For Everly

  Candy returned the smile. “You have no idea.”

  “You’re right. I’ve never seen anything like this.” She looked around at people tinkering with lighting, adjusting props and backdrops, raising and lowering booms, and directing people into position as cameras flashed. “What I do know is that places like this couldn’t operate without people like you. So keep up the good work.”

  Candy looked completely dumbfounded. Then she smiled again. “Thanks, Mrs. Parker. Just let me know if you need anything.”

  Everly started to correct Candy on her name, but the receptionist turned and hurried off. Shrugging, she turned her attention back to her surroundings. Which of these sets would Cole be using? She hadn’t even thought to ask him what he was there to promote.

  “Did I hear that woman introduce you as Mrs. Parker?”

  Turning at the sound of the male voice, Everly spotted an attractive man who appeared to be in his early-to-mid thirties. Despite the season, he was tan, tall, and fit, with perfectly styled blond hair and blue eyes. His suit probably cost more than all of her clothes put together. When he smiled, she was nearly blinded by his straight, white teeth.

  “Yes, but my name is actually Everly Wallace,” she said. “I didn’t have a chance to correct her.”

  “Ah.”

  The man’s gaze slid over her. She tried not to fidget, wondering what the intense scrutiny was all about. Her outfit of jeans, knee-high leather boots, a white and navy blue-striped top, and a navy blue cardigan with a belted waist wasn’t anything to draw attention. She brought a hand to her hair, which she’d clipped at the nape of her neck in a large barrette. It still felt largely in place.

  “My name is Wayne Shelton,” he said at last. “I’m Cole’s agent.”

  “Oh, right.” She remembered Cole mentioning him. He actually looked like what she imagined based on Cole’s stories. Not sure what else to do, she extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, ignoring her hand. “Cole’s never brought a woman to one of his shoots. This is hardly the time for him to begin doing so. There are more cameras here than at any ballgame. Having his name tied to a former asylum patient has the potential to ruin his career.”

  She went rigid. She couldn’t decide what upset her more: being referred to as an asylum patient or hearing that she could have that much of an impact on Cole’s career…not because of her current work with him on his injury, but because of her past.

  A feminine laugh behind her had them both turning. Everly watched as a petite woman of indeterminate age approached. Her silver-laced dark hair was cut in a short, fashionable style that flattered her patrician features. While Everly wouldn’t call her beautiful, she would say the woman had a compelling presence. Something about her made Everly unable to look away. Her dark eyes held a world of knowledge.

  “Did you really just use the word ‘asylum,’ Wayne?” the woman asked. “Are you quoting from a nineteen-seventies movie script?”

  He flashed his white teeth. “Hi, Caroline. I was just—”

  “Showing your ignorance?” Caroline interrupted. “Why, yes, you were.” She stopped a few inches from Wayne and tilted her head back to look up at him. “You have an older brother, don’t you, Wayne?”

  Blinking, he said, “Yes.”

  “Brad, isn’t that his name?”

  “How did—?”

  “So, Wayne,” she said, her voice barely audible over the surrounding noise, “imagine that you’re fourteen years old and you’ve just come home from school to find that Brad has shot himself. You find him on the floor of his bedroom and realize he’s not quite dead. You have to decide whether to stay with him to try and keep him alive or go and make the 911 call. In the end, regardless of your efforts, he dies in your arms.”

  Everly staggered back. The woman reached out and grabbed her arm, but didn’t look at her.

  “Now, do you think you’d need some therapy after surviving something like that? Maybe even a brief stay in a hospital that treats psychiatric trauma?”

  Wayne’s tan now reflected as pale green in the studio’s lightning. Everly couldn’t meet his eyes, but she knew he was looking at her.

  “Is that what…?”

  “I should think you would have checked before making a fool of yourself,” Caroline interrupted. “Now, leave us so that I can perform what our industry likes to call damage control.”

  At first, he turned to leave. Then he looked back at Everly.

  “I’m very sorry.”

  If she said anything, she was bound to burst into tears. So she just nodded.

  He walked away, leaving her with Caroline. Everly stood very still, keeping her breathing under control. She stared at the floor and fought the memories that threatened her.

  “What I just did was perfectly awful,” Caroline said. She grasped both of Everly’s hands, which had grown cold. “But it was the only way I was going to deflect a bulldog like Wayne.”

  Everly took several deep breaths, trying hard to keep her thoughts on the present. When she could speak, she asked, “Is my past going to impact Cole’s career?”

  Caroline smiled. “Why am I not surprised that you asked about him first?”

  Finally, Everly lifted her gaze and met the other woman’s eyes. She had to look down a number of inches. The look she received in return felt oddly maternal.

  “Cole’s career will remain intact regardless of your past, Everly. I’m sorry for dredging it up in such a harsh manner.” She gave Everly’s hands a squeeze, then let them go. “I’m Caroline Sanderson, by the way. Do you think you can ever forgive me for my intrusion?”

  Caroline Sanderson.

  Everly wanted to sink into the floor. She was standing in front of the woman married to the owner of Cole’s team.

  “Sure,” she managed to say. Then, deciding she didn’t have much to lose by asking, she added, “Should I be scared that you know so much about me?”

  “I don’t know…should you?” Caroline replied. Then she laughed at Everly’s wide-eyed expression. Hooking her arm with Everly’s, she started them walking closer to one of the sets. “I know quite a bit about everything that happens on this team, Everly. Can I add that I’m in love with your name? I’m going to do my best to convince my daughter to name her coming child Everly. If she refuses, then hopefully we’ll get a middle name out of it.”

  Unsure what to say, Everly blinked and murmured a thank you. She realized they were approaching a set surrounded by other women. Their attention was centered on whatever the photographer was trying to capture.

  When she glanced at the platform sitting in the center of the set, she saw Cole standing there wearing only a robe. He nodded as he listened to the rapid instructions of a stagehand who gestured as he spoke. Caroline maneuvered her and Everly to the front of the women. No one issued a word of complaint, telling Everly how respected—and feared—Caroline was.

  “Are you ready for this?” Caroline whispered.

  “I think so,” Everly whispered back.

  She was wrong.

  Chapter 29

  “All right, Cole,” said the photographer. “Let’s see what we’re working with here.”

  Everly gave the photographer a long stare. He was at least six feet, five inches of well-toned male. Dreads popped out of his head in a high ponytail that reached the middle of his back. His ebony skin glowed under the photographic light. She guessed his wardrobe choice of a tank top and shorts was due to the hot stage lights.

  “That’s Bastian,” Caroline said in a hushed voice.

  Everly nodded. Then she watched as Cole untied the belt to his robe. He took it off and handed it to the woman standing behind him.

  Sweet baby Jesus.

  That’s all that ran through her mind. She did her best not to ogle. A number of appreciative murmurs issued from behind her. While it probably should have irked her, she just mentally added her own.

  After all, Cole stoo
d only a few feet away wearing just a pair of black boxer briefs.

  Heat suffused her entire body as she studied him. He was utterly sublime. Why did seeing him like this have more of an impact on her than him in his swimsuit? Was it because she’d been too tied up in her own nervousness to notice while they swam? Or was it that those tight briefs left very little to the imagination?

  “Excellent.” Bastian held his camera up and evaluated what he read. “All right. Grab your bat, Cole.”

  Everly was surprised her eyes didn’t fall out of her head.

  “If you don’t want everyone to know that you’re still a young innocent, you might want to focus on controlling your reactions,” Caroline said into her ear.

  Swallowing, Everly nodded. Then she plastered a nonchalant look on her face.

  Cole accepted a wooden bat from one of the stagehands. He held it with confidence, giving it a few testing swings.

  “This is an advertising campaign for a high-end brand of men’s underwear,” Caroline explained in her low undertone. “They’re going for a sense of duality in their approach. Kind of a ‘you don’t have to be good at only one thing’ rebranding. They want their consumers to think of them as both a model of comfort and the epitome of style.”

  Everly nodded in understanding. “And since Cole had a two-point-three-five ERA and a three-fifty batting average last season, he projects the ability to do two things well, even though it isn’t expected since pitchers usually suck at hitting.”

  “He told you?”

  “No.” She couldn’t take her gaze from Cole as he posed for Bastian. “I’m an obsessive fan.”

  “I see.”

  Had Caroline sounded amused? She couldn’t find it in herself to care.

  She watched with rapt attention as Bastian guided Cole through various poses. After a while, she even forgot to pretend to be nonchalant. Her mouth probably hung open for a while. She couldn’t remember the last time she blinked. The only thing keeping her quaky knees from crumbling was Caroline’s tight grip on her arm.

  The shoot lasted for nearly an hour. To Everly, it was over in a moment.

  “Take a break, Cole,” Bastian said.

  The photographer walked over to a much smaller man standing alone on the far edge of the photo shoot. Everly thought the man didn’t look particularly pleased. She saw him and Bastian looking at some of the digital images from the shoot. Whatever the man said had Bastian drawing his brows together in thought. Then a woman approached them with another camera. The three of them looked at the images she had captured.

  Everly’s attention turned when Cole approached. He was once again wearing his robe, she noted. It helped her maintain her composure.

  A little.

  “Howdy, Mrs. Sanderson,” Cole said to Caroline. “Thanks for taking Everly under your wing. That was awfully kind of you.”

  “Of course, Cole,” Caroline said. Her gaze moved to Everly. “She’s quite the treasure.”

  “You don’t have to tell me,” he said.

  He reached for Everly’s hand, his eyes containing a mix of warmth and humor. When he brought her hand to his lips, a camera flashed.

  “She’s perfect.”

  They all looked up as Bastian issued the declaration. The female photographer and the suited man stood together talking in low voices, their eyes focused in Cole’s direction. Or maybe they were looking at Caroline? Everly wasn’t sure.

  “Cole, we want to get a few more shots,” Bastian said. He nodded in their direction. “This time, we want to incorporate the girl.”

  Everly looked at Caroline. Why did they want the owner’s wife posing with Cole? Then she realized that everyone was looking at her.

  “What?” she managed to say.

  “Your face was made for my camera,” Bastian said. He walked up to her and turned his camera so she could see the last picture he’d taken. “You’re going to make the difference in this shoot.”

  “Oh, I’m not a model,” she said, not even looking at the picture.

  “Sure, you’re not,” the female photographer said, rolling her eyes as she approached. “Ballplayers always date tall, beautiful women who aren’t models or actresses.”

  Everly blinked. “But, I’m not—”

  “What’s your name?” Bastian asked.

  “I’m not—” she tried again.

  “Her name is Everly Wallace,” Caroline said, giving Everly a slight nudge in the side. “I assume you’ll be paying her the industry standard for modeling in this shoot?”

  Bastian glanced at the man in the background, who nodded. “Sure, sure.”

  “That’s a guaranteed thousand dollars for this type of shoot,” Caroline whispered to Everly.

  “I’m not here to earn money,” Everly returned under her breath. She felt hot in her long-sleeved cotton shirt and cardigan. “I just wanted to see Cole.”

  Cole hadn’t said a thing. He watched the photographers and the man in the background with a puzzled expression on his face. Then his gaze moved to the other side of the set. Everly realized he was looking at Wayne. The agent didn’t look pleased.

  Realizing things had taken an unexpected turn, Everly glanced at Caroline. “Will this help Cole?”

  “It would seem so.”

  She squared her shoulders. “All right. What do I need to do?”

  * * *

  Before Cole could tell Everly not to listen to the photographers, she was offering up her services and getting whisked off the set by a couple of wardrobe stylists. He started to hurry after her, but Caroline took his arm.

  “Let Everly do this for you, Cole,” she said.

  “I didn’t ask her here to participate,” he protested. He hadn’t ever argued with the owner’s wife, but he’d seen Everly’s expression when she realized the photographers were talking about her. “She’s just here to keep me company and have fun.”

  “I know. But she’s been given an opportunity to shine for no other reason than being who she is and being in love with you. Let her do this.”

  He looked at Caroline.

  Everly? In love with him?

  “Would you please come with me, Mr. Parker?” asked a female voice.

  “I…”

  Caroline turned him in the direction of the stagehand. “Let them get you positioned on the set,” she said.

  He didn’t have time to argue. Everyone around the set moved in a blur of activity. He was given a bottle of water to drink and someone zipped by with makeup that he had to suffer through being applied to his face. He tried to ask three different people what was going on, but he wasn’t given an answer.

  Lights were adjusted. The background was switched up. People spoke in hushed tones as cameras flashed in the background.

  “We’re all set,” Bastian said. “Cole, keep the robe on. When Everly approaches, you should remove your robe slowly, then wait for her to remove hers. Then I want you to kiss her, taking your time in the approach.”

  What the hell?

  Cole was going to argue, knowing Everly wouldn’t be comfortable with this. Then she walked onto the set. After that, all he could think about was her.

  They’d loosened her gorgeous red hair so that it tumbled in soft waves around her face and down her back. Whatever they’d done with her makeup made her brilliant eyes even more potent and alluring. Her full lips had been colored in a soft shade of lipstick. She wore a dark blue robe that dipped in a low V over her breasts and ended at mid-thigh. He saw legs for miles.

  Gone were the props. Gone were the stagehands. Gone were the viewers and the flashing cameras.

  Their eyes locked and held. He reached for the belt of his robe. She looked down and watched him untie the belt. Her cheeks filled with color. There was something equally innocent and erotic about that look. It sent jolts of sensual awareness through him.

  Once his robe was off, her gaze slowly moved from his feet up to his eyes. There was no disguising the interest he saw there. It was driving him out
of his mind.

  Then she reached for the belt of her robe.

  He was entranced. He heard nothing else. Saw nothing else. His world consisted of Everly and that belt.

  He watched as she pulled the tie free from its first bow. Then she used both hands to loosen the overlapping middle tie. There was something delightfully uncertain about her movements. She was clearly not used to disrobing for anyone’s viewing pleasure. That, plus the fact that she continued to hold his gaze, made him want to pull her against him and kiss her senseless.

  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered Bastian telling him to wait until Everly got her robe off and then take his time before he kissed her. That was all that kept him from rushing her and ripping the damn robe from her shoulders.

  At long last, she removed the belt. Then she slid the robe off her body to reveal a deceptively simple white lace bra and panty set.

  He thought he must be in a dream. They both looked each other up and down as they moved closer together. If Bastian was issuing orders, Cole couldn’t hear them over the pulse racing in his ears. All he could focus on was Everly.

  At last, she was close enough to touch. He reached up to stroke the petal-soft skin of her cheek. The look she gave him was just shy of adoration.

  He leaned down, eager to taste her again.

  “That’s a wrap,” Bastian said.

  Chapter 30

  There was a loud sound of protest from all around the set over Bastian’s declaration.

  Everly snapped back to her senses as though she’d been doused with ice water. When she remembered where she was and what they were doing, she felt a flush building in her neck. Fortunately, a wardrobe stylist tossed a robe over her shoulders.

  “What?” Cole said as a robe was also handed to him. “Seriously, Bastian?”

  “You two just gave me the shots of my career,” the photographer said, standing with the man in the suit and giving him a preview through the camera’s display. The man’s grin was a mile wide. “We raised the hotness level of this campaign through the roof. You want duality? How about passion and innocence? What could be any hotter than that?”