Hot Number (Hot Zone 2)

She nodded. "Okay, lawyer and doctor appointments first."

"You need to find out how far along this woman is and then talk to someone about when it's safe for paternity tests to be done."

"My sisters have an ob-gyn. I can set up an appointment with him. He's a family friend and I'm sure he'll fit me in around game times."

His sisters. Shit. The thought of facing them and their questions made him squirm.

Sophie nodded. "Good. At least we have a plan of action. Right now Micki will go with

you and help deal with the press. In case you didn't realize, they're already outside the building and clamoring for information."

"Yeah, they were camped outside my, building this morning." He winced at the memory. “There's no media quite like New York's."

"You got that right. Screw up and they're all over you," Yank said. "I got one question."

"Shoot." Damian wasn't about to hold anything back now.

"If the kid's yours, do you plan on marrying this broad?

"Hell no. I don't believe in screwing up Carole's life or the kid's life just because protection didn't work," he snapped.

Yank cleared his throat. "You're saying you used protection?"

Micki looked away.

Damian ran a hand over his warm face. "Yeah, Yank. I did."

"Well that's something." The older man met his gaze with a sympathetic look of his own.

For a brief second, Damian didn't feel like the pariah in the room or the man who'd let this entire family down.

What a freaking mess he'd made. He and Micki hadn't had a commitment; they'd had what should have been a brief fling. Yet he couldn't shake the self-disgust flowing through him at the thought of disappointing her family and hurting her.

"I say we deal with the press immediately," Micki said, interrupting his thoughts. "The more time you let go by, the more speculation they'll shovel and the more dirt they'll dig up on both you and Carole. You ready?" she asked Damian in her most professional, distant voice.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

She nodded. "Then let's do it. I'll brief you on what to say on the way downstairs." Micki strode out of the room, pad in hand, all but ignoring him.

At this point the only thing he had going for him was the fact that she and her family agreed she'd stick by his side. He intended to hold her to her promise.

RICKY CARTER SAT in his small apartment and watched Eyewitness News at Noon. Thanks to his discreet contacts, Damian Fuller’s paternity scandal had headlined the back of every newspaper in the city. Now Carter watched his captain and the man whose position he coveted step in front of microphones and speak from the heart.

No prepared statement for Fuller, Carter thought, taking a swig from a bottle of beer. Instead the man had the fans eating from the palm of his hand as he extolled the virtues of always using protection, explaining how mistakes happen anyway and promising to do the right thing. Then he asked for time to figure things out and requested the media focus on what was important at this time of year-the Renegades making it to the off season.

He shook his head in disgust. Everything the man touched turned to gold. Nothing Carter did made a difference or brought Fuller down, and he ought to know since he'd tried his best.

Carter had made sure to let the reporters who covered the team know at which strip club they could find Fuller. Carter had hoped they'd bash Fuller for partying at Lacie's the night before a charity event. Instead he'd been branded a hero for rescuing his agent's niece. Nice piece of spinning by the Hot Zone, Carter thought, frustrated.

Even now Fuller had the sexy little publicist standing by his side despite his fall from grace. The same woman who'd eyed Carter with disdain looked at Fuller with adoring eyes.

"The story of my life," he muttered.

But it wasn't just Damian's dumb luck eating away at Rick now, it was his own actions that bothered him. When he'd hooked up with Carole, he'd eyed Fuller with envy. Silently sabotaging the Renegades captain had been too easy to resist, and for a while nobody had been hurt in the process.

Until Carole had gotten pregnant.

He and Carole had come together in fun but somewhere along the way, he'd begun to develop feelings for her. Hell, he'd even thought she felt the same way. But then she'd ended up pregnant, insisting the baby was Damian's. To add insult to injury, she'd been refusing to return Carter's phone calls.