Chapter Twenty-Six

 

Luc watched her from the window of his suite, and wondered if anyone else could see the nerves that filled her. She looked beautiful down there, and up on the huge screen. And she threw the ball well; attesting to the years she’d played softball. He knew all of that about her, every bit of information gleaned from that damned dossier.

She stepped off the field and into the stands where he couldn’t see her, and he felt that loss far more sharply than he expected.

It was so damned tempting to slip down to the stands and pull her up to the box with him.

He was alone up there, with the exception of his ever present security team. Always alone. And he liked it that way. Usually.

He studied the crowd beneath him again—so many families. Kids were everywhere, most wearing the Cards’ colors. Husbands and wives snuggled together under blankets, younger couples that he suspected were just dating were cuddled even closer. Everyone down there had someone, it seemed.

Even Payton had Paige and Cody. His sister and closest friend. While he stayed up there isolated from all of them.

If it hadn’t been best for Payton, in that moment, he would have sent one of his men down to get them. Bring them up there with him, where all three of them belonged. They were his family, and Cody was the only one to realize that.

He didn’t watch much of the game, not really. His attention was stuck a week in the past.

How she’d looked when he’d told her it had been great, but they probably shouldn’t repeat the event.

A shutter had fallen over the expression that had once always been so open and direct with him. He’d hurt her, and for that he’d never forgive himself. But wasn’t it better to have a little hurt for her now, than him hurting her far worse later on?

 

***

 

It took a few minutes for her nerves to settle and for her body to stop shaking. But she’d done it, and had the roar of a crowd to honor her brother. Patrick’s photo and stats were listed on the board and she studied his grinning face for a moment. He’d been so handsome, and so full of humor. Everyone had loved him.

She took her seat between Cody and Paige. Cody rubbed her shoulder. “You ok?”

“I’m getting there.” The pang of loss was still there, but it wasn’t as debilitating as it had been.

“So…let me ask a question,” Paige rested her head against Payton’s shoulder for a moment, the gesture obviously meant as comfort. Paige didn’t touch other people often—kind of like her brother. Payton pushed that thought away. She wouldn’t think of him today. “You know these baseball guys pretty well, right?”

“I’ve met a few of them.” Mostly at Patrick’s funeral, but she wouldn’t think about that today, either. Today was to celebrate his life, not dwell on his death. “Why?”

“Are they all so big and tall and hot?”

Cody laughed. “And young, Paige. Many of them are in their early, early twenties.”

Paige grinned. “So? I’m only in my mid-twenties. Like Payton, here. You are a bit old, though.”

Cody was about five years older than Payton and Paige. “And what do you plan on doing with these guys?”

“Chatting. Seeing if one or two will teach me to play…baseball. Like that one over there. Look how tall he is!”

Payton laughed and impulsively hugged her friend. She knew what Paige was doing, and she appreciated the distraction. “I’ve been invited to a post-game celebration. I suppose we can swing in and say hello. And thank them for what they’ve done for my family today. I might—might—introduce you to some of the players that I know.”

“That’s all I can ask. And who knows, maybe we can find one of the old guys for Cody.”

“Speaking of guys—” Cody pointed toward the line of suites topping the stadium. “Luc is up there in his private box.”

Payton dropped her soda, then grabbed it before more of it could spill. “Is he? That’s nice.”

Cody looked at her in that particular way that had Payton squirming. Nobody knew her better than Cody did. “Is that all you can say?”

Paige licked nacho sauce off her finger as she looked at Payton. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you…what is up with you and the devil of St. Louis?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing is up with us. And I will not be seeing him again.”

“He put the moves on you?” Paige asked.

Payton choked on her rescued soda. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t know…fancy party, beautiful dress, hot guy who happens to be richer than sin, and an adrenaline filled evening. Which…why were you there in the first place? Was it the first time you’d been out with him? Tell us. Tell us. So we can live vicariously.”

Not questions she wanted to answer, especially with Luc’s sister. “It was a one-time thing. All of it. And it won’t happen again. And no, he didn’t really put the moves on me.”

“You put them on him? Come on, I saw the way the guy looked at you.”

“Paige…” Cody said, shaking her head. “I don’t think Payton wants to talk about it.”

She didn’t. Not really, but Payton tried to be honest with the people she cared about, and who cared about her. “Something happened between us, and I apparently thought it was more than he did. So we agreed to part ways. The end. Now I am going to forget all about him; no matter what I have to do to accomplish that. So…let’s go meet baseball players after the game. There are other guys out there, besides him.”

“Alright!”

 

***

 

She enjoyed the post-game celebration. It was held at the ballpark and more than half of the team attended. The rest of the event room was packed with the team’s family and agents and other close associates.

Patrick’s closest friend on the team was the one who gave Payton the initial invitation, and he showed them around and made more introductions. She’d met him multiple times—and had even gone out to dinner with him half a dozen times before Patrick had died. Had the accident not happened, they might have taken things to the next level. But Payton had retreated in the days following the funeral, and had made the decision to move to St. Louis shortly after. She hadn’t given the third baseman any more thought after that. Now she regretted just cutting him off.

He seemed very taken with Cody, and that relieved her a bit. In fact, many of the unattached members of the team had found their way to Cody and Paige—and Payton’s—sides.

It was fun; there was no talk of the darker side of life, no criminal elements sneaking into the conversation, just harmless flirting and talk of baseball.

It would have been the perfect afternoon, if he hadn’t walked in an hour after Payton.

The air charged the instant she realized who it was. Everyone stopped talking for just a millisecond and looked at him. Just long enough to hint that something had changed in the room. Or it might have just been Payton’s imagination in overdrive where he was concerned.

Her gaze met his and held for what had to be an eternity. Payton forced herself to look away. She wouldn’t let him reel her in again. No matter what she had to do.

The man beside her, a sports physician, pressed for her phone number, and she impulsively gave in.

Luc wasn’t the only man out there who’d found her attractive—or who she found attractive, either. She’d go out with the physician if he called, and have a nice evening out. Who knew what could happen?

 

***

Luc knew what was in that guy’s mind when he was looking at Payton; how could he not? He was a man, and Payton was a beautiful woman. For some guys, that was all it took. Couldn’t she see what the guy was after?

He was practically panting down the front of the jersey she wore.

Luc wanted to grab him and pull his arms and legs off—one at a time—until the guy got the hint to stay far, far away from his Payton.

But she wasn’t his, was she? He’d pushed her away to prevent that very thing from happening. She wasn’t his; he wasn’t allowed to protect his interest like a damned caveman. She definitely wouldn’t appreciate that.

A warm, feminine hand wrapped around his arm and he turned toward the offender, irritated. He didn’t like it when women touched him without invitation. And he’d have no difficulty making that known right then.

Laughing blue eyes—darker than Payton’s—met his. “Well, look who came out of his cave.”

“Cody, can’t you go anywhere without causing a stir?” He relaxed. Cody had an open invitation to touch him whenever she wanted.

“Could ask you the same thing. All the little girls are staring at the billionaire devil in their midst.”

“Whatever.”

“Payton looks good today, doesn’t she?”

“Don’t go there.”

“Just know that you have upset her a great deal.”

“I know. But it’s better this way.”

“Sure it is. So…”

He spent a few minutes with Cody, who eventually returned to Payton and Paige. His sister had made quite a few conquests in the room, as well, and he’d enjoyed hearing her laugh float above the crowd occasionally.

He tried not to stay too close to Payton. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable on what was supposed to be a special day for her.

But he was aware of her every moment until she left a few hours later. Then felt so damned bereft when she was gone.

It was going to take him a long time to forget Payton Asher. If he ever did. In the meantime, he had some young girls to find.