Protecting His Assets by Cari Quinn Read Free Book Online Page B

weekly host and wine when I was recovering from a hangover.”
    “You’re not drunk today.” She started making the bacon, apparently having realized she’d forgotten it due to her obsession with fluffy, well-vegetablized eggs. She’d certainly made herself right at home in his kitchen. “Are you?” she prodded when he didn’t reply.
    “No,” he said a little too sharply. “I’m working the program.” Or he had been until recently, when he’d started slacking on going to meetings. When she lifted a brow, he added, “AA.”
    “Oh.” Then, a longer and more drawn out version. “ Ohhh .”
    To give himself something to do, he took over for her on the eggs, sliding into the open spot beside her at the stove. He grabbed a couple of dishes from an overhead cabinet and dumped the eggs on the plain white plates, then grabbed a couple of leftover curls of pepper to use as garnish like his mom used to do. Making food look nicer was habit, no different than the two hundred sit-ups he did every morning.
    Glancing up at Summer’s amused face, he scowled. “Got a problem?’
    “No. You’re so…domesticated. It’s sexy.”
    In spite of himself, he laughed. “Nice save, slugger. You’re about to strike out though, so finish up my bacon so we can get you into your Sunday best.”
    “You should come to church too. It might do you some good.” She arched up on her tiptoes and flung her hand in the direction of his hair. Her fingers glanced off his cheek. “Your halo’s looking a little rusty, ballboy.”
    “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll go if you will sit down with me with your schedule and discuss the possibility of personal security like a mature adult.” The flash in her eyes would’ve made a lesser man retreat. Not him. He had a sister and knew how to talk to emotional women. “It’s only fair,” he added, though he didn’t give a shit about fairness and would’ve gotten her to listen to reason one way or another anyway.
    It worked.
    “Okay. Fine. I suppose I owe you that much,” she agreed. Then she cocked her head and bit her lip. That thoughtful look of hers was going to kill him. “Did you lose your job at the club because of me?”
    “No. I lost it because it wasn’t suited for me.”
    “Why’d you take it in the first place? Don’t you have ball to get back to?” She turned back to the stove and traced her fingernail along the edge of the spatula. “It sucks the Daggers let you go. I can’t believe no one else has picked you up yet.”
    “What do you know about my career?” Again that same sharpness re-entered his voice. He couldn’t help it. There were sensitive subjects, then there were conversational landmines. His current free agent status resided firmly in the latter territory.
    The way her lips pinched at the corners stirred something low in his gut, right beneath the snug band of his belt. “Plenty,” she murmured, and the heaviness between his legs increased tenfold. “The only thing higher than the amount of women you’ve supposedly nailed is your win percentage.” She didn’t mention his slump again, thank God. Nor his injury. He hoped she’d put both out of her pretty little head. “So how the hell are you still a free agent? I was sure the Cords would grab you—”
    “Easy enough not to be picked up when you’re a bigger liability than you are an asset.” He didn’t add anything else.
    Like how he’d started drinking more to contend with the unrelenting pain and weakness he couldn’t stretch his way through. Better to be known as a fuckup than to risk his trainers finding out that not only was he almost thirty-two, his body was already starting that inevitable downward slide to obsolescence.
    She shocked the hell out of him by shrugging as she slid the bacon onto their plates. “So you drink and have fun. What young guy doesn’t? It doesn’t hurt anyone. You get the job done and anyone who doesn’t want you is an idiot.”
    The vehemence in her tone