Carly Phillips - Hot Number

She unhooked Noodle from her leash and let the dog run free, hoping that the exercise would calm her for the night ahead. Thank goodness Uncle Yank would soon be out of rehab and back in his own apartment with his spoiled dog.

She popped open a can of Dr. Brown's Cream Soda she'd brought with her and watched the dumb dog try to make friends with people only to run to the next person when they tried to pet her.

"Mind if I join you?" a familiar voice asked.

She glanced up, shading her eyes from the sun with her hand. She would swear her heart stopped beating when she saw Damian towering over her, looking delicious in his light blue shirt and dark jeans.

She patted the ground beside her. "How'd you find me?" she asked, surprised because nobody except her sisters knew about this spot. "Don't tell me. Sophie snitched," Micki muttered.

Damian remained tellingly silent.

"Well?"

"You said not to tell you." He grinned, making her forget about being angry at her sister.

"Okay then what brings you by?"

"Now that's a loaded question."

Between his serious tone and expression, Micki's stomach churned with pure agitation. She wondered what he wanted to say but first she glanced aside to make sure Noodle was still in calling distance.

When she saw the dog was hanging out with someone's leashed pet, she turned her attention back to Damian. "What's going on?"

"In the time we've spent together since the island, you've gotten to know me pretty well, wouldn't you say?*'

"I suppose."

"I think you have. I think you know me better than anyone else in my life, short of my family, and that's because they don't give up when they want answers." As always, his eyes sparkled with warmth and humor when he spoke of them. "But you know me in a different way."

"What do you mean?" She swallowed hard, unsure of where he was going with this.

"It's a gut feeling kind of thing. You seem to sense when I need space and you sense when I could use company. You understand the career thing and you don't put pressure on me one way or another."

Without warning, laughter bubbled up from inside her. "I came to your apartment and told you it was time to grow up. You don't call that putting pressure on you?” she asked in disbelief.

The corners of his mouth lifted in an endearing, sexy grin. "See that's another thing. When you read me the riot act, it doesn't sound like my family telling me what to do or your uncle guiding my career."

She glanced down at her sneakered feet. "What's it sound like?"

"It sounds like you telling me what I know deep down inside except I need to hear it out loud from someone I trust. And that someone is you." He reached out and lifted her chin so their gazes met and she couldn't avoid him or their conversation.

This was getting very personal and intimate. She wiped her damp palms beside her on the grass, suddenly nervous and frightened.

Since her parents had died and Micki had fallen into the habit of relying on Annabelle and Uncle Yank to bolster her emotionally, she was seldom scared. She rarely found a situation she wasn't ready to meet head-on. Damian presented that rare emotional challenge and, like when she'd come to Sophie for tips on how to be more of a girl, Micki again found herself at a loss.

"I'm not surprised we connected that way. I have a knack for understanding the athlete's psyche" She deliberately depersonalized what they shared, unwilling to put her heart on the line.

"Don't," he barked out, startling her and she jumped. "Don't put up the one of the guys front and definitely don't try and tell me that what's between us is no different than what you share with your other clients." His eyes flashed with anger and obvious hurt.

Micki sought for a way to explain when Noodle bounded toward them and landed squarely in Damian's lap. "She must have heard you yell," Micki said.

Damian clenched his jaw, his frustration with Micki unmatched by anything he'd ever felt before as blood pounded inside his head. "I didn't yell," he said in a tense but calmer tone.

"You raised your voice and the dog heard."

"And I didn't come here to talk about the dog or to let you use her as a buffer or an excuse to avoid a serious conversation."

She lifted her chin a notch. "Okay then, no more beating around the bush. What did you come here to say?"

This was the Micki he knew, the one who refused to run from a confrontation or discussion. The one who'd stood by him even when he'd known how difficult that must have been.

He covered her hand with his, running his fingers over her smooth skin and gathering his courage at the same time. "I've never said this to anyone before," he said, speaking as quickly as the thoughts came to mind. "I've never even thought it about anyone before."

He glanced up to see her watching him. Her blue eyes were wide and clear, her fear as palpable as his own.

Well, Damian thought, at least they were in this together. "I love you, Micki Jordan."

She just stared at him for a moment and then murmured barely above a whisper, "I love you, too." She blinked and a tear fell. "But…”

With that one little word, his stomach cramped like crazy. "But what?"

"You're coming off a situation you can't even begin to have dealt with and when you do, you have a life waiting. A life by your own admission that you love. You don't want to be tied down. You don't need a woman who wants more from you than you're capable of giving. And I'm not going to put myself through the hell of letting you go twice." She jumped up from her cross-legged position and stood, unraveling Noodle's leash.

That she'd just up and leave panicked him because she seemed so serious, he didn't know if he'd ever get her back. "My own words coming back to bite me," he muttered. "I've changed. The situation with the baby? It made me reevaluate what I want out of life. What I want beyond baseball. I want you."

"You got used to having me around," she countered. "Big difference" She bent down and hooked the dog's leash to his collar, giving Damian a clear view down her shirt to her softly rounded cleavage.

His groin hardened at the sight. Micki tempted him like no other woman ever had and for the first time in his life he knew even forever wouldn't be enough time to spend with her. Or inside her.

Once she pulled the dog to her side, he rose beside her. "Don't you think I know the difference?"

"In time you will. Right now you're confused and I don't want to have invested more of myself only to have you finally come to see I was right." She scooped the dog into her arms where he happily settled in. "You don't need me anymore, so just go back to living your life. Enjoy your freedom. You got lucky, now act like it." She trembled, giving him hope that this mindset would change once she believed his words. Believed in him.

Maybe it was just too fast, Damian thought. Maybe she needed time. "Before you go, want to know what I felt when I discovered the baby wasn't mine? Once the reality set in?"

“What?" she whispered.

“Disappointed." Of course he'd had to have the reasons spelled out for him, but damned if he wasn't one hundred percent certain they made perfect sense.

Micki blinked. "You wanted Carole's baby to be yours?" she asked in disbelief.

He stepped closer. "I wanted a baby to be mine. I want your baby."

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, obviously at a loss for words.

But he wasn't. He still had plenty more to say. "So don't tell me I don't need you anymore. I do. But I've figured out where your head is at. You're not used to being needed in a non-professional way and that scares you."

"Meaning?" She squeezed the dog closer to her chest and she yelped. Micki loosened her grip.

“Birth order. We're both the spoiled youngest children. You're so used to being taken care of, you don't know how to handle us now. And I'm not a shrink but I'd guess there's something going on with you being one of the guys. It's always been an easy excuse for you to hide from being yourself.”