Shit. Kristen might not follow sports, butHometown Hoserhad enough of a following that somebody in her life was going to see it. Her brother and her dad definitely would. Or, worst case scenario, Joel would reach out to her directly for a comment. While she was working.
Just the thought of her being ambushed with this at work made his stomach hurt.
He shouldn’t have answered the damn question at all, but he’d been caught totally off guard. Even though the guy was an asshole, Cross would bet good money Burke wouldn’t have brought his sister’s name into the story, but somebody in his circle of friends must have run his mouth. And the team’s PR people had never given him a script for what to say if you were asked about a rival punching you in the face for having sex with a member of his family.
Like a deer caught in headlights, he’d frozen. Then he’d said the first Kristen-shielding thing he could think of.
He could only hope Kristen understood. And that he could get to her before she saw it on Facebook or some shit. Unfortunately, the one thing they hadn’t done last night was exchange contact information.
* * *
Kristen glancedout of habit at her phone when it buzzed on the edge of her desk, even though she was letting calls go to voicemail today. She had enough on her paperwork plate without giving people opportunities to add to it. But when the Firewall Bar & Grill’s number showed up on the screen, she reached for it.
She had the number saved in her contacts for the occasional night she just wanted to grab takeout on her way home, but Zach had never called her before.
“Hey, Kristen. Sorry to bother you when I know you’re at work, but gray Henley shirt is here looking for your contact info, and he says it’s urgent.”
Will?“Did he say why?”
“No, but he’s standing here, and he’s thinking about trying to take the phone away from me. I adore you, but he’s a big boy, so if it comes down to a telephone tug-of-war match, I wouldn’t put money on me.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
During the seconds it took for Zach to hand over the phone, Kristen took a deep breath to calm herself. It was ridiculous, but as soon as she heardgray Henley shirt, her pulse had quickened, and she could feel the hot blush across her chest.
“Kristen?”
The low, sexy timbre of his voice saying her name did absolutely nothing to soothe her nerves. “Yeah. What’s going on?”
“I need to talk to you.”
There was nothing light or flirtatious about his tone. “Okay.”
“Can you meet me for lunch?”
Startled, she looked at the clock. “That’s basicallynow.”
“I know. If you can’t, then let this guy give me your number so we can talk privately, at least. It’s pretty urgent.”
She couldn’t imagine what could have happened between last night and this morning that would put that almost-panicked tone in his voice. He hadn’t even had time to get an STI diagnosis he’d be forced to share with her. Shuddering, she mentally reviewed the work left to do, but curiosity trumped duty.
“I can do lunch, but it has to be very soon and close to my office.” She named an intersection that was well-known and close enough to her building to give him an idea of where she was. “Give me your cell number and I’ll text you an exact location in a few minutes.”
He rattled it off and had her read it back to him. “Okay, I’m in my car now. Text me where to meet you.”
The line went dead before she could say goodbye, and his sense of urgency made no sense to her. A conversation that was both an emergency and required privacy? Sighing, she mentally reviewed the lunch options in the area and then called to reserve a table at a spot her boss frequented often for sensitive conversations. She didn’t feel the need to explain Stan wouldn’t actually be joining her.
She texted Will the restaurant’s location, and he responded that he was on his way and would see her soon.
After straightening her desk in a futile attempt to settle her nerves, she claimed a personal emergency she had to see to and slipped out of the office. It only took her a few minutes to walk to the restaurant—and she knew, since he was coming from Firewall, that he’d be another ten minutes at least—but she didn’t mind having some time to settle into the small table in the semiprivate alcove next to the kitchen.
By sitting on the edge of the seat and leaning forward, she could watch the door, and the second Will walked through it, she could feel her need for him like a low, constant hum of electricity through her body.
Hers wasn’t the only head turned as he moved through the restaurant with purpose. Will was a big guy, and the intensity in his expression and his movements—along with the bruising along his jawline—made him look like a predator as he followed the hostess through the maze of tables to the few booths at the back that were surrounded by paneling and vegetation, which offered the closest one could get to privacy in a Boston restaurant at lunchtime.
When their eyes met, Will smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes, and his jaw was tight. He bent and gave her a quick and very polite kiss on the cheek before sliding into the bench across the table from her.
She would much rather he’d kissed her like he wanted to devour her and then sat on the same side of the table, sliding in next to her and working his hand between her thighs.
