Cami’s Georgia Patriots Romance Collection Read online

  The only bad media he got was an interview with his mother, an older blonde lady who was a bit rotund, but still beautiful. She always said hilarious things, usually bragging about her “sweet little boy,” but she always cut his girlfriends down. Whether it was intentional or not, it came out pretty funny, but it wasn’t 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’d 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. Not only was he unreal cool; he’d also grown up right here in Golden, only twenty minutes from her own hometown of Georgetown. It wasn’t unusual that she felt such a connection to him.

  “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 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,” Hyde was saying, and she tried to keep up as her head swam with visions of touching his biceps, “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 on to 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 surely he had 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 they 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 Atlanta, close to the Patriots field and training facility. He had plenty of money to buy house after house. 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’ve afford any of it.

  “My mom needed some help, so I had her house remodeled a few months back. I’m staying with her until the end of May, when I need to be back in Atlanta for practice.”

  Whoa. He obviously didn’t need to share that information with two people who were 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.

  “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.

  Hyde elaborated. “I wanted a trainer and gym close by so I don’t have to drive into Denver every day, until practice and team training officially start and I have to move back to Atlanta. 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 our training. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll pay the training for March, but I’ll have to relocate to Atlanta and use my team’s trainers. I have to be back to top shape by June.”

  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 offered package deals where her clients got an hour free for every three hours they trained. She noticed the gleam in Malee’s eye. The gym got twenty percent of her training fees. Her boss was loving this.

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

  Lily appreciated that while he was a “get things done” kind of a guy, he 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’d get to train him for two hours a day, six days a week, for the next two and a half months. Her brothers would be insane with jealousy; they 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 scents of fabric softener and musky man wafted over her.

  “Snuggle?” she asked.

  “Excuse me?” His eyebrows arched.

  Lily blushed. “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 she did, 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 moving back home to take care of his mom was pretty honorable. She wondered what was wrong with his mom, and she also 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 or star-struck or whatever she was. This was a huge paycheck for her and the gym, and also a fabulous 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 to train, but I’d like you to wait on using me for advertising until after June 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 work out in there and not many people would see you.”

  “Do you have all the equipment we need?”
r />   “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 pretend she was 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 to both of them, pausing to goo over Ike. After they left 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 on to her arms to steady her, and she was amazed at the difference of his solid, entrancing touch compared to Ike’s touch, which 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 smiled at her, but it wasn’t his full grin. It seemed like he was as bugged by Ike’s flirtations as she was, but she might be reading too much into it. “Put me to work.”

  Lily rubbed her hands together, putting Ike completely from her mind. She was training Hyde Metcalf, super athlete extraordinaire and one of her all-time favorite football players. It was better than being a Georgia Patriots’ trainer. She got Hyde one on one, and this paycheck was going to make a huge difference for her family, especially her sister, Sariah, who was just eighteen months younger than her but hadn’t been able to go to college yet. Life had just taken an enormous upswing.

  Chapter Three

  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 of her ethnicity, but he would guess she was Italian American. Her skin was smooth and a natural tan. Her eyes were dark and oval shaped. Her lips were dark pink and full. She was so beautiful, he wasn’t sure if hiring her had been the best idea.

  Well, if it was too much of a distraction after giving her the week, he’d find either have to convince his mom to move to Atlanta where he could work with the team trainers or maybe he could find a trainer in Denver. Either way he’d only take a little hit to the credit card. A very little hit, really. He’d noticed Lily’s jaw dropping slightly when he’d mentioned her hourly rate and the bonus. Judging by well-worn Under Armour tank top, calf-length workout pants, and Adidas shoes that had a small hole in the toe, he could tell she wasn’t making a hundred dollars an hour normally. It didn’t bother him that the gym owner had stretched that truth. As long as Lily was half as good as Malee claimed, he would be ready for the season and then some.

  He’d been around a lot of beautiful women. Playing the game at this level, he’d found that women were plentiful and willing. He’d never complained 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, or doing the opposite and gushing over him; she seemed genuinely thrilled with who he was and what he’d accomplished. 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,” she told him.

  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 the Rocket got pressured and threw it high, then you leapt in the air and caught the pass, whew.” She blew out a breath. “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, so they bussed us to Clear Creek.”

  He nodded. Georgetown was a quaint town up in the mountains. When he was a boy, his parents had taken him to ride the train to the top. Such innocent memories seemed a lifetime away.

  “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 girls’ 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 tackle 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; it was 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?” he asked.

  “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 chitchat.”

  She put him through a quick warm-up: jogging on the treadmill first horizontally, then at an incline; lunges; push-ups; 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 cleared for full activity, 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.

  “Push-ups.”

  He dropped and started pounding out push-ups. He knew his form was good; it’d been hammered into him by his dad since he was seven years old.

  “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. He hadn’t seen that coming.

  “That’s right. Looking good. Quicker. We’ve got twenty more seconds; I want twenty more push-ups.”

  Now his arms were burning. Dang that hospital stay. Six months ago he wouldn’t have even been out of breath with this workout. He would not slow down, though. His pride was strong and he wanted to impress Lily.