Pass Interference (22 page)

They were headed toward Rafe’s office when she heard her name.

“Tyler! Hey, Tyler.”

She turned to see Ed Spinelli jogging toward her. She wasn’t really anxious to talk to him, but she didn’t want to be rude. Who knew what he’d write about her and by extension the Hawks if she was. So she stopped, and Tony and Rafe stopped with her. Great. An audience.

Ed stopped in front of her, grinning. “Hey. Good to see you.” He blinked. “I mean, really good to see you. You look terrific.” He raked his gaze over her from head to toe and back again, his mouth curving in a hungry smile. “I like the new Tyler Gillette look.”

She was really getting tired of this. She didn’t think she’d looked so bad. So she wore a lot of makeup and spritzed a ton of spray on her well-teased hair. So what? It got her a lot of attention, didn’t it?

But what kind of attention. And from what kind of people?

“Thank you,” she said in a flat voice. “I think. What’s up?”

Rafe had taken a step closer to her and Tony was on her other side. It was so ludicrous to think she needed protecting from Ed that she wanted to giggle.

Ed looked at the two men through narrowed eyes, and then gave her a smile.

“We didn’t get a chance to talk the other day,” he reminded her. “The Hawks are going great guns this season,” he began, “and I’m doing a profile on the team ownership. Kind of personalizing it, you know?”

She held up a hand. “I’ll tell you the same thing I would have said the other day. You’re discussing this with the wrong Gillette. Go find the team owner.”

“I did. He gave me an hour of his time, which I thanked him for. Now I want to talk to you.” He looked at the two men again. “I was thinking we could have lunch or dinner. You know. Maybe talk about old times.”

Tyler curled her fingers into the palms of her hands, hanging on to her temper. She didn’t want or need this right now.

“Listen, Ed. I don’t—”

“Miss Gillette isn’t giving out interviews.” Rafe’s voice was uninflected yet at the same time powerful. A man you didn’t argue with. “And we’re late for a very important meeting.” He took her arm and urged her toward his office.

“Are you her guard dog now?” Ed hollered after them as they moved down the concourse. “What’s the matter, Tyler? Can’t speak for yourself? You and I had a good time. We could have a good time again. And I can write a killer blog about you.”

Tyler stopped, resisting when Rafe tried to keep her moving. She turned slowly and glared back at Ed.

“I can speak for myself if I want to, but I do not speak for the Hawks. I don’t want a killer blog or any other kind written about me. And just so we are crystal clear, not only didn’t we have a good time, it was barely tolerable.”

Then she turned and walked away so fast the men had to hustle to keep up with her.

“I’m calling you,” Ed shouted after her. “I’ll talk to you without your bulldogs.”

When they entered Rafe’s office and he’d closed the door, she dropped into the chair she’d used earlier. Tony took a seat in front of the desk but Rafe stayed on his feet, watching Tyler who was nibbling on her lower lip, an indication of her nervous state.

“They’re all the same,” she blurted. “It’s like they’re all reading from the same script. I want you, I’ll have you, if I can’t no one will. Rafe, I know I’m not an ugly mud dog, but surely these men can get any women they want. Women much better-looking than me.”

“They do seem to have a sense of entitlement where you’re concerned,” he agreed.

“It’s my father, you know.” The words tasted bitter on her tongue. “They all think if they hook up with me they can be the crown prince. They don’t even realize I’m not the princess.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he drawled. “It seems to me this morning he was stepping up and acknowledging you are.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see how it goes. I’m not giving him awards yet.”

Tony said nothing, just sat there observing.

Rafe unfolded his arms and stood upright. He glanced over at Tony.

“Let’s make sure the profiles we run on our suspects cover everything including how many hairs they have on their chest. I don’t want to miss anything.”

Tony nodded. “If he’s computer savvy, he might have some hacking skills. That would allow him to get Tyler’s new phone number each time.” He pulled out his cell and made a note in the memo section. “Okay, ready to fill me in about the new security system?”

While they were talking, Tyler pulled out her cell and turned it on. She caught her breath as she scrolled through missed calls and texts.

“R-Rafe?”

He turned to her, scowling. “What?”

“H-he called while I was out in the stadium. I had my phone turned off.”

Rafe grabbed the instrument from her. “Damn. Five fucking calls. He’s getting impatient. Let’s look at the texts.”

Tony had pushed himself out of his chair and come to look, also. Tyler moved to the other side of Rafe, drawn by a sick fascination with what she might see. She peered over Rafe’s arm when she felt him tense beside her.

“R u fcking hm? I want 2 kno.”

“Where r u? U belong with me.”

“U don’t need hm. Gt rd of hm.”

“U R only safe with me.”

Tyler looked up at Rafe, swallowing hard. “Does he really think he can frighten me into going to him? I’m not even sure who he is. But it couldn’t have been Ed,” she pointed out. “He’s right here.”

“But he could be making his calls from his office,” Rafe said. “From the concourse. Hell, from the men’s room. Son of a bitch.” A muscle worked in his jaw.

“He’ll make himself known,” Rafe assured her in a tight voice. “He’s building up to it.” He handed the phone to Tony who made some notes on his own. “Tyler, did you make that list I asked for?”

She nodded. “I e-mailed it to you.”

“Send it to Tony so he can forward it to the office. They can get started on it.”

Tony watched it come through on his cell. “Okay, off to one of the day guys. I’ll get on this myself, also, as soon as I’m back in the office.”

In less than fifteen minutes, the two men were finished and Rafe had made several notes in his phone.

“I e-mailed you the files on Broder and Sinclair,” Tony said. “I’ll have someone get started on Spinelli.”

“Thanks very much. Let me know what you find. Tyler, let’s go.” He held a hand out to Tony, who had risen from his chair. “Thanks for making the trip. I appreciate it. I could have stopped by the office if you wanted.”

“No problem. Besides, I got all this additional info.” He smiled at Tyler. “And I got to spend some time with a pretty woman.”

Tyler swore she felt herself blush.

“Thanks, anyway.” Tony started to walk away but at that moment his cell phone rang. “Yeah? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yes. Take them away. Thanks for the call.” He thumbed the phone off and turned to Rafe and Tyler. “That was the crew who just finished the new security system at your place, Tyler.” He glanced at Rafe. “A florist delivered a vase full of flowers big enough to fill a funeral home. Rafe, put someone on this.”

Rafe nodded. “Already on it. Got the name of the florist and I have one of the guys checking it out.”

“Good. All right. Tyler, we’re on top of this. Don’t worry about it.”

Ha
, she thought. Easy for him to say.

“See you tonight,” Rafe told the other man. Then with his hand at the small of her back, he urged Tyler out of the office and toward the parking lot.

It wasn’t bad enough that this asshole trying to scare her to death had stepped up his game today. But, he’d thrown her off her own game. She had made up her mind that tonight she would go as what she thought of as the new Tyler Gillette. She changed clothes four times before she was satisfied with her look. Or at least as satisfied as she was going to get. She’d finally settled on a silky navy cocktail dress that clung to her body without looking like she was stuffed into it. She left her hair loose, and instead of teasing it to death, she just used a blow-dryer and a brush to get it to curl softly around her face. And she had a very light hand with her makeup, settling for smoky eye shadow, a soft blush, and a tinted lip gloss. She looked in the mirror when she fastened her earrings and hardly recognized herself.

Okay, Rafe Ortiz, prepare to be wowed by the new Tyler Gillette.

Rafe was waiting in the front hall when she came down the stairs, looking so elegant in his tux she wanted to lick him all over. That was if she could get the stick out of his ass he’d shoved up there after last night. She swallowed her satisfaction, however, when he looked at her and his eyes nearly fell out of his head.

“I take it you approve?” She tried to hide her smile.

“You look…very nice.”

“Wow! My head might turn with such high praise.”

Something close to hunger flashed in his eyes for a moment. Then they shuttered and he looked at his watch. “We’d better get going.”

Just as they were about to walk out, the sound of staccato drums echoed in the air A call, not a text. She took her phone out of her little skinny purse and looked at the screen.

“Blocked.” She held it up to show Rafe.

“Answer it.” That muscle was twitching in his jaw again.

“Really? Now?”

“Now.”

She pressed Talk. “Hello?”

Silence.

She repeated it. “Hello? Who’s there?”

Then a voice that sounded like it came from the bottom of a well said, “Did you fuck him?”

Tyler’s hand shook and she dropped the phone.

Rafe picked it up and held it to his ear, listening intently. Finally, he disconnected the call and handed the phone back to her. Then he took out his own cell and sent a text.

“Just letting the office know to check the cell towers on this latest call.”

“It doesn’t seem like they’re getting very far with this.” She could feel the erratic beat of her heart. Every time this idiot called it shook her up.

“It doesn’t always, but we’ll damn sure keep trying.” He handed her the phone. “Turn it off, put this back in your purse, and let’s get going.”

“Turn it off?”

“We probably wouldn’t hear it at dinner, anyway. Let’s give ourselves a break for a few hours.”

“Fine by me.” She pressed the Off button and dropped the phone back in her purse.

They were silent on the drive to the Conquistador Club. So much was running through Tyler’s brain. She wanted to know what Lone Star had dug up on Chad and Nate, if anything. Rafe had given her very little information after he’d checked the files. Why did he think geeky Ed would be a danger? But right now she knew she had to put the whole thing out of her mind, or she’d be a basket case when they got to the club.

If conversation was absent, a thick cloud of tension certainly wasn’t. It was so heavy it was palpable. Tyler would bet every single one of the false eyelashes she hadn’t put on tonight that more than half of it had sexual overtones.

He wanted her. It was right there in his eyes every time he looked at her, until he got control of himself and blinked it away. She’d seen it that morning. He was determined last night would never happen again if he had to lock her in her room. Well, she’d just see about that. Last night had been about way more than sex, and she wanted to see if it was real or just her overactive imagination making it into something it wasn’t.

As they drew closer to the club, a swarm of butterflies decided to take up roost in her stomach and beat their wings to the tempo of a Latin dance. She wondered if Rafe knew just how nervous she was. Without all her outrageous makeup, her equally outrageous outfits, and at least three drinks in her system, she felt totally and completely vulnerable. How would people react to her? Would she know what to say to anyone?

Never let them see you sweat.

An old adage but one that she kept silently repeating to herself.

Rafe’s friends would be there. The same friends who had seen her year after year doing her Tyler Gillette imitation of a woman with too much money and too few brains. She wondered how they’d react to her tonight, without the war paint and cold sober, her first major appearance as the new Tyler Gillette. If only her knees would stop knocking.

God! She was making herself so nervous she was afraid she’d throw up.

Then they were at the club and a valet was opening her door. He had just helped her out of the car when Rafe came around and cupped her elbow with his hand.

He glanced down at the needle-thin heels on her shoes. “I don’t know how you walk in those things. I’d fall on my face.”

Oh! A joke! She relaxed infinitesimally.

“It takes years of practice. Trust me.”

And then they were inside and the butterflies began the next dance. Rafe gave their name to the woman at the door but she apparently didn’t need it.

“Always so good to see you, Rafe.” She smiled at him. “And you, Miss Gillette.” The smile wasn’t quite as warm now.

“Thank you. I’m happy to be here.”

And you’ll be a lot happier to see me when you find out I’m not going to act like an out-of-control bitch tonight.

The woman cleared her throat. “May I say you’re looking very nice tonight.”

Tyler barely kept her jaw from dropping. “Oh, um, thank you.”

Well
, she thought.
Another person who thought she’d looked like a painted whore before?
Funny, she mused, how we never really see ourselves as others do.

But I’m not going to regress. I’m finally starting to like myself.

Well, she’d gotten past the first obstacle tonight. Next came Rafe’s friends.

She looked around as they entered the huge dining room. The room was nearly full with people chatting and drinking. There was hardly an empty seat anywhere. She’d paid so little attention to what the event was about before that she’d been stunned to learn it was a scholarship fundraiser. But now she saw the banner stretched across the top of one wall with a podium in front of it. On an easel to the right of the podium was a huge poster, also with the name of the event, and with a picture of Joe Reilly.

She took a good look at the picture for the first time and wondered if all football players were gorgeous. She’d ignored them as a group, all except for Rafe, who definitely gave gorgeous new meaning.