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

you remember when Caroline ran right into a pole?”
    I giggled. “You mean when she drank for the first time? Yes.”
    “She had a bump as big as a baseball on her forehead. Our parents were pissed.”
    “I remember you drove her to the doctor, but they found out anyways when the hospital called to chew your parents out about underage drinking.”
    He cackled wildly. “They got used to it between the two of us. They used to punish us by making us run laps around the house. If it had been this house, I’d probably have died.”
    “That’s why you guys are better runners,” I said with a laugh.
    His face glowed with mischief. A cold sweat covered me.
    “You seem to like running from me.”
    My mouth was dry. His teasing glance held me still.
    “Remember the last time, when I chased you at her graduation party? We were all drunk and playing hide n’ seek.”
    I swallowed the lump in my throat as the room’s temperature soared. Our eyes couldn’t seem to move from one another. My fingers itched to feel his skin, the grooves of his hardened muscles. I wanted to see if they felt the same – the same as I remembered.
    “Oh yeah, that night,” I whispered.
    He nodded. “That night.”
    It was the night we’d come together in a collision of desire and passion. We explored one another’s bodies while the rest of the party carried on in a drunken stupor. They hadn’t even noticed we were gone. Caroline was passed out by nine-thirty.
    A game was suggested to keep the party going even though the guest of honor was down for the count. I’d been looking at him all night, and he’d been looking right back. In the shadows, I hoped that maybe I wouldn’t feel as guilty when I finally pressed myself against him and told him to kiss me.
    A kiss that turned quickly into a trip to a friend’s house who was out of town.
    “You said that it was wrong because of Caroline,” he continued. The door she’d gone out to talk to Andrew outside on the phone hadn’t opened again. We would’ve heard it if it did. How long were we going to be alone? My heart pounded fast, too fast.
    “Blaze.”
    He’d cornered me, but he didn’t know it. He couldn’t know. My stomach twisted.
    “Come to the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. As my date.”
    My mind screamed at me to reject his invitation, but my chest was softly blooming warm with memory, thinking about the way we’d come together that night.
    “I’d like that,” I agreed. Whether I could do it, I didn’t know.
    At this moment, that didn’t seem to matter.
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
     
     
     
    Blaze
     
    The only decent bar was halfway across town. It had the lighting of a dungeon, scowling bartenders, but a mean drink inventory.
    A hand clapped my back as my old high school teammates cheered our reunion. They’d demanded I carve out some time for them, even though I’d rather be bothering a certain woman for a date before Caroline’s rehearsal dinner. Still, I was excited to see them.
    Two hours later, I was draining the last of another beer. Shrill laughter and vapid comments filtered through my buzz. During the time we’d been here, our table had managed to grow to three. It was flattering, sort of. My thoughts on this type of attention were always mixed.
    The worst were the women sidling up beside me with painted smiles.
    “Blaze, I just love you.”
    “Honey, look at those guns.”
    “You’re such a great football player. Is it hard? You must be stressed.”
    “Can you take a picture with me? My girlfriends are gonna be so jealous.”
    All I could think about was the woman who’d spent the last four years running from me.  I replayed in my head the moment we had earlier – the lame comment I made, my request for a date, a jab at flirting. It was on repeat over and over again, and I rolled my eyes at myself. The alcohol was starting to seep into my brain. Hanging around old friends always made me drink more, and I ordered another beer. The bartender