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“But,” she continued, and my heart clenched in my chest.
I’d heard way too many buts in my life for them to ever be a good thing.
I want to do this sponsorship with you, but your outbursts on the field make you and your team a liability.
I love you, but I’m sleeping with someone else.
“I need you to understand one thing very clearly,” she continued.
“Okay,” I said, my voice scraped raw. “What is it?”
“I mean this in the most respectful way…I won’t take it easy on you because you happen to own my favorite baseball team.”
A relieved sigh ripped from my lips, and I almost laughed, but there was nothing but seriousness in her eyes.
“I have to treat you like I would any other client, understand?” she asked, and the way she was determined to make this point crystal clear had something warm growing in my chest. “You don’t get special treatment because you’ve got money for days. I want to help you. I want to give you my best, and taking it easy on you wouldn’t be doing that.”
“Understood,” I said, smiling down at her. Fucking hell, this girl. She took the gloves off…hell, never put them on in the first place. And I loved it. I didn’t want to be coddled, didn’t want to be pet.
I needed help, and she was the one to give it to me, regardless of how badly I wanted to bend down and capture her lips between mine right now.
“Good,” she said, winking at me before she reversed out of her spot, leaving the parking lot without another word.
CHAPTER 4
Alexandra
“What in the world?” I asked as I hurried to answer the pounding on my front door.
“Finally,” Ella said. “Took you long enough.”
I moved out of the way, allowing Ella and Nora to come in.
“It’s five-thirty in the morning,” I groaned. “We aren’t supposed to meet for a half hour.”
Ella waved off my point, pouring herself a cup of coffee that was on a timer to brew.
“Tell her,” Ella said, eying Nora over her coffee cup.
“Tell me what?” I asked, then raised my palm. “No. Coffee first.”
Ella rolled her eyes, but quickly poured Nora and me a cup. I took it, sipped the scalding hot liquid, and settled at my little kitchen table. “Okay,” I said, a little more awake. “Go.”
“I just got the most interesting call from Christina,” Nora said.
I furrowed my brow, searching my brain for the name. “The receptionist at your school?”
“Yep,” Nora said, all smiles.
“You’re way too excited for the sun not even being up yet,” I teased her, taking another sip of coffee.
“Oh, she has a reason to be,” Ella said, looking at her conspiratorially.
“What did she say?” I asked when Nora didn’t continue.
“She went in early today and there was a huge shipment waiting for all the third-grade classes,” she said.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked, settling back into my chair. “What was it?”
“iPads,” Ella answered for her.
Nora practically bounced in her chair. “Enough for every student.”
“What?” I asked, suddenly understanding all the way-too-early-morning excitement. “That’s amazing! Who? How?”
“That’s where it gets really interesting,” Ella said, waggling her eyebrows at me.
I looked between them. “What?”
“Ethan Berkley sent them. And if I had to bet, I would say the middle school got what they needed for their uniforms, too.”
My mouth parted open, shock and disbelief streaming through me. “You’re sure?”
Nora nodded, finally drinking her coffee.
“Holy shit,” I finally said, my heart expanding in my chest.
“Language,” Nora chided me with a laugh.
“It’s merited,” Ella said. “I thought you said he was going to be strictly a client now?”
“He is,” I assured them both, but they looked at me skeptically. “I swear.”
Then I cringed a bit, the memory of our dance flashing through my mind. It hadn’t exactly been an intimate dance, but it hadn’t been strictly professional either.
“Okay,” I admitted. “I’m still figuring out how to turn off my reaction to him.”
“Reaction?” Ella laughed, shaking her head. “That sounds like you’re allergic to him.”
I chuckled. “You know what I mean! Before he waltzed into the coffee shop and proclaimed himself as my latest client, I was more than ready to climb him like a tree,” I admitted. “Those feelings don’t just vanish because I want them to.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t ask him to be reassigned,” Nora said.
“I can,” Ella countered. “Did you see him in that suit? I’d want to spend as much time with him as I could, too. Hell, he comes with prizes and she’s only kissed him.”
“Omigod, it’s not like that,” I groaned. “I’m not exploiting him for his money. I didn’t ask him to do this.”
“We know,” Nora said, chiding Ella with a look.
A sudden burst of guilt hit me right in the stomach, and I sucked in a sharp breath. “Wait, did I unknowingly guilt him into this? Did me choosing this dance to test his reaction response for our first session somehow make this happen?”
