Play Hard: Bad Boy Sports Romance (54 page)

When I stepped into the greenhouse, he didn’t even notice me as he studied a small plant on his workbench. I walked over, still trying to decide whether or not I had a good idea. He heard me and looked up, a smile spreading across his face.

“Heidi. What a pleasant surprise.”

“Hey, Dad. I need to ask a favor.”

“You want an advance on your allowance? I thought I stopped giving that to you.”

“No. This is serious, okay? You can say no if you want.”

“You have to tell me before I can say no.”

“Have you heard of Brent Stone?”

“Of course,” he said. “Why? His weed is okay, I guess.”

“He’s looking for you.”

“Me?”

I nodded.

“He wants to hire you.”

“I don’t work for anyone except myself,” he said, stubborn as ever.

“I know, Dad, but would you talk to him? See if he gives you any information?”

“Why would be confide in me?”

“Well, to get you to work with him. Please? I can be here when you meet.”

He took a deep breath and stared at my face.

I smiled, pouring on the charm.

“Okay,” he said. “Set it up.”

“One more thing. Don’t tell him you’re my father, okay?”

“Why on Earth not?” he asked. “Are you stoned? I thought you gave up smoking.”

“No, Dad, I’m not. I just don’t want him to know. He thinks I’m a journalist. I’m undercover.”

“I’ll never understand women,” he muttered. “And you know I don’t agree with what you do for a living. The DEA jailed a lot of my friends and colleagues over the years.”

“Please?”

“Okay, okay. Calm down,” he said, giving in as usual. “When do you want to do it?”

“Do you have time today?”

“Today?”

“Yeah, I already invited him. Please don’t say anything.”

“What’s going on in here?” Brent asked from the doorway to the greenhouse.

I turned and waved a hand through the air.

“This is the man I told you about. He goes by the name Green Thumb.”

“Nice to meet you,” Brent said, holding out his hand as he walked forward.

My father wiped his hands on the front of his blue denim overalls then shook with Brent.

“Likewise,” Dad said. “I didn’t realize you were coming over so soon.”

He glared at me a moment.

“I can come some other time, but I’ve heard such great things about you.” Brent glanced around the greenhouse. “This is an amazing set up.”

“Thanks,” my father said, smiling.

Don’t let his honey words get you.

“The only problem is that Green Thumb is not taking new clients currently.”

“I hear you’re working on something special,” Brent said, ignoring me.

“Oh yes, I am.” My father smiled. “Look at this plant.”

He gave Brent the magnifying glass I had used the other day.

“Wow. I’ve never seen anything like this on a plant so young.”

“When it matures, the total…”

“It’s going to be a good high,” I interrupted, patting my father on his back. “No one can break beyond thirty percent THC. Not even this one.”

Brent looked from me to my father.

“I see.” He tilted his head back. “I’ll double whatever you’re going to get for these plants. How many pounds can you deliver and how soon?”

“Hold on a minute,” I said. “I’m sure Green Thumb can’t break out of his current contracts. Right?”

I turned to my father and gave him the look I’d given him so many times during my teen years.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m not available right now.”

“Dammit,” Brent said, sounding distressed. “I need an edge. The weed game is getting crazy. Prices are dropping by two percent every month. Something like this would make sure I keep my lead in front of everyone else.”

“You’ve done a lot,” my father said. “Don’t you have enough money?”

“You can never have enough,” he said then turned to me. “Unless you’re a journalist who’s after the truth.”

I smiled, a part of me hating that I had to lie so much in my job.

“She’s a damn good…journalist,” Dad said, looking at me briefly.

“We should let him work,” I said. “I’ll walk you out.”

“My day is looking up,” Brent said then flashed a smile at me before turning to my father. “Nice to meet you. If you happen to change your mind, let me know.”

“I will.”

“Let’s go,” I said, putting my hand on his hard, muscled arm.

“You in a hurry?”

“Yeah, I’m starving. You still want to take me to dinner?”

He nodded. “Yeah. That sounds great.”

While I wasn’t really in the mood to get through an entire dinner with him across the table, I wanted to get him away from my father. Had I made a bad decision by introducing them? My plan had been to show Brent that he existed but wasn’t available, so he would quit looking on his own.

“Nice to meet you two,” my father called out.

I raised a hand in the air as Brent and I walked out of the greenhouse.

“I’ll follow you in my car,” I said.

“Are you sure? We can smoke if we have a driver.”

The idea of a toke or two before dinner sounded so good.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said. “I have somewhere to be later tonight.”

“You rushing through a free dinner with me to get to another date?” he joked.

“No, nothing like that, I’m afraid. It’s work related.”

“You journalists work all the time.”

“Tell me about it.”

He got into the back of his stretch SUV while I got into my five-year-old Chrysler Sebring.

ELEVEN

Brent

That First Kiss

I told Keifer to drive to The Greenery, where the food was infused with marijuana. The place normally had a two-month wait to get in, but the owner and I were on good terms. When she had opened three months earlier, I funded her first month of marijuana, knowing she had a hit.

Maybe if Heidi got stoned, I would have an easier time getting into her panties. While her mind excited me, I had to taste her body, every delicious and delicate inch. The image of her riding me, her breasts bouncing, made me shift in the back seat. Would I be able to last through dinner?

After getting back into the city, Keifer pulled up at the front of The Greenery, the green colored glass of the windows giving the building an otherworldly feel. I told Keifer to park and wait then got out of the back on my own. Before she pulled up, I went over to tip the valet.

She pulled up a minute later and got out of her mid-range sedan looking like a superstar. If she were mine, I would buy her anything her heart desired.

“You didn’t tell me we were going to a nice place,” she said. “I look horrible.”

“Whatever. We’ll have a private room in the back. It will be fine.”

“I’ve heard about this place.”

“Yeah?” I put my hand on the small of her back. “Let’s go inside.”

She smiled as I opened one of the two green glass doors. I followed her into the lobby of the restaurant. As soon as the hostess saw me, her face lit up in recognition. I nodded my head, glad I hadn’t fucked her when I’d had the chance a few months back.

“I still can’t believe you got us a table here,” Heidi said after we were seated.

“Well, I tend to get what I want out of life.”

She did not look away as I stared into her eyes.

“Yeah?”

I nodded.

“Yeah.”

A waiter arrived to take our order. She got the chicken. I ordered fish, curious if she would eat dessert with THC in it. Did she get wild when high? As a reporter for High Times, I figured she got stoned.

“You going to come to the Cannabis Cub semi-finals with me?” I asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“It would make a good story for your magazine, and I’d love to have you with me.”

“It’s not my magazine…”

“You know what I mean,” I interrupted.

What is she hiding from me?

“You make it hard to resist after bringing me to a place like this.”

I smiled.

“It’s nothing. Trust me.”

Another waiter came into our room and poured us each a glass of red wine. I kept my eyes on her beautiful face as I took a drink.

“Do you come here often?” she asked.

“Not as often as I’d like, and usually not with a woman as beautiful as you.”

She smiled, accepting the compliment gracefully.

“What are your plans?”

“Tonight? Well, I thought after dinner we might…”

“No,” she interrupted. “I meant with your business.”

“Oh. I thought the article was finished.”

“It is, but I’m asking on a personal level.”

“Ah, okay.”

She’s interested in me,
I thought.

“I think the new grower is going to work out.”

“That’s great.”

She took a drink of wine.

“Yeah, thanks again for the introduction.”

“No problem.”

“You must meet a lot of interesting characters in your line of work.”

“At the magazine? Yeah, I do. It’s where I met him,” she said then raised her glass again.

I wonder if she’s a big drinker or just nervous.

“I meet a lot of interesting people in my line of work too.”

“No doubt. You shot at some of them the other day with me in the vehicle.”

I frowned.

“Not all of them are assholes, though. You, for example, are one of the better people I’ve met thanks to my business.”

“Uh huh. I bet you tell that to all the ladies.”

“Only the ones I like.”

We made eye contact. She looked away as the waiter came into the room with salads.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Great,” I said. “We might need another bottle of wine.”

“Of course, sir.”

“I usually don’t drink this much,” she said.

“No? You just nervous?”

“In a way, I guess.”

Her voice trailed off.

“Go on.”

“It’s work related,” she said, not elaborating.

I picked up a fork and poked a cherry tomato before eating it. After I swallowed, while she chewed, I threw another question at her.

“When is that article coming out, by the way? I looked for it the other day, but I couldn’t find it.”

She put her hand over her mouth and bobbed her head as she finished with the food in her mouth.

“Soon, I think,” she said. “My editor has control over it.”

I nodded. “That’s why I enjoy being my own boss.”

“I bet,” she said.

“Maybe I should hire you to write my memoirs.”

“You couldn’t afford me?”

“Don’t be so sure. I mean, you’re worth a lot, but so am I.”

We returned to our salads, eating in silence. I stole glances of her, fascinated by her face, the way the light hit her silky smooth skin. Was her entire body so flawless?

After setting her fork down, she pushed the half-empty salad bowl toward the center of the table.

“I need to go,” she said.

“What? So soon? The food hasn’t come yet.”

“I forgot about something I had to do tonight.”

“Really?”

She nodded as she stood up.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be out with you. It’s not professional.”

“The article isn’t even out yet,” I said, standing up.

“No, but…It’s complicated.”

I stepped around the table toward her. As a heavenly body, I could not resist the attraction, a longing and pulling to be close.

“We can try some other night,” I said, stopping just outside her personal space.

“Maybe…”

Not wanting to later regret it, I stepped forward, closing the space between us. She did not move as I tilted my head and moved it even closer. Our lips met. Magic touch of bliss. Hers wet and soft, kissing me back. I put my hand on her waist, never wanting the moment to end.

She pulled back and took a deep breath.

“I can’t…”

I watched as she fled the room, almost running into the waiter as he carried our food in. As she ran, I debated chasing her, but it wasn’t my style. The kiss would bring her back to me. I could still taste her on my lips.