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‘No worries.’ He leaned forward, intending to give her a reassuring—and strictly platonic—kiss on the cheek. But somewhere along the way one or both of them moved their head, and the next thing he knew his lips were skimming against hers.
What started out as a soft, sweet, gentle kiss quickly turned to something else entirely, and he was kissing her as if he was starving. She was kissing him right back, opening her mouth to let him deepen the kiss. And this felt so right, so perfect.
When she pulled away, his head was swimming.
‘No,’ she said. ‘We can’t do this.’
The panic was back in her face.
Her ex, whoever he was, must have really hurt her badly, Jared thought.
And he had no intention of making her feel worse.
‘It’s OK.’ He took her hand and squeezed it. Just once. The way she’d squeezed his hand when he’d talked about his knee injury. Sympathy, not pity. ‘You’re right. We’re colleagues, and just colleagues.’
And he needed to keep that in mind. He didn’t want the complication of falling for someone, either. The risk of everything going wrong. Been there, done that and learned from his mistakes.
The fear in her eyes faded—just a fraction, but she’d clearly heard what he’d said.
‘I’ll see you at work,’ he said.
‘Yeah. I’ll see you.’ She swallowed. ‘And I’m sorry.’
‘There’s nothing to be sorry for,’ he said.
He waited until she’d unlocked her front door and closed it again behind her, and then he left to find the Tube station. It was better this way. Being sensible.
Wasn’t it?
CHAPTER SEVEN (#ua494eb00-dfea-56d1-8a9f-d4f6192707bc)
BAILEY SLEPT REALLY badly that night. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Jared in that wretched suit, looking totally edible. Worse, her mouth tingled in memory of the way he’d kissed her.
OK, she’d admit it. She was attracted to Jared Fraser. Big time.
But, after the way her marriage had imploded, she wasn’t sure she could risk getting involved with anyone again. Letting herself be vulnerable. Risking the same thing happening all over again. After the ectopic pregnancy she’d ended up pushing Ed away—physically as well as emotionally—because she’d been so scared of getting pregnant again.
So, as much as she would like to date Jared—and to take things a lot further than they had at the wedding—she was going to be sensible and keep things between them just as colleagues. Because she didn’t want to hurt him, the way she’d hurt Ed.
Do you like kids?
And he’d said yes. She could imagine him as a father, especially after she’d seen him with the children at the wedding. And that was another sticking point. She wanted children, too. But the ectopic pregnancy had shredded her confidence. What if it happened again and her other tube ruptured, leaving her infertile?
She’d been terrified of getting pregnant again, and that had made her scared of sex—a vicious circle she hadn’t been able to break. Technically, Ed had been unfaithful to her; but Bailey blamed herself for it, because he’d only done it after she’d pushed him away and refused to let him touch her. She knew that the break-up of her marriage was all her fault.
Since her divorce, until Jared, she hadn’t met anyone she’d wanted to date. But how could she expect him to deal with all her baggage? It wouldn’t be fair.
So, the next morning, she sent Jared a text to clear the air—and also to make it very clear to him how she felt. And hopefully it would ease any potential awkwardness at work.
Sorry. Too much champagne yesterday. Hope I haven’t wrecked our professional relationship.
Jared read the message for the fourth time.
Too much champagne? Hardly. He’d been watching Bailey. She’d had one glass, maybe two. With a meal. Most of the time she’d been drinking sparkling water—as had he.
It was an excuse, and he knew it. She’d looked so scared. As panicky as he’d felt. But why?
Next time he saw her, he decided, he’d get her to talk to him. For now, he’d try to keep things easy between them.
Medicinal recommendation of a fry-up for the hangover, he texted back. See you on the pitch later in the week.
Facing Jared for the first time since the wedding made Bailey squirm inside. In the end, she decided to brazen it out. Hadn’t he said she was sparkly? Then she’d go into super-sparkly mode. So she chatted to all the players, gave Archie a smacking kiss hello on the cheek—while making quite sure she was out of grabbing reach half a second later—and gave Jared a lot of backchat about being too old and too stuck in his ways to do yoga with the boys in the team.
To her relief, he responded the same way, and things were back to the way they used to be. Before he’d kissed her.
Almost.
Because during the training session she looked up from her laptop and caught him looking at her; those amazing blue eyes were filled with wistfulness.
Yeah.
She’d like to repeat that kiss, too. Take things further. But she just couldn’t take the risk. She knew he’d end up being just as hurt as she was. She couldn’t destroy him, the way she’d destroyed Ed.
‘Can we have a word?’ Jared asked at the end of the training session.
‘Um—sure.’ Bailey looked spooked.
He waited until the players and Archie had gone into the dressing room. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked gently.
‘Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘You and me. Saturday night,’ he pointed out.
‘Too much champagne,’ she said swiftly.
‘I don’t think so.’ He kept his voice soft. ‘I think you’re running scared.’
She lifted her chin and gave him a look that was clearly supposed to be haughty, but instead he saw the vulnerability there. ‘I’m not scared.’
‘That,’ he said, ‘is pure bravado. And I know that, because this thing between us scares me, too.’
The fight went out of her. ‘Oh.’
‘So what are we going to do about it?’ he asked.
‘I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m fine being single.’
‘That’s what I’ve been telling myself, too.’ He paused. ‘Maybe we could be brave. Together.’
‘I …’ She shook her head. ‘I’m not ready for this.’
‘Fair enough.’ He held her gaze. ‘But when you are …’
She swallowed hard. ‘Yeah. I, um, ought to let you get on.’
He let her go. For now. And he could be patient, because Bailey Randall was definitely worth waiting for.
Everything was fine for the next week, until Bailey’s system picked up a marked problem. Maybe it was a glitch in the system, she thought, and decided to keep it to herself for the time being. But when the same result showed after the next session, and after she’d caught the tail end of the lads gossiping outside the dressing room, she knew that she was going to have to do something.
‘Jared, can we have a quick word?’ she asked quietly.
He frowned. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘I think so.’ She gestured to her laptop, so he’d know that it was to do with the monitoring system and one of the players.
‘Hadn’t we better talk to Archie if you want to pull someone from the team?’ he asked.
She shook her head and kept her voice low. ‘This is a tricky one, and you’re the only person I can talk to about it.’
‘OK,’ he said. ‘I assume you mean somewhere quiet, away from the club.’
‘Definitely away from the club,’ she said. ‘Yes, please.’
‘Are you free straight after training?’
She nodded.
‘We’ll talk then.’
‘Thank you.’ And just knowing that she could share this with him and he’d help her work out what to do made some of the sick feeling go away.
After the session, Jared took Bailey to a café not far from the football club. ‘Sit down, and I’ll get us some coffee.’ He remembered what she’d drunk at the gym. ‘I take it you’d like a latte?’
She smiled. ‘I’m half-Italian. You only drink lattes at breakfast. Espresso for me, please.’
He smiled back. ‘Sure.’
‘And can I be greedy and ask for some cake, too?’ she asked. ‘I don’t care what sort, as long as it’s cake.’
‘It’s not going to be up to your brother’s standards,’ he warned.
‘Right now, I don’t care—I need the sugar rush.’
Worry flickered down Jared’s spine. Whatever she wanted to discuss with him was clearly something serious if she needed a sugar rush. And he’d noticed that she’d been much quieter than normal during the training session.
He came back with two coffees, a blueberry muffin and a double chocolate muffin. ‘You can have first pick.’
‘Thank you.’ She took the blueberry one.
He sat down opposite her. ‘Spit it out. What’s worrying you?’
‘You know how my system picks up if someone’s underperforming?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m worried about one of the players. I’ve heard the rumours that he’s in danger of losing his place on the team because he hasn’t been playing well for a while.’
‘Darren,’ Jared said immediately.
She nodded. ‘And I heard the boys talking. He’s not coping with the pressure.’ She sighed. ‘It’s hearsay and I don’t want to accuse him of something when he might be perfectly innocent, but …’ Her eyes were huge with concern. ‘I think he’s drinking. Apart from it making his performance worse, he’s not even eighteen yet—he’s underage.’
Jared blew out a breath. ‘I’ve known a few players over the years who started drinking to handle the pressure, and it finished their careers.’
She looked miserable. ‘I don’t know what to do. If I tell Archie, then Darren will definitely lose his place. He’ll be kicked out.’
‘For breaking his contract,’ Jared agreed.
‘But if he is drinking, then it needs to stop right now, Jared. He’s going to damage himself.’
‘Agreed.’
‘Maybe I’m being a bit paranoid and overthinking it. Have a look and see what you reckon.’ She opened her laptop and drew up the graphs. Darren’s performance had been very near his average in every session apart from the last two, where there was a marked difference.
‘So you suspected it last time as well?’ he asked.
She nodded. ‘I wanted to monitor a second performance, just in case the first one was a one-off—a glitch in the programme or something.’
‘No, I think your analysis is spot on. We need to tell Archie and Lyle Fincham.’
‘But they’ll kick him out.’
‘Not necessarily. We can both put in a good word for him. He’s not a bad kid—he’s just made a mistake and he needs some help.’ Jared shrugged. ‘Extra coaching might make things easier for him, and I can design a workout programme tailored to his needs.’
‘You’d do that for him?’ She sounded surprised.
‘Everyone makes mistakes. And everyone deserves a second chance,’ he said. ‘A chance to put it right.’
He hoped she’d think about it. And that she’d give them a second chance, too.
Mr Fincham wasn’t available, so Jared and Bailey tackled Archie.
‘So there’s a problem with one of the players?’ Archie asked.
Bailey nodded and talked the team coach through the computer evidence.
Archie frowned. ‘So you think he’s drinking?’
‘You know as well as I do, some players do when they can’t cope with the pressure,’ Jared said.
