Susan Mallery: When We Met

“Where?”

“A basketball game. At Score. It’s the PR agency with the football—”

“I know what it is,” he said, willing his penis to calm down. There was no way he could stand with Consuelo in the room. She wasn’t the type to pretend to ignore it, and he didn’t want to take the ribbing.

“You’re crabby,” she told him. “We’re leaving in five minutes. Be ready.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He waited until she walked out of the room and closed the door before standing. He pulled on sweats and a T-shirt and then got socks and athletic shoes. Five minutes later, he was presentable in all ways possible and headed out the door.

It was still dark outside, but first rays of light were visible over the mountains. Consuelo stood by her truck, her keys dangling from her fingers. He noticed she’d removed her engagement ring.

“Hey,” he said, pausing by the passenger door. “You two set the date yet?”

“Do you want me to start the day by killing you? Because I can.”

Her tough talk didn’t bother him. He knew the cause. He grabbed her around the shoulders, then twisted her until he had her in a headlock. He wasn’t trying that hard and she could have broken free at any second, but she didn’t. Instead she leaned into him.

“Don’t be scared,” he said quickly. “Kent’s lucky to have you.”

Consuelo shrugged free of his hold and stared at him. “What if I don’t know how to be what he wants?”

“Dollface, you’re his fantasy.”

“Fantasies change.”

“He’s not going to change his mind. He loves you.”

Under any other circumstances he would have added something like “God knows why.” But she was vulnerable and he wouldn’t tease her when she was down.

“Yeah,” she said, not sounding convinced. “I guess.”

He pulled her close. She stepped into his embrace. He rested his chin on the top of her head. “Look at it this way. If he does change his mind, you can kill him and I’ll help you hide the body.”

She chuckled. “Deal.”

They drove to Score. On the way, Angel briefly wondered if he would see Taryn, only to realize she wasn’t exactly the organized sports type. He’d seen enough of her to know that she had to work out, but in a clean, civilized way. An elliptical, he would guess. Maybe some free weights. Probably pink and with a designer label.

The image made him smile. Yeah, that was Taryn. Not fussy, he thought. Perfect. What he would give to see her with a little mud on her cheeks. Or naked. Naked worked for him.

They pulled up in front of the offices, then Consuelo made a U-turn. Angel saw the full-sized basketball court and the guys waiting.

Ford and Justice were his business partners. He’d met Jack and Kenny around town and knew Sam by sight. Also joining the game were Ryan Patterson, a local engineer, Raoul Moreno and Josh Golden. Which meant they had a full team.

“Hey,” he said as he and Consuelo walked onto the court.

They greeted each other and shook hands. He half expected a comment about the girl, but her reputation seemed to have preceded her.

Jack stepped into the middle of the group. “Let’s divide up into teams and see who gets their asses handed to them. Sam?”

Sam stepped forward with a cloth bag in his hand. “We’ll draw chips. Consuelo’s team is shirts.”

Kenny grinned. “Am I the only one who wanted her on skins?”

Angel prepared to get between them, knowing Consuelo was more than capable of doing permanent damage to the man. It didn’t matter that Kenny was more than a foot taller and at least a hundred pounds of muscle heavier. She could have him on the ground and screaming in a heartbeat.

But she only raised an eyebrow and murmured, “In your dreams, rookie.”

The guys all laughed, then reached for the bag to pull chips.

Two minutes later, they were sorted into teams. Angel pulled off his shirt and told Kenny, Raoul and Sam to stay clear of Consuelo. “She’ll play to win and she plays dirty.”

Justice, also on their team, nodded. “He’s not kidding. Don’t let her size fool you.”

Jack took a basketball out of a bin on the court and tossed it in the air. “Let’s play ball.”

The game started hard and fast and continued that way. Angel hadn’t played in a couple of years and found the stop-start of the game got his heart rate going. Nearly as fun as a run straight up the mountain, he thought, as he stole the ball from Ford and passed it to Sam, who scored.

The sun rose overhead. While the early morning was still cool, they were all soon sweating and swearing. Good thing the court was in a more industrial part of town, Angel thought humorously as Jack let loose a string of curse words that had Consuelo wagging her finger at him.

“You kiss your mama with that mouth?” she asked.

“Funny.” He tossed her the ball.

Angel turned, prepared to go after him. Just then Kenny gave a wolf whistle, then yelled, “Looking good, Taryn.”

Even as he told himself to focus on the game, he couldn’t help looking. Taryn was across the street, walking from the parking lot to the Score building. She wore a pale blue suit that hugged her body the way he wanted to. Her legs were long and bare, and she had on yet another pair of ridiculously high heels. These were beige with a white heel and screamed Come fuck me. How was he supposed to resist that?

Her hair hung down her back. She had a purse dangling off her forearm and a briefcase in her other hand. Keys jingled. She looked powerful, sexy and—

Something hard banged into the side of his head. He turned and saw Ford grinning at him as the basketball bounced away.

“Sorry, man,” Ford said, obviously not the least bit sorry. “I thought you were paying attention.”

Angel gave him the finger, then went after the ball. When he next looked across the street, Taryn was gone and the day seemed just a little less bright.

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