by Jennie Marts
Plastering on a smile, she rang the doorbell of the enormous house.
The door opened, and Carla Jacobs waved her in. “Hi, Gabby. Come on in.” Carla was dressed in a snug-fitting orange Bronco jersey that dipped low in the front, showing off her ample cleavage. She’d obviously paid a fortune for that cleavage, might as well show it off.
Her long dark hair was salon perfect and hung down her back in flawless waves. Rhinestone jewels covered the pockets of her expensive jeans, and Gabby figured she could pay the rest of her utility bill with what Carla had spent on that pair of jeans.
The boxes of cupcakes in her hands kept Gabby from fiddling with her own hair. She’d barely had time to throw on her own Manning jersey and pull her wild curls into a ponytail. The over-sized jersey hung over her sparkle-less rear end.
Gabby followed Carla into a huge immaculate kitchen. The kitchen opened into a large great room with overstuffed sofas and a gigantic big screen television on the wall. Her whole apartment would fit into this one room.
A fire crackled in the fireplace, and several other people had already arrived, all wearing the orange and blue colors of the Denver Broncos.
Gabby set the boxes on the counter and opened the lid of the top one. “What do you think?”
“Oh, they’re perfect,” Carla exclaimed. “I love the little football picks.” She’d already set out a huge array of appetizers. Bowls of chips, various dips, meatballs, and a huge veggie tray lined the counter.
Carla passed her a tray shaped like a football. “I thought we’d put some on this tray, and I have another tiered dessert rack we can use.”
The doorbell rang again, and Carla bustled off as Gabby set up the cupcakes and moved the empty boxes to the laundry room off the kitchen.
A blond couple in their early thirties walked into the room, the woman holding a huge pan of pulled pork and absently chatting with Carla. Her husband followed behind her, carrying several packages of buns. The woman set the pan on the counter and smiled at Gabby.
A note of recognition lit the woman’s eyes and she shrieked in surprise. “Hey, you’re that woman from the cupcake truck.”
Gabby grinned, happy to be recognized. “Yes. Have you seen me out in the neighborhood?”
“No. I’ve seen you on Twitter. All day today.”
Disappointment filled her. “Oh. That must be someone else. I have a Twitter account, but I’m not on it much. And I wasn’t on today.”
“I’m sure it was you. And I’m pretty sure you’re trending.”
What in the heck was this woman talking about? She had to have her mixed up with someone else. “I’m what?”
“You’re trending.” The woman pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped the screen. “That means you’re showing up all over Twitter, and people are retweeting about you.” She held the phone out to Gabby. “Isn’t this you with that cute hockey player? What’s his name, Owen Bannister?”
Cute hockey player? Gabby took the phone and stared down at a picture of Owen planting a frosting-covered kiss on her lips.
Oh. My. Gosh.
She nodded, unable to speak.
“That’s him, right? Owen Bannister, from the Colorado Summit?”
Gabby handed her the phone back. “That’s him all right.”
“Are you dating him?” another woman asked. Several women from the party had come into the kitchen to see what was going on.
She shook her head. “No. We’re just…” What? What were they? Acquaintances? Strangers? Friends? Almost more? She didn’t know what to say.
She wanted to tell them Owen was an arrogant jerk. But she wouldn’t do that. Even though he was kind of arrogant, and kind of a jerk, he was also kind of sweet. And kind of cute. Okay, really freaking cute.
But, he had enough trouble with his image—he didn’t need her adding negative comments to it. “We’re just friends.”
One of the women held up her phone, the picture zoomed in on their faces. “Looks like a lot more than friends to me.”
It held felt like more than friends, too. Or like a chance for more. Like a chance for something. “Looks can be deceiving.”
Another woman gazed at the picture. “I don’t know. You guys look pretty close here. And check out the way he’s laughing. Is he as cute in person as he is in this picture?”
Gabby peered at the picture. “Cuter.”
Much cuter.
It was a good picture though. She’d googled images of Owen when she’d got back up to her apartment this afternoon. There were a ton of photos, but it was rare to see one of him laughing like this. Unless it was on the ice.
There was an occasional picture with him grinning, and it was usually with Bane and they were high-fiving a great play. But most pictures showed him either in the middle of a fight during a game, or wearing a somber expression or a scowl as he was out on the town with a beautiful woman dripping off his arm.
She assumed the scowl had more to do with the invasion of the press than with the beautiful women. But who knew? Even though they’d spent time together, she really didn’t know him that well.
And her internet search hadn’t turned up much more information. Well, not on the real Owen. There were plenty of stories about his screw ups, but not much on the easy-going funny guy she’d hung out with today.
Pretty much all her googling had turned up was more questions and taken more time than she’d planned, which contributed to her hurried rush to get dressed and get to the party.
“This picture’s had over twenty thousand retweets. You’re practically famous. This tweet asks: Is the cupcake girl sweet enough to capture this bad boy’s heart?” The woman peered at Gabby. “What do you think? Did you capture his heart?”
“She’s captured mine with these cupcakes.” One of the husbands stood at the counter holding a half-eaten cupcake. A smear of chocolate frosting stuck to his lip.
A woman that Gabby assumed was his wife swatted at his arm. “Honey, you realize those are for dessert.”
He shrugged. “It’s a party. The normal meal rules don’t apply at parties. And these cupcakes are worth the mutiny. Can you get some for that thing we’re doing next weekend?”
His wife planted her hand on her hip. “That thing? You mean the holiday get together where I’m cooking dinner for half your family?”
He grinned, obviously used to ribbing her. “Yeah, that little thing. Can you get some of these cupcakes for that. It’ll save you from having to make dessert.”
The woman glanced at Gabby. “Can I get an order for next weekend? Or are you too swamped? It would be for about twenty people so we’d probably need like three dozen.”
Gabby nodded, happy to change the subject and to get the extra business. “Sure, of course.”
“See, I’m helping. You can thank me later,” the husband said, and winked at Gabby as he popped the rest of the cupcake in his mouth.
She left twenty minutes later, with another five orders from guests at the party.
Apparently knowing Owen Bannister was good for business.
Just not good for her heart.
***
Owen rushed into Harvey’s office and dropped into the chair next to his more punctual brother. He got a quick “hey” from Bane before facing Harvey’s wrath.
Harvey Skaggs had been the publicity manager for the Colorado Summit for the last ten years and had more than his share of experience dealing with athletes and their issues. From the scowl on his face, he wasn’t too happy to be dealing with the Brawling Bannisters.
“You’ve really stepped in it with this one, fellas,” Harvey said. He nodded at Owen. “And you. Didn’t you think you had enough bad press with this thing with Bane? You just had to go out and party it up. It made it look like you were celebrating your brother getting traded off the team.”
“That’s not what happened at all,” Owen told him. “I sure as hell wasn’t celebrating. And the only party that was happening was a pity party. For myself.”
“That’s not the way the press made it appear. You’re getting slaughtered by these reporters. It’s like they’re out for your blood. We need to do something to clean up your reputation. That exhibition game is next weekend—that might help. Do you have any other charity events coming up? Anything you can do with kids? Maybe we can get you a Santa gig down at the mall.”
A Santa gig? Was he serious? With Harvey, you could never tell. “I don’t think I’m at that point yet.”
“You’re getting damn close. Don’t you get it? Your behavior reflects badly on the whole team. And with the few losses we’ve had lately, we don’t need anything negative affecting the morale of the team.” He sighed. “You’ve got talent, Owen, and you’re a great defenseman. You just seem to have poor judgment when you’re not on the ice. With your brother gone, the team’s already going to suffer. We need you to step up and be a leader right now, not bring the team down.”
The reminder of Bane leaving the team had a sour feeling churning in his gut. How was he supposed to be a leader to the team when he was the one who’d screwed up and been responsible for the loss of one of their best defensemen?
Who was gonna follow him? And why would they?
Bane dropped a supporting hand on his shoulder. “You can count on this guy, Harvey. Just watch, without me around, Owen’s gonna shine. He’ll hold up the Bannister name and come through for the team. I have faith in him.”
Yeah. Bane had always had faith in him. Why—he didn’t know. He felt like he’d let his big brother down time and time again. Sometimes he felt like he had a black cloud following him that caused havoc to anyone around him. That’s why it was easier to keep things light—not get too close to anyone. Like Gabby.
A pain tore at his heart at the thought of not seeing her again, but it was for the best. She was a nice girl—too sweet to handle the chaos that Owen Bannister would bring to her life.
She was trying to make a success of her business—the last thing she needed was his bad reputation rubbing off on her. But the look on her face when he’d said goodbye to her this afternoon had ripped a hole in his chest.
It was ridiculous. He’d known her less than twenty-four hours. She shouldn’t be having this much of an effect on him. He’d said goodbye to women he’d dated for six months with less emotion than he’d had walking away from Gabby this afternoon.
What was it about this girl that got under his skin? And into his heart?
It didn’t matter. She needed to focus on her business, and he needed to concentrate on the team and living up to the faith that his brother had in him.
Letting go of Gabby was the smart thing to do.
So why did it feel so dumb?
The door to the office opened and an intern rushed in. “Sorry to interrupt you, sir. But I thought you’d want to see this.” He held up his phone. “Owen is trending on Twitter.”
“For what?” Harvey turned to his computer and pulled up his Twitter account. “Last night was dumb, but I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Not enough to be trending.”
“It’s not about last night,” the intern said. “It’s from earlier today. When Owen was selling cupcakes.”
“Cupcakes?”
Oh, shit.
“What the hell have you done this time, Bannister?” Harvey tilted the screen toward Owen and Bane as he read the tweets, his voice changing from anger to excitement.
Who is this mystery girl that has captured the attention of the elusive playboy Bannister?
How do I get Owen B to smear me with frosting?
I’d let OB frost my cupcakes any day.
Mystery girl is making Owen Bannister smile.
OB is caught with his hands in the batter. Does she let him lick the beaters or…
Pictures and tweets of Owen and Gabby goofing around on the cupcake truck filled the screen. Most of the pictures were taken during the time Gabby had creamed him with the cupcake. Their smiling faces were covered in frosting as they played around and teased each other.
“Look at these tweets.” Harvey read another a few more out loud.
Has Bannister gone from brawling to baking?
Who is this mystery baker? And are there wedding cupcakes in the future?
The favorite picture that seemed to have received the most attention was of Owen leaning forward and giving Gabby a frosting-smeared kiss. Gabby’s eyes were closed, and her face was tipped up in bliss. And Owen’s face was covered in a huge grin.
“What is this, Bannister? Who is this girl?”
Owen gulped. The last thing he wanted was to get Gabby involved in another one of his messes.
“Is that the girl from last night? The caterer?” Bane asked. “What’s her name? Gabby?”
“Gabby? Gabby who?” Harvey asked. “Somebody tell me who this girl is.”
Bane grinned. “She’s Owen’s angel.”
“Shut up.” Had he really told Bane that Gabby was his angel? He swore he was never getting drunk again.
“Well, she’s my angel now,” Harvey said, a smile breaking across his face. “Because this girl is going to be the answer to our prayers.”
“What are you talking about?” Owen could feel the scowl settling on his face.
“This is the first time I’ve seen the press portray you in a positive light in years.” He tapped the picture of the now infamous kiss on his computer screen. “Someone caught you on camera with an actual smile on your face instead of a scowl. Like the one you’re wearing now.”
Harvey studied the screen, chuckling as he read. “And the women are going crazy for this. Everyone wants to know who this girl is that seems to have captured the ‘elusive playboy.’”
Bane arched an eyebrow at him. “You do look pretty happy in that picture, bro.”
“We were just goofing around. It’s nothing serious.” He didn’t feel happy. The only thing he could feel was the tension in his forehead as he gritted his teeth. “It was no big deal.”
“It’s certainly a big deal now.” Harvey leaned back in his chair, grinning like the Cheshire cat. “Tell me. Who is this girl?”
“Her name’s Gabby Davis. She’s a caterer who helped me out last night so I owed her a favor. She has this little cupcake shop and needed some help today because her brother bailed on her.” Actually she’d been the one to bail her brother out. “All I did was help her sell some cupcakes.”
“Looks like you were helping yourself to her cupcakes.” Bane smirked at him. “And she’s got some pretty nice cupcakes.”
“I said to shut up,” he growled at his brother.
Bane held up his hands. “All right. All right. Don’t need to get all touchy about it.” He grinned again, waiting for Owen to get the double entendre.
“Look, she’s just a girl. She’s not important,” Owen said, ignoring his brother. “We don’t need to get her involved.”
“Oh, she’s already involved. Up to her cupcake-baking eyeballs,” Harvey said. “You need this girl. She’s gonna be your icing-covered ticket out of this mess.”
He felt like he was in more of a mess now. He didn’t want to use Gabby.
In fact, he didn’t want to involve her at all.
“Look, she’s nobody. We barely know each other. And I made it pretty clear to her this afternoon that I wouldn’t be seeing her again.”
“Well, you need to make it unclear. In fact, I want you to see her again. And soon. Like tonight. Or even tomorrow. Why don’t you call her now?”
“Yeah, why don’t you call her now?” Bane chuckled. He was having way too good of a time with this.
“No. I’m not calling her. She’s a nice girl. And I’m not gonna use her to make me look better.”
“Yes, you are,” Harvey said. “You need the good publicity. And since when have you worried about how a woman was being affected by your nonsense?”
Since he’d met Gabby, apparently.
“She’s not like the usual women I go out with. They know what th
ey’re getting into. They like the publicity. But Gabby’s different.”
Harvey tapped a pen on his desk. “Okay. I hear what you’re saying. She’s a nice girl, blah blah blah. So, don’t think of this as being bad for her. It’s only going to help her to be seen with you. It’ll give her cupcake shop more publicity. And free publicity. Did you help her sell a bunch of cupcakes today?”
He thought of Gabby’s grinning face as she’d announced that she was sold out. He had helped her today. “Yeah, I guess.”
Gabby had said that she’d used her advertising savings to bail her brother out of jail. Maybe he could actually use the press to his benefit. Or to her benefit. To help her get some more business.
He could feel his resolve weakening. Was it because of Harvey’s persuasion? Or was he using Harvey’s insistence as an excuse because he really wanted to see Gabby again?
“That settles it. You’ve got the exhibition game next weekend. Make sure you get her to come to that—I’ll arrange tickets. But we need something sooner—something to capitalize on this trending thing.” Harvey clicked the keys of his computer, studying the screen. “Here we go. There’s a charity event tomorrow night. A dinner. Santa’s going to be there, and they’re passing out toys to underprivileged kids. This is perfect. Call this girl, and get her to go with you as your date.”
“How am I supposed to do that? I told you, I didn’t exactly leave her on good terms today.”
“You better mend those terms then. And quick. This dinner is to help kids. How’s she going to say no? I’ll arrange the tickets and have them delivered to your place tonight.” He made some notes on a pad of paper. “Make sure you show up. With her. You’re a smart guy, Owen. You’ll figure it out.”
They were dismissed.
Owen followed his brother into the hall.
“Harvey’s right,” Bane said. “Gabby could be good for your reputation. And you need all the help you can get right now. What’s the problem?”
Owen shrugged. “She’s a sweet girl. I just don’t want her to get hurt in this deal.”
“Then don’t hurt her.”
That sounded so simple. If only it worked out that way.