Off the Hook (2 page)

Not only was the Buoys about half the size of the other lodge in the pictures, there were no grand marble pillars at the entrance nor was there a ten-man hot tub anywhere on that huge wraparound porch.

The three-level timber-frame building was anything but fancy, but Kate had to admit there was something about the way it sat snuggled deep into the cove that made it look cozy, inviting. Sure, it clearly needed work, but a little elbow grease never killed anyone, right?

She was no stranger to hard work, and even though she hadn’t really done it in a while, she was ready. And more to the point, she was ready for the rewards at the end of it. Hell, she could already see the name tag she’d wear on her shirt this time next year:
KATE HADLEY, GENERAL MANAGER
. And first thing she’d do when she scored that job was add a spa.

“Hope you brought bear spray.” Walt cocked his brow as he turned the plane against the current and eased it toward the dock, where a woman in a black-and-gray wool sweater stood ready to tie up. “Are you okay to carry your bag up? Mr. Foster’s waiting on me.”

“Of course,” Kate muttered.

When Paul Foster was waiting for you, you didn’t dillydally, so she didn’t think twice when Walt left her to deplane on her own. She wouldn’t have worried about that normally, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that platform heels and snow-dusted docks did not a good pair make.

Kate scooted her butt to the edge of the seat and cast another wary glance down. It had been a trick and a half getting into the plane in that dress and those shoes, and that was when she’d been dealing with a smooth, dry dock. Now…yeah, there was no way this was going to be pretty.

Screw
it
.

With a sigh, she tugged off both her shoes and climbed out in her bare feet, her shoes tucked under her arm. Curling her toes against the frosty wood, Kate tugged the collar of her thin raincoat a little higher and tried to steady herself with a slow breath. Walt had already relocked the cargo door and had set her suitcase down when the woman—who looked to be around Kate’s age—slowly reached out her hand.

“Jessie Todd,” she said.

“Kate Hadley. Nice to meet you.”

“You’re early. We weren’t expecting you until later tonight.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” With a quick jerk on the bag’s zipper, Kate pulled out her bright-yellow gum boots, which were clearly built more for style than function, unlike Jessie’s thick green boots, which were clearly not a fashion statement of any kind. Neither was her black toque, but Kate would bet everything she owned that Jessie’s ears were a hell of a lot warmer than hers just then.

“There was a scheduling conflict with the Cessna, so…” Kate chuckled quietly as she waved her hand down the front of herself. “Clearly I wasn’t expecting to be here this early, either.”

“No problem,” Jessie said. “It’s just that I would have had the dock cleared if I’d known you were coming early.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, but…uh…should I be worried that your suitcase is full of cocktail dresses and heels? ’Cause we might have ourselves a problem if it is.”

“Oh. Um…” Kate deadpanned until Jessie’s eyes started to widen, then Kate laughed. “Kidding. Don’t worry, I’m good.”

“Take care.” With a quick nod, Walt hopped back into the small plane and fired it up, then waved his thanks when Jessie untied him and helped Kate push the plane away from the dock.

The whine of the engine drowned out every other sound as the two of them turned and headed up the dock, Kate taking two steps for every one of Jessie’s.

Damn dress
.

“Is everything all right with Josh?” Jessie asked. “Foster’s secretary didn’t say much when she called this morning.”

“He’s fine, but he’s planning a wedding, and you know how that is.”

“No,” Jessie laughed. “I don’t, but I’m guessing his fiancée wasn’t keen on him being out of town for any stretch of time.”

“Does make it a little more difficult to do fittings and things like cake testing, especially since the wedding’s in a couple months.”

“And you’re sure you’re up for this? It’s going to be long hours and the work isn’t very pretty.”

“Ha!” Kate snorted. The small wheels on her suitcase were already caked in snow, forcing her to yank harder so she could keep up with Jessie. “Don’t let the outfit fool you; back in the day, I spent the better part of a year working for a cleaning company that specialized in hoard removal, so as long as I’m not doing that again, I’m good to go. Just let me get changed and you can put me straight to work.”

Jessie’s eyes narrowed a little, but then she nodded slowly. “All right, then. Let’s get you settled. You’re welcome to stay in the lodge for now, but if you’re still here when the season starts, you’ll have to move out to one of the cabins in the back. They’re not much, but they’re warm and dry and they’re a little more private than the lodge, which is something you’ll learn to appreciate once this place starts filling up.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

Head down so she could pick out the less slippery spots on the dock, Kate didn’t look up until they were on solid ground, and by that time a man had started toward them from the main lodge. He was still a good couple of hundred meters away, but for a second there Kate thought he sort of looked like…
No
. It couldn’t be. Was probably nothing more than the power of suggestion because she’d just been thinking about him, albeit briefly.

It had to be the son mentioned in the paperwork. Ronan? Wasn’t that his name?

And yet…something in Kate’s brain twitched. Granted, she hadn’t spent more than a few days with her O’Donnell, and it had been ten years ago, but she didn’t remember him ever mentioning anything about his family owning a fishing lodge. Come to that, he hadn’t shared anything about his family other than the fact that he had a couple of brothers, one older, one younger. Pretty much all she’d known about him back then was that he was cute as hell, sweet and funny, he was a pitcher on the Detroit farm team with an intense determination to make it to the show, and hands down he was the best kisser she’d ever met.

Truth was, she’d never met another guy who could cause such complete and total pandemonium inside her with the mere brush of his lips. Oh sweet Lord, those lips…

Shake it off, Hadley; it’s been ten years.

Sure, she might not have spoken to him since he’d left her in that motel room, but it was nearly impossible not to know what was going on with him once he made it to the show. On principle, of course, she’d refused to cheer for him when he pitched his first big-league game against the Diamondbacks, but she couldn’t help feeling a little bit bad for him when his team got swept in the World Series a few years back. It wasn’t just that they got swept: They lost the last game in extra innings
at home,
and if that didn’t suck enough, he’d spent the entire post-season on the DL and hadn’t thrown a single pitch.

She couldn’t imagine how frustrating that must have been for him, and if she hadn’t still been forcing herself to hate him, she might have shed a tear or two for him. Maybe.

If that actually was him heading toward them, this was going to get really interesting really fast, and while she probably should have been a little nervous, the whole thing made her want to laugh. Could her luck truly be that bad?

As Jessie led her closer, Kate sneaked another peek, trying to keep her face hidden until she could get a better look at him, hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe…he had a twin?

The idea hadn’t even settled in her brain when the first whistled notes of “Since U Been Gone” hit her ears. Really? All this time and he hadn’t switched loyalties to some other pop star—Taylor Swift, maybe?

Shit
. This wasn’t funny. So why couldn’t she stop snickering?

After all these years of working her way up, both personally and professionally, of finally turning her life into something good—no, better than good—the gods were going to dig up the biggest mistake she’d ever made and dump it on her like this without any warning?

What. The. Hell.

The woman she’d worked so hard to become over the last decade knew that while she’d been epically stupid down in Vegas, so had he—the difference being she hadn’t been the one who’d taken off in the middle of the night, leaving nothing but a quickly scrawled note and a half-eaten bag of Doritos behind.

Even so, the old Kate, the one who’d sat alone in that damn room for hours, wallowing in self-pity and kicking herself for continuing to do such stupid, asinine things—yeah,
that
Kate—suddenly surged forward, dragging every single one of her old insecurities along for the ride.

No
.

She couldn’t afford to be that Kate anymore, especially now. She needed to be Strong Kate, Resourceful Kate, Get-the-Job-Done Kate. She’d worked her butt off to get where she was, and this lodge was going to be her pièce de résistance. She was going to get that general manager job, and she wasn’t about to let the best kisser in the world or anyone else screw it up for her.

There was a teeny tiny possibility he wouldn’t remember her; after all, they’d only been together for those few days, and…well…he’d obviously been with other women since. But even before Jessie slowed to a stop, Kate knew that was ridiculous. There were some things, no matter how short-lived, you just didn’t forget.

Biting down hard on her lip, Kate managed to keep the nervous gurgling laugh at bay awhile longer—barely.

Okay, Hadley, get a grip.
The only way in and out of here was by boat or by air. She couldn’t even begin to guess how to start a boat, never mind drive one; Walt was already gone, and there was no way in hell he’d turn around for her when Paul was waiting for him.

All she needed to do was lift her head and look him in the eye, show him that she’d done just fine after he’d dumped her like last week’s compost. So, inhaling a slow, steady breath, Kate lifted her face just as Jessie started the introductions.

“Hey, Liam,” Jessie started, stepping aside a little as the whistling stopped abruptly. “This is—”

“Kate?”

It had been awhile since she’d seen his face on
SportsCenter
—apparently they didn’t give airtime to ball players who didn’t play; go figure—but as was the way with a lot of men, time had been overly generous.

His eyes were still the color of the ocean, his thick brown hair cut short above his ears, and the thin scar that ran from the inside corner of his left eyebrow up toward his forehead was still there. It was the exact same face, and yet it had a maturity now that it hadn’t before.

Standing in a pair of old army-green rain pants with patches of silver duct tape across both knees, a similar-type jacket zipped halfway up his chest, and a ratty, old Tigers ball cap on his head, he looked like shit. And God, was he cute.

There
.

That moment
right
there
made Kate very happy she hadn’t had time to change before getting on the plane. Sure, her dress was completely out of place, but if she had to see him again when she was completely unprepared, she wanted to look good, and if her stupid dress hadn’t been covered up by a raincoat or if she hadn’t been standing there in yellow gum boots, maybe she could have pulled it off a little better.

Crap
.

Nope, it didn’t matter. Exude confidence and people will believe it, right? It was the tactic she’d used every time Paul gave her a new assignment, and this one would be no different, except this time she didn’t bother flashing her standard bright smile.

“Hello, Liam.” The first time she met him, those blue eyes of his had sparkled like crazy whenever he looked at her. This time, the sparkle lasted about two seconds before it was replaced with disbelief, caution, and…yup, a wee bit of panic.

“Wait.” Jessie frowned. “You two know each other?”

“You could say that.” Kate had never whispered a word about him to anyone, not even after he made the big leagues, and since she’d never had a reporter stick a microphone in her face, she was guessing he’d left what happened in Vegas back in Vegas, too. If someone had wanted to go digging, they could have found out, but Liam had never been one of those players who lived his life on the covers of magazines.

Not that she would have read those magazines if he had.

Kate’s mind tripped over itself trying to figure out what to do. She could out him, tell this Jessie person exactly how they knew each other, but what if he and Jessie were a thing now? Besides, telling anyone about what happened would only shine a spotlight on her own stupidity, and she wasn’t exactly keen on doing that, either. No, this was Liam’s turf, and pissing him off could very well end up with Kate being sent back to Paul empty-handed, and she wasn’t having that, so she’d wait to see how Liam wanted to handle this.

He hadn’t moved an inch since seeing Kate, and when he did finally speak again, he never took his eyes off her, even though he was clearly speaking to Jessie.

“What is she doing here?”

“Foster sent her.”

“What? Oh no.” Liam shook his head as he dragged his gaze away from Kate and focused on Jessie. “The guy…the…you know…him. He was supposed to come. John. Jack. Whatever the hell his name was.”

“Josh,” Jessie corrected. “And he had to back out at the last minute, so Kate’s taking his place.”

With her hands wrapped around the handles of her bag, Kate stayed right where she was, her mouth shut tight.

“But she can’t—” Liam stopped, swallowed hard, and exhaled. After a second, he tipped his face slightly, not enough to look at Kate but enough that it appeared he was talking to her. “Give us a second?”

It wasn’t funny, except it kind of was, so, fighting back a smirk, Kate acknowledged Jessie’s apologetic shrug with a shrug of her own and then stood there looking around as the two of them headed a short ways up the path.

They didn’t go very far, and even though Liam spoke in a low whisper, Kate didn’t need to hear him to know what he was saying: The tightness of his jaw and way he jabbed his thumb back toward the dock were a pretty good indication.