AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTERONE
Mack Quinn, offensive lineman for the Georgia Patriots, followed the crowd of his teammates as they surged toward Hyde Metcalf, their wide receiver, to celebrate the winning touchdown pass. A win against Dallas on Christmas Day was great vindication after Dallas had beaten the Patriots out of their spot in the Super Bowl last year. Teammates slapped Hyde on the shoulder and someone hoisted their quarterback, Rigby “the Rocket” Breeland, into the air, but Hyde Metcalf dodged anyone trying to slow him down.
Staying close to his fellow linemen, Mack tried to keep up with Hyde, and blend in with the crowd. Not an easy feat when you were six-eight and over three hundred pounds. Luckily, Mack could move fast, even if his siblings and teammates teased him that he was built like a Mack truck.
He approached the sidelines and watched as Hyde launched himself over the barrier and into the waiting arms of his fiancée, Lily Udy. Mack’s gaze didn’t linger on the couple kissing, he searched for the young woman who accompanied Hyde’s mom and fiancée to every game. He stopped in his tracks and let out an audible sigh. Sariah Udy.
Somebody ran into him from behind, but he couldn’t do more than mutter, “It’s okay,” to their apology. The woman of his dreams was less than ten feet away from him … and she had absolutely no clue that he existed. Sariah was cheering, along with her family, as Hyde and Lily kissed and then Hyde started hugging everybody.
Mack had a great family of his own. He’d meet up with them after he showered. He’d bought them a private box last year when he started playing professionally. Usually, a few siblings and his parents were at each home game, sometimes the entire family would show. Today it was his parents, his sister, Navy, and his brother, Colt. Ryder had a game of his own with the Texas Titans tonight, Kaleb was doing a benefit concert in California for Christmas, and Griff was off saving the world somewhere.
He loved his family being here, but he thought it was pretty great that Hyde’s family sat on the front row. Maybe he’d move his family’s seats next year, if they wanted. The youngest in the family, Mack had never been one to ask much of anybody, especially his family who were much too good to him. He was blessed for sure. If only he could have the blessing of Sariah Udy noticing him. His gaze was still locked on her. She was helping Hyde’s mom get her scarf on properly. It was a mild Georgia winter, but the older lady probably chilled easily.
Mack knew far too much about the Metcalf and Udy families. It couldn’t really be considered stalking as they’d garnered a lot of media attention last spring when Hyde and Lily had a turbulent love story splashed all over the tabloids. Back then he’d found all the stories interesting about Lily’s large family and how her six younger siblings had all fallen in love with Hyde. The first time Mack saw Lily’s sister, Sariah, in person the stories went from interesting to fascinating.
It had been the first game of pre-season, August fifth to be exact, and Mack had run on the field with the team, excited for the start of his second year with the Patriots. As he neared his sideline, he’d glanced up at the stands, noticed Sariah, and plowed into the backup quarterback, Tate Campbell. Luckily, he didn’t knock Tate to the ground. After Mack apologized, he focused back on Sariah. She was an unreal beauty with olive skin, deep brown eyes, high cheekbones, pouty lips, and long, dark hair. Her thick hair swooped across her forehead, covering the right side of her face and neck, her right eye barely visible through the cloud of hair. The look made her even more exotic and appealing to him.
She’d met his gaze that first day and they simply stared at each other. A silent communication happened between them that he’d never experienced before and for some insane reason he felt like he could see past her beauty to a tender, yet funny woman who always put other’s needs before her own. He’d even gone so far as to imagine she could see past his thick muscles, “pretty boy” face—his brothers’ words not his—and shyness, to his heart that needed someone like her to understand him.
The communication came to an abrupt halt when someone nudged him and muttered, “The national anthem, dude.”
Mack had whirled around to salute the flag. Since that day, before and after games he was staring at the stands, and quite often she’d be looking his way also. He hadn’t dared approach her in the past three months but today was Christmas and he’d decided his gift to himself was to get brave enough to say hello. It was a small step, but he had to start somewhere.
Now, as he waited directly below Sariah, praying she’d glance his way, he started second-guessing himself. Just because he’d fallen hopelessly for her didn’t mean she even knew who he was. Maybe all these times he thought she’d been tangling glances with him, she’d truly just been watching the game, or worse, she’d been staring at Tate Campbell or somebody like that who could flirt with a woman like her without their tongue swelling in their mouth.
Sariah finished helping Hyde’s mom. The family was still focused on Hyde and Sariah’s little brother, Josh, as he exclaimed over the game. Sariah’s gaze traveled around the team slowly. Was she searching for him? Mack wanted to yell, “I’m here! Look down.” But he didn’t. He was the biggest chicken he knew.
Sariah finally seemed to sense him staring at her and her eyes met his. Mack tried to sputter out a hello, but he couldn’t have said anything to save even his mama’s life.
A slow grin curved Sariah’s full lips and her deep brown eyes sparkled at him. She pulled her hair forward on the right side, twisting it in front of her neck. Mack was panting for air worse than when they made him run sprints at practice. He savored every second of the connection, knowing it couldn’t last. He’d never gotten this close to her, but he’d watched her after every home game of the season. She’d head up the stairs with her sister and Hyde’s mom soon and he’d be left watching her go, like always.
Instead of turning away she stepped right up to the railing, leaned over, and reached her hand down, still giving him that beautiful and inviting smile. Mack’s heart leapt. He felt like a loyal knight who might get the opportunity to touch the beautiful princess’ hand after winning the tournament.
Usually, Mack was light and fast on his feet, even with his large size. Right now, he lumbered forward, his size fourteen feet felt like blocks of cement, and all he wanted was to get close to her faster.
Finally, he reached the wall and luckily, he was tall enough he didn’t have to reach up very far to wrap his hand around her delicate fingers. A zing of awareness and warmth shot through him. His brain tried to keep up with his heart but his heart was singing too loud,Sariah Udy is holding my hand!
She smiled down at him. The smile was sweet and welcoming and all the oxygen rushed out of Mack’s body. He could face down the most vicious defenders on the field, but he had no clue how to react to holding Sariah’s hand and having her smile at him like that.
The roaring crowd around them disappeared as they focused on each other. Mack knew right at that moment—he was in serious like and he had to do something about it. He’d dated different girls throughout high school, college, and the past couple of years women had chased him relentlessly, but he’d never felt a connection like this. This had to be the right woman for him.
“Hi,” she said softly.
“Hi,” Mack dumbly repeated. He squeezed her hand, he hoped gently, and searched his muddled brain for something poetic to say. His brother, Kaleb, was a professional country singer and had all manner of beautiful things to say or sing. His brother, Colt, was a professional woman-magnet and had trained Mack relentlessly on how to give a woman a smoldering look or say the right phrase to draw her in.
Mack prayed for inspiration and finally muttered, “Hi, pretty girl.”
His face flamed red. What had he just said? He probably sounded like a creeper or something. That line had worked on his older brothers’ girlfriends when Mack was eight and cute. Now he was twenty-five and hopefully there was nothing cute about him.
Sariah let out a soft chuckle and then tugged her hand free, waved quickly to him, and hurried to her family. Mack watched them all walk away. Her dad gave him a backwards, concerned glance, but Sariah didn’t turn around or acknowledge him again.
Mack felt like he’d been slugged in the abdomen by his brother, Griff, the ex-navy SEAL who could take down any man. His big chance and he’d messed it all up.Hi, pretty girl? Sheesh, he was an idiot.
Most of the partying in the stadium had calmed and people were flowing out of the stands. A lot of his teammates were gone to the locker room. He trudged that direction. As he entered the double doors, he smiled at the party that was going on—singing, joking, back-slapping. He walked through, receiving and handing out congrats and inflated praise.
Then he saw Hyde and his footsteps faltered. Did he dare ask for Sariah’s number? How did you tell a guy his future sister-in-law was destined to love you? No way. Too gutsy.
He wussed out and went to his own locker. He took his time showering and chatting with teammates. He headed out of the locker room, ready to find his family and fly to Ryder’s game tonight then on to Newport, Rhode Island, for a long-awaited family Christmas party tomorrow morning. He realized he was walking side by side with none other than Hyde Metcalf. It was a sign and he couldn’t ignore it.
