Playing the Game (The Renegades) (Volume 3) (8 page)

Tyler looked over at her, his smile now hidden and
his brow creased, the green accented his eyes, and a soft curious
look filled his face. “Did you write that?”

Her cheeks burned. Of course she had; she’d written
every word Coach had said. “Yes, I did.”

Tyler shook his head slightly and his eyes narrowed,
like he was thinking. “It was good. Thanks.”

“
Just doing my job.”

“
True.” Tyler looked away, clasping
his hands together.

Paige grabbed the remote and shut off the monitor.
“I’ve always been a people person, so the words just flow for
me.”

“
Yeah, you are a people person.
Maybe that’s why you’re so easy to talk to.” Gold specks
highlighted his eyes.

For a brief moment, she had no words. She just sat
there staring at him with her mouth gaping open.

Tyler took her hand. He glanced at it for a moment
before looking up at her. “I seem to be making your job harder
lately.”

“
No. No, um, no it’s fine.” Her
heart fluttered crazily inside her chest. His hand was warm and
rough, and she was almost certain he didn’t act this way with
Melanie. Keeping a level head and knowing she should remove herself
from this situation had turned into pathetic swooning. He was close
enough to her that she felt his warm breath on her face.

“
No, it’s not. It’s like you said,
I’m a man and am responsible for my own actions. That’s something I
need to start thinking about.”

Her mind raced, so many things bounced around her
brain, but all she could manage to say was, “So maybe the interview
idea—” But her words were interrupted by a loud growl from her
stomach.

Are you kidding me?
Her eyes grew wide and she
hurried over to the countertop that held the coffee maker. Heat
filled her cheeks and her legs were wobbly from being so close to
Tyler.
That loud stomach growl was real ladylike, Paige.

Standing facing the wall trying to recover from her
embarrassment, she felt him behind her. Maybe he hadn’t heard it;
maybe it hadn’t been as loud as she thought. Turning to look up at
him, their faces were inches apart. His hot breath was against her
cheek and all she could do was stare at his lips, his thin, sexy
lips.

Tyler moved a piece of hair out of her face, pushing
it behind her ear, his rough fingers softly grazing her jawline. “I
have an idea.”

I have an idea too, and it goes against my
professional judgement.
Her body tingled as his invisible force
held her against the wall. She was free to move at any time, but
she just didn’t. Her lady parts ached with need, something she
hadn’t felt in a long time.

Having a crush on Tyler was one thing, but this
feeling of wanting to rip his clothes off in the middle of her
office was something she needed to fight if she wanted to keep her
job.

Clearing her throat, she asked, “What’s your
idea?”

A grin slid across his lips. “Lunch.”

“
Lunch?” That was not what she was
expecting, and she was on the verge of agreeing to some very
unprofessional suggestions.

“
Lunch.” He slid his hands on
either side of her hips, holding on to the countertop and gently
blocking her in.

Her ass pressed against the hard granite, while his
body threatened to press against hers.

“
Have lunch with me, and I’ll do
this interview for you.”

“
Lunch?” Given her reaction to him,
having lunch together probably wasn’t a good idea, but if she
wanted to get him to do the interview, she’d have to risk it. She’d
just have to make sure the conversation stayed on professional
topics. She took a deep breath. “Okay, sure, I guess. We could go
down to the café on the corner or the pizza shop across the
street—”

His finger lightly pressed against her lips. Lava ran
through her body at his touch. She fought to remember that he was a
player and she was probably just a game to him.

“
Shh, I wasn’t done. Somewhere we
can talk.” His hand fell down to her side.

“
My choice?”

Tyler nodded. “Your choice.”

He backed up, giving her room that she needed to
breathe. Taking a moment to regain her composure, she considered
the options.

It was lunchtime and the local places in town would
soon be busy. Having a professional conversation over the lunch
hour crowd might prove difficult, not to mention the fans hounding
Tyler for photos and autographs. Eating locally might not be the
best idea. Her eyes held his glance. Even with his tall, muscular
stature towering over her, she felt at ease with him, and oddly
enough, that’s what scared her. She walked to her desk and sat on
the edge.

Tyler followed and sat in one of the chairs in front
of her. “So? Where are we eating?”

Thinking a little more clearly now that there was
some distance between them, she considered the possibilities, and
only a couple seemed to work. “Well, if you want a place quiet
enough to talk, we could order food from anywhere and eat it here
in my office… or we could eat in the Club room. I’m not sure if the
staff will stay and eat or hurry out of here after the presser. But
those seem like our only choices.” She looked around her office. It
really wasn’t set up to eat in here, but she was sure they could
figure something out.

“
The Club sounds fine to
me.”

The Club room was a dining hall with its own kitchen
attached. They hired top notch chefs and served gourmet food,
better than any restaurant she’d been to. This wasn’t nachos and
hot dogs like the food stands serve.

Paige grabbed two folders off her desk and slid her
phone into her pocket. Before she could sling her purse around her
arm, Tyler reached for the folders.

“
You don’t need these, do you? It’s
lunch, not a meeting.” He gently slipped them out of her hands and
set them back on her desk.

She didn’t need them. In fact staring at them, she
wasn’t even sure what they were. She’d just instinctively picked
them up to put some sort of a barrier between herself and Tyler.
“No, I guess not.”

Tyler lightly put his hand on her lower back and led
her out of the office. The walk to the Club room was quiet. She
stole a few glances, only to find him watching her too. The
elevator ride was thirty seconds of his clean soapy smell
surrounding her and her trying to find anything interesting about
the round, white numbered buttons.

Once in the Club room she glanced around. It was
empty, but the aroma of food tickled her senses and made her mouth
water. “How about we sit over here by the window?”

The Club was set up with an open kitchen, so they
could see the chefs. They walked along the kitchen area and Tyler
nodded to the head chef. Once they sat down at their table, a
waitress appeared to take their order.

“
I’ll have the grilled chicken
salad with Ranch dressing and a diet Pepsi. Oh, I mean Coke. I
always forget which one they have here.”

Tyler began to order once the waitress wrote
everything down. “I will have the Chicken Parm sandwich with a
house salad. And I’ll take a water to drink.”

The waitress nodded and returned to the kitchen.

“
Did you know you have the bluest
eyes? They sparkle when you’re happy.”

Was he flirting again? In public? Well, not really,
since there was no one else here. She relaxed a bit and smiled.
“No. I mean, no one has ever said it like that. Thanks.”

“
I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t
true.”

Still unsure of his motives, she tried to change the
subject. “So, about that interview…”

Before Tyler could answer, a loud voice interrupted
them. “Hi there Ty, and Paige.” It was Coach Brian Walker.

“
Hey Coach, what are you doing up
here?” Tyler shook his hand.

“
The missus requested some lunch
since I would be here. She loves Chef’s Chicken Parm.”

“
Seems to be popular.” Paige
mused.

Coach smiled at her. “Paige, thanks for the statement
for this morning’s presser. You did a great job with it. Melanie
was very impressed with how it turned out, too.”

What? Paige frowned. “Oh? When did you speak to her?”
It sounded ruder than she intended, but would Melanie call from the
hospital to talk to him?

“
She ran the conference this
morning. She said she had some errands to run after, so she’d be
out of the office for the rest of the day.” The waitress waved
Coach over. “Oh, foods ready. I’ll talk to you kids later.” He
hurried away.

“
Why was Melanie there?” Paige
glanced at Tyler, her frown still in place. “I thought she was
leaving to go to the hospital?”

Tyler shrugged. “Maybe she was, and she just took
care of that first.” The waitress brought their meals and Tyler dug
into his sandwich, taking a huge bite.

Something was off. Melanie had acted like she needed
to leave ASAP and had told her to cover the meeting with Tyler.
This really didn’t make any sense.

Looking down at her salad her stomach threatened to
rumble again, and hunger made her forget all about the odd
circumstances with Melanie and her emergency. As ladylike as she
could, she dove into her salad. The lettuce was cool and crispy and
the chicken was tender and flavorful.

“
You have a little dressing on your
cheek.” Tyler motioned to the side of her mouth.

She swiped it with her napkin but apparently missed
since he shook his head. She attempted again, but he still shook
his head.

“
Here, let me help.” He took the
napkin and gingerly wiped the corner of her mouth. His touch was
slow and his gaze lingered with hers until the waitress appeared to
check on their meals.

Every time he was close to her she felt like she was
on fire. All he did was wipe her cheek and she couldn’t help but
wonder what those lips would feel like brushing against her skin.
She needed to shake this off. It wasn’t professional, so whatever
was happening between them wasn’t possible.

CHAPTER 8

He didn’t know why, but he wanted to know more about
Paige. Who was she besides their PR girl? They knew everything
about Melanie and treated her like a sister, but the way he was
acting with Paige was more than that. It confused him. This feeling
was something he wasn’t used to. But that didn’t stop him from
asking personal questions. “Paige, you’re really good with people,
and very sensitive to their problems. Is that natural for you or
something you learned in school?” Tyler picked at his bun, not sure
if that was the right move. She was either going to tell him or she
was going to clam up. If she grew quiet this was going to be a very
uncomfortable lunch.

“
Natural, I guess. I didn’t have
the easiest life growing up, and I think realizing how other people
saw us…” She shrugged. “Well, I just learned at an early age that
what you see on the surface isn’t always the whole story. People
like to jump to conclusions when they don’t have all of the facts.
Some people are good people no matter what they look like or how
they act.”

“
That’s interesting.” He stared at
her, trying to figure out what was going on behind those eyes. They
weren’t sparkling any more. They were dark, almost gray.

“
No it’s not.” She waved him off
and dug into her salad, as if her having a mouthful of food was
going to stop him from asking more questions. He put down his
sandwich so he could put all of his focus on her.

“
It is. I think there’s more to you
than meets the eye. I’d like to know more about you.” He cleared
his throat. “I mean, the team knows everything about Melanie, so
it’d be nice to know a bit about you as well. After all, it looks
like we’re going to be working together a lot, seeing as how I
can’t seem to stay out of the limelight.” He flashed what he
thought was a flirty smile.

She sat silent for a moment, looking between her
salad and him. His focus was still all on her. He wasn’t prepared
to back down, so he hoped she’d start talking. The cloudy look in
her eyes faded and the blue started to come back. He was afraid to
move. If she was about to open up to him, he didn’t want any sudden
movements to cause her the clam back up.

Then she started to speak.

“
I live with my best friend, and
her Grandmother. Her Grandparents took me in when I was a teen and
raised me, so honestly, she is my Gram, too. See? Nothing too
exciting.” She speared a piece of chicken with her fork and popped
it into her mouth.

“
Maybe, maybe not. So, if it’s okay
that I ask, why did they take you in? Do you have family?” He was
pushing it; he could see it in her face. Her eyebrows touched and
her forehead wrinkled. Too late to back off now, but maybe he could
give her some information about himself to encourage her to open
up. “I have two older sisters,” he said. “I’m the baby, and they
never let me forget that.”

That was rewarded with a laugh. Good, at least I’m
making her comfortable again.

“
That sounds nice. Rylee is like my
sister. She and I have been running together since I can remember.”
She paused and he thought that was all the information she was
going to give him, but he was wrong. “My family is why I am the way
I am, I think.”

“
I’m sorry, I don’t
follow?”

“
I’m compassionate towards people’s
issues. People’s problems don’t define them, well, most of the
time. Sometimes I guess I care too much.”

“
Can I ask who caused you to think
that way?” He was treading water here and didn’t want to blow this
opportunity.