Take Me (19 page)

There was a tap on her shoulder, and she jumped.

She turned.

Jay.

He was standing there in his uniform, looking fresh and clean. “Hey,” he said, giving her an easy grin.

“Hi.” She shifted on the bench and tried not to look at him. If she did, she was afraid she’d do something crazy, like kiss him. She wondered if the other players could tell they’d had sex. The thought of it made her feel hot all over.

“Look, I’m sorry about this morning,” she said. “I didn’t mean to be rude, it just

– ”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, waving off her apology and sitting down next to her. “I understand. You need to be worried about your job. But what about a group outing?”

“A group outing?”

“Supposedly your friend Jessa is going on a date with Chad tonight. I was thinking we could go along, keep an eye on them.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he rushed on. “You could make sure she didn’t do anything she might regret.”

Jessa had texted her already this morning, crowing about her date with Chad.

She’d asked Alyssa if she wanted to meet up later and go shopping at La Perla. “For something totally skanky” Jessa had said. Alyssa very much doubted that Jessa was getting into something she would regret.

“Of course, you don’t have to,” Jay said. “But it would make a good column.”

“Column?”

“Yeah. You know, you could say you went to kind of watch your friend, make sure she was okay. Write about how girls kind of lose their shit when they’re around professional athletes.” He leaned in close to her. “Do you have any experience with that kind of thing?”

Heat flooded her body and rushed between her legs. “What kind of thing?”

“Losing control around athletes.”

“No,” she said, moving away from him. “But you might be right. I wouldn’t want Jessa getting into any trouble.”

“Of course not.”

“And it
would
make a great column.”

He nodded. “So I’ll call you later and let you know the details.” Then he leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear, “I was going crazy thinking I wasn’t going to be able to see you again. I missed you all morning.”

He got up and loped out across the field, and Alyssa sat there, trying to calm her beating heart.

***

Jay was nervous. He’d never been nervous before a date before, but he was nervous about this one. He wanted Alyssa to know he was for real, he wanted her to know that he would do whatever it took to make things work with her.

He met her at her hotel, although she’d insisted that he stay in his car and not come inside. She didn’t want anyone seeing them together.

She appeared wearing a sky blue summer dress, her hair loose and flowing around her shoulders. The flimsy fabric clung to her curves, and she didn’t appear to be wearing a bra.

“Wow,” Jay said when she got in the car. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she said, pulling the seatbelt across her chest and buckling it. “So where are we going?”

“A restaurant called Shiver,” Jay said.

Shiver, in direct contrast to its name, was hot inside, and decorated in tones of red and black. It didn’t look like the kind of place Jessa would pick, which became apparent when they got shown to their table. Jessa was sitting there with a scowl on her face. She was wearing a red dress that plunged down so far you could see her belly button.

“He’s not here,” she said.

“Jay, this is Jessa,” Alyssa said. “Jessa, Jay.”

“Hey,” Jay said. He could tell already that Jessa was crazy. He could also tell that Chad was going to get very, very lucky tonight. Her cell phone rang, and Jessa picked it up. “Chad!” she crowed.

“Great,” Jay said brightly. He pulled a napkin off the table and set it across his lap. He could already tell what was about to happen. He’d been to this rodeo before.

He listened to Jessa’s side of the conversation, not surprised at all when she announced that Chad couldn’t get away, that she was just going to meet him at his hotel room.

“His hotel room?” Alyssa asked, looking confused. “Why would he have a hotel room? Doesn’t he live here?”

Jay bit back a smile as he watched Alyssa realize what the hotel room was about.

A way to have sex without Jessa knowing where Chad lived.

Jessa didn’t seem to notice. In fact, she was up and out of the restaurant in about five seconds.

“So,” Jay said. He opened up the menu and scanned it. “What looks good?”

***

Alyssa couldn’t believe it. Here she was, determined to keep her distance from Jay Havens, and now she’d somehow ended up on a date with him. Although, if she were being completely honest, she hadn’t really tried that hard to stay away from him. She’d come here with him, even allowing him to pick her up. And she’d spent all afternoon shopping, looking for the perfect outfit to make her look sexy, but not like she was trying too hard.

“We should get champagne,” Jay said.

“How come?”

“To celebrate.”

“What are we celebrating?”

“Our first date.”

“This isn’t a date.”

“Yes, it is.” He grinned.

“No, it isn’t.”

“Dinner, champagne, you looking sexy as hell in that dress… What’s not a date?”

She sighed and shut her menu. “Jay,” she said. “I …I had a really great time last night.”

“Me too.”

“And I don’t…I mean, I can’t…we can’t…” She took a deep breath and tried again. “I can’t be hanging out with you like this. I told you, if anyone finds out, I could lose my job.”

He reached out and took her hand, entwining his fingers with hers. “Alyssa,” he said, “we have a connection. I haven’t felt like this in a really long time. No, actually, forget that. I haven’t felt like this
ever.”

She looked into his eyes, wanting to believe him. “Me neither,” she admitted.

“But I have a job, and I can’t… I can’t just give that up.”

He nodded. “I would never ask you to do that.”

“Then you see why it’s so hard. I mean, I just met you.”

“And you don’t trust that I’m for real.”

She shrugged. “Can you blame me? I mean, you got married to a stripper in Vegas.”

He laughed and shook his head. “She wasn’t a stripper. She was a dancer. I keep trying to tell people that.”

But she wasn’t laughing. In fact, she suddenly felt really, really sad.

“Hey,” he said. He put his finger under her chin and tipped it up, then kissed her softly. “Let’s not worry about any of that, okay? Let’s just enjoy tonight. Do you want to do that?”

She thought about it. She did want to just enjoy the night with him. They were here. And even if someone saw them, she could always tell Isobel that he’d asked her out to dinner so he could give her an exclusive on the PR problems he was having.

So she nodded. And then she opened her menu. “Champagne, definitely,” she decided. She smiled. “And maybe some caviar.”

~Chapter Ten~

This time, when they got back to the hotel room, there was no waiting. No teasing. No pretense.

Just the two of them, falling into bed. They made love all night, over and over, resting in between climaxes, holding each other, talking about everything and anything.

Jay told her about Marti, about how he’d wanted her to marry him, and how she’d turned him down. Alyssa told him about Joel, how she’d always felt like she was in his shadow.

“I can’t imagine you ever being in anyone’s shadow,” Jay said, and kissed her deeply and passionately.

Finally, the night had to end, and the sun began to rise over Brooklyn. Alyssa lay there, thinking about how good this felt, letting herself believe for just a second that maybe this could work out. Crazier things had happened, right? Look at Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Of course, he’d ended up cheating on her, so it wasn’t the best example, but -The phone rang, breaking the spell.

“God,” Jay said. “Doesn’t your editor ever sleep?”

Alyssa laughed, then reached over and picked up the receiver. “I’m almost done with the column, Isobel,” she said.

“Forget the column!” Isobel screeched. “You better get down to Lerner Field asap!”

“What?” Alyssa was confused. “Why do I have to get down to the field asap?”

“Because,” Isobel said. “Jay Havens is about to be arrested.”

***

This was a nightmare. Some kind of brawl had apparently taken place last night at a bar between Brooklyn Heat fans, and the fans of their rivals, the New York Storm.

Things had gotten out of hand.

And now, someone was saying that Jay had been there.

“Do you even understand what this is going to do?” Steve hissed through the phone. “They’re going to kick you off the team now for sure.”

“I wasn’t there,” Jay said calmly.

“Well, there are two witnesses who say you were. Do you have any kind of alibi?”

“No,” Jay said. He glanced at Alyssa, sitting on the bed next to him. “I was at home, alone.”

“If I were you,” Steve said, “I’d get a lawyer.”

Jay sighed and hung up.

Alyssa looked nervous. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Jay said. He rolled his eyes. “Just some assholes, saying I assaulted them last night.”

“But you were here.”

“I know.” He shrugged. “But it’s my word against theirs.”

“And you can’t tell them you were here,” Alyssa said slowly. “Because of me.”

She looked upset, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Jay said. He reached over and rubbed her back. “Don’t worry.

It’ll blow over. It always does. This is one of those things that just comes with the territory, you know?” He kissed her lips softly. “I’ll call you later, okay? I’m going to go meet with Steve.”

Alyssa watched as he walked out of the room. She thought about what Isobel had said, about how she should get down to the field as soon as possible. Instead, Alyssa took her time. She got into the shower, letting the hot water beat over her body. She dried her hair, then dressed in jeans and a Brooklyn Heat hoodie.

She looked around her hotel room and thought about how Jay hadn’t told his agent they’d been together, even though it would have been easy for him. She thought about how he’d been so understanding about her not wanting to be seen with him. She thought about their talk last night, about how amazing he was.

She thought about Joel, how he’d always pressured her to stay in his shadow, how he’d demeaned her job, acted like it didn’t matter. She thought about how Jay hadn’t done that, how he’d never made her feel like his job was more important than hers, how he was willing to get arrested because he knew her job was that important to her.

She thought about how afraid she’d been, about how she hadn’t been able to really give herself over to love. She thought about taking chances.

And then she sat down.

And wrote a column.

A column about how she’d fallen in love with Jay. How the two of them had spent the night together. That he couldn’t have been nicer. That he’d been willing to get arrested for her. That everyone had him all wrong.

And then, before she could change her mind, she sent it to Isobel. And then she went to find Jay.

~Epilogue~

Four Months Later

At Lerner Field, the crowd was going wild. The Brooklyn Heat had just beat the New York Streak to clinch the pennant, and they were headed to the World Series.

Alyssa sat right behind the dugout, her pen and paper out in front of her. After she’d sent her column to Isobel about her and Jay, things had taken a turn for the better.

It turned out that Isobel had loved it. And so had the site visitors.

Jay and Alyssa had become America’s favorite couple. And Alyssa had gone on the road with the Heat, writing about her adventures, and what it was like dating America’s favorite reformed bad boy.

Ticket sales were up. And now with the trip to the World Series, things would be even better. Alyssa watched the field as Chad and Jay hugged. Chad had had his own scandals after her column had run, which had taken the heat off Jay.

Apparently Jessa had made a hidden sex tape of the two of them, and when Chad had refused to see her again, she’d threatened to release it. But that had blown over, and the tape had never materialized. Alyssa suspected Chad had given Jessa some kind of settlement, but she couldn’t be sure.

Alyssa watched as the players celebrated, and then a microphone was brought out and shoved in front of Dax’s face. As the captain, he gave a few words of congratulations to the team. And then he handed it off to Jay, giving him a hug. The two had mended their fences once Dax had realized that Jay and Alyssa were the real thing.

Dax had even apologized for the comments he’d made.

“Hello, Brooklyn,” Jay said, and the crowd went wild. “I just want to say thank you so much to the fans who have supported me since the beginning of my career. I know we had some rough times.” The crowd laughed, and then hollered their appreciation.

“I couldn’t have done this without my teammates, without my agent, Steve, without Cliff Billingsley. But the one person who’s most responsible for everything I do, is my girlfriend, Alyssa Cotler.”

Everyone turned to look at her, and then Jay was walking across the field toward her. “She’s been my inspiration, my light, my life. She’s changed everything about what I think and how I feel. I wouldn’t be anywhere if it weren’t for her.”

The crowd cheered.

Jay was at the bottom of the stands now, and he jumped onto the top of the dugout and took Alyssa’s hand.

“Alyssa,” he said, “I love you more than anything in the world.”

“I love you, too,” she said. Her heart was beating almost out of her chest.

Jay got down on one knee. And the crowd went even crazier. “Alyssa,” he said, and pulled a ring out of the pocket of his uniform. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” she screamed. “Yes, yes, yes!” He slid the ring onto her finger, and then grabbed her in a hug.

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear.

“I love you, too,” she said.