Crazy for You Read online

  His heartbeat tripled time. She’s about to pass out! Jake rushed into the studio, but he wasn’t able to reach her in time.

  Charlotte fell, and her head cracked against the wood floor.

  “Charlotte! Oh my God!” one of her students shouted.

  Jake pushed concerned parents and students out of the way to get to her. “Give her space!” Gathering her into his arms, he pressed two fingers against her carotid artery and sighed at the weak, erratic beat.

  “Charlotte.” He gently shook her shoulders. “Open your eyes, Charlotte.”

  Big brown eyes fluttered open, blinked, and then squinted up at him. “You know my name,” she whispered in an awed voice.

  Chapter Two

  The pressure on Charlotte’s eyelids had to weigh two tons, and her head . . . good God! Had Thor swung his mighty hammer and whacked her temple?

  A wave of nausea rolled from her stomach to her throat. Groaning against the pain, she closed her eyes. Sleep. The deep, dark abyss was a haven from the persistent pang in her skull.

  “Of course I know who you are. Now wake up, Sleeping Beauty.”

  A grunt that sounded more like an animal and less like a lady escaped her throat. No way was she prying her eyes open, not even to stare into the hypnotic eyes of her sexy crush as he cradled her in his arms.

  “Charlotte, I really need you to look at me.”

  A delicious tingle spread up her spine. Jake’s deep, sexy voice could convince a nun to forego her oath. She slowly opened her eyes. Four gray eyes set against caramel skin blinked at her. Jake waved fingers in front of her face, but she could only focus on his eyes.

  “How many?” His deep voice made her shiver.

  “Four eyes. You look good with four eyes.”

  His laughter vibrated against her arms. She curled deeper into him, feeling warm and safe.

  Strong fingers massaged her scalp. “Mmm,” she purred.

  “She’s got a knot on the back of her head, and she’s not seeing straight. Somebody call an ambulance.”

  “Already done,” a far away and familiar voice answered. “They’re on the way.”

  “Going back to sleep now,” she said.

  “Stay with me, angel.”

  “I’m no angel.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  She tried raising her hands, but her arms were tucked tight against his body. “Really? I don’t feel a halo.” She sighed. Even to her ears, she knew it was heavy on the dramatic side.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I don’t want to die. I haven’t even had an orgasm yet.”

  Jake’s glittery gray eyes danced with laughter as the edges of her vision grew dark.

  Dying in Jake’s arms isn’t a bad way to go.

  • • •

  Jake tapped his toes as he and Charlotte waited for the doctor. When the medics went to put Charlotte in the ambulance, he hadn’t been able to let her go. Dammit! The woman had scared him half to death as she drifted in and out of their hilarious conversation.

  The next thing he knew, he’d shoved Damien out of the way to ride with her to the emergency room. The medics wouldn’t let him at first, but then he lied and said he was her boyfriend. Damien would probably give him shit about that later. Too damn bad.

  The curtain swished open. Stethoscope wrapped around his neck, a man with dark blond hair stepped into the room, head down as he studied a chart.

  “Ms. . . . ” The doctor raised his head and smiled. “Hey! Jake Ross! I’m a big fan.”

  “Thanks, man.” Jake nodded and then glanced at Charlotte. “How’s she doing?”

  The doctor cleared his throat, and his blue eyes focused on Jake. “I know Nurse Wootson informed you that Ms. Jones is severely dehydrated, which is why we have her on the IV. We’ll also need to do a CT scan to check for a concussion. Once she wakes, I’ll ask her a few questions to test her cognitive skills.”

  “I’m awake, doc,” a sweet voice whispered from the bed.

  “Ms. Jones, I’m Dr. Merrick.” Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a small flashlight. “You gave your boyfriend quite a scare. How are you feeling?”

  She scrunched that cute button nose. “Boyfriend?” She tilted her head at Jake.

  The doctor raised an eyebrow.

  “We’re trying to keep it a secret, so we don’t get harassed by the media.” He forced a smile and then returned his focus on Charlotte, giving her a look that he hoped conveyed, “Play along.”

  “Answer Dr. Merrick, angel.”

  She nodded and whispered, “A little sluggish, but I’m good.”

  “Can you sit up?” the doctor asked. “I want to ask you a few questions, okay?”

  “All right.” She pulled herself up and scooted against the pillow.

  “Do you have a history of fainting? Any reason to cause you to pass out today?”

  “Well, I . . . ” She glanced past Dr. Merrick’s shoulder to peek at Jake and then looked down. A blush bloomed across her cheeks before she cleared her throat. “I’ve been doing an intense diet and exercise routine.”

  Curiosity led Jake to a chair near Charlotte. His hand sought hers. She seemed embarrassed and he wanted to give her comfort.

  “Can you tell me about your routine, Ms. Jones? How many calories do you consume and how long are your workouts?”

  Charlotte nibbled her lips and gripped the blanket draped across her legs.

  Jake squeezed her other hand. “Tell him, Charlotte. He just wants to help.”

  Taking a deep breath, she focused on the doctor. “I have one main meal a day, usually four hundred to five hundred calories. And then, for a snack in the afternoon, I usually eat a kale salad or cabbage soup.”

  Is she serious? Only six hundred calories a day? No wonder she’s been dropping weight so quickly.

  “Mmm.” The doctor typed notes on a tablet. “And your workouts?”

  “Umm . . . usually two, sometimes three times a day. I’m a part-time dance instructor, so I create the routines and then teach the classes. I also go to the gym and run two miles a day on the treadmill.”

  The doctor stopped taking notes and shook his head. “You’re running yourself into the ground, Ms. Jones. It’s like a car with no gas—heck, with no wheels. You don’t have enough energy to sustain your lifestyle. I highly advise that you eat more food.”

  “I will.”

  “Good.” Dr. Merrick turned to face Jake. “And you make sure to feed your girlfriend.”

  Charlotte’s eyes popped, and her teeth sank into her bottom lip.

  Jake nodded. She needed to work on her poker face. “Will do, Dr. Merrick.” A chirp from his phone interrupted the conversation. He’d been ignoring it, worried about Charlotte. Now that she was awake, he pulled the phone from his back pocket and swiped it open. Eight missed calls from his agent, Gina, and two from his publicist, Mark.

  Shit. What now?

  “Excuse me. Charlotte, I’ll be back in a minute. Hang tight, okay?”

  “Oh-okay, Jake.”

  His hands started to move toward her brown cherub face. But instead of giving in to the desire to stroke her soft skin, he squeezed his hand into a fist and stood to leave.

  Dr. Merrick continued to speak to Charlotte as Jake walked into the hallway.

  Opening the text app, he was greeted by new messages from Melanie, Damien, and his agent Gina.

  MELANIE: HI SWEETIE. WE’RE ALL WORRIED OVER HERE. WHICH HOSPITAL ARE YOU IN AND WHAT IS HER ROOM NUMBER? THANK YOU FOR TAKING CARE OF MY FRIEND.

  DAMIEN: ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE!

  Jake shook his head and decided to respond to Melanie first. One, because her text was much more reasonable, and two, because it would piss Damien off that Jake texted his wife.

  Damien was still mildly upset that Jake and Melanie had faked a relationship once to make him jealous. Of course, kissing her once hadn’t helped either. But it was all in the name of love. And who was he to turn his back on helpin
g a friend find true love?

  Jake smiled as he typed.

  HEY, BABE. SHE DOESN’T HAVE A ROOM YET. WE’RE IN THE ER AT MONTEFIORE. NOT SURE IF THEY’LL ADMIT HER OVERNIGHT. SHE’S UP AND ALERT. THE DOCTOR IS WITH HER NOW.

  He skipped over Tiana’s text because Mel was probably beside her and zeroed in on his agent’s.

  GINA: YOUR GIRLFRIEND WAS RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE SHE’S PREGNANT WITH YOUR BABY???? APPARENTLY YOU DON’T WANT THE MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR DEAL WITH THREX TO GO THROUGH. CALL ME. NOW!

  Damn. What blabbermouth at the hospital lied? Everyone at Refurbished Dreams would have kept their mouths shut.

  Jake called Gina. She was a spitfire and was probably about to blow.

  “What in the entire hell, Jake? Do you know how many calls and emails I’ve gotten in the past hour?” Her Italian accent was thick with anger.

  “Gina, it’s not what you think.” Jake recounted the story between her groans and growls.

  “Jake, you’re a celebrity. You can’t lie about having a girlfriend, especially when you just got dinged for having a threesome with a model and an actress. And let’s not even bring up the Denise McKesson pregnancy scare.”

  The Denise McKesson fiasco was just over a year ago. The worst part had been disappointing his family. They’d questioned him mercilessly, asking about the C-list actress, her family, and her morals. He couldn’t answer one question. Denise had been a one-night stand that wouldn’t die. Stage-one clinger. He saw it in her dark eyes before they screwed, but his dick hadn’t cared. She was hot and willing. Big, big mistake.

  His grandmother had admonished him after he couldn’t even recall when they’d hooked up to confirm the date Denise had become pregnant. After Grandma Etta hit him upside the head with her purse that could double as a carry-on bag, she’d chewed him out for hours.

  But underneath her sharp words—and his mother’s silence, which spoke volumes—he promised himself that he’d be more careful, like carrying his own condoms. And the most important rule: If a woman says “It’s okay, I’m on birth control,” run for the hills.

  Jake rubbed his knuckles across his beard and sighed. He wasn’t going to touch the threesome thing. That was one hundred percent true, and he had no regrets, minus the impact on his money. “Look, what I do in my sex life, whether with one or more women at a time, is my damn business,” he growled. “And as far as Denise, we both know that woman was out to trap me.”

  “Uh-huh,” Gina replied in a get-out-of-here voice. “And you made it so easy for her by screwing her seven ways to Sunday. Oh, and let’s not forget the flight attendant, or the coffee shop girl. All of them ran to the tabloids just as soon as you rolled out of their beds.”

  Damn. I need to get these chicks to sign an NDA like that Fifty Shades dude.

  “So I like to have sex.” He shrugged. “It’s natural. Doesn’t mean I’m a bad guy. And I’m tired of people assuming everyone woman I screw is having my baby.”

  “And what have I told you, Ross? Perception is . . . ”

  “Reality. Look, I was concerned about a . . . a friend. I’m sorry this has been blown out of proportion, but we can fix this.”

  “We?”

  “Well, I mean you and Mark. You guys work for the same agency and two heads are better than one. That’s what I’m paying you for, right?”

  A long-suffering sigh echoed in his ear, followed by the sound of typing. No doubt, she was clicking open her timer and charging him out the ass for overtime. “Tell me everything you know about this woman.”

  Walking back into the room, Jake peeped through the curtain opening. Charlotte was now standing in front of Dr. Merrick, touching her nose.

  “She’s . . . she’s sweet.”

  Gina coughed. “Sweet? I don’t believe any woman you’re dating is sweet.”

  “I’m not really dating her, remember? But like I said, she’s nice. Goes to church and works with that organization I volunteer for a few days a month. You know, Refurbished Dreams. She does media relations, I think. She also volunteers as a dance instructor, and everybody there loves her. She’s a Southern girl. I can hear it in her voice, but I can’t pinpoint exactly where she’s from.”

  “Hmmm . . . ” Gina stopped typing. “I think I can fix this.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about, Gina! I knew you’d come up with something.”

  “It’s going to take some hard work and sacrifice. And of course I’ll need to run this by Mark, but I’m sure he’ll be on board.” Her voice was animated and unsure.

  “Gina, you know me. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll work hard. I don’t want to lose out on this money.”

  The Threx shoe deal was the ticket to buying his parents and brothers their dream homes. Sure, they hadn’t asked for it, but they’d all contributed to his success. He wouldn’t have made it to the majors without all their sacrifices.

  “I’m glad to hear that because I have an idea. I’ll need to run it by Mark, but we need to send a media alert for a press conference. Hopefully we can do something later this week. There you will announce that you met a good girl—the love of your life—and you will play the devoted boyfriend.”

  “What in the—”

  “And then,” Gina continued, “you will keep it in your pants and stay faithful until this deal goes through. Can you handle that, Mr. Bad Boy of Baseball?”

  Jake rolled his eyes at the stupid name the media had given him. “This is ridiculous. We’re living in the twenty-first century. Why does it matter who I date and what I do?”

  “You mean who you do. And it matters because you’re a role model. Don’t say you don’t care because I know you do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t volunteer all your free hours at that nonprofit or spend time spoiling your nieces and nephews during the off-season. Do you think they don’t see the tabloids and articles and blogs about your flavor of the month?”

  Jake leaned against the wall and banged his head.

  “Caleb, Kyrie, Ava, and Danica are too young to understand—”

  “No, they aren’t. They may not have a phone, but they have access to tablets and computers and, hell, they can see the photos of you and your legion of women on the covers of magazines at the grocery store.”

  “Gina, team meeting in five,” someone in the background shouted.

  “I’m wrapping up now.” His agent took a deep breath. “Jake, you are an excellent pitcher. You’ll be one of the greats, I’m sure of it. But because of your looks and your reputation, some people may not take you seriously. You hired Mark and me because you wanted to be marketable, to turn this deal around. Help me do my job. Bite the bullet and ask little Ms. Church Lady to do you a solid. Lay on the charm if you have to, but get this done.”

  Jake gripped the phone tight. Damn, but he hated being told what to do. He was tired of people judging his life. He was a good person, dammit. He donated money. Volunteered his time and fucking recycled. Frankly, it wasn’t anyone’s business who he banged.

  “Fine, Gina,” shot from his lips. “I’ll ask Charlotte if she is willing to work with me. But just as soon as the ink on the deal is dry, I’m back to being me. I’m not a one-woman man.”

  “Fine, Jake. Get ready to meet the press.”

  Chapter Three

  Dr. Merrick stepped out of the curtained area as Jake returned.

  “How is she, doc?”

  “Ms. Jones passed the cognitive and neurological exams with flying colors. But we still need to schedule a CT scan, so we’re going to keep her a few more hours.”

  How in the hell did I get into this mess? “Thanks for taking care of my . . . of Charlotte.”

  The doctor clapped his back. “My pleasure. Oh, and my dad is a huge fan. Would you mind signing this?” Dr. Merrick patted his shirt and pant pocket and then pulled out a small piece of white paper.

  “Sure.” Jake obliged and handed the signed paper and pen back to the doctor.

  “Thanks again, Jake. I’ll stop by
again to check on her. See you later.”

  Jake waved and then took a deep breath as he gripped the curtain. Here goes nothing. “Charlotte, it’s Jake. Can I come in?”

  “Come in.”

  He swung open the off-white screen. She was propped against a pillow, and her bed was now L-shaped.

  “How are you feeling?” He returned to his seat by the bed.

  She ran her hands through her long, dark tresses. “I feel like I cracked my skull open and scrambled some things around. Other than that, I’m all right.” She shrugged and chuckled. “Definitely not one of my finest moments.”

  “Seemed like more than a moment.” He leaned forward. “You’re not taking care of yourself.”

  “I—”

  “I don’t understand why you’re killing yourself to lose weight.” He shook his head. He would never understand why women tortured themselves to look a certain way.

  Her mouth dropped open, and then her eyes narrowed. Turning her head, she mumbled something under her breath.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  She turned her head to look at him. Her sweet face morphed into a confused frown. “I said you’re one to talk. All you date are rail-thin supermodels.”

  “No, I—”

  “Yes, you do. Your past four or five women you’ve been seen with more than once have been models. Oh, and one actress. Well, she was a model turned actress, so . . . yeah.”

  Irritation buzzed like mosquitos. He was tired of explaining his lifestyle and he damn sure wasn’t in the mood to have the conversation again. “Apparently I had a fling with a flight attendant and barista,” he said, recalling the women Gina had mentioned earlier.

  “Both were aspiring models, and they snagged pretty good contracts after they name-dropped you.” She cocked her head and squinted her eyes. “Don’t you talk to the women you date?”

  “I don’t date. I fuck.”

  Charlotte clutched her collarbone and gasped better than a scandalized eighteenth century society lady.

  You need her to agree to this, not hate you. “Look. It’s not about me. It’s about you. Take care of yourself. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to do it the right way.”