Noah took her hand for a quick shake. “Noah.”
“I know. Snowboarders aren’t my thing, but if they were, you’d know me too.”
“What’s your sport?” he asked.
“Tennis.”
“Ah, Tiffany Zucker?” He didn’t know her, just her name.
“Bingo. Points for the hot snowboarding dude.” She flashed a sassy smile, then glanced toward Julia and lifted her glass to her lips for a sip. “She probably knows half the people in this room, more from her work than her swimming. She helped me with tendinitis in my rotator cuff. I’m a little surprised she showed her face here tonight, but that girl’s always had balls.”
Noah’s gaze clicked with Finn’s, and a silent what the hell? passed between them.
“Why’s that?” Noah asked Tiffany.
“Because Dirk Phillips is on the guest list. He’s got another engagement tonight, but I’ll bet you my next Nike contract he’ll show. The bastard never misses an opportunity to sniff someone’s ass, and there are some powerful booties here tonight.”
Dirk Phillips… Phillips… “Sorry, can’t place him.”
Tiffany’s dark brows shot up. “Linebacker-slash-receiver, Pittsburg Steelers?”
“Wait, isn’t that the guy who got suspended for beating his girlfriend in that parking garage?” Finn asked.
“What?” Noah said.
“Phillips and his girl—” Finn started.
“His baby mama,” Tiffany corrected.
“…got in an argument in the garage of his high-rise apartment in downtown Pennsylvania,” Finn continued. “The whole thing was caught on camera. He decked the girl, man. Then, when she was down, he kicked her. It was brutal.” Finn looked at Tiffany. “Didn’t that go to court?”
“Stupid bitch dropped the charges,” Tiffany said. “Bastard bought his way out of prison.”
“How does Julia know him?” Noah asked, bracing for an answer he didn’t want to hear.
Tiffany shrugged. “Word from Phillips’s camp is they met during physical therapy for his knee, had a fling, he broke it off, she was pissed and threatened to go to his wife. Phillips took it to her boss, and she got fired.”
Even braced, that hit Noah hard. So hard he couldn’t think straight enough to speak. Finn took one look at Noah and picked up the slack.
“I know you always have the best juice, Tiff,” Finn said, “but that’s pretty out there.”
“Happens all the damn time,” Tiffany said. “Where have you been living, Boy Scout? From what I knew of her, I couldn’t see it, but she never fought the allegation. She just walked off the job. No lawsuit, no settlement, no nothing. She had a client list of who’s who. You don’t just walk away from a great job like that if you weren’t in the wrong. And who lets that kind of shit tarnish their records if it’s not true? I sure as shit don’t believe his side, but nobody knows hers.”
That didn’t sound like the Julia Noah knew either. They might not have known each other long, but they’d been living with each other eighteen hours a day for over a month, and her character never wavered. She had set values and solid morals. She was sweet and funny and thoughtful and kind. Yes, she worked him hard, but rewarded him later, and always put his health first. In fact, she was almost egoless when it came to his recovery. He always came first—even before her own needs.
But there was just enough credence to the tale to make Noah’s gut burn. “What records?”
“Her golds,” Tiffany said with her do you live on another planet? attitude. “I worked my ass off for my one Wimbledon trophy. You can bet if someone tried to get in my face about something I didn’t do, I’d fight for my reputation. Jesus, she’s got four golds in swimming, of all things. You couldn’t pay me to swim one damn lap.”
“She has four gold medals in swimming?” Noah repeated to make sure he was hearing correctly, because with that many medals, he should know her name.
“Yes,” she said as if Noah were an idiot. “Didn’t you say you know her?”
Well, hell, maybe not. “Are we talking about Julia Bailey.”
“Oh no. I mean yes, but no. She changed her last name when she left the sport. Told me she wanted to make it as a trainer on her skills, not her name. She won the golds under Julia Kingsley. Her father is some muckety-muck in computers. Designs and sells security systems and accessories or something.”
Holy crap. Julia Kingsley was rehabbing him.