Love On The Ropes (Ringside Romance) (28 page)

“Meek,” he answered.

“It’s McBain. I got the report
from the lab. The woman isn’t peddling steroids, it’s some kind of herbal
supplement.”

“So you’re not any closer to
solving this case?”

“I wouldn’t say that, sir. I’ve
got a few leads, and should have more by the end of the day.”

Meek’s displeasure was clear. “Good,
because I was notified by local authorities that steroids were sold at Abe
Lincoln High School last week. That’s only ten miles from the wrestling
organization’s headquarters. We need to put an end to this, Agent McBain. We’re
looking like fools.”

“Yes, sir.”

The line went dead.

Well, maybe this afternoon’s
barbeque would shed some light on the situation. He hoped so. He hadn’t
accomplished nearly enough up to this point in his investigation.

He glanced at Sandy’s bedroom
door. He thought about how important this was to her. The sooner he nailed the
perp, the sooner he could get back to his other life…

And the sooner he could explore a
relationship with Sandy outside of work. He wanted that so much it hurt. He
only hoped she wanted it, too.

* * *

An hour into the family barbeque,
Sandy’s mom pulled her aside. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me about this.”
She motioned to Sandy’s wrist and gently touched her daughter’s cheek.

“It’s no big deal.”

“A car nearly ran you down.”

“I wasn’t paying attention. You
know how I am sometimes.”

Her mother hugged her, then said,
“What a handsome man you brought with you today.”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, not yeah.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Mama narrowed her eyes. “Is he a
good provider?”

“Absolutely.” Was he ever. He
provided Sandy with warmth, security and medical attention, not to mention
amazing sex.

“He’s that good, huh?” Mama
winked. She must have read it on Sandy’s face.

“Mother!”

“I’m so happy for you, sweet
thing. You deserve the best.”

“Hey, it’s my turn!” Pops said.

Mama turned up her nose slightly
at the sound of his voice and said, “I have to toss the salad.”

Sandy and her dad watched her
mother walk away, greeting various family members and friends as she headed for
the kitchen.

“How about that hug?” Pops said.

“Sure thing.” Sandy wrapped her
arms around his waist and squeezed. He held on a little longer than usual.

She broke away. “You okay?”

“Sure, fine. I like your new
boyfriend. Nice man.”

“I think so.” She glanced at
Jason, who was shooting a water gun at Curt. Kids ran around the men, trying to
get in some playtime, but Curt, Jason and Decker were deep in their own game of
military assault.

“What’s new at BAM? How’s that new
guy—what’s his name, The Stripper?” Pops asked, motioning for her to sit in a
folding chair next to him.

“He’s fine.” More than fine. He
was damned near perfect.

“And Johnny? How’s he doing?”

“Johnny’s the best.” She glanced
at her dad and smiled.

“You could be the best,” Pops
said.

Uh-oh. Here we go again.

“I mean it, Sandy. You should be
in charge of all medical at BAM. It’s time you were recognized for your hard
work.”

In other words, he wanted to brag
about his daughter holding a top spot in a wrestling organization—his dream,
not hers. That insight gave her renewed strength.

“Actually, Dad, I’ve been thinking
about trying something different.”

“What? Why?”

His disappointed tone squeezed her
heart. Sandy glanced up in time to catch Jason’s eye. He shot her a puzzled
expression from across the yard. It’s like he knew she was struggling. Curt
doused Jason with rapid-fire squirts of water and Jason turned away.

“Sandy-Bee?” Pops leaned closer.
“You’re going to ... quit?”

“I’m curious about some other
areas of medicine.”

She always loved kids. To be a
pediatric nurse seemed like a dream. Or maybe she’d go into sports medicine.

“I can’t believe you’d leave the
family business,” he hushed. “Duke and I had no choice, but you? You always
seemed to love it.”

Actually, I love you, and have
ached for that love in return.

“I’d better go help Mom.” As Sandy
crossed the deck she felt his stare on her back. Admitting she wanted to pursue
a career outside of pro wrestling was a huge move, a freeing move. Excitement
bubbled up in her chest. She found Mama in Curt’s kitchen, tossing greens.

“Can I help?” she asked.

“Since when did you have any
interest in the kitchen?”

Sandy shrugged and smiled.

“Oh, girl, you’ve got it bad,” her
mother said with a giggle. She was probably pleased that her daughter had
finally shed the tomboy persona and was becoming more domestic.

“She’s got what bad?”

Sandy turned at the sound of
Jason’s voice. There he stood—tall, handsome and clean-cut—every mother’s dream
for a son-in-law. Except for the dangerous job, of course, and the deception.

“I’ve got you,” she said, slipping
her arms around his waist.

He leaned forward and kissed her.

“Get out of the kitchen, you two.
You’re distracting me,” her mother said.

“But I came in to help,” Sandy
complained.

“Shoo.”

Sandy and Jason wandered out onto
the patio. Curt, Decker and a few of the boys from BAM, who were also family
friends, continued to battle it out with the kids in the backyard.

“Blow your cover yet?” she asked
J.

“No, apparently your brother told
the guys from BAM to keep their mouths shut about my ‘true identity’ as The
Stripper.”

“Good thing he ran interference.”

“They’ll really keep it quiet?”
Jason mused.

“Sure. We protect each other. They
figure they’re protecting me from a lecture, and Mom from a migraine.” She
smiled. “I honestly didn’t know some of the boys were coming today. I thought
it was a family thing.”

“They’re your extended family,
aren’t they?”

“Yep, and you’re a part of that
now.”

Across the yard, Flamboyant Floyd
scolded one of the kids for nailing him with a water gun and messing up his
hair. Jason laughed and pulled Sandy closer.

She put her hand up to shield the
afternoon sun from her eyes and studied him. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t
you?”

He smiled. “There wasn’t a lot of
laughter in my house growing up.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Today’s making up for
it.”

No kidding. Today was making up
for a lot of things. She finally felt comfortable being around the frenetic
energy of her family. Comfortable because she had Jason.

She didn’t want to ruin the
moment, but needed to know if she should keep protecting her heart or if it was
safe to lower the shield.

“Jason?”

“Yep?”

“After you wrap up this case ...”
She couldn’t quite complete the sentence. “Uh, never mind.”

“Sandy?”

She looked into his amazing blue
eyes.

“I like this.” He nodded at the
playful chaos in the backyard, and refocused on her. “All of it.”

She smiled and hugged him. That
was as much as she was going to get, and that was okay for now. She’d fallen in
love with him, but knew Jason McBain well enough not to press. The last thing
she wanted to do was scare him off.

Jason wished he could say more,
wished he could commit his heart and soul to this woman right here, in front of
her family. He wanted to but the words caught in his throat.

That damned fear again. Fear of
what? Breaking her heart?

No, he was falling for her. He
knew this to be true.

Tell her, you idiot
!

“Sandra?” he said, leading her
around the corner of the house where they could be alone.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, sweetheart. I have to
say something.”

She looked up expectantly.

“It’s about, well, I—”

“Can you believe this?” Missy
complained, marching up to them. “That jerk told me to come at five, and the
party started at three. What’s his problem?”

“Hi, Missy,” Sandy said.

“Hi, yourself. You two the new
romance, huh?”

“Yeah, and don’t blow it by
telling my mom he’s a wrestler.”

“She doesn’t know?” Missy’s eyes
lit up.

“No, and if you tell her, I’ll
tell Floyd about your one-night stand with Atomic Bomb.”

Missy pouted. “You wouldn’t.”

“No?” Sandy crossed her arms over
her chest.

Missy stormed off in search of her
man.

“A one-night stand with Atomic
Bomb?” Jason said.

Sandy smiled. “I know it all. See,
that’s why you need my help.”

“No, absolutely not. I want you to
take the week off, I want—”

“Hey, Stripper, whatever happened
with the drug charges?” Rey Risque said, walking up to the house.

“Shut up!” Sandy hushed. “You want
to get me in trouble with Mama?”

“Crap!” Rey ducked his head, as if
he expected Mama to hurl something at him. “She doesn’t know?”

“She doesn’t even know he’s a
wrestler—didn’t anyone tell you?”

“No, sorry. My lips are sealed.”
He made a zipping motion across his lips.

“Just for the record, I wasn’t
officially charged,” Jason said. “I was set up.”

“Get back in the game!” Curt
interrupted, squirting Jason in the arm. “I’m getting creamed by
second-graders. Rey, get back there and arm yourself.”

“Yes, sir.” Rey saluted and raced
into the backyard. “Give me a second,” J said to Curt. “I’m trying to have a
serious conversation with your sister.”

“No serious talk on Sunday. That’s
the family rule.”

Sandy nodded. “It’s true.”

Squirt gun fights, family
barbeques, and friendship. Jason liked this. He ached for it.

“Don’t be sad.” She touched his
cheek. “You’re a part of this now.”

“Damn it, woman, how do you do
that?”

“What?”

“Read my mind.”

“Stop talking serious stuff!” Curt
yelled, aiming at Jason but misfiring. He squirted a random kid riding his bike
on the sidewalk. “Oh, sorry,” he said.

“You’re a bad aim, Coach,” the kid
shot back.

“Come back here and say that!”
Curt laughed and chased him down the block.

“ ‘Coach?’ ” Jason asked Sandy.

“Sure, he’s a wrestling coach,” she
said.

“Where?”

“Abe Lincoln High School.”

Everything looked different after
that: the family, the food, even Sandy. She suddenly looked like a stranger.
After learning about Curt’s position at Abe Lincoln High School, J automatically
clicked into detective mode.

Meek said steroids were recently
distributed at Abe Lincoln; Curt worked at Abe Lincoln and had connections to
BAM. A guy didn’t need a Ph. D. to connect the dots.

J wondered if the crazy driver had
something to do with Curt’s drug business? Was Curt really into drugs?

He watched the man tackle his
seven-year-old son and roll on the ground. It didn’t make any sense. Curt had
to know what steroids did to teenage boys—hell, he worked with teenage boys; he
must know the hormonal rage they’d deal with if using steroids at that age.
Sandy’s brother wouldn’t intentionally put kids at risk, would he?

“How’s the burger?” Duke asked.

J forced his attention on Sandy’s
other brother. Might as well make the best of this and dig for information.

“It’s great, thanks,” he said,
taking a bite. The meat tasted like gravel.

Curt’s kid screamed, drawing his
attention.

“Curt’s the kid in that family,”
Duke remarked about his brother. “I’m surprised Trudy puts up with him.”

“Not a model husband?”

“He’s okay. Has some bad habits.”

“Don’t we all?” Like falling in
love with the wrong woman. Sandy would never forgive him if he sent her brother
to jail.

“So, is this thing for real?” Duke
asked. “With my sister, I mean?”

Jason thought so until twenty
minutes ago when she handed him a key clue. Now nothing was real except that he
was a DEA agent and her brother was his prime suspect.

“I’d like to think so,” Jason
said, to protect his cover.

“She’s a great person,” Duke
offered.

“Yep. So, other than being the
absolute worst Super 200 squirt-gun shooter I’ve ever seen, what are your
brother’s other bad habits?” J asked. Might as well go for broke.

“He’s too trusting. He loaned a
friend tons of money for business and never got it back. That’s why Trudy went
back to work part-time.”

Bingo. Money problems. J felt
sick. What was it, a network of high school coaches that needed extra cash to
pay their bills?

“You’re an asshole!” Missy shouted
at Curt.

“Watch your language around the
kids,” Curt growled.

“Come on, honey, let it go.” Floyd
took her elbow, but she wrenched it away.

“Curt called me a dopey blonde,
and you didn’t defend me!” she cried. “I’m not blonde.”

The guys burst out laughing.

Missy stomped her three-inch heel
on the deck in frustration. It caught in a crack and she couldn’t jerk it free.
She slipped out of her shoes, grabbed the stuck one and stormed into the house.
“You’ll be sorry!” she cried.

“Wouldn’t be a party without a
little drama,” Duke said.

“Hey, buddy!” Curt ambled over to
J and put his arm around him. “You’d better go rescue my sister. Decker had a
few too many and he’s singing again.”

Jason spotted Decker on his knees
in front of Sandy. She shot him a pleading look. Might as well break that up.
He’d had enough for tonight. The next move was to dig into Curt’s activities
for the past few months and see if it jibed with the steroid distribution.

“You okay?” Curt asked. “You look
sick.”

“The thought of Decker’s singing
does that to me.”