Sweet Spot (Summer Rush #1) (2 page)

If this really was Nixon, she’d have his babies. Not really, but she’d definitely consider sleeping with him. “Maybe.”

Playing hard to get only made them want you more, or so her mother claimed. Not that she practiced what she preached. Judging by the slew of “uncles” she’d had while growing up, Tenley had to face facts. Her mother was easier to get into than community college.

She waited for her phone to ping with his message before she hit the light next to her bed. Holy shit, it really was him! And he wasn’t wearing a shirt. The cynic in her wondered if he could have pulled the image off the net, but it looked as though he was leaning up against a headboard with a pillow propped behind his head. Probably not the kind of photo a professional athlete would have posted online.

God, he was gorgeous. At six two, two twenty, he was in amazing condition. The colorful tattoos decorating his arms and back were sexy, but nothing could distract from those piercing green eyes.

“Okay, your turn,” he said.

Ugh. Now she had to send him a pic. She’d worn a tight black tank and drawstring shorts to bed. She didn’t have on a lick of makeup and her long, black hair probably looked like a rat’s nest, but what the hell? Tenley figured if he saw her at her worst and still wanted to hook-up, he’d be stoked when he saw her done up. If he bailed after seeing her sans makeup, it was his loss.

Still, she fluffed her hair a little and ran her tongue across her teeth before adjusting the neck line of her tank. Her boobs were her best asset, or so she’d been told.
Might as well put the girls to work for me.

She snapped the pic and sent it before she could change her mind. “Sent it,” she muttered and held her breath while she waited for his reaction. She heard his phone ding and wanted to crawl under the bed and hide in case he thought she was hideous.

“Holy shit,” he whispered. “Is that really you?”

“No, I snuck into my roommate’s room and made her pose for me.” Dumbass.

She never fished for compliments since she’d adopted the belief it was none of her business what anyone thought of her, but for some reason, she cared what he thought. And she hated that.

“Now you’ve gotta go out with me. You can’t tease me like that and just say no.”

“How am I teasing you?” Okay, now she was fishing.

“Let’s just say the face matches the voice. And if the lower half of that body is anything like the upper half, I need to see more. A lot more.”

“Don’t you have a girlfriend or something?”

She probably should have asked that sooner. She could have sworn she saw him at some fundraiser with a blonde hanging off his arm a few months ago. Of course, she could have been his flavor of the week for all Tenley knew.

“Not anymore. She cheated on me.”

“Oh. Too bad.” She couldn’t believe any woman would be stupid enough to cheat on him. Not only was he sexy, but he was at the top of his game professionally, and he routinely volunteered his time at the local kids hospital if there was any truth to the article she’d read.

“Not really. I was done with her. Besides, if I was still with her, I wouldn’t have called you.”

“True.” Tenley didn’t know if she should track the girl down to thank her or to demand she tell her what was wrong with the man who seemed too perfect to be trustworthy.

“So you said you’re working for your brother tomorrow night?”

“Yeah.”

“What time do you get off?”

“When the place closes.” Her brother couldn’t keep decent staff. But she didn’t mind filling in when someone quit. She needed the money since the kickboxing club where she worked still paid her hourly and couldn’t guarantee a certain number of hours each week.

“You said you teach kickboxing too? Where?”

She’d already told him a lot more about herself than she intended to. “A girl has to have some secrets, big guy. I gotta get some sleep now. Long day tomorrow.”

“You mean you have to go to work during the day and at night? Shit, I’m sorry, Ten. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have kept you on the phone.”

“No worries.” At least the headache was almost gone. “If you really want to make it up to me, you can get me tickets to the home opener.” That wasn’t for three months, so it’s not like she expected him to keep his promise, even if he agreed. By then she’d be a distant memory.

“Done.”

She was tempted to thank him, but figured she should wait to see if he came through first. “Night, Rowan.”

“Wait.”

“What?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow night,” he said.

“I told you I have to work—”

“I know what you said. But I’ll still see you tomorrow night.”

He didn’t ask where she worked, but he’d find it if he wanted to see her badly enough. If he didn’t, oh well.

“Whatever you say.” She knew better than to get her hopes up. That only led to disappointment.

“I can’t believe you’re gonna hunt down some chick you drunk dialed last night, man. That’s some weird shit.”

Who the hell was my kid brother to talk? He’d done some pretty weird shit himself.

“Take a look at that and tell me you wouldn’t hunt her down.” Rowan flashed him the pic Tenley had sent last night.

“Man, she’s hot,” Reese said, lunging for the phone. He swiped his finger across the screen to make sure there were no more pictures of her before he handed it back.

“Told you.”

Rowan reached for a piece of the pizza his brother had ordered. He’d be glad when the painters were finished at Reese’s place so he could move back home. In spite of the fact that he liked to keep in shape, Reese ate garbage all the time and was a bad influence on anyone around him. Thankfully, Rowan wasn’t in training right now, so he could afford to indulge a little. He just didn’t want to develop any bad habits that would hurt his game.

“I’m coming with you,” he said. “I gotta see her for myself.”

Rowan scowled at him. A wingman was the last thing he needed when he met Tenley, especially since his brother and most of his friends were pigs who wouldn’t hesitate to make a play for her the second he turned his back. Reese thought that just because he was a fitness model, whose pretty face was plastered in magazines across the country, every woman he met wanted him. Sadly, most did, but somehow Rowan knew his brother wouldn’t be Tenley’s type.

“Just remember she’s mine.” Rowan wasn’t usually territorial with women and he sure as hell didn’t have a right to stake his claim on one he’d never met, but he needed to put his brother on notice or he’d think she was fair game.

“Why don’t we let the lady decide for herself which one of us she wants?”

“Keep talkin’ like that and you can pack up your shit and get out of my house.”

Reese grinned. “You’d throw your own brother out in the street because of some chick you’ve never even met?”

“Yeah.” And he didn’t want to analyze what that said about him. “So consider yourself warned.”

Reese tipped his beer back, a smile playing on his lips. “This is gonna be fun.”

“Screw you.”

“Where does she work?”

“Don’t know yet.” Admitting she hadn’t been willing to tell him where she worked made Rowan sound like a loser, but if Reese planned to tag along, he’d find out soon enough. “All I know is she’s a bartender at her brother’s bar... on Peachtree.”

“That narrows it down, right?” Reese said. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find her.”

“Yeah.”

Rowan pretended to watch sports highlights while he fought the urge to pick up his phone again so he could catch a glimpse of that beautiful face. He’d already looked at it too many times, and he was starting to creep himself out. She was just a girl. A girl with bright blue eyes, full lips, perfect white teeth, big
…

“What else do you know about her?” Reese asked, his eyes fixed on the TV screen.

Rowan still hadn’t told him the best part. “She’s into baseball, believe it or not.”

“Ah, man, don’t tell me she’s a groupie?”

“No. Definitely not.” Rowan knew a groupie would never have talked to him the way she did. They were all too eager to please and do anything he asked. They sure as hell didn’t tell him they weren’t into relationships before refusing to tell him where they worked.

“How do you know?” Reese asked, looking wary.

Sure, he’d been burned by his ex, but that didn’t mean Rowan was a sucker for any pretty face and rockin’ bod. He could tell a gold digger or ball groupie from a mile away. “She’s a kickboxer. Teaches, in fact.” To him, that was the hottest thing about her. It meant she was a serious athlete, like him. Dedicated to staying in shape and committed to her sport.

Reese let the air seep between his teeth. “Nothin’ better than that to get a girl ripped.”

“I know.” One of the unisex gyms Rowan had trained at years ago had a kickboxing class for women, and they had better bodies than most of the fitness models he’d dated over the years.

“You sure she doesn’t have a boyfriend?” Reese asked. “Hot little piece like that, workin’ in a bar, she must have guys coming on to her all the time.”

That was the part that concerned Rowan the most—her other job. He was a selfish SOB who hated to share. The thought of some filthy drunk ogling the woman sharing his bed didn’t sit well. And Tenley would be sharing his bed. He had no doubt about that.

“She said something about an ex.” One who hadn’t been man enough to keep her satisfied.

“Ugh.” Reese made a face while he reached for the remote. “You don’t wanna be her rebound. She’ll start crying about how it was a mistake and she still loves the other guy and wants him back. Who the hell wants to hear that?”

Rowan was confident Tenley wouldn’t have any regrets after sleeping with him, but just to appease his brother, he said, “I got the feeling she dumped him, not the other way around.”

“All right, well, I’m gonna hit the shower before we head out,” he said, getting up.

“Sit your ass down,” he warned. “I’m going first. You always use up all the hot water.”

“Yeah, you go first,” he said, lunging across the couch for Rowan’s phone when he stood. “Good idea. I’ll just send a quick text to Tenley to let her know I’ll be there—”

“Give me that thing,” Rowan growled, snatching the phone from him.

Maybe I’ll bail while he’s in the shower. I can’t trust him not to embarrass us both.

***

An hour later, they were walking into the first bar when Reese nudged his brother’s arm. “Jackpot, my man.”

Damn.
Tenley was even more beautiful in person. She had dark hair that fell in soft waves almost hitting her waist, but it was wrapped around her neck, falling down one side to reveal a colorful back piece right above the leather belt tucked through her low-rise jeans. The black tank top with chains threaded through the front, barely covering her ample cleavage, had probably hidden the tattoo when she put it on, but every time she leaned over the bar so a patron could give her a drink order, it rode up.

Rowan weaved through the crowd and stood just behind the row of people circling the bar, waiting to give her their drink order. Another girl was working the other side of the oval-shaped bar, but he couldn’t even tell the color of her hair. All his attention was fixed on Tenley.

A sparkly silver eagle was spreading its wings across the abdomen of her shirt, drawing his eye to her breasts, which were spectacular. It had been a long time since he’d seen a rack like that on such a tiny little thing, unless they were fake. Judging by the way they moved when she reached above her head for a glass, he didn’t think so.

“I need a drink,” Reese said, edging his shoulders between two pretty girls. They smiled, parting for him before they spotted Rowan as a buzz started moving through the crowd.

He knew people would soon start asking for autographs and posing for selfies with him, which was the last thing he wanted. Tonight, he just wanted to be a regular guy meeting a girl he liked for the first time.

“Slow down,” Rowan said, grabbing the back of his brother’s shirt and hauling him back. “The lady’s busy. Give her a minute to get caught up before you start barking orders at her.”

Reese’s lips twitched as he slid a look at Rowan out of the corner of his eye. “What makes you think she wouldn’t wanna serve me first?”

Rowan knew from the way his lips curled that he wasn’t talking about a drink, and hearing him talk about Tenley like that made him want to knock out all of his perfect teeth.

“Go over there and find a table before I beat your sorry ass,” Rowan said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll get us a couple of beers.”

“Sure, man, whatever you say.”

Reese was a pain in the ass who pushed him further than anyone else would ever dare to, but he’d go to the mat for him every time and the son of a bitch knew it.

Rowan waited until the crowd thinned out before he claimed one of the stools the girls had vacated after getting their drinks. He watched her move with confidence, mixing drinks while talking and laughing with customers. He loved her smile, the way those full, pouty lips tipped up just enough to make you wonder if you were the butt of a joke or if she was going to let you in on it.

When their eyes finally connected, he grinned, knowing she was shocked to see him. He knew she thought he was lying about who he was, though he had no idea why someone would claim to be him. Some days he didn’t even want to be Rowan Nixon.

“Hey, Row.” She opened and closed her mouth before shaking her head as she laughed. “It really is you.”

“In the flesh.” He leaned over the bar as a couple of guys stood behind him, breathing down his neck. They were either waiting for a drink or an autograph. Either way, he didn’t care. “You don’t seem as slammed as you were a couple of minutes ago. Can you take a break?”

A tall, good-looking guy with black hair and a half sleeve walked behind the bar. Rowan curled his hand into a fist when the dude wrapped his arm around her shoulders and whispered something in her ear, making her laugh.

“Rowan, this is my brother Walker. He’s a big fan.”