The Devil in Denim (34 page)

She spread out the photos they’d collected. And the list of names. Ally Kaminski had remembered one Saints employee who’d come to her with a complaint about Will. About passes that didn’t stop and feeling uncomfortable. At the time the woman hadn’t wanted to make a formal complaint. But her name was a start. And then she’d told Maggie some others. Once they’d known there was something to find, Shelly and Hana had gone into overdrive. And hit pay dirt.

Corinne stared at her. “How did you get these?”

“I don’t believe that matters, ma’am. What matters is I have them.”

“And you’d use them? Like a petty blackmailer?”

“Ma’am, your son has been playing fast and loose with the truth all week. Not to mention that I know he was the one who saw fit to let the press know about my private life.” Shelly had been able to confirm that with one of her press contacts.

“You mean your affair with your employer.” Corinne’s lip curled. “Your father should have raised you better than that.”

“My father raised me to know a good man when I spotted one. And to play fair. Unfortunately for you, I was also raised with an ever-revolving roster of baseball players who wanted to be my big brothers. And quite a few of them made sure I knew how to play dirty when I needed to. Alex Winters is a good man, Mrs. Sutter. He plays fair. Your son has proven that. None of the stuff he’s been trying to smear Alex with has stuck. Any more than it will stick to Mal Coulter or Lucas Angelo. They’re all good men. They’ll be good for the Saints. But I don’t think Will would be.”

She looked down at the photos, then back up at Corinne. “Now, I can understand a mother protecting her son. But I want you to be clear on something. I’m protecting my family too. Some of this isn’t so bad. The stuff you and Jack hushed up when Will was a kid … the drinking and the drugs and the car crash and his friend losing a hand— Well, he was a kid and I’m sure that most people would shrug that off as boys being boys, as ridiculous as that is. But this…” She reached out and tapped one of the photos. “Sexual harassment? Maybe more? Well, that’s a more difficult subject. A scandalous one. No team wants to smear themselves with that. And there are probably plenty of companies who won’t want to either.”

Mama’s face had turned pale under the makeup. Maggie felt somewhat sorry for her but she pressed on. Because Will needed to change his ways and he needed to be kept far away from the Saints while he did it. “I can—and will—be just as ruthless as anybody else when it comes to what’s mine. So you need to make a decision about what you’re going to do for Will next. Give him free rein to keep going down his current path and I’ll be forced to pull him up myself. It would be much easier on everyone if it didn’t get to that.”

There was a discreet cough from the doorway. Maggie looked up and saw the girl in gray carrying a tray bearing two glasses of iced tea and a plate of cookies. She reached down and flipped the folder of photos closed. Her heart pounded furiously as she waited while the tea was passed to her and the plate arranged on an occasional table between them. She couldn’t have eaten a cookie right then to save her life. She felt like she might throw up while she waited to see what Mama would do next.

The girl retreated silently, and Corinne folded her hands in her lap. “All right, Miss Jameson. You have my attention. What do you want me to do?”

“Well firstly,” Maggie said, raising her glass. “There’s a game we need to play called ‘let’s make a deal.’”

Chapter Twenty-one

“You look nervous,” Maggie said as she reached up to straighten Alex’s tie.

He let her fidget. Fidgeting with his clothes was her way of looking nervous when she couldn’t afford to look nervous. He’d worked that much out over the last few weeks. “I’m fine.”

They’d had a call from Mrs. Sutter early in the morning confirming that Will was going to do as they’d asked, but Alex wasn’t going to believe that until he actually got inside and heard the deciding vote cast in his favor. She’d also agreed to keep a close eye on Will and make sure that he didn’t do anything else that crossed the line. Alex was going to keep an eye on that too. He had his ways to get information, and any sniff of scandal surrounding Will and he would make sure that any woman who wanted to report him had the best support and legal team in the country. But until then, this was the best he could do. Other than making sure that at some point after the vote he and Mal and Lucas also had a chat with Will himself about the correct way to treat women. An emphatic chat.

But for today, if Will backed off now, it was thanks to Maggie. She’d bearded the lion in her den, so to speak, and emerged victorious.

Now it was his turn to try to do the same.

“We’ll be right outside,” Maggie said with a final pat of his tie.

She stepped back, and he had to stop himself from pulling her back against him and letting the feel of her in his arms drown out the roar of adrenaline in his veins. Instead he contented himself with breathing in the scent of her while he watched her rock back and forth on the heels of her boots, dark eyes burning with worry rather than heat.

He didn’t like seeing that expression on her face. He might have screwed up his relationship with her, but he didn’t have to compound that by totally screwing up her life and losing the Saints to Sutter. He wanted to see her smile again. A real smile, not one faked for the public. He could earn that much back at least.

“I’m sorry you can’t come in with us.” The owners were holding a special meeting but it was them and the MLB executives only. Plus himself, Lucas, and Mal of course. Lucas was sitting, waiting, his fingers tapping on the keys of his laptop as he studied the screen. Alex had no idea if Lucas was reading patient notes or going over their presentation, but either way he envied his friend’s ability to focus in on one thing only and shut out the rest of the world. Mal, on the other hand, was, well, not exactly pacing by the window, but he was definitely in perpetual motion as he moved from sitting to standing to moving over to talk to Tom, and then starting the process all over again. “I’d take you in there if I could.”

Maggie smiled at that. It was strained and nervous, so it didn’t count as a real smile, but it was a start. “You’ll just have to struggle through without me.” She hesitated, pressing her lips together nervously.

“What?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. Good luck.”

“Maggie…” She’d been acting strangely since she’d come back from Texas. Nothing he could quite put his finger on. Just different. She’d thrown up a wall between them after she’d broken up with him, one that he hadn’t been able to breach. It was still there but it didn’t feel quite the same. He had no idea if that was good or bad, and he’d been too busy with all the last-minute preparation for this meeting to have any real shot at trying to find out what was bothering her. She’d shut him down pretty fast the one time he’d tried to start a conversation.

After that he’d decided maybe he didn’t want to know. No point getting his hopes up. She’d made herself clear. Besides, it was hard enough going through this stupid pretense. Every time he took her hand, every time he kissed her, he didn’t want it to be a lie. But she’d said no. Said enough. And he had to respect that. Even if it was killing him.

Just as it was killing him to think that soon they wouldn’t need the pretense anymore and he wouldn’t even get to touch her at all.

Gardner came up beside him. “It’s time. They’re asking for you.”

Alex aimed one last smile at Maggie and then led his friends into the lions’ den.

*   *   *

The waiting was killing her. Maggie looked over to where Tom sat on the edge of the sofa, eyes fixed on the screen showing ESPN above their seats. It was showing a football game, so Maggie knew Tom wasn’t as interested as he was pretending to be. The fingers tapping one knee were a giveaway, for a start. “Surely it shouldn’t take this long?”

The tapping stopped briefly, then resumed as Tom turned toward her. “It will take as long as it takes. Those guys like to shoot the shit, you know that.”

She looked back at the door to the conference room. It was still firmly closed and apparently quite soundproof. There was no sign that there were people in the room behind it. She felt completely shut out. And not entirely sure that she wouldn’t throw up if the damned vote didn’t finish soon. “It feels like something’s gone wrong.”

“Nothing’s gone wrong. Quit panicking. Alex and Mal and Lucas know what they’re doing. Winters will win them over.”

Yeah. Alex. Laying on that devilish charm. Talking them round. Making them see things his way. Making them want to believe in him.

That man. The one she’d kicked out of her bed but hadn’t quite removed from her heart. The one who had been weakening her resolve every moment they’d spent together. The one who was so annoyingly irresistible that she was starting to have trouble remembering what her objections to seeing him had been in the first place.

Over the last few days, slowly and steadily, a little voice had been growing louder in the back of her mind. Surely there was a way to make it work? A way that they could work together and be together.

It would be easier if she wasn’t working so closely with Alex of course. He wasn’t going to give up the CEO chair any time soon, that much was clear, so she needed something else to focus on. A piece of the pie that could be hers.

Once the Saints were secure, there would be money for some of the programs she’d gotten Tom to begin but they’d never really had enough money to do the way she’d wanted. Urban youth leagues. Women’s programs. One day—even an actual women’s league. Lots of possibilities. A new path.

But would she walk it alone?

What the hell is taking them so long?
She stole a look at the TV but the clock at the bottom of the screen had only crept forward another few minutes. The door to the conference room remained steadfastly closed as she stared at it, willing it to open.

She realized she was nibbling on her thumbnail, a fact that would earn her a talking-to next time she went for a manicure, but she didn’t care. The Saints charm on her bracelet jiggled in time with her nervous bites, the tiny silver wings chiming against the baseball bat that hung next to it, ticking off the seconds as she sat there losing her mind.

Finally the door opened. And the three of them emerged.

Their faces were serious.

Maggie’s stomach dropped and she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to stand.

“What happened?” she demanded. From somewhere she found the ability to control the sudden terror rolling through her and got to her feet, her eyes searching Alex’s face for an answer.

“Well, it wasn’t quite—” Alex started but then Mal cracked and started laughing. Alex rolled his eyes. “Jeez, where’s your sense of occasion?”

“Just put the girl out of her misery, A,” Mal said.

“Okay.”

Maggie stared up at him and then closed the distance between them with three angry strides. “You were trying to game me?” She whacked him. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you’re cute when you’re angry,” Alex said. And then he grabbed her and pulled her closer. “How do you feel about kissing the owner of a major league baseball team?”

“Is it you?” She looked over at Mal and Lucas, ignoring the crazy beat of pleasure in her veins at the feel of his hands around her waist. “Because those two are mighty pretty.” Lucas grinned at her and she felt an answering grin spread over her face as joy rolled away all the nerves. They’d done it. They’d kept the Saints.

“You could kiss all three of us,” Mal said.

Alex’s hands tightened and she looked back at him, startled by the possessive grip. “Over my dead body,” he growled, and then he kissed her and everything else went away for a time. Too short a time. Not long enough to figure out if he was just doing it to keep up appearances, before they were broken apart by a wave of congratulations from the other owners emerging from the conference room. The MLB executives then hurried them into a press conference, leaving her once again standing next to Alex, blinded by camera flashes and wondering what the hell happened next.

*   *   *

What happened next, as it turned out, was one hell of a party at Deacon Field. Maggie drank champagne and celebrated with the rest of them but she did it distractedly. Every time she let her focus go for even a second, her eyes sought out Alex in the crowd. Finding him laughing or smiling at an endless procession of people. But not at her. He didn’t come to find her.

She accepted another glass of champagne from Shonda and tried to stop herself from watching him.

Hana appeared through the crowd with Shelly and the two of them joined her, clinking glasses triumphantly.

“Congrats, sweetie,” Shelly said. “Here’s to girl power.”

“And judicious blackmail,” Hana added with a smirk.

“Yes,” Maggie said, watching Alex talking to a woman she didn’t recognize.

“Oh, honey,” Hana said. “You have got it bad.”

Maggie wrenched her attention back, feeling heat flare in her cheeks. “What? No, no. I don’t. It’s all pretending, remember?” She gulped more champagne desperately.

Hana laughed, brown eyes dancing. “If you believe that then I’ve got a lovely bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. So why don’t you go over and take that man somewhere and make up with him?”

“He’s still the boss.”

That earned her a dismissive chop of Hana’s hand. “You’ll figure that part out. There’s plenty to do here. You don’t have to work with him all day every day. Besides, if the last week has been any indication, you’re just going to be miserable without him. So you might as well admit it.”

“Yeah, miserable,” Shelly said, slurring the words a fraction. “You’ll work it out. He’s a good guy. And hot,” she added with a decisive nod. “That’s a pretty good combination. Go get him.”

“You two are drunk. You’d think anybody was hot.”

“We managed to snag ourselves two pretty hot dudes,” Hana pointed out. “Got ’em to marry us—or close enough in Shelly’s case—and everything. We’re very good judges of character. So listen to us.” She gave Maggie a little shove. “Off you go. Or girl power will have to be reactivated to sort you out too.”