his as well, her narrow, fitted skirt hugging her very fine hips and ass, her heels clicking with authority.
Wade caught up with her, setting a hand on the small of her back, smiling with satisfaction when she gave a little jump.
“Just me,” he murmured, liking the feel of her beneath his fingers.
She was talking to the clerk, so he pulled out his phone to check for messages. He had a text from his father, which sucked some of the air out of him.
Yeah, what John O’Riley wanted was far harder to give than something Wade could write a check for. Forgiveness. But Wade had spent his entire childhood wanting something, too, and that something was to be more important to his father than the alcohol.
It hadn’t happened then, and it wasn’t likely to happen now, so Wade hit delete. Not the smartest or most efficient way to handle his father, but hell, he’d gotten his stubbornness from the gene pool, and as John himself was fond of saying, the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree.
“The name again?” the guy behind the counter asked Sam as his fingers worked the keyboard.
“McNead,” Sam said.
“And O’Riley,” Wade added, sliding his phone away. “I have a suite. Maybe we should get connecting-”
“Just McNead,” Sam said, giving Wade a little nudge, trying to move him away.
“Nothing.” She smiled at the check-in clerk, who handed over two card keys.
Wade remained silent until they stood waiting for an elevator. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“You hijacked my room.”
She leaned forward and hit the elevator button three times in quick, irritated succession. “I didn’t think you’d mind sharing with your girlfriend.”
“I’d be excited, if I thought it meant that we were going to-”
“We’re not.” She punched the button again. “This was part of the mandate, okay? It has to look real. People are watching. I’m no more comfortable with this than you are, but we agreed to do it.” The elevator opened and she shoved him inside, quickly smacking the close door button, even as one poor soul ran toward them yelling, “Hold that elevator!”
She didn’t.
Wade turned to face her as the doors slid closed. “Wow.”
“I know!” She covered her face. “Please, let’s just
He studied her flaming ears. She was cute when she was flustered. “That’s bad karma, you know, not holding the elevator.”
“Thanks for not talking.”
“And trust me, bad karma comes back around like a boomerang. That one’s going to bite you right on your very nice ass, Sam.”
“He’ll get another elevator!” she exclaimed, tossing up her hands. “We needed privacy.”
God, he loved it when she lost her cool and revealed the real Sam lurking beneath that princess exterior. “You’re right. We need privacy. In fact, I should have done this in the limo and gotten it out of the way.” He reached for the top button on his Levi’s.
Her eyes nearly bugged right out of her head. “What are you doing?”
“Getting naked, which is how you wanted me the last time we were alone in an elevator.”
“Oh my God.” She pressed her hands to her head as if she couldn’t quite believe it, then slapped one of those hands to his chest and shoved him back another step.
That, too. He loved that, too, when she got physical. He’d never told her, but when she was in the stands during a game screaming for him, he loved it.
“For the last time,” she said urgently, almost desperately, as if trying to talk herself into believing it. “It’s never going to happen again.
“Never is a long time.”
“Never. Ever.
Her eyes were dilated, which was fascinating. And he’d swear that the pulse at the base of her neck was fluttering faster than a hummingbird’s wings, which was even more fascinating.
Chapter 4
To have some idea what it’s like [to be a MLB catcher], stand in the outside lane of a motorway, get your mate to drive his car at you at ninety-five mph and wait until he’s twelve yards away before you decide which way to jump.
Samantha walked through the suite. It was beautiful and quiet, with a gorgeous view of the ocean.
It had only one bedroom.
And one bed.
Sure, it was a king and piled thick with luxurious bedding, and looked so comfortable that she could have lain on it forever, but the knowledge that when it came time to hit the sack later, she’d be hitting it with Wade sent butterflies straight to her stomach.
And other parts…
Her cell phone rang. It was Holly, Pace’s fiancee. “Pace is working out, so I had a few minutes.”
Holly and Sam had become good friends this past year, even more so now that Pace and Wade had become business partners as well as best friends, purchasing and renovating random parcels of land into parks for kids and creating sports clubs in those parks with coaching and organized league games.
Well, Pace had anyway.
Mostly Wade just wrote checks.
He was good at that, writing checks, Sam had noticed. He often solved problems by throwing money at them. She only wished this problem could be solved so easily.
“I’m eating popcorn and watching a
Well aware of Wade checking out the suite behind her, Sam kept her voice down. “I’d rather be eating popcorn and watching a
“Sam,” Holly said very gently. “You need professional help.”
“Why?”
“You’d actually pick
“I’m going to tell Pace you said that.”
“Just think about how long it’s been since you’ve gotten laid,” Holly said. “And then do yourself a favor and turn off your phone and look at Wade. Just look at all his yumminess and do what comes naturally.”
“What comes naturally will get me twenty-five years to life.”
“Don’t kill him, honey.
Sam rolled her eyes and hung up on Holly’s laugh, then turned and came face-to-face with the six-foot-tall,
