Page 33 of Gossip Game

The corners of the other man’s mouth twitched slightly. “Your defense of my sister is admirable. I respect that. I respect it a lot.” His shoulders relaxed. “Her championing of you yesterday was equally emphatic.”

Her what?

The Blaze owner’s smile turned sly. “She beat Brody to the punch, insisting that Bridgett file a slander suit. Too bad for her. The team had already stolen her thunder and threatened one of our own. Not to mention filing a formal complaint against the network and a few choice emails to the show’s sponsors.” He glanced at his watch. “Right about now, Kincaid ought to be making an on-air apology for his salacious remarks. I demanded they send us each a video copy. It should land in your email inbox when we are wheels down.” McManus chuckled. “It might have been a harsher punishment to let Charlotte’s Trulies handle it, though.” His face sobered. “He’ll know now not to mess with my sister’s reputation. Or that of my franchise quarterback.”

Noah swallowed roughly. No one on the team had ever mentioned the franchise tag. As far as he knew, he was fighting for his life on the Blaze. It was a heady thought, knowing management was still behind him.

He decided to throw his boss a bone.

“Kincaid made the moves on Charlotte, and she turned him down. He didn’t like it.”

McManus’ jaw clicked loudly. “And you somehow came to her rescue?”

“Yes.” The one word would have to suffice because Noah wasn’t sharing the details of the rest of that night with anyone.

“Charlotte returned the favor by rescuing you at the auction.”

Noah nodded. “I supposed that kiss plastered all over social media was her way of thanking you too?”

A twinge of guilt lodged itself in Noah’s gut. He had been the one to initiate that kiss. Still, it was safer to keep steering along the “no comment” route.

McManus sighed heavily. “And tonight? Do you think Kincaid will let it drop with his apology?”

“He’d be a fool not to.”

The Blaze owner barked out a laugh. “The world is full of fools. Especially those who are constantly chasing fame.”

“Charlotte is lucky she has you for a brother and protector, then.”

A soft smile appeared on McManus’ mouth. “My sister is?—”

“Extraordinary.” The word slipped out before Noah could stop it.

McManus stilled in his seat. His shrewd gaze pinned Noah to his seatback. “That she is,” he said, his tone thoughtful. “Not everyone gets close enough to see that about her.”

“The world is full of fools,” Noah repeated.

“Mm. My sister is lucky to also have you in her life.”

I’m not in her life, he wanted to scream. At least not the way he wanted to be.

The seatbelt clicked again when McManus unfastened it. He groaned slightly as he unfurled his tall body from the seat. “Although maybe keep the PDA off social media. My daughter has a massive crush on you. The last thing I need is more tension between the women in my life.”

Great.

McManus paused before making his way back up front. “She’d do well to end up with a guy like you.”

The comment stunned Noah.

“I’m referring to Charlotte, by the way,” McManus clarified. “No one will ever be good enough for my daughter.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Charlotte barely resisted the urge to toss her morning coffee at her computer screen. Only because that slimeball, Bucky Kincaid, wouldn’t feel a thing if she did. “That wasn’t an apology. That was a ‘boys will be boys’ cop-out if I ever heard one.”

“Mm-hmm, we call that a ‘word salad’ in court,” Bridgett murmured over her cellphone.

“And does he think anyone’s buying his BS about it all just being ‘locker room smack talk?’ That he was trying to ‘psych Noah up to play better?’ I can’t believe the network let him get away with that.”

“He brings in big numbers,” Bridgett replied. “And eyes on the screen translate to big money. They look the other way and line their pockets even when what he says straddles the line.”

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