To her nipples.
To her fucking clit.
The smell of the night air, the aroma of her mixed in with a scent I couldn’t place—something tempting, sinful, devouring all my senses, and the only thing I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss her mouth.
Without saying a word, she gradually eyed me up and down with a fascinated expression until she locked eyes with me again. Grinning like a damn fool, I waited. Trying to play it off like she wasn’t having an effect on me when, in fact, she was consuming every last fiber of my being.
I’d been drinking a lot, my head was hazy, and now with the lighting brighter I started to recognize her.
With wide eyes, I stood there frozen.
Until she declared, “Cat got your tongue, Quarterback?”
It was then that I knew I was right, and it all made sense.
“Sophie?”
“Are you saying you don’t recognize me?”
I hadn’t seen her since the night I’d broke her heart. She’d always been a beautiful girl, but now she was every bit of a stunning woman.
“The line at the bar is at least twenty people deep. How about you be a gentleman and share your drink?”
I didn’t give it a second thought. I nodded for her to come over to me, and she didn’t waver. In four strides she was standing in front of my face, and I knew right then and there…
I. Was. Fucked.
ONE
JAX
NOW
“How the fuck did this get out, Caleb?” I slammed the Sports Illustrated magazine on the table. There in front of our eyes was a ten-page spread on my future with the NFL.
All hell broke loose with the news of my trade from Miami to Fort Worth, spreading like wildfire in a fucking forest. There was no hiding it anymore. It was all over social media, and the press was eating me alive.
My agent, Caleb, held his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “I’m handling it, Jax.”
“You’re handling it?” I scoffed out in a snide breath. “If you were handling it, then I wouldn’t be on the front cover of every magazine with the headline ‘TRAITOR’ in big, bold lettering!”
“I didn’t leak the story, Jax.”
“Well, someone sure as shit did, and it’s your job to figure it out—so why are you standing in front of me with your dick tucked in between your legs? You should be out there doing damage control! How could you let this happen? I pay you to make sure shit like this doesn’t happen behind my back. What part of that do you not understand?”
He deeply sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You knew the consequences of your decision to trade, Jax.”
“Yeah, Caleb! On my fucking terms! Instead, I was blindsided this morning with bullshit that shouldn’t have hit the press for another two weeks.”
Caleb inhaled another deep breath before dropping his hand to look at me.
“Whether it was today or two weeks from now, the headlines wouldn’t have changed. We’ve discussed this several times this past year, so these headlines shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. You’ve been playing for Miami since the start of your career, which is almost thirteen years ago. Your diehard fans are going to be pissed regardless of when the news was shared, and you know it.”
I angrily threw myself back into my office chair, knowing he was right. Nothing would soften the blow of my choice to leave a team that was like my family.
The only one I’d ever known.
“You need to relax, alright? I’m handling it. This isn’t the first time you’ve been caught in a scandal, Jax, and we both damn well know this isn’t going to be the last.”