Read Online Power Play (Crimson Romance) by Nan Comargue - Free Book Online Page A

“It’s not.”
    A short pause followed before he said, “Tell me now.”
    “I can’t,” she said. Not if she wanted to be free to be with him.
    “Where are you?” Jack demanded. “I’ll skip practice and come get you.”
    “No, no, don’t do that,” she protested. “It’s just the kind of thing that’ll put you in Coach’s black books.”
    “I don’t care,” he insisted. “I’m worried about you.
My
career doesn’t come before you.”
    The clear emphasis made Cahal turn and walk over to the glass wall. As dark as it was now early in the evening, little could be seen of the lake outside except for the shimmering smooth surface beneath pale moonlight and the occasional fleeting path of a boat.
    “I’ll meet you at the arena after practice,” she said into the phone. “I’ll tell you … what I can.”
    “Lila,” he hesitated for a fraction of a second, “I love you.”
    Though she closed her eyes, silent tears slipped out. “I know.”
    Cahal didn’t turn. “You can’t tell him anything about our reconciliation without violating our contract.”
    Flipping the tiny silver phone shut, Lila brushed away the tears with the back of her hand. “I know that, too.”
    His broad back was rigid. “So what are you going to say?”
    She tossed the cell phone back into her purse and flopped down on the couch next to it. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me? You’re probably dying to.”
    He came away from the windows, his movements powerful yet supple, breathtaking in such a large man. He sat a careful distance from her, his denim-covered thighs spread and his strong hands dangling between them. His hands were beautiful, swift and expert, and the remembered touch of them made her shiver. This was the last thing she wanted, to rekindle a fire from the ashes.
    Silver eyes traced her features. “I’m not trying to hurt you, Lila.”
    She laughed unsteadily. “Since when do you have to try?”
    He ought to know better; his life was governed by impulse and instinct. The worst infractions were often committed without any intention to injure but the results were still catastrophic.
    “This is for the best, Lila.”
    “Dammit!” She leaped to her feet. “You think you know it all, don’t you?”
    He rose, too, but she’d never been intimidated by his size.
    “No, I don’t think I know it all. I just happen to know you.”
    “I’ve changed,” she insisted.
    “You still love me,” he said. His voice was supremely confident, as if he was stating a naked truth.
    “Loved,” she corrected. “Past tense.”
    His mouth curved but not in a smile. “You never stop loving that first one.”
    First what? First love or first lover? Perhaps she had been his first love but she doubted that she was his first lover. Certainly she wasn’t the last.
    “Love,” she repeated the word with a bitterness that surprised even her. “It’s readily offered as a solution when so often it’s the source of the problem.”
    Cahal thrust his hands in his pockets. “Are you telling me you don’t believe in love?”
    Lila frowned. “I believe in trust and security.”
    “And love comes after these?”
    She wasn’t certain about that but she knew what she had to say to shut him up.
    “For me, yes.”
    He freed his hands then he pushed them through his flaxen hair. “I can give you those things, Lila. If you still believe I cheated — ”
    “I don’t believe it,” she cut in. “I know it.”
    She had proof. Evidence. Details.
    “And your source is unimpeachable?”
    She looked him straight in the eye. “Cahal, I’ve told you before. I know you entertained women in your hotel suite while you were on the road. I know it. When you deny the truth, it just makes it worse.”
    “What truth do you know of?” His voice was contemptuous. “I’ve never had a woman in my hotel room. Ever. It’s against the team rules and it’s against my moral values.”
    His moral values! She couldn’t hold back a snort.