Hot Item (Hot Zone 3)

“Glad to help.” Still grinning, Mike walked away.

Riley leaned against his locker, preoccupied with thoughts of all he hadn’t said and done for Sophie. Something he had to rectify immediately.

To hell with his workout. Riley dressed and was out the door in record time. Unfortunately, the reporters knew his daily routine and accosted him outside on the sidewalk. It was early in the off season for the press to be hounding him, but not unusual for them to cluster where the team worked out.

“Hey,” Riley said, pausing for a minute. “Any chance I can catch up with you all later?” he asked in his most affable tone.

“Are you off to see your fiancée?” one of the reporters asked.

Riley laughed. “Real life’s so boring you guys need to make up stories?”

“Didn’t Yank Morgan say you’re involved with his niece?”

“I don’t recall him defining that involvement.” Riley began to push through them so he could search for a cab on the street.

Another reporter tapped him on the shoulder.

Riley turned. “How about we schedule an interview?” he asked, anxious to see Sophie face-to-face.

A redheaded woman he recognized from eSports Network suddenly appeared in the crowd. “Since you don’t want to talk about your social life, would you be willing to discuss your real father instead?”

Riley froze. “What did you just say?”

The woman, whose name was Veronica, shoved a microphone in front of his face in search of the elusive sound bite. “I asked if you’d sit down with me to talk about your biological father. Spencer Atkins is your father, isn’t he?”

“Where’d you hear that?” Forcing air into his tight lungs, Riley treated her to his best grin under the circumstances.

“Are you denying it?” she asked.

“I’m questioning your source.” Because he couldn’t for the life of him imagine how the truth had leaked out.

Whereas normally the reporters shouted out questions, vying for supremacy, the redhead had stunned her fellow reporters into silence. Apparently she had a scoop and he’d bet the revelation had already hit the news on her station.

She cleared her throat. “You know I can’t reveal a source. Besides you’re the one in the hot seat, Mr. Nash.”

Riley’s throat burned with pure anger at whoever had violated him and his family this way. “No comment.” He stormed through the reporters and hailed a cab.

A yellow taxi approached quickly and he jumped inside. But instead of Sophie’s address, Riley headed to his apartment in order to call his parents in private. Damage control had to come before his love life.

RILEY DIDN’T HAVE to call home. As soon as he stepped into the hallway and neared his apartment, he heard his phone ringing. He unlocked the door and ran inside, grabbing the portable receiver right before the answering machine picked up.

“Hello?” he asked breathlessly.

A quick glance at the machine told him he already had five messages. Definitely not a good sign, he thought.

“Riley? It’s Dad.” His stepfather’s voice traveled through the phone lines, barely containing frustration already evident in his tone.

“You heard?”

“Everyone has heard. The question for me is exactly how such a thing got out.”

Riley heard the familiar sound of grinding teeth, a habit Harlan had never broken in stressful situations. In his chosen profession, he had many of those.

“I was mobbed leaving the gym,” Riley said. “Damn reporter took me off guard. I never saw it coming.” He took a deep breath. “How’s Mom?”

Harlan let out a prolonged sigh. “As well as can be expected. Her friends here didn’t realize she’d been married once before. We didn’t hide the fact—it had just never come up. And since we wanted Spencer’s name buried, it seemed prudent to just look forward, if that makes sense.”

Riley nodded. “It does.”