Page 67 of Reckless Kiss

“He’s not sweet to you?” Esme leaned across my lap to talk to Claudia, cutting me out of the equation. I suddenly realized my error in sitting between them.

“That’s the problem. He’s incredibly sweet sometimes. And then...it’s like he forgets I exist.”

“And it’s good enough that you get your hopes up, that maybe it can be good all the time.”

I didn’t care about Claudia anymore. My attention was completely on Esme.

You get your hopes up.

Maybe it can be good all the time.

“I know this time of year is crazy for him and there are so many expectations,” Claudia said.

There was a loud smack. All our heads turned to the field. Butler was on his heels, the bat touching the ground by his feet, his head tilted toward the sky as the ball sailed toward the back wall.

Claudia shot to her feet. “Go. Go. Go!”

The ball sailed clear of the wall by several feet.Home run.Butler was a hitting machine. It was great for his career and mine, but not great for building a lasting relationship with a woman. I switched seats with Esme and let the two of them talk. By the end of the game Claudia had her game face on. She was going to talk to Butler and this time she wasn’t quitting when things got real.

“Thanks for that.” I tucked Esme’s hair behind her ear. “I don’t think Claudia has a lot of female friends she trusts.”

“She’s nice. I hope Seth pulls his head out of his ass. They could be really good together.”

“I agree.” I kissed her forehead. “Hey, do you mind waiting out here for a minute? I need to talk to someone.”

“Sure.”

Knowing she was safe down here with her access badge and the higher level of security, I made quick work of finding Butler and congratulating him on a good game. “Claudia’s waiting for you in the VIP Lounge.”

“Thanks, Leo.” He shook my hand.

“Anytime. Thanks for the extra ticket.”

“No problem, man. So you’ve settled down?”

“Very much. What about you?”

Butler’s eyebrows jumped. “Me? You mean Claudia? We’re just having fun.”

I was afraid of that. “You’ve been together for a while now. The public is starting to get attached. You might want to consider how it’ll affect your image if you keep this up.” I hated speaking agent when it came to relationships but it was a necessary evil, especially when my clients weren’t seeing the attachment the publicandthe girl were developing. Better to try the image angle first.

“Yeah?” He rubbed his chin. There was a glimmer of anger in his eyes.

Maybe there was hope for Butler yet.

“Just something to consider if you’re only having fun.”

He eyed me like he wanted to punch me, then gave a single chin nod. “I’ll think about it. Enjoy your night, Leo.”

* * *

Sometimes you can feela storm brewing long before you see the first signs. It’s the energy. A big storm needs a lot of it. So it gathers, drawing everything toward its center. Two days before a hurricane, hundreds of miles away, you can tell there’s one out there because of the energy in the air.

That’s how it felt that morning when I arrived at work. Nothing was different. Not that I could tell anyway. But I stood behind my desk for several minutes trying to figure out what was wrong.

When I found nothing I decided to try to work. An hour later I’d answered a dozen emails, returned three phone calls, and talked a tennis player out of quitting because she didn’t like the tournament colors. Apparently yellow was bad luck.

Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe the quiche Esme made for breakfast had bad eggs. I was forced to dismiss my misgivings and focus on work. Today we had a big planning meeting for the next quarter. We were evaluating current clients, potential new clients we’d been monitoring, and mapping out a strategic plan for a potential hockey strike. Marie sat at the back of the conference room watching while Oscar asked for advice on how to handle a football client who couldn’t stay out of trouble.

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