Page 69 of Love Game

“And you love me,” she shot back.

A smile twitched his lips as he opened the door. He stood framed in the doorway as it took hold and grew, stretching those too-lush lips into a wolfish grin. “Yeah, well, I’m going to call it even on that score.”

Chapter 16

Kate drifted through the doors to the athletic complex, certain the perma-smile on her face looked every bit as goofy as it felt but too happy to care. Danny had taken her to Caprice for dinner. The restaurant was not only the home of an award-winning chef, but also a favorite with the locals. The place had been packed when they walked through the doors.

She’d stood inches taller than Danny in the heels she’d worn in retaliation for the skirt demand, but it didn’t seem to make much difference to him. He guided her through the crowded tables, his hand warm on the small of her back and his smile wide. They’d endured the drive-bys from friends and fans and even signed a few autographs. Danny didn’t seem to mind that she signed three to his one, but he grew impatient with the speculative glances halfway through their appetizer. The second she set her fork aside, he took her hand in his, making it clear they were anything but enemies.

Even Millie’s late-night phone call did little to dampen the evening’s perfection. If anything, the older woman’s raspy harangue added fuel to the fire.

Kate smiled as she strode down the deserted corridor. For the first time since her affair with Danny began, she’d awakened to find him nestled into the pillow beside hers. He looked so delicious in his sleep—an overgrown boy with whiskers speckled with silver and a mouth so kissably soft it wouldn’t have shocked her to discover it was outlawed in some conservative states. By unspoken agreement, they’d moved their early-morning workout session from the weight room to the bedroom. But unlike the joyous pillage and plunder of the previous night, their lazy, languid coupling in the gray light of dawn seemed more of a celebration of freedom.

She didn’t even mind that he refused to let her out of the bed to brush her teeth. He loved her, morning breath and all. She was his. He was hers. And they didn’t care if the whole world knew it.

Her smile grew to the Joker proportions as she tapped the faded plywood Wolcott Warriors sign permanently mounted to the cinder-block wall. Not that she needed extra luck. She’d gotten lucky a total of three times in the past eighteen hours. The wicked smirk Danny wore as he strolled from her front door to his truck told her she was bound to come into more good fortune soon.

She rounded the corner at full speed but slid to a stop when she spotted Jim Davenport leaning against the wall outside her office. He had a copy of that morning’s Sentinel and his ever-present tablet curled in one hand. An insolent sneer twisted his beigey-bland features into something almost interesting when he pushed away from the wall. Kate opted for offense. No way she was letting a loser like Jim force her into playing defense.

“Jim. How did you get in here?”

He snorted as if her questioning a reporter’s ability to gain access to a building closed to the general public this early in the morning should have been obvious. And it was. “I know people,” he said with a dismissive shrug. “Other than you, that is.”

He unfolded the paper to show a grainy photo printed under the “Out and About” header. “To think I bought all that bullshit you used to spew about preferential treatment. I actually admired how scrupulous you were about it.” The sneer seeped into his voice as he took a step toward her. “So stupid of me. I should have realized that a good screw would have meant so much more to a woman like you than some pesky scruples.”

Kate blinked, unsure how he managed to knock the ball out of her hands so quickly. But she recovered soon enough. Shaking off the commentary on her sex life and whatever the hell he meant by a woman like you, she charged at him, over six feet of woman pissed off about having her exceptional mood pissed on.

“What exactly were you after, Jim, sex or a story? Because I could never figure that out. Maybe if I’d been a little clearer on what our relationship was, I might have been more forthcoming, but I owe you nothing.”

The once-over he gave her made her skin creep and crawl. “I wouldn’t have minded the sex,” he conceded at last. “Lucky for me, I got the story without having to go that far.”

A chill raced through her. She froze in place, willing every muscle in her body to be still as she scanned his face, searching for any hint of his next play. Only her rebellious heart dared to move. Each thump against her breastbone felt like a blow. She focused all her energy on holding his gaze and tamping down the swell of panic rising inside her. “What story?”

Jim smirked as he tipped his head to study the photo in the paper. “You and your guy look good together. The sparks fly on camera, but you know that already, don’t you? Got you both national airtime. Not that you really needed it, but then again, people tend to forget about women’s sports once the highlight reels stop running.”

Her hands curled into fists, but she held back the punch she desperately wanted to throw. Her hands were too important to her to risk breaking a knuckle on this bonehead. She was still attempting to summon a scathing retort when he droned on.

“Of course, your little dog and pony show scored lots of free promo for the university. Tell me, Kate, were you the dog or the pony?”

“Get out.” She ground the words from between clenched teeth.

Davenport just laughed her off. “Hey, look on the bright side. Your new boyfriend had enough pull to remind NSN that you’re still around. They finally shot the fawning feature film you’ve always wanted, and it’s all thanks to Dreamboat Danny.”

“That documentary was contracted two years ago,” she retorted.

“And they managed to get a crew on campus just two weeks after Coach McMillan’s inaugural press conference.” He tossed the paper at her feet. The photo of her and Danny holding hands across a table stared up at her. “Well played, Kate. Too bad you won’t be able to leverage your boyfriend’s notoriety too much longer. You’ll have to find some other schmuck to set a pick for you.”

Her head shot up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means lover boy is in violation of his contract. The board can fire him today.” He raised his eyebrows, daring her to refute the statement.

Hands on her hips, she curled her fingers around the bone like she did when she was trying to catch her wind. It was the exact same spot Danny grabbed when he pulled her hips high in the air and plunged into her until she screamed his name. Powered by the memory of kisses feathered along her skin, she planted her feet and prepared to take Jim’s charge full force.

“We’re colleagues. We had dinner.”

“You’re holding hands,” he pointed out.

She tried to match his snide tone but fell short as she fumbled for plausible deniability. “We were shaking hands. He’d just agreed to reinflate all the basketballs in the storage closet each week if I brought him a Cubs hat back from my trip to Chicago.”

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