Out Of Bounds: Risky Game Part 8

"Here's your new mail key, Mr. Metz." Shay dropped the key into her neighbor's beefy hand. "Try to keep an eye on it," she teased. Mr. Metz was a bit of a curmudgeon, but he was quiet and he did his part to keep the place neat by mowing the lawn each week. Technically speaking, cutting the gra.s.s was Shay's job, but he'd taken over one afternoon when she'd nearly wrenched her arm out of the socket trying to get the mower started. In exchange, Shay baked him brownies or cookies.

Mr. Metz murmured his thanks and Shay made her way up the stairs. A familiar giggle rang out as she rounded the corner. Maddox was sitting outside his apartment door with a book in his hands, a familiar pair of long legs decked out in yellow running shoes spread out beside him.

Maddox looked up from the book; the red and black face paint had faded, but the blaze was still noticeable. After a convincing victory over San Francisco the day before, including a touchdown reception by Brody, Jackie had relented and let Maddox keep his "tattoo" for show-and-tell.

"Hi, Shay! We're reading."

Shay smiled at the boy. "I see that. What are you doing here, Brody?"

"Phonics." He accompanied his smart-aleck answer with that slow easy smile that never failed to make her stomach dip.

Carefully stepping over his muscled legs and trying not to look at how nicely they were displayed in a pair of khaki shorts, Shay unlocked her apartment door. Brody rose to his feet behind her as if to follow her in.

"What do you want, Brody?" she snapped.

She hadn't meant to sound so peevish, but she was tired from a late night of studying for her early morning statistics test. That was followed by two hours in her un-air-conditioned Corolla staking out Brody's house until after he'd left for the practice facility so she could prepare his dinner and leave it neatly packaged in his fridge without him tormenting her. After that, she'd taught her water aerobics cla.s.s.

But mostly, she was tired of fighting off her body's reaction every time he came near her.

"I'm hungry." His breath was warm on the back of her neck and before she realized it, he was standing in her apartment.

They both knew his excuse was a bald-faced lie, but Shay didn't have the strength to tell him to leave.

"I got Skittles." Maddox pulled a snack-sized bag of the brightly colored candy out of his pocket and offered them to Brody.

Shay s.n.a.t.c.hed the bag out of the child's hand before Brody could take them. "He can't have that. And neither can you, Maddox. You'll spoil your dinner."

"Mom said we could have pizza for dinner." Maddox rubbed his belly. "Umm. Hey, maybe you could eat with us, Brody? Pizza'll fill you up."

"Brody can't have pizza, either," Shay said.

"Dang, Brody. Did you forget to leave the seat down or something? How come you can't have candy or pizza?" Maddox asked earnestly.

The corner of Brody's mouth twitched.

"Brody has a perfectly good dinner at home, Maddox."

Maddox's shoulders slumped forward and his voice went soft. "That's what Danny's mom always says when I invite him over for dinner."

And just like that, Shannon had turned into her Meemaw, nasty as the Wicked Witch of the West. Brody stared at her, hands on his hips. His mouth was a grim line, but his eyes twinkled at her as though he knew the battle she was fighting within her own head.

"Maddox, go tell your mother I'm buying," he said.

With a high-pitched whoop, Maddox raced next door.

Shay shook her head in defeat. "You're going to mess everything up."

He tossed his OneTouch onto the table. "My blood sugar has been stable for a week now. Go ahead. Check and see."

She'd been talking about more than his blood sugar, but if he understood what she meant, he ignored her.

"I can handle a couple of slices of pizza and a beer."

"Beer?" Shay nearly choked. "Who said anything about beer?"

Brody winked at her. "You can't have pizza without beer. It's sacrilege."

"Are we gonna have beer, too?" Maddox practically shrieked as he ran back in.

"Root beer for you, little dude. Go ask Mrs. Elder what she wants on her pizza."

"Okay. But don't give her any beer. It makes her burp somethin' awful." Maddox scooted back outside.

Apparently, Brody was inviting the entire complex to his impromptu pizza party.

"I fixed you a perfectly healthy meal. It's in your refrigerator."

In two strides he was standing within arm's length. "Yeah. But while I'm eating my nutritious meal, what would you be eating?"

Shay refused to get sucked into his baby blues. "Probably a bowl of Cap'n Crunch."

Brody groaned, closing his eyes. "You're killing me here, Shannon. G.o.d, I miss Cap'n Crunch." His eyelids snapped open and his smile was wicked. "But I'll have to sacrifice with pizza and beer. Just for you, I'll make sure the beer is that low-carb c.r.a.p."

"Fine. You go enjoy yourself. I need a shower and to study."

His nostrils flared at the mention of the shower. Shay sucked in a breath when he gently traced a finger beneath one of her eyes. "You're exhausted. But you need to eat. Take your shower and I'll bring the pizza back here. I promise I'll have them out of here in an hour so you can study."

It was no wonder people never refused the man. The combination of his blue eyes and infectious smile did her in. "Sure. Whatever. Just make mine extra cheese."

It wasn't until halfway through her shower that she realized Brody hadn't said he'd be out of her apartment in an hour.

An hour later, Brody and Maddox were karate-chopping the pizza boxes into the recycling bin. Mrs. Elder had taken the baby, Anya, next door to get her ready for bed.

"I can see why my son loves him," Jackie said. "Brody is like a big kid."

Shay took another sip from the bottle of beer she'd been nursing. True to his word, Brody had bought a low-carb version, but he'd also only consumed half of his bottle. Despite his little fall off the diet wagon, he was still cautious about what he put into his body.

She smiled at Jackie, who was watching their antics from the sofa while Shay sat in the chair next to her. "Yeah, but unlike Brody, your son will actually grow up one day."

"Oh, now, I don't know, Shay," Jackie said as she stood. "That boyfriend of yours may be a bit playful at times, but he's a pretty sharp cookie. Not as smart as you, but most people aren't. He does have a big heart. Mmm. And a mighty fine body, too," she whispered with a wink.

Shay coughed, nearly choking on her beer. It hadn't occurred to her that Jackie would see the blog post. Surely, she didn't think Brody was actually her boyfriend? Before she could correct her neighbor, Jackie was corralling Maddox for a bath.

"Let's go, son."

"Aww, five more minutes?"

Brody scooped Maddox up off the floor. "No way, dude. You need to get that paint off your face before it becomes permanent." He tickled Maddox's belly and the boy shrieked with laughter. "Do what your Mom says or there'll be no more football games for you."

Maddox squirmed out of Brody's arms and headed for the adjoining door to his apartment. "No way! I'm taking a bath right now 'cause Troy said I could be a ball boy."

Jackie laughed. "Thank you, Brody. For everything." Somehow, Shay didn't think her neighbor was just talking about getting her son in the bathtub. "Tony and the rest of his unit appreciate that you're thinking of them. Heck, I appreciate it." She kissed Brody's cheek before turning back to Shay and giving her another wink. "Night, Shay," she practically sang as she pulled the door closed behind her.

Brody flopped down on the sofa, his long legs dangling off the end.

"What was that about?"

He draped an arm over his eyes. "Nothing."

Shay wasn't sure what peeved her more: his lack of response or the fact that he seemed disinclined to vacate the premises.

"Clearly, it isn't nothing or Jackie wouldn't have mentioned it." Jackie's husband, Tony, was deployed in Afghanistan. Obviously, Brody had done something for the Army specialist. But the only information she could get out of Brody was a noncommittal grunt. After a few minutes, it seemed as though he'd fallen asleep.

Too bad he tempted her even in slumber. She was sure she wouldn't be able to study with him there. He was too much of a distraction to her already fl.u.s.tered body. Stretching out her bare foot, she nudged him on the shoulder. "Brody?"

Lightening fast, his hand grabbed her ankle almost as if he were snaring a football out of the air. Her leg tingled where his fingers met her skin. Shay gasped, trying to yank her foot free, but it was no use.

His blue eyes were open and they held that wicked glint again. "Give it up, Shannon. Once I catch a pa.s.s, I rarely drop it."

Her overly large foot seemed small in his long-fingered hand. Without taking his eyes from her face, he sensuously grazed the pad of his thumb along her arch. Shay gnawed on her bottom lip as heat swarmed to her lower extremities. Everything south of the border was beginning to throb as he stroked her foot more firmly.

"You have beautiful feet," he murmured.

His words were so nonsensical that Shay thought she laughed. At least she tried to cover her moan of pleasure with what sounded like a laugh. Closing her eyes, she leaned back against the chair, her body aching. If it felt this good having Brody Janik rubbing one foot, what would it feel like to have his hands on the rest of her body? An uncontrollable shiver racked her whole being at the thought.

"Give me your other foot, Shannon."

If she gave him her other foot, she was as good as giving him all of her. Quickly, she s.n.a.t.c.hed her ankle back from his now relaxed grip and tucked both her feet under her bottom in the chair.

"We already covered this yesterday," she managed to croak out around the rapid pulse beating in her throat.

He flung himself back on the sofa, slamming his arm back over his eyes. "You started it."

"You can't stay here all night, Brody. I have to study."

"Give me a minute to digest my pizza."

Shay couldn't figure out what annoyed her more: his frustrating behavior or her maddening desire for the man-child. Jumping to her feet, she stomped over to the small end table she used as a desk for her laptop. Brody showed no signs of leaving. There was no way she could concentrate with potent s.e.x appeal soaking up all the air in her apartment. And, no way was she going to let him fall asleep on her sofa.

"I have a plan to catch the snitch."

It worked like a charm. Brody opened his eyes. "Shannon, I told you to leave this to security. Donovan Carter used to be with NCIS. He knows what he's doing."

"But he's not going about it the right way."

With a heavy sigh, Brody raised himself to a seated position. Now she was getting somewhere.

"I'm serious, Brody. Tracking down the IP address is useless. Whoever this blogger is, he or she isn't stupid enough to leave a trace. If they were, the NFL would have found him or her already. We need to catch the person feeding the blogger info about the Blaze."

He stood up. Shay could tell by his body language he was exasperated. "And just how do you think you're going to do that, Texas?"

"Well, maybe we could plant something in your locker. Something so inflammatory that the snitch won't be able to resist." Shay was actually getting into the idea as she paced her small apartment.

"Like what?" His tone indicated he was well past annoyed.

Shannon gnawed on her lower lip as Brody contemplated her, hands on his hips. His eyes were mere slits in his gorgeous face.

"I haven't figured that out yet. But it has to be something really good." She paced another lap before stopping short in front of him, a gem of an idea popping into her head. "Do you have any s.e.x toys?"

The look on Brody's face could almost be construed as comical. "What? h.e.l.l no!" He stammered. "I don't need any toys." His jaw was like granite as he waved a finger in her face. "And believe me, the women I've been with don't need toys either."

Shannon rolled her eyes. She should have known he'd start stomping around like a gelded stallion on her. Heck, it wasn't like she was questioning Brody's ability to perform-on or off the field. But her plan had merit and it just might work. All she had to do was narrow down who has access to the locker room and eliminate suspects.

"I guess I could order one online," she said, thinking through her strategy out loud.

"Like h.e.l.l you will," Brody bl.u.s.tered. "It's a stupid plan and it won't work. Not to mention it's totally embarra.s.sing to have something like . . . that in my locker."

"That would be the point, Brody. We need something pretty dramatic."

Brody narrowed his eyes at her. "Forget about it, Shannon. I'm not going to do it."

She contemplated him with a measuring glance. "Fine. I'll do it."

"I said no!" Gone was the playful man-child. Brody had transformed into full alpha male on her in two minutes flat.

"Look," Shannon said. "The snitch needs to be caught. We can rule out players and coaches or anyone within the organization who doesn't need money. But it has to be someone with easy access to the locker room, so it's definitely a person a.s.sociated with the team. Do you want to catch this person or not?"

Brody scrubbed a hand down his face. "Yeah, I want the snitch caught."

"So you'll do it?"

"d.a.m.n it, Shannon. Can't you leave the detective work to the professionals?"

"No. And admit it, my logic is correct. Whoever is doing this is doing it for the money."

"Which brings us right back to you, as the prime suspect."

Shay felt the wind leave her sails. Was this man never going to believe her? But she wasn't giving up that easily. Not when she had her innocence to prove.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she went toe-to-toe with Brody. "I don't need your help with this. I can do this on my own."

He grabbed her by the shoulders, gently shaking her. "d.a.m.n it, Shannon, don't you ever do what anyone tells you to do?"

She jerked her chin higher. Brody's blue eyes glared at her as his fingers ma.s.saged her shoulders. As her limbs started relaxing beneath his hold, she felt her eyelids drifting shut.