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Jake’s large hand palmed Mr. E’s shoulder. “Really? Really? You and my family aren’t helping any.” An animated scowl crossed his face.
“Just trying to keep the female species safe, Jake.” Laughing, he winked.
“I’m the one who needs protection in this case,” Jake said, his eyes jumping to Rakell.
Her mouth tilting up, her eyes narrowed on him. “Jake Skyler, I don’t think you can sell that bullshit around here.” Her eyes went back to Mr. E. “Can he?”
“No, ma’am, nobody’s buying it.”
Jake looked behind him. “Coach Mark, so glad you made it. It’s been a week of parties. Thought you might be getting tired of it.”
“Rakell, this is Coach Mark,” Jake said. “He was my coach in high school, then offensive coach at UT, then the bastard followed me to Sacramento ‘cause he missed yelling at me.”
Mark laughed hard. “Sure did. I’ve made a career out of yelling at you.” Then Coach Mark’s eyes went to Rakell, a knowing grin passing over his face as he extended his hand. “Nice meeting you.”
“Yes, you too,” she said, her hand still shaking his. “Glad to know someone’s keeping him in line,” she said with a quick laugh.
Coach Mark nodded, smiling, and then his eyes shifted to Jake, his eyebrows going up. Jake met his suspicious smile with a smug one. Both men locked in a non-verbal back-and-forth.
“Thanks, Mr. E, Coach Mark,” Jake said. “I’m going to make the rounds. Looks like they’re putting out the BBQ. Get some; it’sBlack’s BBQ,so you know the guys are gonna be piling their plates high.” Jake’s eyes went to the long buffet table with a small crew of waiters placing food on it.
“Will do,” Coach Mark said as Jake took Rakell’s hand.
Holding her hand, he led her through the crowd, introducing her to more people as they moved toward the tables with his football buddies. He watched her shake hands, smiling and laughing as she interacted with people she’d just met. His brain leapt to Miami, and the contrast with the girl before him…natural, disarming, fresh, versus the woman he’d seen in Miami, rigid, adorned in jewelry, a meek ornament to a rich bastard.And now I know that rich piece of shit paid for it!He shook his head, flinging the image from his brain.
Picking up on his distant stare, she squeezed his hand. “Where’d you go?”
“Um, sorry,” he said, his eyes on her.
“Jumbotron Girl!” A deep, familiar voice full of swagger traveled across the crowd. When Rakell whipped her head toward it, she saw Dwayne's beaming white smile and large chocolate eyes dancing with humor.
“Dwayne!” she yelled back, laughing and waving her hand at him.
“He’s such an ass sometimes,” Jake hissed, pulling her gently as he stalked toward Dwayne. “Sorry, so sorry.”
She pulled back on his hand. “Jake, it’s okay. I know it will take a while to die, just likePretty Boy,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “I’m good with it.”
He leaned in, pecking her cheek. “As long as you can deal with his shit, I won’t knock him out,” he whispered.
“Oh, my defender,” she squealed in an overly theatrical voice.
“Truth is, he’d knock me on my ass. Look at the size of that beast. Plus, he just won MVP, so at the moment, he’s pretty much intolerable,” Jake chortled as they approached the table.
Dwayne’s outstretched arms moved toward her, ignoring Jake. “Jumbotron Girl, damn, you always look so good. Allow me to reintroduce myself since it’s been a while.” He extended his hand toward her. “Dwayne ‘MVP’ Bradshaw.” Rigorously shaking her hand, he yanked her in to him. “Do I still get hugs?”
Laughing, she opened her arms. “Of course,” she said, hugging him, her arms barely stretching enough to get around his massive shoulders. “Congratulations, Mr. MVP. Glad I got to see you play.” She tilted back from his grip.
“Glad to have you cheering—that took some balls, sitting in the San Antonio owner’s box cheering us on,” he laughed, his dark eyes falling on her. “I loved it. So did Pretty Boy over here.”
“Not sure if it was balls or liquor, but we can go with balls,” she said, trying to sound light, hoping the heat on her face wasn’t obvious.
Rolling his eyes, Jake grabbed Dwayne’s shoulder. “Not going to kill you just because this is your party, too… Oh, and your mom would have my hide.”
Dwayne’s chin jutted out. “…And I’d leave you crying, which wouldn’t do you any good on your single-minded, all-consuming quest to impress this girl here.” His eyes shifted to Rakell, and her face heated up even more. There was no way she wasn’t flushed.
Another guy, not quite as big as Dwayne, stood up to introduce himself as Jake’s grip tightened on Dwayne’s shoulder. “Rakell, this is Eric, one of our other receivers and next year’s MVP, 'cause that’s who I’ll be throwing the ball to.” His eyes narrowed on Dwayne, and both men broke out laughing. Rakell extended her hand to shake Eric’s. She shook hands with over a dozen large, muscular men, laughing to herself, wondering if there would be enough BBQ to feed them all.
“Let’s go sit next to Jenae and Winnie,” Jake said as they moved across the large space, again stopping to say hi to people who were congratulating Jake.
