Page 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

SILAS

“Why are you so tense?” Lee asked me as he handed me a bottle of beer, studying me while he leaned back on the bar.

“I’m not tense,” I said all too quickly as I tipped the bottle back for a long pull.

“You’re full of it, but can I guess why?” Lee smirked around his own beer as he took a sip.

“If I said no, would it stop you?”

He leaned back on the counter and shrugged. “Probably not. You’re tense about seeing your reporter friend.”

“She’s not a reporter. She’s a writer for the PR agency.”

“So, you’re telling me I’m right?”

“I didn’t say that. Just clarifying who she was. You know I hate these things. I hated them in Washington where PR wasn’t this…” I trailed off, not sure what word to use for all the extra show we had to put on for the Bats in comparison to our old team.

“This…intentional,” Lee finished for me. “You had PR responsibilities back then too, but they were mostly keeping your nose clean and no bad press. Here is all about the face time, I get it. Remember that one gala in Washington?” Lee laughed to himself. “Katie tried so hard to win that purse on silent auction.”

I turned, taking a break from scanning the crowd for my “reporter friend,” whom I wouldn’t admit I was looking for.

“I remember. She was so determined that she didn’t even eat dinner so she could stand by and watch.” I smiled as Lee exhaled a sad chuckle. His wife had passed away after their daughter had turned two, and although she’d been gone for almost four years, his eyes would still gloss over whenever he said Katie’s name.

“But so far, I see nothing different from those awards dinners. There are no photo ops or anything out of the ordinary. But if seeing her tonight isn’t making you tense?—”

“It’s not,” I insisted, picking up the bottle and tipping it all back, the extra alcohol not taking the edge off like I’d hoped.

Seeing Rachel only at a distance after having that incredible taste of her, a taste I’d resolved to never have again because I’d never planned to see her again, wore on me in ways I couldn’t understand.

All those reasons I’d avoided getting involved with anyone didn’t seem so important right now, or maybe I just didn’t give a shit anymore. But hers hadn’t changed, and this sort of working relationship we’d fallen into had made the temptation for more even worse.

I either accepted it or did something about it, and I couldn’t figure out how to do either.

“Then watching her cozy up with Becker shouldn’t bother you, right?”

My head snapped to his. “What are you talking about?”

Lee exhaled a long gust of air and shook his head.

“I noticed her over your shoulder a minute ago. She came in with that head PR lady, but Nate found her and chatted her up right away.”

I shifted toward where Lee was pointing, and sure enough, Rachel and Nate were laughing like old friends near one of the cocktail tables. She’d only met him once, or at least once that I knew of, so the familiarity between them seemed off. Wrong.

Fucking unacceptable.

I took in a slow breath so I could get it the fuck together. I couldn’t go over there like the jealous boyfriend I wasn’t and cause work trouble for all of us. Neither of them was doing anything wrong or owed me anything. The rage roaring in my veins from watching them together was as uncalled for as it was polarizing.

Rachel was single, beautiful, and sexy as fuck in a tight black dress that teased just enough cleavage and thighs to remind me of every gorgeous inch underneath.

“You’re going to lose a back tooth if you clench your jaw any harder,” Lee said, snickering as he nudged my shoulder. “Go over and say hi before you get an ulcer, Coach.”

I glared back at him before I stalked toward Rachel, trying to take slow steps to not make it seem like I was ambushing their conversation.

I guessed I could add caveman to the list of what I’d become since Rachel had taken all my attention and most of my sanity.

“Hey, Rachel. Nate,” I said, keeping my voice as even as possible. I’d managed to hold a calm tone during games and Nate’s tantrums over getting his shoulder checked, but it was a lot easier without a beautiful woman between us.

A beautiful woman I wanted for myself but couldn’t claim.

“Hey,” she said, smiling up at me as Nate looked between us. “Nate seems to be the favorite player on my sister’s team since he signed the most. I promised I’d get a picture with him when I arrived, but my cab was stuck in traffic by the bridge. My sister has been blowing up my phone.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why she hadn’t just asked me to pick her up, but we weren’t friends like that, were we? Friends who could meet and talk without having a work reason. The Bats had chosen a high-end hotel in lower Manhattan, a quick trip from the field in Brooklyn. Picking her up would have been out of my way, but I was making all kinds of exceptions when it came to Rachel.

“I need a drink before I take any pictures.” She pointed to the bar. “All that time in the car has me a little antsy.”

“I’ll get it for you,” I said, the words falling out of my mouth before I could make them make sense. “We should talk about the other article anyway before dinner starts.”

Rachel’s brow creased in confusion since there was no other article to my knowledge, at least not one that had anything to do with me. But I was focused on getting her away from Nate and to myself, and sounding coherent wasn’t my focus.

She was.

“I guess I’ll see you inside, Rachel,” Nate said, squinting at me before he turned and headed down the hallway toward the dining area.

“Another article? Do you know something I don’t?” Rachel asked as we headed toward the bar. Lee had moved to the opposite end, speaking with one of the trainers. His shoulders shook when he caught my gaze, but I didn’t react.

“No, just needed an excuse.”

“An excuse,” she repeated, chewing on her bottom lip as she studied me.

“What can I get you?” the bartender asked Rachel, setting a napkin on the bar top.

“Glass of pinot grigio, please.” She smiled, flicking her eyes from him to me.

“Sure,” the bartender said, uncorking a bottle of wine and pouring it into a glass. I kept my gaze straight ahead and not on Rachel’s smirk in my periphery. I was an over-six-foot piece of fucking cellophane and wasn’t about to deny it.

Again, the only question now was what the hell to do about it.

“So that was another alpha moment,” she whispered, grabbing the glass and taking a sip, smirking at me around the rim.

“Maybe,” I allowed, letting go of a laugh when she chuckled.

“You look amazing,” I told her.

“Thank you,” she said, a tiny smile coasting over her gorgeous mouth. “I never know what to wear to a formal work event. I hoped this was okay.”

“It’s a lot more than okay. You’re fucking stunning,” I said before I could help myself. “It’s why I stole you from Nate.”

I couldn’t help the smile racing across my lips when she rolled her eyes.

“We were just talking.”

“I didn’t like it.”

She reared back, blinking at me as if I’d lapsed into another language.

“I don’t get how talking to?—”

“I didn’t like it,” I whispered, leaning closer as her eyes bored into mine. “Yes, it makes no sense. And I had no right to stop you.”

“Then why did you?” Her voice was a breathy whisper and not helping my crumbling resolve.

I reached down and grabbed her hand, grazing my thumb over the soft skin of her knuckles under the bar counter. Her hand closed around mine, our gazes locked as neither of us moved an inch.

“I don’t get much time with you. I wanted those pretty eyes on me and only me.”

She clenched her eyes shut, setting down her glass with a defeated thunk. When she lifted her gaze, I spied the same frustrated heat reflected at me. Heat that wasn’t supposed to have left my hotel room but had followed us anyway.

“As if I’d be able to look anywhere else.”