Escorting the Player (The Escort Collection Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

things to drag this out—but then you're going to spend a fuck-ton of money on legal fees. Which is fine by me." He chortled. "But seriously, if you agree to at least some of what she's asking for, she'll probably settle. I think she wants to be done with this quick."
    "Why do you think that?"
    He was silent for a second. "Because her lawyer told me so."
    "And why is that?"
    Another pause. "Because she wants to get married again. As soon as possible."
    I surprised myself by laughing. I just sat on the couch and laughed and laughed.

Chapter Four
    C HASE
    A few days later, my doorbell rang. I sat up. Shit. I'd been wearing the same pair of sweats, doing nothing but drinking beer and eating Chinese delivery and pizza. I was camped out in my living room, the NFL Networkon constantly, not even bothering to go to my bedroom to sleep.
    But it was only seven a.m. and I hadn't ordered any Chinese food yet.
    The doorbell rang again. Double shit . It was probably my mother.
    I checked the security camera.
    Then I threw the door open. "Shut up."
    "No— you shut up," Eric said, coming in and giving me a hug. My agent pulled back, his nose wrinkling below his black, stylish rectangular glasses. "You smell. Worse than usual."
    He looked me up and down, taking in the rumpled sweats, which contrasted garishly with his Armani suit. Then he turned and inspected my messy house. "You bringing man-town to the main living room? I like it," he said, his face breaking into a grin. He pushed past me and surveyed the empty takeout cartons, the beer bottles, the blankets and remote controls scattered everywhere haphazardly…
    "Jessica would not approve," he said, clapping me on the back, "so I do."
    "What're you doing here?" I asked. Eric rarely came up to Boston. He preferred Los Angeles, where there was sun. And women wearing a lot less clothing than they usually wore up here in New England.
    He grinned at me. "I talked to Martha. She said she was worried about you. So I thought I'd come up and stage a man-tervention." His eyes flicked to my sweatpants again and then my hair, which was most likely really messed up. "I can see I made a wise choice."
    He threw his bag down and stalked into the kitchen. I followed, shuffling behind.
    "You want a beer?" I asked.
    "It's seven in the morning—four a.m. my time." Eric raised his eyebrows. "We're having coffee."
    " I'm having beer."
    He took out two mugs, ignoring me, and turned my Nespresso machine on. He eyed the sink filled with dirty dishes, then opened the fridge to find it mostly empty. "Your housekeeper off this week?"
    "I think Jessica fired her," I mumbled.
    Eric laughed, shaking his head. "She's bitter to the end."
    "You can say that again."
    Eric was still chuckling. He hated Jessica and seemed positively giddy that she'd packed up and left. "It's gonna be okay, I promise. We'll get this all straightened out."
    He handed me a coffee, and I hated to admit it, but it tasted great. Even better than beer.
    Eric eyed me over his mug. "Why're you so upset? You haven't even liked her for the past year and a half."
    I scrubbed my hands over my face. "I'm not upset about Jess."
    "Then why're you such a wreck? What's with the sweatpants and the beer?"
    "Football," I said and shuffled back out toward the couch. "I'm upset about football."
    "Ah. Football. I should have known." Eric sat down next to me, moving some empty food cartons so he could put his feet up on the coffee table. "Wes handled the press conference well. He never gives anything away. Christ, those reporters must hate him."
    I laughed. "They'd hate him if he wasn't so good at his job. He's going to try to keep the fight quiet for as long as possible. But Pax's coming back to practice soon. Someone's going to get a picture of his mangled face and put it all together. Unless Jessica lays it all out for them first." I was surprised she hadn't released a statement announcing our split and that I'd beaten up her new lover. That was exactly the