Part 10 (2/2)
”For pity's sake, Brody. If you're that chicken, just put the catalog in your locker. You obviously find it arousing.” She glanced down at his shorts. ”Maybe the snitch will, too.”
Brody felt the muscles in the back of his neck squeezing off the oxygen to his brain. ”No.” He tried to cram the catalog back into the envelope, but there were other papers inside of it. Shannon's face went white as he pulled them out. ”What the h.e.l.l is this?”
A tussle ensued as Shannon tried to retrieve the doc.u.ment. She was all Texas wildcat, but Brody was stronger and she ended up pinned against the refrigerator again. Only this time, he was the only one turned on. The pa.s.sion reflected in her eyes was definitely anger, and if he was reading her right, a little bit of embarra.s.sment. She tried to wiggle free, but he held her fast as he scanned the pages in his hand.
”Holy s.h.i.+t,” he whispered. All the fight left her body and she went limp against him. ”This says you're going to work at a prison.” Brody couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. ”I don't understand.”
”What's to understand,” she said crisply. ”Prisoners have got to eat, too.”
He s.h.i.+fted his weight, pus.h.i.+ng her into the stainless steel door while summoning his caveman. ”You can't work in prison.”
”Ooooof!” Shannon yelled, jabbing her nails into his chest to shove him off her. Tears were leaking from her eyes. ”Says the man who has everything. Who's never had to work for a thing in his life!” She jerked the papers from his fingers and waved them in his face. ”This, this job, will ensure my mama gets to keep her livelihood. A situation you or your family has never faced. And you never will face with your gobs of money!” She stabbed a finger into his shoulder. ”The rest of the world wasn't born with your gifts”-she practically spat the word out at him-”of good looks, affluence, and athletic ability. The rest of us have to carve out whatever we want.” She shoved the papers back into her book bag. ”Some of us are so desperate for money that we'll do things we know we shouldn't. Yes, I was in that locker room that night, but I couldn't go through with it. I don't care if you believe me anymore, Brody.” She swiped a tear off her cheek. ”The terms of your blackmail only require me to make sure you eat a nutritiously balanced diet. But you have no say-so in what I do with the rest of my life!”
She turned back to the cutting board and began to furiously chop up the remaining vegetables. Brody dragged his hands through his hair. He didn't dare move a muscle near her, fearful of what she'd do with the knife.
Shannon was right, he didn't understand what drove her. The perfect bubble he lived his life in insulated him from the type of drama she persevered through every day. Not for the first time, Brody wondered what his life would have been like if he'd grown up more like her. What type of man would he have become outside of football?
She moved to slicing the chicken, her breath coming in deep gulps. ”You know what the sad part is, Brody?” she mumbled. ”I would have considered the phone s.e.x thing if you'd agreed to help me.”
He had to smile at her tenacity. And her willingness to fool around. This woman never gave up on the things she believed in. Her family. Her neighbors. Hard work. And the truth. Brody desperately wanted her to believe in him, too. And, in a moment of pure clarity, he knew what he had to do.
Still wary of the knife, he carefully stepped behind her, bracketing his hands on the counter on either side of her and rested his head on her shoulder. ”We're not having phone s.e.x.”
Her whole body slumped in dejection.
Brody smiled against the delicate skin on her neck. ”You're not that woman who trades s.e.xual favors in exchange for something else, Shannon. And phone s.e.x, if it's done well, is definitely a s.e.xual favor.”
Shannon's breath became more fractured.
”I'll tell you what I am going to do,” he murmured against her ear. ”I'll agree to plant something in the locker room this weekend to catch the snitch.”
She let out a squeal and Brody grabbed the knife before she could accidently impale him.
”On one condition,” he continued and her shoulders slumped again. Her reaction nearly made him laugh as he nuzzled her jaw. ”If I have to embarra.s.s myself in front of my teammates, you have to be my date to my sister's wedding.”
She spun around in his arms, the close contact of her body making him groan again.
”You want me to go to your sister's wedding with you? As your date?”
”Well, more like as my human s.h.i.+eld.”
”I'm guessing this isn't being held at the VFW?”
”No, it's at some prissy four-star inn in Vermont. Does it matter?”
She shoved him again and Brody took a step back. Embarra.s.sment flooded her whiskey eyes. ”I can't do it, Brody. I don't have the clothes. Judging by your sister's outfit, I could never afford the clothes your family would expect of your date.”
”Why are you women always so concerned with what you have to wear?”
”Says the man whose sister lays out his clothes for him each day so he looks good.”
He sighed in resignation as he rubbed the back of his neck. ”No problem. I happen to have a good friend who loves playing fairy G.o.dmother to Cinderella.”
Shannon opened her mouth to protest, but Brody laid a finger across her lips.
”And I'm paying. For everything. Buy whatever you need and keep them as payment for being my date.”
”That sounds more like Pretty Woman than Cinderella,” she said around his finger.
Brody couldn't respond, he was so aroused by her lips brus.h.i.+ng against his fingertip.
She stepped back farther, crossing her arms over her chest. ”And you promise you'll put the catalog in your locker?”
”Oh, I didn't say my locker, Texas.” He rocked back on his heels as her eyes narrowed to slits. ”I'll be putting it in another player's locker.”
”Whose?” she demanded.
”If I tell you, we won't be eliminating you as a suspect.” He pulled her in closer. ”And I really want to eliminate you as the snitch.”
Her eyes shone with relief and a little bit of hunger. Suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to prove her innocence. It wouldn't solve the bigger problem of her knowing about his illness, but he'd deal with one thing at a time.
”I need to go take a shower. A long cold one.”
She gnawed on her lower lip and nodded.
”Leave me the catalog, Shannon. And take some of that home to eat.” He brushed a damp spot from beneath her eye.
”I'm sorry I'm such a conundrum, Brody,” she whispered.
Brody kissed the tip of her nose. ”I already told you, Shannon, I like conundrums.”
The scene that greeted Brody when he arrived the following evening at Will Connelly's loft apartment was one of such pure domestic bliss he had to stifle his gag reflex. Two of the league's most ruthless players had been reduced to lovesick puppies. William the Conqueror Connelly was frolicking on the floor with his six-month-old son, belly-farting the baby, who shrieked with laughter in response. The Devil of the NFL, Shane Devlin, was cramped on the end of the sofa, ma.s.saging his pregnant wife's feet.
”Wow, if this is a hot night in Married Land, count me out.”
Connelly lifted his son off the floor and tossed him in the air. ”Julianne, didn't I tell you to take away Brody's key?”
”I did take his key away,” Connelly's wife said as she carried a tray of desserts to a table beside the sofa.
”Then how'd he get in?”
Julianne's amber eyes sparkled as she stretched up on her tiptoes to kiss Brody on the cheek. ”I let him in,” she said with a smile. ”Now, stop throwing Owen like that before he throws up on you.” She steered Brody toward a chair. ”Help yourself to a cannoli, Brody. I just made them.”
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