“Wait a minute.” He released all the gear in a pile on the sand and reached for his T-shirt. “I see what you’re getting at, and you can’t possibly compare that to the scare you just gave me. Playing a pickup game with my nieces and nephews on Sunday isn’t the same risk level to me as pulling up thirty feet out of the water was for you just now.”
As it was, his pulse still hadn’t leveled out. He’d seen her, in his mind’s eye, hitting the water wrong or losing control of the board and being hit by that. Or she could have gotten tangled in her safety line, breaking a limb or worse—
He launched for her, wrapping his arms around her without conscious thought. Next thing he knew he was holding her tight against him and breathing in the scent of her wet hair.
“I didn’t think about how much that might have freaked you out.” Her words were small and far away since he had her locked to his chest.
He loosened his hold just a little, his heart rate finally slowing a fraction now that he had the proof of her well-being in his arms.
“You scared the living hell out of me, lady.” He didn’t care they were on a crowded beach where people might recognize him. Photograph him.
“Don’t you think that’s how people in your life must feel all the time?”
It took him a moment to mentally process what she was suggesting. He was so rooted in his own outlook that he had a hard time shutting off that part of his brain enough to consider what it felt like for others to watch him take insane chances.
Damn.
He’d been so convinced he needed to live on the edge to experience every moment and savor the gift of being alive. The gift stolen from his brother, who’d deserved to be married and surrounded by a half dozen kids by now. For years, Javier had been trying to live the dream for both of them.
But was he really doing that? Or was he thumbing his nose at an incredible blessing by risking his life—and at the very least, his career—by seeking new thrills at every turn?
Staring at his brutally honest new trainer, Javier couldn’t decide. Feeling like the ground had just fallen out beneath him, he knew he needed to retreat fast.
“I’ve got to get home.”
3
LISA HOPED JAVIER WOULD BE happy to see her.
She’d driven to Cincinnati to speak with him after his game, tired of him canceling their sessions and then using a spate of road games as a way to not see her after what had happened the week before. It hadn’t been difficult to find out where the team was staying even though she’d officially quit her duties to the Chicago Flames that morning. She’d hated letting her friend down, but after another restless night’s sleep, she’d decided she couldn’t harbor feelings for a client, and it had become obvious to her that’s what was happening with Javier.
She never would have guessed that such a brief relationship—a relationship that had never even gotten physical—could have such severe consequences for her heart.
But after experiencing Javier’s spontaneity and zest for living firsthand, Lisa knew he’d filled a need she’d ignored for too long. He’d pushed her to be daring, and she’d needed that after denying something fundamental in her character. Even though he’d been upset with her at the beach, she’d seen that he’d only been worried. Something she should have simply assuaged instead of challenging him to look at his own daredevil tendencies.
They could be good for each other in so many ways, and she’d blown it by making their date about issues she should have let him resolve on his own.
Now, seated in the hotel lobby on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, close to the stadium where the Cincinnati team played, Lisa waited for Javier to return for the night. She hadn’t gotten to town in time to see him play, so she’d opted to head straight to the hotel afterward. The players didn’t have a curfew even though they had another game the next day, but she’d left a message on Javier’s phone earlier that she was in town and wanted to see him.
Would he continue his silence and not show up? She’d been hurt by his retreat and she didn’t know how she’d handle a rebuff. The man had dominated her thoughts, dreams, fantasies every minute since she’d last seen him.
A commotion around the front doors distracted her. A handful of people backed into the hotel, holding microphones and cameras all pointed toward a subject who had yet to walk in the door.
Her stomach tightened, knowing who would be the object of this much media attention at an otherwise quiet Kentucky hotel.
“…and I’ve been friends with Brody Davis ever since.” Javier’s voice reached her ears before she saw him.
Reporters hung on his word as he retold the story of his truce with the Boston Aces’ catcher after an on-field dispute.
Javier wore his street clothes now, but his polished appearance in an expensive suit and starched white shirt open at the collar made Lisa wonder if he had plans for the night. Was she intruding?
She debated turning on her heel before he saw her. What if she’d misread all those undercurrents of attraction she thought were there?
“So you have no hard feelings toward Brody Davis even though he took the first swing that night in Boston?” a young reporter asked Javier as the throng moved deeper into the hotel, the newsman’s lips curled with skepticism.
“Davis plays the game the same way I do, and I respect that,” Javier told a nearby camera, clearly sensing the opportunity to provide a good sound bite. “He doesn’t leave anything on the field.”
Pushing out of the crowd, Javier seemed to ignore the next round of questions as he shouldered his way toward the lobby. Toward her.
Nervous anticipation made her heart fluttery and she couldn’t decide if it was her “fight or flight” response kicking in—or good old-fashioned sexual chemistry.
As those sea-glass-green eyes locked on hers, however, all confusion dissipated. The urge to launch herself in his arms was so strong it took every ounce of will she possessed to not act on it.
She knew she would look like a deer in headlights in all those photographs the media members were snapping. Frozen. Spellbound by the oncoming collision. But she couldn’t do so much as blink to break the spell.
“I know a back way,” Javier lowered his voice as he neared her, reaching out a hand to enfold hers. “Come on.”
Gladly, Lisa allowed him to take the lead. After just a handful of days without him, she already knew she would follow him wherever he wanted to go.
JAVIER WAS A GONER AS SURELY as the home-run ball he’d blasted over right field in tonight’s game. Lisa Whatley had sent his good sense spinning out of control and no amount of time avoiding her would change that.
Not after listening to Lisa’s voice in his messages today, that throaty, sexy tone confiding her need to see him. He’d had time to sort out what had happened between them that day at the beach and knew she’d been balls-on accurate with her assessment of his risk-taking. He just hadn’t wanted to hear it.
Now, as he led her to a back service elevator used by the room service staff to deliver food to the hotel patrons, Javier acknowledged that he also hadn’t wanted to admit feelings for her. Sure, he’d slept with women faster than this before, but he hadn’t had any illusions about where that kind of hookup would lead.
Whereas with Lisa, he’d wanted her more than he’d wanted any other, and the power of that feeling made him hesitate to get involved. He hadn’t planned on being tied down during the baseball career he’d worked so hard to develop, wanting to squeeze every pleasure he could out of the dream he’d once shared with his brother.