AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. But I don’t know what you do when we part ways at night.”
“Hmmm… let’s see, I’ve eaten dinner with you the last four nights. I’ve then met you before the sun comes up the following morning. Do you think I’m calling random women to meet me in Cottonwood Cove when the sun goes down?”
“Well, how would I know what you do? It’s not lost on me that your jersey number is sixty-nine.”
“You noticed that, huh?” He barked out a laugh. “My mom’s birthday is June ninth, so when that number was available when I transferred to Alabama in college, she begged me to take it. She thought it was good luck, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it means something different to anyone with a dirty fucking mind.”
“So, you took one for the team,” I said, trying not to laugh.
“Sure. And once I started playing more, I wasn’t going to jinx myself and change it. So, long story short, I’m fucking exhausted when we finish for the day. I go to bed, just like you do.”
“Don’t be so cocky about it.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “How do you know I’m not out dancing the night away with my endless male suitors?”
His laugh was loud, and it bellowed around the airplane. “Because you’re young, so the fact that you just called themmale suitorstells me that it’s not happening.”
“Well, that’s only because my new client is running me into the ground. I’m too tired to date at the moment. But it’s not because of lack of interest,” I assured him.
“You don’t have to tell me that, sweetheart. I have no doubt you’ve got plenty of guys after you.” He sipped his coffee as his eyes scanned my face, like he was memorizing every line and every feature.
And then he leaned back and looked out the window like he was mad about something.
As I said…the man was giving me an endless case of whiplash.
twelve
Lincoln
When we arrivedin New York, we made our way to the hotel. We dropped our bags off in our rooms and headed downstairs to the bar area to meet with Drew. I allowed Brinkley to sit in on this meeting.
I trusted her.
I’d always been a man who trusted my gut, and I didn’t have any concerns about her.
Aside from the fact that I couldn’t stop staring at her mouth. At her pillowy, pink lips. The way they were perfectly heart-shaped.
Nor the way her dark eyes always met mine head-on.
I tried to put some distance between us after our night at the cove. I’d allowed things to get too personal. The last thing I needed was to fall for the woman writing a story about me. Hell, if things went wrong, she could cause me a lot of grief.
I’d been down that road before.
Right now, I needed to focus on my career. Where I was going to play. Making sure I was in top shape and ready for the season to start.
A fling with Brinkley Reynolds would be a distraction I didn’t have time for. She wasn’t the type of woman that would go along with something casual, and I wasn’t the type of man who could afford to do anything more than that at the moment.
A football player’s career wasn’t the same as a traditional career. You didn’t play until you were sixty-five years old, after which you’d ride off into the sunset and retire. I’d play hard for the years that my body and mind allowed me to.
And I would not fuck that up.
Staying at the top was a lot of work. There were younger, stronger people coming up every single day. I needed to strike while the iron was hot.
Focus.
I glanced over at Brinkley as we rode down in the elevator, and my eyes traveled over her blouse before I could stop them. Her tits were fucking perfect.
I’d seen them several times in sports bras, tank tops, and in her bikini top.
Hell, I’d memorized them when I’d fucked my hand in the shower to thoughts of this woman.
