Page 26 of Reckless Love

“You’re the best for me, Esme. And I’ll happily take the good with the bad.” He shifted us again and now I was cradled in his arms like he was aboutto sweep me up a grand staircase. “You know why I actually answered Greg’s questions tonight?”

I had no idea so I shook my head while I stared up into his stormy eyes.

“Because it’s hard to talk about when we’re alone. I want to protect you too. And seeing me sad isn’t my best shade of white. But... ”he leaned closer, stopping just short of kissing me, “I needed you to finallyhear the story. She raised me and it wasn’t easy. We were broke and she worked two damn jobs all the time. She was always sad. I did everything I could to make her smile. I did favors for the neighbors. When they paid me I left the cash on the table. Seeing her smile made me feel ten feet tall.”

It was that superhero complex of his. He came by it naturally at least. There wasn’t much thatwas sweeter than a boy trying to make his mother smile.

“I worry sometimes,” he whispered against my lips, “because with you I want it even more.” He kissed me. “That smile of yours, when I can coax it out, is better than anything.”

“Would you two like a room upstairs?” Greg joked as he took his seat back.

“No room necessary.” I smiled but also gave him the stink eye beforeI moved back to my chair.

“He’s just giving you a hard time because he’s Greg.” Marie placed a plate of cookies in the middle of the table and, being the good guest that I was, I quickly selected two.

“Chocolate chip is my favorite. It’s partially how I met Marie.”

“It’s how you metNatalie.” She smiled and shook her head at him.

He shrugged. “Which is how I met you.”

“So Marie, who do we know in the administration of the football league?” Leo leaned forward.

The hair on my arm stood up. It took everything I had not to let my jaw hit the table.

“Everyone?” Marie scrunched up her nose. “Let me think. We’re fairly well acquainted with Jackson Mayhew.”

Mayhew was the commissioner of the league. He was a total and complete jackass who’dheld the position for the last twenty years at least.

“There’s the associates, Templeton, Rashid, Watt, Benedetto, and that ugly guy who always wear the toupee.”

“Franklin,” Leo said.

“Yes, Franklin.” She shuddered. “He thinks his jokes are funny. They’re not funny. Then under them are Markowitz, Carbone, Gillespie, and Eubank.”

My ears perked up at that. “Eubank? LikeJonathan Eubank?”

Marie nodded. “The one and the same.”

“The guy my brother stuffed in a locker?”

Greg barked a laugh. “Ilikeyour brother.”

Marie shrugged. “They had their moments but then they became friends in college. Those two are something else. William trained Jon. Taught him how to jog, lift weights,swim. I think Jon helped Will learn to play piano or somethingstrange like that.”

“Edmund said music was for pussies.” I remembered William begging for piano lessons. When father wasn’t home he always played classical music.

“Well I guess that makes sense after all.”

William was friends with Jonathan Eubank, who was now an executive with the national league. Where did he work ten years ago?

“It’s weird that you know more aboutmy brother than I do.”

Marie shrugged. “Families like ours are weird. And my parents love to gossip.”

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