Pass Interference (27 page)

He loved her new look, minimal makeup, hair in a ponytail with a navy ball cap, a blousy navy-and-white T-shirt, and plain jeans. She bore no resemblance at all to the woman he’d hauled out of Tequila Sunrise. He would make sure to tell her as often as possible how much he liked this woman. Loved. Loved? Yup, loved. Just the sight of her made him feel good.

After the first night with her he’d sworn never again. He’d known the danger when he was obligated to take this assignment, and he’d expected to regret that one night for a long time. But after last night he knew what a big fat lie that was. Much as he’d hated to admit it, last night actually had been about more than just sex. Emotions had come into play, hers and his, and walking away from her was not going to be an option.

He’d give his left nut—well, figuratively, not literally—to know what went wrong with her father that set her on the life course. He was just glad he was the one enjoying the transformation.

Tyler’s amused voice interrupted his thoughts.

“I can hear your brain from over here,” she teased. “Thinking about the logistics of game day?”

Should he tell her what he felt? Would he say things the right way? This wasn’t just any woman he’d gotten himself tangled up with. This was
Tyler Gillette
, for fuck’s sake
.
This was complicated on so many levels.

He mentally shook himself back to reality and cupped her chin.

“Just thinking how glad I am that things happened between us the way they are.”

Her face lit up with happiness. “Me, too, but you know that, right?”

“I don’t know.” He grinned. “Maybe you’d better tell me another ten or twenty times.” Then he sobered. “Not to throw a damper on the day, but I was wondering why we hadn’t heard from your stalker today.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Tyler thumbed through her texts and missed calls as they navigated the streets. She shook her head. “Nothing. Not a word.”

“Maybe he’s regrouping, although I don’t think so.”

“You think he knows I’m going to the game today?”

“I spread the word around pretty good, just as we discussed,” he told her. “That means Chad and Ed will automatically get the news. And if Nate is shadowing you he’ll see where we’re going.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” She looked over at him. “What do you mean, if Nate is shadowing me? Has he been following me? Us?”

He blew out a breath. “I hate to admit I didn’t pay enough attention but a couple of times I noticed a car following us. I just wasn’t tuned into this situation at the time. I’m sorry, Tyler. My screwup.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” she insisted.

“But I should be paying attention to things like that. I have a feeling he tracked you to that restaurant yesterday morning. I know, I know.” He held up his hand. “You said it’s a favorite place of his, but I had one of my guys drop into the place casually, long after Broder had left. He asked after him and was told the man had been in earlier but otherwise they hadn’t seen him in weeks.”

Tyler was stunned. “You’re kidding. Nate loves that place. Loved.”

“I got the reports I had the agency run on everyone.” He paused while he moved into another lane of traffic. “You probably aren’t aware that his law practice is slowly going down the tubes. Or that the senior partners have him on a very short leash. He’s not hanging out in his usual places anymore.”

She didn’t know what to say. “His place in that law firm was the gold star in his crown.”

“Yeah, well, the gold is tarnished and his crown is crumbling.” He slid a glance at her. “I don’t know how you’ll take this, but apparently when he married you he promised the partners he’d deliver the Hawks.”

“What?” She jerked her head around to look at him. “Are you kidding me? God! That was his brass ring. I knew he never really loved me. I mean, he loves himself too much.”

“But he loved what you could give him access to.”

The more Rafe thought about it, the angrier he became. Maybe Tyler had been complicit in some way, looking to normalize herself in Kurt’s eyes and gain some attention and respect. But from what the agency had learned in their investigation, when she didn’t come through with the keys to the penthouse office for him, Nate had basically treated her like shit. And pitched an unholy fit when she’d tossed him out. Rumor had it that Kurt got her a shark of an attorney to make sure Broder didn’t end up with even one penny of her trust or anything else. Now it seemed the man was sucking up to her, trying to hook up again.

Tyler sighed so heavily he almost regretted bringing the whole thing up.

“I suppose.”

He had one other thing to relate to her but he had to pick his time. He and Tony had agreed to have someone checking her street periodically at night. Last night three different cars had coasted down that street after he and Tyler shut the town house up for the night. Everyone, it seemed, was spying on Tyler after she went to bed at night. Where else had they been following her? And how had he not observed any of this before now, just because he’d formed his own prejudiced opinion of her. Discovering the real Tyler Gillette just made him kick his ass that he hadn’t worked harder on this in the beginning. Some security agent he was, letting his prejudices affect his work.

Okay, then. Sending the flowers and candy made this more personal. By the sound of his latest text he was getting impatient. The problem was, how would they know which of their three suspects was pushing harder when they all wanted the same thing?

Fucking damn. Unreasonably he wished one of them would make a move that would narrow this down to one person. He wanted to get this out of Tyler’s life once and for all. The more he thought about it, the more he felt the rightness of what they had discovered together. If none of this had happened, would she have decided to make major changes in her lifestyle? In herself? Would he have embraced the feelings for her he’d been fighting all these years?

Who knew? But now he wanted this done and gone so they could get on with their lives. Together.

When he pulled up to the employee gate at the stadium, a man wearing a Lone Star Security polo shirt stepped up to greet him.

“Hey, boss. Got your usual parking spot waiting for you.”

“Thanks.”

The man tried to peer into the car without looking too obvious.

Rafe chuckled. “Luke, say hello to Tyler Gillette. She’s taking in the game today.”

Luke was doing his best not to gawk. “Nice to see you, Miss Gillette. We don’t see you out here too often.”

“That’s going to change,” Rafe told him. “Okay, we’re rolling.”

He found his slot in the private section of the lot and ushered Tyler into the stadium. The concourse today was jammed with people, standing in line at the concessionaires, hurrying to their seats, or just chatting with friends. When he nudged Tyler toward an elevator, she dug in her heels.

“B-but I won’t know anyone,” she pointed out.

Rafe smiled. A slightly hesitant Tyler Gillette was completely new to him. “Yes, you will. Anyway, you don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to. Just sit and enjoy the game.”

“Enjoy the game?” She sniffed. “That’ll be the day.”

“You never know. You got into it last night.” The elevator doors opened and he eased her forward. “This is our floor.”

The man checking tickets nodded to him and smiled as he and Tyler walked up one entrance ramp to the section where the seats were.

She grinned when he guided her to their row. “Fifty-yard line, no less. You do treat yourself well.”

“Not me. I don’t get to sit down. This is where your date sits.”

She stopped and frowned at him. “My date? Wait a minute—”

Just then the man sitting in the end seat of the row in front of them stood up and turned around.

“Nice to see you again, Tyler.” Tony Castillo grinned at her. “Glad you decided to take in the game.”

Tyler looked from one to the other. “But you—But I—But—”

Rafe took her hand and squeezed it briefly. “Don’t freak. Like I said, these are Lone Star seats. Tony comes to a lot of the games, and he was happy to have you here with him today.”

“Come on.” Tony stepped back so she could take the empty seat next to him. “Let’s sit down. Would you like a beer?”

“Yes, I—” She shook her head. “No. Thanks, anyway.”

Rafe wondered if she was doing this, refusing the beer, for him or herself.

“Okay. I need to get moving.” He was still holding her hand. “Remember what we discussed. Phone on at all times, right? Just in case?”

She lifted an eyebrow. “In case he decides to text me or do one of his crazy calls here in a stadium with seventy thousand people. Where I might not even hear him. Right?”

“Right.” He nodded. “Anyone obsessed the way this guy is with you will do crazy things. We won’t take any chances.”

“I’ll put it on vibrate,” she told him. “I won’t hear a ring but this way I’ll know if a call or text comes in.”

“Good enough.” He looked from her to Tony. “If she gets anything, you tap me right away, got it?”

“Got it, boss.” He winked. Then his face sobered. “We’re good here, Rafe. Go on. Do whatever you have to.”

“I don’t think he’ll try anything at the game,” Rafe said, “but then with crazies you never know. And my money says this guy is unstable.”

“We’ll cover all bases,” Tony agreed.

“You know what to do if anything off-kilter happens, right?”

Tony touched the little radio clipped to his belt. “All set.

“Okay. We’ll meet up at my office later.” He gave Tyler’s hand one last quick squeeze. “Be careful.”

He had to hold himself back from giving her a quick kiss on the lips. What the hell? Deliberately he turned and headed off to check on VIP security.

* * * *

“I think you have young Rafe’s head in a spin,” Tony commented as he adjusted his large frame to the seat.

Tyler made a rude noise. “Puhleeze. Rafe Ortiz is neither young nor spinning.”

Tony chuckled. “I think everyone is young to me. I keep forgetting he’s been retired for two years now, plus he played for ten.”

“I’m surprised he’s not still playing,” Tyler commented

“He was at the top of his game when he retired,” Tony said. “He decided to get out while his body was still in one piece.”

Tyler scowled. “Isn’t that unusual?”

“Not really. There are a lot of players who make that same decision.” He shrugged. “They’ve had the adrenaline rush, the guts and glory, the excitement of the game. They’re in a good situation financially and they want to start the next phase of their lives.” He shifted in his seat. “I’ll tell you another thing about that man. Unlike most of the players, he has never touched a dime of his signing bonus or his salary all these years.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’re kidding. What does he live on?”

Tony grinned. “His endorsement money. His agent got him some fat contracts, so he’s just let his football money grow in the investment accounts. Even managed to buy his folks a new house, over their objections I might add. Neither of them are much for anything fancy.”

“Neither is he,” she commented. “Even his own house is really nice but not, you know, outrageous like some of the guys.”

“That’s just who he is.”

She nibbled on a fingernail. “I’m surprised he’s never married.”

Tony winked at her. “Probably just never found the right woman. He’s got some pretty old-fashioned ideas.”

Tyler stared off across all the people sitting in front of them. “I guess that lets me out.”

“Not at all.” Tony took the hand with the nibbled fingernail and tugged so she had to face him. “That woman out there in the media?” He shook his head. “That’s not you. Never was. The one sitting next to me today is the real Tyler Gillette. It just took you a while to realize that.”

“I hope he feels the same way.”

“If the look in his eyes means anything, I’d say he’s definitely on your side of the fence.” A loud roar went up from the field. “Oh, look. Here comes the team. Let’s watch a little football and forget about stalkers and all that other crap for a while.”

To her amazement, Tyler found herself enjoying the activity on the field. The pregame festivities intrigued her, but not nearly as much as the action between the two teams. Tony did his best to give her a crash course for newbies as the game progressed and she sucked it up. She thought again about the college classes she’d taken that required a lot of detailed study. One of the things all her professors had been in agreement on was the fact she was a quick study, learned easily and had a real skill for solving puzzles. Although she had wasted all that since she stopped taking classes, it seemed her mind had only been hibernating. Now it kicked into overdrive as she soaked up everything about a game she’d sworn she hated.

She found herself actually reading the patterns on the field, studying the plays, trying to guess what was going to happen. She screamed as loud as everyone else when the Hawks made a good play, and especially when they scored two touchdowns. By the time the first half was over, she was thoroughly and unbelievably juiced.

“They’re winning.” She grabbed Tony’s arm and shook it. “The Hawks are winning.”

He laughed. “That’s what we want.”

She plopped back down in her seat as the halftime show began. She had never expected to be infected with football fever. Now what did she do with it? That was the big question. She was about to ask Tony a question when she felt her phone vibrate in her jeans pocket. Fully expecting it to be Betsy or Lynn or maybe one of the others in their little circle she pulled it out and pressed the button to light up the screen. The number one perched on the message icon.

“Tony?” She nudged him.

“Yeah?” He looked at her face and suddenly was all business.

She could hardly make herself heard over all the halftime noise so she bent as close to him as she could get and showed him the phone. He started to take it from her, but she shook her head.

“I’ll do it,” she said in his ear. “I just want you to see it with me.”

He nodded and she tapped the icon. The message of course was from Unknown.

“I told u I wanted u. U shld b at gm w/me. If I can’t have u no one can.”