I Know What You Read (5 page)

“Well,” he said with a funny smirk, “maybe better than average.” He told her he’d see her at the game, and then he was gone.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“I hate to see her go, but I love to watch her leave!”

The team would take to the ice at 7:30, but the presentation of the fifty-thousand-dollar check and the pregame press coverage would begin an hour earlier. She wanted to work this to combine the dinner date with the game and, unbeknownst to Noah, shorten her time with him. She dialed his extension. She could have walked across the office but she liked this better.

“How far is your house from the Forum?”

His house was all the way out on Indian Rocks Beach, so they’d have to scoot out of the office a little after three. By the time she finished, she talked him into an early dinner at the Salt Rock Grill, followed by a stop at his home before leaving for the game. She knew he expected her to come back to his house for a little late night time alone but she had a surprise in store for him. He wasn’t the only one who could execute a perfect blindside.

He was, as he promised, a gentleman through dinner, yet she could tell he had high hopes for what might take place after the game. He talked with her a little more in-depth about his former baseball career, how he signed right out of high school for the University of South Carolina, joined the minor league playing for Pittsburgh after college, and, after two years of outstanding pitching, the Yankees came in with a stunning offer.

“I couldn’t believe it. I went from making barely enough to call it a living in the minors, to suddenly being a multimillionaire. I had five good years in the majors before my shoulder started to go. My daddy taught me the value of a dollar when I was young, so I squirreled away most of the money. When I officially called it quits, I had over 50 million, after taxes.”

She choked slightly on her sip of water. Fifty million dollars? Her home was paid for but she still barely squeaked by to cover the taxes and insurance with her pitiful salary.

He smiled at her reaction as he reached for her hand from across the table. She tried to pull away, but he reminded her he was allowed to kiss the back of it. She just didn’t expect how slow, warm, and sensual a man could turn a ‘hand’ kiss into.

“I left baseball, married a model, and started looking for something to do because Yvette and I have absolutely nothing in common—I had to get out of the house. And then I end up here and meet a woman who tugs at my heartstrings every time I look at her—and I’m looking at her right now,” he finished and kissed her hand once more before releasing it.

“Everyone makes their own bed, Noah. I just can’t understand a man asking a woman to be his wife for anything other than love.”

He wiped his fingertips through the condensation on the outside of his glass of tea, “It made perfect sense at the time.”

“Does it make perfect sense now?”

He looked up, “Anyone can make a mistake, Jade. And the shitty part is I’d still be happy in my mistake if I hadn’t seen you.”

She shook her head, “You talk as if seeing a woman equates to love, but it still sounds like a guy who’s thinking with his penis instead of his heart.”

“No doubt there, beautiful. I don’t think I’ve been this horny since I discovered women have the perfect pocket to hide my favorite toy inside, but in the short time I’ve been at the paper, I’ve discovered there is more to you than your pretty face and…” He leaned sideways for an unobstructed view of her curve-hugging, white dress, “…an awesome body.”

She couldn’t deny he was pouring on the sex appeal thick enough for bone melting results. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She hadn’t had a man in her life since James duped her five months ago. It still pissed her off to consider she fell for his lies and bullshit. She’d heard of men who would say anything or do anything to get into a woman’s pants, but she never actually dealt with one until he came along. He was a popular local realtor who came to the paper over an insert he wanted to distribute.

He stopped Jade to ask where the advertising office was located; it was a downhill slide from there. He was tall, nice looking, and on the thin side of muscular. It wasn’t hard to see why he prospered so well as a realtor; he was a natural charmer who could sell just about anything—including himself to Jade.

He pushed for sex on their first date, but she had never been an easy mark. She made it extremely clear if those were his expectations, he asked the wrong woman out. She was definitely a let-me-get-to-know-you kind of gal. He apologized profusely for the misunderstanding, saying he was the ‘victim’ of fast woman all his life and didn’t think she would be any different. He went on and on about how wonderful it was to meet an actual lady.

They went on dates three or four times a week, but he always wanted to meet her in different places. They never drove together, never met at his office, and (yes, she should have seen the immediate red flag) he said they couldn’t go to his house because of his nutty grandmother who lived with him. He made it all sound truly sincere and believable. He sent her flowers, love notes, took her to fine restaurants, long after-dark walks on the beach, dancing—yes, he seemed to be the perfect romantic guy.

Six weeks of wining and dining, and he charmed his way home with her. The sex was pretty good, and Jade was thinking she might have actually found the right guy. She asked him to stay the night, but he said he couldn’t. When she came home the next day, he was parked in her driveway saying he hadn’t been able to concentrate all day—said he blew a huge real estate deal because he could only think about being with her again. Oh, yeah, Mr. Charmer was wanting back in her panties like a junky wanting a fix. But after several days of ‘I’m hooked on you, baby,’ she still couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t stay the night. She like the romantic notion of sleeping together and waking in her lover’s arms—not a guy glancing at his watch and saying, “Sorry, baby, I have to go.”

When she finally made up her mind to investigate his life, she felt horribly guilty. How could she possibly doubt someone so sweet, so sincere, so gallant, and so perfect? Yeah, it didn’t take long to discover he was also
so freaking married, too!

She confronted him with the truth, and then listened as he gave a long, tearful, heart-felt plea for her not to break off their relationship. He told her how he and his wife were planning a divorce, but they couldn’t come to an agreement about their two children. He was sticking things out until the end of the school year, saying it would be easier for the kids. He was such a concerned dad. How could his children concentrate on school work if their parents were parting?

He wanted back in her bed after their talk, saying he was glad to have everything out in the open. He swore he was distraught and had been eaten up with guilt for weeks over not telling her the truth from the moment they met. She declined sex, saying she needed to think.

Two more days of investigating her dear, darling James, and she discovered his wife was a wealthy woman who had funded every phase of his real estate career; no divorce was looming. His wife was eight years older than him, and the two kids he said were his were actually from her first marriage. He lied about everything!

She thought about going to his wife and having a little heart-to-heart with her, but she always believed people eventually get what they deserve. Three months after she broke it off, she heard his wife was divorcing him, taking all her money with her, after his secretary from nine months earlier showed up at their door with a little bundle of ‘paternity suit’ in her arms.

Now, Jade found herself sitting in a restaurant with a guy who admitted from the beginning to being married. Yes, he said it was a mistake, but she was having a little trouble believing him. Just like James, she had a feeling Noah would tell her anything to get her to spread her thighs and say yes.

With their early dinner finished, they made the short drive to his home on the beach. The house was a slender three-story on the beach side. She shook her head as she stared up at it.

“What?”

“This should be illegal.”

“Why?”

“Three stories
on the beach
.”

“What’s wrong with that?” he asked, honestly sounding surprised at her response.

“I never could figure out why the zoning codes allow a house like this to block everyone’s view. It should be restricted to a single story for those directly on the beach, a two story limit for those across the street, and everyone further away can be three or more stories. The beach views would be shared; instead, your neighbor across the street has a beautiful view—
of your garage
.”

He frowned, “I paid for the view—all three stories of it.”

“I get it. It just seems greedy to me.”

The house was surprisingly understated and comfortable instead of flashy. He opened the sliding glass doors to the small kidney-shaped pool and the fabulous gulf view. The breeze was awesome.

“I love the smell of the gulf,” she stated with a genuine smile.

“Me, too,” he agreed. “Would you like a glass of wine?”

“What do you have?”

His eyebrows rose slightly as he grinned, “I figured you’d snap my head off and tell me I wasn’t going to get you drunk.”

“I didn’t request a bottle, only a glass.”

“I have some white Zinfandel, a little Chablis, and some full bodied Cabernet.”

“Cabernet, please,” she replied as she headed for a chair on the patio.

He brought out two glasses filled with deep red wine and placed them on the table, then pulled out the chair beside her.

They didn’t have much time before they needed to head to the Forum, so as soon as the wine was sipped down, he said he wanted to show her the rest of the house and then they could get on the road.

The only furniture he had, besides the small patio set, was an overstuffed leather couch and a huge flat screen television on the first floor. He said there was no need to buy anything else because once Yvette made it to Florida, she would go crazy buying things for the house. The second floor was completely devoid of furniture; it was two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a large family area opening to a second story balcony. The third floor, to her chagrin, was all master suite. He had a king-sized bed with a gorgeous bedding set (surprising her that a man would have picked out something so elegant).

She was checking out the stunning view from the third story balcony when she felt his hands come to rest on her shoulders and his warm breath falling on her ear. She was ready to jerk out of his hold, but he started to say something that froze her in place.

“I know what you…”

It actually scared her to hear the words out loud.

“…must think about me,” he finished.

Her knees began to shake as she tried, unsuccessfully, to pull away, “Have you been spying on me?”

“Spying?” he said with a strange lilt, “Only if watching you whenever I have a good view is spying.”

She was aware he was now pressed to her back, and the warm breath on her ear had become hot nuzzles into her hair as his lips sought her neck. His body was muscled and taut, and emanating heat like a blast furnace.

“I’m good in bed, Jade.”

She recalled the line, minus her name. She’d read it. The hitchhiker in the story said the same thing, but it wasn’t an uncommon thing for a man to say when trying to woo a woman. She pulled harder and stepped away from him. Her melting resolve re-firmed itself. “You’re a persistent son of a bitch,” she snapped, “but no matter your bedroom ability, bank account, or blackmail, I’m not sleeping with you.” She glanced at her watch, “We need to leave before we’re late.”

“Creative negotiating maybe, but it wasn’t blackmail. I have to know just one thing: if the circumstances were different, at least tell me if you would have been attracted to me?”

“Noah Taylor, if you weren’t married
and
an over-confident ass,” she paused and stared hard into his expectant face, “you’d have swept me off my feet and we’d be in your bed right now—and, for what it’s worth, I’ve
never
gone to bed with a man that fast.” She surprised herself with her admission, but, bullshit removed, he had a charming side, a handsome face, and a sexy body. For a moment, she was thinking about when he peeled off his dress shirt at the Trop—those arms of his were quite a sight all by themselves.

He groaned deeply, almost to the point of someone in pain.

She headed for the stairs because from the look on his face, she was afraid he was going to tear up—that would have been more than her resolve could handle.

She never turned around; she marched to the car and sat in the passenger’s seat, her head still reeling from thinking he was close to admitting to sending her the stories. She wanted to bring it out into the open, but a little nagging voice in the back of her head told her, just in case he wasn’t the one, she better not clue him in to what was going on at the office.

Two minutes later, he appeared and started the car. They were on their way to the game.

When they parked at the Forum, Jade pulled out her cell to call Ethan. She was anxious to get away from Noah because, whether he realized it or not, he was wearing through her defenses and she was scared to death to realize she might actually give in. James ended up in her bed using trickery and deceit, but it would be a whole different matter if she climbed into bed with Noah; it would mean a change in her morals.

She paused for a moment and looked at him, “I’m meeting up with Ethan. He’s taking some shots of the presentation of the check, and then I’m interviewing the recipients.”

He nodded, “I have seating in the XO club. I’ll probably be in the locker room until just before they take to the ice, so don’t worry if I’m not there when you get there.”

“What’s your cell number?” she asked.

He appeared puzzled, but rattled off the number anyway. “I was wondering if you’d be interested in a late night walk on the beach tonight?”