Heart of Steele (14 page)

“A circle?” He’d imagined having a nice, long
makeout session, maybe some oral sex in the warm sun—

“Hey, you wanted to wear off that big
breakfast.” She put her hands on her puffy hips. “Look at this.
I’ve got to get some exercise.”

With a grin, he followed her around the
circumference of the “pie,” then through the middle four times to
make eight pie-shaped wedges.

When she stopped, he walked up next to her.
“Well, that was a lot of fun.” He rolled his eyes.

She swatted him with the back of her glove.
“That’s just the beginning, lazy. Now we play tag.” Smacking him on
the arm, she backed away, along one of the middle cross trails.
“And you’re it!” She laughed and ran as fast as she could to the
middle of the pie.

“You’re laughing, sugarbeet, but when I catch
you...” He faked left then, when she headed that direction, ran
right. She moved fast, and it took him a few minutes to get close
to her. “Tricky, aren’t you.” He stood in the middle of the pie,
she was on the outer circle.

“I’ve done this before.” She tipped her head.
“You haven’t, so I can understand why this is so difficult for
you.”

“Huh.” He took a fighting stance. “Just for
that, when I catch you, you’re gonna get a face full of snow.”

“That’s
if
you catch me. And it
doesn’t look like—”

He charged toward her and she took off to the
left. He leapt across one of the slices, staying in the lines as
ordered, and got within a yard of her.

She stopped and tried to backtrack, but he
poured on all his strength and caught up to her.

Grabbing her coat, he pulled her back to him
and tumbled them both onto the ground, landing first and keeping
her on top of him.

A puff of snow flurried around them as they
both laughed.

“You’re good, Steele. Really good.”

Lifting his head, he kissed her. “I learned
everything I know about cut the pie from you.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet.” She ran one gloved
finger over his chin and made a sad face. “You’re not really going
to make me eat snow, are you?” She blinked a couple times.

“Jeez, you’re good at playing the
manipulator.” He tucked his hands behind his head. “Just for that,
I should give you a whitewash.”

“What if I do something to distract you from
that terrible idea?” She bit her lip.

Heat raced to his groin. “Just what kind of a
distraction did you have in mind?”

With a slow smile curving her lips, she eased
down his body until her face was at his hips.

His groin jerked as blood filled his
cock.

She unzipped his fly. “How about a little
game of deep throat?”

“Tracy, sugar, anytime you wanna play games,
you come find me.”

****

An hour later, Tracy stood at the kitchen
stove stirring cocoa mix into milk in a pan over a low flame. Her
grandmother had taught her this trick when she’d come to visit,
which hadn’t been very often.

After they’d come inside and stripped off
their outerwear, Steele excused himself and went to check his
phone.

When the cocoa mix just started to steam, she
poured it into two mugs and carried them upstairs to his room.

“I can’t do it. Not with him.” His voice
snapped with anger.

She peeked in.

He paced in front of the windows, his hand
fisted as he walked. “There’s got to be something else. Another
place we can accomplish the same—”

Switching the phone to his other ear, he ran
his hand over his hair. “I know. I heard you the first time. But
let me ask around for—” He stopped and pressed the bottom of his
hand to his forehead. “Rex approved it? How far has it gone?” He
paced again. “Fucking shit. Goddamn fucking bullshit. I won’t be on
the same stage with that...” He held the phone away from his ear
and shouted. “Tell Rex to call me. Now.”

She backed out and tiptoed down the stairs. A
rattle of unease hit her gut. She’d only heard him swear during
sex, and then it was rather sexy. Tracy sat at the kitchen counter,
set her elbow on the table, and plopped her chin in her palm. What
she’d heard upstairs was a little scary. More than a little,
actually.

What could provoke a steady, reasonable man
like Steele to act like that? Of course, she’d never seen him
backstage. Was that how he ran his career? Yelling, cursing,
intimidation? She couldn’t reconcile it with the Steele she
knew.

She needed to make some phone calls herself.
Reno had texted her three times already, wanting her to call. And
she needed to talk to her mother and see what was happening with
her brother’s parole hearing.

The sound of him jogging down the main
staircase reached her. She sat up and pasted on a smile.

He stormed into the kitchen, pulled out a
stool, and plopped down. With a long sigh, he crossed his forearms
on the counter and leaned heavily on them.

“What’s up?” Did that sound too false?

He stared at the counter. “My agent booked me
as a last-minute addition to a fundraising concert in Tulsa.” He
looked at her. “In two days.”

“What? Can he do that without your
approval?”

His hands fisted. “Evidently, he thinks he
can.” His lips thinned. “He had to make a decision by noon, and we
were out making snow angels when I should have been here taking
care of my career.”

She swallowed the hurt with a mouthful of hot
chocolate. She blinked to keep the emotion from welling in her
eyes.

“No.” He pushed his chair back and walked to
her, pulled her off her stool and into his arms. “I’m sorry. That
wasn’t what I meant.” He rocked them both as he held her close.
“I’m angry at my agent and at myself, but I wouldn’t trade a minute
of the time we spent together.”

The pain in her chest eased as she wrapped
herself around him. “I understand. It’s got to be frustrating for
you.”

“That’s no excuse for what I said. Please
forgive me.” He ran his hand over her hair and kissed the top of
her head. “I don’t usually let my temper get away from me like
that.”

She leaned back. “Why is this such a bad
thing?” A benefit concert could only be good for his career,
couldn’t it?

“It’s a...personal reason. Let’s sit and
talk. This concerns you, too.”

He grabbed their mugs and guided her to the
man cave.

After they got snuggled together on the
couch, he took her hand. “The PR people came up with a solution to
our viral video problem. We’re going to say that it’s part of the
video, and we were rehearsing when your swing went a little
wide.”

She tried to make a surprised face, but she
couldn’t accomplish it. “I actually had that same idea
yesterday.”

A single laugh rolled from his chest. “Why
didn’t you mention it to me?”

“I guess I wanted this time alone with you.”
She shrugged. “What’s your excuse?”

He kissed her knuckles. “Same reason. And, I
figured the PR people would come up with the same idea. Or
something better.” He laid his hand on her thigh. “I’m glad we’ve
had this time together.”

That seemed ominous. “Sounds like it’s coming
to an end.”

He nodded. “Here’s the plan. We need to head
back to LA tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow?” That cut their trip short a whole
day.

“Yeah, sorry. Contractually, I have to be in
Tulsa twenty-four hours before the show starts.”

Disappointment rolled like acid through her
stomach. She tried to smile. “Okay.” How had she gotten so attached
to him already? She didn’t want to leave.

The corner of his mouth curved up. “Don’t
look so sad. You’re coming to Tulsa with me.”

“What?” Bubbles of excitement fizzed inside
Tracy. She was going to Steele’s concert in Tulsa with him?
“Why?”

“We’ll be filming the rest of the music video
there. They’re bringing in all the equipment, and we’ll film the
morning of the concert, after the stage has been set up.”

“That’s incredible. All that expense.” Now
her guilt resurfaced, and her forehead wrinkled.

“Hey, this is all good.” He rubbed a thumb
between her brows. “It’ll give the press a chance to see the video
being made.” He pointed to his chest. “Free publicity for me.” He
pointed to hers. “And a chance to wear those sexy cowgirl boots
again for you.”

She grabbed his finger and grinned. “Lucky
me.”

“Since I’ll only be doing a forty-minute set
at the concert, we’ll have most of the night free to see the town.”
He leaned closer. “Or just the inside of our hotel suite.”

His words calmed her, but it still didn’t
feel right. “If it’s ‘all good’ like you said, why are you so angry
about having to perform at the fundraiser?”

He stood and walked to the window. “It’s not
the fundraiser, it’s how this was handled.”

She could see the tension in his muscles. “I
can understand that.” He liked to have control over every aspect of
his career. This had to be frustrating.

“I turned down the fundraiser two months
ago.” He seemed almost to be talking to himself.

“Why?”

“Technical reasons.”

That was obscure. “What’s the charity?” Maybe
something he objected to?

“It’s to set up a fund for tornado
victims.”

“That seems worthwhile. Who else is
performing?”

His head jerked to look back at her.

She’d never seen that solemn expression on
his face before.

Turning back to the window, he pressed one
palm against the glass. “Rachel Voigt, The Dellwood Brothers, Myla
Wixon, and Ryder Landry.”

“Sounds like a great lineup.” Something was
bothering the hell out of him, and she wanted to help. “Is there
anything I can do?”

He dropped his hand and turned to her. His
anger seemed to have turned to resignation. Steele held out his
arm. “C’mere and let me hold you.”

She was in his arms in seconds.

****

“Reno, you won’t believe all the crazy things
going on.” Tracy held her phone at arm’s length, video chatting.
She’d left Steele in his cave to make the hundred calls he said
needed to be made, and she’d come into her room to connect with her
best friend who was at her farm in South Dakota.

Sitting cross-legged on her bed, Tracy
glanced out at the sunset. This was her last night here, and it
physically hurt to think about never returning.

“Tell me everything.” Her dark-haired friend
smiled patiently, her sweet voice possessing its own calming
properties. “Chase is rocking Miss Joy to sleep, so I’ve got plenty
of time.” The walls of the stacked log home looked so cozy in the
background.

Tracy told the whole story, from the mistake
she made punching Steele, to their impending flight to Oklahoma the
next day. She left out only the details of their sexual fun, but
intimated that she and Steele had been very busy in the
bedroom.

When Tracy finished, Reno’s eyes were wide
and she gave a slow whistle. “All that in three days?”

“Yep. I have absolutely nothing going on in
my life for years, then bam, it’s a home run at the world
series.”

“I’m just searching online for that
fundraising concert.” Reno stared off to the side as typing sounds
came through the phone. “Here it is. Oh, Myla’s performing,
and...oh shit.”

“Oh shit? What’s ‘oh shit’? Is it that other
singer, Rachel somebody? Did she and Steele—”

“No, it’s not that.” Reno slowly shook her
head. “Well, actually, I don’t know. Wait a minute, Chase is coming
out of Joy’s room.” There was a pause, then Chase came into the
picture, his auburn hair all Tracy could see as kissing sounds came
from through the phone’s speaker. “Chase, I’m video-chatting with
Tracy.”

He turned his handsome face toward the
camera. His deep blue eyes glowed. “Hi Tracy, girl.”

“Hi new daddy. How’s it going?”

He closed his eyes for a second, as if in
ecstasy. “It’s incredible. Joy’s too perfect to be believed.” He
looked at the mother of his baby. “I can’t get enough of the little
angel.”

“It’s true.” Reno grinned. “He likes to watch
her sleep for hours at a time.”

Tracy felt the dual emotions of happiness and
envy. “You two are blessed.”

“We are.” Chase stared at his woman. “I’ll
let you two get on with your chatting.”

“Wait.” Reno tugged his sleeve to keep him
next to her. “Has Steele ever dated either of these women?”

Reno and Chase looked to the side, at their
computer screen.

“Why do you want to know?” Chase schooled his
features.

“Tracy’s up at Big Bear, and can’t figure out
why Steele is so angry about being booked into this
fundraiser.”

“Uh, no.” He shook his head. “I’ve never
heard that he dated either of them but I don’t...holy shit! Did you
see—”

“Chase!” Reno put her hand over the phone’s
mic. “Tracy. Can. Hear. You.”

“I heard that, Reno. Chase, what’s going
on?”

Chase looked at Reno and backed away. “I
think I hear Joy crying.”

“Don’t leave me hanging.” Something was
really wrong.

“Oh sweetie, just give Steele some room.”
Reno’s beautiful brown eyes came into clear focus. “Don’t push him
on this.”

“What is it? It’s making Steele so angry, I
don’t know how to help.” Panic started to tighten her vocal
cords.

Reno huffed out a long breath. “It’s a long
story, and it’s not mine to tell, but you have absolutely no reason
to worry.”

“Whenever someone says that to me, I
immediately start to worry.” She lay back on the bed and held her
phone above her. “Should I tell him I can’t go with him?”

Reno hummed a little. “No. For both your
careers’ sakes, I think you need to do this. Just be yourself.
Don’t worry...oh, I already told you that. Just get it over with
then decide what your next move will be.”

“You’re scaring the hell out of me.” Her
stomach churned. “I suppose I couldn’t talk you into meeting me
there, hanging around with me for a couple days?” She knew it
wasn’t possible, but the thought of having Reno there calmed
her.