Sweet Spot: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (Bad Boys of Summer Book 2) (17 page)

Thinking back, I couldn’t quite remember how my father knew him, but at the very least they were in the same social circles and had been friendly enough with one another to let me know he was something more than just an acquaintance. A pit formed in my stomach wondering just what Mr. Arlington was tangled up in—and even more so—if my daddy knew.

The connection to Senator McNary came relatively quickly. Jameston McNary was a newly re-elected senator and Mr. Arlington was a fairly public member of his super PAC. Meaning, he donated mountains of cash to his campaign. Could that have been what was in that envelope? A fat check for his campaign? Nope, that didn’t work out. The campaign was long over. And the envelope was way too thick—like cash. Lots of cold hard cash. And why there, I wondered. Why that hotel? Neither one of those men lived in Denver. I’d already searched for any political events in the area, scouring their social media accounts for clues, and still came up empty.

All I really knew was that something wasn’t right. My first reaction to spotting the senator was spot on. He was tangled up in something suspicious—I just knew it. It was thrilling and terrifying to think that little ole me could be on the edge of something big. Maybe even earth shattering, a story no one else even had a whiff of.

It could make my career.

But I needed more information.

After another hour of wracking my brain, I got up from my corner table, stretched and twisted at the waist to release the tight muscles in my lower back from being hunched over my laptop all morning. I made my way to the counter, ordered a fourth refill, and a breakfast sandwich to go along with it, and then returned to my table. As I waited for my name to be called, I tapped the tip of my pen against my legal pad. Sometimes I was old school.

“Josie? Order up!” the friendly, fresh-faced barista called over the counter, holding up a small white plate with a steaming hot croissant sandwich and my well used cup in the other.

I scrambled to get the order, dropped another bill in her tip jar, and took the haul back to my makeshift work station. I shut the laptop while I ate. I wasn’t going to get anything from staring at the same stuff over and over again. Except maybe a case of eye strain.

The sandwich was buttery and delicious. I missed this cafe while on my trip with the Warriors. Hotel food and take out wasn’t quite as enjoyable when you didn’t know the best places to go. I sighed, as my thoughts drifted from thinking about food, to the ten-day trip, to thinking about Trey. I wondered what he was doing. He seemed so sad when I left his room that morning. His cocky, rough and tough exterior had been stripped away, if only for a moment, and I’d caught a glimpse at something much darker.

Loneliness.

My heart twisted in my chest. My appetite drained away and I pushed my plate to the side, leaving the last few bites of food. Trey had somehow managed to do everything I didn’t want, but got inside my head—and my heart—all the same. Was I that desperate for a man? I didn’t think so—there had to be another reason. Maybe I’d seen Trey’s silent heartache all along.

“JoJo?”

I jerked around in my seat at the sound of my name. I’d been so lost and tangled up thinking about Trey I hadn’t even seen my co-worker, Hallie, come into the coffee shop. She was a tall, broad shouldered girl, who looked like one of those beach volleyball athletes. She was probably right around my age, I’d never asked. And she had beautifully dyed blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a contagious smile. She waved as she caught my attention before making a pit stop at the counter to place her order. She worked on the PR side of things at the station, which meant we didn’t cross paths all that often. However, we’d hit it off, having started working for the station at the same time, and we’d even gone out for after work drinks on a few occasions. Enough that we could be called friends.

After she ordered, she hurried over to join me, casually dropping into the chair opposite mine. “Hey! I didn’t know you were back from your trip!”

I nodded and tried to plaster on a smile. Thoughts of Trey were still running around in the back of my mind and made it hard to focus. “Yeah, last night…well…afternoon, I guess it was.” I shook my head, trying to turn off the rampant thoughts of Trey meeting me at the hotel, the flowers he’d given me, and the night spent in his hotel room, wrapped around his delicious body. Ungh.

“Awesome,” Hallie said, smiling and nodding. She reminded me of a puppy. “Well, I have to tell you, it’s been quite exciting around the office.”

I scoffed. “I’m sure. Not every day your reporter runs off with a pro baseball player…”

Hallie’s brow wrinkled. “What are you—oh…”

“Wait. Wasn’t that what you were about to say? The whole me and Trey thing?” Heat rushed up to my cheeks and I wished for a big hole to open up under my table and swallow me.

“No. I mean, everyone knows about that, obviously—”

“Great,” I groaned.

Hallie ducked her chin for a second. “I was actually talking about Christy’s baby. She went into labor right there on air!”

“What?” I straightened in my chair.

“Yeah! I mean, her water broke on air and everything! It was a big, ole’ mess right there in front of the green screen.”

A laugh slipped from my lips and I quickly slapped two fingers to suppress it. “Oh my goodness!”

“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.” Hallie giggled and then went to grab her coffee and half a sandwich. She returned and took a long drink. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear about that.”

“Well, I didn’t stick around long. I’ve been camped out here most of the day. Because of…well…the
other
thing.”

Hallie waved her hand. “Girl, that’s old news! You can thank Christy!”

I laughed softly and nodded. “Good to know. I just felt a little fishbowl-
ish
.”

“I get it. My department handled most of it. I think we got the pics pulled from a few of the sites. It wasn’t too much of a stresser. You know how fast gossip moves.”

I shrugged. “I guess. It’s a different feeling when it’s your picture being blasted everywhere. I didn’t even know about it until I landed yesterday afternoon. I’m surprised my daddy hasn’t called to chew my ass.”

Hallie nodded. “I promise, it’s not a big deal. But…since we’re talkin’ about it…spill! How on earth did that even happen?”

I groaned.

“Okay, sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t have asked,” Hallie said, her own cheeks going pink.

“No, no. It’s fine,” I hurried to add, waving my hand at her. “It’s fine. I mean, there’s not much to tell…” Hallie arched an eyebrow and I laughed. “Okay, you’re right. Obviously there’s a story here.”

“I’ll say! Damn! Trey Delgado is the hottest ball player ever!”

“Yeah, he is pretty hot—and he knows it.”

I reached for the last of my croissant and popped it into my mouth. When it was gone, I started the story, telling her about the first time Trey and I met, on the tarmac, right after I was assigned to getting an interview with him. Then the story about seeing him at the hotel bar. I left out the sexy details, but told her we’d hit it off and got close after that on a few occasions.

When I was done, Hallie’s eyes were practically sparkling. “So, what now? You saw him yesterday at the airport?”

I nodded. “Yeah…he was waiting for me. With flowers, actually.”

Hallie whimpered. “Aww!”

I was smiling like an idiot, despite my internal demands to myself that I can it. “I don’t know what will happen next. I mean, I’m off the sports gig. So, I don’t think we’ll cross paths again.”

Hallie frowned. “Don’t you have his number or something?”

I started. “Actually, no. We never really did that…”

She laughed. “Too busy with other things, I guess.”

My cheeks flushed again and I busied myself with polishing off my latte. “Something like that.”

“Well, it’s not like you couldn’t get his number. You’re a reporter after all.”

I scoffed. “Hardly. I’m more of a professional coffee orderer. Although, come to think of it, I have no memory of taking Starbucks 101 in college.”

Hallie laughed softly and patted the back of my hand. “You’ll get there.”

I glanced down at the closed laptop, thinking of the dirt I’d been digging up on Mr. Arlington and the senator. Would it take me to the top? All I could do was hope. And work my ass off.

I sighed and my smile faded, twisting slightly, into a bittersweet smile. The kind of faraway look people get when thinking about a long passed away relative, lost love, or sweet memory from another life. “I don’t know, Hallie. Guys like Trey aren’t the type to do commitments or anything long term. Right?”

She considered my question for a moment but then shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never really been around guys like that before. I tend to fall for the geeky, engineering type who talk numbers and mathematical formulas in their sleep.”

“That’s hot,” I teased.

She giggled. “What can I say, I just love it when they talk nerdy to me.”

I laughed and felt a weight lift off of my shoulders. Sitting with Hallie, talking about life and relationships and men was a vital reminder that I had built something more than just a fizzling career during my time in Oklahoma City. I’d made friends and connections. I made a mental note to remind myself of that fact the next time I was getting wrapped up in what wasn’t going right in my life. I would probably be much better off if instead of focusing on what I didn’t have—or hadn’t achieved—I’d focus on what I
did
have. Friends, my nice apartment, my job—even if it was just a coffee runner for people who had better jobs.

Things I should be grateful for.

“All right, well then, let me ask you this,” Hallie started, leaning back against her chair. “What do you want to happen? Like, dream case scenario.”

Her question hit me in the chest like a Mack truck. What did I want? Did I want Trey?

After a long moment of silence on my part, she giggled and swiped her blond locks behind her ears after a short head shake. “I didn’t realize that was like a million dollar Jeopardy question.”

“Do they even have a million dollar question?”

She laughed harder. “I don’t know! Doesn’t everything, these days?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, Hallie. I honestly don’t know what I’d want with Trey. It was a fuck—or two. I didn’t think about what life would be like with a guy like that, mostly because he doesn’t live in the real world like the rest of us do. Or, at least, it didn’t feel like it. It was all beautiful hotel room views, expensive drinks and food, and sex.” I blushed again at the end of my speech, even without giving up all the naughty details, it still embarrassed me a little to be talking about my time with Trey.

Hallie nodded. “I get it. It’s not like you’d go to the grocery store together or have arguments about who cleans the house or over drafted the checking account or whatever.”

I laughed. “Exactly! Real people problems. I bet he doesn’t even know what a gallon of milk costs.”

“Uhm, Josie, do you even know what a gallon of milk cost?”

I almost spit out the last of my latte, and laughed. “Okay, you’re right. I heard it in a movie. Thought it was a great line.”

“Hell, if I could hit the eject button on real people problems, I totally would. And I know what a gallon of milk costs!” Hallie grinned into her mug.

“Except then you trade them for superstar problems. Like reporters catching you making out in a hallway or baby mama drama,” I added, my tone turning sour again.

Hallie wrinkled her nose. “That’s true. I guess at least with my nerds, I don’t have to worry about that stuff.”

I smiled, not sure what to say next.

Hallie glanced up at me. “But then again, my nerdy guys don’t look half as good as Trey does in a pair of underwear,” she added with a giggle, instantly filling my mind with Trey’s national underwear campaign, with photos of him in his skivvies on the sides of busses, billboards, and inside glossy magazines.

“Damn it…”

Hallie laughed. “Yeah, life’s a bitch sometimes.”

I smiled at her and lifted my mug in a mock toast. “Preach it.”

Trey

In my life, I’d tried a bunch of shit. I’d been drunk off my ass on more than a few occasions, tried pills that I didn’t even know the name of, and had snorted a little coke at a couple of wild parties. But I’d never gotten hooked on anything. I could always walk away from the bar. Didn’t need pills or injections or powder to keep me going. But, in the two days since Josie walked out of my hotel room, I’d been jonesin’. Big time.

She was under my skin and living in my head. It didn’t matter what I did or where I went, she was there, naggin’ at the back of my brain. I’d even went out, just grabbing a bite to eat, post practice with Cody, Robby, and a few of the other guys, and thought for sure I’d seen her across the room at the bar. I chased the poor woman down, calling out Josie’s name, only to rear back a few seconds later, realizing it wasn’t her at all. In the end, I signed an autograph, smiled for a picture, and the woman went on her way with one crazy ass story about a psycho ball player for her friends at a corner booth.

Cody and Robby hadn’t shut up about it since.

“Hey, Delgado, you wanna go get a bite? Maybe find your mystery reporter again,” Cody teased, grinning over at Robby across the locker room.

I slammed my locker shut. “Fuck off, Wright. I’m not in the mood.”

Robby and Cody exchanged looks and Robby sauntered over, a towel wrapped around his waist. He plopped on the bench and slapped his hands together. “All right, Delgado, spill your guts. What’s got your panties in a bunch?”

Cody nodded, slipped a team tee shirt on, and sat beside Robby, careful to put a few inches between them. “No kidding. You fuckin’ sucked ass in practice today. If you don’t watch yourself, Coach is gonna pull you into his office and rip ya a new one. Trust me, man, you do
not
wanna go there.”

Robby chuckled and scrubbed a small hand towel over his wet hair. When he finished, he shook off the last of the water and Cody punched him in the ribs for splattering on him.