Jaci Burton - Straddling the Line

“Thank you.”

“So, about your new job at the network?” he asked after she’d settled in.

“My job? Nothing much to tell.”

“Are you excited about being a sportscaster?”

“It’s . . . new. So I’m still getting my feet wet.”

“Who have you interviewed?”

Trevor would ask her that. In essence, he was giving her a job interview. And she was about to fail miserably. “Oh, uh. No one big yet. Like I said, this is all new to me.”

He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his beer, then grinned at her. “Yeah, but now you’ve got me.”

“So I do. And why is that?”

“Why is what?”

“Why me? You could have gotten one of the more seasoned sportscasters to do this feature story on your career. You had to know I was just getting started with the network.”

“Because you know me. And because I trust you not to fuck this up.”

She laughed. “Are you sure about that? You heard the part about me saying this was new, right?”

“Yeah. But aren’t you good at your job? Isn’t this what you’ve been training for, putting in time at that Dallas news station, hoping for your big break?” He flashed a grin at her. “Baby, I’m your big break.”

And there was a glimpse of that giant ego he’d carried, even in college. “You’re just full of self-confidence, aren’t you, Trevor?”

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without a healthy ego.”

She couldn’t fault him for that. Self-confidence was key in professional sports. You couldn’t be a shrinking wallflower, thinking you were second rate, and succeed, especially at dual sports. “Good point. And I suppose, what brings me here.”

“True. So what’s on tap for you and me, besides us eating great meals together?”

“I’ll talk about your family history, you coming up as a kid, and then through high school and college. We’ll talk about your life as you lead it today—” She looked around. “People love to know about a player’s lifestyle. Then we’ll get into your professional career and how you manage to juggle playing both baseball and football. We’ll interview your family—”

“No.”

Haven paused. “No? To which part?”

“My family.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want my parents interviewed.”

“Again. Why not?”

“Because I don’t. They’re not part of my career.”

“I disagree. They were a big part of getting you here, of forming the person you are now.”

“No, Haven.”

There was something he wasn’t telling her. She’d never met his parents. She was certain they’d visited him in college, but she’d never been around for that. Maybe he didn’t get along with them. Or maybe they were media shy. She’d have to respect that. Or at least put it aside for later, when she’d push again. “Okay. Parents off-limits. But I’m still going to ask you about your background.”

“You can ask any question you want. It doesn’t mean I’m gonna answer it.”

“Duly noted.” As was typical for Trevor, he presented a challenge. When hadn’t he? Even in college, he hadn’t made it easy for her to do her job.

But that hadn’t stopped her then. And it wouldn’t stop her now.

“How’s your mom?” he asked.

“She’s doing . . . well. I talked to her yesterday, as a matter of fact. I was originally going to—well, never mind.”

“Originally going to what?”

It wouldn’t do for him to know that she’d been about to abandon her dream job and hightail it out of New York to run back to Oklahoma. “I was going to visit her, but this job came up so I had to let her know I’d have to put that on hold.”

“Maybe we’ll both get a chance to visit her while we’re doing the interview. I assume you’ll want do part of the coverage at the college.”

“I’d love to if you have the time.”

“I’ll make the time.”

He sure was being accommodating. “Then yes, we probably will.”

She really had to organize her thoughts—and her notes.

“So, we’ll get started in the morning?” she asked.

“Why not now?”

“I’m not . . . ready yet.”

“Okay. What do you want to do tonight? Do you want to see St. Louis?”

Just the thought of going out made her nauseated. “No, I think I’ll head up to my room and review my notes so we can get started tomorrow.”

“Are you sure? You might want to kick back and have some fun tonight. Let me show you the city. We’ll go out.”

“First, I’ve been here before.”

“You have? When?”

“With my . . . with my dad. But it’s been a long time. I was a kid.”

He gave her a look that told her he understood. “St. Louis has changed a lot since you were a kid. There’s a lot I can show you about the city.”

“I’m not here to have fun, Trevor. I’m here to work.”

He leaned in, giving her a view of his incredible eyes. “You can’t work all the time, Haven. Life is meant to be lived. One of my teammates has a birthday today. He’s invited a bunch of people to a club to celebrate.”

She wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. “You go. I’ll stay here and work.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. I need to get prepped for us to start tomorrow.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay. But if you change your mind . . .”

“I won’t. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She went to her room, stripped into underwear and a tank top, and climbed into bed, surrounding herself with her notes and her laptop. She spent a few hours making notes and organizing her plan of attack, then grabbed the remote to watch some television.

She startled awake sometime later, disoriented, her notes lying on top of her.

She took her laptop and plugged it in to recharge it, then grabbed her phone to look at the time, realizing it was after two in the morning.

Wow. She’d worked longer than she’d thought. Though she had no idea how long she’d been asleep. She scanned over her notes and felt good about her approach. She put on a pair of shorts and went downstairs and over to the main wing to grab a glass of ice water.

It was dark down there. She wondered if Trevor had come home already. She wouldn’t know if he had, since her wing was far away from his.

Not her business, anyway. She went to the cupboard and found a glass, filled it with ice and water, and headed outside onto the pool deck to enjoy the light breeze and to look at the sky. It was nice out now. She could sit out here the rest of the night and enjoy the soft breeze and stare at the stars.

She heard a car and saw the headlights in the driveway. She stood, figuring it was Trevor. She went back inside and took her glass to the sink, intending to greet him, then head back to bed. But Trevor came into the kitchen and flipped on the lights.

He wasn’t alone, either. There was a guy with him. And two very attractive women, both blondes. One of them was draped all over Trevor.

“Oh,” Trevor said, his lips curving into a smile. “I thought you’d gone to bed a few hours ago.”

“I did. I was working, and I got thirsty. Then I went to sit outside for a while. I wasn’t really tired, so I watched the stars. It’s really nice outside tonight.”

And he doesn’t need a blow-by-blow of your every move, idiot.

“Yeah, it is. Haven, this is my teammate, Tennessee. We call him Ten-Spot. And this is Audrey and Petra.”

She nodded. “Nice to meet all of you.”

“Who’s she?” Petra, the one clinging to Trevor, asked.

“Haven’s a friend of mine. She’ll be staying here for a while, traveling with me. We go way back. I knew her dad a long time ago—back in college.”

Petra gave her the once-over. “So . . . like a charity thing, huh?” Haven sucked in a breath, but didn’t take the bait.

“No, not like that. Why don’t you all go out on the deck? We’ll get in the pool.”

“Come on,” Ten-Spot said to the women. “Nice to meet you, Haven.”

“You too, Ten-Spot,” she said. “Is today your birthday?”

“Well, technically yesterday. But yeah.”

“Happy birthday.”

Ten-Spot grinned. “Thanks.”

“I want to stay here with you, Trevor,” Petra said, mimicking a very obvious pout so her glossy full lips looked even fuller.

Trevor squeezed her hand. “Just go on outside, Petra. I’ll be right there.”

“Okay.” Petra pouted some more, then grabbed his face and kissed him. Rather sloppily. Trevor was the one who broke the kiss.

Ick. Whatever.

After they closed the door to the back deck, Trevor turned to her. “Sorry. I thought you’d be in bed.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. This is your house. And I was in bed.”

He didn’t say anything else, so she did. “Look, I don’t want to cramp your . . . recreational time, Trevor. So maybe we need to talk about the whole living arrangement thing. I can stay at a hotel. The network will pay for it.”

“Nothing to talk about. I want you here with me. There’s plenty of space here.”

But she wasn’t sure it was going to work for her. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. You have fun with your friends. I’m going upstairs to bed now.”

“You’re welcome to join us, you know.”

The sounds of squeals and laughter drew her attention to the pool. She caught a flash of naked breasts, then shook her head.

“No, that’s okay. I’m tired. Besides, we have a business arrangement, remember?”

He gave her a look. “Sure. Whatever you say, Haven.” He went to the fridge and grabbed several beers. “I’ll see you in the morning then, right?”

“Right.”

Her stomach tightened, though she had no idea why she cared where he went and who he went with. She shouldn’t care. She didn’t care.

She walked up the stairs and went to her room, shutting the door behind her. She couldn’t shut out the sounds of laughter from below, though. And the memories came flooding back of every girl Trevor had been with in college. All the beautiful cheerleaders he’d dated, and how she’d longed for him to notice her as something other than his tutor.

He never had because he’d only been interested in how she could help him pass his classes.

She grabbed her iPod and shoved her earbuds in her ears to drown out the sounds from outside.

TREVOR SAT AT THE EDGE OF THE POOL WHILE TEN-Spot frolicked with the girls.

This had been a mistake. He’d known it, but Ten had hooked up with Audrey at the club, and Petra had come along for the ride.

Petra wasn’t even his type. He didn’t go for stacked blondes, especially the ones who were only interested in sleeping with a jock. The girl was obvious. She’d been grinding against him all night long, practically giving him a blowjob in the VIP section of the club. Trevor liked sex as much as the next guy, but he’d like to think he’d grown up a little and enjoyed being the aggressor. Plus, some of these women were a little too aggressive.

What the hell had happened to subtlety and seduction and letting things happen in their own time?

Maybe he was getting old, or just damn tired of the game.

Or maybe he was tired of women like Petra who were only interested in the exposure.

He didn’t want a girlfriend, anyway. He only wanted to focus on his career. And he was supposed to be concentrating on Haven, on making her feel better.

This wasn’t cutting it. He had to work harder, should have tried to persuade her to go out with him tonight.

Instead, he’d ended up with the drunk blonde in his pool who couldn’t care less which athlete she was with, as long as she got to say she slept with someone from the team.

Looked like Ten-Spot was going to get lucky with both of them, because after Trevor made it clear to Petra that he wasn’t interested, she’d pouted for about three seconds before joining Audrey in making Ten’s night.

Which suited Trevor just fine. He was tired, and he needed to figure out how to better help Haven.

He’d do better tomorrow.

WHEN TREVOR GOT UP THE NEXT MORNING, HE FOUND Haven in the sunroom, the smell of coffee drawing him there. He grabbed the pot and poured himself a cup.

“Hey, you’re up already.”

“Yes.” She sat at the table, her laptop and notepad sitting next to her. “Hammond was here early, cleaning up in the kitchen. He makes great coffee, too.” She looked around. “Where are your . . . friends?”

“They left not long after you went up to bed.”

“All of them?”

He crooked a smile. “Yeah. All of them. Petra isn’t my girlfriend. Or even a one-night stand, Haven.”