Hot Property

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

HER FAMILY WAS FREE. Amy sensed Roper had signed a few autographs and promised tickets to Renegades games in order to hasten the release process. He hadn’t said, but the people who’d eventually released her mother and aunt had been huge fans, shaking Roper’s hand and thanking him. He refused to say for what.

TSA and Homeland Security actually did perform a background check on the women and discovered their penchant for getting into ridiculous trouble back in Florida. It was soon obvious terrorism wasn’t an issue. Insanity was, though, Amy thought wryly. But since the incident had been more of a misunderstanding than any kind of practical joke, the women were released into the general population of New York-complete with a behavioral warning for the future.

Amy was exhausted.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Aunt Darla asked, from her seat in the back of Roper’s car.

Amy closed her eyes and groaned. But at least they hadn’t started asking Roper questions about his intentions again.

“I need to make some calls and find you two a hotel. I’m afraid my apartment is too small,” Amy explained. “By the time I get you settled, it’ll be too late to do anything tonight.” Amy turned around in time to see her mother wink at her aunt. “What was that wink for?” Amy asked.

“You can go home and sleep. Darla and I want to hit one of the clubs,” her mother said.

“Oh, no.”

“Ladies, I think I have a solution,” Roper said. “Do you want to hear it?” he asked Amy.

She leaned her head back and nodded. “Yes, please.” She owed him more than she could say for just being here.

“Instead of a hotel, why don’t your mother and aunt share my guest room? It has two double beds and they’ll have their own bathroom. And I’ll be there to keep them company.”

Meaning he’d make sure they didn’t get into trouble by sneaking out at night.

The rest of the thought went unsaid, but it was glaringly obvious. “I couldn’t impose like that,” Amy said. No matter how good a solution he provided. Nobody should be subjected to dealing with her family twenty-four/seven.

“We’d love to!” Rose and Darla said at the same time, ignoring Amy as usual. “That’s just so kind of you. We won’t be any trouble.”

“Are your fingers crossed behind your back?” Roper asked, laughing.

“You have a season to get ready for, remember? You can’t afford any distractions,” Amy said, her heart beating out a panicked rhythm.

Not only did Roper need to focus on his career, Amy didn’t want her family getting close to the man she was trying to avoid.

“My family is a distraction for me. Your family is not,” he assured her.

“You see? We’re not a distraction.”

Amy didn’t turn around to see which one of her relatives spoke. They sounded alike and she didn’t much care.

He leaned closer, never taking his eyes from the road. “It’s different when nobody’s pulling your emotional strings,” he said softly, so only she could hear. “I can handle them and still keep all my appointments.” Roper reached out and placed his hand on her thigh.

She knew he meant to reassure her but he aroused her instead. Talk about pushing emotional buttons, this man had hers down pat.

“It’s still an imposition.”

“Not when I offer freely. Besides, they want to stay with me.”

“We do,” the two chimed in from the backseat.

Amy groaned. “It looks as if I’m outnumbered.”

“Wait until I call home and tell everyone we’re staying with the famous John Roper. You know many of our residents are originally from New York. They still follow the Renegades and you’re big news,” Darla said.

“I didn’t think you knew who I was when Amy introduced me,” Roper said, glancing at them from the rearview mirror.

Rose laughed. “Well, we didn’t want to embarrass you. We do have some sense of decorum. We know how to behave around a celebrity. Besides, who knows if the room was bugged.”

“Oh, give me a break,” Amy said. They’d obviously been watching too much television without her there to set up activities.

“We’re almost at my apartment,” Roper said.

“Good! Thank you so much for your generosity,” Rose said. “We won’t tell a single soul about your engagement to my daughter until you’re ready to announce it publicly.”

“What engagement?” Amy practically shrieked.

“The one Roper promised the guard would be happening soon, of course,” her mother said, confident she had the whole situation figured out.

“Roper?” Amy asked, her head pounding hard.

He shook his head and grinned. “I promised to speak at his son’s graduation.”

Amy swirled around in her seat. “Did you hear that, Mom?” she asked, wanting to put an end to their inaccurate assumptions once and for all.

But both women suddenly had iPod earphones on and neither one was paying any attention.

“MAYBE IT’S TIME TO GET a job,” Ben said, flipping through the Help Wanted section of the paper.

“You’re giving up?” Dave, just home from work, pulled out a Vitamin Water and guzzled from the bottle. “What happened with your brother?”

Ben had avoided seeing his friend for the past few days, embarrassed to admit he’d failed to get the necessary cash from his sibling. “He cut us all off,” Ben admitted. “Mom, Sabrina and me. Told us it’s time to stand on our own, if you can believe that.” Ben could practically feel his anger and blood pressure rise at the memory. “What does he know about how rough I’ve got it? The guy’s got the golden touch. Even with an injury, life’s easy for him,” Ben said.

“Damn.” Dave shook his head. “I didn’t want to believe he’d be so full of himself. I mean, he’s a hero, even with last season’s mess. But he’s so damn selfish.”

“You’re telling me! He tried to convince me coaching is the way to go,” Ben muttered. “He needs to be taken down a few pegs. Maybe then he’ll stick his hand into his pocket and give something to the family that stuck by him.”

Dave placed his empty bottle on the counter. “Don’t you worry, I’m planning just that,” his friend said.

Ben glanced up. “Planning what?”

“Remember all the times you wished someone would teach your brother a lesson?” Dave asked.

Ben didn’t like Dave’s tone. “Yes,” Ben said warily.

“I’ve been doing it. It’s been so easy, considering I know where he lives. A few disgruntled fan letters, a bobblehead doll with a knife in the shoulder, all meant to remind him that he’s been one constant disappointment. What a waste of money on season tickets,” he muttered in disgust. “I’m ordering a vegetarian pizza for dinner. Want some?”

“Make mine half plain,” Ben said. “Wait a minute. You’ve been harassing my brother?”

Ignoring him, Dave picked up the phone and placed the food order before turning back to him. “I wouldn’t call it harassing. It’s more like teaching him a much-needed lesson. All that money, he should work a little harder instead of doing so much wining, dining and romancing. Pay a little respect to the fans, you know.”

Ben’s stomach rolled. It was one thing for him to complain about his brother, it was another to hear his friend ragging on Roper when he was down. Despite his own anger, Ben knew Roper was pissed at himself for this past year’s performance. It wasn’t like he’d screwed up on purpose.

“Back off,” Ben warned his friend.

Dave stepped back and stared at Ben in disbelief. “You’re sticking up for him now?”

“I’m just saying he works hard. When he wasn’t playing well, it wasn’t his fault. Just like it isn’t my fault that my minor league career didn’t work out,” Ben said, hearing his words as if someone else were speaking them.

Understanding them, maybe, for the first time.

If it wasn’t Roper’s fault that he’d had a bad season, could it really be Roper’s fault that Ben’s life didn’t turn out the way he’d hoped and dreamed?

Holy shit. Talk about an aha moment.

“This is frigging unbelievable,” Dave said, pacing the kitchen. “What happened to the man who wanted his brother to suffer the way he was?”

Ben jumped up from his seat. “Those were words, man. A fantasy. We all have those. I’m not happy with my brother at the moment. But he’s my brother.” Hell, Ben had just come to realize he wasn’t happy with himself, either.

After all, he’d leaked news of his brother’s whereabouts to the press. His mother would casually mention what Roper had been up to and Ben would put an anonymous call through to Buckley, Roper’s number-one nemesis. He’d tell the guy where Roper had been and with whom, usually making things seem more frivolous than they were.

Ben had gotten perverse pleasure in seeing Roper on the receiving end of bad press for once, but Ben’s actions had been harmless fun, or so he’d thought at the time. Looking at Dave’s twisted view, Ben was coming to see that even his phone calls had done damage to the brother he was jealous of-the brother he loved.

Dave went on to describe some of the better packages he’d sent Roper, including the dog shit he’d paid a dog walker to hand over, and Ben thought he’d be sick.

Roper was his brother, Ben thought, repeating his own words.

The same brother who had stepped up to the plate when Ben’s father took off. Who’d introduced him to coaches in the minors and who’d funded more failed businesses than Ben cared to remember. Jeez, he’d been living with his head up his ass, Ben thought.

“So do me a favor and leave Roper alone.”

Dave shrugged. “Can’t do that. It’s too late.”

Ben’s skin chilled. “What do you mean?”

“The way you’ve been ducking me the past two days, waking up before I leave, coming home after I’m asleep, I had a feeling you struck out with big brother. So I put the ultimate revenge in motion.”

Ben grabbed his friend by his shirt. “What the hell do you have planned?” he asked.

Dave laughed, but there was nothing remotely funny about the situation. “Nothing I’m going to tell you about, that’s for sure. And Ben?”

“What?” he asked, releasing Dave’s shirt.

“Find yourself a new couch. Mine’s off-limits.”

AMY SAT IN ROPER’S KITCHEN, her stomach cramping as he read, first from the Daily News and then the New York Post. He hadn’t said much since she’d arrived except to warn her that her mother’s adventure at the airport had made the news, thanks to an overzealous fan who’d spotted them. The guy had called the Gossip Zone, another online site. And when one rag got hold of the news, the rest followed.

Roper watched Amy warily, as if waiting for her to explode at any moment. And he was right to worry.

Amy’s fuse was lit, her nerves strung tight. But she had to see the damage for herself. “Give me that.”

She snatched the newspaper from Roper’s hand and glanced at the article, reading aloud. “‘As opening day of baseball season approaches, Renegades star John Roper is busy. Just not in the way his fans would expect.’”

As she spoke, he rose and poured his coffee into the sink, rinsing the mug and saying nothing.

She continued. “‘Yesterday, the center fielder bailed his girlfriend’s mother and aunt out of trouble at JFK International Airport.’” Nausea rose and remained in her throat. “Why can’t my family just act like normal human beings?” Amy asked in frustration.

“Because they are who they are. Besides, that’s why you love them,” Roper said. His kind tone only made things worse. How was she going to fight her feelings for him?

The newspaper articles instantly reminded her of the last time her mother’s antics had made the front page. How she’d lost the job she’d been so proud of, not to mention any potential career in the same field thanks to Rose’s behavior. Amy knew a psychiatrist would have a field day with her inability to put the past where it belonged. But it was her past and she was reacting the only way she knew how.

“Give me the papers,” he said. “They aren’t good for anything except recycling,” he said, the voice of reason. His reaction seemed strange, coming from a man used to reading about himself regularly in a none-too-flattering light.

But Amy wasn’t a celebrity. She hadn’t signed on for a life in front of the cameras. In fact, she’d deliberately chosen a career behind the scenes. Yet when she was with Roper, she couldn’t remain there.

“I need to read the rest.” She folded the newspaper in half and cleared her throat. “‘Amy Stone, niece of sports agent Spencer Atkins, and newly minted publicist at the Hot Zone, has her hands full with relatives who were detained for possible terrorist activity on board an aircraft…’”

“Give me that,” he muttered, grabbing the paper and tossing it into the recycling bin in disgust.

But not before she caught a glimpse of the photograph beneath the article. “There’s no mistaking us,” Amy said. She shook her head and groaned.

“I actually think it’s a good picture,” Roper said. He settled back into his chair as if nothing had occurred.

As if two elderly women with a penchant for trouble weren’t in his guest room getting ready to hit the streets of New York City right this minute. There were probably even people with cameras waiting outside the apartment. Ones that had probably watched her come inside. Not that she’d seen anyone, but obviously, that didn’t mean a thing.

“I never saw anyone with a camera at the airport.” Amy said. Yet there was the picture, taken as they exited the terminal building yesterday.

Her hands grew damp at the thought of dealing with more pictures, innuendos and rumors.

“They could have had a zoom lens or a cell-phone camera. At least we know who called it in. Half the time I’m left guessing about how they found me.” He eyed her with obvious concern.

She didn’t respond. She was too busy worrying about avoiding more photo ops in the future.

“Everyone’s looking for a way to make a buck these days,” Roper finally said.

“Off of my newfound celebrity status.” Since New Year’s Eve, she’d somehow become a person of interest, thanks to her connection to John Roper.

She couldn’t blame him for her mother’s innate ability to attract trouble. Amy had been this route before. But she couldn’t risk the potent combination of Roper and her mother placing her squarely in the limelight again. True, her uncle Spencer had as deep a connection to her mother and aunt as Amy herself, so she wouldn’t be fired. But the idea of being the object of public ridicule after spending so many years avoiding it gave Amy more than a headache. It made her want to throw up.

She realized that Roper was staring at her, trying to figure out what was going on in her mind. “It’s just insane the way the media focuses on me as your girlfriend,” she said, needing to explain her reaction to him in some way he could understand.

“That’s not what bothers you,” Roper said.

She leaned forward in her seat. “And what does?” she asked, since he obviously thought he knew her so well.

“I’m not sure yet. But I’ll let you know when I figure it out,” he said.

“Maybe it’s that you insist on giving everyone the idea that we’re a couple when you know we aren’t.”

He grinned, that sexy, in-control smile that drove her to distraction. “I know no such thing.”

And because of his stubbornness, her mother, her aunt and even the media refused to believe that she and John were just friends. Perhaps because he made it so hard for Amy to believe it herself.

He was doing his best to charm her into his life and keep her there. Last night he’d taken them to dinner at his friend’s restaurant in Little Italy. The one where he’d brought Amy on their first date. She had a hunch he’d chosen the place on purpose, as much for the memories as the good food. He called it their place, which caused a stir with her relatives. Afterward they walked around and he treated them to gelato and cannoli.

Then he insisted on dropping Amy off at her apartment first, so her mother and aunt could see where she lived. Amy had allowed him to take charge because he’d had ideas to keep her mother and aunt busy for the night, tiring them out. As much as she wanted to argue with his commandeering attitude, he took the pressure off of her and she appreciated it.

He was a gentleman. A kind, sexy gentleman. And to use her mother’s old-fashioned word, he was wooing Amy with thoughtfulness, not money. She couldn’t let herself succumb, but it wasn’t easy.

Last night he’d slipped his hand into hers as they walked, so she couldn’t pull back without making a scene. He’d casually placed his palm on her back when they entered the restaurant and once again she’d been powerless to separate them. After a while, the gestures felt too good and she didn’t want him to stop. She lay in bed last night, aroused from his touch, yearning for him to ease the ache in her heart and the one that throbbed insistently inside her body. She missed him.

Just as he obviously intended.

But that was before she’d seen the morning paper. Before the past and present collided. John Roper and her eccentric, publicity-magnet mother were a combination Amy could not handle.

“So what are we doing today?” Roper asked.

She rose from her chair. “We aren’t doing anything. I took the day off to entertain the troops. You are going to the gym or the physical therapist or whatever else is on your schedule.” If he wasn’t with them, he couldn’t get them on tomorrow’s front page.

She could keep her mother and aunt under control for a day or two, make them happy and then send them back to Florida without argument.

“I haven’t skipped a day of therapy in weeks and you know it. I have a four-o’clock appointment today and I’ll be there. Meanwhile, if you have nothing specific on the agenda, I thought maybe we could all do the Statue of Liberty. Then you can take them back here to rest up for dinner while I keep my appointment.”

The telephone rang before she could argue, and Roper picked it up on the first ring. “Hello?” he said, then listened.

“Hi, Mom. I can’t talk right now. I have company,” he said.

Amy watched with interest. He’d taken phone calls from his mother and sister last night, as well, and there was a distinct difference in how he dealt with them now, compared to the panicked acquiescence he’d used when they’d first met.

“Yes, Amy’s family is still here. If you’d like you can join us for dinner tonight.”

Amy winced. “No!” She waved her hands in front of her face. Between her family and the famous Cassandra Lee, there’d be more than enough drama to create ten scenes. Amy couldn’t deal with it and her anxiety built higher at the mere thought.

“I’ll talk to you later, Mom,” Roper said. There was no hint of frustration in his voice.

If anything, things with his mother seemed almost…normal. Such a stark contrast to the episodes Amy had witnessed in the past. It was enough to distract her from canceling tonight’s dinner or arguing about today’s plans. At least for now.

Roper hung up and met Amy’s gaze.

“You haven’t dropped everything and run to your mother, not last night and not this morning,” she said, realizing exactly why things seemed so off balance to her now. “And Sabrina? Her phone call was calm. She wasn’t in hysterics complaining about your mother. And Ben-”

“Isn’t speaking to me at the moment, which makes things easier,” Roper admitted. “But yes, something is different. I came to your office to talk to you about it. But then you got the phone call to rush to the airport and, well, I forgot.”

Amy nodded. Subtly and not so subtly, Roper was now his own person. Not an athlete and a son pulled in a million different directions. If his family called, he spoke to them and quickly got off the phone. He met all his obligations and appointments, including those promises he’d made to Amy’s mother and aunt, without running off on one emergency after another.

He was focused.

He was present in the moment.

And his career obligations-working out and meeting with the physical therapist-came first.

Wow.

“How? What happened with your family?” she asked.

“In a nutshell, I laid it on the line for them. I told them-”

Suddenly her mother’s and aunt’s voices sounded from the other room, growing louder as they made their way to the kitchen.

Roper shot Amy an amused glance, but she wanted to hear the rest of his story. Unfortunately her family descended on them, two small women who sounded and acted like a herd.

“We decided what we wanted to do today,” Darla said. “We want to go to the Central Park Zoo.”

“And then I have something special planned for tonight,” Amy’s mother said, her eyes sparkling.

“We’re having dinner with my mother tonight,” Roper said.

“Great! I can’t wait to meet Cassandra Lee! And afterward she can join us. I read in the paper that the Chippendales show is in town. Can you use your pull to get us tickets?” Rose asked Roper, snuggling up to his side and batting her eyelashes.

“No, no and no!” It was time for them to go home, Amy thought.

Much as she loved them, they were already driving her crazy. And though she’d loved her job in Florida, she had to admit she’d found a peace in her short time in New York she hadn’t realized existed. Her family had shattered it the moment they arrived.

And on the pragmatic side, she wasn’t getting any work done. Though her uncle had given her time off, she was too new to have earned it. She needed and wanted to get back to the office. But how could she send her relatives packing after not even twenty-four hours? They’d be devastated. And hurt.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Roper said, chuckling. “But it’s last-minute. I’m pretty sure it’s too late for me to get tickets. I’m sorry.”

Amy breathed a sigh of relief. Obviously he knew better than to let her mother and aunt Darla loose at a strip show in Manhattan. Short of putting them in handcuffs and chains, Amy barely knew how to contain them herself.

Whether they stayed three days or three weeks, they’d have more than enough time to wreak havoc without a trip to Chippendales on their agenda.

DAVE PUT THE FINISHING touches on his project. He’d been working on it for a while, in between shifts at the gym. It looked professional, if he did say so himself. Enough to cause trouble for John Roper. Trouble the likes of which he’d never seen before.

Ben had bailed out on him and he wouldn’t be getting the money for his gym. Someone had to pay. It might as well be the high-and-mighty John Roper, Dave thought.

Laughing, he clicked Upload on his computer.

Let the fun begin.