Part 2 (1/2)
”This is Damian Fuller. I need to speak to Annabelle.” The deep, masculine voice reverberated through the telephone lines and Micki s.h.i.+vered, her reaction a jumble of emotions. She didn't know what affected her more, the rumbling baritone, the sound of his name, or the lingering memory of the degrading feelings she'd experienced in the locker room yesterday.
”h.e.l.lo?” Damian asked, drawing Micki back to the present. ”Is anyone there?”
She cleared her throat. ”Sorry. I was distracted. Someone just stopped by the desk,” she lied. ”What can I do for you?”
”I already told you I'd like to speak to Annabelle.”
”Oh right” She heard the annoyance in his voice and she quickly glanced down at the check-in sheet Raine was instructed to keep. ”Annabelle isn't in yet Can I--” She was about to ask if she could take a message when an idea dawned.
Here was the man who'd prompted her transformation in the first place. Why not start flirting over the telephone? It would be good practice. Her heart rate picked up speed at the prospect.
”I haven't much time to talk,” Damian said.
Before he could hang up, Micki pulled herself together. ”Hold on, Mr. Fuller. I'll put someone on the line who can help you.”
Micki pushed the hold b.u.t.ton, then drew a deep gulp of air. Think s.e.xy, think sultry, she told herself and settled into the oversize chair. She crossed her legs in an ultrafeminine pose and slowly lifted the phone. ”The Hot Zone, Micki Jordan speaking. What's your pleasure this morning?” she asked in the huskiest voice she could muster.
”Micki?” He sounded as if he didn't quite believe it. ”It's Damian Fuller. I needed to speak to Annabelle about the schedule she's got lined up for the team this coming weekend.”
”I'm sure it's nothing a guy like you can't handle,” Micki said, infusing her breathless words with subtle meaning.
Damian Fuller could nail anything on the field and off. Micki just wished he wanted to nail her.
He coughed into the phone. ”I realize Annabelle's just doing her job and the autism camp's a yearly thing, but I don't want her overbooking the team's PR appearances. We're in first place going into August. I don't want the guys to blow it by being too exhausted to play well.”
”Are you sure you aren't just looking for more time to pursue other off-the-field activities?” Micki cringed as the question toppled off her tongue, especially since both Joe Gordon, the Renegades owner, and Coach Donovan had called with the same request. He let out a laugh that set her nerve endings tingling. ”Let Annabelle know I called, okay?”
”I'll be sure to convey your concerns when she gets in,” she a.s.sured him.
”Thanks, and Micki?”
”Yes?”
”Take care of that cold. You sound really hoa.r.s.e.”
She hung up, completely mortified, and glanced up.
The clock on the wall caught her attention and she cursed just like the gamblers who'd come to her uncle's house every Thursday night while she was growing up. Micki scribbled a note for Annabelle, who was late, or Raine just hadn't checked her in as she was supposed to.
Micki rose and made a mad dash for the conference room. Tripping on her borrowed heels as she turned a corner, she saved herself by hugging the nearest wall. She waved at a startled Gert, the new office manager, a burly-looking woman who'd lasted a full three months so far in comparison to the others, whom Uncle Yank had sent home in tears-- men included.
”That's it I'm finished waiting. The meeting will come to order.” Micki heard her uncle slam the gavel against the rubber plate, calling the Hot Zone's second meeting this week to order.
Micki yanked off the shoes she'd borrowed from Sophie, determined to make an unnoticed entrance. But if she'd botched her physical transformation as much as she'd messed up flirting with Damian, she wouldn't have to worry about her uncle realizing she'd done anything different.
She strode into the conference room and slipped quietly into her seat.
”You're late,” her uncle grumbled without looking up.
”Good morning to you, too,” Micki said and blew him a kiss.
Sophie met her gaze and gave her a thumbs-up sign. Relief swelled inside her and she grinned back.
”Where's Annabelle?” Micki asked, glancing around. Apparently Raine hadn't botched attendance and once again they were one sister short ”That's what I'd like to know,” Uncle Yank said. ”Ever since she married that no-good, low-down snake Vaughn, she's become a typical, unpredictable female.” Micki laughed at his not-so-veiled reference to Lola. ”You adore Vaughn, so lay off him or I'll tell Annabelle you're at it again,” she said, referring to his past rocky history with Annabelle's husband.
”Actually, I have a message from Annabelle,” Sophie said. ”I was just waiting for Micki to get here so I could tell you both at the same time.”
”What's wrong?” Micki recognized the serious note in her sister's voice and her stomach plummeted. Annabelle was just a little over three months pregnant and Micki crossed her fingers that all was well.
”Nothing that can't be fixed with a little bed rest,” Sophie said quickly. ”Annabelle tried to call you this morning, but n.o.body answered.”
”I must've been blow-drying my hair,” Micki muttered.
”Well, apparently she's spotting and the doctor wants her off her feet.” Sophie, true to her a.n.a.lytical nature, proceeded to describe the graphic details of Annabelle's problem in terms of color and amount until Uncle Yank cut her off with the swing of his gavel.
”I don't want to hear the gory details about female problems.” His skin had turned green. ”I just want Annie and her baby to be okay.”
”And they will be,” Micki said, placing her hand over his. ”Right, Soph?”
”Right.”
”Speaking of doctors--”
”Next subject,” Uncle Yank said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Micki sighed. Sophie had been begging him to let her take him for an evaluation with a doctor who was performing a new procedure on patients with macular degeneration. But the big man who put the fear of G.o.d in everyone he knew--except his nieces and Lola-- was afraid. Not that he'd admitted as much.
”Okay, with Annie out, our biggest problem is now the New York Renegades PR blitz she was scheduled to handle in Tampa this weekend,” Sophie said, tapping her pen against her yellow notepad.
”Well there's a simple solution to that problem,” Uncle Yank said, his gaze darting between Micki and Sophie.
Micki wasn't about to let him hand this a.s.signment over to her. ”There sure is a simple solution,” Micki agreed. ”Sophie, you head on down to Tampa instead.”
Uncle Yank glanced from Micki to Sophie, seemingly torn as to whom he should push to go to south Florida. Before he could choose a niece, Sophie shook her head. ”Tsk, tsk, Uncle Yank. You can run but you can't hide and you know I made you a doctor's appointment next week with that specialist and I intend to be by your side to make sure you keep it.”
Which explained why he would want to get Sophie out of town, Micki thought.
He scowled. ”I don't need another doctor looking into my peepers.” He slammed the gavel hard for emphasis, stunning them all into silence.
At that moment, an electronic voice spoke. ”Nine thirty, a.m.” Uncle Yank cursed and pressed a b.u.t.ton on his newly purchased watch, designed so that the visually impaired didn't have to try to decipher small numbers.
”Divine providence?” Sophie asked sweetly.
”I was just testing the thing by wearing it” he muttered. ”It doesn't mean I need it yet.”
He might be telling the truth. Micki wasn't sure she understood what her uncle could or could not see, just that there had been some worsening since he was diagnosed a year ago. For all his denials about needing a specialist, he'd gone ahead and begun acclimatizing himself to the accessories and implements made for the visually impaired. It was almost as if he'd resigned himself to the inevitable without a fight, and that was so unlike her feisty uncle, it hurt her heart.
Despite how close Micki and Uncle Yank were, Sophie was the sister who understood conical things best and the sisters all agreed Sophie could handle him and his specialists.
Still, Micki could definitely stand in for Sophie this once. ”If you go to Florida, I'll make sure he keeps that appointment,” Micki a.s.sured her sister.