Down by Contact - A Seattle Lumberjacks Romance (18 page)

Bruiser in his slacks with the knife-blade
crease and crisp black shirt strutted behind them, glancing around
as if looking for his adoring fans. A lady’s man to rival all
ladies’ men, Bruiser was almost too pretty for words with his deep
tan and streaked blond hair. He reminded Kelsie a little too much
of her ex-husband. She slid behind Rachel and Lavender, hoping to
stay out of Bruiser’s well-honed, womanizing sights. Only
five-foot-ten former beauty queens didn’t exactly blend in with a
crowd. His eyes lit up when he spotted her, and the running back
barged to her side like a bargain shopper when the doors opened on
Nordstrom sale day.

“Ah, I knew you wouldn’t play the coy one
for long. I see you’re waiting for me, honey.” The sly devil slid
right up to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. In her Jimmy
Choo boots she towered over him by a few inches. Most guys would
have a problem with that. Not Bruiser. A girl had to admire the
guy’s brash confidence, even if she didn’t admire his cockiness. If
she stepped on his foot with her lethal heels, the Jacks would lose
their best running back. Still, it was damn tempting, as she’d long
ago outgrown false flattery.

Zach stalked out next and tramped down the
hall toward them, all dark and brooding like some gothic romance
hero. Kelsie’s heart stepped it up a notch, and she trembled
slightly. Licking her lips, she forced herself to breathe. Bruiser
grinned, obviously assuming she was reacting to him.

Zach’s posse of defensive teammates
straggled out behind him. Spotting Tyler, he made a show of looking
the other way until he caught Kelsie out the corner of his eye. His
mouth turned down into an even larger frown. Bruiser grinned at
Zach, obviously knowing he was pissing off his teammate.

“So where’s dinner tonight, guys?” Bruiser
squeezed her closer. She elbowed him in the ribs, hard, and he
grunted in pain but didn’t loosen his hold.

“We got a private room at The Steakhouse.”
Tyler grabbed Lavender’s hand and pulled her against him, turning
the full power of his intense blue eyes on her. “Unless, you’d like
to forget dinner and dine on some wine and chocolate at home.”

Lavender giggled. “We’re going to dinner.”
She leaned in close to her boyfriend, but Kelsie stood only a foot
away and heard her. “You can have your way later.”

“You can count on it.” One smile from her,
and Tyler’s foul mood seemed to lift like the sun breaking through
the clouds after a spring storm on Puget Sound.

“Count me and pretty lady here in. I plan to
wine and dine her,” Bruiser flashed his thousand-watt smile.

Despite the thought of a full meal, this
Kelsie didn’t use people. She opened her mouth to protest, but the
wind rushed from her lungs as Zach hauled her to his side.
Bruiser’s arm hung out in space as if it surrounded an invisible
woman’s waist. He took one look at Zach’s murderous glare and
swallowed.

Backing up a few steps, Bruiser held his
hands up in surrender. “Hey, man, sorry. Didn’t know you two were
an item.”

“Keep your hands off,” Zach grumbled, his
menacing gaze took in every man there, daring them to cross that
line. Tyler raised one eyebrow but kept his thoughts to himself.
The other guys looked everywhere but at Kelsie.

“Don’t worry. I don’t play on another man’s
playground.” Bruiser regained a portion of his swagger for the
guys’ benefit.

Tyler inserted himself into the conversation
with a loud snort. “Bullshit, Bruiser. You play any chance you
get.” He turned to Lavender and tucked a lock of her red hair
behind her ear with a loving smile that seemed so out of place on
his bad boy face. “If you’re in, let’s go. I’m starving. Dinner’s
on the team captains tonight. Next game, the rookies pay.”

A collective cheer went up from the group of
players, except the rookies. Zach groaned. Mr. Tightwad hated to
part with even a portion of his wad of dough. The crowd swept
Kelsie along and out the double doors into the dark night. She
fully intended to beg off, despite her state of hunger, only Zach
wasn’t letting go of her. She needed to keep her distance despite
how nice it felt to be claimed. Theirs was a business relationship,
and it needed to stay that way.

The team members and significant others
headed to their respective modes of transportation. Her so-called
friends dispersed faster than a flock of geese after a gunshot.
They knew exactly what they were doing—leaving her at Zach’s mercy.
Even worse, leaving her sex-deprived body at the mercy of his hard,
hot body.

She’d get even the next chance she got.

Zach yanked her against him just as Mountain
Morris, their huge right tackle, astride his even larger Harley
roared out the parking lot, sending water flying from several mud
puddles.

He pulled her out of the way just in time.
Kelsie found herself wrapped in his arms and staring up at him. The
palms of her hands spread across his chest. His heart thudded
erratically under her palms, mirroring hers. She gazed up at him.
Big mistake. Bigger mistake than mixing navy blue socks with a
black slacks. Usually full of disdain, his expression softened,
easing the hard planes of his face. The big hands grasping her
shoulders slipped behind her back and pulled her closer. His hot
breath teased her lips. She tilted her head. Her lips parted.
Waiting. Wanting. Needing.

A car horn honked, and they jumped apart.
Tyler sped by, waving at them through his open window. Lavender and
Tyler’s laughter filtered back to them as he sped down the
street.

“Bastard,” Zach muttered and backed up a few
steps, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Kelsie ran a shaking hand through her hair.
“I’d better be going. Home that is.”

Zach squinted at her, studying her intently
in the light of a street lamp. “And where is that exactly?”

Kelsie opened her mouth then clamped it
shut. The lies that once flowed so easily from her lips, didn’t
come so easily anymore. She’d learned the hard way that each lie
came with a price. “Oh, I had a little studio in Fremont.”

“Do you now?” He didn’t seem convinced.

She ignored the question and started
walking. “Have a good dinner.”

He jogged to catch up then easily matched
strides with her, his hands still shoved deep in his pockets and
his gaze avoiding hers. “You aren’t joining us?”

“I’d better not.” She stared straight ahead,
wishing he’d go away and wishing he’d stay.

“It’s a social situation. Aren’t you gonna
hang out and coach me?” They walked together across the lot.

“You’ll do okay with that crowd.”

“Ah, because those are my people?”

“Something like that.”

“Fine, I’ll give you a ride to your car.
It’s dark and rainy.”

Kelsie slapped down the panic. He couldn’t
see her car. Couldn’t see all the stuff stacked in it. One glance,
and he’d know the truth. “No, really. That’s fine.”

Then she saw it. She stopped dead in her
tracks as a cold blade of fear knifed through her. Her life tilted
crazily. The black sedan with dark windows idled in a parking space
across from the stadium. She hadn’t seen it in a few weeks, and
hoped her stalker had given up. She should’ve known better. Zach
followed her gaze. He stiffened but didn’t comment.

“You’re right. I’d be derelict in my duties
if I didn’t help you out tonight.”

“Yeah, I thought so.” With a shrug, Zach
motioned toward his truck. Kelsie quickly followed. He unlocked it
and opened the passenger door for her.

“Thank you, Zach.” She took the hand he
offered and allowed him to help her step up into his large beast of
a vehicle, which so fit the man. Once she was seated inside, he
shut the door.

Instead of getting into the truck, he broke
into a run across the street. The driver of the car saw him coming
and gunned it out of there. Zach stood in the middle of the
deserted street until the car disappeared from sight. Fists
clenched and his body tense with frustration, Zach turned back to
the truck. Getting in, he gripped the steering wheel for a moment.
Kelsie said nothing because she didn’t know what to say. A few
seconds later, they pulled out of the lot onto the street. She
shivered and hugged herself.

Zach glanced at her as he tailgated
Bruiser’s sports car down the street. “Who the hell is that
guy?”

“You’ve seen him before?”

“A few times.” He chewed on his lower lip
and stared straight ahead.

Kelsie went cold inside. “Where?”

“Lately?”

“Yes, lately?”

“In front of my house and at Jacks
headquarters.”

Kelsie dug her fingernails into the cloth
seat and swallowed the bile rising in her throat. “Your house?”

He nodded. “Is he following you?”

Did that mean he’d been there while she’d
been sleeping in her car? Had he seen her? Taken pictures of her
homeless and alone? Stared in the window at her? She shivered at
the thought, felt like she’d been violated, and hugged her
body.

Did her ex know her circumstances? After
all, how would it look if his ex-wife would rather live on the
streets than be married to him? Especially with his political
aspirations.

She’d either have to tell Zach the truth or
weasel a way into his home somehow. If she slept with him… No.
Kelsie gripped her hands tight in her lap. Old Kelsie would be that
manipulative. She refused to consider it, though the picture of
them, tangled up in his sheets, made her tingle all the way to her
toes. If she slept with him, it would be because she cared for him,
not because she was using him.

Zach glanced at Kelsie. The street lamp lit
up her face as she chewed on a fingernail. She looked over her
shoulder to see if the sedan followed. Zach flicked his gaze to the
rear-view mirror.

“So, level with me. Do you know anything
about that guy?”

She sucked her lower lip into her mouth, as
her brain worked overtime. The truth wouldn’t work, not without
telling him the entire story and revealing the source of her
private shame. Just a few minutes ago, she’d sworn off lying. Now
she’d concoct a lie. One in many to cover up her past.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never talked to him.”
Okay so that was the truth.

“I did. Once. When I saw him at Jacks
headquarters. Claimed he was reporter trying to get some dirt on
me. Thought you were my girlfriend. Something tells me that it’s
not me he’s following.”

Kelsie shrugged and studied him in the
dashboard light. He stared straight ahead, his jaw clenched, his
dark eyes narrowed and determined. She resisted the urge to touch
him, to let his strength flow from him to her, to give up her
hard-won control to him and let him take care of her. Because Zach
would protect her, he was that type of guy.

“Why would he be following you? Are you in
some sort of trouble?” He glanced at her, and she instantly looked
away.

This happened to be where the truth parted
ways with fiction. “I think my parents hired him. They’re worried
about me out in the world by myself. It’s a nuisance, nothing
more.”

He frowned. His dark brows drew together.
“You don’t act like it’s nothing.”

“I just don’t want him to report back to
them. They might insist I come back, and I don’t want to.”

“Why don’t you want to go back there?”

Kelsie squirmed. “My divorce was pretty
ugly. I needed to get out of town for a while.”

“It’s more than that.”

She turned to him. “Maybe. But it’s really
not any of your concern.”

His jaw tightened, and he didn’t look at
her. “No, it’s not.”

Sleeping in her car was becoming a less
viable option. Sure, the guy hadn’t done a thing yet other than
stalk her and threaten what small measure of safety she’d had over
the past few weeks. She needed a plan. “What we need to worry about
is getting your house in order before this party.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t give a damn
about Veronica’s party.”

“It’s your party.”

“Somehow I suspect it was your idea, and you
sold her on it.”

Somewhat glad to have Zach’s stubbornness as
a distraction from her stalker, Kelsie jumped on it. “Quit wasting
energy fighting it. We’re having a gala at your house. You will
behave and be a gracious host if I have to squeeze your balls in a
vise to get you to cooperate.”

He raised one dark eyebrow and chuckled at
her out-of-character rank language. “You’ve been hanging around me
too long. I’m rubbing off on you. Next thing you know, you’ll be
throwing darts with the good ole boys down at the Crossroads
Tavern.”

Kelsie smiled. “I could probably set aside
my social indoctrination long enough to whoop your ass at
darts.”

“You’re on, lady.” A smile split his face.
Funny, when he smiled he looked really handsome. Not drop-dead
gorgeous like Tyler or suave and smooth like Bruiser, but ruggedly
handsome like a young John Wayne. Kelsie loved old movies,
especially Westerns.

She’d always been attracted to the strong,
brooding type. Zach fit that bill. And he fit way too much else she
desired in her new life, but he could never know. Couldn’t know
because there was so much about them that would never work. For
starters he still saw her as the same girl who used people and
crushed them under a stiletto when they’d outlived their
usefulness.

Only she wasn’t. Not that he’d ever believe
it because the man held his grudges closer to his heart than most
people held their loved ones.

The type of loved ones that neither Zach nor
Kelsie had ever had in their lives.

* * * * *

Zach tolerated the rest of the evening,
watching his good money go down the guts of guys who ate more than
an entire platoon of Army Rangers after a night-long march. Even
worse, Kelsie sat next to him, not giving his cock a moment of
rest. The damn thing rose to the occasion and stayed there despite
his attempts to forget about her luscious body, her incredible
scent, and her stunning thousand-watt smile.