Page 18 of False Start

“You kicked the ball straight at first base,” I deadpanned. “Straight into Gavin’s hands.”

Andrea didn’t notice, her eyes huge and locked on Trent. “It’s so nice to meet you!”

I couldn’t blame her. Despite how I felt about the guy, his fame coupled with a natural charisma won people over.

He beamed at her, eyes locked like she was the only person in the world.

“I can’t believe you’re playing for a rec team,” she tittered, cheeks growing red and voice breathy.

“I tried out for the pros, but they wouldn’t have me. And hell, this league was damn near impossible to join. They told me to start my own team, but most of my teammates leave Virginia during the off-season.”

“And you didn’t want to join them?” I probed. Why wasn’t Trent on a yacht in Greece or clubbing through major metropolitan cities or hell, at least in Texas? “What made you stay in Virginia?”

Trent pulled his attention away from Andrea. She wilted like a flower before pressing a manicured finger to her chin. “Yeah, why are you here? Family? Friends?”

Trent’s nose twitched and his eyes flitted to the field. His smarmy, charming smile dropped for half a second. “Um, just didn’t feel like traveling, I guess. I wanted to stay local. Train.”

He had a terrible poker face, but for a fraction of a second, I actually felt bad for him. Andrea didn’t follow Breakers’ gossip, but I sure as hell did. And while I hadn’t bothered to form a theory about why the NFL’s biggest social butterfly spent his time off on a kickball team, I found myself suddenly curious.

“I should get on the field. Nice to meet you, Andrea.” He jogged away, which for anyone else would have been a full-on sprint.

“Jesus, he’s fast,” Andrea sighed. “And hot. And really nice.”

I added Andrea to my “charmed as hell by Trent” list. A growing and unwieldy list that seemed to include everyone but me.

“He’s something.”

SEVEN

TRENT

“Areyou here to work or here to sit around?” Coach Henson wrinkled her nose and gave a curt shake of disgust.

“Here to work, Coach,” I answered, setting down my phone and finishing the set of leg presses.

The running backs coach lingered, clearly as bored as I was in the mostly empty gym. The cleaning staff had scrubbed away the musty aroma of sweat after division championships, and other than an annoyed guy from the business suite holding a one-sided conversation on his phone as he walked on a treadmill, the room was silent. No clattering weights or grunts of effort or loud conversation.

“Enjoying your off-season?” I asked, slipping off the machine and wiping it down behind me.

She waved a hand, her blonde ponytail bouncing. “Iwas until Jonas had to come back to train the rookies.”

Jonas Olsen was a trainer and possibly Coach Henson’s boyfriend, although both of them kept their personal life locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Hell, I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard her call him by his first name before. But, apparently, even Danielle Henson loosened up during the off-season.

“What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Staying out of trouble.” I shrugged. “Or at least trying.”

“I don’t even know how you’d get in trouble this time of the year. There’s no one here to catch you doing anything.” She frowned at the empty room, glaring at the business executive before returning her focus to me. She raised an eyebrow. “Did Coach Baker make you stay?”

Unlike Coach Henson, a young coach with her entire career ahead of her, my receivers coach was a grizzled old man close to retirement. He’d ignored the lure of a head coach job in college ball and just wanted to ride out the last couple of years of his career in relative comfort. And despite the trouble I got into off the field, I didn’t cause him any troubles on the field.

I shook my head. “He took off for his summer home the minute we lost playoffs. Haven’t heard from him since.”

“I’m sure Simmons loves that,” she muttered, the name of our head coach falling off her tongue like a swear.

“I wouldn’t know. I’m keeping a low profile.”

“Probably a good call,” she lowered her voice conspiratorially as she leaned closer. “Coach Simmons’ secretary said he’s trying to lure in some free agents out of California and will be out of town for at least the next week.”

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