Page 16 of Game On

“TMZ. Access Hollywood. Hell, they had a four-page spread in People. You didn’t see that?” Donovan looked at him incredulously.

“Nope.” Shane shook his head. “It’s not my preferred bathroom reading.”

Donovan gave a little snort.

“I figured you’d have a free subscription to some of those rags, as often as you’ve appeared in them,” he teased. “Anyway, Carly handled the little Paris Hilton wannabe. She even tried to make friends with the ugly dog, but the little rat was just bad to the bone. Even a diamond dog collar couldn’t make it look pretty. It was growlin’ at its own shadow.”

Shane had no problem picturing Carly reading Gabe’s wife the riot act. Her crazy blue eyes would be wild in her agitation. Her breasts all perky as she stomped around reciting the signing bonus rules chapter and verse. He was getting excited just thinking about the two women sparring. Despite a Herculean effort during the past week to banish Dorothy from his fantasies, he hadn’t been too successful.

“I missed a girl fight?” he asked reverently.

Donovan laughed. “Not quite, but that probably would have made TMZ.”

“Damn.” Shane slowed briefly to call to the Labrador retriever who’d been sidetracked from the jog when a passing scent caught his attention.

“Probably would have been a good fight, too. According to the office scuttlebutt, there’s no love lost between Carly and the little Bridezilla.” Donovan bent down to massage his knee.

Shane lifted his T-shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. “How’s that?” he asked through his shirt.

“Who knows,” Donovan said as he stretched his leg. “Probably has something to do with her being jealous of Carly and Gabe. She practically accused Carly of purposely withholding his bonus because she had a thing for him.”

“Carly and Harrelson?” His pulse, already racing from his run, ratcheted up a point or two.

Donovan looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “No,” he said. “They’re just friends. Carly was recovering from a serious burnout in a relationship. Gabe is more in touch with his feminine side. In fact, I’m surprised he even married, if you get my drift. Anyway, he was more like a confidant to Carly while she got over that crazy Italian soccer player she was engaged to. Guess Gabe’s new wife is just the jealous type.”

She wasn’t the only jealous type, Shane thought. Not that he’d admit to being jealous; more like curious. The first opportunity he’d gotten after overhearing Carly’s conversation in her office, Shane had searched the Internet for details about her former fiancé. The story played out like a soap opera within the European media, specifically the tabloids. Maxim Vicente charmed “Darling Carly” while having a secret relationship—and a child—with a married woman, eventually leaving Carly a month before the wedding. Unfortunately, the paparazzi painted Carly as an unstable victim, unable to hold on to her man.

“About you and Carly . . .” Donovan’s sharp tone brought Shane out of his reverie. Neither man had broached the subject of the incident in Carly’s office the other day. Shane had hoped his friend would just let it lie, but apparently not. Donovan stood facing him, hands on hips, his interrogator’s face clearly in place.

“There is no ‘me and Carly,’” Shane answered. Trying his best to project nonchalance, he locked eyes with the former Marine, challenging him to say otherwise.

Donovan held his ground for a moment, before finally shaking his head and looking away. “Look, Shane,” Donovan said. “What you do is your business. But Carly . . . she’s been through a lot, you know? She comes across as all poised and sophisticated, but underneath, she’s still pretty tender and raw. I just wouldn’t want to see her hurt.”

Shane tried not to wince at Donovan’s words. Obviously, his friend bought into the public’s perception of him. The implication that he would somehow hurt Carly rankled. People’s opinions of him hadn’t mattered before, so why were they becoming important now? And why did the idea of Carly being hurt—by him or someone else—bother him so?

“You ready to head back to your place?” Donovan asked.

“Yeah, I probably should get this guy a drink.” Shane gestured to the large chocolate-colored dog lolling in the shade of a large tree, his pink tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.

“A beer sounds good to me, too,” Donovan said with a grin as he jogged down a side street.

Shane lived in one of the team’s rental properties in the elite, gated community. The four-bedroom house sat on over a half an acre on a cul-de-sac at the very back of the neighborhood. He and Donovan navigated a maze of smaller row houses to get to the more exclusive area of the community.

“You’re lucky you got a place in here, man,” Donovan said as they rounded a corner. The tree-lined street was quiet in the early evening. “A few of the Blaze staff live in here and they say it’s pretty quiet. I guess you’ll be running into Carly in here, too.”

Shane stumbled, but he was able to right himself without Donovan taking too much notice.

“Carly lives here?” he asked, the words escaping his mouth before he could temper his reaction.

“Yeah.” Donovan looked at him sharply. “In fact, that’s her place up ahead.”

Shane looked further down the street to where the object of his distraction stood gesturing to another man. The trunk of her Saab convertible stood open. It looked like she’d been disrupted in the act of carrying in groceries. The man was obviously offering to help haul in her bags, but Dorothy was having none of it.

“Shit!” Donovan swore, picking up his pace. Shane followed suit, his pulse beginning to shoot up again. He wasn’t sure if it was from seeing Carly again or from Donovan’s apparent concern.

The cloying smell of Joel Tompkins’s cologne first alerted Carly to his presence behind her. God, this guy is a pest, she thought to herself as she turned from the trunk of her car to see him reaching in to grab a grocery bag. It went against her nature to be openly hostile to another person, but she was beginning to think today might be an exception.

She was still reeling over her encounter with Gabe’s wife earlier. That woman was a nutcase! What could have possibly possessed Gabe to marry her? Okay, Carly knew why he had married her—for the publicity—but the little bridezilla obviously did not. Carly actually felt sorry for the woman—right up until Chloe accused her of being involved with her husband. The little scene in the lobby of the training facility had propelled Carly’s pity into annoyance. Damn Gabe for sending the tabloid princess to do his dirty work anyway. The fight for his signing bonus was going to get messy, but Carly knew she had an iron-clad contract on her side.

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