ROMANCE: SPORTS ROMANCE: Bad Boys of Sports: A Complete Collection (Alpha Male, Football, Hockey Secret Baby Romance) (Contemporary Sports Romance) Read Online Free

don’t bite.”
    Her hands directed me to her apartment. My eyes scanned the cramped units, pushed closely together. Pink dusted her cheeks.
    “I never even went to school.”
    I stared at her then, mouth dropping wide open.
    “What?”
    It hadn’t sounded like a planned confession. Her breath caught. I leaned toward her, my hand reaching out.
    “I never went to school.” Her voice breaks as she tore open the handle. For five seconds that felt like an eternity, her pained eyes burned into me. “Goodbye, Blaze.”
    Never in my twenty-six years of living has a woman physically run away from me. But as I already knew, Emma was not an average woman.

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
     
     
    Emma
     
    “I’m going to die of embarrassment,” I confided in Melissa the next day before planning to head out.
    The redhead smiled sympathetically. I’d told her a tiny bit about what was going on. She needed to know after I came in, running from some guy dropping me off in a truck. I conveniently left out the part where he was a famous football player.
    “He’s still interested,” she said with an amused air. “It’s obvious. So, what if he’s your friend’s brother? You’re an adult now. Those things don’t matter after high school.”
    Chloe tugged on my sleeve with a playful grin. My heart thundered wildly against my chest.
    “Maybe you’re right about that, Mel, but it’s more than that…”
    Caroline had invited me over to catch up. She said that Andrew was off with Blaze and her father to do some male bonding. I exhaled in relief when I got off the phone with her. As long as Blaze wasn’t there, it should be okay.
    I had to admit; it felt incredible to see Caroline again, alone this time. Without Andrew around, she slipped back into a warmer accent and cracked more jokes like she did in high school. I’d missed her infectious laughter, though I tried to keep myself from the loneliness of missing it. Now that she was sitting here, next to me, those feelings came rushing back.
    “So, how excited are you to get married?” I asked her. She gave a toothy grin.
    “Very,” she said and then shot me a strange look. “But sometimes, I wonder if I’m making a huge mistake. That maybe I should, you know, travel some more and find myself, yada yada, before I settle down for good.”
    I shrugged, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “You love him, don’t you?”
    “I do.” Her grin seemed anything but torn. I laughed as she poured another cup of coffee for us. My arms stretched upwards as I felt the exhaustion from yesterday’s events hitting me.
    As I did, someone laughed quietly behind me.
    I nearly jumped when Blaze came into view. She frowned at him while I tried not to gawk. He was shirtless, with gym shorts slung low on his hips. My eyes tried not to stare at his body for fear of both of them catching me. His confident smile showed no signs of his half-naked state.
    “Why are you home so early?” she asked with a suspicious glance.
    “Your fiancé and Dad are bad at physical activity,” he fired back with a confident air. “I told them to play a few more rounds since I crushed them.”
    She hummed. “Well, I’m going to call Andrew to see if he wants to go to dinner. Would you like to join us, Em?”
    I blushed as I felt his gaze on me. “It’s okay; I have plans tonight. Thank you though.”
    Panic seized me as Caroline nodded and then floated out of the room, leaving me very alone with a mostly naked man that made me squirm just by staring at me.
    He took her place on the couch with an amused expression.
    “Nice to see you not running away from me for once.”
    My cheeks had to be as red as the wine bottles in the rack behind him. I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders, drawing up any strand of confidence I had left in me. “That’s one of my hobbies. Running away from situations, you know.”
    The stab at humor brought a dark chuckle from him. My skin erupted into goosebumps. Damn.
    “Do