Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (180 page)

“I understand,” Alyssa said.

“Under no circumstances are you to be fraternizing around with the
players.
 
I won’t have some kind of
scandal happening, like that shit with Brett Favre and the sexts.”

Alyssa had no idea what she was talking about, but she said, “Of
course not, Isobel.”
 
She swallowed
hard and tried not to think about kissing Jay Havens in her hotel room this
morning.

She hung up the phone and headed back to the dugout, trying to calm
her beating heart.

***

The Heat won 7-2, and the mood in the locker room was one of
jubilation.
 
Players were
celebrating, and Jay Havens was getting ready for a night on the town.
 
He’d already decided exactly what he was
going to do.
 
Dinner at Koi,
followed by drinks at Sliver, and then who knew?
 
He always liked to play the after party
by ear.
 
Maybe he’d rent a hotel
room in Manhattan, bring the party there.
 
Or maybe he’d pick up some gorgeous woman while he was out tonight.
 
A blonde.
 
A blonde who looked nothing like Alyssa
Cotler.

He’d been distracted during the game, not being able to keep his
mind off her.
 
He’d had a great game
only because every time he was at bat, he’d poured all his anger toward Dax
into his swing.

“Good game, man,” Dax said, walking by him and giving him a fist
pound.

“Yeah,” Jay said, deliberately keeping it short.
 
Dax seemed to be waiting for something,
probably for Jay to tell him that Dax had had a good game, too.
 
But Jay didn’t want to give the fucker
the satisfaction.
 
Dax didn’t get
the hint.
 
He just stood there,
waiting.
 
Jay sighed.
 
“You, too,” he said finally, hoping Dax
would go away.
 
But he didn’t.

“You think?
 
I felt like
I could have been hitting a little stronger.”

It was bullshit.
 
Dax
had hit a homerun and a two RBI triple.
 
He was fishing for compliments.
 
“I can work with you a little,” Jay said.
 
“Give you some tips.”

“Thanks, man,” Dax said.
 
But his tone wasn’t genuine.
 
The guy was such a tool.
 
Jay
felt kind of like punching him in his stupid face.

“Or,” Jay said,
 
“you
could try to get some more sleep.
 
Less partying.”

Dax grinned.
 
“You saw
the New York Post article, huh?
 
Must have been a little weird, to not be the one everyone’s talking
about for once.”

“No,” Jay lied, “I didn’t see the article.
 
I just thought you seemed a little tired
today.”

Dax’s smile faltered for a moment, but he got control of himself
quickly.
 
“I was out with that
reporter,” Dax said.
 
“Not the
hottest piece of ass, but there’s something about her.
 
The whole doe-eyed, upstate vibe, you
know?
 
Nice rack.
 
She was grinding on me like she couldn’t
get enough.”
 
He grinned.
 
“I’m making it my mission to sleep with
her before she leaves.”
 

“I doubt that’s going to happen,” Jay said.
 
It came out sharper than he’d intended.

“We’ll see,” Dax said, giving him a pat on the shoulder.
 
“Anyway, I’ll catch you later, man.”

Jay could feel his blood boiling.
 
How could that asshole talk about Alyssa
like that?
 
Saying she wasn’t that
hot, that it was going to be his mission to sleep with her?
 
That motherfucker.
 
Forget about Alyssa Cotler,
Jay told himself, slamming his locker door shut.
 
He was going to go out and have a good
time.
 

His cell rang, and he looked at the caller ID.
 
Steve.
 
He thought about sending it to
voicemail, but if he did that, Steve would just be even angrier when he finally
did talk to him.

“Yo,” Jay said, cradling the phone against his chest.
 
He started to make his way out of the
locker room, high fiving some of his teammates on the way.
 
“Dinner at Koi, boys,” he told
them.
 
“My treat.”

“You better take that back,” Steve said through the phone.
 
“Otherwise there are going to be a lot
of disappointed baseball players at that restaurant.”

“Why?” Jay asked.

“Because I need to see you.
 
Now.
 
I’ll meet you at
Fratelli’s in ten.”

“No,” Jay said.

“Yes,” Steve told him. “Be there.”
 
And then the line went dead.

~Chapter Seven~

Alyssa left the game by herself and walked back to her hotel.
 
The air was warm, and she was in a good
mood.
 
Dax had asked her if she
wanted to grab some dinner after the game, but she’d declined.
 
The last thing she needed was her
picture showing up in the paper again.
 
Then she’d really be in trouble with Isobel.

When she was safely back in her room, she stood by her bed and
looked out the window.
 
It was nine
o’clock.
 
Late enough, but early by
New York City standards.
 
She
wondered if Brooklyn counted when they said New York was the city that never
slept.

She considered going out, doing something to enjoy the city, but
the thought of wandering around by herself seemed a little exhausting and kind
of pathetic.
 
And she was already
tired from the day, and dusty from the dust in the dugout.

She dug through her suitcase and picked out her favorite bubble
bath, and an aromatherapy candle her sister had given her when she’d found out
she was going on this trip.
 
Alyssa’s sister Iris was very much into aromatherapy.
 
It was probably bullshit, but Alyssa
liked a good smelling candle as much as the next person, and this one promised
to bring “luck, serenity, and abundance.”

What could be wrong with that?

She drew a bath, first making sure to scrub down the tub with some
disinfectant pads she’d brought.
 
They were supposed to be for wiping down your hands to prevent the
spread of colds and other nasty viruses, but she figured using them on the tub
would be better than nothing.

She poured the vanilla raspberry bubble bath into the tub, slid in,
and turned on the jets.
 
The hot
water soothed her, and she sighed, letting her shoulders slide into the water.

She closed her eyes and tried to relax, deciding not to think about
the column she still had to write about tonight’s game, or about how her
picture had been in the New York Post this morning.
 
And definitely not about Jay
Havens.
 
About how he’d kissed her
this morning, how hot his body had felt against hers.

She closed her eyes, determined to push him out of her thoughts.
 
But that kiss kept popping up.
 
Hot and demanding, searching and soft,
it had been perfect.
 
Alyssa had
never been kissed like that before, and it made her wonder what else Jay could
do to her.

Before she knew what she was doing, her hand was slipping under the
bubbles, down between her legs.
 
She
opened her thighs slightly, letting her fingers rub lightly up and down.

She pictured Jay there, coming into the room, wrapped only in a
towel.
 
His chest was perfect, just
the right amount of muscle, smooth and tan.
 
A faint line of hair started at his
belly button, and went down under the towel, and as he moved closer, the towel
dropped.

Alyssa moaned and moved her fingers faster over her clit, imagining
Jay finding her there in the tub, playing with herself while she thought about
him.

In her fantasy, he moved over to the tub and pulled her hand out
from the water, kissing each of her fingers softly and slowly, his eyes never
leaving hers.
 
He took her index
finger into his mouth slowly, sucking hard, tasting her.
 
And then he intertwined his fingers with
hers, placing her hand behind her against the wall.
 
With his other hand, he reached into the
water and took over where she left off.
 
His fingers moved in and out of her, touching the wetness between her
legs, rubbing and touching, bringing her to the edge and then taking her back
again.

She kept imagining him looking into her eyes, the electricity
passing between them.
 
“You like
that?” he asked her, and she nodded as he moved faster and faster.
 
“Come for me,” he said softly.

And she did, waves of pleasure radiating through her body.
 
It was the best orgasm she’d had in a
very long time.

***

Fratelli’s was an Italian joint in Brooklyn that Jay had never
really liked.
 
Something was just…
off about the place.
 
They professed
to have homestyle Italian food, and they had all the staples – fettuccini
alfredo, ziti with spicy sausage, spaghetti and meatballs.
 
But something about the food tasted like
it had been microwaved, and the tables with the cheap paper tablecloths and
candles that were supposed to make it seem homey only served to make the place
feel a little tacky.

“Why do you always make me come here?” Jay asked, sliding into the
booth across from Steve.
 
“You know
I hate this place.”

“It’s the only place I can bring you where I never have to worry
about being interrupted,” Steve said.
 
He was a big man, with broad shoulders and sharp features, the kind of
guy who looked like he’d played college football.
 
And he had – three years at USC
before an injury had forced him to hang up his helmet.

“That’s because no one’s ever in here,” Jay grumbled.
 
He grabbed the menu from where it was
resting behind the napkin holder.
 
The food here was mediocre, but he was starving.

“I’m sure your sensitive palette can take it for one night,” Steve
said.

The waitress came over, a pretty young thing wearing a tight black
t-shirt and a pair of tight black pants that showed every curve.

“I’ll have an order of calamari, some garlic knots, and the chicken
parm,” Jay decided, sliding the menu back in its place.

“Just some mineral water for me,” Steve said.

“You’re not eating?” Jay was surprised.
 
Steve was known for his monster
appetite.

“Nah,” he said, patting his belly.
 
“I gotta watch the weight.”

“Come on,” Jay said, leaning back and taking a sip of his
water.
 
“You don’t need to lose
weight.
 
You just need to tone
up.
 
I have a great trainer, I can
give you his number.
 
My treat.”

Steve shook his head.
 
“You are a piece of work, you know that?”

“Why?
 
What did I do?”

“You know exactly what you’re doing.”

The waitress returned and set a basket full of garlic knots down in
front of them.
 
Jay reached in and
lifted one of the warm and doughy bundles out, took a bite, and offered the
basket to Steve.

Steve shook his head.
 
Jay shrugged and set the basket back down on the table.

“I had a meeting with Billingsley, Jay.
 
And he’s serious. You have to stop this
crazy shit you’ve been doing.”

“I haven’t been doing any crazy shit.”

“Alyssa Cotler wrote that you took her out and tried to impress her
with your American Express Black Card.”