Pitch Perfect (15 page)

“Excellent!” Mia smiled brightly at Noah. “I’ll work out the details and give you a call tonight. Thanks so much, Cat!”

“Are you kidding? Mia, this obviously is important to you, and money for charity is always a plus. We have a win-win situation on our hands. Not to mention this is going to be a blast. Besides, my schedule is tight and I could use a night of good old fun. We’ll eat barbecue at Jack’s and hang out at Tootsies and the Stage. Maybe I’ll even get up and sing a song or two.”

“It does sound like a lot of fun,” Mia agreed. Cat might be well on her way to becoming a superstar, but she was one of the most down-to-earth people that Mia knew, and Mia always had a great time with her. “And congrats on opening for Toby Keith! Wow!”

“Hey, it’s sold out, but I might be able to score you some tickets. After all, if you have to drive me back Sunday, you might as well stay for the concert. I’ll work on it.”

“I would love that! Talk to you soon.” Mia ended the call and then turned to Noah. “I think we’re all set.”

“I have to admit that I’m impressed.” He lifted one eyebrow. “But I have to ask . . . who are you and how did you end up in my office?”

Mia swallowed hard. “Funny you should ask,” she replied slowly while racking her brain for the right way to cash in on her favor. She leaned forward and offered her hand. “I’m Mia Money.”

Noah shook her hand and then leaned back in his big leather chair. “You obviously have connections and a friendly but persuasive attitude. Wait, how would you like to be a promotions manager? Ty has been all over me to hire one. I told him I could do it all myself, but I was dead wrong.”

“I . . .”

“Mia, you would be perfect! Do I already have your résumé for a position?” He glanced down at his cluttered desk with a frown. “Sorry. I promise I’m not usually this disorganized, but with opening day coming up and Ty so busy with practice and a newborn, well, I’ve been pulling double duty.”

“Not a problem,” Mia assured him.

“So do you want the job?”

“Seriously?” Mia blinked at him while her mind raced.

“We’d forgo the usual hiring process and get you started right away.”

“And my duties would be?”

“To combine promotions and advertising to put fans in the seats. Plan events like the concert to keep the games fun and attract attendance with giveaways and stuff like that. Now, as I mentioned, our budget is limited, so you have to be creative.”

“Not a problem. Do you have a Web site?” She had created several for charity events, so she did know a thing or two about promotions. “And a Facebook page?”

“We have a Web site but not a Facebook page.”

“I could create one right away,” Mia said with a businesslike nod. “We could get some publicity going with local media.” She was good at this as well. “I think I could be an asset to your organization, Mr. Falcon.”

He nodded slowly. “I get the impression you have some experience in event planning?”

“Lots of it. Mostly with nonprofits,” Mia added, hoping he didn’t want details. Noah looked at her closely, as if sizing her up, making Mia’s heart pound, but he suddenly nodded as if making a decision.

“Fantastic! Look, it will be a lot of work with a not-so-big salary, but I can provide a small but nice furnished condo overlooking the river in the high-rise right next door. Most of the baseball players and some of the staff live there, so you’d have plenty of people to hang out with. There’s a pool and hot tub, workout room, and so on. You can rent pontoon boats and Jet Skis over at the marina if you enjoy that sort of thing.” He smiled. “And the commute to work is a short walk across the parking lot. Sound like something you could live with?”

Mia’s heart hammered. This would be perfect! Right up her alley, and she actually felt so excited that it was difficult to sit still. She was floored that he would hire her without knowing her background or skills, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She supposed she had caught him in a time of desperation, and not to pounce on the opportunity to earn a paycheck and respect from her father was too good to pass up. Plus this just might give her the unexpected but additional leverage to save Cam’s position on the team. Well, it was time to find out. Oh, but wait . . . she already had a job! Myra had been so good to her. She just couldn’t accept this offer without calling Myra first. “Would you mind if I made a phone call?”

“No, of course not. Go right ahead. You can go out into the hallway and close the door if you want some privacy.”

“Thanks.” Mia gave Noah a grateful smile before stepping outside the office. After closing the door, she dialed Wine and Diner and crossed her fingers that Myra was available.

“Wine and Diner.”

“Myra?”

“The one and only.”

Mia felt a nervous flutter in her stomach. “Hi, Myra, this is Mia Mon-ey.” Oh boy, she’d almost blown her cover.

“Everything okay, sugar?”

“Well.” Mia swallowed hard and then continued, “I just got a fabulous job offer from Noah Falcon. He wants me to be their promotions manager.”

“You don’t say! Take it!”

“Really?” Mia leaned against the wall in relief. “I hate to leave you shorthanded after all you’ve done for me.”

“Hey, things are looking up, but jobs are still hard to come by in Cricket Creek, just like everywhere else. I’ll fill the position.”

“Oh, thank you, Myra. I won’t need the apartment either, since Noah’s offer includes accommodations too.”

“Sounds like an offer you can’t afford to pass up.”

“I was hoping you’d see it that way, but rest assured that I will pay you back for the bail money.”

“Cam already took care of that.”

“Oh . . . great. Well, is there anything I can do for all the trouble I put you through?” Mia had learned from her father never to burn any bridges.

“Just send customers our way.”

Mia smiled. “Oh, I certainly will! Thanks for being so understanding.”

Myra chuckled. “Hey, the restaurant business is tough. I’ve learned to be understanding. But I appreciate that you called, Mia. It shows that my intuition about you was correct.”

Mia cocked her head to the side. “And what did your intuition say?”

“That you might be in a spot of trouble but that I could trust you. You’ve got a nice way about you and a good heart. You should do real well at this kind of promotions thing. Now, run along and take that job.”

“Thank you! I’ll see you soon.” Mia pushed the
END
button but stood there for a moment to gather her composure. It felt good to be trusted and valued. With a lift of her chin, she marched back into Noah’s office filled with determination.

“Well?” Noah raised his brows in question.

“I’ll take the job, but I have one little request.”

“Shoot.”

“I’m guessing you already know about the bit of . . . a situation Cameron Patrick got into?”

Noah frowned. “How do you know about that?”

“I was the waitress that he rescued.” Mia went on to explain the chain of events that had led up to the arrest. “So I just want to make sure that he isn’t cut from the team.”

Noah leaned back and sighed. “Then I guess you know the stipulations with which Cam was put on the roster. He had to keep his nose clean. He failed.”

“It wasn’t his fault!”

“Not my problem.”

Mia thought about threatening to call the Cat Carson deal off or not take the job. While she hated to go that route, it might work and she was feeing desperate. But she gave Noah a long, steady look and said, “What would you have done in his situation?”

“That’s not the point. I made a hard-and-fast rule with Cameron Patrick, and he broke it by landing in jail,” he said firmly, but when his eyes flickered with regret Mia pressed forward.

“Please answer my question, Mr. Falcon,” she pleaded softly.

“I would have done the same damned thing,” he admitted.

“Then give him another chance. Rule or no rule, it’s the right thing to do.”

Noah gave her a steady look. His lips twitched. He sighed. “Okay. I will give him one last chance. But if he lands himself in jail again, it’s over. Understood?”

Mia’s heart sang with joy. When she stood up and offered her hand, Noah shook it firmly. “And if you don’t mind, would you keep this conversation to yourself? I promised Cam I wouldn’t come here on his behalf, and there’s no reason to disclose this little meeting to him.”

“Done,” Noah said, “and you just made me realize that I made the right decision.” He smiled. “Welcome to the staff of the Cricket Creek Cougars!”

12

A Time for Us . . .

“W
AIT, NOAH, DID YOU JUST SAY THAT YOU HIRED MY
daughter? Mia?” Mitch stopped pacing and sat down heavily on the kitchen chair in Nicolina’s little breakfast nook. “Yes, I know I only have one daughter. I’m just, well, floored.”

Nicolina put her coffee mug down and pushed aside the pastel paint chips she had been considering for the shop. When Mitch raised his eyebrows at her, she reached over and covered his hand with hers.

“She’s going by the last name Money? How’d you know she was my daughter? Oh, that’s right, you did meet her briefly. Yes, thank God for Facebook. Well, thanks. I’m glad that you think she will do a good job for you. Yes, she actually does have lots of experience planning huge events,” he said with a chuckle. “No, don’t let her know that you know who she is. I want her to do this on her own and find her way without me interfering. She needs to do this for herself. Wow . . . really? She did that?” Mitch glanced at Nicolina and shook his head. “I guess she’s got more of me in her than I realized,” he added with another chuckle. “Whatever you do, don’t let her know I’m here in Cricket Creek. I’ll stay holed up here with Nicolina. Yeah, come on over here later and we’ll talk about some ideas for the area around the stadium I’ve been mulling over,” he said before ending the call.

“Well, now,” Nicolina prompted as she poured more steaming coffee into Mitch’s mug, “tell me about the latest in the life of Mia Monroe, or should I say Mia . . .
Money
?”

“I couldn’t have made this up.” After a brief chuckle, Mitch leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together.

“I’m all ears.”

“Oh, I beg to differ,” he said playfully, making Nicolina blush. After another bout of incredible sex that lasted most of the morning, they had finally crawled out of bed, needing food and caffeine.

“Mitch!” she scoffed, but he gave her a once-over that deepened her blush. She was wearing a pair of Mitch’s boxers and a white V-neck T-shirt that played with her breasts every time she moved. Mitch declared that Victoria’s Secret be damned, having her ultrafeminine body in his masculine shorts and shirt was sexier than any silk and lace teddy. “Now, go on with your story,” she said, but he was looking pretty damned sexy too, in low-slung drawstring lounging pants and no shirt. It had been difficult to concentrate on paint colors with his bare chest within reaching distance. Even now her fingers itched to trail through his dark wedge of chest hair threaded with silver. That same silky hair tickled and teased her nipples during sex. For the life of her she couldn’t understand the current trend to shave it off. She reached down and took a sip of her coffee to distract her train of thought so she could listen to this latest information about Mia.

“Noah Falcon just hired her as promotions manager for the team. Isn’t that something?” He tilted his head and chuckled, looking more relaxed and happy than she had seen him in quite a while. “After talking to her for a while, he suspected who she was, and Facebook pictures confirmed it. He said Mia had some of my hand gestures and mannerisms, which clued him in as well.”

Nicolina smiled. “Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Apparently,” he said, and then his eyes misted over, making Nicolina’s heart melt. “She’s a lot tougher than I thought. And Noah thinks she will do a great job.”

“Mitch, I’m sure she got a lot of her business savvy from you—both learned and, well, in her genes. And I know she planned many of your parties and events for clients and charity. I read about some of them in the society page. You might have thought that was all fluff, but it takes lots of skill to pull that sort of thing off.”

Mitch sat up straighter. “Damn, Nicolina, I guess I didn’t give her nearly enough credit, did I?”

“Probably not,” she answered softly but truthfully.

“I should have offered her a job instead of allowing her to flit all over the globe without a care in the world.”

“Well, giving her unlimited spending privileges might not have been such a good idea.” Nicolina pinched off another piece of bagel. “But having her get a job on her own is a much better scenario than handing her one.”

“But Noah was pretty sure she was my daughter.”

“Mitch, the success of the baseball team is important to Noah Falcon. He hired Mia because he believed she could do a good job, not because of who she was.” She paused but felt the need to go on. “But her cover is blown.”

“She doesn’t know that.”

“True.” With her lips pressed together, Nicolina fell silent. “Do you think it’s fair to allow her to think that?”

“Maybe not, but I don’t see any other way to give her this chance to prove herself.”

“But Mitch, she left home under false pretenses as well. Maybe you need to set her straight. She can still work for the Cougars. You’re a silent partner, so no one would know the connection anyway.”

“As always, you have a good point.” He tilted his head as if in consideration. “But at least for now let’s keep mum and let her go. Once I leave town, I’ll have my PI keep an eye on her for a while. Just to give me peace of mind.”

“I don’t blame you there. I was worried sick when Bella came here to live on her own.” At the thought of him leaving once again, Nicolina’s heart constricted, but she managed to smile. “Okay, I’ll respect your wishes and keep my silence. I won’t even tell Bella. That girl has a tough time keeping a secret.” She tore off another piece of bagel and added it to her little pile.

“Nicolina, baby, what is it?”

She looked up in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been shredding your bagel like confetti. What’s bothering you?”

“Nothing,” she scoffed with a very Italian wave of her hand.
Nothing, except for knowing you’re leaving me tomorrow and could be gone for days—maybe even weeks—on end. Nothing, except for me breaking my hard-and-fast rule never to fall for another man with wealth and power. They tend to upgrade their women much like they do their businesses.
“Nothing at all.”

“You can’t fool me,” he gently coaxed. “Talk to me. I’m here for you.”

Spill her guts? No, thank you.

“Nicolina? What’s worrying you?”

She sliced her hand through the air again. “Just that secrets have a way of coming back and biting you in the butt. I know you want to do what’s best for Mia, but keep that in mind.”

“Duly noted.” Mitch nodded. “I won’t let this go on for too long, just enough for Mia to make her mark and get settled.”

“You do know that if she does, she just might settle down here for good and not move back to Chicago. How would you deal with that?” She held her breath, hoping he would say that he would move here to be near his daughter.

Mitch hesitated, and then when it appeared that he was going to disclose something important, he swallowed and picked up his coffee mug. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Nicolina nodded and did her best to keep her disappointment from showing. “I’ll keep an eye on Mia too, Mitch.”

He smiled warmly. “Thank you, sweetheart. That means so much to me. Hey, perhaps our daughters will become friends. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“Yes,” Nicolina agreed, but then pulled off another piece of bagel. When he noticed, she popped it into her mouth and chewed, but when it stuck in her throat she had to wash it down with a gulp of coffee. “Okay,” she said with false brightness, “let’s get back to these paint chips.” She held up a card full of various shades of yellow. “What do you think of buttercup?”

“Soft, cheerful,” Mitch commented. He knew that there was something else eating at her, but he wasn’t going to probe, even though it was killing him not to. He loved her, trusted her . . . damn well needed her and enjoyed every minute of her company. Mitch could marry her tomorrow and be happy for the rest of his life—he knew it. And he would also make it work even if he had to relocate here to Cricket Creek, Kentucky. In fact, along with a strip mall, he had started to envision building a hotel and perhaps a convention center to bring in revenue to the town during the off-season. He and Noah had discussed the possibility of winter workshops and training camps. Olivia’s daughter, Madison, thought there was some potential for writers’ seminars and workshops and possibly book fairs that could fill the facility as well. The marina could host boat shows. The list went on and on . . .

Mitch shook his head. If all his plans for Cricket Creek and the stadium worked out, Mia’s job could go well beyond the mere promotions of the Cougars. But the development was in the preliminary stages and he didn’t want to get his hopes up until he did the marketing research and started getting permits in place.

“For a color supposedly so cheerful, you have quite a frown on your face,” Nicolina commented.

“I’m sorry. I guess I have a lot on my mind.”

“Understandable,” Nicolina replied before holding up another paint chip. “Is banana split better?” she asked with a chuckle. “Where do they come up with these names anyway? Do you suppose there’s a color-naming committee?”

“I don’t know, but it sure makes me want a banana split,” he said. He tried to stop thinking about the future and concentrate on the beautiful woman sitting across from him.
Sometimes, it’s better to simply enjoy the moment,
he reminded himself. “I just bet this little town has an amazing ice cream stand. Want to get dressed and find out?” He gave a slight shrug. “Even though I really hate to get dressed when I’m with you.”

“You’re forgetting that you have to be incognito.”

“Right,” he glumly acknowledged and then nibbled on the inside of his cheek. “Hey, maybe I could go in disguise. Get one of those baseball caps with the mullet attached to the bottom?”

Nicolina laughed. “If I get you one, will you really wear it?”

“Are you kidding?”

“Not in the least.”

“Sure I will,” Mitch said, even though he had never done anything so crazy-fun since he was a kid. He chuckled, thinking that being with Nicolina made him feel young and alive in more ways than one.

“Awesome! I’ll get right on it. I can be very creative, you know.”

“Oh, baby, I know.”

“Mitch!” she scolded, but she gave him that throaty laugh of hers that made him long to hop right back into bed. “Okay, you get out your laptop and do all of that making-millions stuff that you do all day, and I’ll come back with a handy-dandy disguise that makes you look like Joe Dirt. Then we’ll head out to the Dairy Bar for a big banana split. Are you game?”

“Absolutely,” Mitch assured her, and he knew she wasn’t teasing. He couldn’t remember having this much fun with a woman . . . well, ever. Mitch knew he was supposed to be back in Chicago in the morning, but he was already thinking of calling his assistant and telling her to reschedule all of his appointments for tomorrow . . . hell, for the rest of the week. Being with Nicolina was making Mitch want to do so much more than work all of the damned time. He was starting to see how much being with the right partner could make a difference in how you viewed life . . . about what was really important. And it sure as hell wasn’t money. Why had it taken him so long to realize that? The thought of all of the years lost with Mia suddenly clawed at his gut.

“Hey,” she said gently, “now it’s my turn to ask what’s wrong.”

“Just worried about Mia,” he answered, but he wanted to say so much more.

She smiled and squeezed his hand. “You miss her so much, don’t you?”

“Yes. It’s so tough not to talk to her every day. I miss my little girl.”

“Oh, believe me, I understand. Just ask Bella. I am the queen of needing to know her every move.”

“You love her, Nicolina. What Mia wouldn’t have given to have had a mother dote on her like you do. Mia is such a sweet girl, but I spoiled her.”

“Stop,” she said, gently putting a fingertip to his lips. “We can’t change the past, remember?”

Mitch nodded and wanted to gently remind her to heed her own advice, but hopefully she would come to that conclusion on her own. God, he had come to love her so. Leaving Nicolina Diamante wasn’t just getting harder. It was becoming nearly impossible, and so was keeping his growing feelings from her. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to slip up and drop the
L
word. She wasn’t ready yet; he
knew
it, so he told himself to just be patient and everything would eventually fall into place.