Pass Interference Read online

  “That’s so sweet,” Malee gushed.

  Lily stared at her friend. It was sweet and Malee was obviously as infatuated with him as Lily was. Lily couldn’t blame her.

  “I wanted a trainer and gym close by so I don’t have to drive into Denver every day for workouts until practice and team training officially start. My agent got great recommendations for The Fitness Academy.”

  Lily nodded. “Well, you made a good choice.”

  He smiled again, looking relieved. “I hope so.” He sobered. “But you really do have to be the best. I’ll give you one week to prove yourself. If I’m satisfied with your workouts and my progress, I’ll keep working with you and give you a ten thousand dollar bonus at the end of June. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll pay off the training for May, but I’ll have to go with the team trainers.”

  Lily gulped. A ten thousand dollar bonus? Oh, she loved this guy so much.

  “Malee informed me that your hourly rate is a hundred. That’s reasonable.”

  A hundred? She charged sixty at the very most, quite often less, and usually was doing package deals where her clients got an hour free for every three hours they trained. Malee was giving her the glare, telling her not to reveal any of what she was thinking. Lily’s breath caught. Tick off her boss and maybe lose her dream client or be honest?

  “I don’t usually charge that much,” she said in a rush.

  Hyde looked her over and nodded. “That’s okay. I’ll pay a hundred.”

  Lily exhaled, grateful she’d spoken up and even more grateful he’d dealt with her revelation so well.

  “I’d like to do two hours a day, six days a week,” Hyde continued.

  Lily appreciated that he was a get things done kind of a guy, but seemed like he could joke and make things fun as well. He was every bit as cool as his media persona, maybe more, and she got to train him for two hours a day, six days a week, for the next two months. Her brothers were going to be insane with jealousy. Her little brothers idolized Hyde Metcalf, especially the youngest, Josh. She wondered if there was any way she could arrange a meeting. It would be the highlight of Josh’s life.

  “When do you want to start?” she asked.

  “Right now.”

  “You’re cleared for all activity?” She was already planning the workout she’d put him through.

  “Malee has the doc’s note.”

  She put out her hand and grinned. “Let’s do it.”

  He stepped closer and grasped her hand again, but this time it wasn’t a nice to meet you handshake, more like—you passed the test and now you get the privilege of shaking my hand good and long. Lily noticed that his hands were not only big, but tingly. Wait, were they tingly or was she? The scent of fabric softener and musky man smell wafted over her.

  “Snuggle?” she asked.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Do you use Snuggle fabric softener?”

  He laughed. “I think so. My mom insists on doing the laundry rather than sending it out.”

  He came from a different world than her obviously, and she wondered what the media would do to him when they found out he was living with his mom again. The momma’s boy taunts would probably be horrid, but she thought it was pretty honorable. Moving back home to take care of his mom. She wondered what was wrong with his mom and she wondered if she needed to let go of his hand now.

  She forced herself to release the clasp and he looked down quickly, as if he wasn’t ready to be done touching her either. Okay. She had to keep this professional no matter how smitten she was. This was a huge paycheck for her and the gym, and also a huge advertising tool. She could imagine Malee was planning all kinds of scoops on that one.

  “Obviously people are going to know I’m coming here, but I’d like you to wait on using me for advertising until after July first.” He looked at Malee. “Can you add that to the contract?”

  Malee nodded, sat at her computer and typed away.

  “We have a private room upstairs where we do personal training,” Lily said. “If you’re okay with seven to nine in the morning or any time between eleven and four we could workout in there and not many people would see you.”

  “Do you have all the equipment we need?”

  “Yes, or I’ll bring it in from the main weight room. I’d also like to do some workouts outside.”

  His smile crinkled his cheeks. “I’d like that too. Let’s go for the morning time slot.”

  Malee pulled the printed pages from the copier. “Can you look this over, Mr. Metcalf, then sign at the bottom. I’ll also need a credit card for billing purposes.”

  “I’m going to run quick and check on my class while you sign the paperwork,” Lily said. “They should be finishing up, but I don’t want them to think I left them hanging.”

  “Okay.” Hyde nodded to her.

  Lily bounced upstairs and down the hallway. She could not believe this blessing that had fallen from heaven. She wanted to scream and dance, but forced herself to be somewhat calm.

  Ike was talking to a couple of the girls from her class, but everyone else was gone. “Are they already done?” she asked.

  “I let them out early for good behavior.” Ike winked. “I’d do more than that for you if you could demonstrate a little good behavior.”

  Lily glared at him. “Stop, Ike.”

  The girls giggled and said their goodbyes as Ike strode right up to her.

  She stood her ground, not willing to back away and let him think he could bully her. “I don’t like you making my class too easy,” she said.

  “I could make things real easy with you.” Ike had the nerve to brush his fingers up her arm.

  Lily whirled from him and ran right into Hyde Metcalf. Hyde held onto her arms to steady her and she was amazed at the difference of his solid, entrancing touch and Ike’s touch that felt like creepy spiders on her skin.

  “You okay?” Hyde asked in a low tone. He lifted his eyes over her head and pinned them on Ike.

  “Yes, I’m fine.”

  Ike smirked as he walked around them. If he knew who Hyde was, he didn’t acknowledge it. “See you later, sweetheart,” Ike said to Lily.

  Lily ignored him, trying to hide the shudder that ran through her. She didn’t want to be unprofessional with Hyde watching.

  Hyde kept his eyes on Ike until the trainer rounded the corner then he turned back to Lily.

  “You ready?” she asked.

  “Sure.” He grinned at her. “Put me to work.”

  Lily rubbed her hands together, putting Ike completely from her mind. She was training Hyde Metcalf. Super athlete extraordinaire. It was better than being a Denver Storm trainer. She got Hyde one-on-one and this paycheck was going to make a huge difference for her family, especially her sister just younger than her. Life had just taken an enormous upswing.

  Chapter 2

  Hyde tamped down his annoyance at the male trainer that had been hitting on Lily. He didn’t know if she welcomed the advances or not, but he could bet she got them often. He was having a hard time keeping his gaze off of his new trainer as she went through a medical questionnaire. To say she was beautiful was such an understatement he hated to make it. He wasn’t sure her nationality but probably an Italian American. Her skin was smooth and a natural tan. Her eyes were dark and oval shaped. Her lips were a dark pink and full. She was so beautiful he didn’t know if hiring her had been the best idea. Well, if it was too much of a distraction after giving her the week, he’d move back to the team trainers and only take a little hit to the credit card. A very little hit really. He’d noticed her jaw dropping slightly when she heard her hourly rate and about the bonus.

  Her well-worn Under Armour tank top, calf-length workout pants, and Nike shoes, that had a small hole in the toe, revealed she’d been telling the truth and wasn’t making a hundred dollars an hour normally. Good for her to speak up, even though her boss obviously wasn’t happy about it. He’d seen the turmoil in Lily’s face before she said anything,
and he appreciated her honesty.

  He’d been around a lot of beautiful women. Playing the game at this level, women were plentiful and willing. He couldn’t complain about dating supermodels and actresses, but this girl had an innocence and beauty about her that he found refreshing. She wasn’t pretending she didn’t know who he was to try and draw him in that way or gushing over him, but she seemed like she was genuinely thrilled with who he was and that was always welcome. He loved that she followed him on Twitter.

  “I’ll try not to flip out over you being this amazing football player, but you’re kind of a crowd favorite with my siblings, okay, more than kind of, you’re the hands down favorite.”

  Hyde smiled. She was an open book kind of person. Too many people he met had secrets, he had his fair share. Yep, he liked her honesty.

  “I have to say your receptions during the first round of playoffs against Miami were genius. When Cameron Cruz got pressured and threw it high then you leaped in the air and caught the pass, I went a little nuts. Isn’t your vertical about thirty inches?”

  “Thirty-one.” Not to brag, but he’d worked hard for that inch.

  “Sweet! We’re going to make it better.”

  Hyde smiled. She was a true fan. Her whole face lit up as she talked about the pass he’d caught. She sounded like a ten-year-old boy who watched his every game. “You like football?”

  “Do I like football?” She gave a small, incredulous laugh. “I live and breathe football. I used to play.”

  “You used to play?” he repeated dumbly. How had she accomplished that?

  “Yeah, at Clear Creek High.” She paused and caught a breath. “I’m from Georgetown, up the mountain, but we had to be bussed to Evergreen because our town is so small.”

  He nodded. He’d been to the little town of Georgetown and taken the train ride up the mountain with his parents as a boy. It was quaint and pretty, surrounded by mountains.

  “Anyway, the football coach realized my sophomore year that I wasn’t a boy and then the school board got involved and forced me to quit.”

  “Realized you weren’t a boy?” Hyde about choked. “How did he not figure it out before then?”

  She shrugged and smiled. “He was an idiot and desperate for players. I had one of the guys check me out equipment then I used the girl’s locker room, kept my hair short and my helmet on. And I was the best tight end he had so it was tough for him to let me go.”

  “Didn’t the other boys complain?” Tight end, oh, he was not thinking about that, or sneaking another glance.

  “When Coach made me stop playing? Definitely.” She winked.

  Hyde had to chuckle at that, but he was at a loss for words. This beauty had cut her hair short and padded up and gotten away with it. What kind of idiots would hit a girl? They had allowed her to put herself out there to be injured. Okay, maybe he was stuck in eighties-style chivalry, but football wasn’t just a contact sport, but a collision sport, and it’d been proven that women’s bodies were not designed to take the hits like men’s. From the challenging lilt to her eyebrows, he didn’t think now was the time to chastise his new trainer about how she shouldn’t have exposed herself to danger like that.

  “What did your parents think?”

  “They didn’t know. I’m the oldest and the twins were crazies at three. My parents must’ve assumed I was staying after school for debate practice and that I was supporting the football team vigilantly traveling to every game. I told them I was the manager, I think.”

  Hyde laughed.

  “Okay, enough chit-chat.”

  She put him through a quick warm-up, jogging on the treadmill then jogging at an incline, lunges, pushups, and some planks. Hyde was feeling pretty good. He still got short of breath sometimes, or had coughing spells, and his strength wasn’t where it needed to be, but he was going to recover completely. The doc had said he was clear and he really wanted next year to be his best yet. He couldn’t do that if he wasn’t as strong as he should be. So he wouldn’t complain about anything his new trainer asked him to do.

  “Okay. Let’s start today with some stations.” She’d moved a couple of platforms and a Bosu ball as well as weighted bars into place while he was on the treadmill. “One minute each. No breaks so don’t even ask.” She paused and her smile faltered. “Honestly, Hyde. If your lungs start to hurt or burn, let me know. I don’t want to set you back.”

  He would never admit to not being able to do anything this little girl could put him through. She’d admitted his team trainers were some of the best. He doubted she had any clue how hard they pushed him. He needed to be ready to jump into that and regular practice at the end of these two months.

  “Gotcha. Where do I start?”

  “Treadmill.” She punched in a thirty percent incline and eight point zero on the dial.

  “Starting easy.” He grinned. Jumping on, he ran up the hill without getting too winded, though he was relieved when she counted down from ten.

  “Box jumps.”

  He climbed off the treadmill and leapt onto a twenty-inch box and back off. He could admit he was a little winded now, but he wasn’t going to show it. His legs were burning by the time he was done.

  “Pushups.”

  He dropped and started pounding out pushups. He knew his form was good, it’d been hammered into him since high school.

  “I want that chin to the floor,” she barked.

  Hyde almost dropped to the floor in surprise, but he complied.

  “Get those abs in tighter and that butt down.”

  Hyde tightened everything. So she was a drill sergeant. Hadn’t seen that coming.

  “That’s right. Looking good. Quicker. We’ve got twenty more seconds, I want twenty more pushups.”

  Now his arms were burning. Dang that hospital stay. Six months ago he wouldn’t have even been out of breath with this workout.

  “Three, two, one. Nice job. Burpees with the bar.”

  She grabbed a bar and demonstrated, deep squat, legs out to plank, pushup, leap up, and finish with thrusting the weighted bar overhead. He watched, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm.

  “Go!” She yelled at him. “We’re not taking breaks here.”

  “Sheesh.” But he was smiling. He liked the spunk in her, a lot. The bar didn’t feel heavy at first, but by the time she counted down from ten he was ready to cry uncle.

  The entire two hours kept going like that. She gave him a break every twenty minutes to get a drink and wipe off his sweat then they were back to their routine. Twelve different exercises that were all difficult in their own right, and each round she upped the weight or the speed or the resistance. By the end of the two hours he thought they might have to re-hospitalize him.

  Lily handed him a chilled towel and a cold water bottle from a small fridge. Their hands brushed and he felt that odd connection he’d felt when they shook hands earlier today. It was why he’d gone for the second handshake and hoped she didn’t think it was odd. He needed to stop noticing these things and just be grateful he’d found a trainer that was tougher than she was pretty. That was saying a lot because she was more attractive than Shayna, the last model he’d dated.

  “Great job,” Lily said. “You’re not much for complaining, are you?”

  “Didn’t think it was a hard workout. Why should I complain?” Some part of him knew he shouldn’t tease her or he’d be paying tomorrow.

  She gave a surprised laugh. “You have sweat coming out of every part of your body and your legs are trembling. You really want to go with, it wasn’t that hard?”

  “I just realized you’ll probably take me apart tomorrow if I claim I’m not dying.” He grinned. “I’m dying. Thanks.” He swept the cool towel over his forehead again. “I learned early on complaining just made things harder so I keep my mouth shut and go.” Truthfully, his dad had drilled that into him back in pee-wee league. His dad was a good guy—well, in ways he was a good guy—not the deserting of his wife
ways, but the being there for and encouraging his son ways. Up until three months ago when he left Hyde and his mom. Maybe for a final goodbye this time.

  “Good to hear because today was just a warm-up.”

  Hyde looked at her to see if she was teasing. Her brows were tilted and she wasn’t smiling, though her eyes were filled with mirth and a challenge.

  “Bring it on,” he said.

  “I intend to.”

  Hyde laughed and shook his head. “Seven tomorrow?”

  “I’ll be waiting with bells on.”

  “Bells, really?”

  “Oh, yeah.” They walked down the stairs together and through the large entryway.

  Hyde pushed on the front glass door, ignoring some gawking teenage girls. He glanced back. “Thanks again.”

  “Sure thing. Oh, and Hyde? An Epsom salt bath might be in order. Work out some of the lactic acid buildup and soothe the muscle tears.”

  “A bath?” He grinned. “Real men don’t bathe.”

  “Oh, my, male chauvinism.” She rolled her eyes and folded her trim arms across her chest. Hyde tried to keep his focus on her beautiful face. “Do you at least have a hot tub?”

  “Sure.”

  “Sit in it. You’re going to be sore.” She winked and walked into the women’s locker room.

  Hyde watched her go, unable to hide the grin on his face. He liked his new trainer. A lot.

  Chapter 3

  “I can bring home the bacon, dun-duh-dun-duh. Fry it up in a pan,” Lily sang as she danced her way into her apartment. Nothing could possibly dampen her good mood. She was training her dream client and he was a total and complete stud. A mega-stud. She giggled to herself. Was mega-stud even a word? Who cared? She could make up words today and nobody would blame her. Hyde Metcalf had shaken her hand. Twice! He was funny and nice and Lily Udy was officially his personal trainer. She squealed and could only pray she hadn’t acted too much like a groupie today.