CaddyGirls Page 3

  “Um, hi. I’m Torrey Green.” Oh God, she sounded totally lame.

  Krista, Annie and Julieta introduced themselves, and the golfers and caddies paired up. Torrey reached for Julian’s bag, holding it upright with one hand while she offered him the box of golf balls she’d bought at the pro shop.

  “I picked up your balls, like you asked me to.” Torrey smiled.

  “You can pick up my—” Josh started, but Julian cut him off with a glare.

  “Don’t, Josh. Just don’t.”

  “Who’s got the honor?” Torrey hastily interjected. If they didn’t get moving, it could be a very long afternoon. The blazing Las Vegas sun already threatened to bore holes through her skin, and the first tee lacked even a sliver of shade to hide in.

  “Julian,” Michael said. “It’s our tradition.”

  Torrey pulled the cover off Julian’s oversized metal driver. She’d been admiring the clubs when she wasn’t busy admiring their owner. Brand new Callaways, just like Phil Mickelson’s, only righthanded. Sweet.

  As he reached for the driver, Julian’s fingers brushed hers. He looked straight into her eyes for a long moment before firmly gripping the club’s shaft. It took a second for her to register that she’d kept her grip tight as their hands touched, not loosening it instantly as she normally would. He didn’t tug the club from her hand; he just smiled and waited until she let go.

  When he turned away, Torrey exhaled a shaky rush of breath. His look had surprised her—shocked her, even. It was more than a look of simple curiosity. For that brief moment Julian had eyed her the same way a cat—a big, sleek jungle cat—assesses his prey.

  * * *

  Julian planted his feet and took two waggles with the big metal club before glancing over at Torrey. Her soft doe eyes were focused on him with surprising intensity. Most of his amateur caddies looked bored before the first swing, but not her.

  After one more waggle, he took the club back and brought it down hard in a smooth, powerful arc. The gleaming white ball rocketed off the clubface, drawing slightly to the left as it rose. By the time it landed and rolled to a stop, it was nearly three hundred yards down the fairway.

  “That’s exactly where you want to be, Julian.” Torrey nodded her approval as he handed her back the driver. “The left side of the fairway gives you a great angle for the pin placement today. You should be able to take dead aim at the flag from there.”

  “Uh, that’s great. Thanks.” Momentarily stunned, Julian’s mind hustled to recalculate his image of Torrey Green. Her web bio had mentioned her ambition to become a pro golfer, but he’d thought it was more likely she toted bags just to pick up a little extra money and maybe to meet rich guys like him. Not someone who took caddying all that seriously.

  But now he suspected she took her work very seriously. “So, how did you manage to get today’s pin placements, Torrey? Don’t tell me you walked the course at dawn?”

  “As much as I like to be prepared, no.” As Torrey shook her head, her glossy chestnut ponytail rippled like silk over one shoulder. “I know the assistant pro here from our UNLV days. He gave me the placements a few minutes ago.”

  “I’m impressed.” He let his eyes drift over her curvy figure and pretty face. Torrey gave every indication of combining smarts and looks in one dynamite little package.

  Josh broke in, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “Okay, fearless leader, can you take a break from the flirting and get off the tee so the rest of us can hit?”

  Though he knew Josh was right, Julian ignored the obvious attempt to rattle him. Instead, he walked off the tee with Torrey, keeping his attention right on her. As much as he loved golf, he was beginning to find his caddy way more interesting than the next pin placement.

  “I didn’t expect to get such professionalism from CaddyGirls.com,” he said, watching carefully for her reaction.

  “We’re not all airheads,” she replied, delicate eyebrows arching over her dark chocolate eyes. “Anybody can hand out clubs and replace divots. I like to think I bring a lot more to my client.”

  “Well, I look forward to benefiting from your talents.” His voice dropped a notch, almost against his will.

  A brief smile touched her bow-shaped mouth as she turned to watch Brendan’s ball rising straight down the fairway in the shimmering desert heat. Julian took the opportunity to continue his thorough inspection of her body.

  Torrey wasn’t drop-dead stunning like Krista, teasingly sexy like Annie, or steamy hot like Julieta. But she was put together to perfection. Every part of her worked with every other part—from her almond-shaped eyes and lush mouth, to her generous breasts, tight, sexy bottom and shapely, tanned legs. The web site photos hadn’t revealed the truth of her. Though undeniably hot, Torrey had the kind of girl-next-door looks that made an ordinary guy think maybe, just maybe—if the stars aligned right—he might get lucky. Her earthy sensuality seemed designed to welcome a man into her bed, not push him away.

  It surprised the hell out of him to realize he wanted to be that man.

  * * *

  Maybe her luck had finally turned. Torrey had fantasized about Julian since the day he’d replied to her email. She couldn’t help herself. Yeah, it was stupid. Worse yet, it was tempting fate. Ever since her father’s bizarre death she’d been superstitious and anxious, worried that she must have somehow offended the fickle gods of fate.

  For her purposes Julian Grant could hardly have been more perfect. Great looking, smart and easy to talk to. Powerful, decisive and dot-com loaded. Nothing in her research had mentioned a wife or long-term girlfriend. And he even seemed to be attracted to her, unless her man-radar had rusted out. All afternoon he’d been coming on to her, though it didn’t make a lot of sense since Vegas was ten-feet deep in sexy women looking for rich guys to party with. Her stomach churned with excitement and more than a little anxiety at the thought.

  She had to use every ounce of her concentration to stay focused on the game as the golfers worked their way through the front nine. Fortunately the guys took the customary break before the tenth hole, cracking open two cooler bags stuffed with cans of Heineken. Julieta stayed with the men while Torrey decided to join Krista and Annie in a quick trip to the restroom.

  “Can you believe this?” Krista started in as soon as they were through the door of the little wooden structure. “That guy is all over me!”

  “Did he really nibble your earlobe when he thought we were all watching Julian putt on the last hole?” Torrey could see Krista wasn’t exactly upset by Josh’s attentions.

  Krista grinned as she slicked on some lip gloss. “He tried a hell of a lot more than that when we went into the woods to look for his ball on the seventh. Josh is pretty out there, but he’s so cute and funny.”

  “Brendan is a total gentleman,” Annie said, pulling off her UNLV baseball cap. “Very serious about his golf. Actually, he seems serious about everything. But he’s not a stiff, and I’m sure I’ll be able to loosen him up. I like him a lot.”

  “You and Julian sure seemed to hit it off,” Krista said to Torrey as she headed into the single stall.

  Torrey had just splashed water on her face. She took time to dry off with a paper towel before answering. Though what Krista said was true, she didn’t want to talk about Julian that way. She didn’t want to start thinking about him as a sex object when what she wanted from him was something different—and more important.

  “We did. We worked really well together on the front nine. He’s a three-handicapper. He might even beat me on a good day.”

  “I wasn’t talking about your caddying skills, Torrey,” Krista shouted from behind the closed door. “I was talking about the way you were ready to rip each other’s clothes off.”

  “It looked that way to me too.” Annie laughed, her green eyes full of mischief.

  “Well, it looked to me like all of them except Michael were concentrating on our butts as much as on their shots,” Torrey countered.

  “Look gi
rls, these guys aren’t like most of the schmucks we get,” Krista said as she emerged from the cubicle. “Every one of them is hot. And if they want to party a little with their golf, I’m down with that.”

  As Julieta strolled in, Heineken in hand, Torrey headed into the cubicle and locked the door. The conversation made her uncomfortable. She was definitely not into that kind of partying with the man she hoped to convince to sponsor her career. She wanted Julian to back her because he believed in her ability and ambition, not because he might be impressed by what she could do between the sheets. Not that Julian would be into trading favors for sex anyway. She’d only known him a few hours, but she was positive the man did not make business decisions with his penis. He seemed too tough and responsible for that kind of crap.

  As soon as she joined the others on the tenth tee, Julian touched her arm and directed her over to a stone bench set several feet below the tee box. He laid one of his powerful hands on her shoulder and gently pushed her down onto the seat. Another spark zinged right from his point of contact down to the tender flesh between her thighs.

  God, the man’s touch was electric.

  Julian spoke in a low voice that wouldn’t distract his buddies on the tee. “Since I’m last up on this hole, I thought we could talk a minute while the others hit.” His dark gaze flicked over her body.

  “Ah, sure.” He had such beautiful, dark eyes. She had to force herself to concentrate on his words.

  “The guys thought it would be great to continue the fun over dinner,” he said. “We’re going to Circo, at the Bellagio. If you’re free tonight, Torrey, it’d be good to get to know you more—off the course.” His eyes were hooded, but he flashed a smile that lifted the edges of his mouth in a sexy curve.

  The smile transformed his looks from handsome to dazzling. Under the onslaught of his heated gaze, she felt dazzled indeed. She wanted to kiss him right on those gorgeous, sexy lips. He’d just handed her a golden opportunity to start pitching her career plans to him, and she wasn’t about to waste it.

  “Sounds great, Julian. I’d love to.”

  “Great.” His smile widened into that crooked grin. He stood, extending a hand to help her to her feet. “I guess we’d better get back up there, or they’ll rag us for the rest of the day.”

  As the foursome reached the final holes, the constant bantering and joking among the guys slowed to a trickle then dried up altogether. The intensity of the competition reminded Torrey of the strongest college rivalries she’d faced at UNLV. In only a few minutes, four guys out for a lark during a trade show had somehow morphed into hard-ass soldiers in an undeclared war.

  Julian and Josh continued to battle it out for bragging rights, each shooting one over par as they teed off on eighteen. Julian drove the ball like a pro, splitting the narrow, tree-lined fairway between two oversize bunkers. Josh followed with an equally accurate tee shot that landed less than ten yards behind Julian’s ball. As Josh lined up his approach to the green, she and Julian watched with the intensity of hawks scanning the terrain for field mice.

  “Watch and weep,” Josh taunted before unleashing one of the sweetest short irons Torrey had seen in a long while. The ball flew directly toward the flag. But as it reached the top of its arc and began its descent, a gust of wind bowed its trajectory. It landed almost thirty feet left of the pin.

  “Shit,” Josh muttered as the ball spun to a stop.

  Since she and Julian had fought the unpredictable gusts all day, the fate of Josh’s perfectly struck shot didn’t surprise Torrey a bit. Julian’s next shot would be huge, and she could see the fierce determination in his eyes. She’d have to help him play the wind just right.

  “I think you need to start it a good twenty-five feet to the right of the flag,” she advised, handing him the nine-iron. “You’ve got to assume the wind will push it that much back to the left.”

  Julian ripped a few blades of grass from the fairway and tossed them into the air. They fell straight to the ground. “Are you sure?” he asked, a skeptical frown darkening his brow. “It’s pretty calm here. Maybe Josh’s lie caused spin that made the ball bend like that.”

  “His lie looked perfect to me, Julian, and he struck it just right. A gust of wind is what happened.” She didn’t want to argue with him, but she knew she was right and was determined to stand her ground.

  “Okay, you know this course better than I do. You’re one hundred percent sure there’ll be that much breeze down at the green?”

  Torrey didn’t answer right away. Was he really looking for one hundred percent certainty? That was impossible. Golf was all about probabilities. He had to know that. No way would she make that kind of promise just to make him feel better about the shot.

  “There aren’t any guarantees with this game. All I can say is if it were me hitting this shot, I would absolutely play for the wind. The trees shelter us here, but the green’s wide open.”

  His narrow-eyed expression made her blink. “You know how much I want to win this, don’t you?”

  She tried to keep her voice level though her heart started to hammer in her chest. “Yes. That’s why I’m giving you the best advice I can, even if it means disagreeing with you.”

  “All right then.” He gave her a brief nod as he took up his stance. “We’ll do it your way. This time.”

  Torrey’s insides did a slow revolution as she second-guessed herself for taking the risk. Why hadn’t she just gone along with his read of the shot? Why did she have to push him to do it her way? If the ball didn’t bend like she’d predicted…

  Julian struck his shot on the line she’d recommended, well to the right of the pin. The little white flag on top of the pole barely fluttered now. She held her breath as the ball rose high and straight into the blue, cloudless sky. Descending, it slowly drifted left.

  “Be left,” she muttered under her breath. “Please be left.”

  Her heart raced as she saw the flag flutter with a sudden gust of wind. Julian’s ball rode the gust, descending at an angle and landing five feet right of the hole. Its backspin pulled it another three or four feet below hole high. He would have maybe a nine-foot putt left to win the match, while Josh would have to sink a thirty-footer. While Julian’s putt was no gimme, she’d been right in calling the shot.

  He handed her the nine-iron and—to her shock—hugged her. As his powerful arms wrapped around her, Torrey almost collapsed with relief. A minute ago she’d been wound so tightly she could barely breathe. Now she felt boneless in his grasp and tingled all over as her body was plastered to his long, lean form.

  She didn’t want the embrace to end. Instinctively, she pressed her face into the soft knit shirt that covered the rock-hard chest underneath. His heart pounded strong and steady against her overheated cheek.

  “Great call,” he whispered in her ear. “Gutsy call.”

  Too quickly he released her, and her head spun. She knew she should stow the nine-iron and pull out his putter, but her limbs didn’t want to respond.

  Josh’s mocking voice made her snap out of it. “Hey, Jules! Stop acting like you just won the Masters, okay? You still have to sink that putt.”

  Julian leveled a disdainful smile at his partner. “You sure do hate to lose, pal.” He took the putter Torrey held out for him and walked off.

  “Yeah, but even if I lose this one, I’m going to win the big game,” Josh taunted. “You can bet your ass on that.”

  Torrey stared at Josh, mystified by his remark. What was he talking about?

  She picked up Julian’s bag and hurried to catch up to him. He grinned confidently at her as she came alongside. Matching him stride for stride down the slight slope to the green, she hoped she didn’t look as rattled as she felt after his unexpected and delicious embrace.

  They took a quick look at the line of his putt then retreated to the edge of the green to watch the other three golfers. Since he was farthest from the hole, Josh went first and narrowly missed, tapping in for his par. Brendan a
nd Michael each two-putted, as well.

  Julian put his ball back down on the putting surface and took a few steps backward to get another angle on the line. Torrey crouched low right behind him as they studied the slope of the green.

  “What’s your read, Torrey?” His deep voice held another subtle note of challenge as he turned to face her.

  She had crossed her fingers, hoping Julian would offer his opinion on the correct line of the putt first. But he’d just taken that option away. Yet another test.

  No one ever said it would be easy. Time to suck it up again, girl.

  “It looks like two inches off the left edge,” she said, pleased at the firmness in her voice. “But you’ll have to get the speed right, or it won’t break that much.”

  “That’s exactly how I read it too,” he agreed. “Now I just have to hit that line.”

  “You can do it.” Impulsively, she brushed her hand against his tanned forearm. The corded sinews under the skin flexed where she touched him. He cast her a veiled glance, then returned his focus to the putt.

  He moved confidently into his stance, took one practice stroke, and brought the putter smoothly through the ball. Out of the corner of her eye, Torrey saw Julian wave his arm to the right, urging the ball to break, but her gaze remained locked on the hole. Her heart sank as it appeared the ball might curl around the left rim and roll out. The ball seemed to hang for a long moment on the lip, but then its momentum pulled it down into the hole. Julian gave a Tiger Woods fist-pump and whooped, while Josh shook his head in disgust. The other guys and the caddies all applauded.

  As Torrey walked up to Julian, he held out his fist. She laughed as she gave it a bump with hers. He handed her the putter, giving her the smile that almost knocked her off her feet every time he unleashed it.

  “I’d say we make a hell of a team, Torrey. You really do know your golf.”

  “And you’re an excellent golfer, Julian. Shooting seventy-two on a course of this caliber is really impressive. I’m looking forward to the next three days.”