Caught (Men of the Show Book 3) (4 page)

Karen stepped in and eyed her in the mirror over the sink. “What are you talking about?
 
You look awesome!”

“You’re just saying that because you’re my sister.”

Karen scowled at her. “Me?
 
Lie?
 
When have you known me to soften the blow for anyone?”

Shannon chuckled. “No, you’re right. You’d tell me how it is.”

“Exactly. Now let’s go. We can’t be late.”

Karen walked out of the bathroom, and Shannon gave her reflection one last glance and stuck out her tongue before following her sister. Ever since learning Matt and her were walking together, she’d been obsessed with looking amazing. She didn’t know if he would remember her or not, but she hoped to make things interesting, and if she could do that in the company of a sinfully sexy man, then game on. First, however, she had to get his attention.
 

She sat in the backset of Karen’s SUV as Jerry drove them to the church.
 

“So, how was the bachelor party, Jer?” Shannon asked.

He shrugged. “The usual. Lots of tits, ass and booze.”

Karen shook her head at him in mock disgust, ignoring her sister’s laugher from the backseat. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?
 
Real classy.”

He grinned and reached for her hand. “And you love the hell out of me because of it.”

“Right, you wish.”
 

He laughed before glancing at Shannon through the rearview mirror. “It was fun. Although, Matt was acting weird all night. I never did get the details from him about whatever his issue was.”

Shannon’s interest piqued, but she didn’t say anything. Luckily, her sister pressed for her.

“Why?
 
What did he do?”

“Nothing, that’s just it. He kind of sat like a bump on a log the whole night.”
 
He shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s not like him, I guess.”

“Maybe he’s more mature than you and doesn’t need to gawk at naked boobs,” Karen suggested.

“Naw, that’s not it. Matt loves a great set of boobs just as much as the rest of us,” Jerry said with a lopsided grin. “This chick showed up and next thing I knew Matt and her were gone. He came back a little bit later, but he was definitely a downer.”

Shannon wanted to hear more, but Karen started questioning him about possible violations of their no-touching policy, leaving Shannon to her musings in the backseat.
 

What kind of girl would show up at a strip club
?
 
A jealous, needy, and insecure one. If this was his date to all the wedding festivities, then it was in her best interest to steer clear from Matt as much as possible. She didn’t need or want any kind of drama in her life.

Jerry pulled into the church parking lot, and Maddie met them at the door. “There you guys are!
 
I was worried about you since you’re never late to your wedding stuff,” she said to Karen.

Karen gave her a quick embrace before hitching her head in Shannon’s direction. “That one took forever to get ready. It’s like she thinks she’s the bride or something.”

Maddie smiled at Shannon and reached up for a hug. “Well, it paid off. You look beautiful.”

Shannon leaned down into the embrace. She always felt like an Amazon around most women, but especially when it came to the small brunette. “Thanks.”
 
She admired Maddie’s deep sapphire-blue dress, which perfectly complemented her porcelain skin and dark brown hair. “You look gorgeous. I love that color on you.”

Karen cleared her throat as she handed her jacket to Jerry. “Uh, excuse me?
 
The bride is over here, if you guys are done ooohhhing and aaahhhing over each other.”

Maddie gave Shannon a knowing look before she linked her arm with Karen’s and led her into the chapel. Jerry smiled at Shannon as he bent an elbow and held it out. “Mind second best?”

“Prefer it, actually,” Shannon said with a laugh.

Entering into the church, she barely noticed the deep mahogany pews gleaming under the lights or the charcoal stone, which rose into dramatic arches from the floor up to meet dark wood trusses. She hardly glanced at the large, beautiful stained-glass windows depicting different stories from the Bible, which not only stood above the pulpit but also lined the high ceilings, filtering the sunlight through multicolored glass. Or the expansive white marble dais with sermon desks constructed of the same dark mahogany wood as the pews. Her undivided attention was on the tall man who stood at the end of one of the long benches, laughing and smiling, with his perfect movie-star good looks, as he talked with Chase.

Matt was exactly as she remembered him. Tall with light brown hair, which now had some blond highlights, cut short on the sides, spiky and styled to the left with a few pieces grazing his forehead. He had the bluest eyes ever—mesmerizing as well as potent. His mouth was perfect—not too wide nor too small—with the most kissable full lips. His face had sharp lines with chiseled cheekbones and a strong, squared chin. His gray suit accentuated his broad shoulders and athletic physique perfectly.

Her heart threw itself hard against her chest and her hands grew damp. Nervous energy riddled her, which was ridiculous since she didn’t experience this amount of nerves when standing in front of a courtroom. With this hot, sexy man, however, she was full of jitters. He probably wouldn’t even remember her and would only see her as a stranger, drooling like a fool for no reason.

Shannon couldn’t hear what Jerry said to Matt and Chase or what they said in greeting, over the roaring in her ears from the spike of adrenaline rushing through her. She kept her eyes trained on Matt, though, and when he spotted her over Jerry’s shoulder and stood straighter, she felt almost giddy.

Recognition lit his eyes and one corner of his mouth lifted, and she barely restrained herself from doing a fist pump in celebration. She smiled as Matt’s eyes met hers and he broke into a wide grin. They smiled stupidly at each other for the longest time before Jerry finally cleared his throat.

“Uh, Matt, this is Shannon, Karen’s sister.”

“Yeah, I know…I mean, I remember. We met before,” Matt said, his attention never leaving her.

“Yeah, we met before.”
 

“You did?” Jerry asked, obviously confused and not remembering.

Shannon tore her gaze away from Matt and nodded. “After one of the games. You…uh…came over, giving Karen a hard time. He was with you.”

Jerry still wore a blank expression before shrugging. “I always give Karen a hard time, don’t remember a specific one. Well, whatever, you two are walking together. My job is done.”

He walked away with Chase, who was immediately ambushed by Maddie’s eleven-year-old daughter Bree, one of the flower girls, as they headed over to Karen and Maddie, where they chatted with the wedding planner.

She turned back to Matt. “So, how are you?”

“I’m good, thanks. You?”

“Good.”
 
They laughed with the awkward silence that followed neither quite knowing what to say.

“So,” he finally said. “Jerry’s getting married. Crazy.”

“Same with Karen. I never thought I’d see the day.”

“What have you been up to?” Matt asked, quickly changing the subject.

“I moved to Chicago.”

“Chicago?” he repeated with what sounded like a hint of disappointment in his voice, which made no sense. “What’s in Chicago?”

“My job. I’m an attorney,” she added when he looked like he was going to ask.

“Oh, one of those,” Matt teased.

Shannon smiled, used to the snide remarks about her chosen profession. Standing up straighter on her heels, she was happy to see he was still taller than she was. “I can’t tell you how happy I was to hear that you and I will be walking down the aisle together. I was afraid I was going to tower over whoever it was.”

He chuckled as he checked out her shoes. “Yeah, I don’t think you need to worry about that. To be honest, I haven’t been paying much attention to the details. I’ve just been doing whatever Jerry tells me to, but I’m very glad to learn I’ll be spending most of my time with you so we can be tortured together,” he added with a small smile. He crooked his arm. “Shall we?”

She took in the warmth of his eyes before she linked her arm through his. Maybe things would be interesting after all.

“Absolutely,” she said, hoping for much, much more.

*
 
*
 
*

Holding a cold bottle of beer, Matt stood alone in the corner of the banquet room at the Italian restaurant Jerry and Karen had reserved after the dress rehearsal. The gathering was in full swing and he’d enjoyed visiting with everyone until prickles had started to crawl up the nape of his neck. He’d been experiencing unease more and more lately and whenever the sensation fell over him, he needed to put his back to a wall, which is how he found himself in his current position.

What a fucking mess
. Resentment coursed through him as he took a swig of his beer. He should be enjoying himself, not hiding in a corner. He should be getting back out there and playing the field, not taking a hiatus. He loved women, he didn’t want to separate himself from them, but this last one had thrown him for a loop and he couldn’t help but be gun-shy. His eyes passed over the room and stopped when he spotted the tall blonde talking to her sister, laughing at something Karen had said.

Shannon. He’d been looking forward to seeing her again after agreeing to stand up for Jerry. Matt would have said yes to being his Best Man anyway, but he couldn’t deny having an ulterior motive for accepting when Jerry told him whom he’d be standing up with.

He’d never forgotten how beautiful she was. Her face so fresh and alive, her blue eyes full of laughter and intelligence, and a bright smile, quick and dazzling, that lit up everything. Matt had wanted to get to know her more after meeting her previously, but then he’d met Natalie and the rest was history. And now, here they were again, opportunity presenting itself, and he was hesitant thanks to the healthy dish of craziness being served by his ex.
 

Matt let his eyes travel down her lean figure showcased in the black scoop-neck cocktail dress ending mid-thigh and displaying miles of legs capped by sling-back shoes with a silver toe and heel. Shannon was tall to begin with, but her height didn’t stop her from adding a few additional inches with heels. He liked that. He hadn’t dated any tall girls in his past and now he wondered why. He didn’t miss having to slouch down all the time.

Shannon glanced up and her gaze caught his, giving him a shy smile in return. She excused herself from the group and headed his way with a flirty look on her face.

“What are you doing tucked in the corner all by yourself?” she asked as she approached him.

Matt shrugged. “Just chillin’. Taking in the scene.”

“And?
 
See anything interesting?” she teased.

He smiled back. “You could say that, yeah.”

Her face flushed a pretty pink, making his mouth go dry as he imagined her skin holding the same blush in the heat of passion, before she cleared her throat. “It was too bad the season ended the way it did. I thought for sure you guys were going to go all the way.”

Great
. He didn’t want to talk about one of the biggest failures of his career, but he put on his game face.

“We all did, but we just couldn’t pull it out at the end. It sucks, but now there’s next year,” he said, striving for nonchalance even though his stomach tightened with disappointment as the final catch replayed in his mind—again.

Shannon tilted her head as she studied him, concern in her eyes. “It still bothers you.”

It wasn’t a question, but he nodded, being honest. “Somewhat. Did you see it?”

She shook her head. “No, but Jerry told me everything. You did what you could,” she insisted. “It wasn’t just you.”

He let out a huff of frustrated laughter. “I got out. It was pretty much all me, but there’s next year,” he repeated again, wanting to move on.

“You like your chances?”

“Of course I do. With the likes of Smutty and Chase, plus we’re adding my buddy Kirby at short. He’s got a good bat and speed, not to mention a hell of an arm.”

“And your…bat,” Shannon added, keeping her expression neutral.

Matt studied her before a slow grin grew. “And what do you know about my bat?”

Her lips twitched. “You swing a big one.”

He laughed and shook his head as his face heated. “Now you’re embarrassing me because I’m not sure what we’re talking about.”

Shannon raised a brow as she reached for a glass of wine from the tray of a passing waiter. “Of course I’m talking about your almost three hundred batting average including your forty home runs last year. What are you talking about?”

“Of course that,” he replied dryly. She managed to stay serious for a couple of seconds before starting to laugh and he joined in.

“Do you play any sports?” he asked.

Her eyes traveled down the length of herself and back up again, making him take another sip of his beer when his throat suddenly parched. “Are you seriously asking that?”