A Very Daring Christmas (The Tavonesi Series Book 8) (26 page)

Jake grabbed an apple from the bowl in Trovare’s kitchen and headed toward his room. He smelled of dung and sweat. Not that he’d done any more than help Alex calm the horses and muck out the stalls. There was heavy weather coming, he could feel it. The horses at his uncle’s ranch always got restless when big weather systems shifted, and Alex’s showed the same signs.

He hadn’t been much help at Casa del Sole. Coco’s system had a virus, a run-of-the-mill bug that Parker was sure his IT firm in the city could get rid of. They’d packed Coco up, left word with the steward to keep an eye on the houses and animals and driven in a caravan back to Trovare.

Jake took another bite of the apple and wiped at the juice with his sleeve. Intent on a shower, he headed toward the main staircase leading to the guest wing. But at the sound of Cameron’s voice, he stopped.

“I’d love to come to Saint John next month,” he heard her say. “I love the Caribbean in the winter months. But I have to check my film schedule.”

“I’ve rented a yacht.”

Dimitri
.

“It can take about fifteen of us, along with a full crew,” Dimitri added. “I’ve found a wonderful chef. He cooked for us a few times at the palace.”

“I’d love that. Sailing is a passion,” Cameron said. “And I hardly ever get to go out to sea anymore.”

Jake knew her well enough to recognize that her flat tone didn’t match her enthusiastic words.

“But about tomorrow,” she said. Her tone had shifted. He knew that tone. She wanted something. “I would like to go with you into the city. I appreciate your offer.”

Jake felt like the worst sort of eavesdropper. He was close enough that he could smell the scent of roses. Of Cameron. He took another bite of the apple and tried for his most casual saunter as he continued down the hall.

Dimitri leaned against the base of the stairs. Looking cool. Casual. Princely. Cameron stood close beside him. Why did Jake’s pulse have to ratchet up at just the sight of her?

“Jake,” Cameron said as she spotted him. “I was about to come looking for you. I can’t go on our date to the coast with you tomorrow.”

Her tone was strong, steady, casual.

“No problem.” Had he succeeded in sounding casual? That she was blowing him off for Dimitri rankled more than it should have.

“No need to get huffed up about it,” she said.

Evidently he hadn’t managed casual. “Like I said, no problem.”

He’d never cared enough before to have feelings about being stood up. Hell, he’d never
been
stood up. He tipped his hand to his forehead and started past them to go up the stairs.

She put out a hand to stop him. “I don’t know why you’re upset. I heard you only do three dates anyway. Maybe you lost count.”

Under any other circumstances, he might have considered her tone flirtatious—or challenging. And who the hell at Trovare knew about his rule? Right then it didn’t matter.

“Maybe I did,” he said, mounting the stairs.

He hadn’t lost count. What he’d lost was his head. And the straightforward simplicity of his life before he’d met Cameron Kelley.

Chapter Nineteen

“That’s the third ball you’ve missed,” Alex said as Jake sliced his bat through the air in the batting cage.

“Always preferred pitchers to machines,” Jake muttered. He never hit well after a poor night’s sleep. But Cameron had gone off with Dimitri the previous day, and neither of them had returned by the time he’d called it a night. That he’d let her turndown torture him was just one more sign that he needed to get a grip.

He took his stance, focused and waited for a pitch from Iron Mike. He slammed the ball that the machine spit at him squarely into the net at the other end of the cage.

“Solid hit,” Alex said. “We should call it a day. I need to head over to Napa for a wine tasting and caroling at the Rothenberg place.”

Jake eyed Alex and nearly missed the next pitch. “Sure. Fine. We have Sophie and Tyler in here tomorrow morning.”

“I think it would be more sane to do the session with the kids after Christmas.”

“You tell them that.” Jake slid his bat into his gear bag. “I’m not one for disappointing kids.”

“They’ll have something to look forward to. Sabrina and I bought Tyler a new bat. He can break it in.”

Alex’s phone pinged. He slipped it from his back pocket, glanced at the screen and started to return it to his pocket.

“Can I use your phone?” Jake asked. “I left mine in the city.”

Alex laughed. “I wish I could say that.”

Jake punched in Tony’s number.

“Where the hell have you been?” Tony rarely sounded irritated.

“I left my phone at home. I’m loving not getting calls.”

“Well, here are a couple you missed. I got you five for Nike.”

“Million?”

“Yup.”

“Well... I have plans for that.”

“I bet you do. Like paying me ten percent.”

“Yeah, Tony. Merry Christmas.”

“Your contract got approved by the Giants.”

He could stay. He could look for land near Ryan’s in Sonoma. Build a place. Play for the team he friggin’ loved.

“Jake? You there?”

“Great going, Tony.”

“No, kid—you did this. You put up the numbers. I just didn’t let them forget it. Not like they could after the Series. You’re one of their sure tickets to the playoffs. Look, can I call you on this cell?”

“If it’s important.”

“You need to get in here right after Christmas and sign all these docs. And Nike wants some lead PR.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? To PR? What’s your mother’s maiden name?”

“Huh?”

“I just wanted to make sure I’m really talking to Jake Ryder.”

“Not funny. But I do have some new ideas. I’ll run them by you.”

“See you after the holidays. And, Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m jealous.”

As Jake sought for something to say, Tony added, “I’ve always wanted a week away from the friggin’ cellphone and computer. I might try it this winter.”

“Your wife would kill you.”

“Not if I take her to Bora Bora.”

Jake handed Alex his phone and told him the news.

“Can I say I told you so?”

“No.”

“No one is more stoked to hear this than me,” Alex said. He shook Jake’s hand. “But what’s eating you?”

Alex was more than a teammate; he’d become Jake’s most trusted friend. If he couldn’t talk with Alex about what was gnawing at his guts, he couldn’t tell anyone. But his mind gripped hard, and all he could come up with was the question that had kept him awake for more nights than he could count.

“How did you know you loved Jackie?”

“Seriously?”

Jake nodded.

Alex let his gaze focus on Jake’s face for a few uncomfortable moments. Then he turned and pressed the switch to shut down the bright lights in the cage.

“If you listen, you’ll know. Love is like a recognition of a truth, an awareness of another person’s integrity that lights you up. It’s a recognition that you’ve met a person who can go the hard way with you. You might not want to admit it; in fact, I think that’s a sign that love is rolling in. And you might try to ignore the recognition, the feelings, try to rewrite, reform, rescript—like I did at first.” He shook his head. “I strongly recommend not doing that. But falling for Jackie? It was terrifying at first. And for a long time.” He took in a deep breath and shrugged. “I once thought I loved my single life. But when Jackie’s gone on those long research excursions, I can’t wait until she gets home. It’s like she’s taken some part of me with her and I never feel right until she’s back with me.”

Terrifying
.

The word thudded in Jake’s brain. He’d fought the recognition that some part of him was tied to Cameron—still didn’t want to let it in. Losing Peter had made him never want to feel that close to anyone ever again. Worse, the conflicted, unfamiliar feelings he felt for Cameron seemed to call to him not from his past or present but from his future. That future that had once loomed like an open field had collapsed into a tumbled path of irresistible energy tugging him in a direction he’d never imagined wanting to travel. Instead of celebrating Tony’s news and reveling in achieving his goals, he was fighting an internal battle that didn’t let up.

“I’ve played the field for so long,” Jake said, grasping at the reality that once made sense. “I’ve always liked it.”

“You trying to convince me or yourself?” Alex said over his shoulder as he opened the door to the batting cage.

Jake followed him out into Ryan’s barn. “If I were ready, I’d know, right?”

“Oh, you’ll know all right. It’ll hit you so hard it’ll flatten you. You won’t be able to think straight.” Alex nailed him with one of his piercing stares. “Sounding familiar?”

“Consider me flattened.” He wanted to be honest with Alex. “But she’s taken.”

Alex crossed his arms. “Taken? Cameron? We are talking about Cameron here, aren’t we?”

“She prefers the prince. What woman wouldn’t?”

“You are one thick-skulled guy. Tell you what, talk to Sabrina. Better yet, talk to Cameron.”

“Are you kidding? Who knows what’s true with an Oscar-caliber actress?”

“You forget that my sister is one of those actresses. They’re women first, Jake.”

When Jake said nothing, Alex shook his head. “Talk to her. She has no idea how you feel, right? Jackie reminds me often that guys live in their heads, that we imagine that since we’ve worked an issue to death in our minds, it’s settled, even if we never talk it out with anyone else.”

Jake was speechless. He frowned at Alex.

“Yeah, thought so. You need to bring Cameron up to speed. I promise it won’t be as painful as you’re imagining.”

The sun was dipping toward the hills, lighting a bright path on the Pacific Ocean in the distance as they walked out of the barn housing the batting cage and up the gravel path toward Ryan’s house. Ryan waved at them from the paddock behind his house where he was herding a pack of donkeys into the barn he’d built the previous winter. Ryan rescued donkeys. Alex operated a vineyard. And they had women in their lives whom they loved. Jake kicked at a stick in the path. All he did was play baseball.

When had the game stopped being enough?

The corners of Alex’s eyes crinkled with his smile. “You could talk to Ryan. He had a hell of a time admitting he was in love. Nearly took him out. I’d hate to see that happen to you. We need our third baseman next year.”

Chapter Twenty

“Miss Kelley?”

The sound of the Tavonesis’ elderly butler’s voice shouldn’t have made Cameron jump, but jump she did, and the pliers she’d been using to cut wire for the wreath clattered to the floor. Nothing had gone right all day. The trip with Dimitri to speak with the director of his family’s foundation the previous day had been more than a disappointment. They didn’t fund aid projects, only arts and culture. Dimitri’s apologies as they’d driven back to Sonoma after dinner were sincere but didn’t do a darn thing to help the people of Dominia. You couldn’t drink art, she’d wanted to say to the stuffy foundation bureaucrat.

Spencer cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt you, but there’s a gentleman looking for Mr. Ryder. Do you know where I might find him?”

“He’s gone to the coast.” Without her. Maybe with Brigitte. She hadn’t seen Jake since the previous morning. “Perhaps the visitor could wait in here?” Cameron offered. Even with the hundreds of twinkling lights on the towering Christmas tree, Trovare’s Great Hall loomed empty without the voices and laughter of the family and their friends. Still, a random visitor probably wouldn’t soothe the loneliness she felt.

Spencer clasped his hands behind his back. “The gentleman won’t leave the car. He has a young boy with him. A sleeping boy that he doesn’t want to disturb, it appears.”

“I’ll go out and explain. You have more to do than any person could handle right now.” How the elderly butler managed to see to everyone’s needs with just a skeleton holiday staff, she didn’t know.

“Thank you, miss. I appreciate your help.”

With a quick flick, she tied off the bow on the wreath and set it in the chair next to her. She grabbed the shawl she’d left at the end of the long table and made her way across the foyer and out through the entrance and across the drawbridge.

A man stood leaning on a red sports convertible. As she got closer, she recognized Emilio Aderro, Jake’s former teammate. He and his sleeping passenger were hardier souls than she to have the top down on such a chilly day.

“I’m Cameron,” she said softly, extending her hand.

“I remember. Who wouldn’t?”

Before she could respond with more than a smile, he motioned her away from the car.

“That’s Dylan. He’s had a long day.” Though they were fifteen feet from the car, he kept his voice low. “A long
month
, if I tell the truth. But today we flew in from Dominia. He’s been sleeping since we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. I didn’t have the heart to wake him. And I couldn’t leave him here to wake up alone to”—he stopped and waved at the drawbridge—“all this.”

“Jake should be back soon. He’s just gone out to the coast.”

“Then I’ll wait.”

The gray-tinged circles under Aderro’s eyes told her that the boy wasn’t the only one who’d had a long day. “Can I bring you something to drink? Or perhaps a blanket for your son?”

“He’s not my son. He’s Jake’s brother’s son. His mother died recently, and, well, I should wait until Jake returns. He should hear the news firsthand.”

Aderro’s words shocked through her. “I didn’t know Peter had a son,” she stammered.

“Neither did Peter. And now the poor kid’s lost both his parents. That’s why we’re here.” Aderro lifted his gaze and peered down the drive.

The rumble of tires announced an approaching vehicle. Cameron’s stomach churned as she fought to make sense of Aderro’s news.

Jake waved as he pulled up beside them. Cameron raised her hand, stopping midmotion as she glanced at the boy. Still sleeping.

Aderro held a finger to his lips, a sign Jake caught immediately. He didn’t even shut the door of his car. With careful, quiet steps he reached Aderro and her.