Page 24 of Personal Foul

Kaiden leaned a little closer and pitched his voice low, as if he were giving the boy something top secret. “Fingers crossed.”

Joey smiled so widely that all his teeth were on display. “I hope so.”

“You play football?”

“Yeah, I play tight end as well. But, it’s a little difficult. My school hasn’t been able to buy new equipment so sometimes we aren’t very good because we can’t practice. A couple of times we had to forfeit games because the bus wouldn’t work.”

He shrugged like it was no big deal, but Kaiden saw the sadness lurking in his eyes. This was a kid who wanted to play.He heard the yearning in his voice. So, he made a quick decision.

“What school do you go to?”

“Sterling Pines.”

Kaiden nodded that he heard and held out his hand. “It was great to meet you, Joey.”

Awe replaced the sadness in the kid’s eyes as he accepted the handshake. “Thanks for talking with me and for the autograph.”

“My pleasure.”

He took Romilly’s hand and headed toward the check-out, where he bought both t-shirts. Then they headed out of the gift shop. His agent said he needed to have a charity, and one just happened to fall at his feet. Although it would be an amazing PR stunt, to gift the school enough money to update their football equipment wasn’t the only reason. Football was a way to lift kids like Joey up. Gave them a purpose and an outlet. Helped motivate them to pursue their passion.

He knew, because he was once just like Joey.

“That was nice of you,” Romilly murmured.

He looked down at her with a bemused smile. “I’m a nice guy.”

“Yeah, you are.” She wrapped her free hand around his biceps as they walked. “You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” he replied with a shrug. “In any case, I was wondering if you’d like to come to my practice on Monday.”

“They allow people in?”

“They allow special people in. And you’re special to me.”

She blinked those big brown eyes of hers, and all he wanted to do was sweep her into his arms and kiss the hell out of her. Once more his conscience weighed heavy on his mind, but he ruthlessly pushed the guilt away.

He didn’t have time for it anyway.

Chapter Twelve

Romilly followed the attendant as they made their way from the lobby to the huge arena where many men were doing all sorts of exercise. Some were running sprints. Some were hitting foam dummies and moving them backward. Some men were flipping huge tires. Kaiden was in the center, catching footballs as another man threw them. Again and again, he caught them, then huddled the ball close to his chest, turned and sprinted a few feet before stopping and throwing the ball back to the other man.

She didn’t know much about football, but she couldn’t take her gaze off him. Kaiden wasn’t wearing a shirt, only low-riding basketball shorts. The exposed skin had a sheen of sweat on it. A colorful tattoo decorated his left shoulder blade. From this distance she couldn’t make out the features, but it made his sex appeal even more intense.

For an hour she watched him. Kaiden talked with several older men, and sometimes the person she assumed was the quarterback also came over to talk. Hand gestures and miming throwing the football could be seen. When Kaiden went over to grab his water bottle, he looked around and saw her. A smile lit up his face and he told one of the coaches he’d be right back. Then he jogged over to the area where she sat.

“You made it,” he said. He held out his hand for her and when she took hold of it, he pulled her to her feet. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “I’m happy to see you.”

“You look amazing out there.”

“Yeah? This is very different than how it usually is at training camp.” He frowned, looking down as if lost in his head. “There’ll be ninety men there, which will get whittled down to fifty-three players by the end of August. There’ll be a few tight ends hoping to make the cut. Ineedto be one of them.”

“Hey,” she said, capturing his attention. “You will be. You know why? Because of the love and passion you have for the game. Every time you catch the ball, you light up, and that’s why I know you’re going to make the team.”

“You sure?” he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers.

“Positive. I have faith in you.”

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