3. Noah
3
NOAH
T he cot never arrived.
Maddy hung up the hotel phone and looked at me. “Apparently the clerk was wrong. The last cot they had was taken by another wedding guest named Mrs. Rose.”
I frowned. “Why do I know that name…?”
“She was the one going around telling all the single people we should get married soon,” Maddy said. “I guess we could track her down and explain why we need it?”
I shuddered. “No. God no.”
Maddy and I stared at the bed.
There was no way Maddy would feel comfortable sharing it with me. I tried to come up with a solution but… Fuck, I was so tired.
“Ugh, stop looking at the bed like a sad bull dog.”
“I was not,” I grumbled.
She bent over the bed and bunched up the bedspread in the middle, so that the covers created an inch-high wall separating one half of the bed from the other.
I tried not to stare at her ass while she worked.
“There,” Maddy said, straightening. “You can have that half. But if you move to my side in the middle of the night, I swear I will stab you with a stiletto.” She slammed her shoe down on one of the nightstands with a loud, deliberate clunk.
“Understood.” I stripped my shirt off.
She stared at my bare chest, mouth open.
“What? I’m just changing into my pajamas.”
She made a small squeaking sound and disappeared into the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later we were both in bed on our respective sides. The light was out, but I felt wide awake. I was pretty sure she was too.
I was so aware of her breathing. The rustle of the sheets as she rolled over. The scent of her skin, so close I could almost taste it.
Hell. There was no way I was getting any sleep.
I woke up with Maddy’s hand on my heart, her hair in my face, and her body curled around mine. I felt more relaxed than I’d been in weeks.
I told myself to move away, but I didn’t. Instead, my eyes drank her in. Close up like this, she was more than attractive, she was perfect. Soft skin, long lashes and a pouty mouth that could probably do amazing things—at least when it wasn’t spitting fire at me.
I thought of half-naked and flushed, throwing a stiletto at me, and felt the sheet beginning to tent over my hips.
Shit. She was, what, twenty? I felt like such a dirty old man.
I rolled out from under the gorgeous woman next to me, planning on taking a shower and getting out of the room before Maddy woke up.
That was when my phone started ringing. I grabbed it, expecting it to be one of the athletes I managed. But it was Zoe.
My stomach sank.
Zoe had never once answered a work email before 9:05 a.m. It was currently 7:45 a.m.
“What’s wrong, Zoe?” I answered bluntly.
“Hi, uh, I have to tell you something,” Zoe began. “You know your flight to North Dakota today? I secured a jet, just like you told me to, but it turns out I didn’t actually give them your credit card number. And the day they tried to call me about it I was in the middle of negotiating this amazing influencer partnership with a tooth-whitening company—” Ugh, Zoe’s schemes to become an influencer just got more annoying all the time. But then the first part of what she’d said finally sunk in.
“Zoe,” I interrupted, my voice dangerous. “Do I have a jet to North Dakota or not?”
“No,” Zoe admitted, sullen. “But there’s nothing else I can do! I called them a million times already, but they rebooked jet to someone else.”
I got out of bed and started pacing the room. “That’s not acceptable, Zoe.” It came out louder than I’d intended, and Maddy stirred in the bed.
“I only missed their payment deadline by like, eight days,” she mumbled.
“ What ?”
Maddy let out a groan and pulled the covers over her head.
I swallowed my frustration to focus on the issue at hand. “Have you checked regular flights? I’ll have to pay a premium for same day, but you’ve left me no choice.”
“If you can afford to rent a private jet, I think you can afford same-day premium pricing,” Zoe pointed out.
“ Not the time, Zoe ,” I barked. I took a deep breath. “Are you at the office? I need you to check the top drawer of the filing cabinet by your desk. My last secretary left a file with phone numbers for contacts at every major airlines–”
“The thing is, I’m not at the office. And I can’t go in this morning. I’m at this last-minute photo shoot for this amazing product that my followers will love hearing about.”
“Get to the fucking office now,” I shouted, unable to contain my anger any longer. “This meeting is critical. It was scheduled months ago.”
“No,” she said.
It was the last straw. “Then you’re done.” I snapped. “You’re fired, Zoe. Effective immediately, you’re relieved of your duties with Parker Sports Management. Look for a termination memo shortly.”
I disconnected the call and threw my phone on the bed, coming close to nailing Maddy’s feet. She sat up and watched me with wide eyes. “Did you just fire someone for not going in to work before eight a.m. on a Sunday morning?”
I stopped pacing and spun to face her. “For your information, I fired her because she’s been making costly mistakes all month long, and this time she went too far. She screwed up the flight that I’m supposed to be taking today—the one that I thought was booked weeks ago. If I can’t get to North Dakota by this evening, I’ll lose a player I’ve been courting for months.”
“Player?” she frowns, confused. “What are you, a coach?”
I scrubbed a hand through my hair, trying to think how to fix this. “I run a sports agency and I’ve been working on winning this potential client for what feels like forever, this amazing rookie football player in Fargo. We have a dinner meeting set for this evening to finalize everything, but now I’ve got no way to get there—never mind. You wouldn’t understand.”
She gives me a grumpy look. “Oh, I understand. I understand that instead of having a calm, relaxing morning, I’m going to have to deal with you stomping around, scowling, and firing people until you get your way or give up.”
“I… what are you doing?”
She’d pulled a laptop out from her bag and was now sitting cross-legged on the bed, typing away. “I’m getting you a flight to North Dakota so you’ll stop bitching about it and I can enjoy what’s left of my weekend.”
“I wasn’t bitching, ” I grumbled.
She threw me a look.
“I was strategizing. In an angry tone.”
She rolled her eyes, then turned back to her laptop. “Okay, just so I understand the assignment. You want a ticket from here to Fargo, arriving with enough time to get to wherever the meeting is set up… and where is that?”
“It’s a steakhouse called Callaghan’s, on 5th. We have reservations for seven o’clock. Or at least, we should .”
“Callaghan’s at seven,” she said with a nod. “Do you want to rent a car, or do you want a driver?”
“I thought you were just getting me a plane ticket,” I said.
She shrugged, frowning slightly as she read something on her screen. “I don’t half-ass it when I fix something.”
I stared at Maddy. She was working harder at a job she didn’t have than Zoe had at a job she’d actually had, and all just so I’d shut up and she could enjoy some peace and quiet? But even though that was the reason she’d given, I got the feeling she’d be trying to fix this no matter what. She’d said as much in the elevator yesterday. She was the kind of person who jumped in when she saw something falling apart.
Even when the person in trouble was a grump who’d tried to steal her hotel room.
“ Noah ,” Maddie repeated, exasperated. “Do you want to rent a car or do you want a driver?”
“Either. Doesn’t matter.”
“Got it. And you’re okay with any price tag?” She hopped off the bed and reached for her phone. I tried not to notice that her thin white t-shirt had slid down her shoulder, and that her pajama shorts were very short.
“Just get me there.”
“And you won’t be a snob about this? You’ll fly economy if you need to?” She regarded me with deep skepticism.
“I’m willing to take a moped if it gets me there on time,” I said.
That earned me a crooked smile.
God, she had a beautiful smile.
Maddie held out her hand. “Give me your credit card.”
I shook my head. “You’re not going to find anything. The whole reason I needed a private plane was because North Dakota isn’t exactly a travel hub.”
“Give me an hour, your credit card, and a cup of coffee,” Maddy said.
She looked so damn determined.
Hell, I didn’t exactly have any better option.
I started to hand her my credit card, then stopped. “If you can get me to North Dakota, I want you to book two seats, not one, okay?”
“Ha! I knew you couldn’t rough it in a single economy seat.” That wasn’t my reason, but now wasn’t the time to get into it. I’d wait and see what results she got first. She accepted my credit card and went back to Googling flights.
I threw on my clothes and went to go get us coffee.
Twenty-five minutes later I was back in the hotel room with coffee.
Maddy looked up from her laptop, her expression solemn.
Shit. It looked like even Maddy-the-Fixer couldn’t fix this.
She handed me back my credit card.
“No luck?” I asked, more disappointed than I’d expected to be.
“No luck.” She said, face serious. “But plenty of skill. You’ll be wheels up at two.”
“Are you kidding me?” I grinned. “God, you’re such a brat. I should withhold your coffee for that.”
“Don’t you dare.” She snatched the coffee cup from me and took a deep, grateful sip. “If you’re wondering how I worked this miracle, it turns out there’s more than one company where you can rent a private plane. Just, you know, a tip for your next assistant.”
“About that.” I sat down in the chair across from the bed and considered her. “You should quit your job and come work for me.”
“What?!” Maddy laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’d kill each other. Well, I’d kill you, and then I’d go to jail because your body’s too big and heavy for someone my size to hide.”
I frowned at her. What an ungrateful… People begged to work for me. Zoe had sent me a goddamn fruit basket to thank me after her job interview.
Then again, the last thing I wanted was another Zoe.
“Well, at least let me treat you to breakfast to thank you for pinch-hitting for me this time,” I said, picking up the phone to call room service.
Great food had a way of softening people up. And Maddy hadn’t actually said no. She’d just said she might murder me.
I could work with that.
An hour later Maddy was daintily nibbling at a slice of bacon, the remains of a thoroughly demolished breakfast between us. I was trying to figure out how to bring up the job offer again, when Maddy spoke up.
“Can I ask you something? Why is this meeting so important to you? What do you like about this particular player?”
I studied her. That was an unusual question, coming from someone outside the industry. “There’s more to him than what you see on the field. He’s talented, of course, but the kid is humble, too. That’s a rare combination these days. So much ego in those young guys.”
And I was always the one paying for it.
Maybe that was why I’d put up with Zoe for so long. I was so used to managing difficult people with giant egos, I’d just automatically adapted when she started causing problems.
“Can I make a guess who you’re talking about?” Maddy asked.
I frowned, coming back to the present. “Of course, by all means.”
Maddy washed down the last of her bacon with a sip of coffee. “If it’s North Dakota talent it’s either Matthew Garrison, Tyrese Odukoya, or Jimmy Hobbs.”
My jaw literally dropped. “It’s Matthew Garrison. How did you guess that?” Maybe it was stereotyping to assume she wouldn’t know much about college ball, but she sure didn’t look like the average football fanatic. And even those guys usually knew less about the sport than they thought they did.
“It’s sort of in my blood,” Maddy said. “My dad was a sports writer. Walter Malone.”
Now it all made sense. “Of course, Walter was an incredible reporter. Wow.” I had nothing but respect for the man who’d always anchored a good story with hard facts and a fair assessment.
For a second, I forgot about selling her on working of me. I just wanted to hear what she was thinking. “So what do you like about Garrison?”
She lit up. “Exactly what you said. Aside from his impressive stats, the guy has heart. He’s a hometown hero and fans eat that stuff up. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s cute.” She mimed fanning herself.
“Well, that part isn’t important to me personally, but yeah, it helps. Everything is optics and social media these days.”
“Don’t knock social media,” Maddy said. “I mean yes, sometimes people use it to be awful. But it can also be a great way of seeing what people are thinking, what they’re excited about. A lot of reporters use it to get ideas for stories.”
Right. Her career.
Time to get this discussion back on track.
I walked to the window and flung the curtain open. “You said you work for a newspaper?”
“I’m an editorial assistant at The Dade County Daily Register ,” she said. “Paying my dues, helping other reporters out with their stories. But like I told you, my boss is supposed to let me write my own stuff soon.”
“You said you enjoy fixing things.” I leaned back against the desk, studying her. “Are you up for a real challenge?”
Her bright eyes flashed, interested despite herself.
“Do you want to spend your days supporting writers you clearly don’t respect, waiting around in the hope of having a shot at writing something yourself? Or do you want to help make the deals they’re writing about?” I asked. “It may not be exactly the kind of work you pictured yourself doing, but I think you’ll be pleased with the salary.”
She snorted. “You don’t even know what I make.”
I gestured like the floor was still hers, and when she told me the number, I had to struggle to keep from laughing.
“I’ll triple that.”
Maddy froze. “You’re kidding.”
“Lesson number one: I never joke about money.”
The room went quiet as she considered my offer.
“I’m going to go take a shower. You have forty-five minutes to make up your mind.”
“Why forty-five minutes?” she asked.
“Because,” I said, “when you say yes, you’ll need the next few hours to prepare to come to North Dakota with me.”