Page 13 of Midnight Player

Mel glanced at the television and fanned her face. “Damn. He’s a hottie. If I got a chance to spend the night with him, I wouldn’t leave until he kicked me out of his room.”

“Same.” Vanessa nodded in agreement.

Jealousy slammed into her. She snapped, “But you didn’t spend the night with him. I did.”

“And I rest my case.” Mel smiled wide.

“What?”

“Girl, you’ve got it bad for him. Not that either of us could blame you one bit. Because he’s definitely a hunk of burning love,” Vanessa chimed in.

“Have you looked him up online?”

“Yes.” She had, and she didn’t like what she had found. Jake was a serial womanizer, or at least that’s how the media portrayed him. Although their claims were backed up by multiple photos of him with different women, each one more gorgeous than the last. He’d been linked to a supermodel for a few months. A freaking supermodel!

“And?” Mel asked.

Vanessa held up a finger. “What does the media know, anyway? Did you guys talk about your dating history?”

“Um, not really. We were too busy doing . . .” Her cheeks flamed red.

Mel wiggled in her seat like she was riding the chair. “Too busy doing the nasty. We get it.”

“Can we go? I want to reach the hotel before the game ends and pandemonium ensues in the streets.” And she wanted out of the conversation. She adored her friends. She wouldn’t make it through these conferences without them. But she didn’t want to talk about Jake anymore. He was all she’d thought about all damn day. She needed a breather. She needed to forget about him. Although that was easier said than done because he had etched himself on her heart and soul.

Mel and Vanessa glanced at each other with concern at her change of topic, but they didn’t argue. Mel said, “Sure, we can head back to the Vivaldi.”

They paid the check and then walked back to the hotel. In Denver, fall had begun teasing winter’s arrival with a few sparse snowstorms. But in Houston, it was a balmy seventy-eight degrees at nine in the evening. She changed the subject while they walked, talking about all the latest marketing trends in their business.

When they reached the hotel, Mel and Vanessa headed to the evening workshop event. But Willa was peopled out. So she headed back to Nocturne. She’d booked it for both weekend nights she was here and was thrilled with her foresight. They had the game on too.

She ordered another margarita and watched Jake play. He was intense when he played. There was an intelligence in his eyes as he studied the field and the batters and managed the pitcher on the mound. And here she’d thought he couldn’t possibly impress her more. She’d been wrong. The longer she watched him, she came to realize what a powerhouse he was. She cheered when his team scored base hits. And dejectedly sighed when they failed to drive in those runs to break the tie.

And she stared, horrified, as Houston scored three runs in the eighth inning to break the tie. The camera panned to Jake’s face. His eyes said it all. He knew the game was over. His team had one inning to change the fate of the game, and chances were slim at best.

But Jake never faltered. He strode out to the mound, met the manager and coaches, and spoke quietly with the pitcher.

They swapped out pitchers on Jake’s team. And then he took his position behind the mound, where his team’s closer struck out the next two at-bats to end the disastrous inning.

And when the final out was called and Jake’s team lost, her heart bled for him.

9

Jake searched through the bars on the first and second floors after he arrived at the hotel, searching for Willa. He spied a ton of women, but no Willa with her dark hair and flashing eyes. There was one more place he hadn’t checked. But he had to speak with the hotel manager first to gain entrance into Nocturne last minute.

The manager schmoozed with the best of them. And Jake used his celebrity status for a change. So he had to autograph a few items for the guy and pose for a few photos. It would be worth it, or so he hoped.

It was close to midnight by the time he sauntered into Nocturne.

He scanned the patrons, searching for long chestnut hair, and grinned the moment he spied her. She wore another dress, this time a stunning cobalt number, and a pair of silver stilettos that left him panting. He wanted to take her wearing only the stilettos and nothing else. Now that his season was finished, his only objective was making her his before the night was over. He didn’t simply want tonight. He wanted the promise of a future.

Hell, if things worked out between them, he could get his agent to look into a trade. The Denver Bucks team was a tightly run ship and had made the playoffs this year but had fallen short before the pennant.

There was a spot open on her right. He didn’t pay the other patrons any attention. Willa was his sole focus. He prowled her way, determined to win her.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he murmured by her ear as he sat on the empty barstool beside her.

She gasped and shifted her face, a mixture of emotions from joy to concern filtered through her goddess eyes. “Jake.”

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