Straddling the Line
Page 4
“You can ask any question you want. It doesn’t mean I’m gonna answer it.”
“Duly noted.” As was typical for Trevor, he presented a challenge. When hadn’t he? Even in college, he hadn’t made it easy for her to do her job.
But that hadn’t stopped her then. And it wouldn’t stop her now.
“How’s your mom?” he asked.
“She’s doing . . . well. I talked to her yesterday, as a matter of fact. I was originally going to—well, never mind.”
“Originally going to what?”
It wouldn’t do for him to know that she’d been about to abandon her dream job and hightail it out of New York to run back to Oklahoma. “I was going to visit her, but this job came up so I had to let her know I’d have to put that on hold.”
“Maybe we’ll both get a chance to visit her while we’re doing the interview. I assume you’ll want do part of the coverage at the college.”
“I’d love to if you have the time.”
“I’ll make the time.”
He sure was being accommodating. “Then yes, we probably will.”
She really had to organize her thoughts—and her notes.
“So, we’ll get started in the morning?” she asked.
“Why not now?”
“I’m not . . . ready yet.”
“Okay. What do you want to do tonight? Do you want to see St. Louis?”
Just the thought of going out made her nauseated. “No, I think I’ll head up to my room and review my notes so we can get started tomorrow.”
“Are you sure? You might want to kick back and have some fun tonight. Let me show you the city. We’ll go out.”
“First, I’ve been here before.”
“You have? When?”
“With my . . . with my dad. But it’s been a long time. I was a kid.”
He gave her a look that told her he understood. “St. Louis has changed a lot since you were a kid. There’s a lot I can show you about the city.”
“I’m not here to have fun, Trevor. I’m here to work.”
He leaned in, giving her a view of his incredible eyes. “You can’t work all the time, Haven. Life is meant to be lived. One of my teammates has a birthday today. He’s invited a bunch of people to a club to celebrate.”
She wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. “You go. I’ll stay here and work.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. I need to get prepped for us to start tomorrow.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay. But if you change your mind . . .”
“I won’t. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She went to her room, stripped into underwear and a tank top, and climbed into bed, surrounding herself with her notes and her laptop. She spent a few hours making notes and organizing her plan of attack, then grabbed the remote to watch some television.
She startled awake sometime later, disoriented, her notes lying on top of her.
She took her laptop and plugged it in to recharge it, then grabbed her phone to look at the time, realizing it was after two in the morning.
Wow. She’d worked longer than she’d thought. Though she had no idea how long she’d been asleep. She scanned over her notes and felt good about her approach. She put on a pair of shorts and went downstairs and over to the main wing to grab a glass of ice water.
It was dark down there. She wondered if Trevor had come home already. She wouldn’t know if he had, since her wing was far away from his.
Not her business, anyway. She went to the cupboard and found a glass, filled it with ice and water, and headed outside onto the pool deck to enjoy the light breeze and to look at the sky. It was nice out now. She could sit out here the rest of the night and enjoy the soft breeze and stare at the stars.
She heard a car and saw the headlights in the driveway. She stood, figuring it was Trevor. She went back inside and took her glass to the sink, intending to greet him, then head back to bed. But Trevor came into the kitchen and flipped on the lights.
He wasn’t alone, either. There was a guy with him. And two very attractive women, both blondes. One of them was draped all over Trevor.
“Oh,” Trevor said, his lips curving into a smile. “I thought you’d gone to bed a few hours ago.”
“I did. I was working, and I got thirsty. Then I went to sit outside for a while. I wasn’t really tired, so I watched the stars. It’s really nice outside tonight.”
And he doesn’t need a blow-by-blow of your every move, idiot.
“Yeah, it is. Haven, this is my teammate, Tennessee. We call him Ten-Spot. And this is Audrey and Petra.”
She nodded. “Nice to meet all of you.”
“Who’s she?” Petra, the one clinging to Trevor, asked.
“Haven’s a friend of mine. She’ll be staying here for a while, traveling with me. We go way back. I knew her dad a long time ago—back in college.”
Petra gave her the once-over. “So . . . like a charity thing, huh?” Haven sucked in a breath, but didn’t take the bait.
“No, not like that. Why don’t you all go out on the deck? We’ll get in the pool.”
“Come on,” Ten-Spot said to the women. “Nice to meet you, Haven.”
“You too, Ten-Spot,” she said. “Is today your birthday?”
“Well, technically yesterday. But yeah.”
“Happy birthday.”
Ten-Spot grinned. “Thanks.”
“I want to stay here with you, Trevor,” Petra said, mimicking a very obvious pout so her glossy full lips looked even fuller.
Trevor squeezed her hand. “Just go on outside, Petra. I’ll be right there.”
“Okay.” Petra pouted some more, then grabbed his face and kissed him. Rather sloppily. Trevor was the one who broke the kiss.
Ick. Whatever.
After they closed the door to the back deck, Trevor turned to her. “Sorry. I thought you’d be in bed.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. This is your house. And I was in bed.”
He didn’t say anything else, so she did. “Look, I don’t want to cramp your . . . recreational time, Trevor. So maybe we need to talk about the whole living arrangement thing. I can stay at a hotel. The network will pay for it.”
“Nothing to talk about. I want you here with me. There’s plenty of space here.”
But she wasn’t sure it was going to work for her. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. You have fun with your friends. I’m going upstairs to bed now.”
“You’re welcome to join us, you know.”
The sounds of squeals and laughter drew her attention to the pool. She caught a flash of na**d breasts, then shook her head.
“No, that’s okay. I’m tired. Besides, we have a business arrangement, remember?”
He gave her a look. “Sure. Whatever you say, Haven.” He went to the fridge and grabbed several beers. “I’ll see you in the morning then, right?”
“Right.”
Her stomach tightened, though she had no idea why she cared where he went and who he went with. She shouldn’t care. She didn’t care.
She walked up the stairs and went to her room, shutting the door behind her. She couldn’t shut out the sounds of laughter from below, though. And the memories came flooding back of every girl Trevor had been with in college. All the beautiful cheerleaders he’d dated, and how she’d longed for him to notice her as something other than his tutor.
He never had because he’d only been interested in how she could help him pass his classes.
She grabbed her iPod and shoved her earbuds in her ears to drown out the sounds from outside.
TREVOR SAT AT THE EDGE OF THE POOL WHILE TEN-Spot frolicked with the girls.
This had been a mistake. He’d known it, but Ten had hooked up with Audrey at the club, and Petra had come along for the ride.
Petra wasn’t even his type. He didn’t go for stacked blondes, especially the ones who were only interested in sleeping with a jock. The girl was obvious. She’d been grinding against him all night long, practically giving him a blowjob in the VIP section of the club. Trevor liked sex as much as the next guy, but he’d like to think he’d grown up a little and enjoyed being the aggressor. Plus, some of these women were a little too aggressive.
What the hell had happened to subtlety and seduction and letting things happen in their own time?
Maybe he was getting old, or just damn tired of the game.
Or maybe he was tired of women like Petra who were only interested in the exposure.
He didn’t want a girlfriend, anyway. He only wanted to focus on his career. And he was supposed to be concentrating on Haven, on making her feel better.
This wasn’t cutting it. He had to work harder, should have tried to persuade her to go out with him tonight.
Instead, he’d ended up with the drunk blonde in his pool who couldn’t care less which athlete she was with, as long as she got to say she slept with someone from the team.
Looked like Ten-Spot was going to get lucky with both of them, because after Trevor made it clear to Petra that he wasn’t interested, she’d pouted for about three seconds before joining Audrey in making Ten’s night.
Which suited Trevor just fine. He was tired, and he needed to figure out how to better help Haven.
He’d do better tomorrow.
FOUR
WHEN TREVOR GOT UP THE NEXT MORNING, HE FOUND Haven in the sunroom, the smell of coffee drawing him there. He grabbed the pot and poured himself a cup.
“Hey, you’re up already.”
“Yes.” She sat at the table, her laptop and notepad sitting next to her. “Hammond was here early, cleaning up in the kitchen. He makes great coffee, too.” She looked around. “Where are your . . . friends?”
“They left not long after you went up to bed.”
“All of them?”
He crooked a smile. “Yeah. All of them. Petra isn’t my girlfriend. Or even a one-night stand, Haven.”
She diverted her attention to her laptop. “It’s not any of my business who you sleep with.”
Yeah, right. Except she’d looked irritated last night. And he had to admit that made him curious. Was she jealous? Why would she be? Was she interested in him? He looked over at her, so focused on whatever it was she was doing on her laptop.
“Ready to work so soon?”
“Whenever you are.”
“Coffee first. And then breakfast. Have you eaten yet?”
“I had some yogurt.”
He poured a cup of coffee. “Yogurt? That’s it?”
“It’s enough for me.”
He laughed. “No, it’s not. How about some bacon and eggs and pancakes? Maybe some biscuits and gravy?”
She finally drew her attention away from her laptop and looked at him. “Hammond’s not here. He said he had errands to run.”
“I told you I know how to cook.”
She gave him the once-over. “Maybe I should cook.”
He laughed. “I think you’ll just have to trust me.”
“Really. I’m good. The yogurt was fine.”
“It’s not fine. And I need to eat anyway. I need fuel for the day, and breakfast should be your biggest meal.”
“Uh, no thanks, really. I’m good.”
“Come with me. You can sit with me and drink your coffee while I’m cooking.”
She seemed to agree with that, following him into the kitchen and taking a seat at the island.
He pulled out several skillets. “I’ll make extra, just in case you change your mind.” She looked like she could use some calories, like she’d lost some weight since the last time he’d seen her.
“What are you working on over there?” he asked as he put bacon in the pan, then cracked eggs in a bowl.
“Just the outline for our program together.”
Deciding against pancakes, he took out bread and popped some in the toaster. “Okay. So what’s the plan?”
“It can wait until after breakfast.”
“Do you like orange juice?”
“What?”
“Orange juice. Do you like it?”
“Oh. Yes, I do. Why?”
He opened the refrigerator and scanned the contents. “I also have carrot juice, apple juice, and cranberry juice. What would you prefer?”
“Um . . . orange juice is fine.”
He poured two glasses, then flipped the bacon over and got out two plates.
“Really, Trevor, I’m not hungry.”
He slid a smile her way. “No one said you had to eat.”
He finished the bacon, then put the eggs in the pan. In a couple of minutes, they were scrambled perfectly. He split them onto two plates and slid one in her direction. Not paying attention to her, he pulled up a chair at the breakfast bar and started eating.
It didn’t take her long to push her laptop to the side, grab the fork he’d laid on the plate, and dive into the food.
Never underestimate the power of the smell of bacon. She ate at least half of what he’d put on her plate, which he’d call a success.
When she finished, she pushed the plate to the side. “That was really good. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You’re a good cook, Trevor.”
He leaned back in his chair. “This surprises you?”
“I don’t know why it should. You’re good at so many things.”
He shot her a grin. “Darlin’, you don’t know the half of it.”
“Duly noted.” As was typical for Trevor, he presented a challenge. When hadn’t he? Even in college, he hadn’t made it easy for her to do her job.
But that hadn’t stopped her then. And it wouldn’t stop her now.
“How’s your mom?” he asked.
“She’s doing . . . well. I talked to her yesterday, as a matter of fact. I was originally going to—well, never mind.”
“Originally going to what?”
It wouldn’t do for him to know that she’d been about to abandon her dream job and hightail it out of New York to run back to Oklahoma. “I was going to visit her, but this job came up so I had to let her know I’d have to put that on hold.”
“Maybe we’ll both get a chance to visit her while we’re doing the interview. I assume you’ll want do part of the coverage at the college.”
“I’d love to if you have the time.”
“I’ll make the time.”
He sure was being accommodating. “Then yes, we probably will.”
She really had to organize her thoughts—and her notes.
“So, we’ll get started in the morning?” she asked.
“Why not now?”
“I’m not . . . ready yet.”
“Okay. What do you want to do tonight? Do you want to see St. Louis?”
Just the thought of going out made her nauseated. “No, I think I’ll head up to my room and review my notes so we can get started tomorrow.”
“Are you sure? You might want to kick back and have some fun tonight. Let me show you the city. We’ll go out.”
“First, I’ve been here before.”
“You have? When?”
“With my . . . with my dad. But it’s been a long time. I was a kid.”
He gave her a look that told her he understood. “St. Louis has changed a lot since you were a kid. There’s a lot I can show you about the city.”
“I’m not here to have fun, Trevor. I’m here to work.”
He leaned in, giving her a view of his incredible eyes. “You can’t work all the time, Haven. Life is meant to be lived. One of my teammates has a birthday today. He’s invited a bunch of people to a club to celebrate.”
She wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. “You go. I’ll stay here and work.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. I need to get prepped for us to start tomorrow.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay. But if you change your mind . . .”
“I won’t. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She went to her room, stripped into underwear and a tank top, and climbed into bed, surrounding herself with her notes and her laptop. She spent a few hours making notes and organizing her plan of attack, then grabbed the remote to watch some television.
She startled awake sometime later, disoriented, her notes lying on top of her.
She took her laptop and plugged it in to recharge it, then grabbed her phone to look at the time, realizing it was after two in the morning.
Wow. She’d worked longer than she’d thought. Though she had no idea how long she’d been asleep. She scanned over her notes and felt good about her approach. She put on a pair of shorts and went downstairs and over to the main wing to grab a glass of ice water.
It was dark down there. She wondered if Trevor had come home already. She wouldn’t know if he had, since her wing was far away from his.
Not her business, anyway. She went to the cupboard and found a glass, filled it with ice and water, and headed outside onto the pool deck to enjoy the light breeze and to look at the sky. It was nice out now. She could sit out here the rest of the night and enjoy the soft breeze and stare at the stars.
She heard a car and saw the headlights in the driveway. She stood, figuring it was Trevor. She went back inside and took her glass to the sink, intending to greet him, then head back to bed. But Trevor came into the kitchen and flipped on the lights.
He wasn’t alone, either. There was a guy with him. And two very attractive women, both blondes. One of them was draped all over Trevor.
“Oh,” Trevor said, his lips curving into a smile. “I thought you’d gone to bed a few hours ago.”
“I did. I was working, and I got thirsty. Then I went to sit outside for a while. I wasn’t really tired, so I watched the stars. It’s really nice outside tonight.”
And he doesn’t need a blow-by-blow of your every move, idiot.
“Yeah, it is. Haven, this is my teammate, Tennessee. We call him Ten-Spot. And this is Audrey and Petra.”
She nodded. “Nice to meet all of you.”
“Who’s she?” Petra, the one clinging to Trevor, asked.
“Haven’s a friend of mine. She’ll be staying here for a while, traveling with me. We go way back. I knew her dad a long time ago—back in college.”
Petra gave her the once-over. “So . . . like a charity thing, huh?” Haven sucked in a breath, but didn’t take the bait.
“No, not like that. Why don’t you all go out on the deck? We’ll get in the pool.”
“Come on,” Ten-Spot said to the women. “Nice to meet you, Haven.”
“You too, Ten-Spot,” she said. “Is today your birthday?”
“Well, technically yesterday. But yeah.”
“Happy birthday.”
Ten-Spot grinned. “Thanks.”
“I want to stay here with you, Trevor,” Petra said, mimicking a very obvious pout so her glossy full lips looked even fuller.
Trevor squeezed her hand. “Just go on outside, Petra. I’ll be right there.”
“Okay.” Petra pouted some more, then grabbed his face and kissed him. Rather sloppily. Trevor was the one who broke the kiss.
Ick. Whatever.
After they closed the door to the back deck, Trevor turned to her. “Sorry. I thought you’d be in bed.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. This is your house. And I was in bed.”
He didn’t say anything else, so she did. “Look, I don’t want to cramp your . . . recreational time, Trevor. So maybe we need to talk about the whole living arrangement thing. I can stay at a hotel. The network will pay for it.”
“Nothing to talk about. I want you here with me. There’s plenty of space here.”
But she wasn’t sure it was going to work for her. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. You have fun with your friends. I’m going upstairs to bed now.”
“You’re welcome to join us, you know.”
The sounds of squeals and laughter drew her attention to the pool. She caught a flash of na**d breasts, then shook her head.
“No, that’s okay. I’m tired. Besides, we have a business arrangement, remember?”
He gave her a look. “Sure. Whatever you say, Haven.” He went to the fridge and grabbed several beers. “I’ll see you in the morning then, right?”
“Right.”
Her stomach tightened, though she had no idea why she cared where he went and who he went with. She shouldn’t care. She didn’t care.
She walked up the stairs and went to her room, shutting the door behind her. She couldn’t shut out the sounds of laughter from below, though. And the memories came flooding back of every girl Trevor had been with in college. All the beautiful cheerleaders he’d dated, and how she’d longed for him to notice her as something other than his tutor.
He never had because he’d only been interested in how she could help him pass his classes.
She grabbed her iPod and shoved her earbuds in her ears to drown out the sounds from outside.
TREVOR SAT AT THE EDGE OF THE POOL WHILE TEN-Spot frolicked with the girls.
This had been a mistake. He’d known it, but Ten had hooked up with Audrey at the club, and Petra had come along for the ride.
Petra wasn’t even his type. He didn’t go for stacked blondes, especially the ones who were only interested in sleeping with a jock. The girl was obvious. She’d been grinding against him all night long, practically giving him a blowjob in the VIP section of the club. Trevor liked sex as much as the next guy, but he’d like to think he’d grown up a little and enjoyed being the aggressor. Plus, some of these women were a little too aggressive.
What the hell had happened to subtlety and seduction and letting things happen in their own time?
Maybe he was getting old, or just damn tired of the game.
Or maybe he was tired of women like Petra who were only interested in the exposure.
He didn’t want a girlfriend, anyway. He only wanted to focus on his career. And he was supposed to be concentrating on Haven, on making her feel better.
This wasn’t cutting it. He had to work harder, should have tried to persuade her to go out with him tonight.
Instead, he’d ended up with the drunk blonde in his pool who couldn’t care less which athlete she was with, as long as she got to say she slept with someone from the team.
Looked like Ten-Spot was going to get lucky with both of them, because after Trevor made it clear to Petra that he wasn’t interested, she’d pouted for about three seconds before joining Audrey in making Ten’s night.
Which suited Trevor just fine. He was tired, and he needed to figure out how to better help Haven.
He’d do better tomorrow.
FOUR
WHEN TREVOR GOT UP THE NEXT MORNING, HE FOUND Haven in the sunroom, the smell of coffee drawing him there. He grabbed the pot and poured himself a cup.
“Hey, you’re up already.”
“Yes.” She sat at the table, her laptop and notepad sitting next to her. “Hammond was here early, cleaning up in the kitchen. He makes great coffee, too.” She looked around. “Where are your . . . friends?”
“They left not long after you went up to bed.”
“All of them?”
He crooked a smile. “Yeah. All of them. Petra isn’t my girlfriend. Or even a one-night stand, Haven.”
She diverted her attention to her laptop. “It’s not any of my business who you sleep with.”
Yeah, right. Except she’d looked irritated last night. And he had to admit that made him curious. Was she jealous? Why would she be? Was she interested in him? He looked over at her, so focused on whatever it was she was doing on her laptop.
“Ready to work so soon?”
“Whenever you are.”
“Coffee first. And then breakfast. Have you eaten yet?”
“I had some yogurt.”
He poured a cup of coffee. “Yogurt? That’s it?”
“It’s enough for me.”
He laughed. “No, it’s not. How about some bacon and eggs and pancakes? Maybe some biscuits and gravy?”
She finally drew her attention away from her laptop and looked at him. “Hammond’s not here. He said he had errands to run.”
“I told you I know how to cook.”
She gave him the once-over. “Maybe I should cook.”
He laughed. “I think you’ll just have to trust me.”
“Really. I’m good. The yogurt was fine.”
“It’s not fine. And I need to eat anyway. I need fuel for the day, and breakfast should be your biggest meal.”
“Uh, no thanks, really. I’m good.”
“Come with me. You can sit with me and drink your coffee while I’m cooking.”
She seemed to agree with that, following him into the kitchen and taking a seat at the island.
He pulled out several skillets. “I’ll make extra, just in case you change your mind.” She looked like she could use some calories, like she’d lost some weight since the last time he’d seen her.
“What are you working on over there?” he asked as he put bacon in the pan, then cracked eggs in a bowl.
“Just the outline for our program together.”
Deciding against pancakes, he took out bread and popped some in the toaster. “Okay. So what’s the plan?”
“It can wait until after breakfast.”
“Do you like orange juice?”
“What?”
“Orange juice. Do you like it?”
“Oh. Yes, I do. Why?”
He opened the refrigerator and scanned the contents. “I also have carrot juice, apple juice, and cranberry juice. What would you prefer?”
“Um . . . orange juice is fine.”
He poured two glasses, then flipped the bacon over and got out two plates.
“Really, Trevor, I’m not hungry.”
He slid a smile her way. “No one said you had to eat.”
He finished the bacon, then put the eggs in the pan. In a couple of minutes, they were scrambled perfectly. He split them onto two plates and slid one in her direction. Not paying attention to her, he pulled up a chair at the breakfast bar and started eating.
It didn’t take her long to push her laptop to the side, grab the fork he’d laid on the plate, and dive into the food.
Never underestimate the power of the smell of bacon. She ate at least half of what he’d put on her plate, which he’d call a success.
When she finished, she pushed the plate to the side. “That was really good. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You’re a good cook, Trevor.”
He leaned back in his chair. “This surprises you?”
“I don’t know why it should. You’re good at so many things.”
He shot her a grin. “Darlin’, you don’t know the half of it.”
