She flopped over onto her back in disgust, feeling the tension return to her shoulders. What she really needed was those great hands of Nathan to give her a back massage.

While she was naked. She could already imagine him sliding his hands over her body, starting with her back and then roaming ever lower. She loved his hands, the way he moved his fingers slowly over her skin, as if he wanted to take his time getting to know every inch of her. Then his mouth would replace his fingers and he’d—

She rolled over onto her stomach and pulled the pillow over her head, willing the images to go away.

The thirty minutes of yoga had been totally wasted.

Giving up, she threw the pillow off her head, got out of bed and went downstairs to do some work.

SIX

AFTER LAST NIGHT, WHEN HE GOT ZERO SLEEP BECAUSE he tossed and turned with a hard-on thinking about what might have happened with Mia but didn’t, Nathan got up early and hit the gym, hoping to relieve some frustration with a pounding workout.

Unfortunately, he used the same gym as Mia’s big brother Flynn, who he ran into in the parking lot.

“Good to see our new quarterback at it early,” Flynn said as they walked to the front door together.

“Yeah. I’ve got big shoes to fill.”

“You’ll do it. But if you need me to push you around some and toughen you up, feel free to ask.”

Nathan laughed. As a defensive lineman for the Sabers, Flynn was as hard-hitting as they came. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

They went inside and stored their bags. Flynn grabbed his phone and his earbuds. “Going for a run. Wanna join me?”

Since the track was exactly where Nathan was headed, he nodded. “Sure.”

Nathan followed Flynn onto the track and shoved his earbuds in, flipped on his running music and started his pace. He tuned in to the music, paying no attention to Flynn, who ran ahead of him. Nathan stayed in his own head, marking his mileage, checking his heart rate and counting his steps as he ran. He dove into the beat of the tunes, picking up the pace as the music revved up along with his heart rate, pushing it like he always did right at the high point of the music tracks, then taking it down slow at the end, walking off the last two laps during the cooldown.

“Get a few miles in?” Flynn asked, walking up beside him.

Nathan’s lips curved. “Yeah. How about you? Manage a mile?”

Flynn laughed. “Something like that. Ready to pound some weights?”

“Ready.”

They walked off the track and stopped at the juice bar. Nathan grabbed an energy drink and Flynn went for water.

“You seen Mia lately?” Flynn asked.

Nathan put the cap on his drink, trying to play it cool. Flynn knew Nathan and Mia were friends. And that’s all he knew about them. “Yeah. We had dinner together last night.”

“How’s she doing? I’ve been trying to stay out of her business because she doesn’t want the family interfering. But I’d like to know how she’s handling it all.”

“She’s a little frazzled, which is understandable given all she’s got going on. But honestly, Flynn, she’s managing it great. I’d tell you if she was having trouble.”

Which he wouldn’t, because his first loyalty was to Mia and always would be. Flynn didn’t need to know that, though.

“Good. I’m glad to hear it. Why don’t you ask her to bring you to the restaurant soon? That way I can check up on her without really checking up on her.”

Divided loyalties. He could see that was going to be an issue. “We talked about that recently. I’ll see what I can do about it.”

“Thanks. Now come on. I’m gonna kick your ass on bench press.”

Nathan laughed. “I don’t doubt it.”

He did, too. Nathan was no slouch on the bench, but Flynn could press some serious weight. He decided it was good to work out with someone much stronger than he was, though, because it pushed him to be better. And he always wanted to be better.

While they worked out, Jamal and a few of the other guys from the team showed up, so Nathan got a great workout in. Flynn moved over to some of the other machines with a few guys from the defense, and Nathan and Jamal worked on some upper-body free weights.

“So I’ve been out on a couple of dates with this really cool woman.”

Nathan finished up the last of his chest flies, then sat up to look at Jamal. “Yeah? Who?”

“You remember Wendy?”

He frowned. “Is that the woman we met at the club last month? Smokin’ hot, long legs, beautiful hazel eyes?”

Jamal nodded.

“She’s in finance, right? Super smart, too.”

“Yeah.”

Nathan picked up the weights and leaned back. “I can’t believe she agreed to go out with you.”

“Hey, screw you.”

Nathan did his next set then got up so Jamal could take his turn. When he finished Jamal looked up at him. “I like this woman.”

Nathan arched a brow. “So not just a random, huh?”

“Nah. She’s smart, she’s funny, obviously hot as hell, too. She’s not into me as a football player. We’ve had several dates. And we spend a lot of time just talking. We just click, man, ya know?”

He had as tight a friendship with Jamal as he did with Mia. Jamal knew he could always be honest with him, that they could leave the bullshit elsewhere. “Hey, that’s good, Jamal. I hope it works out for you.”

“I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but I wanna see her all the time. I wanna talk to her all the time. That’s weird, right?”

“Nothing weird about it. Sometimes you just find that person and it all seems right.”

“Oh, yeah, like you’d know all about that.”

Nathan shot him a look. “Hey, I had a relationship in college. I was in love once.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Nathan shrugged. “It was a long time ago. But I still remember what it was like. And it’s good. Just take your time with it.”

“Yeah, I know. Anyway, I was wondering if you’d like to go out with us. Maybe we could double-date.”

“I’m not seeing anyone right now.”

“So? Grab Mia. She’s not seeing anyone, either, is she?”

“No.”

“Good. Grab Mia and we’ll all do something fun together.”

“Sure.”

“Okay, then. Let’s do something this weekend. Wendy said there’s a wine festival in Napa.”

“Sounds fun. I know Mia would enjoy that.”

Jamal held out his fist and Nathan bumped.

He’d text Mia about it and see if she was on board.

“In the meantime, training camp starts damn soon,” Jamal said. “You’ve been workin’ hard and it shows. You ready to lead this team?”

Was he? He wasn’t sure. Every time he thought about it he felt a weight on his chest. And a little nauseous, too. But he’d never admit that even to his best friend. Or to anyone else on the Sabers. This team was counting on him.

“You bet your ass I am.”

Jamal leaned back and grinned. “We are gonna kick some ass this year, Nathan. You’re gonna lead us just like your dad.”

Just like his dad. Mick Riley was a legend. He’d broken records that no one would touch for years.

Nathan had tried his best to follow in his footsteps, to do everything right, but he wasn’t Mick Riley. He wasn’t even Mick Riley’s blood, so he didn’t have the genetics going for him, either. All he had was drive and ambition and the hope that he could someday be half as good as his father had been.

But all the sports commentators and his teammates saw was the Riley name, and the expectations were high.

Jamal got up. “Your turn.”

Yeah, it was his turn all right. And every day that passed it came closer and closer to the first day of the season, and he hoped like hell he didn’t fuck this up. There were too many people counting on him, and if he failed, not only would he disappoint his team, he’d disappoint his father.

And he never wanted to do that.

SEVEN

MIA CHECKED HER PLANNER. IT WAS FRIDAY AFTERNOON and so far today she’d hustled through three player meetings and two internal staff meetings. It was two thirty and she almost had things wrapped up. One more hour and she’d be out of here.




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