Inside Heat
By
Roz Lee
Published by Roz Lee at Smashwords
Copyright 2011
Roz Lee
Smashwords Edition,
License Notes
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase and additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Acknowledgements
Whoever said a writer leads a solitary life didn’t know what they were talking about. Sure, I spend hours a day in front of a computer, but many more are spent conversing in person or virtually with the people who encourage, collaborate, consult, cheer, critique and otherwise keep me sane while I translate the stories in my head into words on a page. This book would not have been possible without my friends from the Los Angeles Romance Writers. Much of this book was written during the monthly SPEW weeks (Stop Procrastinating- Everyone Write) led by our head cheerleader – Sarah Vance.
I have to thank my critique partners – Robyn, Carly, and Chellesie for telling me like it is, even when I don't want to hear it.
Many thanks to Mr. W. who not only tried to teach me World History in high school, but lent me his name for one of my characters in this book.
I can’t begin to thank my family enough. My dear husband supports my writing career more than I could have ever hoped. After thirty-three years, he’s still my best friend, and that’s a treasure beyond words. My thanks to our daughters who proudly tell everyone their mother is an author, even if my covers have naked people on them! I’m truly blessed to be loved and supported by such wonderful people.
Chapter One
Megan leaned over the railing. She stretched her arm out toward the tall guy with the crooked smile and waved the program at him. Please. Please. Please. Pick me. Come on. She repeated the mantra in her head, all the while feeling perfectly ridiculous standing in a crowd of pre-adolescents begging for an autograph. To top it off, she wasn’t even sure she was waving her program at the right guy. She’d studied Christopher’s baseball card, knew the face she needed to find, but unless she missed her guess, the guy had a twin brother, and they both played on the same team. Just her luck.
There wasn’t anything she could do about it now. She continued to wave the program at the one closest to her, and prayed he was the pitcher – Christopher’s idol. In retrospect, it had been foolish to promise the kid she’d get the autograph for him, but she’d made the promise, and she was going to honor it – somehow.
An endless supply of excited youngsters replaced the ones who had gotten an autograph and left. Megan held her ground amidst jostling bodies and annoyed looks from the other autograph seekers. So what if she was an adult? It wasn’t like she wanted the autograph for herself – even if the guy was hot. Seriously hot. She’d thought he was good looking when Christopher handed her the baseball card he kept with him twenty-four/seven. But the card didn’t come close to capturing the real Jeff Holder, or was it his brother?
“Hey Jeff!” the kid beside her yelled. The man on the field turned toward her. So this one was the one she sought. Good thing because the other one had his own admirers at the rail. No way would she be able to fight her way through the crowd to get to him in time. Now that she knew she’d had the right guy all along, she renewed her bid for his autograph, waving the program with new enthusiasm. The kid next to her elbowed her in the stomach, accidentally she was sure, and despite being half her size, shoved her hard. Megan made a grab for the seat behind her to keep from falling.
She straightened and turned back to the railing, coming eye to eye with Jeff Holder. Holy cow! The man was gorgeous. Sinfully gorgeous. Cream her panties gorgeous. It had been a long time since she’d had that kind of reaction. Hell, if she were being truthful with herself, she’d never felt that jolt of awareness before. It was as if her body recognized his, and responded.
“Are you all right?” he asked with genuine concern in his deep, testosterone-laden voice.
God, he had beautiful blue eyes, surrounded by dark lashes that contrasted with his blond hair. His eyes focused on hers with pinpoint accuracy while taking in the broader picture all at once. It was more than a little unnerving – and arousing. Megan shoved the thought out of her head as quickly as it had come. She didn’t have time in her life for a relationship – not that one was possible with someone like Jeff Holder. A girl could fantasize though.
“Uhm…yes. I think so.” She grabbed the rail with her free hand to steady herself.
“Good.” He smiled and held out his hand. Megan stared at his even white teeth and his full lips she instinctively knew would feel wonderful on hers. “Did you want an autograph?”
“Uhh…what?”
“Autograph. Do you want one?” He tugged on the program in her hand, and she snapped out of her lustful stupor.
“Oh! Yes, please.” She studied his face as he bent his head to scribble his name on her program. Get a grip. Megan chastised herself. She wasn’t here to ogle the man. She was here to get an autograph for Christopher.
He thrust the program toward her. His gaze raked over her again, as if sizing up an all you can eat smorgasbord. She swallowed hard and pressed the program over her fluttering heart with both hands. “Th…thanks,” she stammered. And then he winked at her. Winked. She blinked in surprise as he turned his attention to the new crop of autograph seekers.
She hadn’t planned to hang around for the game, but that wink must have scrambled her brains because here she was holding onto the railing with a white knuckled grip as she made her way to her seat. Who knew you needed mountain climbing gear at a baseball stadium? One wrong move, a slip of the foot, and she’d tumble all the way down to the field. Yeesh! She dropped into her seat and closed her eyes to stay a wave of dizziness. Megan counted ten deep breaths and concentrated on bringing her heart rate down to an acceptable level before opening her eyes. Below her, waaaay below her, the playing field sparkled like an emerald, accented with red-orange and white. It was a spectacular view, as was usually the case from a mountaintop, even if the players were nothing more than ants on a beautiful picnic blanket.
She took in the spectacle. Families filled the seats around her. Kids with hot dogs and mustard stains on their clothes, parents passing napkins and juggling soft drinks brought a smile to her face. This was what baseball was about – fresh air and fun. She waved a hot dog vendor over and decided to forget the mountain of laundry waiting at home, and the fact that her cabinets were empty. If she hurried after the game, she could still get the grocery shopping done and do enough laundry to get her through the next few days. It seemed the one day a week she managed to get off work amounted to nothing but more work – without pay. It wouldn’t hurt to spend an afternoon at the ball game.
Megan reasoned herself into staying, and to consuming at least one of every treat offered by the stadium hawkers. How long had it been since she’d eaten a hot dog, or cotton candy? Years, it seemed. She refused to feel guilty about the extra calories or the dent in her wallet. Between the ticket, parking and gluttony, she probably could have taken a weekend cruise. None of that mattered. The sky was too blue, the grass impossibly green, and…she had Jeff Holder’s autograph in her bag.
Thoughts of Christopher slowly wasting away in his hospital bed brought a tear to her eye. Here she was, surrounded by happy, healthy children enjoying one of life’s simple pleasures with their families, and reminded Megan of the good she and others did for critically ill children. She loved being a nurse, and her usually upbeat manner made her a favorite among the kids in the special wards. It wasn’t easy keeping a smile on her face, even harder to keep the tears from showing when she looked into the hopeful eyes of a sick child, or the worried eyes of a parent, and knew there wasn’t a thing modern medicine could do to help them. Her work was gut wrenching at times but then there were the success stories. Those were the ones that kept her going, kept her doing whatever she could to give a child a fighting chance against the injustice of sickness.
She pulled the program out and wiped away the sudden rush of tears before they could ruin the autograph. If Jeff Holder’s signature could bring a smile to Christopher’s little face, Megan would give up every one of her precious days off to make it happen.
Megan tried to focus on the signature through blurry eyes. She fished a tissue from her purse and dabbed at the corners of her eyes until she could see clearly again. She blinked. Then she blinked again.
“No!” she shouted. Everyone around turned and glared at her. Megan apologized for her outburst, and tried to explain it away by saying she’d spilled something on her program. She received a few sympathetic comments before everyone returned their attention to the game.
Her heart sank as she read what Jeff Holder had written. She couldn’t give this to Christopher! Fresh tears threatened to spill over as she curled the program into a glossy weapon.
Of all the…
How could he?
What was he thinking?
What am I going to do now?
Disappointment roiled around in her stomach along with hurt and anger until she thought she might be sick. Or it could have been all the stuff she’d eaten. Either way, she’d wasted an entire day in pursuit of an autograph. And what did she have to show for it? A pick-up line. That’s what. Did he really think she was going to show up at the restaurant he’d indicated, at the time he’d indicated? Who did he think he was anyway? God’s gift to women?
The crowd surged to their feet and a deafening roar pushed her budding headache over into full-fledged pain. She stuffed the now useless program into her bag and stood to see what was going on. Absolutely nothing. Except for the one guy throwing pitches to the catcher, everyone else was standing around in groups of two or three, chatting.
She bent and yelled at the kid next to her so he could hear her over the clapping and cheering. “What’s going on?” He looked to be about Christopher’s age, ten or eleven. He’d hardly taken his eyes off the field the entire game, so it was a safe bet he knew what was happening.
“Are you kidding? The Terminator just came in to pitch. All we need is three outs to win.” His enthusiasm allowed his voice to carry above the din. If he’d been at home, his mother would be scolding him to use his indoor voice.
“Who’s the Terminator?”
“Jeff Holder. He’s the best in baseball!”
Megan looked closer at the guy on the pitching mound. From this distance it was impossible to tell if he was the same man who’d made her heart flutter, then crushed her dreams, and Christopher’s, with a few pen strokes.
“Why is everyone standing?” she asked. The entire stadium was on their feet, clapping and cheering.
“Because it’s the Terminator!” he yelled, as if that made perfect sense. Then he turned back to the game, dismissing Megan as only a kid could do.
Her head pounded in rhythm to the clapping, and the foot stomping that rocked the upper deck. With every pitch, every strike, every out, the crowd grew impossibly louder, and Megan grew increasingly angrier. What was she going to do? She’d promised Christopher, and she couldn’t bear to see his face when she told him she’d failed. He’d be crushed, and the last thing the little guy needed was more disappointment in his life.
Before the Terminator threw the last pitch, she pushed her way to the aisle and picked her way down the almost vertical steps with as much grace as a mountain goat that just discovered a patch of locoweed. If she beat the crowd, she might get home in enough time to change clothes and meet Jeff Holder at the restaurant he’d written on her program. She had one last chance to get the autograph for Christopher. She’d meet Jeff Holder, get the autograph, and then she’d tell him what a despicable low-life he was.
* * * *
He would pick a place where parking was nearly impossible. Megan’s headache hadn’t completely gone away, and thoughts of her wasted day didn’t do anything to help. Now, here she was playing musical parking spaces, instead of buying groceries to get her through the week. One more thing to heap on Jeff Holder’s head.
She expected a restaurant filled with players and fans what she found was a cozy place with oilcloth- covered tables and dripping candles jammed into empty Chianti bottles. The wood paneling was dark with a combination of age and garlic fumes, and there wasn’t a Texas Mustangs T-shirt in sight. Megan spotted Jeff at a table against the back wall, and she felt a jab to her gut, only this time there wasn’t anyone else around. How could he do that to her? He looked right at her and motioned for her to join him. She sucked in a deep breath and tried to remember why she’d come. Christopher. She’d come for an autograph, and as soon as she got it, she’d leave.
He stood as she approached. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
Megan sat and he signaled for the waiter. He ordered a bottle of wine as if he knew exactly what he wanted. Megan interrupted. “Please. Don’t. I can’t stay.”
Jeff placed the order anyway and rested his crossed forearms on the table. “Why did you come?”
For a split second, looking into his extraordinarily blue eyes, she couldn’t remember why she’d come. A slow burn started somewhere near her heart and melted everything from there to her core. “I...I need your autograph,” she blurted out.
He leaned back and studied her. “I signed your program.”
The waiter returned with Jeff’s wine, two glasses and a basket heaped with fragrant bread. Jeff took the bottle and filled his glass. Megan covered hers with her hand.
“One glass. It won’t hurt to have one glass while you tell me why you’re angry with me.”
She moved her hand and watched the ruby liquid swirl into her glass. Just because he’d filled her glass didn’t mean she had to drink it. The interruption allowed her to wrestle some control over her wayward body, enough to find the program he’d signed and slide it to his side of the table. “I’ll tell you why I’m angry. How dare you? What kind of man does something like this? All I wanted was your autograph, and instead, I get a pick-up line. The only reason I came here tonight was to get your autograph, and only your autograph.”
Jeff picked up the program and looked it over while he sipped his wine. Megan could almost hear her wristwatch ticking in the silence that hung between them. Eventually, he tossed the program across the table at her. “So?”
“So?” Anger boiled her blood. “So? That’s all you have to say? I used my day off to go to the game just to get your autograph, and this is what I got?” She stabbed the cover with her index finger. “Now, here I am, still trying to get the autograph of a man I can’t stand the sight of, when I should be doing all the things I put off so I could go to the game.”
He set his glass on the table and for once, she thought she might have his full attention. “Why is my autograph so important? I’m pretty sure you don’t want it for yourself.”
“Darn right I don’t. I don’t know you from Adam, but I know someone who thinks you are the best thing since sliced bread. I can’t take him this.” She flicked the program toward him again. “What would I tell him?” She shook her head. “As it is, I don’t know how I can act like you’re still a hero when he’s spouting off about you, without hurling. Anyway, I promised I’d bring him your autograph, and I’m going to do it.” There. She’d said what was on her mind. Maybe it wasn’t eloquent – who said hurling anymore anyway? Judging from the furrow between his eyebrows, and the way he’d narrowed those magnificent eyes at her, she’d gotten her point across.
“Hurling? I can’t believe you said that. Who are you? And why don’t you tell me who your friend is, and why he sent you to get my autograph. Why didn’t he come himself?”
“My name is Megan Long. I’m a Pediatric Nurse at Southwest General. Christopher is one of my patients. I can’t go into specifics, but I can tell you he isn’t well enough to come to a game, but he watches you on TV. He has your baseball card, and he keeps it with him twenty-four/seven.” As she spoke, Jeff sat up and listened intently. Perhaps she was going to get that autograph after all.
“Do you have something you want me to sign?”
“Uhh. No.” Damn. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “I didn’t think that far ahead.” She knew there wasn’t anything in her purse she’d cleaned it out before she went to the ballpark. She glanced around the restaurant – nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“Okay. I’ll make a deal with you. I’m hungry. Stay while I eat – I’ll even buy you dinner. When we’re done, there’s a sporting goods store down the street. I know the owner. We’ll go there, get something suitable, and I’ll sign it for Christopher.”
Something in his tone of voice calmed her. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as she thought. “You’d do that?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I? Look, Megan, I’m sorry about the program. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have done that. In my defense, I don’t get all that many beautiful women trying to get my autograph.” His smile was a ray of sunshine in the dim restaurant, and Megan’s insides turned to liquid. “Not that I mind signing for kids. I like kids. But a beautiful woman? It was a calculated risk, but one I’m glad I took.”
“Well…I guess I understand, but I’m not entirely sure I believe you.” She picked up her wine glass and took a sip, glad her hand was steadier on the outside than she was on the inside. “So, what’s for dinner?”
Jeff signaled the waiter again, and a short time later they were served an authentic Italian dinner the likes of which Megan had never tasted. “This is wonderful. Do you come here often?”
He urged her to take another slab of garlic bread from the basket in the center of the table. “Once a week, when we’re in town. If I ate like this all the time, I’d be as big as a barn.”
Megan closed her eyes and savored the burst of rich flavor. She swallowed, licked her lips to get every delicious drop, then opened her eyes. Jeff sat frozen, his fork halfway to his mouth. His eyes smoldered with unmistakable desire. Every female cell in her body reacted to the barrage of pheromones coming from across the table. She reminded herself she didn’t really know this guy, and he’d lured her here, admittedly for his own reasons. It took some doing, but she wrestled her hormones under control. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
“You sure about that?” He popped the morsel on his fork into his mouth and chewed, all the while watching her watch him. “I think you’re as attracted to me as I am to you. But that can wait. Tell me something about yourself.”
“You know everything you need to know. I’m a nurse. I work with sick kids.”
He was persistent she’d give him that. It was one thing to be evasive, another to be downright rude, so when he began to ask specific questions, she answered – as vaguely as possible. Still he managed to find out more about her than he had a right, or need, to know.
“Your job must be difficult. How do you do it?”
“I like kids. I like being a nurse. The two go together.”
He sat back from his empty plate and sipped his wine while the waiter cleared the table. “It’s more than that. I think it takes a special person to do what you do. I’m sure Christopher has plenty of nurses who take care of him. None of them took their day off to hunt up an autograph for him.”
He was right about that, but that didn’t mean the other nurses were any less caring. They all put in long hours and gave up personal time in one way or another. “No, they didn’t. But they care about him every bit as much as I do.”
“I’m sure they care about his physical self, but the autograph won’t make him well.”
“There’s more to getting well than just medicine. A smile can heal too.”
Jeff signed the check and stood. “Let’s go. You held up your end of the bargain. Now it’s my turn.”
Chapter Two
Jeff escorted Megan to the small sporting goods store a few blocks away. Everything that made him a man urged him to touch the woman beside him. He tucked his hands in his pockets in an effort to keep them under control. He’d known from the moment he first saw her standing at the rail that he wanted to get to know her. There was something about the way she held herself that demanded his attention, and when that kid elbowed her, she brushed off the incident without a word of reprimand to the little monster. Not many people would have been so magnanimous, especially since he’d done it on purpose. That’s why his program now said, “Always treat a lady with respect,” just above Jeff’s signature. It wasn’t exactly a reprimand, but he was pretty sure the kid would understand. If he lost a fan over it, so be it.
Her strides were long and purposeful – a woman on a mission. He could imagine her in her nurses’ scrubs, covering the pediatric ward with the same enthusiasm. Jeff slowed his pace, hoping she’d notice and slow too. He wasn’t ready to let her out of his sight. She adjusted her stride to match his, but not before she let out an exasperated breath.
“How far is this place?”
“A couple of blocks.”
“It’s getting late. Will they still be open?”
He pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number. Alec would be there, stocking shelves and reordering inventory until much later than this. Or at least he was supposed to be. If he weren’t, he’d have a few things to explain to the owner. Alec answered on the second ring, a good sign, and assured Jeff he’d let them in. “No problem. We’ll get in.”
“You can do that? Call up a store and they’ll let you in after hours?”
“Only with this one. I own it.”
“Seriously?”
“Well, Jason owns half, but yeah, seriously. What do you think Christopher would like? A hat, a jersey? How about a glove?”
“I don’t know. He’s ten. What do ten-year-old boys like?”
“Ten, huh? I guess that rules out the beer logo clock and the shot glasses. Just about everything else is in the realm of possibility.”
“I suppose you have a lot of Mustangs stuff in the store?”
“Yeah. The hard part will be picking out the right thing.”
Alec met them at the door, locking it behind them. Jeff introduced Megan to the store manager and pulled him aside after sending Megan off to pick out anything she wanted.
“Do you have a digital camera around here?”
“I have one in the back. Why?”
“Get it. Anything Megan wants, put it on my tab. Then I want a whole bag of stuff for a ten-year-old boy. Mustangs stuff. A stadium throw, a glove, hat, posters, jersey. You know what a kid would like, but this one is real sick, so not a lot of active stuff. Bag it for me and I’ll be in to pick it up in the morning.”
Alec went in search of the camera, and Jeff caught up to Megan. “Find anything yet?” She turned her velvet brown eyes on him, and he almost forgot his own name. Earlier, when he’d gotten close enough to the rail to see details, her eyes had captivated him. In the past, it had always been the overall package that captured his interest rather than the details of a woman’s body. Not that Megan didn’t have a killer body and he’d have to be blind not to notice, but her eyes were her best feature. They were windows to her soul, and from what she’d let him see, her soul was Grade A. Megan was the kind of woman you took home to meet your mother, and those were harder to come by than World Series wins.
“There’s so much to choose from, but it needs to be something he can keep in the hospital with him.”
“He spends a lot of time there?”
“You could say that.”
Even if the sadness in her voice hadn’t given her away, her eyes would have. She knew much more than she was saying, but he understood the patient confidentiality thing. The fact that she had gone to as much trouble as she had to get his autograph, told him the kid was really ill. No health care worker would go to this much trouble on their day off for a kid with good prospects.
“Then, why don’t we go with a glove? It’s small enough, but soft. He can hang on to it, sort of like a stuffed animal, in a grown up sort of way.”
They moved to the wall covered with gloves from ceiling to floor and Jeff pulled one down. “This is like the one I use. I can autograph it for him.”
She smiled at him. The first genuine smile he’d seen from her, and blood rushed to places it had no business being.
“Really? You can autograph something like this?”
“Sure. Come on. I bet Alec has a pen up front.”
They made their way to the front of the store where Alec was waiting for them, pen and camera in hand. Jeff pulled Megan close while he signed the glove. Alec snapped photos as Jeff signed, then he took one of the two of them holding the glove so the signature could easily be seen. “If you give Alec your email address, he can send you the photos. You can print them for Christopher. I bet he’ll get a kick out of seeing his favorite nurse with his favorite player.”
“Thanks,” she said. Alec pushed a business card across the counter and she wrote her email address on it. “You’ve both been more than kind. I can’t thank you enough.”
“No thanks needed. I’m sorry you had to go to this much trouble. If I’d known…”
“You couldn’t have…”
“I know, but still.” He thanked Alec and ushered Megan out the door, back toward her car. “I can’t say I’m sorry to have met you.”
“Thanks for dinner, and the glove. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees this.”
“I wish I could see it too. Hey! Why don’t I come by the hospital tomorrow and we can give it to him together? Do you think he’d like that?”
Megan’s eyes twinkled with moisture and her jaw dropped. “You’d do that?”
“Sure. What time would be good?”
“Morning? Around ten, maybe?”
“Ten it is. We have a game tomorrow afternoon, so I can’t stay long.”
He watched her drive off, then headed back to the store to thank Alec, and get Megan’s email address. Just in case, he told himself. Besides, now that he was going to see her again, he could take the photos to her himself.
* * * *
Megan glared at the man standing next to the nurses' station. She should have known Jeff wouldn’t show. It was a good thing she hadn’t said anything to Christopher. Building his hope up, then having to tell him his hero wasn’t coming might be too much for a kid in his condition.
“Where is he?” she demanded.
“Who?” the man asked.
“Your brother, that’s who. Did he send you, thinking a look-alike would do?”
He smiled at her, his crooked smile a mirror image of his brothers. “You can tell us apart?”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course she could tell them apart. The two men shared the same DNA, but this one was…well, he wasn’t Jeff. Not that he wasn’t sexy as hell too. Even though her head told her this wasn’t Jeff, her body didn’t seem to notice. Every physical reaction she’d had to Jeff came back in a rush, a very inappropriate, unwelcome rush. Megan squashed the feeling, wondering how she could react so strongly to two different men at the same time. Since she couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was that had told her from the other end of the hallway that this man wasn’t the one she was expecting, she fell back on her original question. “Where is Jeff?”
“He’ll be here in a minute. He had to park the car. We were running a little late, so he sent me up so you wouldn’t think he flaked. I’m his brother, Jason.” He offered her his hand and Megan reached out to shake it but stopped short when the elevator door swooshed open and Jeff Holder stepped out. He stopped for a split second to get his bearings, then headed straight for them. Oh lord. She tried to convince herself her reaction yesterday had been a fluke, but watching him walk toward her with that easy gait of his – his eyes locked on her as if she were the only person on the planet – and she knew she was already lost.
“Sorry I’m late. I had to stop and pick up some stuff.” He lifted a bag from the sporting goods store he’d taken her to the previous evening. “Is this a good time?”
“As good as any. Christopher’s mother is here. Why don’t you wait here? I’ll go get her so she can talk to you before you see Christopher. They’ve been through so much, I hate to spring something like this on her without fair warning.”
A few minutes later, Jeff and Christopher’s mother took the elevator down to the cafeteria, leaving Megan alone with Jason. “What was that all about?” she asked.
“Jeff always does that. He’ll be back in a few minutes, then we’ll go see Christopher. In the meantime, why don’t you show me around?”
“You want to see the hospital?”
“Not all of it, just the part you work in. Are there any more baseball fans here?”
* * * *
No wonder Jeff couldn’t stop talking about this woman. She was sexy as hell, and he’d never seen a pair of scrubs filled out so enticingly. He followed her down the corridor, watching her sweet round ass sway from side to side. She pointed out various treatment rooms, and Jason made appropriate comments. This wasn’t his thing, the treatment rooms brought back too many memories, none of them good. He preferred the one-on-one with the kids. Megan paused in the next open door and swept her arm wide.
“This is the day room.” Jason peered around the doorjamb. A small group of kids, some in wheelchairs, others sitting on beanbags, were gathered around a television set. He recognized the animated movie.
“Would they mind if I interrupted their movie?” The first genuine smile he’d seen changed her face from pretty to devastating. Jason’s heart stalled and he almost missed her response.
“No. I don’t think so. Wait here for a second. I’ll pause the movie and introduce you.” She started to move into the room, but Jason stopped her.
“Let me.” His fingertips tingled where he touched her. Her skin was soft, and warm, and he had no business thinking the things he was thinking about her. Jeff had seen her first, and he hadn’t given any indication he was interested in sharing her. “Go see if Jeff is back. He’s got some publicity stills in his bag of stuff.”
“Okay,” she said. Her eyes hadn’t left his since he touched her. The heat in them didn’t do anything to dispel his interest. “I’ll…you’ll…”
“I’ll just talk with them for a while until you get back.” He pulled a felt-tipped pen from his shirt pocket. “I can sign hands or IV bags, if I have to.” She glanced into the room again, then back at him. “I won’t hurt them, I promise.” He gave her his most innocent smile. It didn’t win her over completely, but she hustled down the hall in the direction of the nurses' station. Jason took a couple of deep breaths to steady his heartbeat before he stepped into the room.
* * * *
Oh, lord. Megan inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. This was so wrong. Yeah, they looked alike; identical twins did that, but they were two different people. She shouldn’t be attracted to both of them. It wasn’t right. She turned the corner and stopped, pressing her back against the wall for support. Her heart was racing faster than a doped thoroughbred, and all Jason had done was lightly touch her arm with his fingertips.
She pushed away from the wall and peeked back around the corner. Jason was nowhere in sight. It should have eased her mind to know he’d done as he said he would, but it had the opposite effect. Her heart swelled and her stomach flipped. What were the chances he was the genuine article – a good-looking guy with a heart?
Megan hurried to the nurses' station, hoping to catch Jeff before he went to Christopher’s room. Too late, the volunteer informed her, holding up a picture of Jeff and Jason together in uniform. Jeff’s signature graced the bottom left corner. “He’s in Christopher’s room. He said to send you down.”
The hospital had strict visiting hours, but on this wing, they were more like suggestions than actual rules. Megan stopped to speak with half-dozen parents and patients as she made her way down the hall to Christopher’s room at the end. She’d never understand how a person could work with these kids every day and not get attached. It wasn’t possible. And the attachment went both ways. No matter the outcome of the child’s illness, the parents often kept in touch with the doctors and nurses. Many had become friends and were a great resource for parents new to the process. Sometimes it took hearing it from someone who’d been on your side of the fence to make it sink in.
Christopher’s mother was one of those special parents. She knew as much about the hospital, its staff, and the procedures as anyone, and she was always willing to help less experienced parents. She was a good listener too. In the early days of an illness, having someone listen was a gift beyond measure.
Megan wasn’t surprised to see Roxanne standing inside her son’s door, her arms crossed over her midsection as she lounged against the wall. Some parents clung to their kids, whether to reassure themselves, or to comfort the child. It didn’t matter which. Roxanne understood Christopher’s need to be a normal kid, and that meant letting him have what little space she could give him, under the circumstances. When he needed her to hold him, give him a hug, or just be present for him; she was there, but this wasn’t one of those times. Christopher was face-to-face with his idol, and he didn’t need his mother hovering as if he were fragile.
Christopher’s smile said it all. Normally pale, his cheeks were tinged with pink and his blue eyes were saucers as he hung on Jeff’s every word. Roxanne acknowledged Megan’s entrance with a subdued smile. The gleam in her eye told Megan how much Roxanne appreciated this brief moment of happiness in her son’s otherwise bleak life.
Jeff was good. His attention never wavered from Christopher when Megan entered the room. The two were deep in a discussion of the Mustangs playoff prospects, and their chances of making it to the World Series. They came to some sort of agreement, and Christopher finally took his eyes off Jeff for a moment.
“Nurse Megan,” Christopher cried out. “Come see! It’s Jeff Holder!”
Megan stepped closer. “I see. How wonderful for you that he came by today.”
“Nurse Megan,” Jeff said. “I was just telling Christopher about the trick I played on you when you came to get my autograph for him.” He winked at Christopher, which set the child into a fit of giggles. “He said I owe you more than a dinner for such bad behavior.”
“Oh, no,” she protested. “Dinner was more than enough, and you coming here…well, that’s more than I ever imagined. No, you don’t owe me a thing.”
“He brought you tickets, Nurse Megan! He said they’re right over the Mustangs’ dugout – where all the girlfriends and wives sit!”
“I…”
“You can’t say no, Nurse Megan,” Jeff pleaded. “I promised Christopher a set too, when he gets sprung from this joint.” He shared a guy look with Christopher that made Megan’s heart flip. Damn, did the man not have any flaws? If wanting to get well was a miracle drug, Christopher would be out of here tomorrow.
“But I don’t know anything about baseball,” she argued.
“I can tell you all you need to know,” Christopher said. “We can go together.”
God, she hoped that was true. She’d sit through every game the Mustangs played for the next year, if it would make Christopher well. The kid loved baseball, and he deserved a chance to go to a game, or better yet, to play. “Then why don’t we plan on that?” She exchanged glances with Jeff. “We’ll go together sometime, and you can teach me about the game.”
“It’s a deal!” Christopher looked at Jeff. “If that’s okay with you, Mr. Holder?”
“That’s fine, Christopher.” His smile turned to a frown. “Hey, what’s with the Mister stuff? We’re friends now, so call me Jeff.”
Megan didn’t think Christopher could be any happier. If he hadn’t been anchored to the bed by monitors and an IV, he’d be floating on the ceiling. He practically bounced with excitement. As wonderful as it was to see, she had to get what she came in for and get back. No telling what kind of trouble Jason had gotten into while she was gone.
“I hate to interrupt, but your brother said you had some publicity stills?”
“Where is Jason? I told Christopher he could meet the best catcher in baseball, and the National League homerun leader.”
“You brought someone else with you?”
Christopher and Jeff looked at each other and rolled their eyes. “Geez, she really doesn’t know anything, does she?” Christopher said to Jeff.
“I’m sure she knows lots of stuff, just not baseball stuff,” he said, his gaze shifting from Christopher to Megan. “Jason is the best catcher in baseball, and he currently leads the National League in homeruns,” he explained.
“Oh, well…this paragon of baseball is in the day room with some other patients. He sent me to get the photos from you.”
Jeff dug a stack of photos from the bag at his feet and handed them over. “Just make sure he comes by here when he’s done, and if the kids aren’t tired of baseball stories, I can stop in to see them too.”
“That would be great. I’ll go see how he’s doing, and I’ll send him this way when he’s done.”
Megan heard Jason’s deep voice a few steps before she reached the day room. She glanced around the doorframe and had to fight back tears for the second time in less than an hour. The television was off, and Jason Holder sat on a large beanbag chair, surrounded by adoring kids, reading to them. She recognized the book. The kids all loved the popular kid wizard, and there were several copies of the series in the hospital library. She stood for a moment, listening to the timbre of his voice, noticing the way he gave personality to the individual characters.
As distractions went, this was the best kind for the kids. There was nothing more important than being treated as if there was not a thing wrong with them, and Jason was doing an excellent job. She waited until he reached a stopping point before she interrupted. The chorus of groans subsided when she produced the publicity photos and explained that Jeff Holder had offered to visit with them too. Jason signed photos and autographed a few IV bags before he excused himself to go see Christopher, promising to send his brother back to see them.
“You were great in there.”
“What?” Jason feigned shock and disbelief. “You thought I wasn’t up to the task?”
“Honestly, no. We get a lot of celebrities through here, but they usually bring along a photographer, take a few pictures with the doctors, and leave. Taking the time to do something as simple as reading to the kids means a lot. You get points for that.”
“I wasn’t looking for points,” he said, a touch of real anger lacing his words. “I did it because one of the kids asked me to.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just…”
“Just that you don’t know me.”
“I guess that’s it. I don’t know you, but if what I just saw was any indication, you’re a good man, Jason Holder.”
“I try. It’s tough to see these kids, but I know what it’s like to be stuck in one of these places.”
“Hey!” It was Megan’s turn to be offended.
“I didn’t mean it like that. This is a great facility, and if all the staff is as concerned as you are, then these kids are getting the best care possible. I was referring to the confinement, the uncertainty, the fear. It’s hard for a kid, no matter how great the hospital is.”
“You sound like you have some experience.”
“You could say that. I spent a lot of my childhood in a hospital bed.”
Megan stopped, dumbstruck by Jason’s admission. They’d reached Christopher’s room, and Jason didn’t spare her a backward glance, but she noticed he squared his shoulders and put on a big smile as he stepped into the room.
Chapter Three
She really didn’t know why she had agreed to meet Jeff and Jason after the game. She was dead on her feet, and she had to work the early shift tomorrow. The only place she should be going was to bed. Hers. Alone. Instead, she was waiting in a restaurant for two men she hardly knew. They’d been so good with the kids this morning that when they insisted she meet them after their late afternoon game, she’d have sounded rude and unappreciative to have turned them down.
They were great with the kids, and it would be wonderful if they became regular visitors. Besides, she wanted to ask Jason about the comment he’d made about spending a lot of his childhood in hospital beds. Nothing in his online bio referenced anything about a childhood illness. But if it were true, and he’d overcome it to be the star player he was now, his story could be an inspiration to critically ill children everywhere. It seemed impossible that the media hadn’t picked up on the story and exploited it already. According to her research, the Holder brothers had been in the upper echelons of the baseball world for several years.
A gust of hot, humid air lifted the edge of her skirt as the outer door opened. Megan smoothed her hem down and stood when she recognized the two men entering. They were in a good mood, laughing together at something. Jeff and Jason stopped when they noticed her standing in the small entryway. She’d seen interest on men’s faces before, but these two looked at her like she was the last slice of cherry pie, and they were starving. The look they gave her was enough to make her blood pressure skyrocket, and her insides melt. If she hadn’t been tongue-tied by the sight of the best-looking man she’d ever seen in her life, times two, she might have scolded them for it. Jeff moved first, stepping up to place a friendly kiss on her cheek.
“Thanks for coming,” he said, stepping back to let Jason have a turn. “You look great.”
“She looks like a million dollars,” Jason said. “Glad you could make it. I hope we haven’t kept you waiting too long.”
“No. I just got here. I didn’t leave my apartment until the game was over.” The hostess waved them to a table in the back. Megan followed, hyper-aware of the two testosterone towers a step behind her. It was late, and the restaurant wasn’t crowded, but heads turned as they wove through the tables. Jeff held a chair for her before he and Jason took the ones on either side.
“You saw the game then?” Jason asked. Megan almost wished she had. Jason’s enthusiasm was so real it was contagious.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t get home in time to see the whole thing, but I did see the last few minutes.”
“Then you saw Jeff’s save.”
“I saw him throw a few pitches. Is that what you mean?”
“Leave her alone, Jase. She’s not a baseball fan. Not yet anyway.” The waiter brought a bottle of wine and Jeff poured for all of them.
“Do you eat out a lot?”
“Yeah. Neither one of us cooks, so in order to stay alive, we eat out,” Jeff explained.
“You live together?” Cute.
“We always have,” Jason said. “When we first started out in the Minors we couldn’t afford two places, but now it’s become a habit.”
Bit by bit, Megan relaxed in their company. They had a way of telling stories that was amusing to watch. One would start, and by some secret cue, the other would continue. It was as if their brains were sync’d by an invisible cord. Prepared to find something to dislike, she chastised herself for categorizing them before she knew them.
Jeff insisted on dessert, and they lingered over the mountainous chocolate cake and another bottle of wine. They were nearly through when Jason spoke. “Why don’t we take some chocolate cake home. Then we can smear it all over each other and lick it off – real slow.”
Megan wasn’t used to drinking more than an occasional glass, and at first, she attributed what she’d heard to the three glasses she’d consumed tonight.
“What?” She closed her eyes and forced her brain to focus. Surely, she’d misheard Jason’s comment. She was long past trying to deny her attraction to the pair, but conjuring up propositions went way beyond fantasizing. It bordered on drunkenness and possibly, insanity. “Would you repeat that, please?”
Megan mentally congratulated herself for sounding rational when she was working with seriously compromised judgment.
Jeff touched her lightly on the arm and she turned her now pounding head in his direction. “Jason can be a bit crude sometimes. I apologize for his behavior.” He shot his brother a look that said, "Way to go, asshole," then turned his attention back to Megan. “What he meant to say, was, we’d like for you to come out to our house this weekend. We want to get to know you better, and give you a chance to get to know us.”
That sounded more rational. Megan tore her gaze away from Jeff, and risked a glance at Jason. His smile made her insides warm, or maybe it was the wine. Jeff’s fingers still rested lightly on her forearm, not demanding, but conveying a message all the same. She jerked her arm off the table and twisted her hands in the cloth napkin in her lap.
“No pressure,” Jeff said. His voice vibrated along her nerve endings. “We like you, a lot. And we think you like us. We want to explore that further, to see if perhaps you might like a lot more from us.”
“I think I’ve had too much to drink. What exactly are we talking about here?”
“This isn’t the place to go into details, but I think you know. We want you, Megan. Both of us. We’d like to find out if it’s something you’d be interested in. We don’t expect you to answer right away. That’s why we want you to come out to our place. You can see the way we live. We can discuss the details then, if it’s something you think you might want.”
She didn’t know what to say. It seemed she had heard Jason correctly. He’d asked her to go to bed with them, tonight. More specifically, he’d suggested licking her body – all over – and allowing her to do the same. It hadn’t been her overactive imagination, spurred on by too much wine. As appealing as that sounded, and she wouldn’t lie to herself, it did sound appealing; she wasn’t into that kind of thing. At least she didn’t think she was. She didn’t do no-strings-attached-kinky-ménage sex.
“I’ve got to go.” She jerked her purse off the back of the chair as she stood. Her head swam, and this time, she knew it wasn’t entirely the fault of the alcohol. She was off balance, but she couldn’t blame it on drinking – not entirely. She made it as far as the front door, and turned to ask the maitre d’ to call a cab. Two towering males blocked her way.
“We have a car waiting. We’ll take you home.” Jeff slipped an arm around her waist while Jason signaled to a car parked down the street. The sleek black town car pulled to the curb, and a moment later Megan was in the backseat, flanked by the two sexiest men she’d ever seen. Jason asked for her address, relayed it to the driver, then closed the partition, sealing them off from the world.
One hot hand skimmed her thigh, sneaking under the hem of her dress to stroke dangerously close to her throbbing parts. Another slipped around her neck, long fingers massaging her nape as the thumb stroked her jaw, gently turning her face in the opposite direction from where the other hand had come from. She found herself looking up into Jeff Holder’s eyes. Before she could form a protest, he bent his head and took her lips in a kiss that loosened every muscle in her body, and did serious damage to her moral fiber. The hand on her thigh tugged, and her legs slid open. Fingers stroked a path to her core, and she groaned against Jeff’s lips as another set of fingers joined the fray. Her thighs spread wider in silent invitation.
She fell under their sensual spell. A strobe of traffic and streetlights flashed against her closed eyelids as the car glided through the near empty streets. Jeff’s lips coaxed and promised. Together, their skilled hands opened, explored and pleasured her beyond anything she’d ever felt before. Soft words of encouragement whispered across her consciousness, urging her on toward the peak of pleasure. When at last she found it, Jeff swallowed her scream, then gently laid her head back against the seat.
Her skin flamed, and goose bumps formed where it was exposed to the cold air of the air-conditioned car. She fought her way back to the real world, slowly realizing how thoroughly she’d given herself to them. Megan slid first one leg, then the other off the masculine thigh it had been resting on. How her legs had come to be draped over their thighs, she had no idea. Their hands slid from beneath her skirt as she squirmed back into an upright position. She used the minutes before the car stopped in front of her apartment to smooth her skirt down, perhaps a few hundred times more than necessary. Neither man spoke, and she couldn’t bring herself to look at them.
She had to admit, they argued a good case in favor of a relationship based on physical gratification. She’d had little enough of that in the last few years. But hadn’t she told herself she wasn’t going to settle for less than what she wanted in life? And what they were offering was a whole lot less than love, a home and a family.
Against her protests, both men accompanied her to the door. Jeff took her keys from her hand and unlocked it. Before she could step inside, Jason pulled her tightly against him and kissed her. It wasn’t a goodnight kiss. No simple I-had-a-nice-time kiss. It was carnal, seductive, and left her knees trembling. Jason released her, smiled as if he was going to eat her up, then turned her around. His hands rested on the curve of her hips and brought her hard against his front. She couldn’t mistake the ridge at her back, or the one at her front as Jeff pressed himself against her, sandwiching her between them. Befuddled, seduced, and aching, she didn’t protest as Jeff took her mouth in a kiss every bit as carnal as his brother’s.
* * * *
“Do you think she’ll come?” Jason asked as the car sped along the interstate toward the home he shared with Jeff outside of Dallas.
“I don’t know. I hope so. Are you as interested as I am?”
“Yeah, I am. Damn. Did you feel her come? She was like a volcano erupting, all hot and wet and…shit, she’s a screamer.”
“I noticed,” Jeff grinned at the memory. “I was afraid Carl would hear her and drive us to the police station instead of her apartment.”
Jason chuckled. “Did we push her too hard for the first time?”
“Maybe. But she wasn’t exactly saying no. She could have stopped us at anytime with just a word.”
“True.” Silence filled the compartment. At last, Jason spoke. “I want her to come next weekend. I want to show her the house, show her what it would be like.”
“Me too. She’s smart, and compassionate, and beautiful, inside and out. I hope we didn’t scare her away. We’re a lot to handle, especially for one woman.”
“We can do this. I know we can, but you saw her first. If you want me to back off, I will.”
“No. I did see her first, but I wasn’t ever thinking of her for me alone. We work together, you and me. We’re a team. We always have been.”
“Yeah, well it’s damned hard to find a woman who’s a team player too,” Jason said.
“I’m not ready to throw in the towel. Are you?”
“I guess not. At least Megan was screaming good things. She wasn’t screaming for help.”
Jeff smiled. “Yeah, that’s a good sign.”
“Okay then. Maybe we should send her some flowers or something, let her know we’re thinking about her while we’re gone.”
* * * *
Megan admired the giant bouquet at the nurses' station. They didn’t often get flowers for patients on this wing, and when they did, they were usually accompanied by balloons and teddy bears. This one was filled with yellow roses and several other exotic flowers Megan couldn’t name, but she knew they didn’t come cheap. Just as she decided the arrangement had been delivered to the wrong floor, one of the volunteers came around the corner.
“Someone has an admirer,” she said.
“Who are they for?”
“You.” She pointed to the small envelope held in the grasp of a plastic pick. “You’re the only Megan on this floor.”
“There must be a mistake,” she said as she reached for the card. “I’m not the only Megan in the hospital.” It took both hands to slip the card from the holder without toppling the arrangement. Her heart rate kicked up a notch as she pulled the card from the envelope and saw the neat masculine scrawl. The message was short, and signed by both Jeff and Jason.
“Well, who’s it from?”
Megan’s fingers trembled as she slipped the card into the envelope and tucked the whole thing into her pocket. “A friend.”