Second Chance Hero (26 page)

Why it suddenly mattered, he didn’t know.

Whether she liked it or not, this town had outgrown the man at the Athletic Director’s helm.

But that didn’t mean they had to be enemies.

Until Nina graduated, he’d be a major player in this community. Mallory Baber was an important part of this town. An important person in his daughter’s life. And he’d do whatever it took to somehow convince her he wasn’t the devil she thought him to be.

As she walked to her seat, that glint of challenge he’d seen in her eyes fed his desire.

Once she was seated, he leaned toward her, catching the barest hint of soap and something sweet. “Good speech.”

The girls moved forward one at a time to receive their awards. Her answer barely sounded above the applause. “Thank you.”

“How about dinner?” Certain she’d refuse, he couldn’t resist trying.

“Sorry. I’m busy.”

She didn’t even glance in his direction.

“We could make it a business proposition.”

Her hands stilled for a moment. “What business would that be?”

Well, well, well. He certainly had her attention now.

He watched as Nina accepted her certificate, thought his next words through carefully, rolled them around in his mind looking for alternatives.

Nina turned toward him, lifted the certificate in the air and blew him a kiss before shaking her hands in the air and flashing the victory sign toward her coach.
 

The coach who’d refused to give him more than cursory attention before just this second.
 

In that moment he made his decision. “I guess you’d have to accept to find out.” His kept his voice low, filled with supposition. And he could just see the pulse at the base of her neck, right where two veins joined under her lightly tanned skin.
 

After a long pause, she turned to face him, her eyes level with his, the glint stronger. This time with a hint of future retribution.

“I guess I would.”

She hadn’t answered in the affirmative, but he could tell he had her. Could tell by the way his pulse sped just as it did when he closed on a major property. Just as it had before he sold his Internet company in a multimillion-dollar deal.
 

Just as it had before he’d finally coaxed Sarah Ann Parker out of her clothes when they were sixteen and sex in the back seat of a borrowed car had been the only break in his long days of hard work, taking care of his mother and hitting the books.

“Well?”

At her silence, he thought he might have misjudged her. But she looked toward the podium and sighed before shrugging. “I’ll meet you at Charlie’s at seven. You’ll have five minutes to convince me to stay.”

This was a battle he would truly relish. Five minutes was more than enough time.

 
“Five minutes it is.”

Chapter Two

Mallory was in trouble and she knew it. Whatever proposition Brenton had in mind wasn’t about to appease her. Not unless he planned on saying the town was perfectly fine as it was and her daddy’s job was secure.

Of course, he wasn’t about to do either of those.

She reached down and undid the buckle on one of her sandals. She had six hours to figure out what to wear for battle. At least she’d been smart enough to pick out the one spot left in town she could call her turf.
 

As she tugged on a pair of wind shorts and a running shirt, she heard her sister-in-law open the back door.

“Hey, Mal, you home?”

It didn’t matter that her car was parked out front and Faith Hill was blaring from her living room stereo, Julie always asked that question.

Grabbing her running shoes from beside her bed, Mallory walked into the living room. “I’m home.”

She reached up and gave Julie a hug and then sat on her beat up couch to pull on her shoes.
 

“I got here as soon as I could. When Celinda called and skipped the ‘Mallory needs prayer’ and jumped right into ‘Mallory needs help,’ I knew there was a serious problem brewing.”

Mallory finished tying her laces and couldn’t help but smile. Five brothers might have been a royal pain growing up. But now that two of them were married and had stayed in town, her sisters-in-law more than made up for it. Even though Celinda’s prayer requests were infamous and her penchant for delivering bad news a little aggravating at times.

“Serious doesn’t begin to explain it.” She really wanted to run. But she couldn’t leave Julie alone when she’d driven out to help. At the same time, she wasn’t too sure what to tell Julie. Julie and Tim were the only two Babers in town who liked the idea of expansion. They’d sold Mr. Millionaire their pastureland not long after he arrived in town.

But business was one thing. This was family. Brenton had crossed the line with his latest scheme. Surely Julie and Tim would agree.

“I have a business meeting with Brenton Alexander tonight at seven.”

“Uh-huh. That’s what I heard.”

The disbelieving sound in Julie’s voice matched her own incredulity. The entire family knew exactly what she thought of the town’s latest millionaire.
 

“At least I think it’s a business meeting.” She hung her head between her knees in a stretch and looked up. “What he said was he had a business proposition.”

“Interesting.” The long pause before the word spoke volumes. Julie didn’t believe this was any old business meeting any more than she did.

“The way he said it made me think I was selling my soul to Satan.”

Julie laughed at that. “You are always calling Brenton the devil.”

Mallory straightened and then bent her leg behind her. She might not be able to run, but she could start stretching. “That I am. Do you know what his latest plan is?”

Julie stood, hands across her chest, watching and waiting. “I suppose you do.”

Mallory quit stretching and exhaled deeply. “He wants Daddy fired. Celinda said he and Mayor Jenkins met with some of the board in a closed door meeting today to push for a new athletic director. Someone who can keep up with changes. With a bigger team. Like Daddy couldn’t run circles around those hot-shot big school coaches.”

“Have you talked to your father yet?”

Silly question. “Of course not. But I know he doesn’t want this. He spent all last week talking about the boys and next year’s potential.”

 
Julie made some noncommittal noise that left Mallory burning, but she refused to get into an argument with her sister-in-law about this. She was sure she could count on her brother’s support.

“Anyway, he could tell I was furious, so he suggested we talk it over tonight. At Charlie’s.”

“He doesn’t strike me as a Charlie’s kind of guy.”

Of that Mallory was sure. “He’ll just have to put away his caviar for one night.”

Julie shrugged and returned the real point of the meeting. “You think you can change his mind by showing up at Charlie’s?”

Mallory wasn’t sure what she thought. She just knew that she’d seen the challenge in his eyes when he’d issued the invitation, and she wasn’t about to be bested by some namby-pamby rich boy, no matter how good he looked. No way. Her brothers and daddy had taught her long ago to never back down.

And J.D.’s favorite saying: if you’re going to fight, make sure you win.

That’s what tonight was about. She was going to win. She just wasn’t sure how.

“I’m certainly going to try. But first, I’m going to run.” She looked pointedly out the front window, but Julie wasn’t ready to leave just yet.

“Listen, Mal. I love you dearly. But I’ve watched Brenton work.”

Mallory wished she’d been faster changing into her running clothes. If she could have avoided Julie, she wouldn’t have to hear what was coming next. “So have I, the skunk.”

“I’m not talking about what he’s done exactly, but rather the way he does it. He’s a barracuda, Mal. One minute he’s a best friend, and the next he has you down for the count. You don’t want to be in that position.”

“I’m not exactly sugar and spice.”

Her sister-in-law laughed, agreeing. “That you aren’t. But what I’m saying is, I’m worried about you and him and tonight. He can be quite charming.”

“Like a snake oil salesman.” Mallory couldn’t believe Julie was worried about...”Listen, Jules, I can hold my own against any man in this town. In this state for that matter. I doubt seriously Brenton Alexander is interested in what you’re insinuating, and if he is, well, he’ll learn quick enough that I’m not that kind of girl.”

After she watched Julie drive off and she started running, Mallory couldn’t help but worry. Trouble was, she didn’t doubt that Mr. Moneybags was interested in what her sister-in-law had suggested. She’d felt the tension, the energy between them. Had seen the look in his eye when he’d said the words business proposition.

And for an instant, her heartbeat had just about flatlined before it shot to maximum overdrive.

It didn’t matter. She was an expert at control. He might be used to getting his way, but she hadn’t lost a game in years. And that’s all this was. A game. And round one started in a little less than six hours.

Brenton sat back in his red leather office chair and smiled. He had everything he’d ever dreamed of, and Nina would never want for the finer things in life. Business was very, very good.
 

He turned his focus to his upcoming dinner date. Mallory Baber, Serendipity’s champion. She’d fought every move Alexander Industries made with the ferocity of a mother tiger protecting her cubs. Her resistance didn’t make sense. But then, what did he know? People acted the way they did for a variety of reasons.
 

Usually he could narrow his own motives down to one word.
 

Success.

But tonight’s dinner could backfire.

He knew on an instinctive level he needed Mallory Baber’s cooperation to truly have success in Serendipity.

And if cooperation were all he was after, he’d definitely find a way to earn that.

But cooperation wasn’t his goal with Mallory. He wanted more. And that more could destroy his chance for success.

Dropping the chair back to an upright position he shook his head as click, click sound of his daughter’s footsteps carried down the hall.

Nina walked in and Brenton felt his breath catch.

When the heck had she grown up?

“Whoa, daddy. What’s with the t-shirt, jeans comfy country look? You’re looking like one of the locals.”

She bent and kissed his cheek.

Brenton wondered how much to say and stalled for time.

“Maybe I should ask you what’s with the teen drama queen look?”

Nina rolled her eyes looking for a minute like the shadow of her mother. It took every ounce of strength for him to hide the rush of anger he felt toward the woman who’d chosen to throw her daughter away.

“Daddy, don’t be ridiculous.” She sat on the side of his desk and took a deep breath.
 
“Besides this isn’t teen drama queen. It’s just normal.”

“You still going to spend the night with your friend tonight?”

She nodded, her smile as bright as he’d ever seen it. She loved Serendipity. “We’re going to hang out, watch movies. You going to be okay all alone in this big house? I feel kind of bad. I could probably convince my friends to come hang out over here….”

He shook his head. “You don’t need to change your plans just because you feel bad for your old man.”

She laughed. “You work too hard. You don’t have any friends here. You do everything to make me happy. I can’t help it. You’re just an awesome dad.”

And she was an awesome kid.
 

“So anyway, awesome dad, do you think I could maybe have a couple bucks?”

Ah. “You’ve been buttering me up, huh?”

She laughed. And denied it. “No. You are an awesome dad, but I need some money for hanging out. Please.”

Brenton pulled out his wallet and handed her a twenty. “Okay. But, this is worth three hours of filing. Or an hour at the Dallas office answering phones. You decide.”

She let out a long-suffering sigh. “I hate the Dallas office, and these are slave wages for three hours, but I guess I’ll do it.”

She pocketed the bill and jumped up from the desk. “So what are you doing tonight anyway?”

Hmm. He shrugged. “Going to dinner.”

“With?”

No secrets in Serendipity. He might as well tell her. Lord knows she’d read something sinister into it if he didn’t. “Coach Baber. We’re going to discuss Serendipity’s future.”

She shook her head. “You and your work. I swear. You better be nice to Coach Baber. I don’t think she’s all that agreeable to your vision of the future. And I think she just might kick your butt if you tick her off.”

He laughed at that. “Not much faith in your old man, huh?”

Nina turned to walk out the door. “I have complete faith in you, Daddy. But Coach Baber has home field advantage. And she’s one tough lady. I hope I grow up to be just like her one day. So be nice. I gotta go.”

With that she walked out the door leaving Brenton alone once again with his thoughts.

Hi daughter wanted to grow up to be just like Mallory Baber.
 

Dinner was definitely a good idea. She’d see what a good guy he was. Agree to hang out. And then who knew?

Hopefully he didn’t blow it.

The minute Brenton walked into the small diner known as Charlie’s, his opinion of Mallory’s negotiating skills skyrocketed.

He hadn’t missed a single one of the scathing looks sent his way, and none of the three pink-clad waitresses had bothered to take his drink order.

Years had passed since he’d graced the inside of a joint like this. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d sat on a vinyl bench seat in a corner booth.

But he certainly recalled the number of times he’d stood outside a place just like this one, looking in after a Friday night football game, watching the fun and wishing he could join in.

He’d spent his adulthood working to make sure his daughter never felt that wistfulness.

He brushed the memory away and looked at his watch once again.