Page 24 of Payoff Pitch
Tanner chuckles as he wipes his face and looks at me. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”
I shrug as I unsuccessfully bite back my smile. “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”
The corners of his mouth raise in amusement. “You’re a bit of a brat, aren’t you?”
My whole body flushes at the comment as I imagine all the ways I want him to punish me.Wait, what? Where did that come from?
Before I can respond, he quickly grabs a giggling Harper, takes her water gun, and then starts squirting it at me. “Get her, girls!”
They all turn on me and squirt me until I can only stand there and cover my face. I inadvertently yell out, “Oh shit,” and all the girls freeze.
I cover my mouth. My damn sister and her potty mouth are rubbing off on me. “I’m so sorry. No more cursing. I promise.”
Harper shakes her head. “That’s ten dollars in the swear jar.”
My mouth opens in shock. “What? That’s an expensive swear jar.”
“Daddy says inflation is a bit—”
“Harper,” Tanner warns, “you don’t want to give up your entire allowance, do you?”
She does a big, exaggerated zipping of her lips and shakes her head.
He turns back to me. “Since Bailey didn’t know the rule, we’ll let this be her one warning.”
I do the same exaggerated zipping of my lips that Harper did.
He smirks and mouths, “Brat.”
Maybe it’s just me, but everything he says to me feels sexual. And I like it.
We’re finally seatedfor dinner. Tanner looks at Harper. “What were you and Bailey up to today?”
She smiles. “Bailey taught us how to throw from the slot.”
He chokes on his whiskey. “Wow. That’s advanced stuff. I don’t think I learned how to do that until I was fourteen or fifteen.”
I nod. “It’s a work in progress, but they wanted to learn. I think they were better by the end. Harper said you were a shortstop. Did you play in college?”
He nods. “I played at a small division three school. My dream was to play in the big leagues. At some point, I realized it wasn’t going to happen for me, so I focused on getting into law school in hopes of being a sports agent.”
“I guess it worked. You’re one of the biggest agents around. You probably have athletes lined up to sign with you.”
“It took time. I worked for a big sports management agency in New York City for years, building my reputation and client base. That’s why Layton, Cheetah, and Trey are special clients to me. They all signed with me out of high school. They’re among the first few clients I signed myself. When I left the big company and went out on my own, they were my first three calls. All said yes without asking a single question. They blindly followed me. They’re more than clients. They’re friends. Hell, they’re family. Harper calls all three of them uncle.”
I smile as the girls happily chat quietly among themselves. “That’s nice. When did you move here from New York?”
“When we got divorced. Fallon is originally from Philly. Her parents live here, and they help her with Harper when she works. Frankly, they help both of us. I wasn’t thrilled about the move at first, but I’m happy we did it. It’s best for Harper to be near family.”
“Where does your family live?”
“Dad is in Florida. Mom passed a few years ago. My brother is kind of a drifter. I’m never sure where he’s living, and we rarely see him. Harper doesn’t know him at all.”
I want to ask more questions, but I don’t. I’m not sure why I want to know more about him. Nonetheless, I switch gears. “Arizona said you’ve been helpful to her. She’s excited to have signed with you.”
“I’m sure she’s in shock over the number of sponsorship offers she’s had. I feel like it exploded overnight. She’s one of the most popular female athletes in the world at this point.”
I nod. “Yep, we’ve all had an increase in offers, but she’s certainly got the most. By far.”