Page 35 of Gossip Game

One of the position coaches tossed Coach another ball. “And let’s not forget about our offense. They played precision football, putting thirty-four points on the board with no turnovers and not a single dropped pass.” Coach turned toward Noah. “Excellent job navigating through their tough defense, Hudson.”

A wolf whistle rang out.

“He was on his game tonight because his woman was in the stadium,” someone shouted.

Christ.

Noah ground his back teeth together. He’d had no idea Charlotte was back in Baltimore. Not until he saw her on the Jumbotron after his second touchdown pass. The crowd had roared with delight as she clapped and high-fived everyone in the owner’s suite. The sight of her jubilant smile made the breath hang up in his lungs for several heartbeats. Until he realized she wasn’t here for him. She was like any other Blaze fan, cheering for her brother’s team. Plain and simple. Social media, his teammates, the fans may think otherwise, but Noah knew the truth.

And, dammit, he hated that truth. His jaw clenched when several of his teammates chimed in with their own ridiculous comments.

“She’s our lucky charm,” one guy called out.

“Yeah, Huddy, we’re two and O when the boss’ sister shows up to cheer you on. Whatever you do, don’t do her wrong. I want a championship ring again,” the team’s center added, and the rest of the locker room hooted in agreement.

Coach’s smile was chagrined. “Okay, knock it off. We won today because we played to our potential. We do that every time we take the field, and we’ll be in that championship game, no problem.” He glanced around the room. “Now, where’s Taylor? He scored ten of our points with his kicking foot today. He gets this game ball for not losing his mojo after last week.”

Taylor stepped forward to receive his ball. “Thanks to the Trulies for keeping the fans from running me out of town,” he quipped.

“That’s what I’m talking ‘bout! Princess Charlotte brings the good mojo all around,” the center responded.

“Enjoy your weekend off, fellas,” Coach was saying. “See you all Monday morning.”

Noah made a beeline for the showers, hoping the media would focus on reviewing the game at the post-game presser.

They didn’t.

After the fourth question intimating that he played better when Charlotte was in the stadium, Noah shot a death glare at Asia. The Blaze media director was quick to come to his rescue.

“If there’s nothing else about the specifics of this evening’s game, we are going to adjourn for the night. Thank you, Noah,” Asia said as he slipped out of the press room and into the deserted hallway housing the training rooms.

He blew out an annoyed breath. How had things gotten so effed up? When he sucked, that’s all the media wanted to talk about. Now, when his passer rating was the second highest in the league, all they wanted to focus on was Charlotte Davis. And the torrid love affair everyone assumed they were having.

In his dreams.

He rounded the corner, only to collide with someone walking toward him. Except it wasn’t someone. It was her. As if he’d conjured her up somehow.

“Oh,” Charlotte gasped against his chest.

Noah groaned as he breathed in a lungful of her unique scent. His fingers glided along the soft cashmere of her sweater, one hand sliding down to manacle her wrist. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d tugged her into one of the empty training rooms. He kicked the door closed with his foot, then did a one-eighty, pressing Charlotte’s back against the wall, boxing her in with his hands on either side of her head.

His breath was sawing through his lungs as he studied her up close. How had he not noticed her lashes were a deep auburn instead of brown? Or that she had a little scar just above her right eyebrow, probably from a fall as a child. His chest ached at the thought of her being hurt. He resisted the urge to press his lips to the white mark.

“Hi,” she whispered, breaking the charged silence.

Noah didn’t trust his voice. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and continued to catalog the intricacies of her beautiful face.

“I was looking for you.”

That got his attention. His gaze collided with hers. She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip, drawing his gaze down to her tempting mouth. The move had him swallowing a groan.

“Vivian drew you a picture,” she murmured. “It’s a school night, so she wasn’t allowed to come to the game. I said I’d give it to you.”

She reached down to her purse sandwiched between them. Her hand grazed his stomach, making them both flinch. Noah hissed. Her eyes went round when he leaned in, trapping her hand against his abdomen.

“You are not the reason we won tonight,” he ground out.

Charlotte looked at him, her expression a mix of shock and annoyance. “No. Of course not.” She shook her head. “Your receivers didn’t drop your passes. I had nothing to do with it.”

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