Authors: Cassandra Cole
“Whatever you say, but it’s still nice to see someone in this business not make money a priority.”
“Are you sure you have to work tonight?” asked Tyler, flashing his blue eyes and throwing in a slight pout for effect. That was usually enough to charm the pants off f just about any woman, and he was surprised it didn’t work better now.
“I really do miss you,” she said, “but I can’t get away tonight. You’ll just have to sleep alone and think about what might have been.”
Not much chance of that happening, Tyler thought as he pulled out his phone to call another cab.
CHAPTER FOUR
Bryn Malone pushed a strand of auburn hair behind her ear as she scrolled through yet another contract proposal for one of her father’s clients. This one was for a catcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds. Not every client Bruce Malone represented was a superstar, and for the lesser ones he liked having the proposals ready before the season ended. There usually wasn’t a ton of negotiation involved, and if he could have the particulars set ahead of time, it made things go even easier.
That wasn’t exciting work, though, and so he farmed it out to his intern. Normally Bryn didn’t mind so much, but tonight she would rather be with Tyler and because of that she was finding it hard to concentrate. She only wished that he felt the same way about her.
Bryn was no one’s fool. Tyler Bennett was one of the best looking players in major league baseball. He could have any woman he wanted. The fact that he sometimes wanted her was exciting at first, but now she found herself hoping that maybe there could be more between them than just casual sex.
She had always kept her distance from her dad’s clients, never thinking that a girl like her would even register on their radar. From the first time she met Tyler at that party at her father’s house she felt there was something different about him. That was why she threw herself at him that first night. She was a little surprised at how eager he was, but she wasn’t about to question it. She was going to spend the night with Tyler freaking Bennett and that was all that mattered.
It puzzled Bryn that he kept coming back for more. She knew he must have a least a dozen other possibilities on any given night, but any time the Tigers were on the west coast he always made sure to give her a call. For a little while she kidded herself that he might actually have feelings for her. When she suggested that maybe she could move to Detroit and be able to spend more time with him, he made it clear she had badly misread the situation.
It would probably have been better to just end things right then and there, but he also made it clear that he was willing to keep seeing her, so long as there was no change to their current situation. It wasn’t the healthiest of relationships, she knew, but it also wasn’t like she had a ton of other suitors.
Unlike Tyler, she wasn’t a famous athlete with numerous options when it came to dating. Bryn had always felt like she needed to be happy with what she could get, and a girl could do a whole hell of a lot worse that bedding Tyler Bennett. It might not be ideal from an emotional standpoint, but for her it beat the alternative.
One day things might have to change, but Bryn wasn’t ready to say that day had come yet. For now she would take what he was willing to give her and hope that one day he would want more. It was a foolish hope but after all, he was Tyler freaking Bennett.
For the time being she knew she needed to focus on doing what it would take to impress another man who wasn’t to keen on doling out praise. She knew her father loved her but sometimes she thought it would be nice if he actually tried to show it a little.
Bruce Malone could be hard as nails when it came to getting the best contract for one of his athletes, and sometimes that tough persona was on display with her as well. Bryn knew that her father had built a name for himself by doing business a certain way, but she also felt like there might be more important things than selling off ball players to the highest bidder.
Take Tyler Bennett for example. He didn’t care as much about money as he did about playing somewhere he was comfortable. Her dad didn’t understand that, but she did. If he would just change his mind and let her negotiate with the Tigers then she knew she could make everyone happy.
That was never going to happen. Her dad wasn’t even going to let her work out a deal for a backup journeyman catcher for the Reds, so that meant the chances she would get to do anything at all to help Tyler get his contract were exactly zero.
That seemed to be the way of things for Bryn. There were two men in her life that she cared about impressing and neither one seemed willing to let her prove she had more to offer than they were currently asking. The smart thing to do would be to move on from both of them, but unlike Bruce Malone and Tyler Bennett, Bryn’s heart ruled her emotions. It might not be the perfect way to be, but that was who she was.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tyler walked into the hotel just as two of his teammates were walking out. Jose Guzman was the team’s shortstop and Rich Bowman was the catcher. When they saw Tyler they called him over. “You can’t be ready for bed this early,” said Bowman. Not Tyler Bennett.”
“It was a long plane ride and I’m a little jet lagged,” he said.
“No chance amigo,” said Guzman. There is a whole city of beautiful women just waiting for us.”
Tyler wasn’t kidding when he said he was tired from the plane ride. Spending the night with Bryn was one thing. He didn’t have to work to impress her but he knew that was exactly what she would do for him. Still, the thought of spending the night alone didn’t appeal to him whatsoever. He might be a little tired, but as a competitor he knew how to push past it. “What the hell, I’m in,” he said.
It didn’t take any time at all for the women to find them once they walked into the club. Three Hispanic women came right up to their table before the waitress even brought them their drinks. “I know you,” said the first one, a tall woman with cures similar to Bryn in a tight jeans and a low cut black top. “You’re Tyler Bennett. You pitch for the Detroit Tigers.”
“That’s right, said Tyler. These are my teammates, Jose Guzman and Rich Bowman.
“We know them, too,” said the girl. “My name is Maria Mendoza. This is my sister Anna and our friend Lara Hernandez. Would you three like to buy us a drink?”
“For starters,” said Tyler.
After a few drinks, the ladies went with Tyler, Jose, and Rich back to the hotel. Tyler took Maria to his room, eager for what was about to happen. He didn’t need to relocate to LA. He could have his pick of women in Detroit and still do the same thing in any city the team visited. The proof was kneeling in front of him and unzipping his jeans right then.
Maria pushed Tyler back on the bed after pulling off his jeans and t-shirt then treated him to a strip-tease. She slowly slid her top over her head, and then removed her black lace bra. After rubbing it around her chest she tossed it to Tyler then proceeded to wiggle out of her tight jeans. Then she came to the bed and straddled him, softly running her hands along the inside of his muscled thighs.
Tyler pulled her close so he could feel her and slide his tongue over her breasts. She pushed his back against the mattress and Tyler closed his eyes in anticipation of what would come next. When he did the image in his mind was not of Maria, but Bryn. The night was good, but in Tyler’s mind he was spending it with the gorgeous redhead from earlier and not the enthusiastic Latina currently on top of him. He couldn’t shake the thought that it should have been Bryn he was with and not Maria. In the morning he put Maria in a cab and then took a walk to a nearby diner for some breakfast.
The Tigers won that night and since he wasn’t pitching, the LA reporters had little interest in talking to Tyler. He showered quickly and called Bryn, hopeful they could meet soon. She had been on his mind all day and he was a little surprised by that. She told him that she was at the game and would meet him at the entrance to the visiting team’s clubhouse. From there they drove to a quiet restaurant. It was the same one that they usually went to when he was in town.
“I’m glad we’re together tonight,” said Tyler with a smile when they had settled into their quiet booth and were waiting for their meal to arrive.
“That’s nice to hear,” said Bryn. “I thought about you all last night.”
“I thought about you too,” said Tyler, but he didn’t bother saying what he was doing while he was thinking about her.
“The difference is that I think about you even when you’re on the other side of the country. You only think about me when you’re in LA.”
“That’s not true,” he insisted, all the while knowing that it pretty much was.
“Well either way it doesn’t matter. We’re together now.”
“I agree. Let’s do our best to make tonight special,” He smiled his best smile and looked deep into her green eyes. He could tell by the look on her face that she was ready to do just that.
There was something different about Bryn that night, or at least that was the way it seemed to Tyler. She was aggressive from the start, reaching between his legs to feel him the second the hotel door closed. Usually preferring not to have the lights on, she didn’t even ask Tyler to turn them off when he pulled her to the bed and helped her out of her jeans. He lay underneath her and reached up to fondle her breasts, all the while admiring how beautiful she was.
Maybe it was just that he hadn’t been with her in so long, or the fact that he hadn’t gotten that many opportunities to see her with the lights on, but Tyler thought that for the first time he truly appreciated how lovely this woman actually was. Her hips started to move and Tyler could feel all of her. She dug her fingernails into his chest and he smiled at how thrilling the sensation was. She bent down to kiss his neck and chest and Tyler knew right then that this was going to be the best night the two of them had ever shared, and Bryn spent the next few hours proving that he was right.
The next morning he woke up with his arms wrapped around her and smiled. Bryn was an amazing woman and they had just shared one of the best nights of life. That was really saying something when Tyler thought about the kind of life he had led, but he knew it was true nonetheless.
“That was amazing,” she purred when she woke up.
“I thought so too,” he told her.
“I would love to try and top it tonight, but I still have a lot to finish for my father,” she said. Tyler wanted to tell her that after three different women on three consecutive nights that even he was ready for a break, but instead he just smiled and told her he understood.
As it turned out, Tyler’s body had plenty of time to recover. With the Tigers in the thick of a tight pennant race, he focused more on his game than on extracurricular activities. He had always maintained a strict policy of not having sex the night before he pitched as a way to keep his body and mind centered on what he needed to do on the mound and now he was so focused on getting the team back to the world series that he extended that policy to include all games for the remainder of the season. It turned out not to be too difficult to keep his mind off women, at least for the most part.
The one woman Tyler did think about was Bryn. She sent him text messages nearly every day. Most of them were just to encourage him and wish him and the team luck, or to congratulate him on another great performance. Some of her messages, however, had a strange tone to them. They seemed almost poetic as she talked about changes to come and how life can change you. Sometimes they sounded bright and happy, while others sounded sad and almost desperate. Tyler didn’t spend much time trying to decipher them. He was too focused on pitching.
He did find himself looking forward to hearing from her though. She was far from the only person sending him messages after games, but he found that he would often make it a point to read hers first. Even the ones that sounded sad were a welcome sight when he picked up his phone after each hard fought game. His unspoken vow of celibacy didn’t keep him from remembering their last night together, and it always gave him a warm feeling inside.
He didn’t think much about his contract situation during this time either. He left his last conversation with Bruce Malone believing that they were on the same page for his wish to stay with the Tigers. This, along with giving up women and late nights for the time being, allowed him to concentrate fully on being the best pitcher he possibly could, and the results were impressive.
The Tigers blew through the playoffs and World Series just as they had the year before, and a great deal of the credit had to be given to Tyler and his electric right arm. He won all of his post season starts, including both games one and four in the World Series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was named Most Valuable Player of the series, and as soon as the parade through Detroit was over reporters started asking questions again about his contract situation. One week after the final out of the season, Rick Thomas of the Detroit News was at Tyler’s locker asking him questions as he packed up his gear to get ready for the off season.
“Now that you’ve filed for free agency does that mean you’re going to back off your statement that you have no plans to leave Detroit?” asked Thomas.
“What are you talking about?” asked Tyler, annoyed by the question. “I haven’t filed for anything. The only team I want to play for is Detroit. I’m just waiting for my agent to sit down with Mark Lawton and get the contract worked out.”
“Maybe you need to talk to Bruce Malone,” said Thomas, “because according to the list put out by major league baseball this morning you are one of over one hundred players who filed the paper work declaring themselves a free agent yesterday, the first day they were eligible to do so.”
Tyler didn’t say another word to Thomas. He jumped up and first went to find Cal Stevens. “Skip, I just found out that Bruce Malone filed my free agent paper work. I’m not Julio Ramirez. I promise you I’m not going anywhere.”
“That’s what Ramirez said too,” said Stevens. “I hope I’ll see you next year, and in a Tigers uniform, but you’ll have to pardon me if I wait until I actually see it to believe it.”
Frustrated, Tyler called Bruce Malone. “Mr. Malone, why didn’t you call me before you filed my free agency paperwork?” he asked when the man answered the phone. “I would have told you not to bother. I’m not signing anywhere else.”
“Tyler, this is all part of the process,” said Malone. “Since word has gotten around that you’re a free agent I’ve gotten calls for seven teams. The Angels and Yankees both have made initial offers of more than twenty five million a year for five years. I know I can get one of them to go to seven years and thirty million. It may take a few weeks, but it will happen.”
“I don’t care about that I want you to call Mark Lawton right now and accept his offer.”
“Tyler, Mark Lawton and the Tigers have a firm policy of not offering a contract longer than five years. They might go as high as twenty five million, but I know the man and the team. They’ll never approach thirty. I’m sorry Tyler but you’re time as a Detroit Tiger is over.”
Tyler was beyond livid. Everything he ever wanted was right there in Detroit. He was pitching for his hometown team and they had just won back to back championships. Not only that, but they were poised to win even more. He was going to be more than a local hero; he was going to be a legend. A few extra million couldn’t buy him that in another city, especially one the size of LA or New York. Tyler was used to getting his way and he intended on getting his way this time, too. He knew there was only one way that was going to happen.
“No, what’s over is your time as my agent,” Tyler told Malone. “You’re fired.”
“Are you crazy?” asked Malone. “You don’t have time to get anyone else.”
“I don’t need anyone else,” said Tyler. “I just need to sign a contract. I’ll have this done in two days.” He could hear Malone laughing as he hung up the phone. His head was swimming as he rode the elevator up to Mark Lawton’s office. Everything had been so perfect until now. He only hoped he could get it fixed quickly.
“Tyler, come on in,” said Mark Lawton when Tyler got to his office. “What can I do for you?”
“You can give me a contract to sign,” Tyler told him.
“I talked to Bruce Malone yesterday and he made it clear he was exploring other options. From what I’m hearing I doubt we would be able to match the money and length of your other offers.”
“I just fired Bruce Malone. He no longer represents me and I don’t want to play anywhere else. You give me a contract and I’ll sign it.”
“You fired Bruce Malone?” asked Lawton, sounding like he was having a hard time digesting it. “This does change things. Give me a little while and I’ll put something together.”
“Thank you,” said Tyler. “Hopefully by then I’ll have hired another agent.” Tyler rode the elevator back to down to the main level feeling a little better. He was still angry at Malone, but was confident he could find an agent that would get him the deal he wanted with Detroit. As soon as he got off the elevator and headed for the parking structure his phone rang. He smiled when he saw that it was Bryn.
“I just talked to my father,” she said. “Is it true, did you really fire him?”
“He never intended to get me a new deal with the Tigers,” said Tyler. He wants his fat commission from this contract and from all the endorsement deals he envisions negotiating for me. I just couldn’t take it. I’m sorry Bryn, I know he’s your father but I can’t have him representing me anymore. I have to find someone else.”
“How about me?” she asked. “You said before you would let me work out a deal for you.”
“Yeah but that was when I was being represented by your father’s agency. Like I said, I just fired him.”
“So I’ll quit and start my own agency,” she said. “He and I never saw eye to eye anyway. Let me do this.”
“Are you serious?” asked Tyler. He wasn’t sure he ever had been when he told her she could work on his contract. Part of him thought it would be great to have Bruce’s own daughter, who also happened to be the woman he refused to let handle a single client in two years, be the one to get the commission for this deal. He also realized the thought of having her out of his life wasn’t all that appealing.