Catching Cameron: A Love and Football Novel Read Online Free Page A

for him, picked up his jacket, and shoved both arms into it. His agent Jason was talking. Zach heard the words, but they weren’t processing.
    “Listen. We’ll take a breath, get you some water and a bite to eat, and we’ll try this again with somebody else. I don’t know what happened out there, but this interview has been teased all week. We don’t want to be the ones pulling out of it.” Jason took a few steps toward Zach. “Hey, buddy. You okay?”
    No, he wasn’t okay. He’d sent the cheerleader and her three girlfriends he had drinks with last night home in a cab after seeing Cameron in the restaurant he deliberately followed her to. He didn’t have the heart to close the deal with anyone else, because he couldn’t forget how he felt when he saw her again. He was torn between frustration and fury. Lust played a part, too. Despite the fact she jumped up and down on his last nerve a few minutes ago, he still wanted her more than he’d wanted any other woman he’d ever met.
    “Everyone else on her damn show gets the softball interviews, the hair tossing, the endless leg crossing-and-recrossing, and the ‘take me home tonight’ lip licking.” He was pacing by now. “She’s attacking me ? What did I ever do to her, anyway?” He knew damn well what he did to her, but he wasn’t going to admit it, even to Jason. He was wearing a hole in the carpet. Right now, he was beyond caring. “She’s never played the game. What could she possibly know about it?” Zach crossed the room to the window that looked out over Times Square, but he wasn’t interested in the view. He jammed both hands into his pockets.
    “For someone who never played the game, she had your number,” Jason said.
    “Whose side are you on?”
    “Yours,” Jason reassured him. “We need to figure out how to contain the damage, buddy.”
    “ Damage ? What are you talking about?”
    “You need an interview. We promised Under Armour that their launch was going to get maximum publicity, and PSN is a major contributor toward that effort.” He frowned at the screen on his phone. Not coincidentally, it rang. “Edwards,” he told the person calling.
    Zach continued to pretend he was staring out the window. His mind whirled. She couldn’t still be mad over the cab thing. She wouldn’t put him on blast for something that happened ten years ago, would she? Last season was tough for everyone in Seattle’s locker room. It wasn’t just him. A team that had expected to win the division handily had finished six and ten. If she still had a personal thing with him, it might have been nice if she’d mentioned it beforehand. One thing’s for sure. He’d rather be dragged buck naked over broken glass than spend any more time with her at all at the moment.
    Then again, who was he kidding? If she walked through the door right now, it would be all he could do to not pull her into his arms and kiss her breathless.
    Jason’s voice broke into his reverie. “They what ? This happened half an hour ago. What the hell! Let me talk to him. I’ll call you back.” He pulled a bottle of water out of the stocked mini-fridge. “Zach, we’ve got a problem.”
    C AMERON’S PHONE HAD been ringing for the past fifteen minutes as she sat in her producer Ralph’s office with the door shut. He’d spent the first ten minutes alternately shouting at and scolding her over the disastrous interview. He’d finally exhausted himself somewhat, and now he was perched on the corner of his desk with arms folded across his abdomen as she read off the identities of those texting or calling to inquire about what had just happened. She wasn’t calling anyone back until she figured out what to do next.
    Zach Anderson’s agent had called. Her agent had called. Cameron’s assistant texted one line: “Do I still have a job?”
    She couldn’t believe she’d lost it like she had. It was the smirk. He smirked at her, and she couldn’t control what came out of her mouth. She