Traded (3 page)

“Sorry, that was just—uh…”

She held up her hand, stopping him from digging himself into a hole and looking like one of the biggest fools around. At least not any more than he already did. “Take my advice or not,” she said, “but you’re wasting your time on someone who isn’t interested in you, and that’s a one-way street to getting yourself locked up, having a restraining order filed on you, or turning your life so upside down that you’ll lose everything you’ve worked so hard for. Do yourself a favor and move on.” She turned and started to walk away.

“Hey, wait a minute.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him but didn’t turn back, this woman who’d just witnessed him at his worst.

“Chris what?” He didn’t know why, but he wanted to know her full name, who she was.

“Chris Jeger.”

“Any relation to Myles Jeger, wide receiver?”

She didn’t blink, smile, nothing. “He’s my brother,” she replied.

Chris didn’t know what had made her stop and watch the new guy, the one everyone knew was here to push her brother out. She’d hated Jake Wilde before he got here. When she’d first heard the team was picking up his contract even after his recent injury, she’d hoped—no, prayed—that he’d be a liability for the team, at the same time cheering her brother on. She wasn’t a fool. She’d heard the whispers that Myles Jeger was on his way out, that he’d lost his nerve. But she knew the truth: That wasn’t what had happened. Busted ribs and injuries weren’t enough to keep her brother down, not ever.

She needed to talk to Myles. That was why she was out in this hallway by the Cardinals’ locker room. She knew she shouldn’t have listened to what had surely been a very personal and private conversation. The new guy was pining for a woman, one who obviously didn’t share his feelings. Pathetic. She’d recognized the desperation in his voice, though. It wasn’t long ago that she’d been the one in his place.

She made it all the way to the parking lot before realizing she didn’t have her keys. She’d caught a ride with another cheerleader and was planning on riding back with Myles to have a much-needed heart to heart and get to the bottom of what was holding him back. Chris started to search out Myles’s blue pickup, but she couldn’t see it. She stepped over to another row and still didn’t see it. Maybe he had driven his Corvette, but that wasn’t something he normally did for practice.

“Hello again.”

She jumped when she heard the deep voice. She looked up at Jake Wilde, his hair still wet from showering, with his gym bag tossed over his shoulder. He looked good, wearing blue jeans, a light t-shirt across the span of his shoulders. His chest was ripped. She had a hard time looking away, but she glanced up into his dark shades.

“Hi,” she said. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what else to say.

He looked around over her head. “Were you looking for someone?” He must have been watching her.

“Yeah, my brother. I caught a ride with one of the other cheerleaders and was going to hitch a ride back with Myles, but I don’t see his truck.” She looked over her shoulder, trying to spy his red Corvette. “Or his car.”

“He’s gone already. Come on, I’ll give you a ride.” He was holding his keys and then gestured behind her. “I’ve got a rental until I get settled here.” He started walking toward a white Yukon SUV. He pressed a button on his keychain, and the doors unlocked with a beep. He pulled open the back and tossed in his bag. He reached for hers, and for a second she wondered whether maybe she should go back in and ask one of the others guys to drive her. But instead she handed him her bag so he could toss it in the back with his.

“You really don’t mind? Because I’m out past Glendale.”

He was shaking his head as he closed the hatch. “No, that’s fine.” Then he did the most unusual thing. He walked around to her side and opened the passenger door for her, even holding out his hand to help her in. A gentleman, wow. She’d thought that was a lost art.

He closed her door, and she watched as he walked around and climbed in, sliding under the wheel. Maybe she was staring at him as he slid the key in the ignition, because he cleared his throat and said, “Put your seatbelt on.”

“Right.” Of course, what an idiot. She must have been gawking, so completely blown away by that gesture. The chick on the phone with him was an idiot, as far as she was concerned—but then, she didn’t know the whole story.

He backed out, his arm tossed around the back of her seat. His hand was large, the kind of hand that could do amazing things running over a woman’s body. She could feel the heat, the chemistry. What was it about these players that had women falling all over them like fools? She’d thought she was immune after Troy. Maybe this was chemistry, or maybe it was just the fact that she knew Jake was mentally taken by another woman. She was a sucker for them, the ones she had no hope in hell with.

“So what else do you do for work, Chris?” he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“I work at a small law firm. I’m a legal secretary.”

“Sounds interesting,” he said, resting one hand on the wheel and the other against the door. She wondered if he really was interested or just being nice. Small talk and all those social niceties… She hated when people really didn’t mean what they said. She couldn’t tell with Jake, but she was sure he was distracted, probably thinking of that girl, the one he’d been pleading with on the phone.

“Not really,” she said. “Sometimes there are land disputes, family stuff. The lawyer I work for does mostly family law, you know, divorce, separations, custody, always some drama walking in the front door. But she’s nice, lets me work around my training practices.” She rested her hand on the dark padded door and glanced at her fingers, her nails short and clipped. No polish.

She wondered if he was listening to her. Maybe not. He seemed so distracted, but then, she didn’t really know him, only what she thought he would be like. Funny how some people turned out nothing like how she pictured them.

“So how do you like Phoenix?” she asked. She sucked at small talk. Guys usually carried the ball, but the moody guy driving her now didn’t seem interested in creating any kind of conversation. This could be a really long ride.

“Don’t know it. Haven’t seen any of it other than my hotel last night and the field this morning. It’s warm.” He glanced her way. “How long have you lived here?”

“Five years. I moved out here from Texas after I finished my GED. Stayed with Myles until I found a job. He hooked me up with the team for the cheerleading gig. I danced all through college, was a cheerleader in high school. I was excited when I got the position.”

He didn’t nod or anything. He either wasn’t listening or was taking in everything she said. It was unnerving how he didn’t respond at first. “You got family in Texas?” He was looking straight ahead, and she wondered if this was his small talk.

“Mom and Dad are in Houston, suburbia. Myles and I are it for the kids, a boy and a girl and they were done. You?” She wondered about Jake. What made him tick?

“Parents in Boise. Have four brothers, one still in Boise with his girlfriend. We were raised in Idaho. Joe and his second wife are still there where we grew up, in Post Falls—small, rural. Logan, my big brother, is a Sheriff in McKay. He’s there with his new family.”

She didn’t miss the way he hesitated. “That’s three. Where’s the other brother?” She noticed his face appeared to darken, and the way he hesitated made her wonder what bad blood existed between them.

“Samuel is in Seattle.” It was all he said, and she noticed how tightly he held his jaw and then glanced over his shoulder to change lanes, speeding up.

“Seattle, that’s where you were. Are you and your brother in Seattle close?” Maybe she should have left it alone.

He actually laughed, but it didn’t sound friendly. “At one time.”

She was positive he was going to say more, but he just stopped talking. “Okay, so bad blood there or something?”

He glanced over at her and then back to the road. “Curious, aren’t you?” The way he said it told her he had no intention of elaborating.

“Sorry, call it an occupational hazard. I see a lot of people whose relationships are on the rocks. With love and hate, there’s such a fine line.”

“Yeah, ain’t that the truth?” He wiped his hand over his chin, and she could hear the scratch of his whiskers. “So tell me about you. You married, husband, kids, boyfriend?”

That was really getting to the point. “No, no, and no.”

It was the first time he’d smiled since she met him. Maybe his icy exterior was starting to thaw. “Why not? Someone as gorgeous as you should have a hundred guys lining up in the wings trying to date you.”

“Yeah, well, that’s the problem, isn’t it? I’m not one of those girls who has guys lining up. I’m only interested in one.”

And that one was Troy, who’d played right wing with the Cardinals but been picked up by Denver. Her brother had warned her off the players, but she hadn’t listened, and she’d been crushed when he up and left without her.

“Sounds like there’s someone there—or was?”

“There was. Now there’s not.”

He was watching her.

“He left,” she said.

“Fool.”

She swallowed past the ache that always built when she thought of losing Troy. It would have been one thing if she’d realized there was no future, but she’d believed he was the one. She’d never been so head over heels with anyone to the point that she couldn’t let it go. She’d been obsessed to the point that she tried to tell herself he loved her still, that he really did want her.

“You okay?” He actually reached across and touched her hand.

She’d thought she was better at hiding her feelings, or maybe she’d allowed a moment of weakness to slip through and show her vulnerability. She thought she’d nailed that door shut. So she did what she always did when the situation called for it: She put on her game face. “Yeah, fine.”

“Hey, listen, if you don’t have plans right now, would you like to stop for a bite to eat? I’m starved and hate eating alone. Don’t have any friends here, so you’d be doing me a favor.”

She didn’t have to be at work until later. She’d been planning on having a sandwich and sifting through her emails. “Okay. There’s a pretty great little Italian diner not far from my place, makes the best pasta and fish.”

“Sounds great. You just saved me from ordering room service and eating alone.”

“Well, far be it from me to let you eat alone.”

When he glanced her way again, the smile he gave her had her heart doing a little leap. Oh no!

What had he been thinking, asking this cute little redheaded cheerleader out to eat? It wasn’t a date. Of course it wasn’t a date, because Jake Wilde, in his mind, was still taken. His heart belonged to a woman who’d just dumped him in a Dear John sort of way over the phone. He’d had no time to process any of the phone call that had just taken all his hopes and dreams and flushed them down the toilet. And worse, his brother Samuel had just stabbed him in the back.

Right now he hated the brother he had once loved so much. They’d been best friends, closer than most, and always together out on the town in Seattle. They even lived close to each other so they could do anything and everything together. Even just hanging out with a beer or two or a night out. But not now, not anymore.

He followed Chris into the quaint little Italian restaurant with red checked tablecloths and pictures of famous dead actors on the walls.

He hadn’t missed the ass on this girl. She had one fine set of buns, a slim waistline, and when she walked she did it with her head held high. Her hair…he found himself noticing how different it was from Jill’s: longer, redder, and thicker.

A portly man at the door smiled brightly at Chris. “Hey, how are you? Where’s your brother?” The man was Italian, gray haired, probably in his sixties. He glanced up at Jake curiously with a flash of something mischievous in his eyes.

“Not sure,” Chris said. “This is Jake Wilde, the new wide receiver for the Cardinals, showed up just in time for the end of the season. We’re here for a late lunch if you’re still serving?”

Jake wondered as he took in the empty restaurant. It was small with maybe twenty tables. And not a soul in sight.

“Of course, for you. Come on, I have a nice table by the window, and I think there’s still some of Rosa’s special grilled halibut with linguine.” He guided them over to a table by the window and put a menu in front of them. “Can I get you something to drink to start, a glass of vino or beer?”

“Diet coke for me,” Chris said as she glanced up from her menu.

“Water, please,” Jake said, although he would’ve preferred a beer.

Chris was staring at her menu when the man left them.

“Nice place. The food good?” Jake asked, but if the spicy aroma wafting from the kitchen was anything to go by, the food was going to be mouthwatering.

“The best—and I’m not kidding about that. I’m a foodie and have always said there’s too many really good restaurants out there to waste your time on the ones that are just average, you know?” She shut her menu and rested her hands on the table. He hadn’t even had a chance to look at the menu when the waiter returned with their drinks.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Jake?” Chris prompted him. “I know what I want.”

“What are you having?”

“Caesar salad.” She glanced up at the waiter, who frowned down at her much like a father would.

He tsked. “Your brother would make you order more than that. How about some meatballs?”

“Order her the meatballs, too, and I’ll have the special,” Jake said. “The halibut’s good?”

The waiter kissed his own fingers in reply. “You’ll love it.” He scooped up the menus and left.

When Jake glanced across the table, he realized Chris was frowning up at him. “Everything okay?”

“Why did you order meatballs for me? All I wanted was a salad. You’re just like Myles, thinking you know what’s best for me.” She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

“Well, you don’t have to eat it all. I’ll finish it for you. Besides, you can’t just live on lettuce.”