Free In It to Win It by Morgan Kearns Page B

momentary pause. “You’re asking the wrong Spencer, my man. You’d better ask Kate about that. I’m sure it’d be okay, but I don’t wanna speak for her.”
    “ Thanks.” Nate disconnected while Rich was still talking. His thumb worked over the keys and pressed send then put the phone back on the dash.
    “ Hello?” came to soft feminine voice.
    “ Kate.”
    “ Hi, Nate.”
    “ Can we use your house for Roxie’s surprise party?”
    “ Sure. When?”
    Nate looked at Jane for the date and she answered, “A week from Saturday.”
    “ Hi, Jane.” She could hear the laugh in Kate’s voice. “So you’re the one who got wrangled into planning the party?”
    “ Yep, lucky me.” The two of them laughed and Nate snorted.
    Jane really liked Kate. She was kind and truly competent at her job. Jane knew too many anchors who sat back, doing nothing while the producers wrote everything for them. Kate was different, she wrote as much as she could. Along with the brains, Kate had beauty too. The girl seemed to have it all, Jane thought.
    “ So … Kate, we wanna do it in the afternoon, so the kids can be a part of it,” Nate added.
    “ Oh, Jesse would like that. If you bring the decorations over the night before, I’ll take care of it. Jesse would love to decorate.”
    “ Um … well, I hate to do that to Molly. She’s kind of excited about it.”
    Kate laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. I think Molly and Jesse would get along really well. Why don’t you two come over first thing Saturday morning and we’ll all do the decorating,” she suggested.
    “ Sounds good. Thanks, Kate.”
    “ Let me know if you need anything else. I’ve gotta run.”
    “ Well, everything’s settled,” Jane told Nate, plucking his phone off the dash and handing it back to him. “I’ll do the invitations tonight and mail them in the morning. I hope we’re not too late.”
    Nate shrugged and eased the truck to a stop at a red light. “Most everybody knows already.”
    Jane shook her head. “I’m surprised Roxy doesn’t know.” She studied his profile. “She doesn’t, does she?”
    “ No!” His head whipped around to glare at her. “I can keep a secret.”
    “ No, you can’t.” Jane laughed and patted his arm. “That’s okay, Nate, not everyone needs to have a mouth like Fort Knox. Besides it’s your secret to tell.”
    “ Speaking of telling secrets,” Nate said. “What’s up with you and Grayson?”
    “ Don’t.”
    “ Are you into him or not?”
    “ Not. Definitely not.”
    Grayson was the last man she should be into. But heaven help her, she was into him. She wanted him with an intensity that made her wonder if her brain had taken a vacation. And she knew that he wanted her, too. That knowledge was very dangerous. He had the power to hurt her, more than any other man on earth. But in order for him to do so, she had to let him. And she refused to give him that kind of power.
    Keep telling yourself that , her thoughts chided. Just keep right on lying to yourself .
     
    
     
    ROXY’S PARTY WAS TOMORROW AFTERNOON and with all the party preparations made, Jane was left with nothing but Grayson to occupy her thoughts. She turned on ESPN and watched as the guys debated the happenings in the day’s sports world.
    “ Personally, I can’t believe he’s done it again,” one said.
    “ You’d think he’d learn that there is no such thing as a closed door when you’re an athlete.”
    A picture popped up on the screen. Jane was going to be sick. Her insides twisted around themselves and bile rose up in the back of her throat. It seemed Grayson was at it again. This time a hooker he’d bought had taken pictures with her cell phone. Thankfully, it wasn’t too explicit. But it was still explicit enough to give the viewer a really good idea of what he had planned.
    She found herself leaning into the screen, scrutinizing the picture. There was something that bothered her about it, something she