Pinned Down: A Triple Threat Sports Romance Read Online Free Page B

him.
     
    “You sounded reluctant on the phone.” He nodded to the server, and she came over to get his order.
     
    “I wasn’t sure exactly what you wanted to talk about, but I figured I’d give you a shot,” I joked after we ordered our food.
     
    “Thanks, and that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about,” he said.
     
    “Oh?” I cocked an eyebrow. I wondered what he was getting at. I was very curious to hear more of what he had to say.
     
    “Yeah, I’m in need of some help, and I think you might just be the person I need to turn to,” he told me. His charming tone was gone, and it sounded like he was just trying to talk to me.
     
    “I’m not following,” I admitted. I felt oddly comfortable talking to him. I knew we were just supposed to be meeting about business, but I felt like we were old friends meeting up for a bite to eat and to catch up with each other.
     
    “You saw the papers this morning, right?”
     
    Our food came before I could say anything back. I had ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with fries, and he ordered a patty melt. It was greasy food, but it was a good lunch. We thanked our waitress and started eating.
     
    “Yeah, I saw the tabloids and everything. We’re even online,” I told him. “What’s that got to do with our meeting?” I felt I knew what he was about to say as soon as I asked the question.
     
    “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I have a bit of a reputation. I’m sure you saw some of the headlines hinting that you’re the next in a long line of women,” he said over his food.
     
    “Right. I noticed that. Things like Older Brothers Director Gets Lucky .” I smiled while I told him. I thought it was pretty amusing.
     
    “Well, I got in trouble this morning for the headlines,” he explained. “The tabloids made it look like I was getting right back into the same pattern of trouble that got me traded from my last team.”
     
    I stopped him. “Why are you telling me all of this?” It seemed like someone with his reputation wouldn’t have been so quick to give up all of his secrets the way he was. We barely knew each other. Why was he opening up to me the way he was, unless he really wanted me to help?
“You are probably the only person I know who can help me straighten out my image. My new coach and the owner of this team both want me to be a positive role model, and that’s your field,” he said, looking at me with those same puppy-dog eyes that got me when we met.
     
    “That is what I do. I connect kids with people who could be positive influences in their lives, but I haven’t had to help someone construct a positive image for themselves. What exactly do you have in mind? When I asked you about being someone’s Older Brother earlier, you sort of balked at the idea and said you had something else you wanted to do. I’m assuming you aren’t thinking about using the Older Brothers program to create this positive image.” I took the opportunity to challenge him a little bit, to make him present his plan to me clearly.
     
    “No, that’s not exactly what I had in mind. I need a girlfriend. I need a steady girlfriend, especially since that’s been the problem all these years. It’s been one woman after another. I can’t lie, though. It really has been that way,” he said with a chuckle, looking at me with a goofy, self-conscious smile and laughter in his eyes.
     
    “So, you want me to set you up with someone so that you can stop running around?” I asked.
     
    He shook his head and leveled his eyes on me. “No.”
     
    My jaw hit the floor, and my eyes opened wide as I realized what he was trying to ask me without actually saying the words. I reached for my coffee to break the moment, but I was shaking too much to pick up the cup. Suddenly, I was incredibly nervous. In the back of my head, I had sort of suspected it was going to be something like that, but I never really figured he was going to actually ask me to do