by Taylor Hart
A smile played at her lips. “I haven’t written my ‘Great American Novel,’” she said tentatively. “I thought I’d have a dozen books out this point in my life.” She pulled her hand away. “I guess life doesn’t turn out the way we think it will, does it?”
His heart hammered inside his chest and all he could think about was how he used to see himself married to her. He would daydream about this woman for hours. He tried to re-focus back to her books. “You always had great characters. What was that one … Harry Simpleton, a man caught between two women? I remember how you always quoted him with a British accent.”
“Oh, I say, my good chap, I’m still knocking around in this brain, but the woman won’t let me speak, I say.” She did the exact British accent from back in the day.
He roared out a laugh, loving the way she did that. “Yes.”
When she grinned, she looked more like herself in this moment, just like the girl he’d loved. Their eyes stayed locked and a Cheshire cat kind of smile stayed on her face.
“Do Harriet,” he urged.
He could swear she was blushing as she shook her head. “No.”
“Poe … c’mon, please.”
She looked like she wanted to.
“C’mon.”
“Well.” This voice was a bit higher, still British. “Harry can’t figure out what kind of date I would like; therefore I shall continue to date my other beaus.” She fluttered her eyes.
He laughed again, and they both stared at each other, smiling.
Unexpectedly, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out and he could see a text.
“Everything okay?”
Looking a bit dazed, she turned back to him. “Yeah, my … my old boss heard about me doing this interview on you and he asked if I wanted to come back to Florida and work for him again.”
He hadn’t thought of her going back to Florida. “Oh.”
She waved a hand into the air. “Obviously, my dad needs me, so I’m staying here.”
Even though he hated that her dad was in this predicament, he wouldn’t lie: he wanted her here.
Turning her attention back to him, she asked, “How is your song writing going?”
Instantly, he felt sheepish.“Ya know, haven’t really done that much with all the other stuff in my life.”
“You were good.”
“I’m friends with Sloane Kent. I don’t know if you remember him, but he’s in Texas Waters’s band and sometimes he’ll come over and we’ll mess around with lyrics and stuff.”
She grinned. “I’d love to hear a song sometime.”
The way he’d felt when he’d kissed her earlier flashed into his brain, but he pushed it away. She obviously wasn’t ready to kiss him again. Wanting to know more about her, he took his chance. “Tell me about your life.”
“What?” She looked disoriented.
“After you left Dallas.”
She looked out the window. “We moved, and it was like I was just stuck. I ended up graduating early and going to Florida State, but I was different. I am different. I met Kyle two years ago doing an article on the elite military and …” She trailed off, pinching the top of her forehead, and then dropped her shaking hand into her lap. “I don’t know why I kissed you like that back there.”
This took him by surprise.
“It’s fine, Cass.”
She turned to him. “Is it? Can I really do an unbiased exclusive on you?”
He thought of the way Mr. Knight had threatened to ruin all of them if the article went bad. “Of course you can. You’re good. I’ve read your work. You are a professional. Plus, Mr. James Knight is fixated on having Dallas understand me. I need more transparency,” he said a bit sarcastically.
She laughed. “Sorry.”
His heart raced and he unexpectedly wanted so much with this woman. “So, can we start over?”
“Start over, those words again?” she questioned, looking at him like he’d just landed on earth and wanted her to leave in his spaceship with him.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you like that,” he said, not really meaning it, knowing he would totally do it again if he had another shot. “How about we do this article as professionals?”
Her eyes turned determined. “I’ll be getting the truth on you, Anthony. That’s what I’ll be looking for.” She sounded not at all British and every bit the professional she was.
He nodded. “I’d expect nothing less.” He promised himself she wouldn’t find the truth. She couldn’t, and he wouldn’t put her in that position either.
“I better go.” She opened the truck door and then turned back to him with a smile. “Go Titans.” She pointed at him. “And I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Go Titans!” he yelled as she shut the door.
As she walked to the porch, she turned back and sent him a little wave. His heart clenched and his mind spun with memories of the past and he wished he would have just shown up in Florida all those years ago … and been her prince.
Chapter 11
Monday morning Cassidy walked into the training rooms of the Texas Titans. They’d beat the Wildcats in a blowout game at home, so she imagined the climate would be rather happy and friendly today. Or at least she hoped so. She wasn’t nervous about the team; she’d dealt with plenty of elite athletes, gone into plenty of locker rooms. No, she was nervous because all she could think about all weekend had been Anthony Kincaid and the way she’d kissed him on the dance floor, like they had been sixteen again.
She pushed her anxiety away and commanded herself to be brave. After getting escorted down the hall, she glanced in a separate room and recognized the head coaches.
Her escort, a woman named Tamara, pointed to a different room. “Anthony is going to be weight lifting right now. We wanted to give you an up-close with the trainers and see for yourself that his injuries have healed, but also talk about what challenges he’s had.”
Nervous flutters filled Cassidy’s gut. She knew what professional athletes went through, how their days were grueling, filled with meetings and training and practices.
After being led down a long hall, she pushed open a metal door. When she walked in, the room felt huge, like a full service gym built for a few dozen guys. To her surprise, there weren’t a bunch of guys around, just Anthony, Kade, and Scar.
Anthony was pushing out some shoulder work, a trainer next to him. He lifted his eyebrows when he saw her and finished a couple more reps.
The assistant efficiently steered Cassidy through the weights. “The quarterbacks train together. Everyone on the team has a different assigned lifting time.”
“’Sup, Cass?” Kade hollered across the room, pushing out his own sets.
“Hey.” She forced a smile and waved.
Her eyes met Scar’s and she felt something pass between them. Admittedly, she’d been intrigued by the guy the other night at the club. He’d been somewhat reserved, but kind. The ex-military connection had made it comfortable with him right off. He’d told her how he’d walked on the practice team after serving two tours in Iraq, so she had immediate respect for him. He’d told her more about the sparring project he was trying to start up to help vets. That was admirable in her eyes. Maybe she could mention it in the article, especially if Anthony decided to back it. She liked that idea.
As she got to Anthony, he stood and smiled. “Hey.”
Even though he was sweaty, and dang if he hadn’t turned into a very fine, filled-out man. His biceps were huge and she had to admit she was highly attracted to him. It was a bit strange, remembering him in high school and seeing him now; he was taller, bigger, but his eyes were the same. She’d been studying him online over the weekend even more. He’d been through a lot. Walking again after the injuries he’d sustained would be hard enough, but being on a pro team again was admirable.
Tamara turned to her. “Mr. Knight thinks that it would be good to highlight what kind of training he’s doing and put in some quotes from his trainers.”
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br /> Cass nodded and opened up a video recording app on her phone. She’d found it was easier, when she wasn’t sitting and writing, when she was trying to capture “the essence” of a life, to record. She could rewatch the parts she wanted to later.
Anthony put his hand out to cover the direct line of sight from her phone to him. “No, no, no.”
Tamara looked confused for a second, then turned to her. “Mr. Kincaid doesn’t want to be recorded.”
She rolled her eyes, tired of this woman telling her what everyone wanted. “Well, Mr. Kincaid can get over it. This is how I work.” She looked directly at Tamara. “I’ve got it handled, thank you.”
Tamara sucked in a breath, clearly shocked someone would speak to him that way.
Anthony grinned and waved a hand. “It’s fine, Tamara.”
Tamara scoffed and shook her head, moving away from them.
Cassidy turned to the trainer and stuck her hand out. “I’m Cassidy Stone, doing an exclusive for the Dallas Star. May I ask some questions?”
The trainer grinned at her. “I’m Lee. Go ahead.”
She delved right in. “In a survey conducted online, fans agreed the thing they wanted to know most about Anthony is if any of his neck injuries or his leg injury would affect the way he potentially will play.”
Lee glanced between the two of them, looking mischievous. He seemed to sense the energy between them.
Anthony sighed. “Did I mention, this woman gets to the heart of the matter quick?”
Lee grinned. “It’s alright, I’m a fan of your work, Ms. Stone. I know you and Anthony go way back.” He shot a mischievous grin at Anthony.
It didn’t sit well with her to wonder what Anthony had told Lee about her.
Anthony coughed. “Get on with it, Lee.”
After a brief nod, Lee got serious. “Well, his injuries were extensive, but when he started training with the Titans a couple of months ago I assessed him, and I would have to say that he is good to go. A-plus. That doesn’t mean there’s not always room for improving, gaining strength, but he is completely healed and he can throw as far and accurately as he was throwing for the Houston Sentinels.”
Anthony scoffed. “What Lee means is—I’m not as good as Zeus, but I’m good enough to be second-string.” He winked at her.
She swung her phone camera between the two men, noting that the cockiness in him was a huge cover for how vulnerable he really felt. She remembered when he was the star quarterback of their high school team and there was so much competition between him and his brother.
Lee turned back to her. “I want to show you some things in our training we do that is different from other teams.” He motioned for her to follow him to a different part of the gym. “This is called functional training.” He pulled a band that was attached to a wall. He had Anthony come over and show her some of the exercises with just the band. “There is a whole theory how functional training is better than simple weight lifting. The whole concept is finding a way to keep all the tendons and muscles surrounding the injury strong and flexible.” Anthony demonstrated some exercises he did and Lee went through and pointed out what muscles and tendons the exercise was used for and how it strengthened the body.
After about an hour of going through different parts of his injury and what exercises help strengthen him, Anthony walked her out of the training area and she followed him. He was still sweaty and he made a joke about it. “Guess this isn’t the best time to ask you out on a date.”
Everything inside of her froze. She’d been reserved about coming and doing this interview, especially after she’d dreamed of those kisses all weekend.
He put his hand up and shook his head, actually blushing. “Okay, that came out wrong. I didn’t mean that. I meant we could continue to talk about the research for this article tonight over dinner.”
She didn’t know if she should ignore the comment, or deal with it. She opted to ignore it. “Okay. Let’s talk about past women you have dated.”
“Now?” Anthony looked around nervously.
Kade and Scar were gone. So were their trainers. Lee was organizing some stations at another part of the gym.
She put on a sassy smile. “No time like the present to tell me what the playboy has been up to.”
He let out a rippling laugh. “Not a playboy,” he insisted.
Too bad she knew differently. Last night she’d allowed herself to really search through his past girlfriends. She cocked an eyebrow and tried to be professional and not think about how it did kind of bug her to see so many women on his arms at different events he’d gone to socially. “Not even a statement about Sheena Turner?”
His face turned red and he moved closer to her, gesturing to a small table in the corner. “Let’s sit.”
She accommodated him, sitting.
He sat across from her, looking like he was about to take some awful medicine from the doctor. “Look.” He spread his hands and sucked in a breath. “We dated. I liked her. I’m ashamed to admit that the woman deceived me. She tried to put a wedge between Kade and I. Another wedge in addition to our issues at the time.” He rubbed a hand through his hair. “I made mistakes in my past, Cass.”
It felt like he was telling this to her, personally, and not for the article. Her heart rate kicked up and she didn’t know if she liked this or not.
“Before Sheena, I just dated. I just let the cleat chasers be the ones I took to events and …” He trailed off.
“Cleat chasers?” she asked, although she knew what he was talking about.
Letting out a sigh, Anthony shook his head. “Please don’t quote that. Actually, it wouldn’t be that great to quote any of what I’ve said.”
It annoyed her to think of how many women he’d been with. More than annoyed her. She opened a notebook and jotted down some notes, no longer feeling like recording him on her phone. She didn’t want to rewatch this. “Maybe we move on.”
He sighed. “Look, I don’t know how much you want to put in about me and my dating history. I will tell you I haven’t dated since the injury.”
Cassidy jerked up from her notebook to evaluate him.
Anthony’s jawline was hard and he licked his lips. “The other night out with you was the first time I’ve kissed a woman since I got hurt.”
Yes, this was way too personal, and no, that would not go in the article. She waved a hand in the air, cutting him off.
He let out a low laugh. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if anything I’m giving you is useful.”
She met his eyes and put back on professionalism. “So, barring this past year, and before Sheena Turner, would you say any of the relationships were serious?”
He still looked uncomfortable, and truthfully, she wanted to know this for herself. “I lived with a woman after college for a year, my first year on the Sentinels. It didn’t last.”
Of course she knew who that was. “Terry Frances.”
He looked bored. “Yep.”
She nodded and wrote down the name.
Anthony crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. “What about you, Cass? Before Kyle?”
She dashed the question aside. “I’m not the one being interviewed.”
“Fair play is fair play, right? I’m just curious.”
His tone didn’t sound “just curious.” Plus, it didn’t suit to have him look at her so closely, with such intensity. She knew Anthony and knew she may as well get it over with. “I dated some guys, nothing serious. I … Kyle was the first man I could see a future with.”
Anthony lifted his eyebrows in acknowledgement and nodded.
She felt a bit put on the spot and tried to change the subject back to his training. “Do you feel that you’re back to one hundred percent?”
“Yeah.” Obnoxiously, he flexed his arm in a bicep curl. “Better than ever, baby.”
Impressed, and liking that he wanted to impress her but not wanting him to know that, she rolled her eyes. “Enough, Boss.”
A dopey grin filled his face. “You called me Boss.” Laughing louder, he stood. “Do you need more poses? Do you want to have the photographer come and just have me do some poses for the article?” He went into full-out bodybuilding poses.
It would be awful to look in the mirror right now, because she knew her cheeks would be red. “Stop.”
He laughed, but stopped.
She cleared her throat. “Moving on, let’s talk about your eating habits, because your fans want to know.”
He scrunched up his face like he’d eaten rotten food. “Why do they care about that?”
She laughed and looked at the time. A jolt of panic came over her. “Shoot.” She stood, gathering her things. “Listen, would you mind if I came back tomorrow? Dad has his last radiation appointment this afternoon and I told him I would give him a ride home. I didn’t realize it was getting so late.”
“Is he okay?”
She nodded. “It’s just another treatment and he swears he can drive himself home, but he usually falls asleep on me halfway to the ranch.”
He waved her away. “Go. No problem.” He ran a hand through his hair, and once again she thought about how nice his bicep looked.
“Thanks.”
Before she could leave, he snapped his fingers. “Hold up, I was going to ask you something.”
“Okay?”
“My father is doing this party out at the ranch. A celebration for the first Titans victory of the season. All the players and their dates will be there. Of course, I thought it would be good for the exclusive for you to have a couple of pictures of where I grew up.” He cocked his head to the side.
She quashed her nervous flutters. “I can send a photographer. What night is it?”
“It’s Thursday, but, c’mon, Cass. We only have two weeks for this, and if you want to interview Dad, that would be a good time.”
She frowned.
“Just come with me.” When Anthony asked like that, with those puppy eyes, all the memories came flooding back.
This insane attraction was annoying. “No,” she said quickly.
“We can talk about all my eating habits there,” he said just as quickly. “You can witness them firsthand.”