I nodded. “Thanks.”
I got up and walked to Mike Carlson’s office. I’d worked for Carlson from the start, and he was a good boss.
“Sit down, Kina,” he said when I walked into his office. “I have a new project for you.”
I sat down and looked at him eagerly. I liked getting new clients. I liked starting with someone from scratch and building something great.
Carlson handed me a file. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Florida Sharks,” he said.
I frowned. Of course, I knew what they were.
My best friend had married the star quarterback. But, even more so, they were an NFL team, and the local one at that. And I had just had bathroom sex with a pro football player.
Never mind that, I told myself.
I was miffed that Carlson assumed I wouldn’t know about football. Probably because I was a girl. But, whatever. My job was to know about a lot of different things.
“It’s a football team,” I said.
Carlson nodded. “One of the new players needs a little help.”
I usually got businesses that needed help, not football teams. Not celebrities.
“Why did I get this?” I asked.
“Because you’ve been working hard, and you deserve it,” Carlson said.
I looked up at him. If it was a football player, it was a very high-profile client. This was like getting a raise.
“Thank you, sir,” I said.
Carlson nodded at me, flashing a smile before turning back to his work. I got up, knowing I’d been dismissed. I clutched the file to my chest as I walked back to my desk.
Oh. My. God. This was my first famous client. Ever.
As soon as I sat down, I opened the file. I was so excited. I had never gotten someone this big. Lacey had gotten some big, famous people everyone knew about, and this was my turn. I had gotten …
Jacob Lawson.
Oh, God.
Could it really be? How could fate be so twisted? Jacob played for the Sharks? And I was just assigned to work with him?
Before I could process it, Carlson cleared his throat and said, “Kina? Is this okay? I know it’s a big assignment and might seem overwhelming, but I also figured you would want it and could handle it…”
“Yes,” I said, rushing in to reassure him that he had made the right decision. “I do want it. I can handle it.”
I’m not sure if I can handle Jacob, I admitted to myself, if handle him means be around him and not want a repeat of the other night.
But, I was going to have to try. It would be pretty hard to work with Jacob, not only because he had been my brother’s best friend but also because I had just fucked him in a bathroom stall and I couldn’t get him out of my mind.
It was just my luck that he was the first famous person I was assigned to help. But, I had a job to do, and I was going to do it well.
“Good,” said Carlson, as he left. “I’m glad to hear it.”
I paged through the photos, trying to calm down my racing heart. There was Jacob, looking the same as he had last night but very different from in high school, since he had changed a lot since then. He’d about tripled in size, and in a good way. He’d cut his blond hair short, and it made his blue eyes stand out so much more. He had all those tattoos. My mind drifted off, remembering the way my fingers had traced them on his chest as he’d fucked me.
I willed my mind to stare back at the photographs in front of me and get into the present instead of the past. He had a cocky attitude, like he thought he was God’s gift to mankind. That hadn’t really changed, come to think of it.
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to concentrate on my job, and on doing the same thing I would do with any other client. I asked Trish, our secretary, to call Jacob and find out when he was available to come in for a meeting.
“He said he’s available now,” she said, after calling him. “He’ll be here in less than an hour.”
Oh, wow.
I was going to be face to face with Jacob Lawson once again. A lot sooner than I was anticipating.
Chapter 5 – Kina
I met Jacob at one of the meeting rooms in our offices.
When he walked through the door, his presence spilled into the room before him. It filled the room, pushing into the corners until the room was so full of him.
He looked as surprised as I had been, to find out I was his PR manager.
“What the hell?” he asked, his handsome eyes wide with surprise. “Is this for real?”
“I know,” I said, shaking my head to let him know it was crazy to me too. “I couldn’t believe it either. But this is my job, so…”
He nodded solemnly, which reassured me. He seemed to know that it was important to stay professional. I appreciated him for that. And then I realized that he was probably embarrassed too, due to the nature of needing a PR manager, and then finding out it was me.
He sat down across the corner from me, and I could smell his cologne. I struggled to think straight.
“So, Ms. Kina Peterson,” he said when he sat down. “You’re the one assigned to clean up my image.
I nodded. “Yep, that’s me. I’m your new PR manager.”
I looked up at him. His haircut really did make his eyes stand out. They were a bright blue, the color of fall skies.
He smiled at me, and it was a smile that changed his face completely, turning him from roguishly handsome to drop dead gorgeous.
“Well, let’s get started then,” he said, resolutely. I appreciated his strength in this crazy situation. “What all does this entail? You know that I’m not really here of my own free will. It’s kind of a condition of my continuing to play. So, you tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it.”
I looked at his file again. He was making me feel unbalanced. I couldn’t believe that the guy I slept with was not only my brother’s best friend but also my very first famous client, a football player. But in this case, he was more like infamous.
“Let’s talk about the charges,” I said.
Jacob swallowed, his eyes sliding away from me. He didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t blame him. Assault charges were a big deal.
“It was a misunderstanding,” he said.
I nodded. “I gather it was. I read the reports.”
He didn’t answer me. When his face was this serious, he looked completely different. He looked less like the kid I’d seen before and more like the player who had been in the news a while ago.
“Look,” he said. “I know that it was wrong. I feel like shit about it. I’m ready for a better image. Things just keep going wrong for me, and I just want the press to calm down and let me carry on with my life now.”
I nodded, still looking at his file. I could imagine what it had to be like to be in the press this much. A lot of my clients had been in the news frequently, but it was different for the celebrities.
“It will come,” I said. “We just need to work at it, and in time, everything will change.”
He smiled when I said it and that carefree look was back. When he smiled, his eyes were almost cerulean. They were so striking.
“I’m looking forward to working together,” Jacob said, his smile unnerving me. I smiled back at him.
“I look forward to it, too, Jacob.”
My phone beeped on the table, and I glanced at it. I would have ignored it—I was in a meeting, after all—but Jacob’s name had popped up on the screen. I frowned and lifted the phone.
I followed the tabloids and a new post had just popped up.
“Excuse me,” I said and unlocked the screen.
IS JACOB LAWSON SERIOUS ABOUT HIS GAME OR HIS FAME?
I skimmed through an article. It looked like some small blogger was bragging about sleeping with Jacob. She had a scanned copy of his autograph.
I sighed.
Don’t take this personally, I told myself. Stay professional.
He was obviously a player. I knew this from the beginning. It w
as just a fun one night stand that meant nothing. So why did it hurt so much to be looking at a picture of him and another girl?
Chapter 6 – Kina
“Did you get into any trouble, lately?” I asked Jacob, holding my breath to find out what he was going to tell me. He’d better not lie. Or try to say I meant something special, or something cheesy like that.
Jacob shook his head. “I wasn’t fighting or anything, if that’s what you mean. It’s part of my contract with the Sharks. If I fight, they can suspend my contract with them.”
I shook my head. “I mean with women.”
His face paled just a little. If I hadn’t been watching him this intently, I would have missed it.
“Other women besides…” he asked, trailing off.
“Yes,” I told him.
Besides me, yes. I wouldn’t be posting pictures of us all over my blog.
“Not really. I mean, I’m not celibate, if that’s what you’re asking.”
My cheeks burned. Clearly, I knew that.
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
I turned the phone so he could see the screen. He frowned and took the phone from me, scrolling through the article.
“Shit,” he breathed.
“If this is going to happen, I’m not taking you on,” I said. “I’m not here for damage control as more incidents pop up. I’m here to fix what’s been broken.”
Jacob sighed, handing the phone back to me. “I understand,” he said. “It wasn’t even about that. I didn’t think she knew who I was until afterward. And this was the night before… you know… just so you know. It was just some stupid hook up. I didn’t think there was anything more to it.”
I was happy to know that this had happened before he met me, even though I knew I had no claim to him. But I was annoyed that he was that promiscuous, to have randomly hooked up with some other girl the night before he had hooked up with me.
I shook my head and decided to focus on the matter at hand. I had to help deal with the fall out of his past stunts, whether or not I personally liked their existence.
“You can’t just go around trusting everyone. They know who you are. All of them. Whether it’s because of the assault or because of football, there are people out there who are going to want a piece of your fame.”
He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hands on his jeans. They were Levi’s, faded in all the right places. He was nervous about the blog, about what they were saying about him. That was a good sign—if he cared, then we could do something about it.
“So, what are we going to do about this?” he asked, gesturing to the phone.
“We can fix it,” I said.
“Really?”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure how just yet, but I had gotten this job for a reason—I was good at what I did—and somehow, I had always managed to get it to work before.
He smiled at me again, and it drove that haunted look out of his eyes. It made me want to get him to smile every time just to see him look as carefree as he did. When he was so serious, I saw what the past year had done to him, and it was ugly. But not ugly enough that I didn’t want to sleep with him again, I noticed, as my panties dampened.
He opened his mouth to say something when my phone rang. It was an unknown number. I frowned.
“Sorry,” I said and answered it.
“Kina?”
Kyle’s voice was thick on the other end of the line. And I remembered the fact that he was calling from an unknown number. This could only mean one thing. I pressed the phone against my chest and closed my eyes briefly.
Kyle was always in trouble. Since he’d failed to go pro the way Jacob had, he’d been regressing to the point of being a problem. My parents had given up on him, but he was my twin, and I couldn’t do that to him. We had been together since the womb.
Which meant I would answer his calls every time because the chances that he just wanted to say hi were very, very slim. He always had some bigger problem that he needed me to help him solve.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I have to take this.”
I stepped out of the meeting room, phone still against my chest, before I pressed it against my ear.
“I’m in a meeting, Kyle,” I said.
With your ex best friend. Who I hooked up with.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to fill him in.
“I’m in jail,” he replied, confirming my suspicions.
Fucking fantastic.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Nothing. I just drank too much, and they locked me up.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s not even five yet, for God’s sake.”
He didn’t answer me. I could imagine him giving me the nonchalant shrug I always got from him when he didn’t have an answer for me.
“I’m coming,” I said.
I just needed to pick him up. Someone had to take him off the street until he was sober and no longer a public disgrace.
I walked back into the meeting room.
“I’m sorry, Jacob. I must cut this short. My brother needs me.”
Jacob nodded. “I understand.”
I wasn’t sure if he did. I didn’t know how much he knew about Kyle, how much he’d kept tabs on his former friend.
He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say more. But then he closed it.
“Give Kyle my regards,” he said. “I hope he’s doing well.”
I had a feeling he had been planning to ask how Jacob was doing, but had then decided against it. Perhaps he feared the answer wouldn’t be good. If so, he would be right.
“We’ll be in touch,” I said as I collected my things. “I’ll call you.”
Jacob nodded and held out his hand. I took it. His hand was warm and large, a little calloused. It was great to hold.
“I hope it turns around for him,” he said.
Apparently, he did know something about Kyle and who he was now.
I nodded. “Thank you. I hope so, too.”
It was odd, hearing him bring up the past. He had known Kyle once upon a time. But he didn’t know what he had turned into since they had stopped talking.
Jacob walked to the door and let me walk through, first. What a gentleman. I left him and my safe life behind to step into the chaotic life of my brother and save him. Again.
Chapter 7 – Jacob
During the training season, we trained every day. We had to get back into peak condition. Me, more than anyone else.
Coach Rudi let us run plays on Wednesday.
“Don’t do it until you get it right,” he told us all the time. “Do it until you can’t get it wrong.”
So, we ran the plays repeatedly until we couldn’t think about anything else anymore.
I liked running plays. Liked that I didn’t have to think about them. Football was second nature to me. It was the one thing that kept my mind off all the shit that happened in my life. Ironic, then, that the most shit in my life revolved around football right now.
“Again!” Coach shouted, and the guys groaned. We had run the same play about a hundred times now.
We ran back to our positions. I was ready when the ball was supposed to come to me. Markus had the ball, and he was supposed to pass to me. I would pass it on to Brian.
I had my hands up and ready for the ball when Markus bypassed me and threw it straight to Brian, who caught it. The play finished in no more than two seconds after that.
My lungs burned and my thighs screamed at me after being out of action for so long. It didn’t feel like I’d been training as hard as I had since coming to Miami. And I was pissed, too. The guys were shutting me out on purpose.
God, I knew that I had a history. I knew that they didn’t like me. But how the hell was I going to prove myself if I wasn’t allowed to, if they were just going to push past me like I didn’t exist?
I was frustrated. I felt like shit, to be honest. I was getting angry with the players bypassing me the way they di
d, but I had to ignore it, push it away, because I wasn’t allowed to get violent. It was in my contract.
If I punched someone in the face—like Markus, for instance—my career would be over for good. No one would want me again.
It was a miracle the Sharks had decided to take me in the first place. I knew I should be grateful, but I couldn’t help but be resentful.
Still. Mind over matter, I reminded myself. No matter how pissed off I got at how the guys were treating me or how much I didn’t belong, I couldn’t lose my cool.
People like Markus knew it, too. He was always riling me up, trying to get me to snap. The only reason I kept it together was to keep doing what I loved. I could bite back my temper if I wanted to. I could control myself.
I didn’t have to be the man that Marisa had made me, no matter how badly she’d fucked me over.
“Again!” Coach shouted.
I took a deep breath, pushed away the anger, the frustration, the feeling of complete inadequacy, and ran the play again.
Even though Markus skipped me another three times. Even though Brian caught the ball every time like the play worked exactly the way they had already been playing it. Without me.
Even though Coach Rudi didn’t say anything either.
I put my head down and pushed through, doing what I knew how to do, no matter how hard it got. Because that was what football was. That was what my life was. I wasn’t going to give up just because it was getting hard.
Hell, it had been hard for a long time. But football was all I had left. I couldn’t give it up.
When we walked back to the locker room, Brian jogged up next to me.
“Sorry about that, earlier,” he said. “The plays. That had nothing to do with me.”
I nodded. “No sweat,” I said.
I felt like he should have said something or dropped the ball, but who was I do decide how he had to handle Markus?
“No,” Brian said. “I want you to know that it wasn’t my idea. Markus is just being a dick. And don’t worry. He’s like that to everyone, so don’t take it personally.”
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