Head Over Heels (24 page)

“And what is that? What pushes you to get out of bed?” She swallowed hard as she awaited his answer.

“Family. That has never changed. I appreciate a good woman who loves and respects that.” He held her hand and brought it up to his mouth to kiss her palm. “I’d like to get to know you and your family more. Join me down in North Carolina.”

“That sounds interesting and exciting.” She put her hand back on his chest. “There’s something you need to do first.”

He grabbed the sides of her dress and started inching it up. “Again? And you call me insatiable.”

Her face remained stoic as she pulled her dress down. “Your career.”

He leaned his head back and rolled his eyes. “Come on with this. You’re like a broken record. You’re still on the agent kick?”

Kari shook her head. “No. I wanted to know if playing baseball is still something you want.”

He blinked. “Of course. I love the game. I’m on a great team. I’m paid a crazy amount of money.”

She put her hand to the side of his face. “No doubt. You are an incredible player. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Stories about your questionable health have been plaguing you and your career this year.”

Thane jerked back from her. “What is this? You’ve been after me for a while to represent me. Now that I won’t give you an answer, you want to say that there’s something wrong with me? Is this some mind game?”

She shook her head. “No. The agent side of me wouldn’t have said anything to you. But as a woman who has gotten to know you better, I’m concerned about you. Your stats, although impressive, have slipped. At your age and experience, usually numbers would be getting better.”

“Are you kidding me? One player hits one of my pitches and all the sudden I’m a loser?”

“I’m not saying that.” Kari moved in closer to Thane. “Are you okay? I mean health-wise.”

“You’ve been with me all night and this morning. Did I act like a man in poor health?” Thane’s stomach tightened after he asked his question. He refrained from clutching his midsection.

“Like you, I noticed some things while
you
slept.” She kept her stare on his eyes. “I wrapped my arm around you, at least I tried. You flinched and turned away from me. Maybe I said easy for you, not me.”

Thane exhaled. “I’ll walk you to your car.” He retrieved her jacket.

Thane couldn’t think straight after her accusation. Had he really been that obvious about his medical condition? He thought about his mannerisms on and off the field. Had he held his stomach too much? Had he slipped and said something in an interview?

He had to squash her assumptions now before she spread the word to her colleagues, not that he really thought she would do that to him. After helping her with her outerwear, he put on his jacket.

“You don’t have to walk me to my car.” She grabbed the doorknob.

He stepped in and seized the knob from her grasp. “Yes, I do. If you hadn’t driven here, I would have taken you back to your hotel. Now I’ll just have to follow you there.”

Kari shook her head as Thane opened the door for her. “No, you won’t. You know there are going to be reporters downstairs and following you.”

He shrugged. “So?”

“Do you really want them asking you questions about me, especially when you’re supposed to be in Florida?”

He punched the
down
button beside the elevator doors. “You let me worry about myself.”

She shook her head. “Thank God I’m not your publicist. I would be pulling my hair out.”

“Don’t do that.” He ran his fingers through it. “I kind of like your hair.”

She swatted his hand away from her as she got into the elevator. “Don’t do that. There are cameras everywhere.”

“Why are you so panicked about being on camera? You worry too much.” As soon as he said it, his belly compressed again. He gritted his teeth as the pain crested and then subsided like a crashing wave.

“I can’t help it. I’m a mother. It’s what mothers do.” She glared at him as though trying to warn him again about trying to start something with her.

He leaned down by her ear. “No need to worry about me. Let me take care of you for a change.” He placed his hand down at the small of her back. “I apologize for cutting you off when we talked. I can’t tell if I’m talking to Kari the woman or Kari the agent.”

She turned to him.

“Can you give me a sign? A signal? Let me know who I’m dealing with?” He moved in closer to her to kiss her succulent mouth again when the doors opened. Before he knew it, she bolted from him and headed to the front door.

Thane kept up behind her until she stopped abruptly before the doors.

“No.” Kari shook her head.

He didn’t know what made her freeze in place until he spotted the source of her apparent fear.

“Mom! Reagan said you would be here. We took a cab and everything.” Michael beamed as he hugged Kari around her hips.

“What are you doing here?” Kari glared at Reagan.

“I tried calling you several times. I guess your phone is off.” Reagan peered up at Thane and smiled. “So I came here, hoping to find you. Make sure you’re okay.”

“Really?” Kari cocked her head away from her son’s line of vision.

“Good. Now that we’re all together, we can do that breakfast.” Thane beamed. He couldn’t have planned this even if he’d tried.

* * * *

Instead of venturing out to a pancake house like Thane and Michael wanted, Kari begrudgingly agreed to dine in the hotel’s restaurant. She hung back with Reagan and followed Thane and her son to a back table.

“Worried about me, huh?” Kari said between clenched teeth.

“Yes. I thought you would be back to the hotel earlier. When you didn’t answer, I had all these different scenarios running through my head.” Reagan flailed her hands around as she spoke, expressive as usual.

“So if Thane had beaten me up or killed me, you thought that would be a sight for my child to see?”

Reagan pursed her lips. “Did you really want me to leave your ten-year-old son alone in a hotel?”

Her friend had a point. It still angered her that they’d intruded on her like that when she hadn’t figured out her true feelings for Thane yet. It didn’t take a mother’s intuition to know that Thane kept a portion of himself hidden. She’d touched on a nerve when she brought up his health. Instead of getting him to trust her more with his secrets, she felt like she pushed him away.

She watched the waiter point to their table. Michael ran to a chair and plopped himself down like he did at home. Then she watched Thane lean over and whisper something into her child’s ear.

Michael jumped up. Then, like Thane, he stood behind a chair and pulled it out. Kari didn’t want to look shocked, but she knew her open mouth and her frozen stance showed her surprise.

“Always hold a chair for a lady.” Thane patted Michael on his back. “Ladies.”

“Reagan, this is your chair.” Michael pointed to chair he held. “Mr. Wells has Mom’s chair.”

“Thane.” He tapped Michael on his shoulder.

“No, Mr. Wells. He had it right.” Kari stood in front of the chair Thane held. “You aren’t the only one who can teach him good manners.”

Instead of coming back with a smart remark, Thane nodded. “I see. He’s a good kid.”

Thane skillfully slid Kari’s chair under her as she sat. He surprised her by taking her napkin and draping it across her lap. The careful attention caused her heart to pound wildly. When she peered over at Reagan and Michael, she noticed that Michael had been watching, and he quickly snatched Reagan’s napkin, balled it in his hand, and threw it on Reagan’s lap.

“Um, thank you?” Reagan subtly smoothed the white cloth over her thighs before Michael occupied the chair next to her.

“Yes, thank you.” Kari had to step up her game with Thane.

He bucked every stereotype she had about him.

“You’re welcome.” Thane sat next to Kari. As he faced her, he gave her a quick wink.

“Mom, why were you here instead of with me and Reagan?” Michael picked up his glass of water and downed it as he awaited Kari’s answer.

“Uh—”

“She spent the night here.” Thane quickly supplied. As Kari prepared to snatch her child from the table and leave, Thane finished his statement. “Your mother and I have been talking business over the last week. We’re still working on a deal.”

Kari tried to contain her anger as she smiled to her son. “Yes. That’s why I came down here in the first place.”

“So are you going to let my mom represent you?”

For that question, Kari wanted to give Michael a bonus and a bump up in his allowance. She had to hear how Thane would answer. She hadn’t been able to pin the man down after all this time. Would he finally answer a child?

“Not sure yet.” Thane dropped his gaze to his menu, probably as a way to stop the conversation.

Kari should have felt some reassurance that he at least hadn’t said no.

“I think it’s great that you two are spending so much time together.” Reagan bit her bottom lip.

Reagan always looked pained when she tried not to laugh. If Kari knew she wouldn’t come in contact with her child’s legs, she would have kicked her employee under the table.

“I’m glad you think so, Reagan.” Thane took a sip of his water before he continued. “I asked Kari if you three would like to spend the rest of the week at a place in the Outer Banks. I think she’s still deciding.”

Kari shook her head. For as sweet as Thane looked, he had a sneaky side.

“Whoa, Mom, we have to go.” Michael’s eyes got wide.

From the way he wiggled in his chair, Kari imagined him kicking his little legs under the table out of excitement.

“That does sound awesome, way better than staying in a hotel in Virginia Beach.” Reagan’s eyes rolled to the back of her head.

“Yes, the offer is very generous.” Kari forced herself to smile to look pleased by the suggestion even though she hated feeling manipulated. “However, we cannot intrude on Mr. Wells’s time and home.”

“No intrusion at all.” Thane faced Reagan. “My mother gave me the home in her will. I never knew it existed. I have no idea what it looks like. It would be a great trip for all of us to visit it.”

“Wouldn’t you rather do that with your brothers?” Kari glared at Thane.

He didn’t hesitate before he answered. “No.”

An uncomfortable silence hung over the table until the waiter came back to take their order.

Fortunately, the conversation flowed smoothly during the meal. The awkward tension that had existed when Kari had first seen her son and his nanny disappeared as soon as the food arrived. She also found Thane even more charming and appealing.

He managed to split his time and attention among the three of them while expertly remembering small details and keeping up with all conversations. It made her wonder why he couldn’t tell her the truth about his health. She didn’t believe him when he said he had no problems.

At the end of the meal, Kari retrieved her wallet from her purse. Thane’s large hand covered hers.

“I have it.” He shook his head as he grabbed the check from the waiter.

“No. I’ll pay for myself and my family.” Kari attempted to snag the bill, but Thane handed it back to the waiter before she could touch it.

“Great conversation with you all is payment enough for me.” Thane looked sincere. He cast his eyes down and left his hand on the table a sliver away from Kari’s.

She felt the heat coming from it. She longed to touch him again. In front of her son and Reagan, she had to refrain.

Kari stood. “Thank you, again. You’re very generous.” She looked at Michael. “Did you thank Mr. Wells for the meal?”

“No, ma’am.” He faced Thane. “Thank you. Those pancakes were awesome.”

“You’re welcome.” Thane smiled at him.

“Come on. Let’s get you washed up and we’ll get out of Mr. Wells’s hair.” Kari held up her arm to signal Michael to come to her.

“Mom.” He twisted his little mouth to the side as he went over to her. “Can I go to the men’s bathroom by myself?”

“Absolutely not. People are crazy. I’m not having some nut-job snatch you from the bathroom or worse.” Kari would never tell Michael what would be worse than getting kidnapped. He didn’t need to have the nightmares.

She knew that he would get to an age where going into the women’s bathroom with his mother or his nanny wouldn’t work. She had to protect him as long as she could.

“I can bring you all up to my room if you want to use that bathroom,” Thane offered.

Kari quickly did a mental inventory of his bedroom, whether or not she’d left anything behind that would give away what they had done. She couldn’t be sure that Thane had discarded all the condom wrappers.

“His room might be a mess, sweetie.” Kari shook her head.

“I don’t mind taking him.” Thane looked at Kari. “If it’s okay with you.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.” Kari wrapped a possessive arm around her son.

“You didn’t. I offered.” He looked down at Michael. “Are you okay with that?”

“Are you kidding? Washing my hands with Thane Wells? The kids at school will never believe me.” Michael turned to Kari. “Please, Mom?”

Looking at the two of them, she relented. “Okay, wash and dry your hands. Don’t play in there.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Michael looked like he wanted to skip to the bathroom.

“In and out. We’ll be right back.” Thane put his hand on Michael’s back. “Will you two be right here when we get out?”

“Here or by the car.” Kari couldn’t stop staring at her little man. “Be good.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “I’m just washing my hands.”

“I know. I love you.” She blew him a kiss.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Michael gave her a dismissive wave and started to go toward the bathroom when Thane stopped him.

“Always tell people you love them, especially family.” He looked at Kari. “Especially your mother. You never know when you might not see them again.” Thane stared at Kari for a long moment before dropping his gaze to her son. “Say it. It doesn’t make you less of a man to be open and honest.”

Michael blinked before turning to Kari. “Love you, Mom.”

Kari smiled and nodded. Before she knew it, Michael ran to her and wrapped his arms around her. Her steadily tightening throat completely closed as she held him.