Quarterback: Bad Boy Sport Star Romance. Read Online Free Page B

impossible.

Chapter 5.
    I take a deep breath and start rehearsing my, “Hello. Mal,” in my head over and over again when I see him embraced by a beautiful woman.
    The adrenaline spike I’d felt when I’d thought he was coming to talk to me drops sharply, and I’m left with an icy feeling in my gut that is too close to jealousy for my comfort.
    “Are you gonna say hello or what?” Lori asks, pulling me out of my turmoil. Lori is the only person I told about that night with Action in college. I wasn’t exactly proud of it, but I felt like I needed to tell someone, and Lori had gushed instead of scolding.
    “What? Why would I…? He’s not here to see me.”
    “Well, he sure as hell isn’t here to see himself,” she says, giving me a nudge with her shoulder. “Anyway, you haven’t had a date in so long, your vibrator is about to propose.”
    “So, what? I should just throw myself at a guy I...used once in the hopes that he wants to be used again?”
    Lori shrugs. “If you don’t, one of these skanks is going to.”
    “Lori!” I say sharply, and a couple nearby turns away from the photo of a wide receiver squatting half naked behind home plate, face obscured by a catcher’s mask.
    Mal is standing by his own photo now with the same woman whom he had embraced moments earlier. They seem to be having a long conversation about the contour of his arms, that strong back, those hips that fit so well with mine. It’s hard to not get distracted by the flashbacks from that night. The way he lifted me so effortlessly. The way he looked into my eyes so earnestly. I couldn’t look at them long.
    Get it together Kasey! That was years ago, I tell myself.
    The woman he is standing with is pointing out the shadows in the picture. I can tell by the way she points and gesticulates that she’s a buyer. I know how to spot the serious ones. Normally I would move in for the kill, or the sell, when I see this sort of fawning over one of my curated pieces, but, there he is. I look at Lori one more time. Her eyes open wide and her brows raise as if those fuzzy caterpillars could push me over to him themselves.
    “Okay, okay! I’ll go!” I take a deep breath. One foot in front of the other Kasey. One foot in front of the other. This is just like any other sell. Don’t worry that it’s your first solo and that Mal is here, right there. Thinking about it doesn’t help, so I take Lori’s wine from her and finish the glass, straightening my blazer and skirt before walking toward them.
    “The composition’s incredible on this one, don’t you think?” I ask, smile plastered on my face as I sidle up next to the woman. “You can tell the photographer has a full appreciation of his subject.”
    “He’s not the only one,” she says with a laugh, laying her hand on Mal’s bicep in a way that is too familiar.
    “Yes, this is a popular one,” I admit, finally letting my eyes slide over to Mal. He’s watching me carefully, something darkly intense in his gaze. I’m about to look away and introduce myself to the potential buyer when Mal’s hand covers hers for a moment and then he speaks.
    “Mel, this is Kasey Jacobs. She’s curating the show.” I’m so shocked that he remembers my name that I almost don’t catch his next words. “Kasey, this is my agent, Melody.”
    I should smile and shake her hand and thank her for coming. I should tell her it’s nice to meet her. I should ask if she wants a picture of her incredibly sexy client hanging in her front hall.
    Instead, I say, “Malcolm and Melody?”
    Mal shrugs, and there’s a guardedness to the gesture that I don’t remember from our limited interactions.
    “Mal and Mel,” his agent adds. “It’s a riot at press conferences, believe me.”
    “Oh, I bet,” I say, and my laugh is genuine this time.
    I’m still reeling from the knowledge that Malcolm Jackson remembers my name. Is that why he’s here? Did he come because he knew I’d be here? Most of the other