It was vital that his and Payton’s relationship remain professional. He could
not
mess this up.
But he couldn’t deny what he was feeling, either. He was attracted to her. No, it was more than that.
He
wanted
her.
Cedric cursed under his breath. What the hell had he expected to happen? That she was hotter than Philly in July was reason enough to want to get with her. Add in the fact that Payton knew football like no one else’s business, and he was toast.
And
she had a sense of humor—a real one, not just a fake giggle like the other women he’d dated, who’d only laughed at things they thought he found funny. Payton was as real as it got. How could he not want her?
“She’s your agent,” he reminded himself. That should banish any amorous feelings he had toward her. “Yeah, right,” Cedric muttered.
With another deep breath, he opened the door to the laundromat and slipped inside. As he’d anticipated, Cedric was instantly recognized by the dozen or so people doing their laundry. Over the past four years he’d become accustomed to signing autographs when he was out in public.
When he finally made his way to Payton, she’d moved to one of the mega-size dryers along the wall.
“Having fun with your legion of fans?” she asked with a sly grin.
“The life of a superstar,” he drawled with a hint of self-mockery. “It comes with the territory.”
She rolled her eyes, her grin growing broader. Cedric tried to help with the armful of laundry she retrieved from the dryer, but she said, “I’ve got it,” and headed for the folding tables that lined the left wall.
“Tell me about today,” she called over her shoulder.
“I signed autographs and ate pizza,” he answered. “You tell me about this new endorsement deal.”
A piece of laundry fell as she deposited the load onto the table. Payton reached for it but Cedric caught it before it reached the floor. He fingered the garment, a silky number with skinny straps and lace. His gut clinched at the thought of her wearing it.
Payton snatched the top from his hand and stuffed it in a basket of folded laundry, but the look, the feel, even the smell of it were already branded in his brain. Imagining the silken fabric flowing over her skin brought on a blitz of erotic images. All he could think about was peeling the piece of lingerie from her body.
A red hue bloomed on her cheeks. She cleared her throat several times, folding a utilitarian white T-shirt that turned him on for the simple fact that it had at some point touched her skin.
“So,” she said with a slight shake in both her voice and her fingers that fumbled with the T-shirt.
She was flustered. And it was sexy as hell. Cedric couldn’t help but think of other ways he could make her body blush.
“The endorsement deal,” Payton said, glancing at him then quickly averting her eyes.
“Yes,” he replied, even though he was having a hell of a time concentrating on business with all of her sexy unmentionables within arm’s reach. “How did this endorsement deal come about?”
“I got a tip from an old college friend who heard that Soft Touch was thinking of going the celebrity endorsement route,” Payton explained. “He set up a meeting with their marketing department. We’ve been going back and forth for the past couple of weeks.”
“The past couple of weeks? We’ve only been working together for a couple of weeks,” he said.
“I was being proactive,” Payton said, folding a washcloth into a neat square.
“And pretty confident.” Cedric chuckled. “What would you have done if I had refused to work with you?”
“I never let myself think it,” Payton admitted. “I was determined to wear you down. And aren’t you happy I did?”
Her smile was infectious. It did things to Cedric that caused the blood to stir hot in his veins. Then she pulled another silky piece of lingerie from the pile of clothing, this one black satin. Cedric’s blood went from a simmer to boiling over.
“Very happy,” he answered, staring at her lips.
Her smile faltered. “Don’t,” Payton whispered, but she didn’t back away. Her breaths were short, her chest rising and falling. Cedric moved closer.
Now she backed away.
“Stop it, Cedric.” She put a hand up. “I told you when we first agreed to work together that it would be strictly business. We can’t do this.”
“But you want to.” Cedric dared her to deny it.
Her smoky eyes lowered to the table before rising back to meet his gaze. “We
can’t,
” she emphasized. She reached into the briefcase next to the laundry basket and retrieved a sheaf of folded papers. “Now, please, just sign the contract.” She turned to a page flagged with a yellow sticky note.
Not even bothering to read it, Cedric snatched the pen she held out to him and scrawled his name across the contract. She’d earned his trust. Cedric had no doubts that she had his best interests at heart.
Besides, they had something just as important to talk about.
“Why can’t there be more between us?” he asked her. Cedric knew he should back off but something inside him refused to accept her answer. “It’s not as if there’s an official rule against it.”
“I don’t care about official rules. Getting romantically involved with you would undermine me as an agent. Did you ever try hitting on Gus Houseman?”
Cedric was onto her little diversion tactic. She brought up Gus whenever she was trying to distract him from herself, but Cedric wasn’t letting her get away with it this time. She wasn’t Gus Houseman in any way, shape or form. She worked harder than Gus did. She treated him with more respect than Gus ever had. And she sure as hell was sexier than Gus could ever hope to be.
“If Gus looked anything like you do, I would have tried,” he answered.
“This isn’t going to happen,” she said.
“Convince me,” he dared her, stepping closer, pinning her between himself and the metal table. The contact lit his body on fire.
Payton’s breaths came in rapid, sexy pants.
She pulled in a shallow breath and said, “Cedric, please don’t ruin this for me.”
It was the pleading in her voice that made him back away.
Her chest heaved with a shaky sigh, her hand still clenching the silky lingerie that Cedric knew he would dream about for at least a week. She finally raised her eyes to meet his and what he saw there made him want to throw her denial right back in her face.
Regret. Longing. Desire.
She wanted him just as much as he wanted her.
But Payton was right, he reluctantly admitted to himself. They couldn’t compromise their relationship as agent and client. It was an invitation for trouble.
“I’m sorry,” Cedric said, knowing an apology was necessary but not feeling the words. The only thing he was sorry for was the fact that they couldn’t explore this desire that was shooting between them like sparks from a bonfire.
“But you know it’s here. You feel it. This…this attraction between us.” Even as he said the word, Cedric knew it was inadequate. Attraction didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling. It didn’t fully capture what he saw in Payton’s eyes. This was so much more than a simple attraction.
He took a cautious step toward her, not trusting himself to keep his hands off of her. Mindful of the other people in the laundromat, Cedric kept his voice low. “I know you said we have to be strictly about business, and I understand why. Remember, I’ve got just as much at stake here as you do. But how can you deny what’s going on between us, Payton?” he asked. “How long do you plan to fight it?”
She closed her eyes, her chest rising and falling with a profound breath. When she opened her eyes, the desire Cedric had seen there had been replaced by something else. Resolve.
“I’m going to fight it for as long as I have to,” she answered. “And so will you. It’s not an option, Cedric. It’s the way it has to be.”
She shouldered past him, leaving him with a mountain of disappointment.
Chapter 7
P
ayton’s eyes darted from the email on her BlackBerry to the foot traffic in front of her as she made her way up Eighth Avenue. The past week and a half had been ridiculously busy, but at least she was running only an hour behind schedule today.
She stopped at a hot dog vendor, promising herself this was her last hot dog of the week. She would make time for lunch tomorrow if it killed her. That is, if the hot dogs didn’t do it first.
Her cell phone trilled just as she walked up to the nondescript building at Eighth and Thirty-Fifth. Payton stopped short at the sight of the familiar number that illuminated the tiny screen. It was the main switchboard number for McNamara and Associates, the firm where she’d practiced law back in Austin. Payton stared at the phone a few moments before it even occurred to her she should answer it. Why were they calling her? She hadn’t talked to anyone from her old firm in nearly a year.
“Mosely,” she answered.
“Payton! How are things going?” came Daniel McNamara’s booming voice.
“Daniel, how are you?”
“Good. Everything’s good here. Better than good, actually,” he said. “We’ve got some exciting things happening at the firm.”
“That’s wonderful to hear,” Payton said, looking up and down Eighth Avenue. She needed to get inside. The taping of Cedric’s shaving cream commercial had begun nearly an hour ago. “Well, thanks for calling,” she said, trying to end the conversation.
“How would you like to become a partner?” Daniel asked abruptly, and Payton nearly swallowed her tongue.
“A partner? Daniel…I…I’m no longer practicing law,” she said.
“Come on, Payton.” Her ex-boss chuckled. The condescension in his voice had the effect of fingernails scraping down a chalkboard. “You’ve had some time to do your sports agent thing, but you’re a lawyer, one of the best this firm has. We need you to head up negotiations. It’s time you got back to doing real work.”
“Had,” Payton clarified. “You no longer have me, and I am doing real work,” she annunciated through clenched teeth. “In fact, I’m late for a meeting with my client. He’s currently shooting a commercial for the sponsor with whom I’ve orchestrated a seven-figure deal for him. So, yes, Daniel, I
am
working. Thanks for the call.” She mashed down the End button.
Payton paced outside the building, swearing under her breath. She would not allow Daniel’s out-of-the-blue phone call to trip her up today. She was here to give her client support; her sole focus right now should be on Cedric.
She set the ring tone on her phone to silent, slipped it into her purse and entered the building. She checked in at the security desk and was buzzed in and directed to the bank of elevators.
She returned the nod of the guy who stepped onto the elevator behind her, then stared at the illuminated numbers above the door. Unable to stop herself, Payton grabbed her phone from her purse and checked it once more just to make sure Daniel hadn’t tried to call her again.
She wasn’t just checking to see if he’d called, Payton realized. She was
hoping
he had.
Daniel’s offer had been a curveball she had not been expecting. McNamara and Associates was one of the largest firms in central Texas, with over a thousand associates. The negotiations section housed nearly a hundred of those lawyers. And he wanted her to head that division?
Was there any division head under the age of thirty-five? Would she be the first one? She was heady with thoughts of the prestige the appointment would bring. Not only that, if she went back to practicing law, there would be nothing standing in the way of exploring the white-hot attraction between her and Cedric.
Payton banished both thoughts from her mind.
You are a sports agent,
she reminded herself. She had a client now, one for whom she’d just garnered a respectable endorsement deal. This was what she wanted, what she’d been working for. What was she thinking to give Daniel McNamara even a single moment’s consideration?
The elevator door opened on the twenty-eighth floor, and Payton put thoughts of McNamara and Associates out of her mind. She walked up to the receptionist.
“I’m Payton Mosely. I’m here for the Soft Touch commercial shoot.”
The receptionist handed her a sign-in sheet. “It’s in suite three.” She pointed down a hallway.
“Do I just walk in?” Payton asked.
The girl clicked her computer mouse and said, “Doesn’t look like they’ve started yet. The shoot before this one ran a little behind. Go right ahead. As long as the light above the door is green it’s safe for you to walk in.”
When she reached the door to suite three, Payton edged it open and stepped into another world on the other side. There were at least a dozen people running about the large, mostly bare room. Three large cameras made a triangle around a bathroom mock-up. Large spotlights shone down on a white pedestal sink and an oval mirror hanging on a freestanding wall.
“Are you Payton?” Payton turned to find a young woman wearing a headset and sticking her hand out. “Hi, I’m Tammy. I’m the production assistant on today’s shoot. I was told to look out for you.”
“Sorry I’m so late,” Payton apologized.
“That’s okay. You’re actually right on time. Cedric is just getting out of makeup. We should start shooting within the next few minutes. I’ll show you where you can watch.”
Cedric stepped out from behind a faux wall and Payton’s mouth went dry.
“Oh, Lord,” she whispered under her breath. He was bare-chested, his skin glistening under the intense lights. He had a plush light blue towel riding low on his hips. Standing there in his bare feet, looking as if he’d just walked out of the shower, it was all too easy for Payton to picture him looking this way under entirely different circumstances. Much more enjoyable circumstances.
“You made it,” Cedric called as he started toward her.
“Just in time,” Payton said, her heart pumping faster as he approached. “Sorry I’m late. I’ve been swamped today.”
“Hey, when you’re making me money, you can take as long as you want.” He turned and called to another woman wearing a headset. “Georgia, this is my agent, Payton Mosely. Georgia is the director,” Cedric explained.