Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
S eptember 19 th
I don’t know what to think about my date with Fraser tonight. He’s drop-dead sexy. He’s super sweet, but also ghosts me. My friends are less than thrilled about me seeing him. I told Leah, Amelia, and Eli and they said, “Oh.” That was it. No excitement, just a very flat tone of voice from all of them.
I can’t have Max. I can’t even have Mr. Paris. Who I can have is Fraser. So, let’s see if tonight is exactly what the doctor ordered or if it’s time to send in a sick note and cancel.
Fraser was right on time with bags of Chinese. He kissed her as soon as she opened the door and took the food to the kitchen. Paige felt better about tonight as Fraser kept the conversation flowing and focused on taking care of her. He asked about Italy and told her how impressed he was with her job. He was saying all the right things. But Paige couldn’t get over the fact that none of her friends were excited about this date. She knew she was the one dating Fraser, not her friends. But her friends had all been so supportive of everything else. To not have their support threw her off-kilter.
Fraser cleaned up the kitchen and joined her on the couch. He pulled her legs over his lap and began to run his hand up and down her thigh. “I really have missed you. And those great lips of yours.”
His hand went higher up her thigh before gently squeezing the inside of her thigh then leaning down and kissing her. Paige wrapped her fingers around his shoulder and held on as the kiss deepened.
Fraser’s hand moved farther up and her breath picked up speed at the touch. However, it wasn’t enough to keep her mind from wandering. Her mind went right to Mr. Paris. The last man to have touched her there. He didn’t just touch her. He worshiped her and set her whole body flying to the stars with each touch. Fraser’s touch wasn’t doing that. Hell, even Timothy’s frantic fingering in the elevator when they thought they were both going to die was more of a turn-on that this. Something was just . . . off.
Fraser was moaning and really getting into the make-out session as Paige was thinking of ways to end the evening without hurting his feelings. Luckily, his phone rang, and they broke apart.
Paige glanced down at the phone and read Hospital 2 across the screen. “The hospital is calling.”
Fraser cursed, stood up, grabbed his phone, and walked into the bathroom. When he came out a moment later, his hair was brushed, his shirt was tucked back in, and he was frowning. “Sorry, but I’ve been called back in. Raincheck?”
Paige was so relieved that she smiled. “Yeah, raincheck.” That would give her enough time to figure out what was going on with her feelings for Fraser.
It was game time. Fraser and she had texted over the past couple of weeks, but every time he tried to set a date, she found a reason to push it off. It wasn’t fair to him, but at night when she closed her eyes, it wasn’t Fraser she saw there. It was Max, Mr. Paris, or sometimes it was whichever book boyfriend she was reading. The point being—it wasn’t Fraser. Ever.
The knock on her door had Paige taking one last look at her appearance. High ponytail, check. Cute football earrings, check. Tight jeans, check. Even tighter team shirt, check. Maybe a cute footballer would be just the thing she needed to move on with her adventures. It would certainly make her birthday special. Today she was one year older. One more year of being a virgin, but one more year that left her wiser and more worldly. Normally she didn’t like to make a big deal of her birthday, but today felt different. Today was going to be the best birthday ever.
Paige hurried to open the door and Jack blinked as he took her in. “Moxie told me she and you almost had an orgy.”
Paige raised her eyebrow. “You’re talking to Moxie about her sex life?”
“We’re talking about a lot of things. I have to see if she’ll freak out at The Red Door. However, I think I was very wrong to worry about that. So, about that orgy?”
Paige shook her head. “Not going to happen. Sorry, Jack, but you’re in the friendzone. Now, help a friend get a footballer into her endzone.”
Jack chuckled as they walked to his car. Jack looked relaxed in jeans and a team button-up shirt. It was the end of September in New York City. Leaves were thinking about turning soon. The weather was warm, but cool breezes that smelled of fall were common.
“Wow,” Paige gasped as they walked into the stadium. “It’s so big. I can’t imagine this place full and everyone watching me play.”
“Paige!” Griz called out as he strode over to meet them. He shook Jack’s hand and then winked at him. “I hear you and Moxie are talking. I thought I better warn you.”
Jack stared Griz down. No one warned a billionaire away from what they wanted. “You’re going to warn me against hurting your friend?”
Griz chuckled as they began walking through a tunnel out onto the field. “That’s a given, but no. I thought I’d warn you to hang on. You might not be man enough to handle Moxie.”
“You think I can’t handle Moxie in bed?” Jack looked so shocked that Paige laughed.
Griz just grinned. “I’d advise you to stay well-hydrated, take your vitamins, and limber up. Now, come meet the guys I train.”
Paige gave Jack an I-told-you-so look as they headed onto the field. Paige had thought Griz was a big guy but she had to admit she was wrong. The offensive line looked as if they could toss a car for fun. What she didn’t expect was how funny and laid back they were. It was totally different from the star players who had the majority of people surrounding them. Sure, the quarterback was stupid hot and would totally whisk you away for a week on a private yacht. But the linemen would be the ones who cooked you breakfast and brought you chocolate when you had your period.
A whistle blew and everyone was told to step off the field. The players were going to run some drills. “Who is number eighty-eight?” Paige asked Jack as she watched the guy twice the size of the wide receivers catch a ball and plow into the defense as if it were nothing.
“Grady Brunski. He’s their tight end.” Jack looked down at Paige and then back to Grady. “Oh, is that your next victim?”
Paige rolled her eyes at him and then looked down the sideline at the people in attendance watching the practice. It was full of wealthy guys and very cosmetically enhanced social media models.
“No, I don’t think he’d be interested in me. However, the guy that snaps the ball? The center. He was really sweet. A big teddy bear that could easily pick a girl up and make her feel small, safe, protected, and sexy.”
“Paige!” Jack yelled suddenly as he reached for her.
Paige didn’t have time to process what was happening. The tight end was right on top of her. His cleat smashed into her foot as he caught the ball out of bounds. Sharp pain radiated through her foot as she screamed. Her arms pinwheeled and she knew she was going to go down hard, re-injuring her ribs. Paige reached out to grab whatever she could to prevent the fall.
She grabbed, falling backward, as the tight end fell screaming just as much as she was.
Griz and Jack managed to grab her enough that she didn’t slam into the ground with a huge footballer on top of her. That’s when she noticed Grady was still screaming as people rushed her from every direction.
“Paige,” Jack said, struggling not to smile. “You need to let go of Grady’s balls.”
“I didn’t catch the ball,” Paige said, still trying to focus through the pain in her foot.
“Let go of my dick!” Grady was screaming.
Through the brain fog of pain, she realized what part of Grady she’d grabbed when she was falling. “Shouldn’t you wear a cup?” Her hand was latched onto Grady’s goalpost and balls. Hard. She released her grip as security yanked her up and placed her in zip ties.
“Wait? What?” Paige cried out as Jack and Griz began to try to explain what had happened to the security guard who was already calling in a sexual assault to the police. The guard grabbed her ID badge and read her name to the police officer on the phone. Jack was calling his attorney and Griz was demanding the tight end refuse to allow any charges to be pressed. Paige’s head was spinning, her ribs started aching again and her foot was throbbing as she sat on the ground.
When that didn’t work, Jack went after the owner of the team. Apparently, Jack went to school with the owner’s son and they’d been in the same fraternity. Paige felt tears rolling down her face as Griz got the athletic trainer over to see Paige’s foot. Only when they took off her shoe did everyone realize what had really happened and why Paige had blindly reached out to prevent herself from falling. Her foot was swollen, cleat marks were clear in her skin, and by the nasty color her foot was turning, she was afraid it was broken.
“You press charges and I’ll provide the legal fees to sue you for injury,” Jack said, threatening the tight end. The tight end might have a good eighty pounds on him but Jack was fierce in his icy rage.
Police officers joined the group, ready to make an arrest of a crazy woman running amok grabbing footballer’s junk, when Grady advised them it was a mistake. The zip ties were cut and Paige just wanted to disappear.
The center who snapped the ball joined her then. He reached down, picked her up as if she weighed nothing, and held her in his arms. “I’m sorry, Grady can be an ass. You can grab my balls anytime you want.”
His beard was soft as he held her tightly. “Thanks, Jim,” she told the big man who was at least six feet five inches tall and weighed close to three hundred pounds. His arms were tree trunks of muscle and she felt as if he could hold her like that all day long.
“Who do I have to kill?” Paige turned her head to find Max standing there. “Who touched you, Paige? I’ll handle everything.”
“What are you doing here?” Paige asked, shocked to find Max looking ready to commit murder.
“I’m notified every time your name is sent out. I got your name and details that a sexual assault happened. Who hurt you, Paige?” Max looked fierce. His eyes were blazing and his body was a tightly coiled spring ready to erupt. She was afraid his clenched jaw would break when he saw the condition of her foot.
“About that,” Paige said slowly. “I was falling after Grady stepped on my foot, pinning me in place when he ran into me, and I reached out to grab anything I could to stop the fall. And, well, I grabbed his . . . well, you know.”
“No, I don’t know.”
“Well, it wasn’t a stiletto to the balls at least. It was just a handful. I mean, shouldn’t he be wearing a cup anyway?”
Max’s jaw loosened and he glanced over to see a group of women surrounding Grady, who was sitting with an ice bag to the balls. Then he tensed up again. “You’re telling me he ran into you on the sidelines and then called the cops on you?”
“Maybe it’s because I know the size of it, and sadly, it’s not proportional to the rest of him.”
“Don’t worry, baby, mine is,” Jim said smugly.
Max’s eyes went to where Jim was smiling down at her as the practice began again behind them. “I got it from here. Come on, jailbird. Let’s get your foot checked out.”
“I can take her,” Jim told Max, and Paige curled up into Jim’s embrace. It felt as if she were hugging her own personal furnace and she couldn’t get enough.
“You have practice,” Max pointed out. “I got her. I’m her . . . friend.”
Max held his arms out and Paige looked to where Jack and Griz were watching the discussion. “Jim,” Griz said, finally stepping in, “coach needs you on the line.”
Paige glared at Griz, but stopped when Jim said for Griz to give Paige his number. Maybe the foot injury was worth it.
Max took Paige into his arms and Paige was struck by a longing for something she knew she’d never have. She’d never be the woman in Max’s arms and it almost hurt to be there now.
“You can put me down,” Paige said as Max began to carry her out of the stadium.
“No.” That was all Max said as he continued to carry her.
“I’m too heavy, Max.”
Max made a dismissive sound and continued his way out to where his car was parked. He opened the door and leaned down, placing her into the front seat and even reaching over her to buckle her in.
“So, are you going to go out with him?” Max asked when he began to drive towards the hospital.
“Jim?” Paige asked, and Max nodded. “Maybe. I had a date with Fraser the other day, but it ended when the hospital called. You know about my resolution. I don’t know if it’s so much about dating right now as it is about having these experiences. But Jim was really sweet, and I only have a couple more months of this resolution to go. Maybe we can get together in the off season?”
Max pulled up to the hospital after staying quiet for a while. She knew how he felt about her resolution. Max thought she deserved more. That she deserved someone who was special to her to lose her virginity to. Someone who knew what an honor it would be. Yet, he didn’t try to stop her either. He simply showed up when things went wrong and was there to rescue her, like today. He was letting her be herself, and Paige really appreciated it.
“Paige, seriously, I see you more than I see my brother,” Lucinda, Felix’s sister, said as she met them at the car with a wheelchair. “Oh, your poor foot!”
Max hurried around the car and lifted her out and placed her into the chair. “Are you going to call in orthopedics?” Max asked as she rolled Paige into her regular bay.
“Let’s see what the X-ray says first. I’ve paged Dr. Robertson. He’ll order the X-ray and then determine if we need a specialist.”
Paige saw Max’s jaw tighten again. He’d never liked Fraser. And now Griz and Roman had said they didn’t like him either.
“Why can’t we see another doctor?” Max asked. Paige noticed the we in his sentence, but a beautiful woman slamming her hand on the nurses’ station drew Paige’s attention.
“Dr. Robertson has asked to take the lead on all of Paige’s medical issues. I’m sure like how Felix asked me to do the same. And since you’re the only cop bringing Paige into the ER, I’m guessing the same goes for you too.” Lucinda grabbed her ringing work phone and took the call. “Shit, we have a massive pileup coming in. I have to prep. Look, Dr. Robertson is probably in the doctor’s lounge. He pulled a late shift last night and he’s probably still asleep. Can you please take her to the lounge, wake up Dr. Robertson and get him to order the X-ray and then tell him it’ll be all hands on deck up here. Please?” she asked as nurses were running from all directions to get things set up for the influx of patients.
“Of course. Go.” Max told her but then Paige heard the woman demanding to speak to Fraser Robertson even as nurses ran by ignoring her. “Hey,” Max said to her. “We are looking for him too. Why don’t you come with us?”
The woman turned and Paige got to see her clearly for the first time. She looked like the perfect wife from television dramas. Blonde hair, blue eyes, big chest, small waist, expensive clothes, perfect makeup, and jewelry to die for. “Thank you. I’ve been trying to get a hold of him for hours. It’s an emergency.”
Paige had a bad, sinking feeling something in this situation just wasn’t right. It was a rock that was slowly gaining speed racing toward her gut.
“The nurse said he was probably in the doctors’ lounge. Do you happen to know where that is?” Max asked her as they began walking down one of the halls.
“I do,” she said, marching down the hall leaving Max to hurry behind her. “Here it is.” She reached down to open the door, but it was locked. “Can you unlock it?”
Max knocked, but there was no answer. “No one is there,” he said after knocking again.
But then they all froze. There was definitely someone in there. Paige might be a virgin, but even she knew the sounds that were coming from the room.
“Can’t you kick it down or something?” the woman demanded.
“Who are you?” Paige finally asked the woman as Max plucked a bobby pin from Paige’s hair and began to pick the lock.
“I’m Cornelia Robertson. Fraser’s wife. Our daughter was hurt at school today during gym class and he hasn’t answered a single one of my calls or pages. I’ve had a bad feeling he’s been cheating on me for a while now.”
Rock, meet gut. Paige almost vomited, yet Max didn’t seem too surprised. Instead, there was the sound of a lock clicking as Max finished with the bobby pin and the door swung open. Light from the hallway illuminated the bed where Fraser’s niece was riding him like a cowgirl.
“You son of a bitch!” Cornelia yelled. “I’ve enacted the prenup. You’ll get nothing, you cheating asshole!” Cornelia snapped a picture with her phone and stormed off.
“Fraser! That’s your niece!” Paige gasped in disgust. Not only at having been the other woman, but at the sight in front of her.
“I don’t think that’s his niece, Paige,” Max whispered.
“Ew, I’m not his niece. I’m Taylor, the receptionist and Fraser’s girlfriend.” Taylor turned to look down at Fraser as she was still riding him, “And now we don’t have to hide anymore. Now your wife knows and we can get married.”
“Ohmigod and she’s stupid, too,” Paige blurted out as Fraser lifted her off him.
“Married? We can’t get married! It’s my wife’s money. That’s how I afford my place in the city. Cornelia!” Fraser yelled as he yanked on his scrubs. “It was just a mistake. I was too tired from long shifts. I thought it was you!”
“I’m taking you to a different hospital,” Max muttered, shaking his head, as he wheeled Paige away.