Page 18 of Masters of the Game: Colton

The sound of her cell phone ringing jarred Kelly awoke.

She glanced at the clock on the nightstand.

It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet. Who would be calling her at this hour?

She knew it wasn’t her mother, siblings, or anyone she deemed important, since those individuals had their own ring tone, as did her office staff.

Therefore, she decided she would call whoever was trying to reach her back later. After all, this was still part of her downtime.

Downtime …

She was starting to see the benefits of it.

Last night’s events had lasted until the early hours of the morning, and then Colton had picked up where he’d left off this morning, waking before the crack of dawn to make love to her all over again.

He wanted to spend a few hours in the hotel’s fitness center before breakfast and invited her to join him.

That was when she had confessed that her body was a little sore, due to the fact that she hadn’t been with a man in five years.

He had delayed leaving to run her a hot bath to soothe muscles she hadn’t used in years.

She would never forget how he’d swept her off her feet to carry her to the bathroom, then placed her in the hot, sudsy water.

And he had remained through her leisurely bath, dried her off, placed her back in bed, and given her a wallop of a kiss after promising to be back in a few hours with breakfast.

Shifting in bed, she recalled their lovemaking.

It had been perfect, everything she’d known it would be and more.

Her body was throbbing at the memories, and she had to admit, maybe everything had worked out when and how it should have.

And she was looking forward to sharing breakfast with him.

Since their meeting with the mayor wasn’t until one, she had plenty of time to prepare today.

It was still early yet, so there was no reason not to go back to sleep. So she did.

An hour or so later, the ringing of the phone awakened her again.

Kelly mumbled as she glanced at the clock.

At least she’d gotten some extra sleep. She decided to answer it this time in case it was an important call from someone not on her personal contact list. Like the man from the mayor’s office who had her number.

Was he trying to reach her because something had come up regarding today’s meeting? Did it need to be rescheduled?

She quickly reached for the phone. “Hello.”

“Good morning, Kelly Rose,” a deep masculine voice said.

She frowned. Only one man called her by her first and middle name. “What do you want, Mr. Perkins?”

“I detest when you call me that.”

He wouldn’t want her to call him any of the other names she had for him. “Why are you calling me, and how did you get my number?”

“I have ways of finding out what I want to know.”

That probably meant his latest fling was a woman who worked for the telephone company. “I’m going to ask you again, why are you calling, Mr. Perkins?”

He paused. “I need to talk to my kids.”

His kids ? Kelly threw her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. “What kids are you referring to? Obviously, you don’t mean the ones I know about. Are there more?”

“I only have four kids.”

“So now you want to claim Hansen, Pratt and Monica? Too late. I doubt they want to have anything to do with you.”

“You can’t speak for them,” he snapped.

“You’re right. They can certainly speak for themselves.” And there was no doubt in Kelly’s mind that they would.

“I need their phone numbers.”

“Ask whatever girlfriend who was able to find mine to come up with theirs for you.”

“You have no right to speak to me with such disrespect.”

Kelly eased from the bed and stood on her feet, totally upset.

She grabbed her robe off a nearby chair.

“Respect is earned, but you’ve never earned it with any of your kids.

I have no idea why you want to talk to us when you’ve ignored us all these years, but count me out.

I want nothing to do with you. I honestly don’t know what Mom ever saw in you.

” Honestly, she did. Lorenzo Perkins was and always had been an extremely handsome man.

He had passed his good looks on to Hansen and Pratt.

“Mallory loved me.”

“Yes, I can believe that, and I’m glad she left you when she found out what a man-whore you were.” More than anything, she wanted to tell him her mother had finally found love—real love--but that was her mother’s announcement to make.

“Mind your manners, girl. And how dare Monica get married without inviting me to the wedding. I could understand her not wanting to let me give her away, but she could have shown me some respect as her father. I was hurt about that.”

“Evidently, you’ve forgotten that you told Taye to get an abortion when she was pregnant with Monica. And then you tried to get her to sign a document stating Monica wasn’t yours some years later. So spare me your hurt feelings.”

“That was a long time ago. We all make mistakes.”

“Whatever. I’m asking again, why are you calling?”

“A great-uncle on my father’s side died and left over four thousand acres of farm-land in Missouri.

But instead of leaving the land to me as he should have done, he willed it to you, Monica, Pratt, and Hansen.

According to my attorney, I can’t claim the land unless the four of you sign it over to me. ”

She vaguely recalled that her paternal grandmother had a brother who had a farm in Missouri. “How did he get our names?”

“It seems that over the years, he stayed more in contact with your mother than he did with me.”

“Hmm…I wonder why.”

Instead of responding, he continued. “I need the four of you to meet me at my attorney’s office next week to─”

“Whoa!” Kelly said, interrupting. “I’m not signing anything over to you. If your great-uncle left this land to us, that meant he wanted us to have it. Why should we sign anything over to you?”

“You never knew him. I barely knew him.”

“That might be the case, but he undoubtedly knew enough about you to decide you weren’t fit to inherit anything. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”

“Now you look here…”

“No, you look here, Mr. Perkins. You produced four kids who did well without you in their lives, and that’s the way we want to keep things.

How dare you expect us to turn over land that has been willed to us.

I’m glad Mom gave him the names of all your kids and not just me.

That shows what a good woman she is. One you didn’t appreciate. ”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, and then in a calmer, even regretful-sounding voice, he said, “I tried making up with Mallory.”

“And she was smart enough to keep you out of her life. I will never forget how you treated Mom and my siblings, so I suggest you don’t call me again.” Then she hung up the phone.

After taking a deep breath, she placed a call to the one person who would understand the way she was feeling--Monica.

“Good morning, Kelly. I was wondering when I was going to hear from you. How are things going with you and Colton?”

“I’ll tell you about it at another time. For now, we need to connect with Hansen and Pratt. I just got a call from Mr. Perkins.”

**

“Are you okay, Kelly?” Colton had noticed she wasn’t as talkative as she’d been last night and earlier before he’d left.

Kelly glanced across the table at him. “I’m fine, Colton, just feeling a little irritated. Thanks for breakfast, by the way.”

“You’re welcome.” He reached across the table to gently rub her hand. “So, what has you irritated?”

She released a disgusted sigh. “I got a call from Mr. Perkins after you left this morning. It seems his great-uncle died and left his farm in Missouri to my siblings and me. Mr. Perkins wants it and expects us to sign it over to him.”

Colton nodded. “Are the four of you willing to do that?”

“Absolutely not. I contacted them after his call, and as usual, we’re in full agreement. If this great-uncle willed the land to us instead of Mr. Perkins, he had a good reason for it.”

“You’re probably right,” he said, removing his hand from hers to begin eating again.

She put down her fork. “I just don’t get it with some men. You don’t hear from them until they need you for something. There’s no doubt in my mind he would not be reaching out to us if he wasn’t desperate to get his hands on that land.”

She picked up her fork to begin eating again. “I spoke with Mom after I talked to my siblings. In addition to the farmland, the uncle left other things to us, including a sizeable bank account--something Mr. Perkins conveniently forgot to mention.”

“How did Mr. Perkins great-uncle know about Pratt, Hansen, and Monica?”

“Mom told him. It seems they kept in contact, even after the divorce. Something Mr. Perkins obviously didn’t do. The man was his grandmother’s brother. You would have thought they would have had some kind of relationship, wouldn’t you?”

“You wouldn’t believe how some families drift apart. It’s not that way with the Masters,” Colton said. “We’re a close-knit group like the Bennetts, and because several Masters men have married Bennett women, it’s like a family within a family.”

He then glanced at his watch. “It’s almost ten now. Is there anything we need to go over from yesterday’s meeting to prepare us for today’s?”

“No. I expect the mayor will come up with all kinds of ways to convince us New York would be better for Masters Unlimited than LA. We will listen to what he has to say, show him we’re impressed, but let him know we won’t be making any final decisions until after we’ve visited both cities.

It might be a good idea to even let them think there’s a third city under consideration. That should sweeten the perks.”

Colton chuckled. “I like that strategy.” He then studied her features. “Considering how we spent most of last night, you look rather well rested.”

“I feel well rested. When my phone rang around seven, I heard it but didn’t answer it since I didn’t recognize the ring tone. Then I went back to sleep. When it rang again, I was about to get up anyway. Do you know what that means, Colton?”

He smiled. “No, sweetheart, what does that mean?”

“I took advantage of that downtime you were talking about. I didn’t rush out of bed to boot up my laptop, nor did I read text messages. I just laid there, and went back to sleep. It’s a start, right?”

He reached out and took her hand in his once more. “Yes, baby, it’s definitely a start. And I’m certain that one day you’ll reach the finish line. At least that’s part of my plan.”

“Your plan?”

“Yes.”

“Umm, maybe I need to know more about this plan,” she said.

He stood and came around the table to draw her into his arms. “It’s a secret plan that I can’t share with you yet, sweetheart. However, one day I will.”

**

Sherelle disconnected the call. This was the third time she’d tried to reach Eric today, but he hadn’t answered. Obviously, he’d been in meetings all day. She left him a text letting him know she would remain in Boston another week. Hopefully, she would hear from him soon.

She glanced around her hotel room, deciding to order room service tonight instead of going out anywhere. The food here was really good. She was about to pick up the hotel phone to place the call when she heard the ding indicating she’d gotten a text. Picking up her phone, she saw it was from Eric.

Got your message. Been busy. Unexpected trip to India. Might have a new client. Will be here for a couple of weeks. Will call when I can.

She texted him back.

OK. That’s great news about a possible new client.

Placing her phone aside, she hoped this new client would take his mind off of not getting the contract with Masters Unlimited.

It was getting harder and harder to avoid discussing it, since he always brought it up.

In a way she preferred communicating through text messages.

Less conversation that way. But still, she wanted to hear Eric’s voice at some point.

Sherelle wondered if he’d chosen her engagement ring yet.

He’d asked if she preferred white or yellow gold a few weeks ago, but hadn’t said anything about it since.

Chances were, he wanted to surprise her.

She couldn’t wait to start wearing it. Holding out her left hand in front of her, she imagined how it would look on her finger.

She’d never worn a ring there before. Trembles of happiness raced through her.

It was finally going to happen for her. Soon, she would be an engaged woman.