Page 2 of Tempting the Player
Shell spun toward her, clutching her black clutch in her hand. “Tonight is going to be a night you never forget. Mark my words.”
Bridget smiled.
…
Another shot made its way from Chad Gamble’s hand to his mouth. The bite of alcohol watered his eyes, but like any family with a real good alcoholic circling around, it would take an entire keg of this shit to get him drunk.
And by the looks of those at the club tonight, getting drunk instead of laid was looking more and more like the outcome. Not one female had caught his attention. Sure, plenty of beautiful women had approached him and his friend Tony.
But Chad wasn’t interested.
And Tony was more caught up in giving Chad shit than anything else. “Man, you’ve got to calm this crap down. You keep ending up in the papers, the Club’s gonna come down on you like a ton of bricks.”
Chad groaned as he leaned forward, motioning at Bartender Jim. He wasn’t sure if that was his real name or not, but hell, he’d been calling the man that for about two years now and never been corrected.
“Another?” Bartender Jim asked.
Chad glanced at Tony and sighed. “Make it two shots.”
The bartender chuckled as he reached down, grabbing a bottle of Grey Goose. “I have to side with Tony on this. Signing a contract with the Yankees makes you a traitor to half the world.”
Chad rolled his eyes. “Or it makes me smart and incredibly career oriented?”
“It makes your agent a greedy bastard,” Tony replied, thrumming his fingers off the top of the bar. “You and I both know the Nationals are paying you enough.”
Bartender Jim snorted.
The Nationals were paying him more than enough—enough that by the time retirement age came around, he’d be more than set. Hell, he had more money now than he even knew what to do with, but at thirty, he had another six years left in his pitching arm, maybe more. Right now he was still in his prime. He had it all—God-given skill with a wicked fastball and precise aim; experience with the game; and, as his agent put it, a face that actually drew women to baseball games.
But the money and the contract offers rolling in weren’t the problem with the Nationals.
Chad was—or his “hard partying lifestyle” or whatever the gossip column had called it. According to the Post, Chad had a different woman every night and while that sounded damn fun, it was far from the truth. Unfortunately, he had enough relationships that whatever was written about him was believed by the masses. His reputation was as wel
l known as his pitching arm.
But when fans were more concerned with whom he was screwing instead of how the team was playing, it was bad news.
The Nationals wanted to keep him on, which was what Chad wanted, too. He loved this town—the team and coaches. His life was here—his brothers and the Daniels family, who had been like parents to him. Leaving the city meant saying good-bye to them, but the team demanded that he “settle down.”
Settle the fuck down, like he was some kind of wild college kid. Settle down? Sure, he’d settle what he’d been told was a rather fine ass in this barstool.
Chad took the shot, slamming the glass back down. “I’m not going anywhere, Tony. You know that.”
“Good to hear.” Tony paused. “But what if the Nationals don’t re-sign you?”
“They’ll re-sign me.”
Tony shook his head. “You better hope they don’t get wind of what went down in that hotel room on Wednesday night.”
Chad laughed. “Man, you were with me Wednesday night and you know damn well nothing went down in that hotel room.”
His friend snickered. “And who’s going to believe that if those three ladies say differently? And yeah, I know calling them ‘ladies’ is stretching it, but with your reputation, the Club will believe anything. You just need to keep a low profile.”
“A low profile?” Chad snorted. “Maybe you didn’t understand me. They don’t want me to keep a low profile. They want me to settle down.”
“Hell,” Tony muttered. “Well, it’s not like they’re asking you to get married.”
Chad shot him a look. “Actually, I’m pretty sure they want me to find ‘a nice girl’ and ‘stay out of clubs’ and—”
