“I’ve been waiting three years to apologize to you. I was a first-class jerk, and I’m sorry. I should have stayed. I should have called. I should have done a lot of things, but I didn’t know how. My life was about baseball. Then there was the way you challenged me to think of why I was so good. I, uh, didn’t want to call until I had an answer, and I was practicing all the time so that let me forget or, well, not forget because I’ll never forget. But I put off calling you when I should have, even though you didn’t give me your number. And I meant to when I moved to Indianapolis, but it had been so long. I didn’t know what to say or even if you were here. And I’m sorry. Really.”
My words ground to a halt, and I was left staring at her slightly parted lips and feeling like a perv, because I was still thinking graphic things rather than feeling the apology I’d just delivered so badly. Then she straightened her shoulders and licked her lips, as she pulled herself together. The sight was endearing. And so fucking erotic that my dick actually throbbed.
“It was a long time ago,” she finally said.
“Three years, two months, and four days.” Oh shit. Had I just said that out loud? I’d calculated the exact time while waiting in the dugout, and now I’d just shown her how much I still lusted after her. Some girls got off on that, but my guess was she’d be more freaked than aroused.
“Um, okay.”
“I sound like a stalker.”
She shook her head quickly. “No, no…” Then her gaze flicked over my shoulder.
I turned and saw Nico standing there, his arms folded across his chest and his guns—his biceps—bulging with intimidating effect. How had I forgotten he was there? And then I looked back at Heidi and was suddenly curious about what she was thinking. Did she like the way Nico looked? It was a completely irrational thought, but jealousy kindled anyway. I didn’t want Heidi looking at anyone but me.
So I touched her arm, stroking slightly down the soft linen sleeve of her dress. “Let’s take a walk.”
Her gaze jerked to mine. “A walk?”
“Just around the stadium. I’ll show you places no one else gets to go. You’re perfectly safe.”
“Of course.” Then she looked again at Nico. “So you asked me here so I could talk to him?” Her gaze went back to me. “You noticed me and—”
“I wanted to see you. Nico helped me accomplish that.”
“You’re granting me an interview?” There was a hopeful note in her voice directly at odds with the ten-ton weight that thudded into the pit of my stomach at her words. Here I was wrapped in erotic thoughts and all she wanted was an article for her paper?
“Is that why you came here?” I demanded. “For a press interview?”
She blinked. “Why else would I be here?” Then she frowned. “We haven’t spoken in three years, two months, and four days.”
Had she been counting, too? My ego made me hope, rather than mention that I’d just said those words two minutes before. It was only one of the many different parts of my brain that were jabbering at once. While I was sorting out aroused from angry from nostalgic, Nico cut in with his usual bucket of ice-water reality.
“Of course she wants an interview. She’s areporter.” He said that last word like Heidi was a poisonous snake. Rumor was that way back when, a beautiful reporter had screwed Nico and sent him spinning off into the military instead of baseball. But that didn’t mean Heidi was the same kind of liar.
“I can’t give an interview,” I finally pushed out. “I’m not allowed to talk to the press without approval.”
“Oh,” she said, disappointment clear in her tone. “But maybe some general comments? Nothing special. Just talk about today’s game or—”
“No.” That was Nico, his voice clipped. And when he spoke like that, most reporters knew to shut up.
“I’ll only be a minute. You can have prior approval before it goes to print.” She was looking at me, her eyes pleading. If Nico hadn’t been there, I would have collapsed like a house of cards.
“We’re done here,” Nico said, holding the door open. “Thank you for coming, Miss Wong.” There was no compromise in his tone and Heidi knew it. She cast me one last pleading look, but quickly shut it down. Then she moved past me heading for the door.
God, it was just like last time only in reverse. Only, instead of me walking out, it was her. And I wasn’t ready for things to end right when I’d just found her again. “Have dinner with me,” I asked.
Nico shot me a glare, which I completely ignored. My attention was on Heidi, who turned with a narrowed expression. “Why?”
“No interview,” I said for Nico’s benefit. And for my own, I suppose. “I’ll get fired.”
“You’re the Bobcats hope. They just spent millions to get you—”
Not millions. I only got that if I played well. Really, really well. But that wasn’t the point. “If you’re only here for an interview, you’ll have to go.”Please don’t go.“But if you’re here as a friend, if you want to just talk for a bit, then have dinner with me.”
I studiously avoided Nico’s stare. The first thing every player was told when they stepped into professional sports was that no reporter was just a friend. Off the record didn’t exist. And female reporters were Satan’s temptation into hell.
“Okay—” she said.
