Page 48 of Playing Mr. Perfect

“They are. I’m lucky. But you’re lucky, too. I’ve met your parents. They seem like they’d go to the ends of the earth for you and your brother and sisters.”

“Yeah. They would. Was it hard to get good grades and keep up with football in college?”

“Yes, very. But as my grandfather always says, nothing easy is worth a damn.” He pops the rest of his croissant into his mouth. “Did one of those athletes you mentioned have anything to do with why you don’t date jocks?”

I fidget with my napkin. “Maybe.”

“What happened?”

“I was naive. A star football player acted like he was into me, and I was stupid enough to believe him, when all he really wanted was for me to basically do his homework so he’d pass his classes and not lose his scholarship.”

Clay’s eyes narrow. “He used you.”

“Mm-hm.” Why does that still sting? “Before we went out, I wasn’t someone people noticed, and I liked that. I had a small group of friends, and I was happy. But suddenly people knew who I was, and when finals were over and he dumped me, I became a laughingstock. I didn’t even have the courage to give him hell for it. The worst part was that everyone in his friend group knew he was using me, and I was too naive to suspect it.”

“That’s not on you. That’s on him,” he says vehemently. “No wonder you don’t trust jocks. How big of a star was he? Did he go on to play pro ball?”

The answer is yes, but I don’t want to get into that, so I shrug, fidgeting with my napkin.

The muscles in Clay’s jaw bunch. “Give me his name.”

“No,” I say with a laugh, surprised by his adamancy.

“Come on, Reckless. Who was it?”

“It was a decade ago. It doesn’t matter.”

He levels me with a serious stare. “It matters to me.”

Heck if that doesn’t make me feel good all over, but still. I don’t want to cause trouble. “We were kids. It’s water under the bridge. Can we please let it go and move on? I don’t want to think about those awkward college years.”

He’s quiet for a beat, his jaw working overtime. He takes a drink, averting his eyes for a moment. When he meets my gaze, some of that tension is gone. “I bet you were adorable in college. I would’ve been into you.”

I laugh. “You wouldn’t have given me the time of day. Besides, you were out of college by the time I started. I’m only thirty.”

“Are you calling me old?” he teases.

“No. I’m just stating a fact about our ages.” I eat my last bite of quiche, which is heavenly.

He sits back, his expression turning serious again. “I’m sorry that asshole hurt you. I know a lot of athletes, and some are real pricks, but there are a lot of good guys in the league.”

I think he’s right about our fling being different than others’, because according to Sable, flings are usually a onetime thing with no emotions involved. I’m feeling all sorts of emotions toward Clay. “If the guys you’re talking about are anything like you and Dash, I’m inclined to believe you.”

“Good. Speaking of Dash, he told me you started your own company last year. What was that like, going out on your own?”

“It was scary, giving up the security of a steady paycheck and a marketing team that worked on securing contracts. There were people I could go to with questions and issues, and I didn’t have to deal with the business side of things, which takes up a lot of my time. Honestly, I was really close to not going out on my own.”

“I can see how that would be intimidating. It sounds like it would be the equivalent of being the quarterback and managing the entire team at the same time.”

“My company is much smaller than a football team. I only have a few employees.”

“What pushed you over the edge to do it?”

“My dad said something that made me realize I couldn’t not give it a shot, and I’m glad I didn’t chicken out.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing groundbreaking. He told me to imagine myself twenty years from now still working for someone else and asked how I’d feel about it. When I looked at it that way, it made me take stock of what was really important to me. I’ve helped develop some amazing medical devices, and I’m proud of them and thankful for those opportunities, but I’m not looking to change the world. My heart lies in changing lives. Helping people with disabilities who are having trouble in their daily lives because they can’t find relief through what’s currently available to them. I couldn’t make the decision to work on those types of projects while working for someone else. That’s when I realized, if I didn’t take the chance, I’d definitely look back at my career and wish I had.”