Power Play (Play Makers Book 4) (50 page)

His eyes narrowed. “Aaron told me why
Wyatt’s doing this. And I respect it. Giving back to the game,
right? You don’t see that kind of unselfishness these days. Not
with these young kids.”

“I’m not catching your drift, Bud,” she
admitted.

A crafty look lit his eyes. “Wyatt wants to
mentor Luke Stoddard. And we’ll be gladder than glad if he manages
to get through to him. But let’s face facts. We aren’t running a
charity here. We’re willing to be reasonable, don’t get me wrong.
But we’re not paying a goddammed
premium
for it. And I doubt
a stand-up fella like Wyatt Bourne would expect us to.”

She wanted to spin in her chair toward Murf.
Dump this in his lap. Or at least lock eyes with Aaron Spurling.
Silently plead with him to bail her out.
He
wanted this deal
as much as she did, didn’t he? And he knew Bud better than anyone.
Shouldn’t
he
talk to him?

But an old piece of advice from Murf rang in
her ears.

When you’re challenged, keep your eyes on
the challenger. Looking around for allies is the surest sign of
weakness. If you
do
have allies, they’ll come to your aid.
And if you don’t, you’ll look weaker than ever.

So she locked gazes with Bud and said
quietly, “I didn’t see that coming.” Pausing to allow him another
triumphant smile, she added helpfully, “I thought we were on the
same page. And to be honest, I have egg on my face now.”

“Huh?”

She sighed. “You’re absolutely right. This
started with Wyatt wanting to mentor Luke Stoddard. To get him back
on track
. I’m
the one who insisted it wasn’t about one year
of mentoring. It’s about winning championships. Taking the Rustlers
to the Super Bowl within five years. But don’t worry,” she added
with a sheepish smile. “I can adjust. And Murf will be in heaven,
right, Murf?”

“Absolutely,” her boss agreed. “My only
regret was we didn’t get a chance to shop our client around. So
yeah, a one-year contract works for me. Not because of any
mentoring crap, because I’m with you, Bud. We’re not social
workers. But I can get a shitload more money for Wyatt a year from
now when every team in the league is bidding on him.”

“That was my big mistake,” Darcie continued,
pretending to be embarrassed. “I thought you guys were buying the
Surgeon. But if all you want is a mentor, we can scale this puppy
back from five years to one. And who knows?” she said with a
hopeful smile. “Maybe you’ll decide you want Wyatt for the long
run. But either way, he’ll feel good about himself.
And
get
a bigger overall payday.”

She waited for it to sink in, then flashed
another smile. “I’m sentimental enough to hope you guys sign him
again next year. But maybe you’ll go with Stoddard—”

“That’s enough!” Bud bellowed. Then he
turned to his lawyer and barked, “Give them what they asked for,
goddamn it. The whole goddammed enchilada.”

“For one year?” Darcie asked innocently. “Or
five?”

“Damn, you’re mean,” Bud grumbled. “Lucky
for us you’re pretty.”

“I was just thinking the same thing about
you,”
she teased him.

He burst out laughing and clapped Aaron
Spurling on the arm. “Did you hear that, Spur?”

“I warned you,” the coach said, standing and
grinning. “Does this mean I can hug my favorite firecracker
now?”

Darcie and Murf rounded the table and shook
hands with the delegation, then Spurling made good on his threat by
grappling her in a bear hug, telling Murf over her shoulder, “You
had me worried.
Both
of you.”

“Sorry, Coach,” Murf said cheerfully. “But
you know what they say: sometimes you have to play the rookie.”

“Yeah,” the coach admitted with an admiring
smile. “Sometimes it just makes sense.”

• • •

They toasted the deal with champagne, then
the delegation rushed away, anxious to brief the owner and to set
things up for the big announcement. There were a few loose ends
with the Jets as well, and Murf agreed to mediate those later that
evening. But first he wanted to congratulate Wyatt, explain next
steps, and laud his rookie agent a few more times, so he sent the
Rustlers away with promises to be in touch soon.

Purely from delayed shock, Darcie burst into
tears against his chest the moment they were alone. It felt good.
Therapeutic. Especially because Murf was saying such sweet things,
and hardly laughing at all.

And she was laughing a bit too, right
through her tears.

Then she fixed her face and he escorted her
proudly to the restaurant, where Wyatt lurked alone at a corner
table in perfect imitation of a restless, gorgeous wild animal.
Then he was on his feet. Not a hint of doubt on his face. Just the
unquestioning look of a man who knew exactly what he was doing.

Breaking away from Murf, she ran to him and
threw herself into his arms. He twirled her high in the air as he
had done with the Jets deal, then set her down and power kissed
her, his raw energy pouring into her, dominating her, making mad
love to her in front of the entire restaurant.

They were definitely back together.

“Man, I’ve been waiting for this,” he
breathed into her ear. “You feel so damn good.”

“So do you.”

Murf walked up and pounded him on the
shoulder. “Congratulations, buddy.”

“I’ll never be able to thank you.”

“Don’t thank
me
. Our girl was on
fire. She actually made the GM cry.”

Wyatt grinned. “I know the feeling.”

“Hush, you two.” Darcie couldn’t stop
smiling. “They gave us everything we asked for, Wyatt.
Everything.”

“Unbelievable.” He sat back down and pulled
her possessively into his lap. “Tell me about it.”

“It’s like Murf predicted. They tried to
cheap out. Luckily, they wanted you so bad, it was easy to keep
them in line.”

“She’s being modest,” Murf assured him. Then
he told how Bud had tried to shake her down. “But she didn’t blink.
Didn’t look to me for help. Or to Aaron Spurling for moral support.
It was classic.”

“Someone gave me good advice on that once,”
she told him fondly.

He flushed. “Don’t kid yourself. It was all
you.” He paused to order a round of martinis. Then he said, “We’ll
toast the football gods, then I’ve gotta run. Get us ready for
those press conferences.”

“What do you need from me?” Wyatt asked, his
tone businesslike but his hand already restraining Darcie, as
though certain Murf would steal her away.

“Well, if you could be in two places at
once, I’d want you in New York
and
here. But I’ll head East
and you can do the presser with Spurling and Pollard. We’re
coordinating announcements, so the Jets will go public at nine
tomorrow morning, and you guys’ll hit the air waves an hour later.
So one o’clock here. They’ll want you at the practice facility
around eleven. You too,” he told Darcie briskly.

“Do the press releases go out tonight?” she
asked.

“We agreed on first thing tomorrow, but
leaks are inevitable now. So your phones will ring off the hook.
Try to resist answering for a few more hours, but let’s face it.”
He grinned like a jack-o’-lantern. “You’re gonna want to tell
people.”

“So if Bam calls?” she asked, accepting her
martini from the waitress.

“He’ll call John, I’m sure. But yeah, if he
calls, just swear him to secrecy.”

“Got it.”

“And, Wyatt?” Murf’s smile softened. “That
statement you wrote about your gratitude to the Jets—to your
teammates—is pretty moving. I’ll read it at their presser if you
don’t mind.”

“Absolutely. Although now I feel like I
should be
there.”

“They’ll understand. And you can give a
modified version of it here in LA.”

“The Rustlers won’t mind?”

“No one respects loyalty more than Aaron
Spurling. Just don’t be surprised if he cries like a baby.” Murf
raised his glass, gave a hearty toast to the Surgeon, then jumped
up. “I’d better go. We don’t need Pollard saying something stupid
and pissing off the Jets.”

“Wait!” Darcie stood and hugged him
gratefully. “I’m willing to help.”

“You earned a night off,” he told her. Then
his eyes misted. “I knew you could do it, but man, you
really
did it. I’m prouder than hell, kid.”

Tears streamed down her face. “Promise
you’ll call if you need us?”

“Yeah, I promise.” He reached out and shook
Wyatt’s hand. “Thanks for trusting us, Wyatt. We’ve got a great
future together.”

“You know how grateful I am,” Wyatt said,
his voice catching in his throat.

“Hey, I’ve seen
enough
grown men cry
for one day. Including myself,” Murf joked. “Darcie, take care of
our favorite client. I’ll call if I need you.”

She watched until he disappeared from view,
then she sat in the seat he had vacated and waited for Wyatt to sit
close by. They stared at each other, energy pinging between them as
they silently embraced the moment.

Still, she couldn’t help asking him, “What
were you
thinking?”

“It was a leap of faith.”

“That’s adorable. But what does it
mean?”

“I’m just learning myself,” he said with a
chuckle. “But basically, it means I’ve trusted you in the past—a
lot—because you earned it. Now I trust you
completely
. Just
because you’re you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“It could have gone so horribly wrong.”

“That’s what faith is, Darcie.”

She couldn’t help smiling. “Well, luckily
you were right. Because I kicked Bud Pollard’s ass.”

“Now you’re gonna be obnoxious about
it?”

“Maybe forever.”

“Forever sounds pretty good,” he said in
quiet satisfaction. “How about you?”

“It sounds amazing.”

“And you’ll marry me?”

“There’s no one else I’d want to marry. Not
ever. You just need to be sure . . .” She grimaced.
“Can you be happy with just me?”

“I didn’t know polygamy was an option,” he
teased.

She laughed. “I mean without children. Or
maybe we could adopt—”

“Huh?” He seemed completely frustrated.
“You’re still worried about the paternity thing? Why? I
trust
you. Which means I’ll never doubt you. So I’ll never
doubt that kid either.”

“I know you’re disappointed—”

“What about
you?
You’re baby-crazy,
remember?” He flashed a confident smile. “I’m not saying this week,
or even this year. But when we’re ready—”

“You’re right,” she told him gratefully. “We
don’t need to decide now. We love each other madly. We
lust
after
each other madly. And you’re the starting QB for the
Rustlers. Why aren’t we partying? In bed?”

“Good question. But eventually we need to
talk.”

“Just not tonight. Oh, except I have a
couple of questions,” she added apologetically. “Should we get them
out of the way? Then take a vow of hot silence?”

“We’ll play that travel game,” he agreed
with a chuckle, taking a taste of his drink. “So? What’s the first
question?”

“Where’s you mom these days?”

“In Texas.”

“Oh, Lord, you sent her away?”

He laughed. “She moved there with her fourth
husband. And she’s happier than I’ve seen her since—well, since a
long time. Things are okay between us,” he said quickly. “Her
husband has zero interest in football, so the drama is
minimal.”

“When was the last time you talked to
her?”

“It’s been a few months. But I’ll call her
about this deal, obviously. It’ll be a good call, so don’t
worry.”

“Okay.”

“What else?”

“This is more of a confession than a
question,” she warned him lovingly. “Is it wrong that I like Denny?
Just a bit?”

“I liked him too,” he admitted. “Off and on.
He wasn’t a bad guy. Just irresponsible as hell. He needed a Matt
Bourne in his life.”

“Wow, I agree. Matt didn’t just teach you
about football. He taught you to be a loving, responsible adult. To
work hard. To protect us. To tease us.”

“Exactly.”

“Plus, without Denny’s DNA, you wouldn’t
have a rocket launcher for an arm.”

“Damn straight.”

She giggled. “That’s all I’ve got. Now it’s
time for bed.”

To her chagrin, his phone buzzed at that
moment. When he seemed ready to ignore it, she murmured, “Murf
might need us.”

“Right.” He checked the screen and smiled.
“It’s my aunt. Which means rumors are already flying.”

“They must be so thrilled.”

“Yeah.” He lifted the phone to his ear and
said cheerfully, “Hey, Jenny. Huh?
Damn
. I’m so sorry,
sweetheart. What do the doctors say?” He straightened his
shoulders. “I’m on my way. Just take care of Bea. Tell her I love
her. You too.”

Darcie’s heart broke for him as he stood up,
his face ashen. “It’s Tony? I’m so sorry, Wyatt.”

“Yeah, I gotta get over there. It’s bad,” he
added softly. “Will you be okay alone?”

“Of course.” She stood with him and touched
his jaw. “Do you want me to come too?”

“The Bournes are already storming the
hospital. And Murf will need you here. I can’t be at the press
conference,” he added, his voice catching.

“Of course you can’t. We’ll take care of
everything.” She could see he was trying to be strong, to keep
moving so he wouldn’t think too hard—
feel
too hard—but she
wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him anyway. “Take care
of yourself. Please?”

“Yeah, I’ll call when I know more.” He
started to pull away, then stopped long enough to say, “I love you,
Darcie,” before striding toward the doorway.

And all she could do was stare after him,
helpless, knowing his heart was breaking.

Tony is our rock
.

Wasn’t that the first thing he had told her
about his family? The most important thing? Not just for Wyatt, but
for Jenny. Danny. Gail. Annie. The little children who played
around his chair by the fire, drawing strength, giving
strength.