Playing the Game (The Renegades) (Volume 3) (20 page)

Rebecca nodded. “That sounds great.”

“
Yay! Pizza with Tyler Kidd!” Kevin
shouted, beaming with excitement.

CHAPTER 21

That moment with Paige played over and over in his
mind. Being so close to her before all the craziness of the day
started had his emotions in overdrive. She’d dodged his invitation
to dinner too. That wasn’t okay.

She looked so good in that business-style skirt. It
was snug in all the right places, and those stiletto heels she wore
showed off her toned, shapely legs. His body tightened as he
thought about running his lips up and down them again. He wanted
her in his bed all over again, which itself was unusual, but he
couldn’t help himself.

His behavior was changing so quickly over this girl.
He didn’t want to go pick up random girls, and he wasn’t pining
over the past anymore. He was solely thinking about when was the
next time he could see Paige. His first and last thought of each
day was her.

Her words had been clear. Their night was a one-time
deal, a drunken escapade not to be repeated or spoken of. But it
was obvious she couldn’t control her reactions when he was close to
her. She might’ve been telling him it was all business, but her
nervous habits and shallow breathing every time he was near told
him otherwise.

Unfortunately, she had seen the worst of him,
especially that night he was leaving the women’s bathroom. There
was no other reason for her distressed expression than she was
hurt. Even if he hadn’t gone through with having sex with that
girl, he deserved that beer in the face. The painful regret from
that choice still hadn’t gone away. He was not really
that
guy. That Tyler was a façade to keep him from feeling anything, but
somehow Paige had broken through that.

Dropping his head into his hands, he let out a long
breath. This feeling scared him. He never wanted to return to the
turmoil he’d felt when his life blew up last year. Everything he
thought he knew was shattered. Then of course there was the
pregnancy. The baby that Gia lost. They never found out if it was
his or Patrick’s. The pain that tore through him during that time
destroyed the Tyler that everyone knew and loved. He became distant
and nasty, a real son of a bitch.

That worked for him though; no one wanted to get
close to the jerk he had turned into. Girls used him only for his
name and his body, and that was fine with him. He didn’t need
anything more than that.

Until Paige. She’d caught his eye from the moment he
saw her, in her prim little business suit that only made him want
to see what was hiding underneath. Then, he had to admit, he’d
started admiring her for more than her body since working more
closely with her at work. When they’d taken their meeting to lunch,
she’d opened up to him about her brother, and he’d seen a depth and
sensitivity to her that shot straight through his heart. He’d never
met a girl like her. He was probably just fooling himself thinking
he could’ve kept things all business. He should’ve tried though,
because of Melanie’s rules.

But when Paige stepped in front of him at the bar
that night, all the rules went out the window. She was passionate
and spirited, plus he couldn’t help but notice her rockin’ body.
The way she puffed out her chest and challenged him was a hefty
turn on. Everything about her was a challenge, and he liked
that.

He had been sitting here since Kevin and all of the
reporters left. He hoped she would join them for pizza, but instead
she’d made her rounds with the media, making quotes and answering
questions. At least that kept them away from him, but what he
really wanted was to be near her.

She was strong and outspoken; she wasn’t easily
pushed around. She was tough and could probably kick his ass if she
wanted, but at the same time she was cute and feminine. He had to
convince her he wasn’t the ass he had been up until now.

He might need help with that though. He was out of
practice at romantic gestures. Especially ones that actually
worked.

“
I think this whole shit-head
attitude is an act.” Paige’s voice made him jump. He thought she’d
gone home. “I watched you with Kevin. You were kind and caring; you
were surprisingly good with him.” She folded her arms across her
chest as she shot him a knowing look.

“
Oh yeah? What makes you so sure
that
wasn’t me acting?” Tyler grinned the best evil genius
grin he could muster.
Did she seriously just call me a
shit-head?
She’s got balls, and now it’s time to play.
“Maybe I really
am
the ass everyone says I am. Maybe I truly
am the heartless jerk who’s only out for himself.”

“
I don’t believe you.” She fired
back, with a soft grin pulling at the sides of her
mouth.

Tyler stood up and grabbed his bag. Strutting over to
her he paused with his lips by her ear and softly growled. “Good.
Maybe I don’t want you to.”

****

“Kris, are you sure she’s not just going to throw
them in the trash?”

At Kris’s suggestion, Tyler ordered flowers to be
delivered to Paige’s office this morning while they practiced.

“
I can’t guarantee anything, but
some girls enjoy being wooed. If you really want to get this girl,
I suggest full woo-mode,” Kris said as they hopped onto the
ice.

“
Woo-mode?” Tyler frowned as he
skated around the ice during warm ups. “What the hell does that
even mean? I think you’ve been married too long, buddy.”

“
Jealous much? It means you do
anything you can to make her feel special,” Kris called, as they
skated farther apart.

“
You know, like flowers, candy,
stuffed animals… girl stuff like that,” Patrick yelled as he skated
by.

Really? Advice from Patrick? He had to remember next
time to not discuss this stuff out on the ice.

Coach Walker blew the whistle. “Kidd, worry about
wooing your girl on your own time. Right now, focus on your game.
This next stretch is going to be tough, and we need to win if we
want to go to the post-season. Things aren’t looking good for us in
the rankings, so we need to get our shit together. Oh, and by the
way, use the florist down the street. Tell her I sent you.”

CHAPTER 22

“Good morning, Paige! Have you seen your office?”
Melanie strutted excitedly up to her. “Someone sure thinks you’re
special!”

“
What are you talking ab—” Paige
opened her office door and stopped in her tracks. Melanie continued
in and ran over to the five vases of roses in the corner of her
office.
What was he thinking
? Each red vase looked to have
probably a dozen red roses in it. “Oh, my...”

“
Who are these from?” Melanie
smelled the flowers.

“
Um, I’m not sure.” Continuing into
the office, her heart jumped into her throat. They had to be from
Tyler. She found a little card attached to the one vase. What will
Melanie say when she sees that?

“
Open it! Open it!” Melanie
cheered.

Oh crap, I’m going to get fired
. Closing her
eyes, she slowly slid the card out of the little white envelope.
Taking a deep breath, she opened one eye and read the card.

PLEASE

Please? What the hell does that mean?

“
What does it say?” Melanie nudged
her.

“
It just says PLEASE. One word,
that’s all. What does that mean?” Paige looked at the other vases
to see if she was missing something. Maybe there was
more.

Melanie beat her too it. “I don’t know, but—oooh!
Look, there’re more cards.” She pulled the cards out of the other
vases.

Paige grabbed her coffee mug and took a long drink of
the hot liquid caffeine before opening the other ones. “It’s too
early for this.”

“
I think it’s a puzzle. Let’s see.”
Melanie grabbed the cards from her. “I’m dying to see what they
say.” She spread them on the desk.

“
You’re way too excited about
this.” Paige laughed, still ignoring the cards.

Turning to Paige, Melanie stopped short of grabbing
her shoulders. The wild look on her face made Paige wonder if she
was going to shake her. “Why aren’t you? I wish someone had taken
enough time to do something like this for me when I was dating. How
romantic this is! Now stop stalling. What do they say?”

“
Okay, okay, geez. Let’s see… Each
card only has one word on it. DINNER. ME. WITH. HAVE. What does
that even mean?” It really was too early for this. Her brain was
not functioning on all cylinders, and the jumble of words had her
confused. Yesterday was exhausting, and she’d been up half the
night thinking about how good Tyler had been with Kevin. She’d
tossed and turned, wrestling with the idea that he was actually a
good guy, and all this time the jerk-attitude was just an
act.

“
It’s a puzzle.” Melanie grabbed
the cards and laid them on Paige’s desk. She pushed them around,
focusing on only them.

“
A puzzle?” Paige leaned over,
watching what Melanie was doing. It looked like she was trying to
form a sentence with the words. “Oh, I get it, like Scrabble but
with words. Great.” She tried to stifle a yawn.

“
How are you not finding this fun?”
Melanie moved the last two cards and turned to Paige with a huge
smile. “Look.”

Together the words read “Please have dinner with
me”.

It had to be Tyler. She’d avoided answering his
invitation to dinner yesterday, and it looked like he wasn’t giving
up. She fought the smile that was forming on her lips. It was kind
of sweet and made her belly warm, but it was still inappropriate
for her place of work. She cleared her throat.

“
How cute! Do you know who sent
them?”

“
No. No I don’t.” Paige tripped
over her heel, grabbing the desk to steady herself.
I can’t even
lie without looking guilty
.

“
Well, I want to know if you get
any more. Keep me updated on your mystery man.” Melanie went to
leave the office but paused at the door. “I almost forgot. I heard
everything went well yesterday with the Make-A-Wish child. Too bad
I missed it, sounded super fun! Oh, and I told you Ty was good with
kids.”

“
Yeah, it was a really nice day.
The reporters got some good shots.”

Melanie waved and disappeared into her office.

Looking at the flowers, Paige’s stomach flipped. She
didn’t know whether to be excited and giddy or agitated that he’d
brought this to her place of work.

She sat down at her desk and opened her laptop.
Trying to focus, she answered all the emails waiting for her, but
her eyes kept wandering to the corner of her office. Those roses
were beautiful. That really was sweet of him.

This is what he wanted. He wanted me to sit here
and think of him every time I looked at those roses
. It was
working. She couldn’t get his hazel eyes and flirty grin out of her
mind. This should be a simple decision; she worked with him and it
couldn’t happen. But he wasn’t making it easy.

Startled by a knock on the door, she bumped her
coffee mug, and it almost tumbled to the floor. Luckily she caught
it before it fell.

“
Good thing I have a coffee for
you!” Melanie carried one of her own and set a fresh cup on her
desk.

“
Oh, you didn’t have to do that,
Melanie, but thanks. I can use all the caffeine I can get this
morning.”

“
It wasn’t me.” She put her hand up
in defense. “I was coming by to remind you that we’re needed in the
locker room in about ten minutes for the media rush this
morning.”

“
Wait. So where did the coffee come
from?”

“
I thought you would know. The
kitchen sent these up. They said there was one for me and one for
you.”

“
Oh, okay.” Paige frowned in
confusion, but it was free coffee. “I’ll check my emails and then
meet you downstairs in ten.”

“
Sounds good!” Melanie closed the
door behind her.

She took a sip of the fresh, hot coffee, and then
opened her emails. She’d already answered all of the interview
requests… the only new email that she had stood out as if it had
blaring neon lights around it. It was from Tyler. Her heartrate
sped up as she opened the message.

Paige, hope you and Mel enjoyed the coffee. I thought
you might like that this morning. You never answered me yesterday,
so I’m going to ask again. Please have dinner with me? You know
where to find me. Tyler

Her eyes fell on the roses in the corner. “Damn, he’s
persistent.”

Not able to concentrate any more on work, she grabbed
her coffee and her paperwork and headed down to the locker room.
Once she reached the hallway, she had to wade through a sea of
media, but she barely noticed them, her mind too busy with thoughts
of Tyler.

She walked into the locker room with her head down,
pretending to read messages on her cell phone. Not paying much
attention to her surroundings, she looked up and right into Tyler’s
surprised eyes. A slow grin slid across his lips as she realized
his hair was damp and he was shirtless. Her gaze traveled downward
until she saw he stood before her in only a towel. She’d forgotten
the number one rule.

Oh shit.

CHAPTER 23

Tyler didn’t hear Paige announce herself as she
walked into the locker room. He just saw her strut in while paying
attention to her phone, and damn she looked good. He wasn’t used to
being exposed while the ladies were in here, but honestly he didn’t
mind. However, the other guys might not be so amused.