The Player. Part 12

In another life, with any other woman-but not with her. His gaze tangled with hers. "You're worth waking up with."

She smiled at the compliment and a stain of pink washed over her cheeks. Amazing, Jamie thought. He'd taken her six ways to Sunday last night-on the ma.s.sage table, in her shower, against the hall wall and in her bed...and yet she couldn't take a compliment from him without blus.h.i.+ng. Odd that he should find that endearing.

"So are you." She reached up and tousled his hair. "Your curls are all mussed."

"So are yours."

She grimaced. "But yours are s.e.xy, whereas mine look like they've been hit with a weed-whacker and styled with a garden rake."

"Not true," Jamie told her, fingering one long curl. He wrapped it around his index finger and tugged her toward him for a sweet kiss. "I love your hair. It makes me hot."

Another one of those nervous smiles. Intrigued, Jamie sat up on one elbow and stared at her. "Are you not accustomed to compliments, or do they just make you uncomfortable?"

"Both," Audrey told him.

He traced a finger down the achingly familiar slope of her cheek. "We'll have to work on that."

"You could stand a little work yourself," she told him, her gaze searching his.

Since he knew she was referring to his inability to open up, Jamie decided a subject change was in order. "We could stand to work on breakfast," he improvised. "Are you hungry?"

Though she clearly wrestled with pursuing the line of conversation she'd started, to Jamie's immense relief Audrey let it drop. Not permanently, he knew, but at least he'd gotten a reprieve. She nodded. "Yeah. Let me take Moses out, then I'll fix us something."

"Let me," Jamie offered. He pushed up and planted his feet on the floor. "You cooked last night."

"You don't have to do that," she said. "You don't know your way around my kitchen."

Jamie chuckled. "I think I can manage," he drawled, shooting her a wicked grin. For someone who was determined to help the world, she wasn't very good at accepting help herself, Jamie noted, intrigued.

Audrey chewed the corner of her lip and her eyes twinkled with humor. "Smart-a.s.s."

"How about 'Thank you, Jamie, that sounds nice'?"

"Thank you, Jamie," she replied dutifully. "I like my eggs over medium and prefer strawberry jam on my toast."

Ah, now that was more like it. "What am I?" he teased. "Your short-order cook?"

Audrey stood, shrugged into her robe and shot him an unrepentant grin. "You asked for it."

What could he say to that? She was right.

"Come on, Moses," she said, her voice trailing off in a sigh. "Time to give your offering to Mother Earth." She paused, turned and shot him another smile. "And there's absolutely nothing short short about you." about you."

"Thank you," Jamie told her, feigning a humble nod. "That's how you take a compliment." how you take a compliment."

Rather than comment, Audrey merely shook her head and left. Though he dreaded it, Jamie waited until he heard the back door close, then checked the display on his cell phone. He cringed when he saw two missed calls-both were from the Colonel.

"Flanagan, I want an update. Give me a call back ASAP."

The second call was received at eleven-thirty and was a lot less cordial. "Flanagan, you'd better be taking a late-night basket-weaving lesson because if you are doing anything-anything-that you're not supposed to be doing with my granddaughter, I will be on the first available plane up there and will personally tear your nuts from your body. Do not Do not toy with my granddaughter's affections." toy with my granddaughter's affections."

Was it toying with her affections if he wanted to be the sole object of her affection? Jamie wondered. Didn't matter. He sincerely doubted that the Colonel would recognize the difference.

For a moment Jamie considered telling Audrey about the real reason for his visit. Given what they'd shared and everything he wanted to share in the future, it didn't seem right to keep it from her. She'd be p.i.s.sed at first, of course, and he could hardly blame her, but she wasn't completely unreasonable. She'd recognize that her grandfather had only had her best interests at heart and that he'd merely been repaying a favor.

Ultimately, though, he decided against it. Audrey had never had any intention of shackling herself to that self-important blowhard, as the Colonel had put it. And she needn't ever know that anyone had interfered, least of all him. And this worked out nicely for him, as he wasn't altogether sure that she would see things the way that he wanted her to. Self-serving? Manipulative? Selfish?

Certainly.

But the end justified the means here, Jamie decided, because it would d.a.m.ned hard to love her properly if she hated him.

And the idea of Audrey hating him was...unthinkable. What were his plans? Aside from making her breakfast, then making love to her again, he didn't have any. But he knew that in any future plans he had, he wanted her in them.

"A-HA!"

In the process of coming around the corner of her house, Audrey started, swallowed a scream, then pressed a hand to her rapidly beating heart. "Tewanda, what the h.e.l.l are you doing?" she snapped. "You scared the life out of me." She glared at Moses. "Some guard dog you are," she mumbled.

"I was waiting on you," Tewanda told her. "He's in there, isn't he? Stella got her groove back last night, eh?" she asked, her voice loaded with innuendo. She danced around in a little circle. "Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. I can tell. You've got the glow. The o.r.g.a.s.m aura."

"Shut up," Audrey hissed, shooting a furtive look over her shoulder. "He'll hear you."

Tewanda sidled forward. "Well?" she asked pointedly, her eyes dancing with do-tell mischief.

"Well what?"

She let go an exasperated huff. "How was it? "How was it?"

Audrey wanted to hold back, to make her audacious friend suffer, but ultimately she couldn't do it. She giggled-actually giggled. "It. Was. Amazing. Amazing."

Tewanda did her little dance again. "I knew it! Some guys you can just tell, you know, and the two of you were casting sparks from the get-go." She paused. "So what are you going to do about Derrick? Cutting him lose, right? Telling him no? Adios, sayonara, goodbye, don't let the door hit you on the a.s.s on your way out?"

"Tewanda." Honestly, Audrey thought, stifling the urge to laugh. She didn't know what had made her friend happier-that she'd finally had magnificent s.e.x or that she was breaking up with Derrick. Honestly, Audrey thought, stifling the urge to laugh. She didn't know what had made her friend happier-that she'd finally had magnificent s.e.x or that she was breaking up with Derrick.

"Well, you can't mean to stay with him, right?" Tewanda asked. She paused, considered her. "There's more here with Jamie already than there's ever been with Derrick. h.e.l.l, even I can see that."

She was right, Audrey knew. Four days into a relations.h.i.+p with Jamie had yielded more emotion than fourteen months with Derrick. Jamie did it for her on all levels. He was brilliant and funny, a bit wounded but not damaged beyond repair, though she knew he didn't believe that. He was loyal and gorgeous and...and she'd fallen for him, Audrey realized helplessly.

It was that simple and that complicated.

The idea that he was supposed to leave tomorrow made her previously happy heart constrict with panic. She didn't want him to leave. Ever, she thought with a wry twist of her lips, though that might be a tad premature.

All she knew was that she wanted him. She wanted to share every dawn and every sunset, every victory and every setback. She wanted to always see those laughing hazel eyes and bask in that crooked s.e.xy grin. She wanted more lather, rinse and repeat, Audrey thought with a small grin as her insides did another little meltdown.

But most importantly, she wanted to help him. She was close, she knew. She could tell they were teetering on the edge of a breakthrough. Meaning that she'd just about pushed him to the breaking point and every bit of that pent-up grief, regret and misplaced guilt was going to come boiling to the surface. He'd come dangerously close last night and, while she could have pushed this morning, intuition had told her to hold back.

Though he'd derailed her with s.e.x last night, she didn't want anything coming between them in bed. Bed needed to be a safe zone, Audrey thought. For whatever reason, she got the distinct impression that it hadn't been for Jamie. That he rarely, if ever, lingered for any intimacy.

Moses did his business, then trotted back to her side.

"So what now?" Tewanda asked. "Are you still sticking to the schedule or are you going to improvise?"

They were supposed to start ballroom dancing this morning, but given the time factor Audrey had working against her, she decided that adhering to the schedule wasn't a good idea. "We're improvising," she said.

Tewanda clearly took that as doublespeak for s.e.x-all-day. "No worries," she said, smiling like a Ches.h.i.+re cat. "Turn the walkie off. There's nothing here that can't go without your attention for one day. Go commando and incommunicado and get laid-o." She whooped joyously again, then started back toward the office.

Smiling, Audrey merely shook her head.

Tewanda paused, turned and shot her a look which was curiously serious and sincere for a person who'd only a moment ago told her to get laid-o, for pity's sake. "Audrey?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm happy for you. He's a good thing."

Audrey's chest warmed and a small smile tugged at her lips. "Yeah," she agreed, nodding. "He is."

And a girl could never have too much of a good thing.

12.

NOW, HE COULD TRULY get used to this, Jamie thought contentedly. He and Audrey had said to h.e.l.l with the schedule, she'd turned off her walkietalkie and they'd spent the entire day doing whatever struck their fancy. He'd made breakfast, they'd eaten, then showered, then enjoyed another session of lather, rinse and repeat. His lips quirked. get used to this, Jamie thought contentedly. He and Audrey had said to h.e.l.l with the schedule, she'd turned off her walkietalkie and they'd spent the entire day doing whatever struck their fancy. He'd made breakfast, they'd eaten, then showered, then enjoyed another session of lather, rinse and repeat. His lips quirked.

Equally as frantic as last night-he couldn't get into her fast enough-but somehow more intense than before. In fact, every moment he spent with her seemed to be more powerful than the last. And yet she was easy company. He felt...complete in her presence. Go figure?

At the moment he was resting with his head in her lap while she rowed them around the lake. It was late afternoon and the sun melted like a big scoop of orange sherbet above the trees, painting their riotous fall foliage in fiery color. It was truly beautiful here, Jamie thought, dragging in a breath of cool crisp air. Though he'd lived all over the world, he'd always considered Alabama his home. But he could easily see making this his home as well.

Anywhere with her would be home, he realized, a bit startled by the epiphany.

The water lapped against the hull of the boat, birds sang and a gentle breeze whispered through the tops of the trees. Unwind was right, he thought, feeling his lids flutter shut.

Audrey's fingers skimmed his eyebrow, making a smile tug at his lips. "You look relaxed."

"I am," he said. "I like it here."

"You mean you like having your head in my lap or you like being at Unwind?"

He looked up at her. "Can I like both?"

She chuckled, the sound soft and intimate between them. "Certainly. I like them both as well."

Jamie frowned as a thought struck, a question he'd been meaning to ask but had kept forgetting. "You said you'd been a commodities broker in a past life," Jamie reminded her. "But you never told me how you ended up here."

She pretended she didn't know what he was talking about, the little nimrod. "Did you ask?"

"I did," Jamie confirmed, laughing. "You said if you told me that, you'd have to kill me. Permission granted. After you have satisfied my curiosity, you can take your best shot." It's not like she hadn't been taking shots at him all week. It wouldn't hurt her to reciprocate the gesture.

"It's not pretty," Audrey warned him.

"The truth rarely is. Come on. Tell me."

He heard her sigh, looked up and watched her gaze cloud over. "I had a heart attack," she said glibly, shrugging. "Stress. It was either lose the job or lose my life."

Jamie had to clamp his jaw to keep it from sagging. Out of all the reasons she could have listed as to why she'd made such an abrupt career change, a heart attack certainly would never have occurred to him.

Stunned, he sat up and turned around to face her. "But-But you're young. You're healthy." He frowned, gestured toward her chest. "How did-"

"A body can only take so much," she said, smiling sadly. "I put mine through h.e.l.l. I was also with a guy who-" she paused, chose her words carefully "-required more of me than I could give. That relations.h.i.+p ended with a restraining order." She frowned with regret. "Not one of my better decisions, but we all have some we aren't proud of."

Jamie swore. He pa.s.sed a hand over his face and his gaze inexplicably zeroed in once again on her chest. He got it, all right. The guy she'd been with had taken so much of her that he'd literally broken her heart. Not in the traditional sense, no, but damaged her all the same.

Christ. No wonder the Colonel had kept going on and on about how special she was. He'd known it, of course. A man couldn't spend half a second in her presence without feeling the healing, soulsoothing effects of her company. And h.e.l.l, he'd even felt it from a friggin' picture, two thousand miles away from here. A heart attack, A heart attack, Jamie thought again, absolutely shaken. Jamie thought again, absolutely shaken.

"How are you doing now?" he asked quietly. "Taking meds? Watching your cholesterol?" Another thought struck. Surely to G.o.d all the wild s.e.x they'd had in the past couple of days couldn't be good for her. The exertion, the o.r.g.a.s.ms...He could have killed her, Jamie thought, his own heart turning to lead and plummeting into his stomach. Sweet mother of- Audrey chuckled. "I can see that your imagination is running away with you," she told him. "No, I am not on any medication, though I do watch my diet since I'll always be at risk." A small smile turned her lips. "And, for the record, there are no special limitations on my...physical activities you should concern yourself with."

"But-"

"I'm fine," Audrey insisted. "I take care of myself. I know it sounds like a big deal, but it really isn't."

The h.e.l.l it wasn't, Jamie thought. "How old were you?"

"At the time it happened? Twenty-six."

"Then it was a big deal," Jamie said. Honestly, he'd heard of athletes who'd pushed themselves into a premature heart attack, but never a young healthy woman. The Colonel must have been out of his mind.

"Anyway," she said, releasing an end-of-subject sigh, one he recognized because he'd used it frequently himself. "That's how I got here. Who better to help stressed-out professionals than a former stressed-out professional, eh?"

He could certainly understand that, and there was no doubt she was in her element here. Still..."Do you miss your old job? Your old life?"

She smiled again, marginally lightening the load in his chest. "Not at all. I'm where I'm supposed to be. Everything happens for a reason." Her clear blue gaze tangled with his and a secret knowledge seemed to lurk there that he sincerely wished he was privy to. "You're here for a reason, too," she told him.

While he could have just as easily made a joke, Jamie didn't. "Do you really believe that?" he asked. "Or is that just a plat.i.tude people bandy about when they don't have an answer for something? It all comes down to fate," he said, a hint of bitterness he couldn't control seeping into his voice.

Audrey mulled it over, then ultimately nodded. "I think so. There's a point and purpose to everything. Just look at the way the world is designed. Even nature has a point, a goal, an end."

While he couldn't fault her reasoning, he couldn't accept it either. Accepting it meant that Danny had been destined to die on that hill, and that Jamie had been destined to fail when it had come to saving him. Fate? he scoffed. Then fate was an unfair b.i.t.c.h. He was bitter and angry and wanted to know why. Why, dammit? Why, dammit? What possible good had come out of his friend losing his life? What possible good had come out of his friend losing his life?

Geez, G.o.d, he was losing it here. Until the past few days Jamie had done an admirable job of keeping a tight rein on his feelings. He'd put every ounce of grief, regret and anger into a neat box at the bottom of his soul and, while he'd suffer an occasional setback-nightmares, mostly-for the most part, he could go into lock-down mode and keep it together.

It was her, he realized. She was acting like a sponge, drawing to the surface everything inside him he wanted to keep hidden.

Audrey set the oars aside, leaned forward, framed his face and gave him a tender kiss. "I just gave you a painful piece of my history. Now I'm asking for one of yours. Tell me about Danny," she implored softly.