Susan Mallery - Sizzling

His brothers looked sympathetic, but that wasn’t helping. Maybe because sympathy wasn’t enough. Not when he’d been accused of offering to sponsor a baseball team and send them to their state championships, only to have the travel agent forget to include a return ticket. All those kids and their families had been stranded hundreds of miles from home with no way to get back.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he mumbled, knowing in truth, he hadn’t done anything at all. “I told Seth to send me everything. The fan mail, the charity requests. I’m going to read them myself.”

“And then what?” Cal asked.

“Hell if I know. I’ll do something. I have to. It’s one thing for that reporter to say I’m lousy in bed, but it’s another for her to claim I disappoint kids. I’d never do that.”

Not messing up was one of the main reasons he preferred not to get involved at all.

“This sucks,” he said, as he reached for his beer. “My life is at a new low point.”

“Worse than when you blew out your shoulder?” Walker asked.

“No,” Reid said quietly. “Not worse than that.”

Walker shrugged. “Just trying to put things in perspective.”

No, this wasn’t worse, Reid thought, but it was close. A little too close.

REID WAITED until close to ten to drive to his houseboat. He’d borrowed Walker’s SUV so he could load up his stuff and transport it to Gloria’s house. Despite the late hour, there were two photographers waiting on the dock. They snapped pictures of him going into the houseboat and he heard one of them making a call, saying he’d been found. He also caught a suggestion about him taking an Internet class on how to please women.

Twenty minutes later, he’d packed two suitcases and was backing out of his parking space. The tow truck he’d hired pulled behind the photographers’ cars in the guest parking section of the lot, preventing Reid from being followed. The guy would stay there a few more minutes, then leave. All Reid wanted was a clean getaway.

When he reached Gloria’s place, Walker was waiting there to help him unload. They traded car keys and Walker left with the SUV. Reid’s Corvette was already hidden in the garage.

“Hell of a way to live,” he muttered as he walked inside.

He started up the stairs only to stop when he saw a somewhat familiar, tall blonde heading down. She smiled.

“Hey, Reid. How’s it going?”

“Good,” he lied, as he tried to remember where he knew the woman from. Then he focused on the scrub shirt and realized she was one of Gloria’s nurses.

“Sandy,” the woman said when they were on the same step. “Sandy Larson. You interviewed me for the job.”

Right. And her beaming smile said the interview had gone well. He remembered now—Sandy had been eager to sleep with her favorite player. They’d had a hell of a time on his big desk at the Downtown Sports Bar.

“I heard you’re moving in here,” Sandy said.

“Temporarily.”

“Sure. Makes sense.” She touched his arm. “Listen—I had a great afternoon with you, but I wanted to let you know I’m with someone now. It’s exclusive. So I’m not going to be interested in a repeat performance. Please don’t take it personally, okay?”

“Of course not,” he said, careful to keep his expression politely interested.

He couldn’t care less about sleeping with Sandy again, but that wasn’t the point. She should be all over him, because hey, he was Reid Buchanan.

But given how his day had gone, why was he even surprised?

LORI ARRIVED a few minutes early for her shift. She put her jacket and purse in the hall closet and found yet another tall, well-built beauty in the kitchen.

She hated that she instantly felt short and curveless. Even worse was the cause. She refused to let a womanizing, brainless twit of a man ruin her day.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully. “I’m Lori Johnston.”

“Kristie Ellsworth,” the stunning brunette said with a smile. “Gloria slept most of the night and woke up asking for you. I guess you made an impression.”

“Hopefully a good one.”

“I was going to take in her breakfast,” Kristie said.

“I can do that if you want to head out.”

“That would be great.”

Five minutes later Lori walked in with Gloria’s breakfast.

“You’re back,” the older woman said. “How unfortunate.”

“I heard you were asking about me, so don’t pretend you’re not happy to see me.”

“I’m not happy. I was asking in the hopes that you’d quit.”

“No such luck.” She set the tray on the table. “We’re going to have to get you a hobby. Something other than being crabby. Maybe knitting. Everyone’s doing it.”

Gloria ignored that and poked at her pancakes. “I don’t eat breakfast. I’ll have some coffee and nothing else.”

Lori leaned close and lowered her voice. “I have just two words for you, young lady. Feeding tube. Don’t make me get ugly. Eat and be happy.”

“You’re a most annoying person.”

“I’ve heard that. It’s kind of a point of pride with me.”

Gloria stared at her for several seconds, then passed over a section of the newspaper. “Did you read this yesterday?”

“I don’t read the paper.”

“You should. Women should be aware of what’s going on in the world. Which is not the point. Reid has moved in temporarily. Obviously he’s taking advantage of my weakened condition. You’d think he was old enough to clean up his own mess, but apparently not. Now he’s dragged the family name through the mud. He’s a constant disappointment and embarrassment.”

Lori glanced at the headline and blinked. “ Good in bed…not so much? That’s kind of cold.”

“Apparently he didn’t please the reporter and she decided to tell the world. It’s disgusting. She’s nothing but a slut, but heaven forbid we should say that. ” She tapped the paper. “Read it. Learn from it. My grandson has a way with women. Don’t be one of the idiots who falls for him and then gets her heart broken. I have no patience for stupid women.”

“You’re warning me off,” Lori said, suddenly getting it. She grinned. “You’re worried about me.”

“Go away.”

For once, Lori did as she asked, mostly because she wanted to read the article.

She settled at the kitchen table and spread out the paper, then scanned the first couple of paragraphs and winced. No guy wants to be told he’s not good in bed, especially in public and in print. That had to hurt.

She almost felt sorry for Reid. While she had no sense of his sexual skill, he had to have learned something with all his experience. Didn’t he?

The object of her speculation walked into the kitchen, looking rumpled and exhausted. He’d pulled on jeans and nothing else, his hair was mussed and he needed a shave.

He was fifteen kinds of gorgeous.

Lori watched him as he crossed the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. His impressive muscles flexed and rippled with each movement. He looked warm and sexy and deep inside her stomach she felt the beginnings of a quiver.

He glanced up and saw her.

“Morning,” he mumbled, then left.

She didn’t exist to him. Never had, never would. Being attracted to him put her so far in the idiot camp that she would never find her way out.

She was an embarrassment to intelligent women everywhere. Worse, there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.

LORI PULLED INTO her driveway a little after five. Her neighborhood was light-years away from Gloria’s street of gated mansions, but Lori didn’t mind. She loved everything about her house.

Its two-bedroom, two-bath size suited her perfectly. She loved the details of the Craftsman style, the built-ins, the moldings. She loved that she’d painted every wall herself and had done most of the remodeling without help. She loved the colors, the garden, the porch, the way the house looked solid…and made her feel safe.