Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
“Gentlemen!” Brian raised his voice, and I snapped my head forward to find the gaffer glaring at us. “Like to share with the class?”
“Just promising Baird a good training session.”
“Nobody wants to know about your love life,” our Swiss left wing, Eric Baumann, cracked from across the locker room.
I grinned. “No need to be jealous, Baumann. There’s enough of me to go around.”
“And risk the wrath of the beast?” Eric jerked his chin at Baird. “I think not.”
“Shut up, ya cunt,” Baird replied without rancor. “And stop calling me the beast. It’s misleading.”
Like usual, none of us quite knew what he meant, and we all burst into laughter.
“Enough, enough.” Brian smirked. “Let’s hit the gym first, lads. We’ve got a long day of training ahead of us. In two weeks, we’ve got our first match against Dingwall Drovers, and I don’t merely want a win. I want a fuckin’ annihilation. Understood?”
“Yes, Gaffer!” we all chorused.
“McMillan?” Brian locked eyes with Baird. “Why do you have the vest on? Pretraining first. Take it off.”
“He obviously likes wearing bras,” Etienne, our French center back, goaded.
“And whit if ah dae?” Baird caressed his vest over his pecs. My best mate was originally from Falkirk. He had a social media presence, so he’d learned to anglicize his accent over the years so non-Scots could understand him. But now and then it slipped. “Ye goat a problem wi’ me in a bra, big man?”
Etienne frowned as the rest of us snorted. He was one of the few players who didn’t understand Baird’s laid-back sense of humor. Or his accent.
I slapped my towel at my friend, and he took off the vest. We then gathered our water bottles and gear to follow Brian out of the locker room.
We were walking out when Baird bent his head to my ear. I was preparing myself to get really pissed off if he mentioned Beth again, but instead, he said quietly, “Got word from Chris about the castle.”
I jerked my head around. Chris was our solicitor. “Aye?”
“The owner is Braden Carmichael.”
Fuck.
The news made my heart pound a bit faster.
Baird and I were smart. We knew we had to build something outside of our professional football careers because most players retired in their midthirties. While we were on high six-figure salaries, and we both made a nice extra income on promotional stuff, we weren’t David Beckham. So slowly but surely, we’d been building a real estate portfolio across central Scotland. As much as Beth might piss me off, I did admire her father. Braden was a real estate mogul, and Georgia was correct: Braden was practically royalty in this town. I looked up to him. Baird did too. We wanted to be just like him. When we’d seen that Blantyre Castle, on the coastline between Edinburgh and North Berwick, had gone up for sale, we’d made an offer.
Considering it was a good offer for a castle that needed renovated before we could turn it into the hotel and spa we imagined, we were shocked when our offer was knocked back last week.
So. Braden had rejected our offer.
Why?
“Tell Chris to arrange a meeting with Carmichael.”
Baird nodded grimly. “And if he won’t meet with us?”
Beth’s gorgeous face flashed in my mind. “We’ll figure something out,” I promised.
CHAPTER FOUR
BETH
Dear Ms. Carmichael,
I’m the personal assistant to Sheera Green, the CEO of Aura Beauty. As I’m sure you’re aware, Aura Beauty is the UK’s fastest-growing beauty brand. We’re in the process of searching for a new social media management company to help take Aura to the next level, and we’re interviewing several candidates over the next few weeks. Would you be available to meet with Sheera on Friday at 10 a.m. at the Balmoral Hotel? Please reply before the end of day to secure the interview.
Kind regards,
Tellie Sutton
PA to Sheera Green
I looked up from my phone, nervous excitement churning my gut. Sunlight streamed in through my bathroom window, and I squinted against it. The truth was I was so bloody tired, I couldn’t experience this amazing news on any normal level. I was, as always, snowed under with work. There didn’t seem to be enough hours in the day.
That morning I’d woken up to twenty new emails, none spam, and I still hadn’t gotten through the load that were already in my inbox. At the top of the list was this incredible email from Aura Beauty. Of course I knew who they were. I adored their vegan mascara! What an opportunity. I’d have to move things around, but there was no way I wouldn’t make time to meet with Sheera Green. Having Aura Beauty as a client would take me to the next level!
As a social media management company catering to successful small businesses, including a number of authors, we were responsible for creating content, building campaigns, advertising, monitoring key performance indicators, analyzing data, engaging followers, networking, increasing website traffic, and responding to comments and messages.