Terrance’s face smoothed. “It won’t be so simple during the season. We’ll miss you on the D-Line, man.” He shook his head. “Just won’t be the same, in here or out there.” He pointed toward the field and Chris felt his throat grow thick.
He quickly cleared it. The last thing he needed was to show how hard it truly was to pack up his things knowing it was for the last time, especially to Terrance. His friend might understand, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t give Chris a hard time about it from now until eternity.
“Yeah, I just hope you guys can win a game or two without me,” Chris sighed, shaking his head. “But I’ll be rooting for you.”
Terrance stood and slugged his shoulder. “Man, what are you taking about?” He pounded his chest. “We are the defending champions!”
“Without their MVP,” Chris reminded him.
Terrance scrunched up his face. “They just gave that to you because you got hurt.”
Chris knew Terrance was joking, but the jab still hurt. He knew it wasn’t true, he’d been playing the game of his life all the way up until the end of the fourth quarter when he got hurt. He was proud of the fact he’d gotten the recognition when it was rarely awarded to a defensive player. “Whatever, man. You just try and win without me.”
Terrance’s expression turned serious. “It’ll be hard, man, but I will try.”
Chris’s throat tightened again. It was time to get out of there. Zipping his bag, he kept his head down until he was sure there wouldn’t be any moisture in his eyes when he faced his friend.
“Yeah, I’ll miss you guys, too. Remember what I said, cold drinks at my place anytime.”
“Thanks, Chris.” Terrance held out his hand again, shaking it solemnly this time.
“Good luck. I’ll be watching you guys.” Chris dropped a hand on his friend’s shoulder before making his way out of the locker room for the last time.
Six months later
“You’ve been lounging on my sofa long enough. It’s time to get back out there. Do something productive with yourself.”
Chris sat at a table near the back of his favorite steakhouse in downtown Denver. His brother, Carter, on the other side, eyed him intently. The two men were three years apart, Chris thirty-one to Carter’s twenty-eight. While there were many similarities between the brothers, for instance, their sandy-blonde hair and crooked smiles, there were also many differences.
Chris, from years of lifting weights and perfecting his performance through taking excellent care of his body, was broad and muscular, adding angles to his face and an air of strength Carter lacked. Not that Carter was a slouch who didn’t take care of himself, but he did spend a lot of time in board rooms and sitting behind a desk in the building their family owned which housed the multi-billion dollar corporation their father had built.
“You know you can always come work for us,” Carter offered when Chris took too long to respond.
Chris made a face. “No, thanks.”
Working for the family business was the last thing he wanted to do. The prospect hadn’t been appealing nine years ago when he graduated college and it wasn’t appealing now. He’d finally finished fulfilling all of his obligations with the team and his endorsement contracts as well as completing the rest of his rehabilitation on the team’s dime. The first season of football he hadn’t played since his Pop Warner days had just come to a close and Chris was finally beginning to feel at loose ends. Obviously, Carter agreed if his comment about Chris lounging was any indication.
Grinning, Carter dug into his garlic mashed potatoes. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
“You know that’s not me. I’d go crazy sitting in an office all day.”
Chris had always been different from his brother that way. Carter was a whiz in school, getting perfect grades with little effort, while Chris struggled to pass his classes in order to remain eligible to play sports. The only reason he’d been accepted into college was because of his prowess on the field. Not that he was stupid or incapable, he just didn’t care as much as Carter did or as much as his parents wished he did. Of course, in college he’d had to step it up. The academic requirements were more stringent and ultimately, Chris realized it was important to have a backup plan. Considering the way things turned out, he was glad he’d gotten his degree.
“The offer stands. You know how happy Mom and Dad would be to have both of us taking over the reins at Bragg Enterprises.” Carter smirked. This was an old conversation they’d repeated more times than Chris could count. His brother was just giving him a hard time.
“I could just retire for real. It’s not like I need the money. I’ve never been to Spain.” It was true, Chris had more money than he could spend in a hundred lifetimes. As much as he’d disappointed his parents by not joining the family business, they hadn’t denied him his inheritance, which he’d received on his thirtieth birthday. That, in addition to his salary from playing football, which he’d barely touched, and earnings from endorsements, had made him a billionaire.
He really hadn’t been to Spain.
Carter snorted. “Yeah, right. You’d go crazy in a month sitting around sunning yourself on some beach.”
“You’re probably right.” Chris took a bite of his steak, enjoying the rush of flavor in his mouth. There was nothing better than a perfectly cooked steak.
Carter raised one brow. “Unless, of course, you plan to take someone with you? A beautiful, female someone?”
It was Chris’s turn to snort. “Absolutely not.” That was the last thing on his mind.
“Why not? You’re not getting any younger and now you don’t have to worry about being away during the season. It’s the perfect time to settle down. Find a pretty wife, buy a house, have a couple of kids.”
Put like that, Chris couldn’t deny feelings of longing. He always assumed he’d have a home, a family. But that was before, when he was young and naive. He’d seen much more of the world since then, been burned one too many times to believe in happily ever after’s.
“Nope. I’m fine on my own. And-” he said before his brother could contradict him. “I think you should worry about your own love life before you start prying into mine.”
Carter closed his mouth.
“Fine, but if the beach and a pretty girl aren’t on your radar, what is?” Carter was determined to hear Chris’s plans. That was fine, even though he’d thought to keep them to himself. Carter wouldn’t judge his decisions and maybe if Chris confided in his brother, he could recruit Carter for some manual labor.
“I was thinking about fixing up Uncle Ray and Aunt Mary’s place.”
Carter’s mouth dropped open before he could catch himself. “Yourself? Why don’t you hire it out?”
Chris frowned. “What’s the fun in that? Of course, I’m gonna do it myself.”
Chris and Carter’s mother hadn’t been born into money, instead Karen Carter grew up in a middle class family just outside of Denver. Her father worked all his life as a manager at bank making a modest living. She met Martin Bragg while attending the University of Colorado. He was attending Stanford at the time, but had been visiting a friend.
Karen’s parents died when Chris and Carter were young, leaving her uncle and his wife to step in as surrogate grandparents for the two boys. When Uncle Ray and Aunt Mary passed away a couple of years ago, they left their home, a twenty-four hundred square foot two-story house in a quiet middle-class neighborhood, to Chris and Carter. Carter hadn’t wanted anything to do with the house, but Chris had always been more sentimental. He’d held onto it thinking he’d fix it up when he had the time and maybe rent it out or donate it to someone who needed it.
For now, he planned to live in it while he worked on the remodel.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Carter asked, sounding skeptical.
“Of course I know what I’m doing. Did you forget I majored in construction management?”
Carter made a face. “No, I doubt anyone in the fa
mily would ever forget that.”
Chris laughed even though it was anything but funny. His father had threatened to disown him when Chris finally finally broke down and told his parents his plans for the future. He’d gotten a scholarship to play football at a Division I school. They might not have balked if it had been someplace like Stanford and might have supported his choice even more if he’d elected to study business and not construction management. But Chris had spent too many long afternoons working with Uncle Ray in his wood shop to ever consider working in a stuffy office once his football career was over. And at the time he had no idea if his parents would follow through on their threat to deny him his inheritance or how long his career in professional football would last.
“True enough.”
Carter steepled his hands on the table in front of him. “Have you told them yet?”
Chris knew without asking Carter was talking about their parents. “No.”
Chris rarely spoke with his parents. The last time he’d seen them was at the hospital when he’d woken up after getting injured on the field. He knew they loved him in their way and was certain they kept tabs on him through Carter and whatever other means they might employ. However, those means didn’t usually involve direct contact. That was fine with him. His relationship with his parents was fraught with conflict and unresolved issues Chris didn’t want to deal with. Keeping his distance ensured he wouldn’t have to.
The brothers spent the rest of their meal discussing Chris’s plans for the house. When he planned to move in. What changes he planned to make.
“Don’t worry, Carter,” Chris said as they walked to their respective cars after dinner. “I’ll be sure to call you when I need an extra pair of hands.”
Carter’s eyes rolled heavenward. “I can hardly wait.”
Chapter Three
“Mom! I have to go poo!” Kaden shouted from the backseat.
Oh, three year olds and their apparent lack of inhibitions. At least he’d waited until they were in the car, only a couple of miles from home, before shouting that proclamation. They’d just gone to the grocery store after Kaden spent the morning and early afternoon with her parents while Oakley worked. She was tired and frustrated and hungry, but most of all she wondered why she’d gone to pick up Kaden before stopping at the store. He spent the whole time whining and grabbing anything he could get his hands on until Oakley handed him her phone so he could watch Netflix until she finished.
“Okay, bud. We’re almost home.” He’d graduated from pull-ups all day to pull-ups only at night. Hopefully, he could hold it until they got home.
Potty training was the worst. She should probably feel guilty that her mother had done most of the heavy lifting when it came to getting Kaden to use the toilet, but she didn’t. As a single mom, she’d learned it was important to let people help. Besides, who was she to deny her mother the blessings that came from service? And teaching Kaden how to pee-pee like a big boy was a service to everyone.
Oakley glanced in the rearview mirror. Kaden’s animated face, all scrunched up with the effort to wait, had her pressing on the accelerator. The last thing she wanted was clean up the mess if he couldn’t hold it.
“Hang on, bud,” she said, but it was more like a prayer.
Finally, she pulled into her driveway. Turning, she reached back to release the buckles on Kaden’s seat.
“Come on!”
Kaden climbed from the back to the front seat and wrapped his arms around her neck. This wasn’t the first emergency they’d had since he’d begun using the potty.
Oakley yanked the keys from the ignition and raced to the front door.
“Go. Go. Go.” She patted his little bottom, sending him on his own to the bathroom once the door was unlocked.
Her cell phone rang for the third time since leaving the grocery store. Feeling stressed and wondering who it could be, she fished it out of her pocket. It was Cam. Between traffic, Kaden needing to potty, and a long lunch shift at the restaurant, the last thing she needed was harassment by phone calls from her best friend.
She answered anyway. “Hello.”
“I stopped by your house this morning.”
Oakley rolled her eyes as she headed back to her car to get groceries out of the trunk. Kaden was a notoriously long pooper. She had plenty of time to get her groceries and put them away before he called for help cleaning himself up.
“That’s the big emergency?” Oakley opened her trunk and lifted out the big packages of paper towels and toilet tissue she always bought for the month. “After two missed calls, I was beginning to think something was seriously wrong.” It wasn’t unusual for Cam to stop by Oakley’s house when she wasn’t there. For one thing, the house belonged to Cam’s parents and Cam stored some of her business supplies in a little shed in the back yard. And for another, they were just friends like that.
“Something is seriously wrong!”
Cam was on one. Oakley knew the only way to deal with her friend when she was like this was to hear her out. The couch was calling her name, but there were still groceries in the trunk. Oakley dropped the paper goods on the floor just inside the door and headed back out.
“Okay, okay, I’m listening.”
“This is big. Majorly big.”
“Majorly big, huh? You mean like the time Mike Hall asked you to the eighth grade dance? Or more like the time you landed the Henderson wedding?” As an up and coming event planner, scoring the Henderson wedding had been a coup for Cam.
“Ohmigosh, I can’t believe you brought Mike Hall into this. Ew. Have you seen him lately? He’s lost most of his hair and gained at least fifty pounds around his middle.”
Oakley laughed remembering how simple life had been in middle school and wondering where the heck Cam had run into Mike. “Well, he was pretty cute back in eighth grade.”
“That was a long time ago and- ugh, how do I let you get me so off track? Focus!”
“Okay, okay. Tell me all about this majorly big, huge thing that is bigger than an eighth grade dance with Mike Hall.” Oakley hauled a handful of groceries back into the house and checked on her son. Kaden was still on the toilet. He gave her a thumbs up, something he’d learned from his Uncle Rafe, and got back to business.
“You have a new neighbor,” Cam said, relaying the information like it was the hottest piece of new gossip. “A super hot, major hunk of a man new neighbor.”
Oakley froze, her hand on the screen door, her eyes darting to the house next door. It had to be that house since it was the only one in the cul-de-sac that was vacant and had been since she and Kaden moved in after the divorce almost two years ago.
“What? How do you know?” she whispered as though someone might actually be able to hear her and ducked further into the living room to peek through the curtains covering the large bay window facing the front yard.
“I saw him! In all his fabulous muscular glory. He was moving a recliner through the front door. By himself. Without breaking a sweat- although, he’d make even sweat look good.”
“That’s kind of gross, Cam.” Although, Cam had been busy for the last five years building up her business. She hadn’t spared even a moment of time for a man in her life in forever. It was kind of refreshing to hear her go ga-ga over someone who wasn’t Chris Hemsworth.
Or Pratt.
Or even Evans.
Let’s not forget Pine!
Actually, any of the Chris’s.
“Not for this guy and I’m not even kidding.” Cam was literally gushing. “So, I guess this means you haven’t seen him yet?”
Oakley couldn’t see any sign of new life at the house next door. The blinds were closed and there was no car in the drive. But that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He could have parked in the garage for all she knew.
“How do you know he wasn’t just from a moving company?”
“No moving truck. Just a pickup. Besides the recliner and a tv, he only had a handful of boxes and a large suitcas
e.”
“How long exactly were you spying on this guy?” Cam was something else. Oakley moved from the window and went to the bathroom to check on Kaden.
“Long enough. Listen, I gotta go. But I just had to talk to you about the new guy. I hope he isn’t married. And if he isn’t, you’ve got to talk to him. Meet him. Date him. Marry him.”
Also, Cam was crazy.
“Whoa, whoa. Hold up there, friend. Nobody said anything about anything like that. And why do I have to marry him? You’re the one who’s already fallen in love with his muscles, you marry him.”
“You’re only saying that because you haven’t seen him yet. But I’ll talk to you later. I really have to go. Bye!”
Cam disconnected the call. Oakley still had one trip left to get groceries out of her car. She stepped outside. It was stupid, but she felt nervous all the sudden. Just knowing some new person was living in the house next door, one hot enough to get Cam all bothered, had her on edge. Was he in there now?
Not wanting to get caught staring, Oakley kept her face turned toward her car, but let her eyes rove over the house next door as she searched for any sign of life. Still nothing.
“Oomph!”
Oh, my heck!
She’d walked right into her car! Face burning, Oakley scanned the house again. Good thing all the blinds were still closed. If her new neighbor happened to see her it would only be because he was spying on her. And the chances of that were slim to none. Thank goodness.
She was being silly. Again. Determined not to even glance in the direction of the house that may or may not have a gorgeous man living in it, she went to get the remaining bags out of the trunk of her car.
At this point, she hoped he was married. Or that Cam was wrong and he looked like a troll. Because the last thing she needed was a distraction in her life and if the last sixty seconds were any indication, a good looking man would be a definite distraction.
“Mom!” Kaden’s shrill voice echoed through the house as soon as she walked through the door.
Marrying the Football Billionaire Page 2