Pleasure at Midnight ; His Pick for Passion Read online

The denial sat on the tip of Erin’s tongue. She wanted to see Kelly. Needed her friend’s shoulder to lean on. If anyone would understand it would be Kelly. Even if her understanding came with an I told you so.

  “I’m at the Aloft near the airport,” Erin said.

  “I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Meet me in the lobby. I bet you haven’t eaten anything.”

  She hadn’t, so she didn’t argue. Thirty minutes later Erin and Kelly sat at one of the tables in the hotel lobby. Juice, bagels and fruit spread before them that Erin didn’t want to touch. The constant nausea she lived with made her want to turn away from all food. Too bad she couldn’t do that.

  She picked up a bagel and hoped it would be easy on her. “So, what did he say after I left?”

  She hated that the first thing she wanted to hear was Will’s reaction. Was he angry at her? Relieved his relationship with Juanita was finally in the open? The least bit sorry things were over?

  “He was pretty upset,” Kelly said. “More than I expected him to be.”

  “Why, because I didn’t stick around and give him the chance to sweet-talk me into forgiving him?”

  Kelly winced, then shook her head. “More like...hurt.”

  Erin snorted. “I guess that’s a new feeling. He’s never had a woman run away from him before.”

  Kelly picked up an orange and twisted it in her hands. “I’d agree with you, but this was different. Erin... I think he was hurt because you were hurt.”

  Erin rolled her eyes, then blinked back the tears that tried to escape. She would not feel bad for him. This was all his fault. “To hell with his hurt. Kelly, you were right. All along. I never should have believed him. Will isn’t the type of guy to settle down and be serious about anything. Much less a relationship.”

  Kelly reached across the table. “Erin, I—”

  “No, let me finish. From the start you warned me this would happen. The truth is, I didn’t want to believe you. I’ve had a crush on Will for as long as I can remember. I never thought he would be interested in me. Not seriously anyway. So when he said all those things about how he’s wanted me for years, too...” She sighed and rubbed her temple. “Well, I let myself believe in fairy tales.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with believing in fairy tales,” Kelly said.

  “There is when it comes to a guy like Will.” Erin shook her head and swiped at her wet eyes. “I’m such an idiot.” She looked in her lap, pressed a hand to her abdomen, and shook her head. “A royally screwed-up idiot.”

  “Erin, it’s my fault,” Kelly blurted out.

  Erin’s head popped up. “How is this your fault? Did you put Juanita on Will’s lap?”

  Kelly shook her head but didn’t look away. Guilt swam in her eyes. “No, but I might as well have. I... Well, you know I wasn’t happy about you two together. So I played up your insecurities a bit. I told you Will was unreasonable and set in his ways, and may have let Will think you were possessive and jealous.”

  Erin shook her head. Kelly’s confession rattled around in her head along with disbelief. “Why would you do that?”

  Kelly twisted her hands. “Because you’re my friend. You’ve always been my friend. The stuff I tell you I don’t tell anyone else. And if you’re with Will, that means you’ll start telling him.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “I’ve lived it before. And even if you don’t want to tell him you’d eventually let stuff slip. Remember the situation with Alec a year ago.”

  Erin clenched her teeth. “Yes.” Kelly’s ex-boyfriend, who hadn’t taken their breakup lightly. He’d tried to kidnap her and restrain Kelly in his apartment. Kelly had gotten out and called the police. Alec was now living in jail in Nevada for different charges.

  “You swore to keep that between us because we both know Will and my dad would have done something stupid. Will didn’t need to get in trouble and jeopardize his career because Alec was a real idiot. I handled the situation, and no one got hurt. If that happened again...”

  “Let’s hope nothing like that happens again,” Erin cut in.

  “My point is that I have secrets I don’t want my family to know about, and you keep my secrets. If you’re Will’s wife...then you can’t keep my secrets.”

  “That’s really messed up for you to think you couldn’t confide in me because of my relationship with Will. I’m not your college roommate. We’ve been friends since we were kids. You know me well enough to trust me to always have your back.”

  “I know. And I’m sorry.”

  Erin shook off Kelly’s sorry. Her guilt and confession didn’t make last night go away. “Nothing you said to either of us should have pushed Will to kiss Juanita. And from the looks of it they were about to do a lot more.”

  “Okay, here’s where the really messed-up stuff comes in.” Kelly sighed and straightened her shoulders. “I invited Juanita to my house. I knew Will would be there, and I knew you were showing up early.”

  “What?” Erin’s voice was high and sharp. A few people in the lobby glanced their way. She didn’t care. Why would she invite Juanita to her house? Kelly didn’t even like Juanita. Did she?

  Kelly held up a hand. “That’s not all.” She licked her lips and took a heavy breath. “I might have slightly encouraged Juanita to take a shot with Will. I told her you were the only reason he fired her. When they were back there, it was under the pretense of Juanita wanting a good reference. Will didn’t initiate anything. Honestly, he told her he was with you and that he wasn’t interested.”

  “Then how the hell did she end up on his lap?” Her anger with Kelly, Juanita and the entire situation heated her voice.

  “She pushed him down and jumped on him.” Kelly raised a brow. “Homegirl was insistent. Will had just said no. I think he was pushing her off when you came in and saw what happened.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me the truth then?” Erin asked. “You let me leave.”

  “It all happened too fast. You were there, then you both were running out. Then there was the hurt in Will’s voice. When he called me this morning, he begged me to ask you to talk to him. To let him explain.” Kelly leaned forward and gave her a pleading look. “Erin, he’s never begged me for anything. He really loves you. I messed up and I’m sorry.”

  “You’re sorry? For playing us both. Kelly, what hurts more than you playing us is you thinking my relationship with Will would affect the type of friend I am to you. I don’t agree with a lot of the things you do, but that doesn’t mean I’ll tell your secrets. And please believe that it doesn’t matter if I was with Will or not, if you ever get in another situation like you had with Alec and I felt your life was in danger, I’d tell them. You handled Alec and told me about it after the fact. If I had known before I would have told because I care about you and don’t want to see you get hurt. Me dating Will wouldn’t have changed that.”

  Kelly reached over and placed her hands over one of Erin’s. “I know. I just had flashbacks of losing friends before. I’m sorry, and if you hate me forever I understand, but please, at least talk to Will. He’s really upset, and even if you don’t work things out you’ve got to clear the air.”

  Erin leaned back in her chair. She pulled her hand from under Kelly’s. She wasn’t sure how she felt. Kelly may have manipulated their concerns, but in the end they hadn’t trusted each other. If they were really in love shouldn’t she have taken the time to confront Will and find out what happened instead of jumping to conclusions? Shouldn’t he have known not to go in that room with Juanita because of what Erin suspected?

  She didn’t know the answers. Maybe love didn’t have a thing to do with their reactions in that moment. As much as she wanted to avoid facing what was next, she couldn’t.

  Erin straightened her shoulders and looked at Kelly. “I have to talk to him regardless of what I feel.”

  “Becau
se you want to try to work things out?”

  Erin shook her head. “No, because I’m pregnant.”

  * * *

  Will barely made it through team practice the next day. He went through the motions. Worked the plays and even forced some level of conversation out, but as soon as they finished he showered and was out of there.

  He’d given Coach some excuse he couldn’t even remember about why he needed to fly separately the next day instead of with the team tonight. He was pretty sure Coach read the lie on Will’s face, but trusting him, had agreed. Will had to be on a plane at five the next morning or else he wouldn’t be allowed to play.

  Which meant he had less than twelve hours to find Erin and convince her to take him back.

  His cell phone rang as he walked to his car. His dad. Will cursed and considered not answering. In the end he relented. “Dad, hey, what’s up?”

  “I hear you’re the new Gators team captain,” Calvin said with a bit of surprise and disbelief. “Why didn’t you call and tell me?”

  “Because it’s not that big of a deal,” Will answered. He put his gym bag in the back of his car and leaned against the side.

  “It is a big deal. You talk a good game about wanting to be a coach one day. Being a leader of a team is a good first step. See, that’s what I mean. You don’t take stuff seriously. Otherwise, you’d know what an honor it is for your—”

  “Dad, I get it. I know it’s a big deal. I’m actually very proud and honored they chose me. I know that this will help prepare me to be a coach one day. I’ve even talked to my coaches about mentoring. So you can save the lecture.”

  “Hold up. Where’s all this anger I’m hearing coming from?”

  “From years of you thinking I can’t be anything but a ballplayer. You telling me that I’m not smart enough or focused enough. I know I take an interest in a lot of things, but if something’s important I’ve never dropped the ball. You can at least give me some credit for that.”

  Several seconds of silence passed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to push you into anything.”

  Will rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Pushing and encouraging are two different things. You never encouraged me, Dad.”

  “I have encouraged you.”

  “Only in things you thought I could handle. If things were hard, then you told me to back away. It’s like you think I’m irresponsible or stupid.”

  “I don’t think you’re stupid.” His dad’s voice sounded weary. “Listen, Will, growing up, I wasn’t the best student out there. In fact, a lot of people called me an idiot. So I became good at basketball. I made it to the pros and became the guy everyone loved. No one cared about my IQ if I won games. I told my coach that I’d like to coach basketball one day, and he laughed at me. Said I should focus on what I was good at. So I did. I focused on ballplaying and partying. Then your mother came, and I focused on being the best husband and father I could be. I didn’t want you to feel the same disappointment I felt.”

  Will’s anger deflated. He’d had people tell him the same thing. Underestimate his abilities. He understood how much that hurt, but if he ever had kids he would rather tell them they could fly to the moon than have them doubt themselves. “I look up to you more than anyone in the world. To me you can do anything, Dad. To hell with your old coach. But just because you weren’t encouraged that doesn’t mean you should discourage me.”

  “I know. Old habits are hard to break. Look, Will, I called because I’m proud of you. You’re doing things I didn’t think I could do, and I want you to know that. I’m going to try to do better. I’m don’t want to be the dad who doesn’t support his kids. I guess I let that drop after your mother died. I’m still trying to figure out what to do next.”

  “The only thing I can tell you is to do what makes you happy. Don’t feel like you have to go back to the person you were before you married Mom. Not unless you really want to do that.”

  His dad chuckled. “That’s the thing I’m still trying to figure out.”

  Will checked his watch. He needed to find Erin, but he didn’t know where to start. Maybe Kelly would know where she was by now.

  “Dad, one other thing. Did you ever...did Mom ever think you were interested in other women?”

  “Why?”

  “It’s Erin. This woman kissed me yesterday. A woman Erin thought was interested in me.”

  “Apparently she was.”

  Will rubbed the bridge of his nose. He’d been so blind. “Yeah, I figured that out much too late. Now I’ve got to fix this.”

  “Are you sure you want to fix this?”

  Will thought about it. The look on Erin’s face when she’d thought he’d betrayed her. The disgust he’d felt as Juanita threw herself on him. The foolishness hanging over him for not listening to Erin all the times she’d warned him about Juanita. He’d been arrogant and hardheaded when he didn’t believe her.

  “I do. I love her. I asked her to marry me.”

  The sound of his father sucking in a breath preceded several seconds of silence. Guess that was a lot to process. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you and Erin now,” Calvin said. “But I will answer your question. Yes, there was always someone trying to get with me, but I made sure your mom knew she could trust me. Don’t put yourself in a situation that will give her a reason not to trust you. And if you really love her, and you’re serious, then fight for her, but you also have to be ready to accept if she doesn’t forgive you. You can’t make a woman stay who doesn’t want to stay.”

  The pain in Erin’s eyes flashed across his mind again. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to say anything to make her trust him again. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  * * *

  Erin waited to go to Will’s place until after his plane was supposed to leave the airport. She’d avoided his calls. She was prepping herself before seeing him.

  Kelly’s revelations cleared him of her original concerns. That he’d been sneaking around with Juanita all along. Still, other fears crept in to take the space left behind. Did she really trust Will? Could they really be right for each other if they’d so easily let Kelly’s interference affect them?

  Then there was the biggest complication of all. Will didn’t want kids. Not while he was still playing basketball. While she had no doubt he’d take care of their child, she didn’t want to see the flicker of disappointment go across his face when she told him. That split second where he would regret the situation before putting on a brave face and asking her what she wanted to do.

  She wanted this baby. The idea of Will grudgingly taking on the role of father made her worry the pregnancy would only drive a bigger wedge through their relationship.

  The house was empty when she arrived. She bypassed the kitchen and went upstairs. All of her stuff was there. She’d pack and get back to Chicago as soon as she could. She’d tell him after the playoff game. Then they’d deal with what was next.

  She walked into the bedroom and froze. “Will?”

  He stood by the window. His arm pressed against the pane as he looked out. At the sound of her voice, he spun and faced her.

  “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be traveling with the team.”

  He hurried across the room. He held out his arms as if to pull her into them. Erin crossed hers and stepped back. If he held her, she’d forget about all the concerns that still plagued them.

  His hands dropped. He rubbed the back of his neck. “If I’m not on a plane at 5:00 a.m. then I can’t play.”

  “You shouldn’t have risked your ability to play. You’re the leader of the team.”

  “I don’t care about the game right now. How can I care about that when you’re thinking the worst? Erin, I didn’t kiss Juanita. I know it looked really bad, but that’s not what happened.”

  “I know.”

&nbs
p; He jerked back. Confusion clouding his face. “You do?”

  “I talked to Kelly this morning. She explained what happened and a lot more.”

  Erin pushed past him and sat on the edge of the bed. She told him what Kelly had revealed. When she finished talking his shoulders were rigid and his hands balled into fists.

  Will paced back and forth in front of Erin. “I can’t believe she did that. I’ll never forgive her.”

  “You will because she’s your sister. I don’t like what she did. I understand her twisted logic, but that’s not what’s really bothering me.”

  “Then what is, because I don’t get her logic and I’m pissed.” He stopped and faced her. “Erin, you have to understand I’ve never been interested in Juanita. I should have listened to you from the start.”

  “But that’s the thing. You didn’t listen to me because you believed what your sister said. We don’t really know each other. We don’t really trust each other. If we did, we wouldn’t have let someone come between us so easily.”

  “Because the person who came between us was someone we trusted.” Will lowered to one knee in front of her and took her hand in his. “I’m not saying we can’t trust our family, but when it comes to our relationship we have to trust each other more. No more letting others influence what we think. If we have a problem with each other, or a situation we’re in, we talk to each other.”

  “Are you saying you’re not going to talk to your friends anymore?”

  He shook his head. “I’m saying no matter what advice others may try to give us, what’s between us is between us.” He squeezed her hand. “Erin, I love you. I want to be the person you count on. The person you know will always be there for you.”

  Erin’s heart swelled, but she pulled her hands away. “There’s something I need to tell you. I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

  “What is it?” He straightened his shoulders as if preparing for a blow.

  Erin lifted her chin and met his eyes. “I’m pregnant.”

  Will’s eyes widened. He looked down at her stomach as if he could see their child growing. Then back up to her face. The brightest grin spread across his face. He snatched her into his arms and squeezed her.