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Jules’s eyes have yet to bug back in. Her lips press into a line as she nods.
I take a huge breath. “So… that’s not exactly the whole story…”
CHAPTER 2
Nathan
The sound of the whistle cuts across the field. I triumphantly jog toward the locker room entrance, high-fiving a few of my new teammates as I cross the field. This is our third practice and I haven’t quite decided if I made the right decision in coming here.
Don’t get me wrong, the team is great, but Texas and New York are like different worlds. Yesterday, I saw a guy riding an actual freaking horse… to the grocery store, in the middle of a very busy part of town.
It’s only been two weeks, but I already miss the city. I miss my friends. Hell, I miss New York bagels… but, as my publicist keeps reminding me, change can be a good thing. I need this opportunity to reset and recenter. I’ve been in the tabloids more than usual lately, and I admit, I have no one to blame for that but myself.
Being young, rich, and famous in a city like New York can go to your head pretty quickly. Money, success, power, all before twenty-five. Who wouldn’t be living it up? Since high school, it’s been a blur of success, women, and the New York elite.
But these last few months, things went a bit too far. I had a couple of particularly wild nights, and now, my publicist thinks it’s time for me to, “settle down.” Not get married or anything, just move to Texas. Buy a house. Tone down the partying. Get serious about Football again.
Remember who I am.
The problem is, I’m not sure I’ve ever known who I am.
She’s not wrong, though, about the need for a change. Thus, I wound up in Dallas playing for the Cowboys. I was hoping the constant media hounding would lighten up once I got here. I mean Texas is a big ass state, there must be more interesting things happening around here than me… but it’s been the opposite. Reporters set up a perimeter around the stadium and my new house before I even arrived, and they haven’t let up.
My teammates are taking it all in stride, though, which I appreciate. They’ve been nothing but welcoming. One of the guys even played with me in high school, so I’m not completely without familiar faces here. How’s that for a small world?
It’s nice. It’s going to be nice. I’m going to keep telling myself that until I believe it.
Coach comes into the locker room, along with our team manager Lila, which is such a feminine name for a woman who looks like she could give our linebacker a run for his money. Lila puts two fingers between her teeth and lets out a whistle louder than Coach’s on the field.
The locker room falls silent. “Thank you. Some quick business to take care of. We’ve had a lot of staffing changes around here recently. Nothing that affects you too much, but just a heads up. We have a new social media manager. She’ll be pulling each of you individually throughout the week to get some quotes and photos. “Sterling?” Lila’s intense gaze falls on me. “She asked to see you first.”
A few of the guys “ooh,” about that, including Chett, my buddy from High School.
I shoot Lila a thumbs up. “I’ll hit the showers and be right out.”
My hair is still damp, as I walk into Lila’s office. There’s a woman seated at Lila’s desk who is definitely not Lila. Her face is tilted down toward a laptop, and she’s got a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on her slim nose. She’s younger than I was expecting. I don’t know why I assumed a social media manager, of all things, would be anything but young… maybe it’s my male biological clock ticking. Like a countdown to my mid-life crisis. Suddenly, I’m noticing that the professionals all around me are younger than I am. Not that I’m old. I’m twenty-six, for crying out loud, but in Quarterback years that’s like 100.
Back in New York, I’d have made a pass at this woman. She’s just the type I go for, but that was old Nathan. I’m new, centered, focused Nathan, and the last thing I need is the distraction of a beautiful woman.
She has yet to acknowledge me, and standing in the doorway watching her typing on her laptop feels more than a little creepy, so I clear my throat.
Her head snaps up and her greenish brown eyes settle on me… and then the earth tilts off its axis and spins into oblivion.
Isabella Rossi looks exactly the same, and yet, entirely different. She’s not the shy teenager I secretly obsessed over for years. She’s all woman now, with a long graceful neck, delicate collarbones, heavy breasts… what the hell am I doing?
I snap my gaze back to her face, which ought to be neutral territory, but her face is a work of art, too. That full mouth, pert little nose, wide hazel eyes. God, she’s beautiful. Always has been, but now she’s got this new maturity that sets my whole body ablaze. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about her from time to time since I last saw her, but running into her here of all places feels like fate.
That is, until I notice that the look in her eyes is pure terror. Not the look I’d hope to see considering she obviously called me here first for a reason.
One of us has to say something. Deciding that it might as well be me, I give her the most charming smile I can muster. “Izzy? Hi, how, what? You’re here,” I finally manage to string a few coherent words together. “You look—”
“We don’t have to do the whole polite small-talk thing.” Her plump lips twist downward. “Have a seat.” She motions to the chair across from her. I suddenly feel like I’m in the principal’s office as I sit. I can’t help but bristle at the cold greeting. I didn’t expect hugs and kisses, but a friendly hello wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Izzy moves her laptop to the side, so she can see me clearly, then folds her perfectly manicured hands on top of the desk. There’s a distinct lack of any rings and a smile sneaks onto my lips before I can catch it.
She’s still not smiling, though. “I wanted to talk to you before they introduced me to the rest of the team. I didn’t want—well, I thought it might be… better for everyone involved if we… cleared the air, since we will be working together.”
My smile fades. “Clear the air? You make it sound like we have some sordid past.” Again, I can’t help but be a touch offended. She’s the one who skipped town without so much as a goodbye, a fact that I got over years ago, but still. We were kids. Kids do stupid shit. I’m just glad to run into her… but she clearly doesn’t feel the same.
