Tell Me Something Good (9 page)

“You did.” His lips curved upward. Her excitement was contagious. She was adorable. No doubt about it. “Want to try again?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

He retrieved the ball and threw it again. This time, the bat dinged against the ball louder. The ball bounced toward second base. He jogged to the plate and gave her a high five.

“Thanks for helping me,” she said. “I never would have gotten it without your help.”

“Not a problem. Hey, I didn’t get a chance earlier, but I wanted to thank you for the pep talk you gave the team. It was exactly what they needed to hear. The kids loved it.” Hell, he’d loved it. She was the most genuine person he knew, someone who loved helping and being kind to others, caring for them, without expecting anything in return. The conviction in her voice and on her face during the speech had enthralled him, rendering him speechless.

She lightly tapped him on the chest. “You’re the one who needs to be thanked. You’re doing good work with them. They adore you. You should be proud.”

“So I do have some redeeming qualities after all, huh?”

She studied him for a second, her gray eyes probing deep. “You just might.” A slow smile, the one that never failed to twist his insides, spread across her face.

That invisible line, one that seemed to draw him to her, tightened its hold. The silence between them lingered. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from hers. Being with her felt natural. Right.

It was Noelle who stepped back. “So are you going to throw again? I still haven’t hit a home run.”

“Yeah.” He jogged back to the mound, a grin splitting his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun goofing around. He tossed the ball once in his hand and wound up. As he released the ball, a car backfired. Noelle whirled toward the loud bang, then turned back his way—right into the path of the ball. Though it couldn’t have taken him more than two seconds to reach her side, it felt like an eternity. She’d sunk to the ground, her face tilted to the sky.

Tate fell to his knees, abject fear and terror flooding his body. She moaned, her eyes fluttering open.

“Doc! Are you okay?” he asked, touching the spot above her cheek where the ball had hit her.

“Yeah, I think so,” she muttered. “Can you help me up?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He put a hand under her elbow and guided her to her feet. He stared into eyes that were thankfully clear. “You scared the shit out of me.” Anger colored his tone. He couldn’t help it. He was mad at himself for not being able to stop his momentum. Pissed at the trajectory of the ball. At her for turning away. At the car for backfiring.

She took a couple of deep breaths and blinked slowly. “I’m okay.”

He caressed her cheek, desperately needing the contact to reassure himself that she was indeed, okay.

“Really, I am. The ball barely grazed me.” Her lips curled in a small, shy smile.

His brain wasn’t ready to accept her word. He scanned her body, looking for any sign of hurt or discomfort. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

She looked up. “I’m fine. Truly.” She grasped his hand on her cheek with hers and squeezed.

Tate stared into her beautiful, gray eyes. All he could see was her. All he wanted to see was her. His eyes slipped to her slightly parted full lips. His breath quickened as the pull between them strengthened. A force he was much too weak to continue resisting.

He lowered his head. A hand to his chest stopped him. He stilled, hoping she didn’t push him away. Hoping she did—to save him from himself. She didn’t. Instead, she gripped the shirt and slowly pulled him to her.

“Oh, man,” she whispered right before his lips met hers.

Lust he expected, but not the overwhelming sweetness and rightness that punched him in the gut. He slid his hand to her chin and tilted it up, seeking a better angle. She wrapped her left arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. She sighed, a tiny sound that acted as a drug to his senses. He took advantage, slipping his tongue inside her mouth.

They shared a moan. He kept the kiss slow and languid, learning the shape and feel of her. What she liked. But his tactic did nothing to blight how incredible the kiss was. Overwhelming desire filled every pore of his being. If her moans and her active participation were indications, Noelle felt the same.

He slid his hands down her back to her ass, cupped it, and drew her into his body. She went willingly and gasped into his mouth as his rock-hard erection made contact with her stomach.

He grinned against her mouth. Yeah, he wanted her. Bad. A swipe of her tongue against his bottom lip had him going back for more, the embrace turning harder.

Had a kiss ever felt so good, so right? So perfect?

“Get it, player!”

Loud whistles penetrated his consciousness. Noelle yanked away from him so fast, he had no choice but to let her go. He jerked around to find three teenagers sauntering by, staring and laughing.

Shit. They were in the middle of a park. What was he thinking? He glowered. The teens stopped laughing and quickly strode away. His chest heaving, his body still on fire, he turned to Noelle, who he noted, was also breathing unsteadily. He opened his mouth to say…
something
, but she held up a hand.

“Don’t. It was a mistake. We…”

“We what?” He crossed his arms, curious to see how she would characterize the incident. Yeah, right. Try mind-blowing experience.

She pressed an unsteady hand to her forehead. “We got caught up in the moment. I mean we’ve been spending a lot time together. Doing that again…no. It won’t happen again. We make no sense.”

Her closed expression let him know the topic wasn’t up for discussion. Regardless, the overwhelming urge to argue had him taking a step toward her. He caught himself before he took another. She was right. Kissing her, no matter how great it felt, was foolish at best. She practically had “looking for commitment” tattooed on her forehead. No need to start something that had nowhere to go. She wasn’t the type for a casual fling and that’s all he had to offer. All he knew how to offer. A slight pang hit him in his chest near his heart, but he dismissed it.

He was who he was.

Chapter Nine

Noelle exited the bathroom and almost bumped into Caitlin. She jumped back, slapping a hand to her racing heart, and glared at her best friend. “What are you doing?”

Caitlin retreated a step back into the hallway. “Waiting for you.”

“And you had to scare the crap out of me in the process?”

“Sorry.” Caitlin grimaced. “I wanted to make sure I caught you before you returned to the studio.”

Noelle chuckled. “Mission accomplished. What’s up?”

“Well…I’m worried about you.” Concern flickered in the producer’s eyes.

Not the answer Noelle was expecting. “You are? Why?”

“Because you’re off your game. Usually you’re two steps ahead of me and the callers. But today, I don’t know. It’s been weird. Are you okay?”

The answer to that question would be no. But, of course she couldn’t say, “I kissed Tate, a man I don’t think I like except I’m kind of scared that I do. Not that it matters because getting involved with him is stupid.” He had such cynical views about love. Yeah, now she knew why, but it didn’t matter. She hated seeing him in pain, but he had no desire to change and believing she could change him was the height of stupidity. She wanted a real relationship with a kind, caring man who wanted a future with her. Tate wasn’t offering that in a million years. A fling with him would lead nowhere fast.

But the man could kiss like no other. God. Kiss seemed like an overly simplistic term for what had transpired between them. Life-affirming. Otherworldly. She was still feeling the aftereffects. Not to mention the random times during the day when flashbacks sprang to mind distracting her from work. She hadn’t even gotten to the part about being in a studio for two hours with him, the kiss looming between them like a living, breathing, gray elephant.

Nope, couldn’t say any of that. Caitlin would ask if she’d lost her mind and she couldn’t confidently say she hadn’t.

Instead, she went with the next best option. “I’m fine. My allergies are acting up, and my head has been fuzzy all day.” Lame, but the best she had.

“You sure? The vibe between you and Tate is kind of weird. You two never hold back, but today it’s like y’all are walking around on eggshells around each other. Which is weird because…” Caitlin’s eyes skidded away, her hands twisting together at her waist.

Noelle zeroed in on her best friend. “Because what?”

“Because of how cozy you and Tate looked at the club the other night.”

The blood in Noelle’s veins froze. Cozy? Was that how they’d looked, behaved? She swallowed, then forced out a laugh. “Come on. You know I don’t do well in that type of setting with all those people around. You and Shannon were busy. He was a familiar face.”

Caitlin’s eyebrows lifted. “Mmm-hmm.”

“What?”

“I saw y’all laughing and dancing.”

Noelle’s hands landed on her hips. “What are you getting at?”

“Is there something going on that I should know about?”

“No. Tate and I are fine. There’s nothing going on. My allergies are driving me insane. That’s all.”

Caitlin studied her for a few seconds. Noelle ordered herself not to look away, not to fidget.

Finally, her best friend nodded. “Have you taken some medicine?”

“Yes,” Noelle said quickly, relieved the inquisition was over. “Claritin and I are on a first name basis.”

“Good. I hope that’s all it is. You can talk to me.”

“I know, but there’s nothing to talk about.”

That was her story, and she was clinging to it.

…

The next night, Noelle rose from her living room sofa. “Tate, can you help me in the kitchen?”

In the middle of sipping a beer, he paused, his eyes filling with curiosity. “Sure.”

“What’s up?” he asked when they reached the other room. He leaned against the countertop, looking way better than any man had the right to.

She looked over her shoulder before opening the refrigerator. “Nothing much. I wanted to give Mike and Shannon some alone time.”

“Hey, let me help you with that,” he said as she struggled to get the wide tray out of the refrigerator’s tight space.

“No, I’ve got it.” She tugged one more time, successfully dislodging the platter, but also losing her balance. She stumbled back into him. He wrapped his arms around her, steadying her and the tray. The memory of being held in his arms at the park, kissing him, how fantastic it all felt, flashed vividly in her brain like it had happened an hour ago.

No. She would
not
go there.

“Thanks.” She broke his hold, dropped the platter on the counter, and drew in a deep breath. She washed her trembling hands at the sink, then unwrapped the tray and rearranged a few carrots that had become displaced. Although she didn’t look up, she felt Tate’s unwavering regard. Intense, focused. Just like at the park before he kissed her. A shiver racked her body.

“This is the best you’ve got?” he asked.

Noelle whirled. “What?”

He walked to the kitchen entrance and peeked around the corner. Noelle looked around his shoulder. Shannon and Mike sat on her sofa talking.

“If this is all you’ve got, I’ve got this in the bag.”

Oh. Right. The bet. It always came back to that. As it should. His comment was the perfect reminder that they were fundamentally incompatible, and that she needed to keep her head in the game, not on Tate’s physique or his effect on her libido. She flicked her hand at the wrist. “Pssht. Don’t be so sure. You’re not looking closely enough. They’re having fun, which is what I wanted to happen.”

“I thought you wanted them to declare their undying love and announce that the challenge was unnecessary. That they’d found each other again and wanted to hop a plane to Las Vegas tonight to get married.”

Noelle laughed. Sarcastic humor she could always appreciate. “Yeah, that would’ve been amazing, but even I don’t work that fast.” She paused. “Give me a few more hours.”

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he joined in her laughter. “So why did you choose a game night? I thought for sure you’d go for a candlelight dinner.”

She nodded. “I thought about it, but I decided that was a little too much too soon. I wanted to get them together in a casual environment where they could simply enjoy each other’s company without the pressure of romance. Remember how it felt to work together as a team and pull for each other.”

He inclined his head. “I see. Point to the good doctor.”

She tried, she really did, not to revel in his approval. She failed. “Thanks, but we’ll see. They’re relaxed, but they needed to be alone for a bit without us acting as chaperones.”

“So you dragged me in here.”

Noelle grinned. “I’m a genius, right?”

If someone had told her he’d be in her house and that she’d be enjoying his company a year ago—okay, who was she kidding? Make that a week ago—she would’ve asked that person if he’d lost his mind.

She recalled the first time she met Tate at a staff meeting last year. They were discussing implementing a community-outreach program. She’d thought he was handsome. Until he opened his mouth and suggested a bikini car wash as a fund-raiser, then had the gall to ask if she wanted to participate, all while ogling her. She’d emphatically declined. After the meeting, she’d overheard him say she needed to stop using so much spray starch in her clothes and learn how to take a joke.

Their relationship had been cemented that day. They’d each taken shots at each other, always ending up on the opposite sides of work issues. If she said, A, he automatically said Z and vice versa, she wasn’t proud to admit. But how things had changed. Funny how life had a way of decimating the best-laid plans and perceptions.

“So what was Shannon talking about seeing your name on the
New York Times
Bestselling list?”

“I wrote a book,” she mumbled, turning to fuss with the tray that didn’t need fussing with. She’d mentioned the book in passing, not thinking Shannon would be so impressed she’d blab about it whenever the mood struck.

“You did? About what?”

She faced him again. “You really want to know?”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “You wrote a book. That’s cool.”

“Thanks.” Noelle paused. Opening up about something that meant so much to her didn’t come easy to her. It was like opening a window to her soul. “It’s a, umm, relationship-advice book.”

Tate’s eyebrows rose. “You’re going to have to sell it better than that when it comes time to promote it. Give me some details.”

As much as it pained her to admit it, he was right. She took a fortifying breath. “The book is based on my three Cs theory. I interviewed one hundred couples at different stages of relationships, some who’d only gone on one date to others who’d been married fifty years, to see what they want and expect out of a relationship. I listened to the reasons married people gave for why they were still together. It kind of went from there.”

She braced herself for his dismissal of her work. He’d made it clear he found her three Cs lacking, and that was a generous term.

Instead, he said, “What about people who split up? Wasn’t there something to be learned from them?”

Noelle nodded. “Absolutely. I talked to single and divorced people, too.”

“What did they say?” He crossed his arms and studied her, like he was really interested.

“Surprisingly, pretty much what people in successful relationships said as far as what they were looking for,” she said, finding the words easier to come by, her love for her research overcoming her nerves. “I picked their brains about why they hadn’t found love, if they were hopeful they would, and if they believed what they were looking for existed.”

“Sounds interesting.” He didn’t elaborate, but the good humor in his eyes had faded.

Was he thinking about his parents, about his own views on love?

“Thanks, but I’m a long way away from bestseller lists,” she answered. “I don’t have a book deal yet.”

He shook his shoulders like he was shaking off bothersome thoughts. “So what was Shannon talking about?”

“My agent is shopping the book around to publishers. We’ve gotten some nibbles, and she’s pretty confident a deal is imminent. I’m trying to maintain an even keel in case it doesn’t happen.”

“I’ve watched you in action. You’re relentless. If you want it, it’ll happen.”

“Thanks.” Again his compliment warmed her insides.

“No problem.” Tate pointed his thumb behind him. “I don’t hear anything coming from the living room. Why don’t we go make sure Mike and Shannon are still on speaking terms?”

“Good idea.” Noelle led the way. “Hey, how’s it going?” she said as she set the platter on the coffee table.

“We’re good,” Shannon said.

Noelle eyed the couple. They looked comfortable, but not as lovey-dovey as she would have hoped. She didn’t expect rampant PDA after the problems they’d admitted to and were working on, but she couldn’t quite silence her inner romantic, especially after witnessing how they acted at the club Saturday night. But she had enough realist in her to know that could have been the alcohol talking.

“Okay, let’s get this party started. Who’s up for Taboo?” She pointed to the purple and white box on the table.

“I’ve never played, but I’m game,” Shannon said. Tate and Mike nodded.

Noelle quickly explained the rules. One player held a card with a secret word at the top and five taboo words underneath it. The player gave clues to the secret word without using the taboo words. If the player used a taboo word, a player on the other team pressed a buzzer and the original team lost the chance to earn a point for that word. Each team had a minute to get as many secret words as possible.

“What about guys versus girls?” Mike suggested after she finished.

“No, no,” Noelle swiftly rebutted. “You and Shannon team up, and Tate and I’ll work together.”

Noelle grabbed the first card while Mike picked up the plastic hourglass. She met Tate’s eyes. They were dark and focused. Ready to win. Excellent. When she played, she played to win. At the
thunk
of the hourglass on the coffee table, she focused on the card. “Yearbook” was the secret word. She quickly perused the taboo words: photos, class, sign, memories, school. “When you graduate, people write in them,” she said in a rush.

“Yearbook,” he called out.

“Yes!” She grabbed the next card.

By the time Mike called, “Time,” Noelle was revved up, her brain firing on all cylinders. Exhilarating. She loved competing, and Tate definitely shared her passion, shouting answers faster than she could give clues. He fell back against the couch, breathing fast.

“Wow. Y’all were playing to kill,” Mike said.

Noelle jumped. She’d completely forgotten about the room’s other occupants. Shannon and Mike both stared, bug eyed, at her. Noelle sank into the couch self-consciously. “What?”

“I don’t see how you and Tate don’t kill each other every day, you’re both so competitive,” Shannon said.

Tate laughed. “We’ve come close a few times, but we’ve managed to come to an understanding.”

It hit her in a flash that he was right. Although they often disagreed, they’d built up a camaraderie, the kiss that neither of them had mentioned notwithstanding.

She nodded. “We have. Well, it’s your turn. Did y’all get the hang of it?”

The couple nodded. Tate grabbed the hourglass and Noelle grabbed the buzzer.

Mike looked at Shannon. “Ready?”