“It’s fine,” Natalie said, avoiding looking directly at Michael. But as she put one foot deliberately before the other and walked farther into the room, she could feel Michael’s gaze on her.
His eyes were burning her skin. She felt flushed and didn’t know why. And strangely, she found her breathing had become shallow.
Embarrassment, she told herself. That’s what it is. And she knew that was true. After yesterday—
“I’ve cleared space at the end of the conference table,” Penelope explained, jarring Natalie from her thoughts about the day before. Penelope began walking toward the table, and as Natalie feared, she took a seat opposite Michael, which left Natalie one option—to sit beside him.
“Michael Jones, this is Natalie Cooper—I mean Hart. Natalie, this is Michael Jones, the local football player I was telling you about.”
“Pleasure to see you again,” Michael said, eyeing her up and down as if she were a juicy steak.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Penelope said, her expression one of confusion as she took a seat opposite them. “I didn’t realize that you knew each other.”
“We don’t,” Natalie said.
To that, Michael raised an eyebrow. “Actually, we met yesterday.”
“Briefly,” Natalie clarified. “A chance encounter on the street.”
Natalie sat and pulled her chair in, trying her best to ignore the uncomfortable sensation that came from knowing that Michael wasn’t taking his eyes off of her.
“She’s right,” Michael agreed. “We didn’t enjoy the pleasure of a formal meeting.” He extended his hand to her. “I’m Michael Jones.”
Natalie turned to face him, knowing that it would look suspicious if she didn’t. And she saw that the edges of Michael’s full lips were twitching. He was trying not to smile. Clearly, he was enjoying having the unlikely upper hand. Yesterday, she had thought she would be rid of him forever when she walked away from him on the street, and yet here he was, in her life again.
But Natalie couldn’t hardly let him know that he was getting to her on any level, so she took his hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you, Michael,” she said, keeping her voice dispassionate.
“Very nice to meet you.”
Natalie swallowed—hard. She felt a rush of heat. That bedroom voice, those sexy eyes…why on earth was he getting to her? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen an attractive man before.
But Michael Jones wasn’t simply attractive. He was hot.
He’s a block of ice, you’re a block of ice, Natalie said mentally, trying to trick herself. Because no matter how hot this man was, the last thing she wanted to do was look twice at another professional athlete.
Least of all look twice at one who was giving her the bedroom eye as though he hoped to make her his next conquest.
Nope, Natalie had learned her lesson the first time around, and would not be foolish enough to make the same mistake twice.
What was the saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Not that Michael had ever fooled her, but she had already been fooled by his species: the professional athlete. Women threw themselves at men like him. Stalked them at their away games. Tried to sneak into their hotel rooms. Got hired as wait staff where they ate their meals. Natalie knew all the tricks. Heck, Vance had joked about the various ploys of these women, making Natalie believe he was immune to their charms. And yet Vance had betrayed her, despite his vows to love, cherish and be faithful.
She supposed it was only inevitable that men like Vance cheated. A man was only human, after all, and how long could he realistically resist temptation when it was always in his face?
Penelope cleared her throat, and when Natalie looked at her, she was horrified to see a knowing smirk on the woman’s
face—the kind of smirk that said she believed Natalie had just been checking Michael out.
“I checked out your charity on the internet,” Natalie said, needing to say something to get Penelope’s mind off of the track it was clearly on. “I’m really impressed. For a small charity, you have been able to do incredible work.”
“And we hope to continue to do that work,” Penelope said. “Which is why both of you are here.”
Natalie nodded. Then, despite herself, she glanced at Michael again, and saw that his gaze was still intent on her. It was the kind of gaze that left a woman feeling totally exposed.
She jerked her head away. She could already tell that this Michael character was the type of guy used to getting what he wanted. First of all, he was gorgeous. Certainly not the kind of guy most women would kick out of the bed in the morning. Add that to the fact that he was a successful athlete, and he was all but irresistible to most women.
The way Michael kept checking her out made it obvious to Natalie that he thought all he had to do was give her a dose of his smoldering looks and his dazzling smile and she would be putty in his hands.
“Now, the date for the gala event is August 12,” Penelope said. “Which gives us just about six weeks. Unlike some of the events we’ve done before, this will be a celebrity event. I would like both of you to be cohosts for the event. I’ve seen video of you on the internet, Natalie, and you’re a natural with a microphone. And of course, you are, too, Mike,” she added amiably. “With the two of you headlining the event, we’re sure to have a great turnout.”
“What exactly do you mean by headlining?” Natalie asked. “Do you want us to emcee, or provide some sort of entertainment?”
“Oh, no, I don’t expect you to be the entertainment—unless of course you have some jokes you’d like to share—but your job will be to host,” Penelope explained. “You’re both celebrities, you both speak well. You’ll emcee the evening, introduce each new segment for the night, be it the auction items or the various entertainment.”
Natalie nodded. “Gotcha.”
The phone rang, but Penelope stayed seated at the conference table, not getting up to go to the desk and answer it. “I’m working on some of the entertainment as we speak.” Penelope spoke over the ringing phone. “I’ve made some calls to a comedian, a local church choir, a popular dance troupe and some others. So far, only the gospel choir has confirmed, but I’m hopeful the others will, as well.”
“We’ll follow up with whomever you’ve reached out to,” Michael said.
“Excellent,” Penelope said. “I’m sure that hearing from both of you will inspire people to say yes. I want a real high-class event that will justify the cost of the ticket price.”
“You know, I could ask my sister if she’ll perform,” Natalie said. “Deanna Hart.”
Penelope’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes, please do. That would be fantastic. I didn’t know if I should ask, given that you all are grieving, but having her on the lineup would be amazing. I love her music. She has such a beautiful voice.”
Natalie felt a pinch of pride. Though Deanna wouldn’t know it, Natalie had bought the three CDs she’d put out over the past eight years. She may not have been speaking to her sister at the time, but she had been proud of her success nonetheless.
“I’ve got some musician friends I could talk to, as well,” Michael said. “I’m sure they’d be happy to lend their support.”
“And speaking of dancers,” Natalie began, “I have a friend in San Antonio who is a very talented ballet dancer. She leaves audiences breathless, seriously. I can give her a call.”
Penelope’s