Hardball

by Sykes, V. K.

  “But you’ll get a court order, right? So, why are you so bent out of shape?”

  She took another drink, a bigger one this time. When she put her glass back down, Nate could see her hand slightly trembling.

  Alarm shot through him as he instinctively reached for the hand. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  “He threatened me, Nate,” she said, a slight quaver in her voice. “He said I’d better change my mind about the court order, or I’m going to regret it.”

  For a split second Nate felt numb, but then fire ripped through his veins. Anger threatened to overwhelm him, along with the urge to pound Lance Arnold into the dust. But he fought to rein it in and succeeded. He didn’t need to overreact, or scare Holly any more than she was.

  “You obviously took him seriously,” he finally said when he could talk in a calm voice. He squeezed her hand tightly.

  Holly nodded. “I have to. I’ve had my share of grief-stricken parents blowing off steam by yelling at doctors. I’ve even seen direct threats. But nothing remotely similar to this. Arnold was ice cold and determined in his threat. He meant what he said. I know he did.”

  She swallowed hard, like she had a lump in her throat. Nate could barely stay seated with the overpowering desire to hunt down the bastard who had frightened her so badly. He sensed Holly wasn’t the kind of woman to get easily spooked, so it must have been a really awful scene. “Did you report what he said to your boss?”

  “Of course. He didn’t like it, but cautioned me against overreacting. Said that sort of thing had happened to him a few times in his career, and that it always blew over.” When she picked up her glass, she clutched it so tightly that her fingers started to lose color. “What could I say that didn’t make me seem like a complete wimp?”

  Nate fell silent for a few moments, stroking her wrist as he thought. She waited quietly, obviously trying to be calm and brave, and it tore a hole in his heart.

  “Holly, I think you should go to the police,” he finally said. Not that he thought the cops would do much—not to a distraught father who might have said something stupid to his kid’s doctor—but at least it would alert them to a potential situation. And put it on the record should anything happen later.

  Not that he’d let anything happen to Holly. No fucking way.

  She emphatically shook her head, her ponytail flying. “I thought about that, but it would be Arnold’s word against mine. Besides, it wasn’t exactly a direct threat. He’d just say he was telling me I’d regret it if things went wrong with the surgery. Like I’d feel guilty or something.”

  “You know that’s damn well not what he meant,” he said impatiently.

  She blew out an exasperated breath. “Of course, I do. The point is I can’t prove it.”

  “Listen, if you report this incident to the police, then they’ll take it a lot more seriously if Arnold does it again. You’re a respected surgeon. They’re not just going to blow you off.”

  He hoped.

  “Either that or I find the bastard myself and…warn him off,” he said. And he wasn’t talking about just a verbal warning.

  She peered at him as if actually considering the idea, then sighed. “Not a great idea, Nate. Especially with that shoulder of yours. Still, it’s nice to know you’d be there for me.”

  Hell, yeah, I’ll be there for you. He fixed her with a solemn gaze, like he wanted to make sure she knew exactly how much she could rely on him. “You better believe I would. And my shoulder has nothing to do with it, babe, so don’t worry about that.”

  She fiddled with her drink for a bit. “You really think I should go to the police?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Now. Go straight to the station. Don’t try to call. They take it more seriously if you show up at their door, demanding to talk to a detective.”

  “You’re right,” she said, sounding a bit more like her old, decisive self. “I might as well go now. Get it over with.”

  “Great. And I’m going with you,” he said firmly, his eyes and his tone sending a clear message that he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  There was something heartbreaking about the relief and gratitude he saw in her eyes. Fear still lurked there, too, and that made him vibrate with rage. He wanted—needed—to protect her, to keep her safe from Arnold and anyone or anything else that might be a threat to her. Going to the police was the first step in doing that.

  As he waved the server over and asked for the bill, eager to get on with tackling the problem, it suddenly dawned on him how unfamiliar was this urgent desire to protect Holly. He knew without thinking that it had to be because no woman had ever made him feel that way before.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “It’s about what I figured they’d say,” Nate said in a flat voice as he helped Holly into the Aston Martin. “But it’s good that you reported the bastard.”

  Holly wasn’t surprised either. After an hour-long wait at the District 6 station, she’d told her story to a detective, but had sensed right away that nothing would come of it. At least the man had taken notes and said he would file a report so there’d be a record of her complaint.

  “I know,” she agreed, “but I really didn’t need to be told that Lance Arnold was probably just letting off steam.” As if she couldn’t tell the difference between a stressed-out blowup and a real threat.

  Nate gave her thigh a sympathetic pat. “The good thing is that the detective agreed that if the threats continue, they’ll lean on Arnold. That’s something.”

  “Better than nothing, I suppose,” Holly said doubtfully. She hadn’t really expected much from the trip to the police station, but now that it was over, she felt let down.

  Nate pulled out into traffic with a screech of tires. Holly repressed the backseat driver remark that sprang to her lips. He was such a boy when it came to his car. But, then again, he’d been all man in helping her to face up to and deal with her problem.

  “Hey, beautiful,” he said. “An idea came to me when we were waiting back there at the cop shop.”

  She sighed. “Can we not talk about Arnold anymore for awhile?”

  “It’s not about Arnold,” he said, shaking his head. “Not exactly, anyway. No, I was thinking how good it would be for you to get away for a few days. Kick back and relax.” He grinned. “With me, of course.”

  His words took her aback, even though she’d learned early on that he was an impulsive kind of guy. Their relationship had been building steadily, but the thought of going away with him hadn’t yet crossed her mind.

  “Interesting,” she said cautiously. “But I don’t usually pick up like that on impulse.”

  “Why not? Let’s just do it. Today. We’ll just pack suitcases and blow this town.” He cast her a devilish, seductive grin.

  Holly held up a hand, trying not to get swept up in the need to escape her troubles. “Hold on, Romeo. You might be paroled from work for a while, but I’m not. And where are you thinking of whisking me away to, anyway?”

  “My condo in Florida. But we could go anywhere you want. Anywhere in the world, if you can find the time.”

  A fierce longing rushed through her. It would be heaven to get away from everything that pulled her down. even for a couple of days. And to be alone with Nate twenty-four seven...that was a powerful temptation, more powerful than she cared to admit.

  At a stop light on Tenth Street, he glanced across at her. “You could use a few days away from all this crap.” He reached out again, putting his hand on her thigh. Its warmth and strength felt wonderful. Just what she needed.

  Well, actually she could use a lot more of his touch, but that would come soon enough.

  Taking a deep breath, Holly nodded. It would never have occurred to her to do something so impulsive, but Nate had somehow sensed that a spontaneous getaway was what she needed.

  “Let me think about it for a few minutes,” she said.

  Her mind furiously raced through the logistics of rearranging her schedule. The idea of run
ning away for awhile appealed to her more than she would have believed—so much so that she was determined to make it work. But even managing to do it tomorrow would be a stretch, as there were at least two appointments she couldn’t reschedule.

  She squeezed his hand for a moment before the light changed and he had to withdraw it and grab the steering wheel. “I’d love to go right now if I could,” she said. “Leave today. But I just can’t. I might be able to manage it tomorrow, though. Could we leave late in the day? I couldn’t get away until three, or maybe even four o’clock.”

  “No problem,” he said. “I’m instrument rated, so we can leave as late as you want. And I actually like flying at night. The lights are amazing, and it’s easy to see where you’re going if there’s no cloud cover.”

  She’d forgotten that she’d read on the Internet that he owned a small plane and flew it himself. He’d never mentioned it to her. “You’ll fly us down in your plane?”

  “Of course.” He eyed her with a what the heck else would we do look. “Air Carter offers door to door service. An Aston Martin to pick you up at your door and another luxury vehicle to drop you at your vacation destination in Ponte Vedra Beach. Refreshments will be provided, of course. Although you might not want to drink too much because the bathroom facilities are limited.” He smiled. “Actually, they’re non-existent.”

  Holly couldn’t help laughing. God, the man could charm the birds from the trees. Combine that with the looks, the athletic ability, and the money, and it was no wonder women flocked to him. She still wondered why he’d been so intently focused on her from their first encounter.

  The more she thought about getting away, the more the knot in her gut unraveled. “It sounds too good to be true, especially after today. I think I must be dreaming.” Then a worried thought struck her. “Are you sure you’ll be able to fly with your arm out of commission?”

  He snorted. “Babe, it’s a bone bruise. It’s not like I can’t use it at all. Just leave everything to me. We’re going to forget everything that’s going on here and have a lot of fun.” He shot her a cartoon leer. “A whole lot of fun.”

  Holly laughed again. Okay, she would surrender to the impulse. It wouldn’t be the first time with Nate, and she was sure it wouldn’t be the last.

  * * *

  The next day, as Holly tried to focus her mind on her afternoon meetings, vivid memories of the previous evening kept breaking into her thoughts.

  She’d slept at Nate’s apartment because she’d felt uncomfortable about the prospect of going home and stewing about Arnold all night. She shut off her cell phone, didn’t check her home voice mail messages, and spent a relaxing evening snuggled up with Nate on his butter-soft leather sofa. They’d planned on watching a DVD, but never made it that far.

  They’d started with Vietnamese takeout, deliberately avoiding any mention of the day’s events while they ate. After they’d finished, and Nate had finally found a comfortable position lying on his right side on the sofa, Holly had slipped into place in front of him. She molded her body to his, wriggling her bottom against his groin. The pressure of his stiffening cock on her ass made her weak with passion in a heartbeat. It hadn’t taken long for things to get scorching hot between them.

  Just thinking about it now, sitting at her office desk, made her flush with prickly heat. The long and short of it was that Nate had taken over, despite his painful shoulder. He knew exactly how to please her, and to guide her in pleasing him.

  At the end, he lay on his back, stripped from the waist down, his shirt wide open. She was poised above him, her legs spread and her palms carefully flat against his rock hard chest. When he finally sank his shaft deep inside her, thrusting upward into her waiting, wet flesh, Holly had cried out in a kind of delicious agony that she hardly believed existed. After all the staggeringly hot foreplay, she’d been out of her mind with the need to have him inside her. And when it happened, it had felt as if they were created only for each other, their bodies designed to fit in a perfect lock. Quickly, she’d shuddered into an explosive climax that left her gasping for air.

  Holly snapped out of her reverie when the department secretary buzzed to announce the arrival of the first of her two appointments. She pushed her daydreams aside and zeroed her focus on the case files in front of her.

  An hour later, she was done. Both appointments had gone smoothly. She had even managed to forget about Lance Arnold. Like the two couples she’d just seen, almost all the parents she’d met over the years had been wonderful. Understanding, brave, determined, and trusting of their physicians. She admired them and felt a bond that would support them all through the trials ahead. It reminded her of why she did what she did in the first place. No matter what, the Lance Arnolds of the world could never diminish that.

  As a bonus, both sessions finished up in less time than she’d allotted for them. She would never rush a parent out of her office, and hadn’t in either case, but the truth was that she couldn’t wait to get home to finish packing for Florida. In just a few minutes she was out the door and fast-walking to the High-Speed Line for the short trip to the Jersey suburbs.

  When she was young, Holly had spent all kinds of time at Jacksonville area beaches, including Ponte Vedra. It thrilled her that she and Nate were traveling together to one of her favorite places. She’d also make sure they had time for a visit to her mother in Jacksonville. Nate had readily agreed to go with her. That felt like an important step forward in their relationship, even though she hadn’t made a big deal of it when she’d brought it up. But Nate seemed fine with the idea, and that secretly thrilled her, too.

  Not that it came without its worries, though. There was no telling how her mother would react when a sexy ballplayer strolled through her door with her daughter. Aristocratic in style if not by birth, Jacqueline Villiers Bell was not going to be overjoyed to see her bring home a professional athlete. Not even a rather rich and famous one. In fact, Nate’s fame would probably be a strike against him in her mother’s eyes. She’d no doubt see it all as rather crass.

  Holly could only say a prayer that her mother would be on the good side of insufferable that day.

  Once she got home, she quickly packed and piled her luggage by the front door, ready for Nate to pick her up. One thing she still had to do before leaving, though, was check her home voice mail. She’d just noticed the message light blinking.

  There were three new messages on the machine. The first was from her mother, her voice decidedly lukewarm in reaction to Holly’s news about their upcoming visit. That made her wrinkle her nose, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

  The second was from the cable company trying to sell her an upgraded package. When she deleted that one and the third message kicked in, Holly almost dropped the phone. She instantly recognized Lance Arnold’s gruff voice—not surprisingly, since she’d replayed their conversations in her head so many times.

  She concentrated on her breath for a couple of moments, in and out, belly-breathing, long exhalations. It quickly calmed her. She didn’t want to listen to the message, and briefly considered waiting until Nate was with her. Then she mentally scolded herself and started the message again.

  His voice was icy, sneering. “I know you’re not at home, Doctor Bell, but I thought I’d send my regards. Say, you’ve got a real nice little house there. Quite the fancy town you live in, too.”

  Shit! A stab of panic shot through her. She put a hand onto the kitchen counter to steady herself. How did he find out where she lived? She wasn’t even listed in the phone book.

  Another thought made the breath catch in her throat. The monster might have followed her home one day. Maybe he was even outside right now.

  The message played on, chilling her to the bone. “Think about what I said about the surgery and the court order. Think real hard, okay?”

  Her legs were suddenly so shaky that she had to sit down.

  She could hear his heavy, raspy breathing for a couple of more seconds, then
his voice kicked back in. “I know you went to the cops. But I’ll bet they told you to get lost, didn’t they? Cops are too busy to deal with your kind of paranoia.” His clipped laugh was as menacing as his words.

  But mixing in with her fear, now, was growing anger. Arnold was taunting her. Gloating.

  “Make it easy on yourself, Doc. Forget about the surgery. Let Tyler go home.” The message ended.

  Sure, let the boy go home and die. That’s really what you really want, isn’t it, you sick son of a bitch.

  She slammed the phone down onto the table. Panting, she grabbed her bag and rummaged through it for the business card the detective had given her yesterday. She found it, but it took her three tries before she finally punched in the number correctly. The detective had a direct line, and he answered in seconds.

  “Detective Rich, this is Dr. Holly Bell,” she said, almost breathless. “You said to call back if Lance Arnold harassed me again. Well, he left a threatening message on my voice mail late last night.”

  “Okay, Dr. Bell. Try to calm down. What did he say this time?” Rich asked in a calm voice.

  Holly told him, almost word-for-word. “And I’m sure he’s been following me,” she added.

  “Did you actually see him tailing you?”

  “No, but he knows where I live, so I’m assuming that’s how he found out. And he also knew I had gone to the police,” she said, both worried and exasperated. “What can you do to help me?”

  “You saved the message?”

  “Of course I did.”

  “Make sure you keep it saved. Tell me again exactly what he said.”

  Holly repeated the message virtually word-for-word.

  Rich paused, clearly thinking. “Okay, he’s crossed the line now. We’ll go talk to him. I’m prepared to cut him some slack because of the kid—I’ve got a son of my own around that age. But he’s got to stop contacting you outside the hospital. Enough is enough.”