Hard Tackle (A Stepbrother Warriors Novel) (4 page)

Chapter Five

I stand outside on my balcony, feeling the wind whip my
dress over my legs. It's a beautiful night for a party, and thankfully free of
rain. I look down over the guests from my perch, invisible with my bedroom
lights turned off behind me. No wonder the dance floor was giving my mother
trouble earlier; she's had it set up over the pool. It's completely clear, and
the pool's lights are on underneath it. Some of the guests are already walking
across it, pursuing the white-jacketed cater waiters who carry champagne and trays
of
hors d'oeuvres
.

I hear my cell phone ring and walk back into my bedroom to
answer it. "Where are you?" my mother asks, the noise from the party
behind her filtering through the line.

"In my bedroom. I'm coming down now," I promise.

"Will you stop in Ray's study? He took a call and disappeared."

"Yeah, OK," I tell her, and hear her hang up. I
haven't been there since I set off the silent alarm. I brush a hand across my
hair, pulled into a low bun on the nape of my neck, and head out of my room,
shutting the door behind me. I smile shyly at a few of the guests who are
gathered in the foyer as I walk down the staircase. My mom told me that I'm one
of the hosts of the party, but I don't even feel like I really live here yet.

I head down the south wing to Ray's study. After my
self-guided tour when we arrived, I know it's all the way at the end, giving
him corner views of the front and side of the house. I pause as I hear voices
from inside, and unconsciously begin to tiptoe across the marble floor so that
my heels don't make too much noise.

"Nothing risked, nothing gained," I hear Ray say.

"These aren't the kind of people we're used to dealing
with," says someone else. I hear a slight mechanical crackle and realize
that the other person's on speaker phone.

"What about Russia?"

"They operate differently. It was just business, and a
smaller piece of the pie."

"We're moving forward," Ray says definitively.

"Ray—"

"I have to go. Just get it done." Ray says
finally, and I hear the other man sigh. Realizing their conversation is almost
done, I step forward and knock on the door so that he doesn't think I've been
listening. I hear a click as Ray picks up his receiver and sets it down.

"Yes?"

I push the door open a bit more and poke my head inside.
"My mom asked me to come find you." He stands and checks his bowtie
to make sure it's straight as he meets me at the door. He smiles as I push it
open for him.

"You look beautiful, Bree. I thought Anne told me you
weren't one for dressing up."

"I'm not, but she was quite insistent," I tell him
as we walk back down the hall. "And Jack helped, actually," I add
begrudgingly.

"I'm glad you two are getting along," he remarks
just before the guests in the foyer greet him exuberantly. I slip by as he's
surrounded and head for the backyard, my mission having been completed.

The huge backyard is now filled to the brim with guests, all
the way from the French doors that lead to the patio down past the pool and to
the dock. White lights wind from the bases to the leaves of the palm trees and
a jazz quartet with a female vocalist is set up perpendicular to the
rectangular pool. Everyone is in tuxes or gowns, but a few giant men stick out
in particular. They must be teammates of Jack's. Like him, they're built on a
bigger scale than most humans.

I spot Jack at the other end of the yard and feel my cheeks
begin to burn. I can't even look at him now without thinking of the fact that
he saw me almost completely naked. His head is slightly bowed, and I realize
it's because he's in conversation with a gorgeous brunette. I squint at her.
She actually looks somewhat familiar, though I can't place her.

"You don't want any of that, believe me," comes a
deep voice at my side. I look over and up to see a tall and wide African-American
man standing next to me. "As big a player as they come. Now me, I'm
different."

"Oh, is that right?" I ask him with a smile, too
amused by the mischievous twinkle in his eye to take him seriously.

"Sure is. I'm a one-woman man."

"One a night, I think you mean," I retort, and he
tilts his head back with a cackle.

"Shaun, keep your distance," Jack says, appearing
at his elbow.

"Don't worry man, she's doing just fine on her
own."

"Bree, this is one of my best friends on the team, and
Shaun, this is my dad's girlfriend's
daughter
," he says, fully
turning toward me. "Bree is…" he trails off and swallows.

"What?" I ask, unnerved by his silence.

"Ah, not interested in football players," he
finally says.

"Probably wise," Shaun concedes with a smile.

"Come on," Jack says reaching out his hand to me,
palm up. I place my hand in his instinctively, but then pull back as he begins
to head for the dance floor.

"No way," I tell him. "I don't dance."
He laughs in response, continuing his path toward the clear pool covering. With
his hand still firmly around mine, I have no choice but to follow him to a
clear spot near the center. He swings around in one fluid movement and wraps
one arm around my waist, then takes my other hand in his and pulls it up to the
side.

"This is a slow one," he says. "Just
swaying." I blush as I look up at him, then let my eyes fall to my feet.
It's not just the fact that he saw me naked earlier today, it's the feeling of
his hand placed gently on my exposed back. My breath wants to speed up, and I
do my best to fight against it, not wanting him to become aware of it, and not
knowing what to make of it myself. "You going to be awkward around me
forever?" he asks quietly. My eyes snap up to his. There's a soft
expression in them, he's not making fun of me. "It probably won't surprise
you to know that I've seen plenty of women naked."

"That's not the—"

"—Point. I know," he acknowledges. "You look
beautiful tonight."

"Are you the same guy who threw me in the pool?" I
ask, and he laughs. "I mean, thank you," I murmur, my gaze dropping
again. I'm surprised to feel his fingers leave the small of my back and
reappear under my chin, raising it so that I'm looking at him again. Our eyes
lock, and after a moment he takes his hand away, wrapping it back around my
waist.

"Who was that guy at the diner?" he asks, catching
me completely off guard.

"Which one?" I ask obliquely.

"You know," he says with a smile. I study the gold
flecks in his irises as I answer.

"Miles," I finally reply. "We went to high
school together. Is it so obvious?"

He shrugs. "Are you two…"

"Oh, God, no," I reply with a snort.

"Why not?" he asks simply, as though such a thing
were an easy feat.

"He's…we're not exactly on the same level," I
answer.

"Huh," is all he says.

I clear my throat, feeling uneasy with the way he's
examining my face. "Who was that woman you were talking to? Right before
you came over to Shaun and me."

"Victoria Reilly. One of the sideline reporters that
cover the Buccaneers. Very off-limits," he adds, breaking into a wolfish
grin.

"You seem like you mostly get what you want," I
observe, tilting my head slightly.

"I can't deny that," he admits. "And do you
know what I want right now?"

Chapter Six

My eyes widen. "I, um—" I break off as his arm
pulls me tighter against him. "Jack, what if—"

"No one's looking at us," he replies steadily,
though his gaze doesn't leave my face. My eyes dart around. He's right, the
dance floor around us is crowded and everyone is focused on their own partner.

"Like you said yourself, I'm not interested in football
players," I gasp, my mind trying to work through the hormones that just
flooded my brain.

"Here's the thing, though," he says. "I can
feel your heartbeat." His thumb grazes over my right wrist where he's
holding it and my breath almost stops. "And right now it's pounding like
you just sprinted a hundred meters. Can you deny it?"

"No," I whisper, feeling like I'm caught in a
tractor beam.

"My thinking is," he continues, bending his head
down slightly, "we could live in the same house together and not take
advantage of the situation, or we could—"

"I just told you I'm interested in Miles."

"No commitment. Just fun. Just two attractive people
spending some time together." My body begins to quiver. "You don't
know you're beautiful, do you Bree? I could make you feel it."

The songs ends and I feel suspended in midair. We continue
to stare at each other, Jack's strong arm holding me up, until the microphone
crackles and I'm jolted out of my reverie. I take a quick step back and almost
lose my balance.

"Good evening everyone," I hear Ray's voice boom
through the speakers. I turn with the rest of the crowd toward the stage, where
Ray and my mom are standing together. I shake my head, trying to clear the fog,
but my skin is burning where Jack's hands have just touched me. "Thank you
so much for coming tonight. Many of you have met Anne before, or hopefully have
had the chance to meet her tonight." My mom smiles and waves. "Anne
and her daughter Bree have been a blessing in my life," he continues, and
I feel dozens of eyes glance over at me. "I never thought, after Clara
passed that I—" he stops for a moment, lowers the mic, and looks at my
mother before beginning to speak again. "I know that we both wish that
Anne's son and my daughter could be here for this announcement, but…" he
holds the mic out to my mother's mouth.

"We're engaged!" she says joyfully.

I'm surprised by the tightness that immediately grips my
chest. The crowd bursts into applause and I paste a smile on my face as my mind
begins to whirl. It's not like I didn't see this coming, my mom practically
told me last week. It's just different to hear the words. My mom's first
marriage blew up so spectacularly and publicly…I wonder if my dad knows. Ugh,
why am I even thinking about him? He's made it clear that he doesn't care what
happens to any of us.

"Bree, Jack, why don't you two join us?" my mom
asks from the stage. I glance up at Jack, who gestures for me to go first. The
crowd parts and I pick up the front of my dress as I walk up the few steps onto
the stage. Jack takes the mic from my mom and raises it to his lips.

"Let me be the first to say congratulations," he
says, his perfect face lit glowingly by the surrounding white lights. "I'm
so excited to have you and Bree joining the family."

What the fuck…
I think as I smile, pulling back
slightly so that Jack knows not to hand the mic to me. I'm a terrible public
speaker. Is this the same guy who was just propositioning me a moment ago, now
welcoming me to his
family
? That's just all kinds of weird. Mercifully,
he understands my body language, and puts the mic back in its stand. The band
picks up a playful tempo and I make eye contact with my mom. There's a happy
but pleading expression on her face, and I know why.

I walk over to her and wrap her up in a hug. "I'm so
happy for you," I whisper, knowing that's what she wants to hear. And it's
true. I am happy for her. If she's happy, I'm happy.

We step down off the stage and are quickly engulfed by the
party guests. All the talking and greeting I've been able to avoid all night
happens all at once, and I'm swallowed up into the crowd. I pass from
conversation to conversation until I'm in a daze. I'll never remember all these
names, and the fact that the men are all wearing nearly identical tuxes doesn't
help anything.

I finally end up near the dock and
make a break for it, hurrying down the stone steps to the wooden planks that
reach out to Ray's sailboat. I pull my heels off my aching feet, and walk down
toward the water barefoot. I hear the waves lapping against the wood and the
gleaming white hull of the boat as I pass it on my right. I'm only a few feet
away from the end when I hear a voice behind me.

"Tired of all the cocktail
chatter?" Jack asks from the last stone step.

"I'm no good at all that
stuff," I call over my shoulder. I just wanted a moment alone. How did he
even find me? I hear him laugh softly, which I take as a validation that what I
said was true. "How much longer will it go?"

"Oh, a couple hours at least.
No one leaves an open bar too early," he says, his feet echoing softly on
the wood as he walks toward me.

"Well, I guess that decides
it," I say, as he comes to stand next to me.

"What?"

"You know, your little…idea on
the dance floor. You're going to be my stepbrother now."

"And?"

"Oh, come on."

"There's nothing wrong with
it. We're not related. The only problem that I could see is if one of us got
attached. It would make seeing each other around the house rather
awkward."

"I wouldn't get
attached," I say indignantly.

"Me neither. Then it's
settled."

"That's not what I
meant!" I say, spinning to face him. Without my heels on, my head doesn't
even make it past his barrel chest.

"So what's the problem?"
he asks, his voice low and throaty as he leans over me. "You don't strike
me as a prude."

"I'm just not attracted to
you."

"Liar."

"You're very arrogant, you
know that?" I hiss.

"Yes," he says simply.
"And you're very stubborn, you know that?" he challenges me. Before I
have a chance to respond, his arms are around my waist, picking me up and
pulling me up and against his body. I'm startled for a moment, but then find my
arms winding around his thick neck as his mouth covers mine.

My body surges with warmth as our
lips touch. He kisses me hard, one hand moving behind my head to hold me in
place as he easily supports me with one arm. Our tongues search for each
other's mouth at exactly the same time, and I'm filled with a desperate ache
that I've never known before.

Suddenly, he pulls his face away
and drops me back on the dock. I open my eyes and look up at him in shock.

"You just let me know when you
want to keep going," he murmurs, and I can hear the smirk in his voice.
I'm too outraged to say anything as he turns on his heel and walks back toward
the party.

Son of a bitch
, I think as I
grind my teeth. He's got me right where he wants me.