker the phone.

  “Updated and all yours.”

  “Thanks.” Parker toyed with the phone and then grinned. “You got my photos back. Wouldn’t have wanted to lose all the shots of the events I’ve masterminded. Not as complicated as a war, but if details go wrong, an off-kilter event can feel like one.”

  Cody was still having a hard time melding the Parker who rode like a demon and could likely out-bench-press him with the man who got jazzed by helping his friends and cousins plan elaborate parties.

  “You should back it up to the cloud at least,” Vico said with a note of condescension.