"First, you always need to be within cell phone contact. That's nonnegotiable.""Fine. But I can tell there's something else. Spill it."Walt nodded his head toward Kaitlyn. "Who's the broad?"Ryan could feel his blood pressure rising. "She's not a broad. She's a very nice female who happens to be renting the cottage next to me. Why?""What does she want?""Want? What do you mean, what does she want?" Breathe, Ryan."Everyone wants something, Ryan. Haven't you figured that out yet?" He took his phone out of his pocket again. "We'll have to find out what little Miss Nosy Neighbor wants.""You aren't going over there to give her the third degree." Ryan was ready to punch his agent. He wanted to keep Kaitlyn out of this at all costs."Don't have to," Walt smirked. "I snapped a picture of her. As we speak, I'm sending it to our private investigator to check her out.""You what?" Now Ryan was sure his blood pressure would go through the roof. "You can't invade someone's privacy lik
Kaitlyn refilled her water glass and carried it back to the dining room table where she had her laptop set up. This morning's episode with Ryan's friend, whoever he was, still had her unsettled, and she wasn't sure exactly why. It couldn't have anything to do with her. She didn't even know who the guy was. Still, she'd been edgy ever since she stepped outside and caught the scene in Ryan's driveway.She'd certainly heard them shouting at each other, loud enough to carry outside his house. Okay, so she'd opened the kitchen window and shamelessly tried to eavesdrop. But the words were still too muffled for her to make out anything. She had an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach that her magic interlude with Ryan was about to come to an unpleasant stop.With a sigh, she tapped her computer screen back to life and went back to her chore at hand. She was beginning to think no one was ever going to hire her again. It both startled and frightened her to realize how much power an
Kaitlyn pushed her chair back from the table and stood up, stretching. She was still wearing yesterday's clothes and felt beyond grubby. She'd also slept on the couch off and on, too focused on what she was doing to crawl into bed and conk out completely. She was still more angry than she remembered being since Ed told her she was fired but she had to admit Ryan McCabe had gotten a raw deal.The first thing she'd done was meticulously dig up everything written about his current problem. No wonder he was hiding out in a cottage in Ft. Myers Beach. Then she began tracing his history with women.Oh, he was a playboy all right. He'd parlayed his talent and star status with the Tampa Bay Rough Riders into the unofficial title of bachelor of the decade. But, try as she might, she couldn't find one story that indicated he was anything other than that. No stories of brawls in the media. No ragging on him about his behavior in social media. A lot of men might be envious of his status and appe
Clean at last and dressed in fresh shorts and a T-shirt, she curled up on the couch with a cold drink and started skimming the sports channels on television, looking for any breaking news on the situation. It was old news so no one was paying it a lot of attention at the moment except to wonder where things stood and what the resolution was going to be. People were still digging around but it seemed no one was talking. Reporters were still hot to talk to Ryan, but he continued to be unavailable.Kaitlyn knew training camp started in a couple of weeks. She was sure everyone wanted this cleared up by then. If Bob Del Rio's contacts came through right away, he'd be able to get the blog out there just in time. Kaitlyn had no idea how she got through the rest of that day. Two beers helped her sleep that night, although fitfully, but by the next morning she was itchy in her own skin. A dozen times she started to call Bob and ask him what was happening but she didn't want to disturb him if
"What's the big emergency?" Ryan asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Looking at the clock he saw it was barely eight in the morning. He needed the caffeine after yet another restless night. "It must be a real disaster to bring you here this early in the morning.""Not an emergency." Walt grinned at him. "And, for a change, not a disaster. Where's your laptop.""My laptop?" Ryan blinked. "Why do I need a computer at the crack of dawn.""Just get the damn thing." Walt was so hyped he sounded like he'd already had more than his share of caffeine."It's right there on the kitchen counter. Help yourself."In seconds, Walt had it open and booted up. His fingers danced on the keys as he brought up the browser and typed something into the search bar. When Ryan saw Before the Game come up on the screen, his stomach knotted. Oh, hell. Was his disaster now starring in the most read sports blog on the Internet? But, when he saw the headline, he nearly dropped his coffee.Ryan McCabe a Vi
Part Three: Sideline InfractionSarah York fiddled with the stem of her wine glass and stared at the debris on the table. The party was definitely over. They'd all gone off and left her, all six of them. She guessed that was what happened when you were the odd man out. How stupid of her not to realize the others would couple up. Had she missed out because she held herself aloof from that? She'd come here to meet up with her study group from law school to celebrate their long journey to becoming a lawyer. New Orleans, the official party town, seemed a great place to celebrate. They'd partied hard for three days. Then tonight the atmosphere had shifted. How had she missed the signals that her six study buddies were building up to a night of unrestrained sex? And that she was odd man out. What the hell? The very last thing she'd expected was for the others to couple up and leave her sitting here alone. Thanks, guys.So now what? she asked herself. Stay here and have her own private p
"Sorry." She shrugged. "Work's hard but I hang onto my Sundays. My family thinks I have an uncontrollable addiction to the game.""I'll bet you have brothers who are pigskin hounds," he guessed."No. Just a dad I idolized who taught me everything there was to know about it.""In that case, I'll drink a toast to him." He lifted his glass, tilted it slightly and took a deep swallow. "So how come you only get Sundays to yourself?"Sarah sipped her wine again, savoring the smooth taste of the reisling. "Law school. Grind, grind, grind." She chuckled. "I figured out they think if they don't kill us we'll survive in the legal world."He lifted his eyebrow. "You don't even get Saturdays off?""Ha! Saturdays are no different than Wednesdays when you're a law student, except you spend them in the library or a study group instead of in class.""But you're finished now," he guessed.She nodded. "Just got the word that I passed." She flipped her hand at the empty chairs. "All of us. We wen
His mouth was so close to hers she had to restrain herself from leaning that hairs' breadth closer to touch hers to him. She was playing a dangerous game here, enveloped in a charged sexual atmosphere with a total stranger. Except he wasn't really that. Hadn't she seen him plenty of times on television? He was practically an old friend.Just keep telling yourself that. He leaned in so close to her that his breath was a warm breeze on her face. She was mesmerized, locked in place, waiting, waiting, waiting. He tucked one finger beneath her chin to tilt her head to a better angle. Then his mouth touched hers, his firm lips warm against hers, the contact so soft and gentle it was a caress. As light as the contact was it sent lightning sparking through her system and froze her breath in her lungs.She had absolutely no idea how long they sat there like that, completely ignoring the fact they were sitting in a public place. It was Beau who finally broke the contact, lifting his lips from h