Page 14 of Her Football Star Ex

“That’s my girl.” She smiled. “At least you’re likely to see a few hot men that way.” She winked. “And just remember, if worse comes to worst, Marty will be excited to see you again.”

I shook my head and laughed. “I think you keep bringing him up because you’re trying to blackmail me into keeping my chin up.”

She laughed and winked. “Maybe.”

I tossed a paperclip at her. “Thanks for the pep talk.”

“Anytime.”

She left my office, and I opened the file for the case I was working on today. I had a case to win in a couple of weeks. I would just have to worry about my dating life later.

4

Vincent

“What kindof pizza do you want?” I asked my buddy, Cole, who was sitting on the couch in my living room, looking at his phone. It was Friday night and we’d had a long day at practice. It had been a long week actually, as we’d done everything we could to prepare for this Sunday’s playoff game. I was definitely in need of a chill evening where we did everything but talk about the possibility of the Dragons making it to the Super Bowl for the first time since I’d joined the team seven years ago.

I didn’t need to think about all the pressure that was resting on my shoulders as the quarterback.

Cole's dark brown eyes slid away from his phone screen for a second. “I like that wood-fired pizza you guys have on main street.”

“The Pizza Cart?” I asked.

“Yeah, they make the best Hawaiian barbecue pizza.”

“I don’t know why you like ruining your pizza with pineapple, but I’ll write it down,” I said.

Cole's family had moved from Hawaii to Colorado when he was in high school so he could have a better chance at getting scouted for college football teams. And that guy ruined all kinds of perfectly good foods by putting pineapple on top: burgers, pizza, chicken. Nothing was safe from that tropical fruit.

“Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it,” Cole said, pulling his curly black hair into a ponytail.

“That’s okay,” I said. “I’ll leave all the pineapple for you.” I scribbled his order down on a piece of paper. “And what about you, Jaxon?” I looked to where he played on the floor with the giant Dinosaur puzzle I’d bought him for Christmas. “What kind of pizza do you want?”

“Cheese pizza,” he yelled over his shoulder.

I should have known. Kids have the blandest palettes.

I didn’t really feel like cooking again tomorrow, so when I called to place our orders I added a Margherita and Calabrese & Sausage pizza for myself, along with their raspberry pecan salad so I could have leftovers.

After ordering, I joined Cole on the couch.

“What are you looking at?” I asked, when I noticed him swiping his finger across the screen one direction and then the other. “Playing that jungle game again?”

But when I leaned closer to see, he angled his phone away from my view before making the screen go dark.

“Not a game then?” I narrowed my gaze.

Did he have a secret girlfriend he hadn’t told me about?

“I—uh.” He put his phone on his knee. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

I leaned away and lifted my hands in the air so he would know I wasn’t judging. “What you do in your private time isn’t any of my business.”

He shook his head. “No, really. It’s not that…” He sighed and picked up his phone. “Promise you won’t tell the guys if I show you?”

I studied his face for a moment, having no idea what he was so anxious about. “Sure.”

He better not show me weird photos of himself.

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