Payoff Pitch (Philadelphia Patriots) (38 page)

“Not exactly. Barry was a shortstop, not a pitcher. But he gave a lot of great advice to a dumb, cocky Texas kid. Like how to carry myself on and off the field and how to be a good teammate. That kind of really important stuff. Plus, just watching him practice and play was always a lesson. He was the ultimate team player because he led by example and made you better just by being around him.”

“You were talking about longevity being essential to getting into the Hall of Fame,” she said, doing a quick mental calculation as she glanced at the numbers on the plaque. “Larkin played nineteen seasons if I’m reading this right.”

“And made over nine thousand plate appearances. Only a handful of players have ever gone to bat more than that in the majors.”

“I suspect you have to have luck on your side to rack up that kind of number,” Teddy said, “not just skill.”

When a spasm flashed across Noah’s face, she realized she’d hit a nerve. She clamped her lips shut, annoyed that she might have hurt him.

He seemed to shrug it off. “Sure, you do need a little luck from the baseball gods. Every player gets hit with injuries. It’s inevitable. But it’s the big ones that do you in. The ones that knock you out for a year or more, or permanently take away some of your ability.”

Like what had happened to Noah.

Out of some vague instinct, Teddy decided to push him a bit even though it made her heart thud with trepidation.

“You haven’t exactly been blessed with that kind of good fortune, have you?” she asked, letting her sympathy color her words.

Though his only reply was a sarcastic snort, his eyes gave away how he really felt. Like he’d been robbed.

“I’m obviously a complete neophyte,” she went on, “but I’ll bet there are a lot of ballplayers who deserved to be in this gallery but didn’t make it because of injuries. Because they couldn’t put in enough years.”

“A hell of a lot,” Noah said in a low voice. “Dozens and dozens.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said softly, searching his eyes for how he felt about to her clumsy attempts to make him feel better. “So, maybe other things are actually a better reflection of a player’s success? It’s more than just accumulating statistics, isn’t it?”

He shot her a questioning look.

Steeling herself in case he pulled away, Teddy threaded her fingers through his. Noah froze for a second, then his big hand swallowed hers in a firm grip.

“Noah, let me ask you this,” she said, staring up into his still guarded eyes. “Would Barry Larkin have been any less important to you and all the other guys he played with if injuries had kept his time on the field too low to make it here? I wonder if his really important accomplishments would have been pretty much the same, anyway.”

Stillness seemed to settle over him—over both of them. The room, half-full of fans only a few minutes ago, stood empty, and an almost prayerful hush enveloped them. Noah studied her for long moments, almost like he was seeing her for the first time. Teddy repressed the impulse to fidget even though she worried she’d somehow offended him with her amateur attempts at sports psychology.

“The longer you play, the greater your accomplishments,” he finally said. “But I get where you’re coming from and, yeah, whether or not a guy ultimately has the stats for the Hall doesn’t have much to do with whether or not you win a championship. Hell, if Nate Carter was injured tomorrow and never played another game, he’d still be one of the top five pitchers to ever play the game—at least in my books.”

Okay, then.

“I’ll bet he’s not the only Patriot that people would say something like that about,” she said, giving his hand a little tug.

A small, surprised smile curved his lips, and amusement lightened his gaze. “I think Ryan Locke fits that description, too. The guy’s my age and his arm and legs are damn near shot, but you can’t believe what he’s meant to this team over the past couple of seasons.”

She gave an exaggerated eye roll. “Really? That’s how you’re going to play this? Okay, Mr. Humble, I won’t embarrass you by talking about a certain veteran pitcher I know. He’s a real team leader and a stand-up guy from everything I’ve heard.”

Noah laughed out loud. He slid his arms around her, interlocking his hands low on her back. “So, when did you suddenly become such an expert on baseball, Teddy Quinn?” His warm, husky voice did crazy things to parts of her that insisted on remembering what it felt like to have him buried deep inside her.

Her heart suddenly pounding hard enough to crack her chest, Teddy took a couple of furtive glances around the room. A few people had wandered in, but they were still at the other end of the gallery. “Well, I have my sources,” she whispered. “But they will remain forever anonymous.”

His hands moved down one precious inch to ride the swell of her bottom. He gently pressed, nudging her belly against a suddenly
very
impressive erection. The unexpected, alpha male move in such a public place made her head spin.

She held back a whimper as she stared into his smoldering gaze.
This
was what had been brewing all day between them. Hell, it had been brewing ever since they left Philadelphia. She couldn’t be near the man without wanting to climb all over him, regardless of who might be watching or where they might be. And that shocked the hell out of her. Noah obviously felt the same way, although he didn’t look one bit shocked.

Nope, he looked like he wanted to strip her naked and do her right there in the hall of the baseball immortals.

Despite what he’d said about separate hotel rooms—and he’d come through on that promise—Teddy had always known deep down that it would come to this. No matter the issues standing between them, no matter how pissed off Noah might be with her or how angry she might be with him, it was now as clear as a bright spring sky that he never stopped wanting her, just like she never stopped wanting him.

And that didn’t just shock her—it scared her. The depth of her
need
scared her. Because it felt like she needed Noah right now more than she’d ever needed anything in her life. And if she didn’t have him, something would always be missing deep inside where it really counted.

It was a heck of an epiphany to have in the middle of a baseball museum.

Noah’s head dipped down and he nuzzled right behind her ear, making her shiver.

“God, you’re so sweet, babe. So damn sexy,” he murmured. “Sorry for being such a crude bastard, but I’d like to strip those cute little pants off you and do you right here. Right now.”

She almost choked, given that he’d just mirrored her thoughts of only a moment ago. But instead of reprimanding him, as he clearly half-expected, she grabbed his tie and gently yanked his head down, bringing his lips to hers. Noah swept inside immediately, his tongue a delicious invasion. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, but when his fingers opened wide to cup her butt, she pulled back a bit.

“That sounds like a most interesting plan,” she said in a breathless voice, “but I would truly prefer a bed to, um, a janitor’s closet in the museum.”

When Noah actually looked kind of intrigued by the closet idea, she laughed softly. She felt kind of slutty admitting it, but getting naked right at this second sounded awfully good to her, too.

“I hear you,” he said.

Then the smile faded from his eyes and he looked at her with such dark intensity that her legs went weak. “But are you really sure you want this? Because once we start, there’s not going to be any stopping.”

Teddy went up on her toes and gently bit his lower lip. Noah jerked in her arms. “Just stop long enough to get me back to the hotel room, big guy, and not a second longer.”

Noah could hear Teddy choking back laughter as he practically dragged her across the hotel lobby. But God’s truth he couldn’t wait a moment longer to get her into his bed. It felt like months had passed since he’d had her—long, dry months. He was so eager for her that he’d almost pulled his car off the road and taken her right then and there.

That was ridiculous, because the Hall of Fame was only a few minutes from the hotel. Still, he’d been tempted, especially since Teddy hadn’t objected one bit to his hand cupping her sweet little mound through her cotton capris. She’d simply let out a satisfied sigh and snuggled down into the seat, closing her eyes as if to focus on what his hand was doing to her.

And that had made him feel pretty damn good, almost as good as when she’d earnestly lectured him back at the museum, trying to convince him it didn’t mean squat if his name never made it onto the wall. Noah couldn’t buy that argument, but he got her point. What he got even more was how disturbed she was by his disappointment and pain, and how much she wanted to ease his mind.

If he’d ever doubted Teddy’s feelings for him, those doubts had been erased. And when she’d gazed up at him, her blue eyes open and so full of emotion, he’d realized how much she meant to him, too. Sure, she drove him nuts sexually, but it was more than that—way more—although he wasn’t quite ready to face what that meant. All he knew was that he wanted Teddy in his bed and in his life for the foreseeable future.

He glanced down at her as they waited for the elevator. Her foot started tapping and she scowled at the floor numbers over the door, as if her impatience would make the damn thing come any faster. Noah had to bite back a grin even as he acknowledged what a lucky bastard he was that Teddy wanted him as much as he wanted her. Her eagerness was sweet and almost innocent, right up front and with no attempts to play coy or string him along. When she wanted to be with him, she let him know, just like she’d let him know when she’d needed space.

He hoped the days of Teddy needing her space were over right now.

“Finally,” she muttered as the elevator reached the ground floor. She took Noah’s hand and pulled him into the elevator, then jabbed the button for their floor.

Torn between laughter and an overwhelming urge to get his hand down her pants, he started to reach for her. Unfortunately, as the doors began to close a hand stuck between them, bouncing them back open.

“Hold the elevator,” exclaimed a middle-aged guy decked out in a pink Ralph Lauren golf shirt and tan khakis. He wore a Yankees ball cap, which was almost as annoying as the fact that he was holding the door open, obviously waiting for someone else.

“Put a move on it, you guys,” he called out into the lobby. “Can’t you see I’m holding the damn thing for you?”

Teddy let out a quiet, aggrieved sigh.

The guy glanced at her. “Sorry about this, but the elevators in these old hotels take forever.”

“No problem,” Noah said, throttling back the impulse to snarl at the guy. He didn’t mind waiting a few seconds, but this was getting ridiculous—especially since he had a raging hard-on that would be obvious to anyone who happened to glance down.

The guy’s gaze caught on Noah’s face for a few seconds before bouncing to Teddy. Or to her chest, to be precise. And it stayed there.

Dick.

Noah was about to start giving him shit when a woman and another middle-aged couple, all carrying overnight bags, finally bustled in.

“Sorry,” the woman said, throwing an apologetic glance at them as she and the other couple squeezed into the elevator.

“What the hell took you so long?” said the man as he punched a button on the console.

“We were trying to get the luggage straightened out with the bellman,” the second woman answered. She laughed. “We’re not exactly travelling light, you know, but he said he’ll have everything up in a few minutes.”

“He’d better,” groused the first guy, “or he won’t be getting any damn tip.”

Cheap dick.

Teddy was glaring at the jerk. Noah sensed she was trying to decide whether she should tell him off. He certainly sympathized, but the last thing he wanted was to get into an argument with an asshole—especially when he had way better things to do at the moment.

Time for a little distraction.

When the others had piled in, Noah had stepped behind Teddy to make some room. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her into his groin, bringing his erection against her ass. It rode right down the center, and when he gently pushed it against her, she let out a little gasp. She instinctively tried to pull away, but he held onto her with a firm grip.

While the elevator slowly made its way up, Noah made small, grinding movements against the swell of her ass. Since their floor came after the one the other guy had pushed, he had some time to get himself pretty worked up—and Teddy too, if her uneven breathing was any indication.

The doors finally dinged open and the two couples, who’d been chattering away completely oblivious to the scene going on behind them, got off. As soon as the doors closed, Teddy tried to turn around, clearly ready to let him have it. But he prevented her by clamping a hand on her crotch, holding her tight against him.

“Noah Cade, you are such a bastard,” she said, trying to sound outraged as she looked over her shoulder at him. “I cannot believe you did that.”

“Just be happy you weren’t wearing a skirt, or things might have gotten really interesting.”

She burst into laughter, even though her cheeks had blushed a deep shade of pink. He’d obviously embarrassed her but could tell she was turned on, too. Even through her thin cotton pants and underwear, he could feel her already starting to get damp. Noah swore his cock swelled twice the size in response. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he was afraid he would come before he could even pull on a condom.

When they reached their floor, he hurried her down the hall to his room. It took two fumbles to get the damn keycard to work, probably because he was still trying to hold onto her, but they finally got inside.

Noah just managed to get the door closed before Teddy was all over him, her arms snaking around his neck as she plastered herself against him. She went up on tiptoe to reach his mouth, pressing her full, soft lips to his. He slid his tongue along the seam and she immediately opened for him.

The kiss went hot and wet in an instant. Teddy whimpered into his mouth and brought her leg up to the side of his thigh, rubbing her mound against his aching erection. Noah groaned, suddenly so hungry for her he couldn’t wait one moment longer.