Game For Love: Game On (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free Page A

branding. If being covered in mud and muck and working around the clock until he was ready to drop didn’t finish his annual though temporary transition to normalcy, nothing would. Even with the occasional insane photographer trying to sneak up on him at the ranch.
    Strange dichotomy his life was. A week in the lap of luxury doing nothing, followed by a few months of cattle ranching, which had to be one of the hardest jobs on God’s green earth. But his plan to keep himself grounded and sane amidst the surreal life of fame and fortune that had broken more than a few good men had worked this long. Why change it now?
    Trent couldn’t think of a single reason. He also couldn’t figure why he was still inside when the great outdoors—or at least the pool and the bar with a spectacular view of the horizon—beckoned.
    A quick change out of his traveling clothes and into a swimsuit, tank top and flip-flops and Trent was ready to head out. After slipping on sunglasses and a non-descript baseball hat over his newly lightened hair, he strode out into the late afternoon sun.
    The flight across t he country as well as the three-hour time change had eaten up a good bit of his first day, but that was fine. He had plenty more left to enjoy. Besides, he kind of liked the pool later in the evening when everyone else had gone inside to get showered and dressed for dinner. When the sun didn’t burn so hot and the air was still. The silence broken only by the sound of the crashing waves on the shore and the rustle of the breeze in the palm trees.
    Paradise . . . interrupted by the sound of a text coming through to the cell phone in his pocket. Trent drew in a breath and tried not to be annoyed. That kneejerk reaction fled the moment he opened the photo and saw a tiny red-faced bundle of joy wrapped in a pink hospital blanket. The newborn was so small she fit in Cole’s hands.
    Trent smiled and hit reply, typing in a text to his friend.
    Beautiful! Good thing she looks like Anna. Congrats!
    He was going to have to send them something. Flowers, maybe. Though everyone and their brother would be sending those. Something more personal maybe. He’d call Calvin later and see if there were any shops nearby he could recommend. Hell, Trent never went to stores at home. He had everything from his clothes to his food delivered to his house in San Francisco. Baby gift shopping could be fun.
    Later.
    Now, the only thing he was looking to order was a nice fruity tropical drink. Extra rum. Hold the tiny umbrella.

    CHAPTER FOUR
    Laurel knew she had to be patient.
    Not every case was going to be open and shut. She knew that tracking Trent O’Shea wasn’t anything like her usual assignments. Most times all she had to do was sit outside a cheating husband’s office and tail him to a rendezvous with his mistress. Then, she’d snap a few photos, write down a license plate number and report back to the client.
    Not this time. Yes, if all else failed—and God she hoped it didn’t—she could wait until he wasn’t traveling. Until he was back in San Francisco and on a regular schedule again, but that could be a while since the team was on a break between seasons. Waiting any longer than she already had was a luxury her client didn’t have with a baby on the way.
    The timing of this case and the professional football season couldn’t have been worse. It was working against her.
    Stupid football. Laurel had known next to nothing about the sport a few days ago. Now, she knew entirely too much and none of it seemed to be helping her in her case.
    An email pinged into her inbox. Not holding out much hope it would be anything useful after going on two days of dead ends in her investigation, she sighed and reached for the keyboard. She opened the alert she’d set up to automatically email her whenever the search engine’s web crawlers hit something new on the web about Trent O’Shea.
    This particular post looked to be on one of the social networks popular