Challenging the Center (Santa Fe Bobcats) (25 page)

S
itting
beside Michael on a bed was nothing new. Fully clothed, a little less likely but not unusual.

It was the guy holding a small digital camera, plus three other men and one woman who were standing in the hotel room that really made the experience surreal. Despite having her most intimate moment broadcast for the entire Internet to see before, she’d never had an actual crowd in the bedroom.

Michael reached over and squeezed her hand. “You nervous?”

“I’m… a lot of things.” Nervous, guilty, freaked out, guilty… Had she mentioned guilty? “Just want to do whatever’s best for you.”

“Us.” He pecked her cheek, nuzzling a little. Her face flushed at the realization that people were watching even if the camera was—they swore—not on yet. “This is what’s best for us. Simon can be a jackass, but he’s good at what he does.”

“I hadn’t had a chance to run this by Sawyer,” she warned.

“Sawyer’s not an issue. We’re both getting new representation.”

That made her blink and pull back. “I’m sorry, what?”

“He didn’t trust you. Didn’t believe in you.” Michael cupped her cheek. “Baby, that’s not a guy in your corner.”

Right, well… she’d always suspected that. Fear of the unknown had kept her with the guy and because he was a good negotiator. But… “He’s your agent too, Michael. You’ve had a good run with him.” Something clicked, and she gasped, pain striking her gut. “Oh my God, he dumped you because of me.”

“No, I dumped
him
because of how he talked about you. I’m not going to do business with a guy who talks about my girlfriend like that.”

Her eyes teared up, and she blinked furiously to keep from ruining the makeup the woman had spent twenty minutes on, in an effort to look
fresh and naïve
. Frankly, she thought that looking
fresh and naïve
would have required less makeup, but she wasn’t the professional in that regard.

“Okay.” The man Michael had introduced as Simon, the brainchild behind the video, clapped his hands. “We’re doing this in one take, and remember, ad-libbing is fine, but don’t ramble. We want this to be under ninety seconds. Stats currently show past that time frame, people drop off. We want it to be seen. Stick close to the script, but work on making it feel candid.”

Kat felt like a bobblehead with her nodding so much. Michael just stroked her back and gave one decisive nod of his own.

Suddenly she realized just how much trouble he was going through to be with her. To fight against the past she’d suffered through, and the reputation she’d created willfully. And she knew she couldn’t let another minute pass without telling him.

“And… action.”

She turned to him, just as he took a breath to speak his opening line, she said, “I love you.”

That took the wind out of him, and he turned sharply toward her. “What?”

“Okay, cut.” Simon snorted in disgust. “Five minutes, everyone. Five,” he emphasized toward them on the bed, waving everyone toward the hallway. The door closed behind them.

And Michael asked again, “What?”

“I just…” She could dance on a bar top, karaoke with the world watching, and do a samba with a bobcat… but she couldn’t look him in the eye for all the gold in the national Treasury. Picking at the bedspread, she said, “I had to tell you before we started the video. I love you.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in, not caring that their clothes were wrinkling, that her
fresh, naïve
makeup was probably smearing over his shirt, that the bedspread was going to look like they’d invited a party of monkeys to roll around on it.

“Thank God,” he breathed by her ear. “I love you too.”

“I know. You told me,” she said, trying to lighten the mood, but his arms just tightened around her. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it earlier. It just felt weird over the phone, and I needed to see you first.”

“I get it. I sort of blurted it out before, didn’t I?”

“I won’t complain. Well, maybe a little,” she added, feeling her lips quirk up on their own. His smile was one of chagrin. “But only when I’m being annoying.”

“Which is often.”

“It’s part of my charm,” she argued.

“Probably. I must be nuts, wanting to be saddled with you,” he murmured.

“How did this happen so fast?” she asked quietly. “Three weeks…”

“Lightning hits fast, babe. When it does…” He blew out a breath. “I think love at first sight is a little bogus. But love at first meeting… there’s something to it. I should have known I loved you the first minute I missed your irritating presence.”

She leaned out and nipped his lower lip for the pseudo-insult. He prodded at the hurt with his tongue, one brow raised in silent, mocking disapproval.

“You love it.”

“I love
you
,” he corrected, kissing her. “I don’t care how fast this happened. I care how long it’s going to last. And baby, this is going the distance.”

His forehead dropped to hers. Their eyes both closed… then hers popped open again.

“That… that wasn’t a… You’re not…”

“Proposing? Hell no. I’m not Josiah. I’m not proposing to my girl in some generic hotel room. Screw that.”

She laughed, as that was a story she definitely hadn’t heard before. “You’ll have to fill me in on that one later.”

“Will do.” A knock sounded at the door, wordlessly reminding them about the time. “And the cavalry wants back in. You ready to do this?”

Kat wiped under her eyes and grimaced when she noticed the black smears that coated her fingers. “Yeah, I’m gonna have to fix this. I doubt a
fresh, naïve
sort of girl would have raccoon eyes.” A glance at Michael’s shirt made her wince. “And you’ll need to change.”

Michael sighed dramatically. “Simon’s gonna have a fit.”

They both laughed, then kissed again before the pounding on the door forced them apart.

* * *

T
wo weeks
after their impromptu videotaping in Los Angeles, Kat sat in her apartment, packing her tennis bag.

“How is it,” Michael wondered out loud as she searched in another half-open box for a new pair of workout shorts, “that you managed to get your things here,
all
your things, and you still have nothing to wear? Is this a female thing?”

“Hush, you.” She swatted at him as she flipped through the next box of clothes. She’d flown back to Florida to pack her apartment, sell her car and the biggest pieces of furniture, and arrange for the things she wanted to take with her to be shipped to her apartment in Santa Fe. She’d taken over the lease on the next door apartment from Sawyer—no longer her agent, which felt odd—and had been shocked when her things had arrived three days early. Boxes sat stacked everywhere around her apartment. She hadn’t been prepared.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about getting a house,” Michael said as she tossed several tank tops out of the box.

“Oh yeah?” She knew she sounded less than interested, but seriously, she was going to be late for practice. And there was no time for makeup after, because she had back-to-back-to-back lessons. Gary would kill her for wasting good court time. Her head in the last box her workout shorts could possibly be in, she tossed out a few more tops to make searching room.

“Watch it.”

She glanced over her shoulder and found Michael sitting there, a shelf-supporting tank top dangling from his head as he glared at her.

Kat fought the snicker, she really did. But it made its way out anyway.

Michael growled, grabbed for her, and pulled her against him. Kat shrieked and fought to get away, but he held her down and kissed her senseless until the tank top dropped from his head.

“It was a good look for you,” Kat said as she rubbed the fabric of the tank top between two fingers.

“Don’t even joke.” He let her up, and she walked back to the box and found her shorts—thank God—under the last layer of shirts.

“So, you didn’t say what you thought about the idea.”

“A house?” Shucking her capris, Kat pulled the shorts on and began the hunt for socks. “Sounds nice.”

“I want you to come with me when I start looking.”

“Okay.” Not in this box for sure. Maybe… “Were there any boxes with clothing out in the living room?”

“Kat.” Michael gently circled her wrist and pulled her down to sit in his lap. “Are you reading between the lines here?”

“I… no.” Blowing out a breath, she shook her head. “I’m too stressed about being late.”

“I’m asking you to help me house hunt so we can get a place. Together,” he emphasized.

“Together.” Kat blinked. “Wow.”

“Wow good?” he asked hopefully.

“Wow… wow.” Kat stood, then took in his hurt expression. “Oh no, Michael, I don’t mean that in a bad way. Really, I don’t.” She cupped his face and kissed him. “I just… I’m not ready yet. Not because of you. Definitely not you. I just… I need to get my feet under me. Fully, soundly, without any shaking. I don’t want to use you as a crutch. I need to move to Santa Fe—”

“Check,” Michael said, looking around her room at the boxes.

“I need to live alone for a bit, pay my rent, work my new job with Gary, compete in a few tournaments… on my own. I can’t explain why that’s important, but it is. Even if it’s only for a few months, I need it.”

“As long as you’re not stalling because of us or some concern with what other people will say,” he said grudgingly.

“Ask me again after your season is over.” She kissed his brow and felt the skin smooth out under her lips as he relaxed. “Better yet, ask after I come back from the Australian Open. There’s a lovely lull there between the Australian and French Opens. That would be ideal for moving lots of big boxes.”

“I’m asking,” he warned, kissing her one more time. “Don’t think I’m forgetting.”

“I wouldn’t dream,” she murmured and searched the boxes for her socks.

* * *

K
at twirled
her racket on one finger, waiting with Thomas on the court. “We could be serving or something.”

“We could be, but he asked for you to wait.”

“I’m being punished for being late.”

“Probably,” Thomas agreed.

Kat just grinned at the reminder of exactly
why
she was late. “It’s not like he could object to some serving practice. That’s me using my time wisely, not wasting it. This is wasting.”

Thomas merely smiled and shifted weight to the other foot. “When has Gary ever not had a plan even if we didn’t understand it at the time?”

She grumbled in return but knew it was true. Two days after returning from Los Angeles—having watched Michael and the Bobcats kick some serious Rams ass—Gary had produced with certainty the culprit. One of the homeschooling girls Thomas gave private lessons to had been sneaking around the back offices while waiting for their privates to start. Seems she’d been slowly stripping the empty office of items the last few weeks, as a dare from her fellow tennis partner in crime. Something about the thrill or some form of attention-seeking behavior.

When the young teen’s mother had found the stash of framed photos, tennis gear and various small office supplies she’d “borrowed” from the office in the past, she’d marched her daughter back to the tennis center to apologize first to Gary and then to Kat. The girl had been banned from the center, more for the video than anything, though her mother begged both Gary and Kat’s leniency in not pursuing any charges or legal backlash.

Kat had been ready to agree, not wanting to totally ruin a young girl’s future for a juvenile mistake she most certainly would never repeat—if the way she bawled nonstop during the confrontation were any indication. Kat felt positive the lesson had been learned. But Gary had been wise enough to ask the mother for a signed, sworn statement indicating her daughter—unnamed—had been the one to leak the video and said he would be holding it… just in case. They both agreed they would eventually shred the document, but it was comforting to have.

The video she and Michael had recorded had gone viral, thanks mostly to Michael’s passionate speech on the dangers of the Internet for kids who don’t understand there are people behind every screen. The scandal ended up fizzling out, with almost no ramifications to Michael’s career. Or Kat’s, for that matter. In fact, while she waited for a new sports agent, Martin Bennett, the lawyer working with Michael on the football camp, had agreed to help her negotiate any deals. She’d been offered a campaign with a nonprofit organization that raised awareness of cyberbullying. She’d taken it immediately, despite the fact that it paid zip. It was an important step, and she felt honored they trusted her brand enough to work with her.