Dominic stood over him, blocking the sunlight. "Let's hit the weight room."
JP groaned. "Leave me the fuck alone."
"No can do, punk. Not until you stop sucking."
"Fuck you."
"If you can still talk, I must not be working you hard enough."
JP pulled himself up with the help of a nearby tree trunk. "One day I'll pay you back for this."
"I have no doubt you will. I'll give you a head start to the weight room."
JP glared at him. "Don't do me any favors."
Dominic shrugged, intent on pushing JP until he showed some goddamn backbone. "Three, two, one."
They shot off down the dirt road toward Dominic's Lake Tahoe house at breakneck speed. For the first time, Dominic had to push himself, rather than hold back so that JP didn't quit out of embarrassment.
Five minutes later, JP's hand made contact with the redwood deck a length ahead of Dominic. Despite himself, Dominic was impressed.
When JP wanted to, he could kick it into overdrive. To be that fast after two exhausting days when Dominic had kept him running from five in the morning until midnight--that was impressive.
JP collapsed in the dirt, gasping, "Thanks."
Dominic leaned against the redwood rail. "Tell it to the bench press," he said, both of them knowing it was code for "you're welcome."
Dominic hadn't told JP why he'd decided to work with him, but he was pretty sure the guy knew he was doing it for Melissa. She deserved great clients. And since he figured his time in the pros was coming to an end, he could pass on some of what he'd learned over the past fifteen years to a young guy like JP.
No matter how hard they had to work, Dominic refused to let JP fail. Not when it meant that Melissa failed, too.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Melissa tried everything--the phone, email, even a visit to his condo--but Dominic had disappeared. It wasn't until another Outlaw walked past her cubicle and overheard her leaving Dominic yet another voice mail that she found out he'd gone to Lake Tahoe.
"That's right. I'd forgotten," she lied. She hated the fact that she was utterly in the dark about both of her clients.
Furious, she took a cab to the nearest car-rental agency. She certainly hadn't planned on a four-hour drive into the mountains tonight, and she nursed her anger throughout the long trip, cursing both their arrogance and her stupid dream of working with self-obsessed football players.
The sun had set by the time she pulled into a long dirt driveway. Pine trees stood tall on both sides of her car. Even in the dark, the setting was inescapably beautiful.
Climbing out of the car, she shivered in her thin cotton top. Evenings at Lake Tahoe were chilly. Her eyes grew huge as she stood in front of Dominic's house. Not at all ostentatious, even in the moonlight it was the most beautiful cottage she'd ever set eyes on.
She could picture herself running out onto the beach, chasing after children with towels, while Dominic stood on the deck behind the grill, flipping hamburgers and hot dogs.
Her eyes blurred with sudden tears, and she forcibly shook the images away. When would she accept that happily-ever-after was never going to happen?
Ignoring the doorbell, she pounded on the door and braced herself for Dominic's beautiful face. Instead, JP greeted her.
"I was wondering when you'd get here," he drawled.
She wanted to kick him. "What are you doing here?"
JP moved into the kitchen, bypassing a wine rack to grab a Perrier. "Want one?" She shook her head.
"Suit yourself," he said, twisting the cap off his water and bringing it to his mouth.
JP was drinking water? Not wine, or bourbon, or something else that would impede his performance on the field?
He put the bottle down and wiped his hand across his mouth. "Damn, that really hit the spot." He stretched his hands above his head and yawned. "I'm beat."
Frustration bubbled up inside her. "What, from all that sunbathing you've been doing by the lake? I was going to break the news to you in a nicer way, but I can't be bothered anymore. So here's the deal. I watched your game tapes and I wasn't impressed."
JP simply nodded. "I hear you, boss."
Caught off guard, she said, "You do?"
"Dominic has been showing me things."
She blinked.
"My timing is off," JP admitted. "I've been slacking off during workouts. I need to get off the line quicker."
She stared at JP in shock. He'd just listed several issues she'd planned on taking up with him. Once again, Dominic had beaten her to the punch. He was her knight in shining armor, taking care of everything.
If only it didn't smack of an apology--just like the way he'd offered to be her client after their first night together.
A sliding glass door opened and Dominic walked in, carrying a load of firewood. Melissa's eyes wid ened and her mouth watered. He'd obviously been chopping wood--without his shirt on.
She tried to resummon her resentment, but it was difficult to be angry with a man who looked as good as Dominic. Maybe if he'd been wearing a shirt she would have been able to string two thoughts together, but right now, all she could see was his sweat-slick chest, his muscular shoulders, and his--
"Melissa, I'm glad you're here," he said.
She had to reach deep within herself to keep her knees from turning to mush. "Planning on mentioning this situation with JP to me anytime soon?"
He put down the wood and approached her, all effortless confidence. "Let me explain."
Didn't he realize she couldn't possibly have this conversation with him unless he was covered from head to toe--and wearing a bag over his head, too? Then again, maybe he knew exactly what he was doing. It probably wasn't the first time he'd used his looks to get something he wanted.
"Get dressed and then I'll talk to you." Turning her back on him, she faced JP, who'd been watching their dialogue with interest. "But you and I are going to talk right now."
She walked into the family room of the lakefront house, forcing down another vision of family and kids and laughter. From now on, she was 100 percent business.
JP lowered himself down onto a couch and put his bare feet up on the coffee table. "You guys need me to get out of here?"
Melissa frowned. "I'll speak with Dominic in private. After I'm done with you."
JP rubbed his chin. "I can't believe I'm about to do this."
"Then don't," she said, feeling the beginnings of a headache.
He laid his hand over his heart. "I just can't keep it in."
She rolled her eyes.
"Here's the thing, boss," he said. "I'm all about feeling the love. And I'm feeling it right now."
"Please don't." JP wasn't about to confess that he had feelings for her, was he? That would just be ugly.
"Don't worry," he said, chuckling. "I'm not in love with you." He looked her up and down. "Even if--and I mean this in the most respectful way--you are a supremely hot piece of ass."
"I think we're done with this conversation now, JP."
"I'm talking about you and Dom." Her heart thudded. "We just work together." JP smiled. "I still find it hard to believe you'd pick an old man like him over me."
She shook her head in denial. "I haven't picked him."
"Don't worry, he didn't tell me anything. Just a good guess. And seeing you guys together just now really made things clear."
What did JP see that she didn't? She wanted to grab him by the throat and shake the answers out of him.
Dominic walked into the room and JP shot up off the couch. "Gotta go meet some pretty Tahoe girls. See ya."
"Don't touch a drop of alcohol," Dominic warned.
"I've been listening, teach. I'm going to stay dry. Scout's honor."
Melissa desperately wished he would stay; she needed him as a buffer. Then the front door closed and she stared at Dominic, the silence stretching out between them.
He spoke first. "You've probably figured out why JP is here."
r /> "You're training him." "He's a fast learner." "At least one of you is."
His expressive brown eyes widened with surprise.
"I get it," she said, "you're sorry. You want to make it up to me for the horrible things you said. Again."
His jaw tightened. "It's more than that."
She stood up. "Sure it is."
He took a step toward her. "I love you."
She forced out the sarcastic words: "Sure you do." She hated this but couldn't back down this time. Not ever again.
"I don't know what else to do to convince you." She closed her eyes hard, then opened them and stared straight at him. "Just stop trying, okay? I'm your agent and you're my client, and that's all there ever was or ever will be between us."
Pain flashed across his face, but she couldn't let that stop her. "I came to give you some news," she said in a softer voice. "Bad news."
A flash of alarm crossed his face.
"A writer from Sports Illustrated has dug up some dirt from your past. I need to know what it is, Dominic. Anything and everything you can think of. We can turn this around, but we've got to do it quickly."
His eyes were bleak as he stared into the distance. "We can't turn this around. It's finally over."
She grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard. "What's over? What happened?"
His words came hard, fast. "I used to drink. Anything I could steal. From my mother's boyfriends, from my friends' parents. The liquor store's lock sucked. It was easy to break in and take what I wanted."
Melissa tried hard to conceal her surprise. "You were just a kid. People change."
"Stealing cars was even better. Me and my friend Joe would hot-wire one, take it for a joyride, then leave it with an empty gas tank and a couple of smoked-up joints. Joe was heading to Virginia Tech on a football scholarship. We thought we were invincible. Then I drove into a tree."
A gasp escaped her before she could pull it inside.
"You were okay?"
He nodded grimly. "I was fine. Joe wasn't. His legs were broken. He lost his scholarship."
It took everything she'd learned from watching her father to approach Dominic's revelations from a business perspective: This story could be a PR nightmare if it got out the wrong way. Still, her heart broke for the teenager Dominic had once been.
"How come I've never heard this story before?" she asked quietly. "How could something like this have been shoved under the rug for so long?"
"His parents were big into local politics. They couldn't let it get out that he was drinking and stealing cars."
"Dominic," she said softly "you were just a kid. Kids do stupid stuff." His expression was bleak. "You've never forgiven yourself, have you?"
He didn't move, didn't blink. And then he shook his head. "No." His eyes begged her for forgiveness. "I wanted to tell you before now. I just didn't know how."
Stunned, she needed a few minutes to process everything.
"I've put my endorsements at risk," he said, obviously misreading her silence as worry and trying to manage the situation. "I don't care about the money; I don't need it. But now I've fucked up your career, too."
She held up her hand. "It's my job to worry about that. Not yours. We'll figure this out together."
His gaze cleared as he stared at her. "You'll stay?"
"I will." But she didn't trust herself to remain in his house. Not when she wanted to comfort him and the only way she knew how was with her body. "I'm going to spend the night in town. In the morning, we'll come up with a PR plan. And I'll help you train JP. I've got some ideas."
For the first time all night, Dominic smiled.
Dominic's body was so bruised and beaten that he fell asleep not long after Melissa left. But he woke up long before sunrise, haunted by everything Melissa had said.
She was right about him, about his actions being motivated by guilt. He loved her deeply, but working with JP was about assuaging his guilt.
He'd been doing the same thing for years with Joe. Houses, cars, boats--he bought them all, even when Joe said he didn't want them or need them.
Why the fuck had he railroaded his friend with lavish gifts over the years? Joe was a smart guy, the CEO of his own company manufacturing "green" cleansers. He definitely didn't need Dominic's guilt offerings.
It was just as well that Sports Illustrated was going to out him. He should have owned up to his past a long time ago.
He got up, turned on the shower, and stood under the water.
It felt good to come clean.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The next morning passed in a blur of drills. Though Melissa was impressed by how hard JP was working, it would still be amazing if they pulled off a new deal. Especially with the cloud hanging over Dominic.
She'd finally accepted that things between her and Dominic would never work out. She'd built him up in her head for so many years, dreamed for so long about what he must be like, that she'd never been able to see him purely for himself. She hadn't been fair to him. Now she needed to find it in her heart to wish him well, to wish for him all the love and happiness that she wanted for herself.
"He's dragging," she said at lunchtime as they watched JP run laps around the nearby high-school track. She and Dominic were a surprisingly good team as they focused their energies on JP.
He agreed. "No point in killing the kid, I suppose." He whistled to get JP's attention. "Good work. Go get some lunch. We'll see you in an hour."
JP tried to smile but clearly couldn't muster the energy. "Ugh." He limped back to his car and drove back to the cottage, probably to sleep in the hot tub for an hour.
Melissa walked with Dominic back to his car. His Viper held so many memories for her. Every time she'd been in it they'd had sex before, during, or after their drive.
She shivered in response to the memories.
He pulled into a lakefront burger joint and Melissa was grateful that it wasn't romantic in the least. She hadn't eaten much in the last few days and her clothes were already getting loose. Knowing that the waif look didn't suit her, she ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke.
They found a booth in the corner and sat down. Their food came, but neither of them ate.
Dominic spoke first. "I don't want to hide from my past."
Melissa's eyes widened in surprise. "I would never ask you to do that."
"I know you wouldn't. Other agents maybe, but not you."
Melissa took a deep breath. "I've been thinking things over all night long. I'm positive that we can turn your story into something positive, something that will hopefully make other teenage boys think twice before they steal a car and crash into a tree. You've already done so much by donating the high-school stadium." "I can do more."
She nodded. "And you will. We will."
"Thank you for helping me. For listening and not being angry."
"Of course," she said, not knowing how to put her feelings into words.
"Now let me help you. Please."
Melissa's throat closed up. She'd been so afraid of letting Dominic take over, so scared that he wanted to help her for all the wrong reasons. But things were different now.
"Thank you, Dominic. I think I could have gotten JP a good team by working with him, but with your help, hopefully we can bring in a great team instead."
His body was tense, his hamburger untouched. "I'd like to set up a meeting for JP with Sean from the Outlaws."
She furrowed her brows in confusion. "The Outlaws already have enough wide receivers."
All at once, she understood. He was going to retire. She felt as if he'd punched her in the gut. She couldn't imagine the Outlaws without Dominic, a Sunday without him on the field. It was wrong. So wrong. Yet she knew he was hurting. She'd seen him limp, felt his scars beneath her fingertips.
He watched her process the news. "I've been thinking about it for a while now. I refuse to be a liability to my team, a disappointment to the fans."
It was difficult to
speak. "How long have you been thinking about this?"
"It's been brewing for a while now, but working with JP really made things clear. I ran myself into the ground just to see if I could keep up with him."
"You can," she protested, still unwilling to accept his decision. It would be such a loss. "You're still a phenomenal player," she protested.
"I'm not healing like I used to. I wake up in the morning and I know the stiffness isn't going to be gone by the next day. I'm starting to dread blocking. That's not the kind of game 1 want to play."
"Okay," she said slowly, "we'll work out an exit plan." Emotionally, she hated the decision he was making. Professionally, she knew he was right.
"Obviously, you have a strong future ahead of you with speaking engagements, maybe some non-fiction, even fashion if you're interested." What the hell were the Outlaws going to do without the top wide receiver in the country? She hated having to break the news to the team.
He shook his head. "We'll see what happens once people find out about my past."
That pissed her off. "Dominic, you're an amazing man who made a mistake as a kid. Sure, maybe you should have come clean a long time ago, but your friend is doing fine now, isn't he?"
Somewhat reluctantly, Dominic nodded. "Better than fine. Great."
Her cell phone rang and she looked down at the small screen. "It's my father," she said, then clicked it open.
"I should have known you were sleeping with him."
Fear gripped her heart. "Excuse me?"
"I couldn't figure out why Dominic wanted to work with you," her father said. "Now I know."
"We're not--" she began, wanting desperately to deny her father's accusation. Even though it was true.
"Be in my office at eight a.m."
Tom severed their connection and Melissa carefully put the phone back down on the table next to her untouched burger.
Dominic reached for her hand, covering her cold fingers with his warmth. "What's wrong?"
"He found out about us."
Dominic's grip tightened on her hand. "It's all right."
She pulled her hand back. "No. It isn't. Now he'll never take me seriously. He'll think I'm sleeping with all of my clients. He'll think that's how I get them to sign with me." A tear fell down her cheek. "By sleeping with them."
"He knows you'd never do that."
She blinked away tears. "You didn't."
A spark of anger lit Dominic's eyes. "You know that I'm sorry for thinking you wanted to be with JP. 1 was jealous. I should have known better. And I'm retiring because it's time for me to retire, not because I want so desperately to help you that I'm giving JP my spot. JP should play for the Outlaws because he's got the talent and they're the best team for him. Period."