Authors: Cassandra Cole
“Tyler, I’m getting a plane right now. I’ll be in Detroit in a couple of hours and we can discuss all of this. Promise me you won’t do anything until then.”
“I can do that,” said Tyler. Something in her voice sounded urgent. What the heck, he thought. There was no harm in waiting a little while longer.
CHAPTER SIX
Bryn’s head was swimming as she hung up the phone and headed for the airport. Too much had happened in the last few weeks and she wasn’t sure if she could hold things together much longer. She had been able to do it this long, but that was before she found out that Tyler had fired her father as his agent. That was one thing she had never seen coming. Then again, she hadn’t expected any of this to happen.
Asking to take over as Tyler’s agent was impulsive and maybe even a little crazy. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she was ready, she knew for a fact she was. Tyler’s contract should be a simple one anyway. He wanted to stay in Detroit and they would be crazy not to want him back. Since he was willing to give them a hometown discount it might only take a few days to finish up.
Her reason for doing it was selfish, though, and that’s why she thought it might be a little crazy. Like Tyler, the memory of their last night together was never far from her mind. To say that she could still feel him inside of her was more than sexual, it was spiritual. She had tried any number of times to talk to him about it but could never find the words.
Tyler had never felt the same way about her as she had about him. She had always known that. He kept coming back for one reason and one reason only, and that was because she was good in bed. She had always made it a point to do whatever it took to impress him in the bedroom, never feeling that she had any chance to pique his interest in any other way.
When she heard that he had fired her dad she saw it as a chance to stay close to him far more than as a chance to prove herself as an agent and get him a fair deal. This was the wrong reason and was going to see through it, probably sooner rather than later. Maybe she could have the deal done and signed before he did. She didn’t know if it would be enough to change anything or even soften the blow, but it would at least be something.
Tyler would have to know the truth of things; she couldn’t keep it from him forever. She had considered every possible option of avoiding that inevitability, but she knew that wasn’t what she wanted. She boarded the plane knowing that she had a few more hours at least and a few more days at most. It didn’t make things any easier, though. She knew she couldn’t keep this from him, but she couldn’t find the words to explain it, either. How was she ever going to tell Tyler Bennett that one night in his hotel was more than a magical sexual encounter? What would he say when he found out she was having his baby?
CHAPTER SEVEN
The more Tyler thought about the idea of Bryn representing him, the more he liked it. It would be poetic justice to use his baby girl to stick it to Bruce Malone once and for all. He was getting impatient to have Bryn there with him in Detroit and get this whole thing finished.
He began picturing ways the two of them could celebrate. She had said that she wanted an opportunity to top their last night together and he was more than willing to give it to her. It had been over a month since the last time he had been with any woman, and the more he thought about breaking that dry spell, the more he knew he wanted to do it with Bryn.
When her plane landed she called Tyler and asked him to meet her in the lobby of her hotel. From there, she said, they could find someplace to get something to eat and talk about everything. Tyler picked her up and took her to the nicest Italian he restaurant in town. The owner was a huge fan and always got Tyler a nice table, even if he didn’t have a reservation.
“I’ve missed you,” he told her when he saw her in the lobby.
“I’ve missed you to,” she said. “There is something special about you.” That made him smile.
“You’ve been on my mind a lot these last few weeks,” he told her.
“That’s probably just because I’ve been sending you text messages every day,” she said with a soft smile. Tyler thought it might even look a little sad.
“There’s more to it than that,” he assured her. “That was a pretty special night we had,” he said with a grin. “I was thinking that maybe we should try for a repeat.”
“Maybe we should focus on getting you your contract first,” she said.
What’s this, Tyler wondered. Bryn Malone was turning down sex. He wasn’t used to getting rejected by any woman, but certainly not her. “You seem pretty focused,” he said. “I’m guessing you’ve been giving this a lot of thought.”
“I haven’t been thinking about anything else since I boarded the plan,” she told him. “My father would never approve of this, but I know I can do it. I just think that for right now it’s better to handle the business before we get to the pleasure.”
“I have to admit I wasn’t expecting you to say that, but it works for me.” They had a nice meal, and during the course of it four people came over to ask Tyler for his autograph or to have a picture taken with him. They all thanked him for everything he had done for the Tigers and said how much they hoped he would re-sign with them soon.
“I know it sounds egotistical,” said Tyler when he drove Bryn back to her hotel, but that’s why I love it here. Out where you live there are a hundred people more famous than me in every square mile. Does that make me a bad person?”
“Not necessarily,” she said. “It depends on how you handle it. We all want to feel wanted and appreciated, but if you come to expect it and demand it, that’s when it becomes a problem.”
“I think I understand,” said Tyler.
“So let’s get down to business,” she said. “Am I your agent or aren’t I?”
“You are my agent,” Tyler confirmed. “I can’t think of anyone else I would want to represent me.” Bryn’s smile was the biggest Tyler had ever seen from her. It was a nice feeling.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The next day Tyler introduced Bryn to Mark Lawton as his new agent. The Tiger’s general manager seemed more than a little surprised. “You’re Bruce Malone’s daughter, aren’t you,” he said. “I remember reading a press release a few months back saying that you were joining the firm.”
“Actually, Mr. Lawton, that press release come out over two years ago,” Bryn told him. “I no longer work for my father. I’m independent now and Mr. Bennett has asked me to handle these negotiations. I know he has made it clear that he doesn’t intend to sign with anyone but Detroit. I’m just here to make sure that gets taken care of as smoothly.”
“We can’t offer Tyler the same money or the same number of years as he can get from Anaheim or New York,” Lawton told her.
“He doesn’t care about that, he just wants the best deal possible. I’m going to call the other teams shortly and tell them that we are canceling all further negotiations. My only priority is to get this done.”
“Well then here is our offer,” said Lawton, sliding a think stack of papers in front of Bryn. “It’s eighteen million for five years with options for two more after that.”
“I’ll read through it, discuss it with Tyler, and get back to you as soon as I can,” she said with a smile, then shook the man’s hand before picking up the contract proposal and leaving.
“How did it go?” asked Tyler when she called him to ask if he wanted to meet her for lunch.
“The money is a lot less then my dad seemed to think he could get, even from Detroit, but it is just their initial proposal. I think I can get them to go a little higher.”
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I don’t care about the money,” I just want to stay in Detroit.”
“I know, but you wouldn’t refuse a few more million if I can get it, right?”
“Of course not,” he said.
“Lawton did say he was willing to add a couple of option years to the end of the deal. That could push the deal to as long as seven years.”
“See, you’ve only been my agent for one day and already you were able to get me two more years than your father said he could. That’s very impressive, now how about lunch?”
“I’d like that,” she said, “but then I need to come back to the hotel and read through this offer, okay?”
“Sounds great,” said Tyler.
Tyler spent their entire lunch going out of his way to compliment Bryn. Not only did he tell her how beautiful she was, but he went on and on about what a great agent she was going to be. Bryn was thankful for everything, but made it clear that she hadn’t done anything for him yet. She still had to see exactly what was in the offer.
“That’s just a formality,” he said. “The fact that you sat down with Lawton and made it clear that I wanted to stay in Detroit is what’s important.”
She was mildly surprised he didn’t try to talk her into letting him come up to her hotel room after lunch. Everything she learned about Tyler Bennett only confirmed her feeling that he was different than the other jocks she had met through her father. It hurt to think that he would never share her feelings. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep quiet about the baby, but was determined to get the contract signed first, so she sat down on the couch in her hotel room and pulled out the stack of paperwork.
Once she started to read through the offer Mark Lawton had presented, she grew more and more concerned. It was nowhere near as good as he had led her to believe. The further into it she got, the more she realized that Lawton was just trying to take advantage of Tyler’s desire to stay in Detroit at all costs.
He was using the deferred payments as a way to spread the cost of the contract over several more years, but it would pay Tyler far less than fair market value. In fact, he wouldn’t be making all that much more than he was on his current deal. The two option years Lawton mentioned were for less money than the first five, and those payments were set to be deferred, too. The worst part was that only the first year’s salary was guaranteed, and if Tyler were to be cut from the team for any reason, including injury, the Tigers wouldn’t owe him another penny, not even any of the deferred payments.
She hated to say it, but her father was right about a lot of things. She just wasn’t sure how she was going to break it to Tyler.
CHAPTER NINE
Bryn decided it would be better to present her counter proposal to Mark Lawton first. One thing she did agree with her father about was that you should never negotiate from a position of weakness, and Tyler had enough going for him to make that easy enough to avoid.
“This offer is a joke,” she said when she called Mark Lawton the next morning. “The Yankees and Angels are offering twenty five million a year, all guaranteed, and none of it deferred.”
“I thought you said Tyler’s only concern was staying with us?” asked Lawton.
“Not for a contract like this,” she said firmly. “We expect you to match those other offers.”
“Is this what Tyler Bennett is saying?” asked Lawton, “Because it sounds an awful lot like Bruce Malone.”
“I am Tyler’s agent now, and I can assure you I speak for him when I say this deal is unacceptable.”
“Well we do want our players to be happy,” the man said. “Why don’t you put together a counter proposal and we can go from there.”
Bryn hung up the phone and let out a big sigh. She had a lot of work to do. This wasn’t going to be quite as easy as Tyler had hoped. She wanted to get her offer fully prepared so that she could show Tyler what she felt she could do for him. She booted up her laptop and called room service to ask that they send up a pot of coffee. She had a long day ahead of her. She had barely gotten started when Tyler called.
“What the hell is going on?” he shouted. “I just got off the phone with Mark Lawton. He tells me you rejected his offer because the Yankees and Angels offered more money.”
“Tyler there’s more to it than that,” she tried to explain, but Tyler was having none of it.
“You never cared about me or what I wanted,” he said. “I trusted you and now it just looks like you’re trying to do the same thing as your father. I guess you just wanted the commission all for yourself.”
“Tyler if you give me chance I can explain what I did and why. I just need a day. Come over tomorrow and I’ll explain everything.”
“Mark Lawton is in meetings for the rest of the day or I’d be in his office right now signing the contract. I’m going there tomorrow to get this finished.”
“Well before you go see him come see me first!” she snapped. “At least hear my side of it before jumping to any stupid conclusions!” Then she hung up the phone and went to work.
What aggravated her most wasn’t that Tyler was so determined to sign the contract without reading it. She wasn’t even upset that Tyler accused her of being like her father. She was starting to understand that not all of her father’s tactics were as underhanded and self serving as she had once thought. What was most upsetting was that he didn’t trust her. She was determined to prove that he should.
Bryn worked all day and most of the night on her proposal. She wasn’t even sure if Tyler would give her the chance she asked for. He hadn’t called back since she hung up on him. All she could do was her best and hope he still believed in her at least a little. When she was finally done she called him.
“I’d like you to come over so we can talk about what Detroit is offering,” she said, trying to sound professional. Even she could hear the sadness in her voice.
“I’ll be right there,” he said. Twenty minutes later he was knocking on her hotel door. He was stunned when she showed him what Detroit was offering. “They were trying to take advantage of me,” he said.
“If you sign this they can cut you after the first year of the deal for any reason and not owe you another cent. I know you say the money isn’t important, but I couldn’t let you do that.”
“Bryn, I’m sorry,” said Tyler, and Bryn heard vulnerability in his voice she never had before. This whole thing has gotten me really messed up. I thought I wanted to stay in Detroit because I’m such a big deal here. The truth is that I’m scared to go anywhere else. What if they reject your offer?”
“I’m your agent, leave that to me,” she said softly, “but let’s not talk about that right now.” She kissed him passionately as he sat next to her on the sofa. She took his hand and slid it under her blouse so he would understand her intent. She felt the need in him as he pressed close to her and pulled his own shirt over his head. She kissed his chest and neck before taking him to the bed. There he unbuttoned her blouse and took off her bra. It felt good to have his hands on her as he caressed her breasts and then kissed her stomach.
The night was wonderful. Tyler was the best lover she ever had, but what meant more to her was winning back his trust. They slept in each others arms that night and when she woke the next morning she was determined to do as she promised and get his contract finished.
“Tyler, there’s something I need to tell you before we head over to see Marl Lawton,” she said. She had planed wait until after the contract was signed but she just couldn’t. After yesterday and him showing that he believed in her, she had to come clean about everything.
“You sound so serious,” he said with a smile. “What’s wrong am I dying or something?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said, “at least I don’t think so.”
“Bryn, whatever you have to say, just say it.”
“Okay,” she said, looking straight into those wonder blue eyes of his. “I’m pregnant.” She saw the shock in his eyes as he dropped down next to her on the couch. It was a long time before he responded. “Tyler, say something,” she said finally.
“You’re saying I’m the father.”
“I haven’t been with anyone but you.”
“I don’t know what to say,” he said, not even able to look at her.
“Tyler I’m sorry. I thought about getting an abortion, or maybe even putting it up for adoption, but I just can’t. This is our child. You should know that I’ve fallen in love with you. I think maybe I was always in love with you. It wasn’t like I was trying to make this happen, but I won’t lie and say I’m sorry that it did. I’m not asking for anything special from you. I know you don’t feel the same way that I do about us. If you want to fire me as your agent I’ll understand, but if you at least wait until after the contract is signed I’ll know that with the commission I’m going to make that my child will be taken care of.”
“I’m not going to fire you,” he said quietly. “We should get going.”
“Tyler, the contract can wait!” She grabbed his arm as he started to rise. “We need to talk about this!”
“Not now,” he said, and his voice was barely above a whisper. “Are you coming?” he asked her when we reached the door. Without arguing further, she followed him out.
CHAPTER TEN
Tyler was still in shock when he and Bryn walked into Mark Lawton’s office. Even though he refused to talk to her about the bombshell she had just dropped on him, he couldn’t think about anything else. The contract seemed unimportant next to the fact that he was going to be a father.
He had no idea how this could have happened. He hadn’t used protection that night, but he had always figured Bryn was the one woman with whom he didn’t need to do that. He thought she understood him better. It occurred to him that maybe that was part of it. She said she thought she had been in love with him for awhile now, so maybe this was all part of her plan.
He didn’t want to believe that about her. He could believe it about some random girl from a bar, maybe, but not Bryn. She was different. At least that was what he wanted to believe. Now he wasn’t so sure. Nothing in his life made sense right then. He couldn’t even pay attention to the conversation Bryn and Mark Lawton were currently having to decide his future. Even that didn’t seem important.
“How about if we make the eighteen million for five years guaranteed?” asked Mark Lawton after reading Bryn’s counter offer. We keep the option years, and at the same amount, no money deferred in any year.” Tyler saw Bryn look at him and he nodded absently.
“Throw in a no-trade clause and you’ve got a deal,” she said.
“Done,” said Lawton. “I’ll have it drawn up and ready to sign by the end of the day. We can call a press conference for tomorrow to announce that our hometown hero and the best pitcher in Tigers’ history is locked up with the team for the foreseeable future.” Tyler shook the man’s hand and did his best to smile.
“Can we talk now?” Bryn asked after they had driven back to her hotel in silence.
“No,” said Tyler. “I need some time. I’ll see you tomorrow for the press conference. He saw the tears in her eyes as she got out of his Corvette. He felt one or two slide down his own cheek as he drove off.
It didn’t look to Tyler as if Bryn had slept that night when they met at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit to sign the contract and meet the media. She had called him and left a message saying the contract was exactly as they had discussed and ready to sign.
He hadn’t slept, either. He was angry at Bryn for keeping this from him. She did tell him eventually, of course, but why had she waited so long? She was having his child. No matter how you feel about someone, this isn’t the way you handle a situation like this. He had spent the entire night trying to figure out what he was going to do. He was no closer now to figuring that out than when she first told him twenty four ours ago.
The next few hours were a blur. In front of the Detroit and national media, he signed the contract that would keep him the top dog in Detroit for most of the next decade, but that didn’t seem to matter as much as it once did. He answered all the questions professionally, saying only that Detroit was where he had always wanted to play and where he hoped to finish his career. Afterwards he drove home while a cab took Bryn to the airport so she could fly back to Los Angeles. He didn’t even bother to tell her goodbye.