Chapter Two
Mason
The bar at the hotel resort is in full swing, filled with happy chatter coming from many literary minds . . . and a lot of good alcohol. I’ve been to many of these events as my brother’s a world-famous author, and I love playing assistant to him, or really just playing as him.
Since retiring from the NFL five years ago I’ve been busier than ever before, having my own show with millions of viewers, a product line that I can’t keep enough stock in supply, coaching an at-risk youth football league, and doing endless interviews. I like to be busy. This keeps me out of trouble.
One thing that’s for sure, though, is family always comes first. When Miles or I need each other, we’re here for the other. My twin’s getting married soon to the right woman, Emily, who’s a saint. I almost made the mistake of proposing to a woman for the wrong reasons. I’m sure glad that didn’t happen. There have been a lot of changes in both of our lives in the past five years . . . all of them good. I know I’m a better person than I was five years ago, and each day I want to grow.
I’m not shy about being with women. I am shy of commitment, though. I see how much cheating there is in the world, and if one thing can be said about me, it’s that I don’t cheat. The women I’m with know I’m fully theirs for as long as our affair lasts. Lately these “affairs” only last a night or a weekend, though. I won’t be the other man, and I’ll never make a beautiful lady the other woman.
I’m sitting back, playing on my phone and half-listening to the conversation around me. I look up and stop what I’m doing when I spot a stunning woman at the bar, her head thrown back in laughter, a drink in her hand as another beautiful woman leans close and says something, making the woman’s laughter increase.
Fire ignites, a feeling I haven’t felt in a while from just seeing a pretty woman. I take a deep breath, calming down the over-eager part of my anatomy. There’s no way in hell I’m going to be the man walking through the bar with a raging boner evident.
“Gotta go,” I say as I stand. I must introduce myself, something I’ve never had a problem doing. I know who I am and what a compliment it is for a woman to gain my attention. This woman appears to know who she is as well, which really turns me on. I want to talk to an equal, not a shrinking violet.
“Where are you heading?” Miles asks.
I point. “I have a woman to introduce myself to.”
He looks, then laughs. “Good luck with that.”
I stop at the tone of his voice. “What do you mean?”
“That’s Maria Rossi, Senior Editor at Seattle Skyline Publishing. I hear she makes men walk away with their heads between their legs.”
I laugh. “She hasn’t met me yet.”
“I’ll wager she turns you down in three-point-two seconds,” he says, making the other people at our table laugh.
“I’ll take that bet.”
I put my phone away, then weave my way through the crowd. As I approach, I catch the tail end of her conversation with the woman sitting next to her as the bartender approaches.
“Would you ladies like another round?” the bartender asks.
“Why not, Nikki?” Maria says, giving her friend a grin. “The night’s still young.”
“We do need to survive this zoo of a conference,” Nikki says, raising her nearly empty glass.
“We also need to survive bad stories and pickup lines,” Maria says, clinking her glass against her friend’s.
I slide into the seat next to Maria, catching her attention as I give her my most charming smile. “Do you mind if I join you?”
She gives me a long glance, and she doesn’t seem all that impressed. It’s a bit of a hit to my ego, as this isn’t something I’m used to, but I’ll power through. I won’t let my brother win this one.
“It’s an open bar,” she says. “I guess you can sit where you want.” Not the most enthusiastic response I’ve ever gotten, but it isn’t a freeze-out, so I call it a win.
The woman next to Maria looks at me for a long moment, and I see recognition in her eyes. “Aren’t you in sports? Your face looks familiar.”
I chuckle. I’m recognized a lot even five years after retiring from the NFL. Then again, my face has been a lot more public since retirement with all of my successful endeavors. My twin gets confused for me at times, but at these conferences, I tend to have more people think I’m him here. It’s nice to have someone know me for me in the world of publishing.
“Mason,” I say, not adding my last name. “I played in the NFL and now host a show among many other endeavors.” I look back to Maria who still doesn’t look impressed. Damn. Maybe she’s harder to crack than I thought. This excites me.
“I’m Nikki. This is Maria,” Nikki says, seeming a lot more open to a conversation than Maria. I know it’s always smart to get the approval of a woman’s friends. I take Nikki’s hand and give it a squeeze, making sure not to flirt. I want Maria to know exactly who I’m here to win over.
“Well then, I’m not sure I want you sitting here. It bores me to have conversations about how many touchdowns a man has scored.”
I throw my head back and laugh. Dang, I’m glad I came over. “I much prefer to score in meaningful ways.” I give her a wink.
Maria raises her eyebrow, still unimpressed. “Wow, that was an original line. Do you practice in your mirror before coming out on the town?” Her new drink is set before her and she switches glasses, seeming far more amused than irritated. I still haven’t impressed her though. Maybe I should take off my shirt. If she doesn’t gasp at that, I have no hope.
Nikki laughs next to her friend, and I can’t stop grinning. “I only practice on special occasions. What are two beautiful women like you doing sitting here all alone?”
“Enjoying our time together and avoiding guys who think they’re smooth,” Maria tells me with an air of confidence that has me drooling.
“Ouch. Tough crowd,” I tell her.
“I’ve heard that before,” Maria says, not offended. I decide to switch strategies. This woman is smart, and I’m not ready to leave.
“Are you up for a challenge?” I ask.
She looks intrigued though she tries to hide it. “You have my attention,” she admits.
“I was thinking we could make this night a lot more interesting.”
She laughs. “Let me guess, by heading up to your room?”
I laugh with her. “I wouldn’t say no to that, but I don’t want to be accused of being predictable,” I assure her.
“What do you have in mind?” she asks after a moment. I’ve cast my bait out and she’s hooked. I still have it.
“I come to these conferences a lot and the one thing I see is hookups. It seems a free for all,” I tell her.
She laughs at this, some of her guard coming down. “Yes, I’d agree with you.” She gives me a long look. “Are you trying to tell me that’s not what you’re after?” She doesn’t hold back. I love it.
“I’m not looking for a hookup at a conference. If a beautiful woman intrigues me, I’m not against it, though.”
She laughs again. “I’m not hooking up with you,” she tells me.
“I’d never imagine you would,” I say.
“So what’s this challenge then?” she asks again.
“Let’s see how many people are currently in this bar hopeful for a hookup,” I tell her.
She now looks confused. “Are we supposed to poll people? Even inebriated, I’m not sure how many people will admit to that.”
“Why don’t we see how many phone numbers we can collect. We each go out, do some flirting, and collect some phone numbers.”
Her eyes widen in surprise, and then she throws her head back and laughs again. At least I’m entertaining her. This has got to give me bonus points.
“You want to go out into the bar and collect numbers?” she questions.
“Yep. You versus me. We can judge on quality and quantity. We can even be each other’s wingmen,” I suggest.
“I want to be the judge,” Nikki says, clearly loving this game. Maria shakes her head.
“I can’t do that. I’m a professional,” Maria says.
“We can do it classily,” I say, loving the idea of this. I wasn’t planning on the conversation going this way, but a man has to be willing to adapt to a situation, and I was losing her attention before I had it. It’s good I’ve always been quick on my feet.
Maria thinks about it for a minute. I’m sure her liquid courage is helping as well. She finally makes a decision. “Why not? I can use a distraction from the usual meet and greets. You’re on,” she tells me.
I hold out my hand. She only hesitates for a moment before sticking her hand in mine. The shock that runs through me tells me I won’t see a single other woman during this conference. I want one, and one alone. She’s in my sights.
I lean uncomfortably close, and enjoy every moment of the hitch in her breath. I drop my voice an octave as I look into her beautiful dark eyes. She’s stunning, clearly talented, and witty as hell. I need to have her.
“Can I get your number?” I ask.
She seems lost for a moment before she shakes her head, breaking the deep connection between us. Holy hell, for a second there, I forgot this was a game. I could easily get lost in this woman.
“Damn, you’re good. I almost ripped out my number for you and I wasn’t even the one you were charming,” Nikki says with a laugh, further breaking the spell between Maria and me.
“You’re good. This is going to be a challenge,” Maria admits. “I’d better get started.” She hops down from the bar, and I already miss her as she easily moves over to a group of men sitting on couches around a table. They quickly invite her to join them. They’d be fools not to.
I keep my eye on her as I approach a group of women not far from Maria. Their eyes widen as I saunter up. This is the reaction I’m used to. I’m good at flirting without taking it over the top. I like that most women I approach are happy to see me.
“Hello, ladies. Are you enjoying the conference?” I ask, assuming they’re a part of it.
The women giggle, clearly happily buzzed. “Yes, we are. How about you?”
“I’m here to enjoy a wonderful literary atmosphere,” I say, giving them a wink. “Do you mind if I join you?”
They eagerly invite me in. It doesn’t take long before I have a few numbers in my hand. I laugh with them before I move on, not even disappointing them when I go because I make it seem like I don’t want to. I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty smooth. I might not be as smooth as my partner in crime though. I can’t keep my eyes off of her as she smoothly moves among groups, charming the men and women alike, making people laugh and feel comfortable in her presence. She flashes me papers and sends a few winks my way. She’s enjoying our game quite a lot . . . and she’s doing very well at it.
Determined to keep up with Maria, I approach another group, this time a mix of men and women. They easily invite me in. “Hello. Are you guys up to helping a man out?” There are no rules in this game about how we collect the numbers. I don’t cheat, and am disgusted by those who do, but I’ll certainly stretch the rules when I’m allowed to.
They laugh. “Always,” one of the women says as she holds the hand of the man next to her.
I lean in and whisper so Maria won’t hear me. “I’m in a little competition with that beautiful woman behind me to see who can collect the most phone numbers in this room. She’s clearly beating me which is killing my ego. Want to slip me some numbers so I’m not so far behind?” I look to the women and men. There’s nothing in the rules that says where the numbers have to come from. There’s nothing in the rules that the numbers have to lead to dates. The whole purpose of the game is to collect as many numbers as possible. I’m glad ground rules weren’t set. This might work in my favor.
This makes a couple of the men laugh and the women giggle. They love the idea of this game. They quickly agree to help me, and soon I have a whole handful of numbers. I’ve got this in the bag. We should’ve settled on a prize . . . a prize of me getting Maria out on a date with just the two of us all alone. It will happen, I just don’t know when. I’m not known as a patient man, but when something matters I can take all of the time in the world.
We continue our game for another thirty minutes before we make our way back to Nikki who’s been taking pictures and engaging in her own conversations. The second she was alone, more men approached her, like predators seeing their victim alone and vulnerable.
She quickly showed them she’s no victim as she shot one down after another, just as well as Maria was doing, all while wearing a friendly smile. I feel sorry for the men in this room. The two most beautiful women are clearly unavailable. Of course I’ve already put my sights on Maria so she’s mine, and mine alone. I’ll change her availability status before this week is over.
“How did you do?” Maria asks.
“Not too bad,” I tell her as I crumple the papers in my pocket. I don’t want to pull them out in front of the crowd who’s most likely looking at us after we’ve flirted our way through the crowded bar.
“Are they legit numbers or did you simply write down digits?” she asks with skepticism.
“Legit, of course,” I exclaim. I place a hand over my heart. “I’m wounded that you’d think I’d cheat in that way.”
“I propose you both have to actually text every number to prove it’s a real number and you didn’t make it up, and the girl didn’t give you a false number,” Nikki says with a decisive nod.
My eyes widen at the suggestion, and I look over at Maria, hoping she’ll put a stop to this mad suggestion. Instead she grins.
“Let’s find out how honest you’ve been,” she says. “You can text my numbers and I can text yours.”
“I guess we can find out,” I tell her. Hopefully, some of these people will catch on and play along with Maria’s texts.
Maria, Nikki, and I move away from the crowd to find privacy, and then we start texting to see if we get responses. Over the next hour, we laugh and have a great time as some people respond with quite provocative answers, while some are clearly fake numbers.
“Fake number alert,” Nikki says. She holds up the phone, showing the angry message.
“She must’ve given you her boyfriends number,” Maria says with a laugh. “He has a colorful vocabulary.”
“I can fix this,” I say with a charming smile and a wink in Maria’s direction. I grab the phone from Nikki and quickly type out a response.Within a few messages I manage to charm the man and tell him a friend gave me the number and I wanted to see if he wanted to have a drink sometime to talk about the new rules in the NFL. I didn’t rise to where I am by not charming the pants off of the people around me and getting people to talk.
“Disaster averted,” I say, holding up the phone and showing Nikki and Maria the man’s change of heart. We all burst into laughter.
“It seems you can charm anyone,” Maria says. Her joy is contagious. I want to be the reason she laughs like this every damn day.
“I guess that one counts,” she tells me. “You did get him to agree to a drink. Clearly some of your numbers are padded though.”
I lean in, giving her my most flirtatious smile. “Are you jealous?”
“Not in the least. I’m competitive, though, and want to win.”
“We never said what the gender had to be or what the outcome past a conversation with the person had to be about. I play to win as well,” I say.
She laughs again. “Well, that opens things up. I’m going to smoke you at a book conference filled with far more women than men.”
“I have no doubt about it. Maybe we’ll have to call this game a truce.”
We continue laughing and I feel more comfortable with this woman than I’ve felt with any female in years. Most of my time with women lasts a night or maybe a few nights, but there’s never a real connection. The relationship is about sex, and nothing more. I like this better. I want to know who this woman is. This must be the connection Miles is always going on about when he talks about Emily. She’s so much better than his old cover model girlfriend who wasn’t necessarily evil, but someone I didn’t love a whole lot.
“I’ve been to a lot of conferences and haven’t seen you before. What brings you to this one?” I ask.
“I mostly go to romance conferences, but my publishing house is expanding my territory. I’ll still focus on romance in literature, but it’s going to be in connection with other genres like thrillers or fantasy. It’s different, but I get bored easily, so I’m looking forward to a challenge,” she says. “I’m here in particular because I’m supposed to wine and dine an author.”
“Who? I might know them,” I say.
“How does a football player know the authors?” she asks.
“My brother’s in this world and I’ve hit the circuit a time or two,” I tell her.
“I just got the assignment, so I haven’t looked him up yet. His name’s Miles Bennett. As up to date on romance authors as I am, my knowledge on fantasy authors is sub-par at best.”
I nearly choke on my drink, but somehow manage to keep my composure. “Yes, I’ve heard of him,” I say. “He’s . . . interesting, kind of a recluse who doesn’t do a whole lot of interviews. Haven’t you looked him up?” We’re twins so how can she not be making this connection? I’m a bit hesitant now wondering if she’s the one playing a game with me. I don’t want to be on guard with this woman, but I’ve been burned before. This normally doesn’t bother me. Everyone’s out to get something. With Maria, though, it’s bothering me.
“Well, I’ll get him. I always get my man,” she says. “I haven’t looked him up because I want to form my own opinion, not have the gossip telling me who he is. I also just got the assignment today and I’ve been busy.” This does make sense. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. I do have some hair on my face right now too, not a lot, but a bit, that changes our looks slightly.
“I have no doubt about it,” I tell her. Maybe us meeting has been meant to be. Maybe it’s fate.
We wrap up our evening, and I find myself bummed to part ways with Maria. The night’s been a lot of fun. I avoid telling her Miles is my twin. I’ll hold that trump card. I don’t get her number, but the conference lasts for nearly a week, and that’s plenty of time to win this woman over. I have the upmost confidence I’ll win this game we’ve begun. It’s a long game, not overtime. I’ve got this.