Payoff Pitch (Philadelphia Patriots) (6 page)

“Bite me,” Noah said. “You two are just jealous because you can’t screw around anymore. The old ball and chain’s got you now, right?”

Though they all chuckled, all three knew Noah was talking bullshit. If anybody was jealous, Noah thought it might be him, though he couldn’t really put his finger on why. Most guys would give an arm to hang with babes like Miss October, the spectacularly endowed Callie Holloway.

“Besides,” he added, “I’ve already moved on.”

Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “Somebody new, again? Another model, maybe?” He and Nate both snorted in obvious amusement.

Noah shrugged. “You’ll find out. I’m thinking it might be time to change things up a bit.”

And damned if the picture in his head wasn’t of some leggy blond model or one of the super-hot Eagles or Sixers cheerleaders. To his surprise, the young woman he saw in his mind had a red ponytail, freckles on her nose, and a banged-up elbow.

Obviously, Noah’s new dog-walker—as all-American and apple pie as they come—had already made an impact.

Teddy lugged two bags of groceries into the kitchen.

“Emma?” she called out, dropping the bags and her purse onto the slightly battered oak table where place settings for two had already been laid out. The heavenly aroma of garlic and tomatoes wafted up from the pot on the stove, telling her pasta was on the menu. Thank God Emma had arrived home early to get dinner going. After rushing around Whole Foods to pick up groceries and walking Buster again at 4:30, Teddy was starving.

Emma popped inside from the small back yard, a clipping in her hand. “I’m here. I was just getting a little thyme to throw in the sauce.” Then she spotted the bandage on Teddy’s arm and gave a little gasp. “Oh, my God, what happened to
you
?”

Teddy grimaced as she started unpacking the groceries. “That idiot Buster did it again. The little devil dug his way out of the yard and took off. When I was running around the park searching for him, I somehow managed to trip and scrape the hell out of my elbow.”

“That’s insane. This is the third time you’ve had to chase that digger. Did you go to a clinic to get your arm bandaged up like that?”

Emma had been feeding and walking dogs for much of the day, too, but she’d obviously made it home in time to shower, change and get the sauce for the pasta going. She looked great, as always, with her blond, pixie-like hair and clear blue eyes that danced with life. Her tiny white shorts emphasized perfectly shaped, tanned legs that Teddy envied like hell over her own long and, to her mind, too skinny ones.

“Not exactly,” Teddy said as she stowed various boxes and cans in the cabinets of the small galley kitchen. “It’s a long story, but at least we found the dog and got him home safe and sound.”

Emma stopped in mid-motion as she lifted a bunch of kale from a grocery bag. “We?” she said, tilting her head.

“The next door neighbor helped me out. The guy in the cool house we both said we’d die for.” When Emma looked interested, Teddy finally let loose the grin she’d been holding back. “
And
he’s going to be a new client, actually.”

“Oh, my God, yes!” Emma punched a fist in the air. “In that case, let’s have a beer right now and celebrate. I think you could use one anyway after an adventure like that.” She opened the fridge and pulled out two bottles of Sam Adams. “Now, we’re going to forget dinner for a while and you’re going to give me every single detail.”

She handed Teddy a bottle and dragged her by the hand through the doorway into the living room. “Not only a new client, but a loaded one, too. Sounds like you’ve had a hell of a day, girlfriend.”

Teddy plopped onto the comfy old sofa that she and her roommate laughingly referred to as shabby-chic. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to drink her beer and then have a shower, but Emma’s impatient curiosity headed that plan off at the pass. “When I saw Buster had dug his way out, my first guess was that he’d made a beeline for the park.”

“That’s where he went the other times, right?”

Teddy nodded. “”I started to run in that direction, and just as I was starting to cross the driveway next door—you know the big hedge separating the properties, right? Well, the guy next door came barreling out and almost ran me over.” She gave a little snort. “Anyway, he looked like a ghost when he realized he’d almost hit me. I don’t suppose he expected to see a crazed woman running past his place like that.”

“Sounds to me like he was being a bit careless,” Emma said disapprovingly.

“He told me later he was a little distracted. He’s been having some problems at, uh…work. But he was super apologetic about it.”

Emma wrinkled her brow in thought. “I don’t recall ever seeing him. Then again, I’ve only walked Buster a couple of times.”

That had been when Teddy had a brief bout of flu. They each serviced their own clients unless one was covering for the other due to illness or some other commitment. “I think you’d remember if you had,” Teddy said slyly. “He’s a really big guy—like way over six feet—and hot as hell. Bedroom eyes that make you want to get naked fast, if I may be so indelicate. Trust me, he’s the total package.”

“Good God.” Emma pretended to fan herself. “And he’s going to be a new client?”

“Twice a day service when he’s out of town, which I gather will be a lot of the time. Plus the premium for two dogs, of course. Two Standard Poodles, littermates.”

“I want that assignment, or at the very least you have to share it with me.” Emma made a little pouting face that left Teddy not quite sure if she was joking or not.

“No way,” Teddy replied with a little laugh, deciding to take it as a playful jest. Not that she could blame Emma, since they both had been striking out on the dating front lately. “Finders keepers, girl. I don’t encroach on your territory.”

“Oh, have it your way, then,” Emma said with a dramatic sigh. “I should just be glad you brought in a new client. God knows we need the business.”

“Big time. Now, if you want the whole story, you’ve got to let me tell you what happened in order.”

Emma gave her a guilty little grin. “Sorry. You know patience isn’t my strong suit.”

No, but loyalty was. Tired of waitressing and being groped every night, Emma—whose parents had run a boarding kennel in northern New Jersey—had come up with the idea of creating Dog Nanny Pros as a pet care service for high-end clientele. Though Teddy had no animal care experience except for feeding and loving her father’s farm dogs, Emma had offered her friend the chance to become a partner even though Teddy had almost no money to kick in to start up the business. Since then, Teddy had made up for it by attracting more clients than Emma, but she’d always be grateful to her friend and roomie for getting her out of the bar waitress rut.

Teddy briefly described her search and her tumble while crossing the ball diamond. “Even though my elbow burned like a five alarm fire, all I could think about was the dog getting hit by a truck or something. Or picked up by animal control and winding up euthanized if his stupid owner didn’t bail him out.” She actually shivered at the horrible thought. “I was going to head back to the car so I could range further afield, but I knew the chances of finding Buster were pretty slim if he’d gone anywhere but the park.”

When she took a sip of her beer, Emma twirled her hand in a
hurry up, please
motion.

“I’m getting there,” Teddy said, rolling her eyes. “Meanwhile, the guy from next door had been cruising around looking for Buster, too, and just when I’m starting to run back to get my car, he pulls up in his Beamer—all smiles—and asks me if I want a ride. Then I see frigging Buster sitting beside him in the front seat, looking like he’s just had the best time in his entire life.” She had to laugh now that the trauma of the event was behind her. “The guy was lucky to find him, but how many people would have gone out of their way like he did?”

Emma propped her bare feet up on the antique but solid coffee table they’d scored at an estate auction. “Damn few. And now I can’t wait to hear how you thanked the man for his kindness.”

Teddy shot her the evil eye. “After I locked Buster in the house, I took him up on his offer to help me fix up the scrape at his house.”

“Shut up!” Emma squealed. “Don’t tell me you two wound up—”

“Oh, for God’s sake, you know me better than that. Though I can’t say my mind didn’t stray in that direction once or twice when he had those nice, big hands of his on me.” Then she gave a little shrug. “But who am I kidding? I looked like a beat-up hag and, anyway, that dude would be out of my league even if I had an extreme makeover.”

“That’s just lame,” Emma scoffed. “You’re gorgeous.”

Teddy smiled even though both knew that “gorgeous” was hardly the appropriate adjective to apply to her. “Well, once he’d finished patching me up, he invited me to lunch. That’s when he sprang on me that his aunt had asked him to take her Poodles. She’s got Parkinson’s disease and can’t handle them anymore.”

Emma grimaced. “That’s so sad.”

“For sure.” She sipped her beer, contemplating how she would feel if she had to give up two beloved pets. “Anyway,” she continued, “you’ll love this. He said he liked my freckles and the fact that I didn’t cover them with makeup.”

“Shut up!” Emma cried again. “God, now I really want this man. What’s this sweetheart’s name, anyway?”

“Noah Cade.”

Since Emma was a sports fan, Teddy raised her eyebrows in silent enquiry. Sure enough, her roommate pulled her feet off the table and sat up, ramrod straight. “Noah Cade? Are you frigging kidding me?”

Teddy shrugged. It was obviously a rhetorical question.

“Oh, my God, Noah Cade, the Patriots’ pitcher?” Emma exclaimed. “Noah Cade, one of the hottest guys in this whole damn city?
That
Noah Cade?”

“He said he was a pitcher with the Patriots, so, yeah, I guess that would be the guy.” That fact had meant little to Teddy.

“Wow. I read that he broke up with one of the Eagles cheerleaders a while ago, so maybe he’s in the market for a new girlfriend.”

Teddy snorted and waved a dismissive hand, as she usually did when Emma—a celebrity gossip hound—rolled out some useless tidbit of info. This time, though, she couldn’t deny that she was more than a little intrigued. And that was vaguely unsettling because, after all, a man like Noah Cade would never be interested in someone like her.

Emma’s linguine with clam sauce was one of Teddy’s culinary downfalls, and tonight was no exception. She worked to stay in good shape for her job—racing around after dogs required that—but she couldn’t deny she’d been feeling a little insecure about her looks lately. Not that attracting interest from guys had ever been a huge problem, and she never went long between dates. Somehow, though, those dates generally didn’t lead anywhere very interesting. Most guys seemed to find her too earnest or too boring, turned off by her deep interest in environmental and social issues. She did try to date people who shared her commitment—a few guys from her university classes—but those relationships never went far.

Sometimes Teddy worried she was being too picky. But was it asking too much to want a little spark in a relationship? Like the spark that had leaped into flame after she nearly collided with Noah Cade?

She sighed as she put away the last of the dinner dishes, wondering how much she’d actually see of Noah in the course of her duties. Yes, they’d agreed he would have her over to the house to introduce her to both the Poodles and his housekeeper, but after that, who knew? The very point of her service was to take care of Toby and Sadie while their owner was gone.

Before settling in for the evening and doing some research for her environmental studies summer class at Temple, Teddy decided to give her father a call. His chronic and debilitating back problems had flared up again, and she couldn’t help worrying about him. Dad loved her phone calls and always made a point of telling her how much better they made him feel.

Unfortunately, every time he said that, Teddy’s guilt flared up as predictably as his back. She loved her father more than she could ever put into words, but she’d made it clear a long time ago that farm life was not for her. Ed Quinn knew she wasn’t rejecting him or the value of his work, and he was proud that she wanted to become a lawyer. But his dream had always been to see Teddy, her husband and her children settled in the county that had been home to generations of Quinn dairy farmers. Unfortunately, it was a dream she’d never been able to share.

“Hello, sweetheart,” her father said as he picked up.

Teddy heard the blare of the TV in the background, no doubt from some sporting event he or Dalton was watching. Her father and brother were both sports fanatics, especially when it came to football and NASCAR. “How are you, Dad? How’s your back?”

He made a disgusted sound. “Ah, well, it’s nothing I can’t live with, but I still have a hard time sitting down for more than a few minutes. I watch TV standing up most of the time, like I’m doing now, but that’s not a picnic, either, let me tell you.” He exhaled a heavy breath. “I’ve got an appointment with a specialist in Scranton next week, so we’ll see what comes of that. I sure don’t want to have surgery, though.”

“A specialist—that’s good,” Teddy said, relieved that he was finally seeking help even though he fretted constantly about how the farm could manage if he was laid up for any length of time. “I hope you’re taking it easy and letting Dalton do the heavy work for a while.”

Though her twenty-eight year-old brother preferred riding his Harley to doing farm chores, he was as strong as an ox and easily capable of taking on added responsibility while his father rested. Unfortunately, Dalton did as little as possible at home, not even carrying his own weight.

A few moments of silence passed before her father said, “The tire shop’s busy all the time now, and Dalton’s been putting in a lot of overtime. With all the workers the drilling companies have brought in, and all the extra cars and trucks on the road up here…”

He didn’t have to finish his sentence. Teddy knew all about the impact of the explosion in natural gas drilling that had come to the Marcellus Shale region in the past few years. Every time she went home she was floored by the changes in the rural county of her childhood. Long-time residents either loved the sea change or hated it, but everyone had a strong opinion one way or the other. In her family, she and her father wished it had never happened, but Dalton had been easily converted to the drilling cause and remained practically a poster boy for the oil and gas companies.