Chapter Nine
James
“How was your weekend?” Ryder grunted next to me. He’d just completed his set of leg curls. He grabbed his towel and wiped the sweat from his brow, then rose to stretch his muscles.
“It was good, mostly uneventful.” Except for Friday night. “Yours?”
“Same. My mom was in town. Sorry I had to cancel on Friday. She showed up just as I was about to hit the shower. Could have sworn she said she was coming next weekend. You end up doing anything interesting?”
I loved Ryder like a brother, and I trusted him with my life, but there was no way I was telling him the truth. “Not really. How is your mom?”
He didn’t question the change in topic. His dark eyes flashed with frustration. “Same as always, prattling on about finding myself a nice girl and settling down. Giving her some grandbabies. Same shit, different day.”
I was in the mood to jerk his chain. “Maybe you should do it, you know? Harper would love a playmate.”
Ryder fixed me with a death stare so intense, it would make weaker men crumble and go cry to their mommies. Then he snapped at me. “So, get off your lazy ass and make her one your fucking self.”
“Maybe I will. Kids are great. It’s the women that are aggravating.” Maybe not all women. One in particular came to mind. I was semi-hard just thinking about Gabrielle and those soft little moans that she had made.
I had to get her fucking number somehow. It couldn’t be that hard. I, however, could be. My dick became uncomfortable in my workout sweats while I talked to my best friend about kids in the goddamn gym.
Christ, what are you, a fucking teenager? Get a grip, Skye.
“True that.” Ryder was great with Harper. He was her favorite surrogate uncle. “But I ain’t even close to ready for that kind of responsibility.”
“And you think I was?”
Ryder knew better than anyone what I’d gone through back then. After he’d reamed me about wrapping it before I tapped it and all that shit. Like I hadn’t known that.
“No, you still aren’t.” He tried, and failed, to keep a serious face. Then let it go and bust out laughing. “You’re a good dad, though, and Harper’s great.”
My chest swelled with pride, as it always did when someone complimented me about Harper. Being a parent was tough, and I constantly worried that I’d fuck up with her, but so far so good.
“Speaking of daughters, did you know Richard has one?” I asked.
I’d been wondering how to fish for information about Gabrielle without being too obvious about it. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Ryder knew everything about everyone on the team. He was a fun-loving guy with a wild streak that got people to open up to him for some reason. Those qualities felt like they would keep people from confiding in him, but he just so easy going and nonjudgemental that he was somewhat of a go-to.
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “He doesn’t ever talk about her, though. He’s never had any pictures up of her or anything. She’s probably fat and ugly, and that’s why he doesn’t want to put her up on display like any proud father would.”
Gabrielle’s deep blue eyes and blonde curls flashed in my mind, along with those delectable curves that I’d had in that alley. Ryder was definitely wrong about the fat and ugly part, but I wasn’t about to correct him.
He was right about the fact that Richard never put up any pictures of her like a proud father would. What the hell was up with that? Although, if he had put pictures up of her, half the damn team would be lusting after her. Given his rules about her not dating football players, it wasn’t all that surprising that he wouldn’t advertise her to the team.
“I did hear that she was some kind of genius. I think she’s in law school or med school or something. Rumor has it that she smashes all of her classes and is, like, I don’t know. Some kind of prodigy.” Ryder shrugged.
Law school, I wanted to tell him, but I kept my mouth shut. I’d known she was smart, but damn, if the rumors were true, she was smarter than I’d realized.
Some guys might be put off by that kind of brain power, but all I felt was a renewed determination to get that number.
“She sounds kind of like you, actually. If you hadn’t chosen to run plays and throw a ball around a field for a living.” Ryder flashed me a knowing grin and went back to his stretches.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it.” Academics were easy for me, but it was nothing compared to the feeling I got when I played ball. It was all I’d ever wanted to do.
I made good grades and got a degree to appease the powers that be, but I was never going to follow some kind of office bound career. It just wasn’t who I was. I lived for the game.
“Nah, it’s not. And you know it. Why the sudden interest in mini Ralls anyway?” Ryder positioned himself on the lift bench, and I went over on autopilot to spot him.
Shit. “No sudden interest. I just heard he had a daughter. I was curious.”
“I’ve never met the girl, obviously, but don’t even think about going there, man.” Too late. I was way past thinking about it. I’d already been there. And I fully intended on going back there.
****
I ambled up to the reception desk, and Olivia smiled and twirled a strand of hair between her fingers as she devoured me with her eyes. She’d always harbored a bit of a crush on me. A crush that I was totally willing to take advantage of to get what I wanted.
I didn’t feel guilty about it. She’d been undressing me with her eyes since I started with the team and threw herself at me at every team party. She had no qualms about trying to take advantage of me. I’d passed out on the field briefly at one of postseason parties last year and woke up with her kissing my stomach and trying to get me out of my jeans.
“Livy.” I shot her my panty-dropping grin and was rewarded with a starry look in her eyes. “Is the boss man in?”
She giggled. I hadn’t said anything even remotely funny. The tinkling sound grated on my nerves, but I kept my smile fixed on her.
“No, he’s out at meetings all day, but I can get him for you if it’s urgent.” Her eyelids fluttered, and I was pretty damn sure her voice wasn’t usually this throaty.
“I actually came to see you.” Her eyes widened. “I need his daughter’s number. What was her name, Gabrielle? Everyone knows you’re the girl with her finger on the pulse around here.”
She lowered her voice and looked around like I’d shared a scandalous secret. “James Skye, are you planning a surprise for Richard’s birthday?”
What? Oh. Why hadn’t I thought of that? I hunched my shoulders, stuffed my hands in my pockets, and gave her a shy smile, like she’d caught me in a lie. “Yeah, something like that. I need to talk to the daughter about it, though. Can you help a brother out?”
“You are just so sweet, you know?” she gushed as she pulled up her contact list on her computer. “If you need any help, you just let me know. I’m not sure how much help Gabrielle is going to be.” Olivia wrinkled her nose.
“Thanks, Liv, but I just need to get some info from her. I need to get some stuff from someone who can get into Richard’s house.”
“Okay, keep me in mind. I would be a much better partner in crime if you need one.” She winked.
My stomach rolled a little. It wasn’t that Olivia wasn’t attractive; she was a raven-haired beauty with dark eyes and olive skin that could send your heart racing and your cock throbbing.
Hell, when I’d first started out, I’d chased that skirt so hard you’d have thought that getting on her was my job, not getting on the team whose owner she so jealously guarded. The guys had all warned me against her, and pretty soon, it became clear why.
Olivia was on the wrong side of the hot/crazy scale. As hot as she was, it didn’t come close to balancing out the craziness. Even that little white lie about the surprise for Richard’s birthday had the potential of coming back and biting me in the ass.
Getting Gabrielle’s number was worth the risk, though. I would deal with Olivia if the time ever came. “I’ll do that. Thanks, Olivia. My plan is still in the beginning stages. If anything does come up, I’ll give you a shout.”
She tapped on the keyboard, and my phone buzzed. “Done. Her contact details are in your inbox.”
“Thanks, Liv. You’re the best.” I shot her another trademark smirk. “You won’t tell him I was here, will you?”
She flushed and shook her head. “Of course not, I’ve planned surprises before, you know. I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planned. I’m sure Richard is just going to love it. It really is so thoughtful of you to be planning something for him so far in advance.”
If I was being honest, I didn’t even know when Richard’s birthday was. “It’s no big deal. Really, it’s nothing more than a half-assed idea at the moment.”
If she knew that it was so half-assed that it didn’t quite exist, she might not have been singing my praises. It was more likely she would chase me from the building with her stiletto in hand and outing my sorry ass to the man himself at the same time.
“You’re so modest, James. Everyone loves that about you.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and started the mental process of removing my clothes with her eyes again. My skin crawled. It was time to get out of there.
“Thanks again, Olivia.” Feeling like I’d robbed a bank, I hauled ass out of there.