Game On (2 page)

But the feel of her slight body curling
into his, her hot breath fanning his neck, made it impossible for him to slip
away. For the first time in the history of their friendship, they’d spent the
night in each other’s arms, and that was the night Ryan knew, without a doubt,
that she was
the one
. He just had to figure out how to prove to her that
he wasn’t the same guy who’d broken dozens of hearts before she could entrust
him with hers.

Brianna sighed. “It hasn’t been easy for
me, you know, to think about dating again. I thought you’d be happy for me.
Clint’s one of the good guys. You’ve said so yourself plenty of times.”

He damned his big mouth as he scrambled to
think of one reasonable excuse for her to give old Clint the brush off. “Maybe
it’s too soon for you to start dating again.” That sounded laughable even to
him.

“It’s not like Jared was the love of my
life.”

No, he’s not. I’m the love of your life.
Why the hell can’t you see that?

“He was just some guy I was dating. Still,
it hurt, walking in there and seeing him with her.”

“You need to forget about him.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do. Why do you
think I agreed to go out with Clint tonight?”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah.” She smiled, revealing the dimples
that made him feel like someone knocked the wind out of him. “Can you believe
that? I mean, I know the place is going to be crawling with press. He could
have asked anyone, yet he asked me. That’s got to count for something, right?”

That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.
Ryan clenched his jaw in frustration, knowing he couldn’t do a damn
thing to stop her.

***

Brianna stared at her reflection in the
mirror. She’d stopped by Alisa’s boutique on the way home from work, hoping her
cousin’s best friend and business partner, Lena, could help her find something
fabulous for the party. This dress exceeded her expectations.

She turned to look at the silver straps
crossing over the low-cut back. “Wow,” she whispered.

Lena clapped her hands in excitement.
“Didn’t I tell you it would be perfect? Girl, that dress looks like it was made
for you.”

Brianna had to agree. She winced when she
glanced at the price tag. Titan Records paid her well, but she felt guilty
spending so much money on clothes when her mother constantly lectured her about
saving for a down payment and investing in a home of her own.

“Don’t worry about that,” Lena said,
standing in the mirror behind her. “We’ll give it to you at cost.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t ask, I offered. Besides, when
those reporters ask you where you got that amazing dress, you be sure to tell
them it came from our boutique.”

“You got it.” Lena was her adopted cousin, and
close friends with Evan Spencer’s girlfriend, Erika. The six of them would
often go out when Evan was able to pry himself away from his desk.

“I still can’t believe you’re going out
with Clint Davis,” Lena said, boosting herself up on a tall stool. “He is so
freakin’ hot.”

Brianna laughed at her friend’s assessment.
“I still can’t believe it myself.”

“It must be pretty cool, working in the
music industry and meeting all of those famous people.”

“It’s not all that glamorous from where I
sit,” Brianna said, turning slowly in front of the three-way mirror so she
could see the dress from all angles. She pulled her long, straight blond hair
up, piling it in a messy up-do on top of her head. She wouldn’t have time to
visit the salon or even have her nails done. She grimaced at her short,
unpolished nails. Clint was probably used to dating picture perfect cover
girls. She could only hope the sexy dress would distract him from her
imperfections.

“What do you mean?” Lena asked, carefully scrutinizing
the dress.

“I deal with contract law mostly. I draft
contracts and pass them on to another department for the artist’s legal team to
review. The only time I see the talent is in court, when they’re in breach of a
clause in their contract.”

“So, how’d you meet Clint?”

“I was working late one night when he came
to see Evan. I practically bumped into him in the hall. It turns out we work
out at the same gym just down the street from my apartment.”

“How convenient,” Lena said, grinning.

“It’s not like that.” If Clint was like
most men, she would believe the subsequent meetings were a ploy to spend more
time with her, but he was so genuine, so likeable. Imagining a man like him
resorting to deception to spend more time with a woman was difficult. “He’s
sweet and kind…” Brianna blushed when she realized Lena was staring at her
reflection in the mirror. “What? I like him, okay?”

“It sounds like you like him
a lot
.”

“Maybe I do.” After the fiasco with Jared,
she wasn’t ready to think about trusting someone else just yet. “We’ll see.
It’s just one date.”

“I don’t mean to offend you, but why did he
wait until the day of the event to ask you? I mean, if you guys see each other
at the gym so often, he could’ve asked you weeks ago.”

The same question had crossed Brianna’s
mind. She didn’t want to believe that his plans with his first choice had
fallen through at the last minute, but she suspected that may be the case. “He
didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.”

“What did Ryan say when you told him?”

Brianna laughed. “Why would Ryan care? I
know dating the talent is frowned upon at Titan, but Ryan’s already broken that
unwritten rule so many times he can hardly blame me for doing the same.”

“So he was fine with it?” Lena asked. “He
didn’t seem to mind at all?”

Brianna turned toward her friend, frowning.
“No, why would he mind?”

“No reason.” Lena jumped off her stool and
came up behind Brianna, holding her hair off her neck and twisting it into an
up-do. “We have a hair stylist and make-up artist we use for fashion shows. Why
don’t I see if I can call in a favor?”

Brianna had always preferred the simple
look with a minimal amount of make-up and flavored lip gloss. She wasn’t sure
she could pull off the kind of dramatic evening look the event required since
people were used to seeing her with little more than lip gloss. “Are you
serious? You think they’d be willing to just drop everything and come over
here?”

“If I promised to use them exclusively on
all of our shows this year, I’m betting they would.”

“Thanks, Lena,” Brianna said, hugging her.
“I don’t know what I’d do without friends like you.”

Lena giggled. “You’d probably have to face
the paparazzi wearing cherry lip-gloss.”

Ryan arrived at Jimmy’s early to meet with
the party planner, but he was pleasantly surprised to see the owner, his
brother-in-law J.T. McCall, behind the bar.

Nikki, J.T.’s wife, and his brother Ty had
made Titan a small fortune over the years and helped them maintain their
reputation as one of the most sought after record labels in the business.

“Hey,” Ryan said, shaking J.T.’s hand. “I
didn’t expect the boss man to be here. The last few times I’ve been in, the
manager said you only come in for a couple of hours around lunch time to check
on things.”

“That’s true, but I knew this party was a
big deal for you guys. I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed.” J.T.
led Ryan toward a booth. “Have a seat. Let me get you a beer. Your party
planner’s in the back hasslin’ my chef.”

Ryan laughed. “That sounds like her.” Courtney
had planned dozens of events for them this year and he knew the evening would
go off without a hitch as long as she was here to tend to the details. “Hope
she’s not givin’ y’all too much trouble. I know she can be a bit tough to rein
in at times.”

J.T. rolled his eyes. “Ya think? That
little spitfire’s hell on heels.”

“That’s why we hired her. She’s the best.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.”

Despite the fact J.T. had half a dozen wait
staff wiping down tables, mopping the floors, prepping the stage, and
re-stocking behind the bar, he didn’t ask any of them to interrupt their work
to wait on him. He slipped in behind the bar, popped the tops on a couple of
long necks, and brought them back to the booth he shared with Ryan.

“Thanks, man,” Ryan said, bringing the
bottle to his lips. “How’s Nikki enjoyin’ her down time?” J.T.’s wife had
decided to take a year off from the studio and touring to write songs for her
new album.

“You know her, she’s a workaholic. Still,
we’ve managed to get away a few times. She says goin’ to these remote little
spots helps her to be more creative. Ty’s suggested we go to his beach house
for a few weeks next month, so Nik’s pretty stoked about that.”

Ryan smiled. “That’s what I love about my
big sister. She’s traveled around the world, yet kickin’ back with a good book
and a cold beer is more fun to her than playin’ Times Square on New Year’s
Eve.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far. Music’s still
her first love.”

“We both know that’s not true. You and my
gorgeous niece are the loves of her life and you know it. How is Lauren these
days?”

“She’s good. Workin’ on her degree and
talkin’ about gettin’ into real estate when she graduates. She wants to
renovate houses and hopefully sell ‘em at a profit.” He shrugged. “Whatever
makes her happy is okay by us.”

“Hey, you missed all the excitement at
Trey’s house on Christmas Eve. Where were y’all?”

“Nikki and Lauren talked me into goin’
skiin’ in Colorado.” J.T. chuckled. “Damn near broke my neck.”

“You had fun though?”

“Let’s just say it would’ve been worth it
to break a bone or two just to see my two girls havin’ so much fun.”

Ryan had never been one to experience that
warm and fuzzy feeling when his friends or family talked about their loved
ones, but something about J.T.’s reference to his wife and daughter hit Ryan
square in the chest. “You’re a lucky man, J.T.”

J.T. leaned back against the bench seat and
smirked. “Never thought I’d see the day the hell raiser in the family would go
all soft.”

“Look who’s talkin’.” Ryan smiled. “I’ve
heard some stories about you. Sounds like you could’ve put me to shame back in
the day.”

“I don’t know about that, but I had a hell
of a good time.” J.T. brought the bottle to his lips and took a long pull
before setting it down on the table. He leaned forward as though he was getting
ready to confide a secret. “I’ve got a lot of great memories of the rodeo
circuit. It felt good, damn good, to be the top dog, but I wouldn’t trade that
life for the years I’ve had with Nik and Lauren for anything.”

“It must feel good, not to have any
regrets.” Ryan thought about the fact that he may have let his one and only
chance with Brianna slip through his fingers. If she and Clint connected
tonight, it may be the beginning of the end for him.

“I didn’t say I don’t have any regrets.
There isn’t a man alive who doesn’t. But I don’t let those bad decisions define
me.”

Ryan looked at his brother-in-law a long
time before he asked, “What made you decide to settle down with Nikki? I mean,
how did you know she was the one?”

J.T. stared at his beer bottle a long time,
peeling back the label as though he was found revealing the truth difficult. “I
almost lost her. I didn’t think I was good enough to give her what she needed.”

Ryan saw a trace of bitterness in J.T.’s
eyes that was so uncharacteristic, he had to ask, “Why would you think that?”

“I was just some washed up bull rider when
we met, Ry. I was on my way out, and I didn’t know what the hell I was gonna do
with the rest of my life. Your sister was this gorgeous young thang with a
voice that I knew was gonna make her a superstar one day. Especially with your
old man backin’ her career. I didn’t wanna be the dead weight bringin’ her
down.”

Ryan was too young to recall much about that
time, but he knew J.T. had made his sister happy for as long as he could
remember. “I can’t believe you felt that way. You’ve always been this take
charge guy. It’s tough to imagine you feelin’ as though you weren’t good enough
for Nikki.”

“I hated feelin’ that way.” J.T. sighed.
“When my brother Dave died, it made me realize something. You can’t sit back
and wait for life to happen. You have to make things happen. I still wasn’t
sure that I was good enough for your big sister, but I did know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I couldn’t imagine my life without her.”

Ryan thought about what his life would be
like without Brianna.
Unimaginable.
They’d been best friends forever.
She’d run to him to protect her when boys chased her on the playground at
recess. Later, in high school, he’d been the one to threaten his buddies on the
football team when they talked trash about her in the locker room. Was it
possible he’d been in love with her way back then, and he’d been too afraid to
admit it? He’d been hiding out in one meaningless relationship after another
for years, trying to tell himself that he was too young to think about settling
down, but with his thirtieth birthday on the horizon, he knew he couldn’t go on
lying to himself forever.