Tackled in Seattle

by Jami Davenport

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Blurb

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1—Room at the Inn

  Chapter 2—Roomies

  Chapter 3—Turned Down

  Chapter 4—Just Friends

  Chapter 5—It’s Over

  Chapter 6—Don’t Look Back

  Chapter 7—Alone with My Thoughts

  Chapter 8—No Regrets

  Chapter 9—Who Are Those Guys?

  Chapter 10—Black Clouds

  Chapter 11—I’m a Princess

  Chapter 12—Dumped for Good

  Chapter 13—Royal Flush

  Chapter 14—Drafted

  Chapter 15—Letting Go

  Chapter 16—Princess Troubles

  Chapter 17—The Plan

  Chapter 18—The Announcement

  Chapter 19—Meeting with Monarchy

  Chapter 20—Charming the Queen

  Chapter 21—Royal Duties

  Chapter 22—The Green Room

  Chapter 23—Ted Tells All

  Chapter 24—Revelations

  Chapter 25—Rookie Class

  Chapter 26—Former Fiancée

  Chapter 27—My Alisa

  Chapter 28—Royal Ending

  Complete Booklist

  About the Author

  Tackled in Seattle

  Men of Tyee

  GAME ON IN SEATTLE ROOKIES

  By Jami Davenport®

  Copyright © 2019 by Cedrona Enterprises

  All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Jami Davenport. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to others. If you would like to share this book with others, please purchase an additional copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

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  The Seattle Sockeyes®, Seattle Steelheads®, and Seattle Skookums™ are fictional sports teams. Game On in Seattle™ is a series of sports romance novels.The names and logos are created for the sole use of the owner and covered under protection of trademark.

  Jami Davenport®, Seattle Sockeyes®, and Seattle Steelheads® are registered trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

  This book is a work of fiction. While references might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning

  This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-age readers.

  Email: jamidavenport@hotmail.com

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  Blurb

  Alisa:

  My family has always treated me like a princess, and when my mother reveals her secret, I find out I really am one.

  I'm the only child of the second in line to the throne, and after the news breaks, I'm thrust into a life I never imagined. Now I'm trying to fit in and not screw up the never-ending rules and protocol, but I can't forget Gage, the guy I left behind. When my father insists I marry an appropriate blueblood of his choosing, I run to the one person who can save me from myself.

  Can I go against my family's wishes and choose love over duty?

  Gage:

  On the surface, I've always been a carefree playboy taking full advantage of the perks of being a college quarterback. When Alisa enters my life, everything changes, and nothing is as cut and dried as it once was. After recovering from an injury, I lose my starting spot to the new guy and my heart to Alisa.

  Now I'm confronted with the grim possibility of a future without football or Alisa.

  Can I trust Alisa enough to reveal the truth hiding under my spoiled, rich boy façade, or will I once again run away from the one woman who loves me for myself?

  Dedication

  For Erin!!! Thank you for being a loyal reader!

  Author’s Note

  In Tackled in a Seattle, I introduce characters who’ll spinoff two new sports romance series. Easton’s story will be featured in Shutout, the first book in my Sockeye spinoff: The Scoring Series.

  The group of rookies known as the Desperadoes will have their own spinoff from the Steelheads.

  Chapter 1—Room at the Inn

  ~~Gage~~

  My dream and my future died on the football field in a split second.

  I didn’t know it then, but now I did. I stared at the coach, not believing what I heard, certain I wasn’t understanding him.

  “Gage, you’re a good quarterback. Hell, maybe a great one, but Braxton has outplayed you fair and square. He makes good decisions. He’s quicker on his feet, and he’s more accurate.”

  “But I have the experience,” I argued, inwardly cringing. I sounded whiny, and Coach’s pitying expression was almost more than I could bear.

  “If it was only about the physical, you’d be starting, but you’re not the same quarterback you were before the injury. You’re tentative. You hesitate when you need to drive forward. You’re too worried about making mistakes or getting hurt. I need someone whose only concern is completing passes and winning games. That’s not you anymore.”

  “I need a little more time. I’m getting there.” I hated the sound of desperation in my voice.

  Coach shook his head, his eyes clouded with sympathy. “I’m sorry. But it’s all about competition. Braxton is my starter.”

  “Which means it’s now his job to lose.” I repeated one of Coach’s mantras over the years.

  “You know how this works. You’ve been part of my program for a long time.”

  Yeah, I had. For going on five years. I wanted to rant at him, tell him I deserved his loyalty, tell him I would be okay, tell him— What?

  “I understand.” He was right, and I knew it. I was afraid of getting hit again. I wasn’t seeing my targets. I wasn’t waiting patiently in the pocket for my receivers to break free. I was forcing my throws.

  For the past few years, I’d lived my life in a bubble, one that could be popped any second. I’d guarded that bubble as closely as I guarded my life. But bubbles were fragile, especially when they were composed of half-truths and fabrications like mine was.

  Last November, I broke my leg in a late-season football game and missed the rest of the season, not to mention the school year.

  This fall I returned to Tyee University to finish my last year of eligibility without most of my buddies, who’d graduated last year. I hadn’t. In fact, I might finish five years of college without a degree because I’d been so damn sure I’d be playing professional football for big bucks. Not only had I been counting on it, but my entire family had too. It wasn’t just my future at stake here but theirs.

  So here I was. My dreams of playing dimmed with my coach’s every word, but, damn it, I was more determined than ever to be the first
person in my family to crawl out of poverty and be someone, come hell or high water.

  I’d red-shirted my freshman year, so I’d been in the program for five years. I’d started for two of those years until my injury. This year along came Braxton. All through August, I’d struggled with a precarious hold on the starting job. It was a situation I’d never been in before. And now I’d lost it.

  I wanted to hate Brax, but I couldn’t. He was an easygoing guy with a ready smile and a no-quit attitude—the same attitude I’d once had and one that’d deserted me lately.

  Then there was Alisa. I expected her to be gone from my life. At least, I’d hoped she was. She’d also graduated last year, and I’d avoided asking Tiff, Alisa’s BFF, what she was up to. After all, Alisa and I had been a casual hookup, so why should I care? Yet I did, which irritated the hell out of me. I couldn’t get her of out of my mind, like we had some unfinished business, when I knew very well we didn’t. We’d run our race, crossed the finish line, and that should be that. We’d shared orgasms and nothing else.

  I moved back into the rental house owned by my buddy Riley’s uncle, having no place else to go. His uncle Coop charged me far less than he should’ve, but I wasn’t going to complain. Riley, however, was no longer living here. He had a nice little condo overlooking Lake Washington that he shared with Tiff. Those two were disgustingly in love, and I was stupidly jealous even though I was happy for them.

  Riley had walked on to the Seattle Steelheads NFL team and attended training camp this summer. They’d signed him as an undrafted tight end. Lucky bastard. He was living my dream. Not that I begrudged him. Riley hadn’t exactly lived a charmed life either. He’d earned everything he’d gotten, even if his NHL player uncle had wads of money. With a drug-addict mother, things hadn’t always been good for him.

  I’d never had it good, not that anyone, even Riley, knew differently.

  I hated pity parties, and I’ve been attending my own private one for months now. Time to pull on my jockstrap and work toward my future, because this boy was not going back to the reality of days past.

  My California surfer dude persona was still alive and well, even if it’d been shaken to the core these past several months. I couldn’t wait to escape the reality of my past and return to my fantasy present and future.

  My past?

  Other than having no money and working hard as a kid growing up on a farm, I’d had a good life and been raised by good people. My friends and acquaintances had made assumptions as to who and what I was. At first back in high school in California, but they’d insulted my humble roots and, even worse, my parents, which resulted in way too many fights and almost being suspended from the one thing that mattered—high school. Now I let people make assumptions about me and who I was because I simply didn’t give a shit what they thought.

  I never let on how insulted I was at the conclusions people jumped to, especially those who claimed to be my friends. Couldn’t they tell I was as far from spoiled as a guy could get? Eventually, I bolstered up my don’t-give-a-shit attitude and let them think whatever they wanted.

  I was a private guy, and even my best buddy, Riley, didn’t have a clue about the guy under the carefree party-boy surface. I was here to play football and get into the NFL with a big contract. That was it. I didn’t welcome anyone’s admiration or pity based on my lack of financial fortune.

  I’d make the pros purely on my God-given talent. Thank you very much.

  ~~Alisa~~

  Tiff was grooming her horse when I approached my best friend. She straightened from her bent-over position scrubbing mud off Dexter’s feet. Her horse was usually immaculate, and the mud caused by a huge puddle in the arena must be driving her crazy. In no time, Dex would be his pristine self again, even though he delighted in being a pig just to piss her off, or so it seemed. He was a slob who would sleep in the only pile of manure within a hundred yards or find the biggest mud hole to roll in. Other than that, Dex was perfect. He was obedient, sweet, and the kindest horse I’d ever been around. Buford, my own humongous German warmblood, could take lessons from Dex.

  “Hey, how are things?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Wonderful.” She beamed. Her face was radiant, and I couldn’t help being happy for her even if I was a teensy bit jealous. She had the real thing with Riley, and they were both crazy in love with each other. “And you? Have you found a room to rent yet?”

  “Still working on it. I only need a place for one quarter, and no one wants to rent short-time like that. I need a few credits to graduate.”

  I’d searched for lodging for a week or so. I’d been so late coming back from Europe, I’d missed out on the majority of the rentals available in the Tyee district. Now I was scrambling to find something. They were either too far away, in a bad neighborhood, or were a rat-infested dump. Nothing I’d found had worked out. I’d been living with our mutual friend Wayne, but he’d been served an eviction notice. The apartment building he rented was being bulldozed to make way for a high-rise.

  “I talked with Riley, and we have an option for you if you’re interested.”

  “At this point I’d be interested in a tent in Riley’s backyard.”

  “You don’t have to go that far. There’s a room available in Coop’s house.”

  I chewed on this for a second. Coop was Riley’s uncle, now adopted father. “Isn’t that the same house Gage lives in?”

  “Uh-huh. Is that a problem?”

  Oh, yeah, it was a big problem—huge, but I wasn’t admitting any such thing to her.

  “You’d be doing Coop a favor. Now that Riley has moved out, he’s concerned about the guys living there, their endless parties, whether they’ll take care of the place. He’d love someone trustworthy he can count on.”

  Oh, great, Cooper Black wanted me to be the frat boy babysitter. To my knowledge, all the guys living there were jocks, partiers, and frat boys. The worst combo you could get, in my jaded opinion.

  “I don’t know that I’m up to the task,” I hedged.

  “The room has a huge walk-in closet and its own bathroom with a soaking tub.” She smiled slyly, watching my reaction.

  Tiff knew me. She didn’t offer a reduced rate because money wasn’t an issue with me. Instead, she hit me between the eyes with the promise of lots of clothes storage and bubble baths. I couldn’t possibly turn down this opportunity, or I’d be forced to relinquish my princess card.

  I almost choked on the thought. I’d been treated like a princess all my life. Imagine the irony to find out I really was one. Life had weird twists of fate, and I had a tendency to follow those winding paths out of curiosity, rather than end up dull and boring with nothing to show for myself when I was old and gray.

  “So, you’ll take it?” Tiff side-eyed me with a smirk on her beautiful face.

  “I promised Wayne we’d get a place together.”

  “There’s another room.”

  “When can I move in?” I said impetuously, one of my least attractive traits. I tended to leap first and check to see how far down it was to the ground later.

  “Anytime. The rooms are empty.”

  I nodded. Seeing Gage again wouldn’t be easy, but maybe it’d be fun. He’d been the booty call to rival all booty calls. So much so, both of us kept coming back for encore after encore last year.

  Then nothing. He’d been injured, and I’d been at his side until his family had shown up. Then he’d literally kicked my ass out of the hospital room before they met me. That’d hurt more than he’d ever know.

  No one did that to me and got a second chance. There were too many other fish circling me like horny piranhas, and I did like a buffet rather than a single entrée.

  Yeah, I was done with Gage as far hookups went. In fact, I was done with hookups. I used to think I slept around a lot because I had daddy issues. Honestly, I think it was mostly because I loved sex.

  Not that I didn’t have daddy issues. I loved my stepfather, but I always
suspected he wasn’t really my father. Now that I knew the man who donated the sperm to my conception, I had to be beyond reproach.

  I didn’t have an option anymore. This was the new me.

  Chapter 2—Roomies

  ~~Gage~~

  I hated washing dishes, but somebody had to do it, and I was the only one home right now. I’d loaded the dishwasher, now to wash the pots and pans.

  Alisa Brown was going to be living in the same house I was. She hadn’t graduated after all but needed to finish up a few credits. I’d assumed she was gone and living her life somewhere.

  Her living under the same roof would be pure torture, especially considering she wasn’t talking to me, and I wasn’t talking to her.

  I was going to strangle my best buddy, Riley, for offering her a room in Coop’s rental house. The bastard knew I was renting a room there. Either he was purposely pulling my chain or he had some romantic notion we were meant to be. Ever since he got back together with Tiff, Riley had this bullshit notion all his buddies should find true love.

  Thank God it would only be for one quarter.

  My other roommates from last year were also living in the house. Mason was a senior this year, Logan was a junior, and we were all on the Tyee football team. Coop’s cousin, a hockey player, was living here, too.

  Alisa would be the odd man out—make that odd woman—in this frat house atmosphere. In fact, we were all frat brothers, who chose not to live in the house, even though we spent tons of time there.

  Truth be told, I couldn’t afford living in the frat house, but no one else knew that. They thought my parents were loaded, and I was an entitled rich kid. I’d never said I was, but they assumed as much, and I didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. I shrugged off their presumptions and went about my business. You’d have thought my piece-of-shit car would be their first clue. Logan had asked me if I’d totaled my Jag and my dad was trying to teach me a lesson. I’d shrugged, my usual response when any family-related questions were asked of me. They could make whatever assumptions they chose, no skin off my back. As Grandma was fond of saying: What other people think of you is none of your business.