Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
“Yeah. Maybe. Even if you do though, you’re still going to be a little bitch,” I say with a chuckle. “And you still have a lot to learn about being a man and treating people with respect.”
His eyes narrow and his sharp jawline clenches as he grits his teeth.
Ryder mumbles something under his breath as he turns and stalks away. I watch him go then turn to the girl, who’s still kneeling next to her bag.
“Sorry about him,” I say.
She throws the roll of tape in her hand into the bag and quickly zips it up. She’s shaking, clearly rattled.
“You okay?” I ask.
She nods. “I-I’m fine. Thank you for…that.”
“No problem. Just let me know if he hassles you again.”
She nods quickly then turns and darts away, heading toward the training facility. As she goes, I can’t help but admire the way the muscles in her legs move as well as the way her shorts cup her tight, heart-shaped ass. It’s poetry in fucking motion.
“Damn,” I mutter and shake my head.
“Cole. Let’s go. Seven on sevens,” Coach B calls.
Finally managing to tear my eyes away from that picturesque ass, I turn and jog over to the group milling about on the field, pointedly ignoring the dark looks Ryder Simmons is casting my way like he’s beneath me. Because right now, that’s exactly what I think he is.
2
CAMI
The click of my office door opening sends a jolt of adrenaline through me, and I sit up quickly, nearly jumping out of my skin. Head coach Jay Blankenship steps through the door and offers me a wide smile. I slump back in my seat, the tension in my shoulders ease as I narrow my eyes and glare at him.
“So, we’re not knocking now?” I ask. “Is that like, not a thing we do anymore?”
Blankenship’s smile widens. “I’m your dad, Cami. Do I really need to knock?”
“Huh. I seem to recall my father telling me that within the walls of this facility, we can’t be father and daughter,” I reply. “He said we need to keep it strictly professional at all times.”
He closes my office door behind him and chuckles. He crosses the office, drops down into the chair in front of my desk, crosses one leg over the other, and leans back. “That only applies when other people are around.”
“Oh. Good to know.”
“Why are you so jumpy, anyway? You in here watching porn or something?”
“Ha. Ha,” I reply and roll my eyes. “What do you want, Dad?”
“You’re so grumpy, daughter of mine.”
“I’ve had a rough day.”
He gives me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m sorry I’m so grumpy. I don’t mean to take it out on you. Anyway, what’s up?”
“Well, I heard something happened between you and Ryder out on the practice field. I was just curious about what happened.”
“Why? What did you hear?”
He grimaces. “To be honest, I heard you went off on him pretty good.”
“That is what we call a lie. I kept myself from going off on him. I handled myself professionally and simply tried to walk away from him when the situation was escalating.”
I’m not going to lie—I’ve got a temper. You would think that’s something I inherited from my football coach father, but I actually got that from my mother. She was fiery. Like her, I’m a strong, confident, and independent woman. I’m not afraid to stand up for myself or call people out for their bad behavior. I’m not exactly a shrinking violet, especially when somebody is crossing my boundaries and making me uncomfortable.
Out on the field earlier, Ryder Simmons definitely crossed my boundaries and made me uncomfortable. He acted like a disgusting, entitled asshole. Rather than say that though, I held my tongue and tried to remove myself from the situation. He wouldn’t take a hint and kept pushing and prodding me, which only made me even more uncomfortable, and it was getting harder and harder to hold my tongue.
Thank God for Carter Cole. I had almost reached my breaking point with Ryder and was about to go off on him when Carter stepped up and made the rookie back off. If not for him, I would have wailed at Ryder like a banshee and that would have created a lot of problems for me and the organization as a whole. There’s nothing worse than an egomaniacal superstar with a case of bruised feelings.
“What happened, honey?” my father asks.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Fine,” I reply. “Ryder came up to me when I was packing my bag out there and said something… inappropriate.”
“Inappropriate? What did he say?”
My cheeks get hot and turn an unnatural shade of red. I don’t say anything for a moment and, instead, look away. I know I shouldn’t feel embarrassed because this is not my problem and I didn’t do anything wrong, but I do all the same.