“Well, I better go, dear,” she said. “I have a labradoodle in twenty minutes.”
Reluctantly, I slid from the booth and extended my hand to help her out. Our fingers linked together as I walked her to the door. At the entrance, an older woman was smiling at us both, and she gave Eliana a long wink. “You two have a good day.”
“Thanks, Helen. You too.”
On the sidewalk, we were still holding hands, and I was still reluctant to let her go. “So… see ya soon?”
She nodded, another blush creeping onto her cheeks. “Yes. And thanks again. For everything. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for what you did in there.”
I took a step closer and bent down, placing my lips to her ear. “Get that Brazilian at the spa.”
She gasped and giggled and coughed all at once. Pulling back, she looked up at me. Even in the heels, the top of her head only came to my shoulders. “I didn’t think fake boyfriends got to even see things like that.”
My cock twitched. “Maybe we can break the rules?”
Her eyes darkened until the sky turned into the sea. “Well, I’ve heard that’s what’s supposed to happen to rules.”
“I’ve heard that too.”
She lifted herself up to her tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine. “I’ll let you know next Saturday.”
Then she was gone, leaving me with a hard-on and a view of that swaying, very sexy, ass.
And I knew I was totally screwed.
***
Yep, I was totally screwed.
Katrina Delaney was tapping her nails on her large mahogany desk as I stepped into her office. She didn’t even smile when I flashed her my most brilliant one.
She pointed at a chair. “Sit.”
I liked Katrina, although I didn’t at first.
Rhett had hired Katrina just before spring training began, then sent her down to Florida with the team to babysit us, which essentially meant that she was supposed to keep us out of the tabloids.
Yeah, her job sucked from the very beginning.
But she turned out to be a hard worker, which had been a surprise considering she was Bobby “Spaceman” Delaney’s daughter — another kid born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
Turned out, her silver spoon had gotten lodged up her ass when her baseball icon father lost it all at the gambling table, forcing her to find work for the first time. But it turned out alright. She and Todd Morris, our catcher, ended up falling in love and were now disgustingly happy.
She wasn’t happy now.
Still giving me a blank face, she reached into her drawer and pulled out a box of Clorox wipes. When she tossed them to me, I caught them, my eyebrow raised in question.
“Scrub.” She pointed at the wipes. “Scrub your hands, your mouth. Everything you touch in this office. Hell, take them home and scrub your…” she growled but didn’t finish.
I rolled my eyes and she growled again.
“I didn’t know she was in porn,” I began my defense. “She—”
“Divine? You didn’t have some inkling that a 44DDD bleach blonde with artificial everything and a name like Chelsie Divine might possibly be in the business?”
Well, when she said it like that…
“I didn’t know her last name,” I said, grasping at straws.
She tapped her fingernails again, and I deflated.
“Okay, I know what you’re going to say. I shouldn’t be having relations…” I nearly snickered as I coined Nana’s phrase, “with women whose last names I don’t know.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Well, that’s a start.”
Her fingernails were going a mile a minute now, driving me crazy.
“Did you even bother to google Chelsie Divine?” she asked, but didn’t give me time to answer. “No, of course you didn’t because you were probably never properly introduced to anything other than her…” She snapped her mouth shut and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
“Katrina—”
“Hush it. I’m not done.” I tipped an imaginary cap, not daring to laugh. She narrowed her eyes at me. “This isn’t funny, Kane. Over the past three years, Miss Divine has created nearly two thousand films. Want to know what the last one was?”
No! No, I do not.
“It was a bisexual production where she had sex with two guys who were having sex. And you know what…?”
Please God, don’t let her tell me.
“One guy is screwing another guy in the ass, and he pulls out, and she gives him—”
I jumped from my seat, my hands held out like I was trying to stop a truck. “Stop it.”
“Head!”
I slumped back down.
“Apparently, ass to mouth is big in the business. Did you kiss her? Huh? Huh?”
I pulled a Clorox wipe out and scrubbed my mouth, then my tongue. I was going to be sick.
“I really didn’t know,” I said lamely, “but you’re right, I should have thought it through.”
Katrina pushed her hand through her hair and sighed. “Kane, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said all that, but it freaked me out when I saw your picture with her in the paper. I like you. I want what’s best for you.”
“It’s okay. You’ll be a great mom someday. I feel about nine years old right now.”
A smiled played on her lips. “Any suggestions on what we can do to help restore your good name in society?”
I thought immediately of Eliana.
“Actually, I met this girl today.” Katrina’s eyes narrowed, and I went on quickly. “A good girl…”
By the time I’d finished my story about following and meeting Eliana, Katrina was smiling.
“We should hook her up with Ace and see if there’s anything we could do about matching homeless dogs with vets. Ace mentioned that dog therapy was important.”
Katrina nodded. “Yeah, for amputation victims and PTSD.”
“Right. Those dogs probably need special training, but I was also thinking about just having a pet. Isn’t there some research or something that talks about the healing quality of just petting a dog for ten minutes or something?”
Katrina’s fingers begin flying over her keyboard. “Yeah, healing physically and emotionally. Kane, I think you’re on to something.”
“So… am I forgiven?”
With a long exhale, Katrina opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a card. She slid it over to me. “Make an appointment and get a full STD screening and I’ll forgive you.”
I thought about Eliana again. Her sweetness and innocence. No way would I do anything to harm her. No way could I stay away from her.
I tucked the card in my pocket. “Consider it done.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Eliana
I could feel his eyes on me as I walked down the sidewalk and it took everything inside me not to go running back and fling myself into his arms.
Sexy had an entirely new definition for me now — Kane Steele.
And I’d get to see him again.
I was ten minutes early when I rushed through the door of the grooming center, and thankfully, the pampered pup wasn’t already there. I went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face and neck. I was burning up. Not just from my semi-sprint in these stupid shoes, but from my memories of that kiss.
It had awakened something inside me I thought was dead. Or maybe had never really began to live.
It was awake now, roaring with life. I pressed my legs together to ease the ache growing there.
A Brazilian.