Pass Interference Read online

  Pass Interference

  Book 6: Last Play Romance Series

  Cami Checketts

  Birch River Publishing

  Contents

  Introduction

  Free copy of The Resilient One

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Also by Cami Checketts

  About the Author

  The Daring One: A Billionaire Bride Pact Romance by Cami Checketts

  Love on the Rebound by Jennifer Youngblood

  The Christmas Groom by Taylor Hart

  Pass Interference: Last Play Romance

  Copyright © 2016 by Cami Checketts

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  To Stockton, my tough football player. Thank you for inspiring me with your loving heart and always making me smile.

  Introduction

  When Taylor Hart asked me to guest write a Last Play Romance for her I was ecstatic. Well, okay, truth be told, I begged her to let me write one and she graciously accepted.

  I grew up with three brothers, watching and playing football. When the high school coach scoffed at my request to be a wide receiver, I gave up the sport and became a cheerleader. If you can't join 'em, cheer for 'em, right?

  This summer, we spent a few weeks in Denver, Colorado with my 17yo's national lacrosse team. One of the player's fathers used to play for the Broncos years ago. My 10yo is obsessed with all things football, especially the Broncos, and the way he acted gave me the idea for the little brother, Josh, in Pass Interference. My 10yo would sit next to this former Broncos player at every lacrosse game and simply stare at him in awe. Then every so often he'd say, "Mr. Parros, sir. Can I ask you a question?"

  Of course I thought it was adorable and luckily, Mr. Parros, sir, was one of the nicest men you'd ever meet.

  I hope you enjoy Pass Interference as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  Free copy of The Resilient One

  Sign up for Cami’s newsletter and receive a free ebook copy of The Feisty One: A Billionaire Bride Pact Romance here.

  Chapter 1

  Hyde swung his feet off the paper-lined bed, stretched to his full six-three and shook his family doctor’s hand. Dr. Jolley had been his doc since teenage years. “Glad to see those lungs clear, son.”

  Son. Such an easy word for older men to sling around, but the one man he wanted calling him son had been M.I.A. for months. He was twenty-six years old and his dad’s disappearance hurt worse than being tackled by some of the NFL’s top defensive backs. The one it hurt the most was his mom. That was the part that ticked Hyde off.

  His dad left them with a lame letter explaining his wanderlust and a few pathetic post cards every month or so. The ache in his chest from missing his father was almost as bad as playing the last couple of games of the season with a chest cold that turned into pneumonia. He’d hidden how awful he felt because there was no way he would let his team down on Super Bowl Sunday. Sadly, Dallas triumphed this year. It wouldn’t happen again.

  “You’re clear for physical activity, but make sure you’re in shape before you hit the field.”

  Hyde nodded, pulling on his jacket. May in Colorado could be cold and sometimes he still felt chilled from his stay at the hospital. “I’ve got two months before practice starts. What do you recommend?”

  “Find yourself the best trainer in the business and work hard.”

  “Hard work I can do.”

  The doctor grinned. “I’ve seen that, son.” His grin faltered. “How’s your mom doing?”

  “She changed after the diagnosis.” He shrugged. A nonchalant move when the sadness over knowing his mom was degenerating was nothing to shrug about. “We’ve got the best doctors in Denver, but it’s frustrating to see her go downhill.”

  Dr. Jolley nodded. “That can happen. Alzheimer’s sometimes takes a long time to manifest itself, but then sometimes the degeneration is quick. I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks.” Hyde acknowledged the condolences, but it didn’t change the situation.

  “Take care.”

  Hyde shook the doctor’s hand, shoving his hat and sunglasses on as he walked quickly through the reception area and out into the bright springtime sun. He should call one of the trainers for the team. Coach had made sure to let him know they were at his disposal if he needed help to get ready for the season. Hyde felt like those trainers deserved this break as much as he did, and he didn’t want to drive into Denver every day for training. Maybe he’d hire somebody on his own.

  He pulled his agent’s number up.

  “Hyde!”

  Magazines and tabloids always claimed you couldn’t catch Hyde without a smile on his face, but his agent was the one that was perpetually happy. Hyde appreciated his enthusiasm, especially these past few months when he’d really needed a friend with a good attitude.

  “Hey, Rob. Can you find me the best personal trainer in Golden?”

  “In Golden, one of the top one hundred small towns in the nation? That Golden?” Rob repeated uncertainly. “I think you’ll need to drive into Denver for that one. It’s only twenty minutes.”

  “Twenty miles, not minutes, huge difference, my friend.” He cleared his throat as he hit the unlock button and then slid into his silver Lexus sport utility. “Mom’s struggling lately. I can’t leave her for too long.”

  There was a pause. “I understand, man. That’s tough, but you’re … this isn’t some rec football league. You’re at the peak of your career. Well, at least you were before the sickness.”

  Hyde nodded. He knew this. He’d been named the Offensive Rookie of the Year his first season in the NFL, helping his quarterback, Cameron Cruz, win the Super Bowl. It had been a sweet ride for a rookie and a lot of instant fame that he wasn’t sure he handled well. Last year he led the league in receiving yards. The pneumonia and subsequent hospitalization after the Super Bowl had about put him under, but he would never let it stop him. He would recover and come back stronger than ever. He was Hyde Metcalf. The best wide receiver the Denver Storm or anybody had ever seen.

  “You’re going to be in awe when you see me play in the fall,” Hyde promised him.

  Rob chuckled. “Can’t wait.”

  “Research that trainer for me?”

  “In Golden?” Rob sighed, but it sounded like a sigh of resignation not frustration.

  “Yep.” He couldn’t back down on this. Driving into Denver would add an hour to his workouts, at the least. If he hit traffic it could be worse. He left his mom alone or with friends and hired help too often. She needed to come first. She definitely didn’t come first for his dad or his sister. Not that he could really blame his sister, she was married with children of her own and living across the country. His dad, he could definitely blame.

  “Sure thing.”

  “Thanks, it means a lot.”

  “Lily.” Ike interrupted her as she demonstrated to the six a.m. group training session how to do a proper dropping pushup. Several of them were cheating and she knew they could do it correctly and would thank, or possibly cuss, her tomorrow when their chest muscles felt like they�
�d been ripped apart.

  “Malee needs you,” Ike said.

  “I’m in the middle of a session here.”

  “I’ll take over.”

  She hesitated.

  “She said it’s really important.” Ike winked. “Like maybe as important as you going out with me Saturday night.”

  “Not happening, Ike.”

  Several of the class members overheard and snickered at Lily shooting down the body-building trainer. His looks weren’t the problem, it was his attitude toward women. Like they were beneath him in the professional realm, but he would forgive them for that if they fawned all over him and dated him. Ick. He asked Lily out so often she’d become an expert at rejecting him.

  “You’ll give in someday.”

  She laughed. “I highly doubt that.”

  “You really need to go talk to Malee now.”

  Lily noted that he was actually being serious and acquiesced. “Okay. The workout’s all on the board.”

  Ike squeezed her arm as she walked past.

  “Thanks,” she muttered. He was an okay guy, but always too cocky and flirtatious. She was at the gym to work or workout, not to flirt, but that was a hard concept for some of the men.

  A few of her class participants gave her desperate looks. They liked her to be there to motivate them through the boot camp style class. Ike did a good job. He just wasn’t as intense as she was, tended to start talking with the clients rather than pushing and motivating them the entire hour.

  Lily always made sure that her clients got their money and time’s worth and then some. She’d lived through lean times growing up with six siblings and fighting her way through college with a scholarship, grants, and a full-time waitressing job. She worked in the fanciest gym in Golden, Colorado, the Fitness Academy. It was nice and had all the equipment a trainer or gym goer could hope for. It might not be as ritzy as some of the gyms in downtown Denver, but it was closer to her home and family in Georgetown, and the rent in Golden was much cheaper than Denver. Some trainers, Ike, would claim she shouldn’t feel guilty about taking rich people’s money, but she refused to take advantage of a client’s time or money, no matter how much of it they seemed to have.

  She walked down the hallway and the stairs to the personal training office across from the main weight room. Poking her head in, she saw a tall, well-formed man with his back to her. Some men were just built right and this guy definitely had some good genes. The broad shoulders and sculpted lines of his neck, back, and arms, right down to his glutes and legs. The soft cotton of his T-shirt and fleece of his sweats couldn’t hide any of his musculature from her trained eye.

  Was he applying to be a new trainer? Lily immediately felt the competition swell in her. She was fighting to get enough clients as it was. Giving deals for training and trying to prove she was every bit as good as any male trainer. With her specialty in sports-specific training, she was building up a great clientele of high school athletes, and even some from the local college. Her dream was to someday work for the Denver Storm. A girl had to have dreams, even if they were monstrously big.

  Her boss, Malee, stared at the man as if he was a superstar. That didn’t bode well if she was hiring him to train here. Lily really liked Malee and she was great to shuttle clients Lily’s way, but this guy could steal her clientele just by being a walking billboard. Maybe he was a future client, though he didn’t look like he needed any body sculpting help, that was for sure. Their low conversation didn’t carry, so sadly Lily wasn’t getting any clues ahead of time.

  Lily stepped into the office all the way. Malee’s head popped up and the man turned to face her. Lily’s jaw dropped. That good-looking face was not one anybody who had an electronic device of any kind wouldn’t recognize. “You’re, holy Toledo, you’re Hyde Metcalf!”

  He smiled and she honestly wanted to swoon right then and there. “Holy Toledo?”

  She blushed.

  On camera, Hyde Metcalf always seemed to have half a smile on his face, like he knew a joke everybody wanted to be privy to. But when he really smiled, wow, it was a good one. She didn’t have as much insight as she wanted to about his personal life because she tried diligently not to become obsessive about him, but she knew he had an African American father who’d also played for the Storm back in his day and a beautiful, blonde mother. He was the perfect blend of his parents. His eyes were dark with long lashes framing them and his face was just nice—the right amount of manly lines with enough softness to make him real.

  Just because she didn’t allow herself to Google his personal life any more than once a week, or read every article put out by the gossip magazines about him, didn’t mean she didn’t know his every stat, watch his games faithfully, and follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, really wherever he had an account. Okay, she was pathetically star struck by him.

  Her hands were trembling with nervous excitement and she wasn’t sure what her face was doing. She wanted to touch him and make sure he was real.

  “And I hear you’re Lily Udy,” Hyde said, extending his hand to shake hers.

  “The one and only.” Lily gave him a firm handshake, liking the size of his hands. Of course they had to be big to snatch the ball out of the air like he did. Oh, my, goodness, he was real. She wanted to jump up and down, take a selfie with him, and call her brothers to tell them how amazing this was—she was meeting Hyde Metcalf and he knew her name. Her youngest brother, Josh, would go completely berserk.

  “Malee is telling me you’re the best sports specific trainer in Golden,” he said.

  Lily cocked her head and tried to appear confident, though he could probably see the pulse in her neck jumping. “Maybe in the state of Colorado.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, I like confidence. This is the girl I need.”

  Need for what? Because she was totally up for whatever he needed. Lily! Her mother’s voice in her head told her not to be infatuated with him just because the guy was a big time star. But come on, she loved him. Well, not loved him, loved him, but he was the best wide receiver to play the game. He had 1871 receiving yards last year. Plus, he was always just doing cool things. Coordinating an event to raise money for juvenile diabetes research and, from the video footage she saw, spending time with many of the children one on one. Helping a single mom whose daughter had cancer with medical bills. The media captured all of it and she knew famous people had a hard time hiding nowadays.

  The only bad media he got was when his mother was interviewed, an older blonde lady who was a bit rotund, but still beautiful. It was interesting that they involved his mom so much, but she always said hilarious things, usually bragging about her “sweet, little boy”, but she always seemed to somehow cut his girlfriends down and whether it was intentional or not, it came out pretty funny, but not exactly good PR. The other day she’d told a reporter, “That girl’s shorts were so short I saw her tush.” The reporter had goaded her and she’d continued with, “Well, I shouldn’t say the word tramp, but if you saw her tush what would you think?” Last year, she’d called one of his girlfriends a “floozie” then she’d been horrified when the reporter looked shocked and she kept repeating, “I meant frou-frou because she dresses so … fancy all the time.” The press had a field day laughing about that one.

  Okay, so maybe she Googled Hyde more often than once a week and knew a few things about his personal life.

  “Hyde wanted to meet you before we signed the contract,” Malee said.

  “Contract?” Oh my, calm down, heart. Hyde Metcalf is looking at me and smiling!

  “You probably heard about the pneumonia?” Hyde asked.

  “Follow you on Twitter,” she admitted.

  “Nice. I like a girl who’s informed.” He cocked an eyebrow and folded those beautiful arms across his chest. Yum, what she wouldn’t do to work with biceps like that, or touch them, touching them would be a little creepy though, right?

  “I’ve recently been cleared to return to physical activity,” Hy
de was saying and she tried to keep up, “and I’ve got two months until practice starts full bore for the season. I’d like you to train me.”

  Lily had to grab onto a nearby chair. “Your team trainers are some of the best in the nation.”

  “Hey, what happened to that confidence?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You’re the best in the state of Colorado.”

  “I am. But I’m a year out of college, I don’t have the experience your trainers have.” She had to be honest with him, even if it killed her if he decided to walk away.

  “So you should have all the most recent training info,” Hyde said.

  Lily gave him a grateful smile and tried to find that confidence again. She was a specialist in sports training and she could do this. She could do a fabulous job of training this man to be ready for the season, but truly he did have some amazing trainers at his disposal.

  “Yes, that’s right,” she said, “but why did you choose our gym?” Shut up, Lily, and sign the stinking contract before he gets away.

  “I wanted to stay close to home,” Hyde admitted, ducking his head.

  Lily raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to explain. She knew he was from Golden, everyone in the town knew and were more proud of that fact than Livability.com listing Golden as a top small town. But Hyde didn’t live here anymore, did he? She tried to remember all the places he had homes—a coastal place in California, some island in the Caribbean, and maybe Park City, Utah. She’d have to check, but he also had a penthouse in downtown Denver. I mean, come on, the man made over fourteen million dollars a year and who knew how much in endorsements? Who wouldn’t want that face selling cologne on television? She’d buy whatever he sold, if she could afford it.

  “My mom needed some help so I had her house remodeled a few months back and I’m staying with her.”

  Whoa. He obviously didn’t need to share that information with two basically strangers. She could see why he kept it on the down low. The press would have a heyday with the mega-stud moving back in with Mom, no matter what the reason.