Authors: Debra Elise
Prick
, Maverick thought, but damn if he didn't admire the man. All he had to do was come up with a way to restore his image and get his pitching back on track. But he'd work that out tomorrow. Right now he needed to track down the little auburn-haired siren he couldn't stop thinking about.
Kelsey leaned against the balcony railing and rolled the tension out of her neck and shoulders. How much longer should she hide out here before going back in? She didn't want to chance looking around to check on T.S. and Maverick and get caught staring again, so she kept her gaze on the still, dark blue lake below her.
A few minutes later she was so caught up in her memories, she didn't hear the terrace doors opening. She noticed the footsteps right before a hand brushed her arm. She looked up at the same time a shock of heat shot straight to her core. Maverick Jansen locked eyes with her, his attentive gaze leaving no doubt what he was up to.
“Excuse me, miss. I hope I'm not intruding, but I noticed how relaxed you look and had to find out your secret.”
Kelsey
shifted her gaze from the USBL's hottest baseball player to the marina below, and made the most unladylike of sounds. She snorted. Her body might be firing on all cylinders from his simple touch, but he didn't need to know that. “Really, is that a line you practiced or did it just come to you?”
“Well now, it got you to speak to me, so I think practiced or not, it had the desired result.” He smiled.
Out of the corner of her eye she watched as his face transformed. Gone was the sensual smile and in its place was a dimple-filled and genuine one. He was still a man on a mission but,
oh my, those dimples
.
He held out his hand. “Hi, I'm Rand Jansen, but everyone calls me Maverick.”
She accepted his sport-roughened hand around her smaller one and tilted her head to the side. How should she play this? He may be the first man in a long time to make her feel even a twinge of sexual interest, but they would soon be working together. Maybe she should test him? See exactly how he would handle a woman turning him down.
“Kelsey,” she responded.
“Just Kelsey?” he asked.
“For now.” She smiled.
“Do you usually go by one name? Are you a secret agent or something?” Maverick grinned again.
“Or something.” She took a slight step back for her sanity. Her core tightened. She became aware of her nipples as they pebbled and brushed against her camisole. Kelsey sure was glad she wore a blazer for her meeting with T.S. Otherwise Maverick would be able to see the effect he was having on her.
Damn.
Why was she having such an intense reaction to this man? It had taken a mere brush of his hand and the sound of his sinful voice to wind her up. She needed to get a grip and get off the terraceâfast.
“It was nice meeting you, Mr. Jansen, but I think I've been out here long enough. It's all yours. Enjoy.” She meant to walk past him, she really did. But there wasn't much room on the balcony for more than two, maybe three people, and in the dark, she miscalculated its width. She ended up walking directly into his side. And paused just long enough to feel that he was as affected by her as she him.
“Oh, sorry. It's getting dark out here, isn't it?” Kelsey noticed a breathiness in her voice and cringed. She moved backward, but he placed a hand on the small of her back and held her in place. Heat bloomed instantly under his touch and she felt a warmth seep even lower. Her body was now pressed into his erection, erasing all doubt of what he was after.
Crazy
. This was plain crazy. People didn't respond this way, did they? Even one-night stands didn't happen within minutes of introduction, right? Lord, how many chardonnays had she had anyway? Not used to her body responding in such a fierce, instantaneous way, she leaned back, breaking the delicious contact but still close enough to be enveloped in his body heat.
“No worries, Kelsey. This is actually right where I want you. I thought it would take a bit longer to get you here, but I don't mind if you don't.”
He flashed those dimples again. She was so screwed.
She found she wanted the challenge of turning around this man's self-destructive image, if not his behavior. What she couldn't allow herself was a night of guaranteed hot sex she was sure to receive at the hands of this gorgeous, arrogant athlete. Both T.S. and Maverick deserved her full attention and professionalism.
She
couldn't afford to let physical attraction rule her decision-making when it came to working with Maverick. She was determined to not make the same mistakes her mother did.
In the past Kelsey had done her best to set aside her personal feelings when it came to working with professional ballplayers, but Maverick could prove to be her biggest challenge. He was the sexiest man she'd ever met, period, and he was more than ready to please.
She took a deep breath and stood as tall as her current position would allow her. No way was she going to fall for the Maverick charm. “I'm sure there are plenty of women here who would love to be in my current position. But I'm not one of them. Please. Let me go.”
“Wow, you really think highly of me, don't you?” He dared her with his sarcasm and rubbed his thumb along the sensitive spot at the small of her back. A slow rhythm, back and forth. Unintentional? Practiced? At the moment she could give a damn.
“Kelsey, I'm not interested in any other woman here. I'm not sure what exactly is drawing me to you, but I know one thing, it's more than simple lust. Although I have a healthy dose of that going on, and call me crazy, but I think you do too,” he whispered.
Her pussy pulsed at his bold suggestion. She had one word for her body.
Traitor.
She held her tongue. A future VP position in the USBL or one night of no-attachment sex? He was waiting for a response, but she wouldn't cave. Not now. He was her soon-to-be client, not a one-night fantasy lover.
Turned out she didn't need to make a decision. He stepped back, and the warmth she'd been cocooned in vanished. One simple step left her aching for him to grab onto her again. To put back the rightness of the moment. But his hands remained stubbornly at his sides.
“
I've never forced myself on a woman, Kelsey, and I won't start now,” Maverick reassured her.
Kelsey looked up into Maverick's eyes and pinched her lips together before she replied. “Look, we don't know each other, but I know who you are and I'm not looking to be another notch on your Louisville Slugger.”
Leaning in close and placing a hand on the railing before she had a chance to deflect his move, he whispered into her ear. “Too bad. If that's what I was looking for, I can assure you I would have no problem convincing you I had the perfect spot for that notch. But now, well, now you'll never know my true intentions.”
His breath slid over her neck, into her sensitized ear. Liquid heat pooled in her panties.
She needed to get away from the temptation of one Rand “Maverick” Jansen and maybe rethink working closely with him. Would a coveted position with the Outlaws be enough protection against Maverick's heart-stopping looks and charm?
“I guess we won't know. But then again, there are other ways two people can interact successfully without anything physical happening between them.” She edged her way slowly to the door as she spoke.
“Ah, the age-old question. Can men and women be just friends? Is that what you're looking for, Kelsey? Seems a shame, don't you think? When two people meet and there's an intense, instant spark, not to test it out. See where it leads?” Maverick asked.
“We could philosophize all evening and never come to the same conclusion. Look, I'm flattered, I really am. But I'm not interested.” Kelsey inched her way closer to freedom.
But did she really want it?
He
didn't look like he was ready to give up, or believe her, and so he surprised her when he flashed her another devilish grin. Darn him, she'd be dreaming about all those smiles later tonight, especially this last one.
“Fair enough,” Maverick replied. “Well, I hope to maybe see you again. It seems one thing about moving to a smaller town is that you eventually run into the same people, over and over.”
He raked his gaze over her, lighting tiny fires along the way. Warm again, in all the right places, she cleared her throat before she answered. “I guess it depends on your circles, but yes, that does tend to happen around here,” Kelsey said.
Before she crossed through the doorway, Maverick whispered loud enough to reach her. “Looks like I'll be joining a new circle.”
“Maverick, thank you for coming in first thing. I'm sure you would have preferred sleeping in on your last day before training.” T.S. stood up and offered his hand to Maverick. Motioning to a burgundy leather chair, he indicated the seat opposite his desk.
“How's the arm?” he asked.
Maverick cringed as he sat down. He hated that he continued to let everyone believe his pitching issues were physical. He knew better. He'd be discovered when they'd had enough of his excuses and made him prove his supposed muscle weakness.
Hell, how was he was going to dig himself out the shithole he'd created? But right now he had one pressing issue, and that was finding out what the new boss had to say in regard to the video running rampant on social media.
Maverick broke the uncomfortable silence. “T.S., thanks for including me in the party last night. I know you didn't have to invite me and I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. Even though you're on the disabled list, you're still my number one pitcher.”
Maverick tried to gauge the truth behind that statement, looking for any indication on his face that he was lying. He saw genuine kindness and again felt like a heel for keeping the truth from the man who could have easily voided his contract.
“Well, I think Yagasaki would take issue with that statement, but I appreciate the confidence you have in me,” Maverick replied.
T.S. leaned back in his chair and looked him in the eye, holding his gaze, as if daring Maverick to look away. “So, since we're done with the bullshit niceties, how about you tell me about this viral video?”
Damn,
be careful what you put out there, Mav
. The universe had a lousy way of messing with the mind. He took a moment to think and couldn't come up with anything that would satisfy the man sitting across from him.
“So you've seen it?” Mav asked.
“I wouldn't waste my time bringing you in here if I hadn't. What I really want to know is if you still think that way.”
T.S.'s face gave nothing away. Mav couldn't read the guy. He'd walked in here fully prepared to be traded or bought out.
Maverick's last hopes of remaining an active player in the USBL were disappearing rapidly. All he worked for shot down by one night of drinking and running off at the mouth. He flashed back to another night where poor choices had altered his life. His brother, Connor, had been so excited to drive the sports car Mav had bought him. But an evening spent enjoying his new ride was cut short when an 18-wheeler had crossed the median and slammed into the driver's side of the car. Mav had been thrown clear, but not his baby brother.
Maverick had refused to back away from his brother's body, even when the responding officers tried to physically move him. When the EMTs arrived they too gave up and let him remain next to Connor as they tried and failed to find a pulse, to revive the son his parents were so damn proud of.
In his nightmares, all Mav could see was the blank, lifeless stare on Connor's face and the blood trickling from his ears. A disembodied voice would scream Connor's name over and over. It was his own voice. And no matter how hard Mav tried, the dream always played out the same damn way.
After Connor'
s graduation from Princeton, he was to follow in their father's footsteps and work side by side at the family law firm. Every time he pictured his brother's face, all he could think about was that the accident was his fault.
It was always Mav's fault.
“Maverick? Hey, man where'd you go?” T.S.'s raised voice finally penetrated through the fog of memories. He blinked several times as he brought his boss back into focus. Damn, this was not going the way he needed it to go.
“I'm sorry, I . . . could you repeat that? Sorry.”
T.S. sat back in his chair, crossed an ankle over his knee, and didn't speak for the longest thirty seconds of Mav's life.
“I'm going to cut you a break today. And it's going to be the only one I give you. I'm not going to ride your ass for the video, because you're being persecuted enough by the media. So I'm going to leave that problem to the professional public relations consultant I've hired. What I really want to know is, how's the arm?”
This he could answer. He had his speech down pat whenever anyone asked him about it. “It's improving. Manny has been working with me since I arrived. He's done some new therapy and I thinkâ”
“Look, don't bullshit me, Maverick. I can see that there's something else going on and we both know it's not physical. Right?”
Fuck. The man didn't get to where he was by being oblivious to others' weak points. No, from everything he and his teammates had heard since it was announced that the man staring him down would be their new owner, he was a pit bull in the conference room and expected everyone who worked for him to perform with all cylinders firing, always.
Who
was he kidding? He needed someone on his side right now and who better than T.S.? Pretending to be injured when he wasn't had been eating at him for weeks. It was time to be honest.
“Okay, I'll cut through all the crap. The arm was a hundred percent a long time ago. I can't really explain why I can't toss the curve and the cut ball like I did before the accident. I just . . . can't.”