Challenging the Center (Santa Fe Bobcats #6)(5)
“Don’t use that you’re the crazy client, I’m the sane agent voice on me, Sawyer,” he warned. “I’ll find her, but Jesus, next time you send a kid my way, actually bring them.”
“Kid?” There was confusion in his voice. “What kid?”
“Kid. Kat. The rebellious teenager I’m about to straighten.” Maybe she wasn’t strictly a teen, but Michael had gotten the impression from the few bits of info he’d received from Sawyer, she was young and impulsive. He hadn’t Googled her—always tried to avoid information so he could get a read on the mentee fresh from outside influence—but he’d do that later after meeting her.
When Sawyer said nothing, Michael held the phone away from his ear and checked the screen. Disconnected, thanks to the elevator. “Not that you were a help anyway,” he muttered, stuffing the cell phone in his pocket. As the car rested on the lobby floor, he stepped out and into a mess.
Bobcats. Bobcats everywhere. Not unusual since so many of them lived in the building. But they usually didn’t convene in such a public spot. If the apartment guys got together, they did so privately, in someone’s place.
Even as he watched, another one—Sam Henderson, offensive line—busted in through the door leading to the stairwell and ran to join the huddle of guys standing by the benches.
With a shake of his head, Michael wandered over to the front desk. “Hey, Tiff,” he said, greeting the college student who worked the desk on the weekends. “Nobody’s come by for me, huh?”
“No,” she said, giving him a quick, apologetic smile before looking back toward the crowd. “Nobody’s come looking for you.”
“No young girl wandering around, looking a little lost and confused? Maybe walked by without saying anything?” When Tiff said nothing, he moved back into her line of vision. “She told us she was here, so…”
“Oh. Uh, young girl? Like a kid?” Tiff blinked, straightened the uniform blazer she wore with her name tag over the breast and started tapping what he assumed were codes to bring up a security camera. “You didn’t mention it was a child. If there’s an unattended child in the building, I—”
“Not child. Just… kid. Younger than me. Probably a teenager who doesn’t know where she’s going.”
Tiff nodded slowly, but then shrugged. “Sorry, no.”
“Damn Sawyer,” he muttered, turning to lean his elbows back against the counter.
“I’m sorry?”
“Nothing,” he added. “So, what’s up over there? Someone get a puppy or something?”
The young lady laughed. “No, definitely not. It’s our newest resident.”
Something tingled at the base of Michael’s spine. “Oh, really? What’s her name?”
Tiff gave him a good try look and smirked. “You know I’m not going to tell you who it is. That’s the reason all you football boys live here, because we can keep our mouths shut. But the fact that you seem to think it’s a female is telling. Maybe you should tell me who you think it is.”
He patted the top of the counter and shot her a grin. “Thanks, Tiff. Looks like I’m gonna meet the new neighbor.”
And it better not freaking be who I think it is.
Chapter 2
Kat crossed her legs and laced her fingers together over one knee. It hurt the ring finger on her right hand, thanks to still being a bit swollen from having been dislocated the other week after a mishap with another racket, but it made a nice picture. “So which one of you gentlemen can show a girl around town? I’ve never been to Santa Fe, you know.”
Several men started talking at once, and Kat bit her lip to keep from grinning. It was sweet that they all wanted to give her suggestions for places to check out. None of them stared at her like she was a sexual leper, like she was someone to avoid. “Are there any fun places around? Nightclubs, maybe, or decent bars?”
“There’s this jazz club,” the man to her left said, starting to launch into why paying twice the going rate for drinks was totally worth the entertainment it came with.
“Jazz, hell no.” The man who had introduced himself as Matt shook his head, his dark dreads brushing against her shoulder. “You want fun, we can go to Sin’s Inn. Tonight, in fact. I’d love to take you.”
The man to her left—had he ever told her his name?—made a sound low in his chest and started to tense. Whoops, not what she’d intended at all. “That sounds like a great offer, but it’s my first day. I think I’ll take tonight to ease in. Unpack, all that. You understand, right?”
Both men nodded, as well as a few who had just been standing around listening.
The crowd had been totally unintentional and not at all her doing. On that, she knew for sure. But like Sawyer loved to say… spectacles found her wherever she landed. When she’d rolled her two suitcases plus carry-on over to the side of the lobby to make a call and then text Sawyer she was here, first one tall, broad-shouldered male had come up to greet her and ask if she was moving in, then another, and another. Then they’d just started… multiplying like minks.
Glancing at her watch, she stood. The men sitting beside her stood as well. “Gentlemen… all of you,” she added, looking around her, still slightly in awe of the sheer size of them. She wasn’t a tiny woman, and they made her feel petite. “I appreciate the offers. Since we’re neighbors, I know we’ll see each other soon. But I should roll myself on up to my room, get situated and get started on unpacking.” She patted the top of her rolling suitcase as evidence.