Sizzling (9 page)

* * *

FIRST THING in the morning Reid fired Seth by phone and
followed up with a fairly aggressive letter from his attorney. Seth
tried protesting but quickly gave it up, which told Reid the guy knew
he'd screwed up, but rather than fix it, he preferred to walk away.
His next call was to Zeke.
"You heard from my attorney?"
he asked by way of greeting.
"About Seth? Sure. About
time."
Reid leaned back in his chair and groaned. "You
knew he was a loser?"
"He's lazy. He does the least
he can do and calls that a win. He's in it for the money and the
perks. He likes having a successful client list."
Which
explained why he'd let Reid go without a whimper. No more baseball
career and since all that negative attention in the media, not much
of a potential for endorsements.
"I told him to send me
everything," Reid said. "I'll be forwarding a lot of it to
you."
"You know we'll get the job done," Zeke
told him.
"I know. How's the money situation?"
Zeke
chuckled. "I assume you mean yours." There was the sound of
typing on a keyboard. "Your portfolio is diversified. Stocks,
real estate, a few small companies. Ballpark? One hundred and
eighty-five million, give or take a few."
Reid swore
silently. He'd never paid attention to things like investments.
That's what he paid Zeke to take care of. He'd done what he loved for
nearly ten years and he'd been paid well. He'd lived hard, but he'd
never been stupid with his money.
"All that and I
couldn't send those kids home from their state championships,"
he muttered.
"We took care of that," Zeke told him.
"We sent out a check more than a month ago."
"A
thousand dollars. What was that supposed to cover?"
"Two
return tickets. Why? Did the family have other expenses?"
Family?
"Zeke, it wasn't a family. It was the whole damn team."
Zeke
swore. "I didn't know. Seth made it sound like just one family.
A check for that amount had to have been seen as an insult."
"It's
worse. They're families who are barely making it. The screw-up on the
return ticket was financially devastating for a lot of them. One
family lost their car."
"Dammit, Reid. That kind of
crap isn't supposed to happen. That's why you hire people like me and
Seth."
Reid was beginning to realize that Zeke and Seth
were nothing alike. "I want to fix this," he told his
business manager. "Can you find out how much everyone spent to
get home and send them a couple thousand more than that? And the
family who lost their car— let's get them a new one. And a
check to cover any issue with taxes."
He heard the
clicking of Zeke's computer keyboard. "Consider it done.
Anything else?"
"Not right now. But soon. I'll go
over the letters and requests from Seth as soon as they arrive. I
have a feeling there's going to be a lot more stuff to make up
for."
"We'll get it done," Zeke told him. "This
is fixable."
"Right," Reid said as he hung
up.
Only it couldn't all be fixed. Like the kid who had died
not knowing that Reid cared about him. That couldn't be fixed or
undone. How many other people had been disappointed by him? How many
other disasters had his name on them?

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING Reid went looking for Lori. Sometime in the
night when he once again couldn't sleep, he'd had an uncomfortable
realization.
Lori had been upset because he hadn't slept with
her. He'd slept with the other two nurses but not her.
He
wanted to tell her not to take it personally, but she was female and
of course that's how she would see things. How could he explain that
he hadn't slept with her because he hadn't seen her that way? Oh,
yeah, there was a conversation he was dying to have.
He told
himself to forget about her and the other nurses and her possible
hurt feelings, except he couldn't. Bad enough the world thought he
was a jerk— he didn't want Lori thinking that, too. Even though
it was probably too late to change her mind.
He found her in
the kitchen. She was rinsing off Gloria's breakfast dishes and
putting them into the dishwasher. She narrowed her gaze when he
walked into the room but didn't say anything.
She'd changed
her clothes, he thought, noticing she'd replaced her normal scrubs
with jeans and a sweater. The more fitted style suited her, drawing
his attention to curves he previously hadn't noticed.
Interesting.
She straightened and pushed up her glasses. "What
do you want?" she demanded.
"To meet your
sister."
The words weren't the ones he'd planned and he
had no idea where they'd come from.
"No," Lori said
flatly.
"Why not? She's dying. You said she's dying.
Maybe she'd like some company. I'm good company."
"You're
not and the answer is still no. Madeline isn't some freak show you
can visit to fill your day. Go annoy someone else."
Her
attitude was really starting to piss him off. What had he ever done
to her? "I'm trying to help," he told her. "I bring
comfort to the dying."
"Obviously not
sexually."
The unexpected snipe cut right through his
who-gives-a-shit veneer. He crossed the two steps separating them,
grabbed her arm and fought the need to shake some sense into
her.
"It wasn't my fault," he yelled. "It was
my first year away from the game. My team was in the playoffs. They'd
just lost. I was drunk. So what if I was more interested in drowning
my pain than showing that woman a good time? I had an off night.
Everybody else gets an off night, but not me, right? I'm good in bed,
dammit. Better than good. I've been clawed and made women scream on a
regular basis."
Her steady gaze never wavered. "I'm
yawning," she said in a low voice. "That's how interested I
am in this conversation."
He swore, jerked her close and
kissed her.
He hadn't planned to. He was just so pissed off
and there weren't that many acceptable ways for a guy to let off a
little steam.
So he pressed his mouth to hers and let all his
frustration and anger and okay, maybe hurt, pour into the kiss.
He
buried his free hand in her hair and was surprised to find the curly
waves were kind of nice to touch. He moved a little closer and tilted
his head slightly, getting a better angle on kissing Lori because it
was starting to feel good. Damn good. Who knew?
Lori found
herself just standing there, not sure what to do with her arms, her
hands or even her body. She felt awkward and stupid, but the one
thing she knew for sure was that she never ever wanted the kiss to
end.
His mouth demanded things from her and she found herself
wanting to give them. But even as he took and insisted, his lips
weren't too hard. There was just the right amount of pressure and
heat and promise to make her want to lean into him and beg.
She
liked the way he smelled and how he was exactly the right height. She
liked the feel of his hand in her hair and the first teasing, erotic
brush of the tip of his tongue against her lower lip.
Had she
had access to her brain and any voluntary functions, she would have
pulled back. It was the sensible thing to do. It was the only thing
that made sense. But she didn't, so it wasn't her fault when she put
one hand on his shoulder and parted her mouth.
He nipped her
lower lip. The gentle bite shocked her. She gasped, he chuckled, then
swept inside, claiming her with a passionate dance that took her
breath away.
He kissed like a man who loved women. He kissed
like a man who understood that sometimes kissing wasn't just a
stepping stone on the path to something better. That it could be—
if done correctly— a destination.
He kissed like he
meant it and made her feel she'd been waiting her whole life for this
moment.
Heat flared inside of her, burning through her body,
making her weak. She felt uncomfortable in her clothes and in her
skin. She wanted him touching her everywhere and she wanted to touch
him back. She wanted to know what his perfect body would feel like,
naked and straining. She wanted him inside of her.
The image
of them together in that way was so vivid, her body clenched in
anticipation. He deepened the kiss and she met him stroke for stroke,
following him back to his mouth to tease and explore and
excite.
Then, as suddenly as the kiss had begun, it was
over.
He stepped back. "You're trembling."
Was
she? She felt the tremors race through her body. Okay, so maybe she
was.
"Low blood sugar," she told him in a foolish
attempt to protect herself. "I didn't have enough protein at
breakfast."
Reid stared at her for a long moment, then he
began to smile. It was a slow, self-satisfied,
male
smile. One
that spoke of his superior ability to bring a woman to her knees with
just a kiss.
He was still smiling when he walked out of the
kitchen. Lori stared after him, not sure who she was mad at more. Him
for turning her on and then leaving, or herself for responding in the
first place.

* * *

TWO DAYS LATER Reid let Walker and Elissa into Gloria's house.
Walker's expression was as unreadable as usual, but Elissa looked
ready to jump out of her skin.
"Command performance,"
Walker explained by way of greeting. "Gloria called and asked us
both to come by."
Elissa bit her lower lip. "You're
sure about the both of us part? I'm sure she just meant you. She
doesn't like me and I find her really, really scary."
Walker
smiled down at the woman standing next to him. "You can wait
here with Reid, if you want. I'm not going to force you."
She
sighed. "Of course you're not, because that's the kind of guy
you are. But because you're being so nice, I'll feel guilty for being
afraid, so I'm just going to come in with you and be polite. I can do
that. I was raised by very nice people."
Reid thought
about reassuring Elissa, telling her that Gloria had been through
something of a change. But as he wasn't completely sure the change
was going to last, he decided to keep quiet.
"I can come
in with you, if you want," he offered. "If it gets ugly,
I'll take Elissa out so you're not forced to kill your
grandmother."
"Sounds like a plan," Walker
said. "How's your life going?"
Reid led the way down
the hall. "I'm still doing damage control. Every day some other
woman comes forward and says the earth didn't move for her. It's grim
and humiliating, but at least it's a distraction. I fired my manager
and I'm going through all the boxes he sent over. There are so many
requests and letters that went unanswered. I hate knowing there are
kids out there assuming I'm an ass."
"What are you
going to do to fix it?" Walker asked.
"I'm still
trying to figure that out."
Reid wasn't so sure what to
do. The job was daunting.

* * *

LORI SMOOTHED the sheet on Gloria's bed, then tucked in the
end, all the while wishing she weren't so on edge.
She'd spent
the last couple of days trying to ignore Reid. After that kiss they'd
shared, she didn't know what to say to him. Just as annoying, she
hadn't run into him, which made her miss him, which really bugged
her. She hated that with a simple brush of mouths she'd gone from a
completely capable in-charge woman to a sighing, mooning giggler
desperate to see the man of her dreams.
Yesterday she'd taken
both a morning and evening run, in an effort to tire herself out
enough to let her sleep. It hadn't worked. The second she'd closed
her eyes, she'd seen his face and felt the damp heat of his kiss.
Reliving the sensations over and over had kept her up half the
night.
"Ladies," Reid said as he entered the room.
"We have company," he told his grandmother, who sat reading
in a chair, then gave her, Lori, a wink. "My brother. Two for
the price of one. Of course,
he's
taken."
Lori
straightened and tried to speak, but it wasn't possible. With less
than a couple dozen words, he'd reduced her to brainless silence. It
was so humiliating.
A second man walked into the room. He
looked enough like Reid for her to be able to guess their
relationship. With him was an attractive woman with long brown hair
and blue eyes.
"So you came," Gloria announced.
"Good. Walker, Elissa, nice to see you. This is Lori, one of my
nurses. Lori, my grandson and his girlfriend. Oh, did you bring your
adorable daughter, Elissa? I'm sorry, I can't remember her
name."
"Ah, Zoe," Elissa said, a puzzled look
on her face. "She's in school."
"Too bad. Maybe
she could come along next time. Children add such positive energy to
a room."
Lori glanced at everyone's stunned expressions
and took that as her cue to leave. Gloria was working the program.
Sure, it would take time to convince her family that the change was
genuine, but Lori was confident that would happen.
"You
didn't hit her over the head, did you?" Reid asked as he walked
out beside her. "I checked her medication so I know you're not
drugging her."
She tried to ignore his nearness and how
she was so aware of his breathing. "Why can't you simply accept
that she wanted to make a change, so she did?"
"You
should have come along sooner," he muttered. "Life would
have been much better. The last time Gloria met Elissa, she
threatened to have her fired, evicted and maybe arrested. All because
Elissa dared to date Walker."
"She's not like that
anymore."
They'd reached the kitchen. Lori moved to put
the island between them— she had a feeling a physical barrier
would help her maintain control— but Reid grabbed her hand and
held her in place.
"It's because of you," he told
her. "You're the reason for the change."
It was
difficult to think with his fingers touching hers. "She's the
one who made the decision. I simply pointed out that being nicer
might be in her best interest."
"Why don't you want
to take credit?" he asked.
"It's not
necessary."
She tugged free and took a step back. She
didn't want to stand there anymore, having him look at her as if she
mattered. As if she were someone special in his life. How could she
ever believe that?
Why him? Why couldn't she have had a strong
physical reaction to someone else? Someone not so far out of reach.
She didn't mind that she could never have Reid. What she hated was
being pathetic and knowing that if he ever figured out how much of a
crush she had on him he would pity her. That would be the worst.
A
few minutes later Walker came out for coffee.
"I wouldn't
have believed it," he told Reid.
Lori busied herself
setting out a tray.
"She's a totally different person,"
Walker continued. "Warm, friendly. She told me I was doing a
good job and I think she made a joke."
Reid grinned.
"Hang in there, big guy. You'll get used to it."
"I
hope it lasts."
"Me, too," Reid said. "But
if you want a for-sure answer, talk to the master."
Lori
looked up to find them both staring at her. She shrugged. "I'm
not the master of anything. Gloria was feeling lonely and sorry for
herself. I just pointed out that the reason people avoided her is
that she's incredibly difficult to be around. I suggested she try
being nicer."
"That's it?" Walker asked. "No
water torture?"
Lori smiled. "She's been through a
lot. The heart attack, the recovery from her hip. She's in pain and
feeling vulnerable. I think both of those events pushed her to want
to do something different. I'm hoping the changes are permanent, but
I can't promise."
"Either way, it's a miracle,"
Walker said. "We owe you big time."
Reid walked over
and before she knew what he was going to do, he put an arm around
her. "I'm the one who found her. Don't forget that."
Walker
shook his head. "You're never going to grow up, are you?"
"Not
if I can help it."
He gave Lori's shoulders a squeeze,
then he released her. He and his brother returned to Gloria's room
with coffee and a plate of cookies. She was left alone in the
kitchen.
His touch hadn't meant anything. She knew that. It
had been a quick, casual embrace and if he knew it had left her
shaken, he would feel bad for her.
"An impossible
situation," she murmured into the silence.
She knew
better and yet here she was. Trapped.
She was going to have to
get over Reid and fast. And she knew exactly how to make that happen.