Chapter 14

The next week passed far too quickly for Raina's liking. Mal left again and then came back and left again. The footage from outside Madame R's showed a dark truck driving past, but whoever had thrown the firecrackers had been clever enough to cover up their plates first, so other than the make and model, it wasn't much help. She hoped that it meant that the firecrackers had been unrelated to anything else but she knew that Mal—even though he wasn't pushing the issue—wasn't ready to let it go. He'd had another conversation with Luis, and the club was now practically bristling with security cameras. Even a cunning one that scanned the IDs they were checking to record them.

The Saints lost their second home game but not by much, and they'd won two of their away games.

And even though the team had lost the second game at Deacon, the Angels had continued to get plenty of press, most of it positive. There'd been a minor hiccup when Chen's team had done some work in their locker room to replace one of the security feeds and a spark from a drill had somehow set off a sprinkler. Which in turn had soaked the contents of several of the girls' lockers. Marly had been on of the unlucky ones but her good humor about it and the way she'd received Chen's awkward apology had apparently set the standard for the other girls and no one had thrown a tantrum. Thankfully Ana's locker had stayed dry. Everything had dried out with minimal damage and Maggie had brought down a batch of Shonda's cookies so everyone had been happy. Well, the dancers who allowed themselves carbs had been. Ana had looked at the cookies like they were made from arsenic and entrails and stomped off.

Best of all, there had been no further contact from Jeremy.

So she was in a pretty good mood when she headed to rehearsals for the Angels on Tuesday afternoon.

She had just about reached the Angels' locker room when she heard Maggie calling her name. Spinning on her heels, she stopped and waiting for Maggie to catch up with her.

"Hey, Raina," Maggie said.

"Hi. Nice shirt," Raina said. Maggie was wearing a scarlet silk shirt tucked into a black pencil skirt. She'd make a good sexy librarian, Raina decided, wondering if she could come up with a burlesque version of that outfit. The guys would eat it up. Maggie had legs that went on forever. And good boobs. And hell, she was going off on a tangent. Her head was so stuffed with rehearsals for the Angels and the club and her stolen nights with Mal, she found her brain wandering off on strange tangents at very odd moments.

"Thanks." Maggie smiled. "So can I grab you for a few minutes?"

Raina checked her watch. She was already cutting it fine. "I've got rehearsal, can I come see you after? It's just a quick one today, so I'll be about ninety minutes?"

Maggie nodded. "That's fine. Maybe I'll sneak out and watch you for a bit. Alex has me analyzing attendance statistics going back practically to when baseball was invented. It's not the most riveting thing ever."

"Don't tell me there's something about baseball that's not riveting," Raina teased. "Won't you get kicked out of the Jameson family for that?"

"Probably," Maggie said. "But the good stuff outweighs the bad. Now get going. I've got fresh cookies in my office. They'll all vanish once the guys get back later, so get them while they're there."

"What time are they arriving?" Raina asked, trying to sound casual. Mal had told her he'd be back today but not what time.

"I think the flight gets in at three," Maggie said. "Sara's picking them up at JFK, so they'll be here sometime around four. They took a later flight because Mal wanted to look at something at the Twins' field. Why? Did Mal need to talk to you about something? Has something else happened at the club?"

Raina shook her head. "No, nothing like that. Just curious. Okay. I will come and find you and claim my cookie reward after I put these Angels through their paces. We're trying a new routine tonight."

"You're still doing the wings at the start though, right?" Maggie said. "I love the wings."

"Wings are in," Raina confirmed. She wasn't going to mess with that opening routine until she had to. Someone had filmed the entire thing at Friday's game and put it up on YouTube and even though the footage was pretty crappy it had gotten something like five hundred thousand hits already. Which only went to prove the power of wings. When wielded by her lean mean dancing machine. Who were waiting for her to tune them up a little. Maybe they could get even more hits if she tweaked things just a fraction.

Raina knocked on Maggie's door about two hours later. One of the dancers had twisted her ankle slightly at practice so there'd been some running around finding ice and getting the team doctor—Steven "Indy" (as everyone called him) Jones—to take a look at it. That was a perk of working for a baseball team. Medical staff on premises. At least when the team was at home. Dr. Jones had strapped Haylee's ankle and ordered her to rest it for a few hours and come back to get it checked before the performance. They had two extra girls on the squad to cover injuries, so it wasn't a big deal. Just making her late.

"Come in," Maggie said.

Raina poked her head through the door. Oliver Shields, the Saints' first baseman, was perched on the edge of Maggie's desk. Raina hadn't really met many of the players yet but she knew what most of them looked like thanks to her research and the dancers' tendency to show her pictures of the team hotties despite her repeated lectures on the ban on getting mixed up with players. Ollie Shields was a favorite with them. She couldn't blame them. He was tall and had dark hair and olive skin like Maggie. They looked like a matched set. As she walked in he smiled at her, revealing killer dimples to round out the package.

She kept her answering smile strictly polite. "Hey, Maggie," she said. "Sorry I'm late."

"Everything okay?" Maggie asked. She reached down and pulled out a plastic tub from her desk drawer. "Come get a cookie before Ollie tries to eat them all."

"I don't eat them all," Ollie said. "You won't give them to me."

"You can go sweet-talk Shonda for your own damned cookies," Maggie said. "Besides, you have to stay in game shape, don't you?"

Ollie stuck his tongue out her. Raina studied him out of the corner of her eyes as she went over to collect her cookie. Ollie Shields was in no danger of busting out of his uniform anytime soon. He was lean and muscled, the long-sleeved blue T- shirt and dark jeans he had on outlining his body quite nicely. If she hadn't had Mal, she might have been tempted. Except for the baseball player part. He had to have women throwing themselves at him every five seconds. Not her thing.

"Raina, this is Ollie," Maggie said. "He was just leaving."

"You don't really want to get rid of me, do you?" Ollie asked. "Your life will be bereft of meaning and purpose once I leave."

"I'll take my chances," Maggie retorted. "Run away and go do whatever you should be doing before a game. Raina and I have important business things to discuss."

That was news to Raina. But as she bit into the truly excellent chocolate chip and pecan cookie, she decided she was happy to be blindsided by something if she got more cookies as a reward.

Ollie reached for the cookie container. "Just one more for the road."

Maggie shook her head. "Don't blame me if Dan makes you do extra laps or something."

"I'll bribe him with cookies if he tries," Ollie said.

"That only works for me. He likes me," Maggie said. "You're the problem child."

"I'm a model citizen."

"A model citizen who is leaving," Maggie stressed.

Ollie snapped a salute. "Yes, ma'am, boss lady." He nodded at Raina. "Nice to meet you. Those dancers of yours are doing a good job." He got to his feet in a graceful sort of flow that told Raina that, yup, he was an athlete who knew what to do with his body. She made a mental note to give another speech to the Angels about the wisdom—or lack thereof—of getting tangled up with any of the players. If they were dealing with temptations like Oliver, frequent reminders couldn't hurt.

Ollie closed the door behind him and Maggie waved at the seat in front of desk. "Sorry about Ollie, he gets bored easily. He needs a hobby."

"Professional baseball isn't enough?"

"He needs to use his brain. He's gotten by on his body all his life but that can't last forever," Maggie said.

"You sound like you've known him a long time," Raina said. Maggie offered the cookies again and she took another one. She would spend some time on her treadmill to make up for it. The curse of being short and built the way she was was that she gained weight fast. And Brady's costumes were unforgiving. Though she could always just order him to make her new ones.

"Since I was fifteen," Maggie said. "He was a rookie here. We kind of grew up together." Her expression turned a little nostalgic.

"Did you two…?"

"Yeah. But we work better as friends. He drives me crazy sometimes. He needs someone who'll—Well, I've never figured that part out. But someone who isn't me."

"I'm sure Alex is happy about that."

"Ollie and I were over long before Alex appeared on the scene," Maggie said. "But I didn't ask you here to talk about Ollie. Unless you want to take a shot at him? He really is a good guy under the nonsense."

Raina blinked. Apparently Alex really hadn't told anyone what Mal had told him about their relationship. That was unexpected. But good. So best not to give herself away. Without ending up having to go on a blind date with Oliver Shields. That one would be hard to explain. She shook her head. "Sounds like hard work. He's cute but no real … twinkle."

"Twinkle?"

"You know. When you look at a guy and he's got that look about him, that little spark in his eyes that means you know he's got some game?"

"You don't get twinkle from Ollie?"

"Not my type. He looks like a dancer, kind of. That long, lean thing. Been there, done that. I like my men a little more filled out. Grown up. Or something."

"Grown up has a definite appeal," Maggie agreed. "Okay, no Ollie. He can find his own dates without any help from us. So let's talk business. Your Angels have been getting lots of press, yes?"

"I think they're kind of your Angels," Raina said.

"Nope. I couldn't choreograph a dance routine if you paid me. And it was Alex's idea. But you've turned it into something more than he could have anticipated," Maggie said. "So all the excellent free publicity is your doing."

"It's not all excellent."

"No, but we knew some of the old school weren't going to like it. They don't matter. Neither do the weirdos. Let's focus on the good. Which is that people like your Angels and they're interested in you. The media office has had some interview requests. Would that be something you'd be interested in doing?"

Interviews. Ugh. She'd done a few when Madame R had opened and of course, pieces here and there in various theater magazines and for blogs and the burlesque scene, but it wasn't her favorite thing in the world. "What kind of interviews?"

"Some print. Some TV. Good Morning America has made some nibbles about getting the Angels to do something on their show. And maybe interview you."

TV. Her stomach clenched. Yikes.

"We can organize some media training for you. And whichever of the girls you think would make a good impression. We don't have to say yes to anything just yet."

Saying no would be wimpy. And hey, free media training couldn't be a bad thing. If nothing else, it was bound to be useful down the track. It was just another kind of performance, right? She could handle that. "Training would be great," she said. "And there are a few of the girls who would be good at this, I think." Marly and Leanna and maybe even Char. The three of them were bubbly and friendly and had brains to go with their dance skills. Not Ana. She was photogenic but Raina couldn't trust her to not throw a fit in public.

Maggie nodded and reached for her mouse. "Okay. I'll get the media gals to email you with some possible times and we'll see what we can come up with. Bet you didn't think you were going to be on GMA when you took this job."

"To be honest, I kind of expected that we'd last about two performances before Alex changed his mind."

"Well, so far so good. Just keep doing what you're doing."

"Sure," Raina said. "As long as I keep getting cookies."

"Deal," Maggie said.

There was a knock on the door and it opened.

"Hey, Mags, are you?—"

Mal's voice. Mal's voice breaking off at the sight of her. She made herself stay still. Then turn casually.

There he was. He'd only been gone two days but damn, it was good to see him. She bit her lip so she wouldn't grin at him.

"Oh, sorry," Mal said. "Didn't realize you were busy. Hi, Raina."

He made the words sound so casual. So why did they make her want to rip his clothes off? Damn the man. He'd bewitched her somehow.

"Mal," she said. "Hello."

"We were just finishing up," Maggie said. "I was talking to Raina about doing some press."

Mal frowned. "Press?"

"We've had some interview requests. People find our Angels interesting, apparently."

"That might not be the best idea," Mal said.

Maggie lifted an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You know what's been going on with Raina's club," Mal said. "She might not want to draw attention to herself right now."

"Drawing attention to myself is kind of what I do for a living," Raina interjected.

"Besides which, I doubt anyone's going to try anything in a TV studio," Maggie said. "They have good security."

"I think I'm the best judge of that," Mal said.

"Fine, then I'll let you sort out that side of things. But we're not passing up free publicity when it's offered. The less money we have to spend on the promotion, the more you have to play with the stadium and make it all Space Age," Maggie said. "Okay?"

He shrugged and Raina didn't think he was all that okay at all. But that was a conversation best had with just the two of them alone. Unless they wanted Maggie to know what was going on between them.

"Okay," Mal said. "In that case, can I borrow Raina a minute? We've changed a few security things the Angels need to know about."

"Sure," Maggie said. "We're done." She frowned. "Wait, didn't you want something for me?"

"I'll come back," Mal said. "Raina has to get ready for the performance soon. You, on the other hand, just have to get to the owners' box on time."

"I have to have time to make with the pretty," Maggie said with a grin.

Mal lifted his eyebrows. "In that shirt, you have plenty of pretty. Are you trying to give Alex a heart attack or something?"

"No, just remind him of what he's missing when he goes away and leaves me all alone."

"I think that'll do it," Mal said. "So I'll come back. Raina? You all set? We'll go to my office."