Hot for Sports: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Box Set: The Sports Romance Complete Series (Books 1-5)

by Erica Hobbs

  I shrugged. “I will be when mom and dad know you how you just failed.”

  We were close, more like brother and sister instead of cousins. Matt spent almost all of his free time at our place. I didn’t feel like an only child because he had always been there. At least, for as long as I could remember. His parents worked a lot while Matt barely had his hands full. They didn’t get along very well, because of that. I guess it could be just a phase, like hitting puberty or something. Although in Matt’s case, I had to admit this had lasted quite a bit longer than expected.

  We got home in no time. I glanced up at the double story brick house. The bathroom window in the corner was fogged. Ah, my parents are up.

  “Come on, let’s get the breakfast going. I have to be at work in two hours.”

  “That’s another thing,” Matt said, following me around the house to the kitchen door, stretching as if he had just rolled out of bed. He would probably roll into one soon. I was willing to bet on it. “How do you wake up this early?”

  I’ve always been a morning person, so it was not hard at all for me when it came up to waking up early.

  “Seriously, if the human body was meant to experience sunrises, they would happen at like, ten.” He grinned at me.

  I chuckled and rolled my eyes. Matt was an idiot sometimes. God, an idiot I loved to death.

  We made eggs and bacon in the kitchen, working together. I got the eggs scrambled and cooking while Matt fried bacon. When I was done, I took some orange juice out of the fridge and set it on the table.

  “Something smells great,” my dad said and made his appearance right in the kitchen door. He was already dressed in a suit and tie, ready for work. He sat down at the breakfast station in the corner and poured himself some orange juice.

  “I settled the last check with Colorado Mountain,” he said to me. That was it. My college years were now officially behind me. I had already graduated but the final bill… now that was the end of it.

  “Thanks, dad.” I scooped an egg onto the plate in front of him and carried on around the table until all four plates were full. “Now all I need to do is find something to apply that shiny degree of mine.”

  Matt sat down. “I kind of like thinking you as a printer girl.” He had already taken care of the toast and put it on a plate in the middle of the table. “Makes me feel closer to you.”

  “Oh, I don’t know… I’m not wasting my life away. We’re still different.”

  Matt pulled a face at me. He was still studying. Or at least, he was enrolled. You had to be in class and do the projects to be classified as a student, after all.

  I smiled at him sweetly and sat down, grabbing a toast and buttering it. A few minutes later, mom walked in and kissed my dad on the cheek before wiping off the brown lipstick she left behind. She was just as put together as my dad was. My parents and Matt’s parents were equally efficient, so I guess it had rubbed off on me. Matt was the odd one out. Adopted? Maybe.

  “Good morning,” mom said and sat down. “I see breakfast is all done. I thought I would have to slave away in the kitchen all morning.”

  I nudged Matt. “Well, we had to do something to pass the time considering we were back after only five minutes.”

  My dad looked up at him. “Your run didn’t go as expected?”

  Matt shook his head. “It was torture. I have to give it to Alyssa straight up. I’d much rather watch sports than be involved in them.”

  I smiled, pleased with myself. I knew Matt wouldn’t make it past the first block. I loved being right.

  “It’s so boring just to watch, though,” I said, tasting the delicious bacon I had just put on my plate.

  Matt and dad both started protesting almost immediately.

  “If that’s your outlook on it, sweetheart, you’re watching the wrong sport.” My father said and drank some orange juice. “Football will knock your socks off.”

  I snorted. “I’ve seen football on TV a million times. It’s hard to escape when the Super Bowl is blaring in the house at full volume.”

  Matt shook his head. “That’s nothing compared to what it is in real life. You can’t knock it until you’ve been there. You can practically taste their sweat when you’re on the stand.”

  I leaned away from him. “Yeah, that sounds charming.”

  My dad finished his food and put his knife and fork side by side on the plate. “That was delicious, kids. Thanks. Matt is right, though, Ali. You should go to a game. You haven’t experienced blood sweat and tears until you’ve been there.”

  “You’re making it sound so delicious, dad,” I said, pulling a face. “It just makes me want to go right now.”

  Mom smiled and swallowed her mouthful. She’d been silent until now.

  “You’re never going to win this one, sweetheart. If you ever want to understand the psyche of a man, go to a game. I promise it will make your life so much easier.”

  My dad put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

  “That’s my girl,” he said and squeezed her into a side-hug, kissing her on the shoulder. She blushed like they were still teenagers.

  Cute. Get a room.

  “Come on, let’s go watch a game,” Matt said, turning to me. “The Denver Broncos are playing the New York Jets in two weeks, right here at the Mile High. I can get us tickets.”

  I glanced at my dad. He was nodding. My mom smiled conspiringly, she wasn’t going to have my back on this one. Right. Football – the secret to a happy marriage. I pushed my egg around my plate, trying to think of a quick excuse.

  “Come on, you made me run, remember?” Matt insisted.

  “Somehow I think that’s far less torturous than dragging me to a game.”

  Matt leaned back and folded his arms.

  “You can dish it out, but you can’t take it, Ali.”

  I laughed. “Fine, sour puss. I’ll go. How bad can it be?”

  Matt smiled at me and carried on eating. He’d won this round. We were always neck and neck.

  “I have to get going,” Dad said and got up. Mom got up, too. She was dressed for the gym. She had a yoga class every morning at nine.

  “I’ll see you later.” She kissed Matt and then me, and left with my dad. Matt and I stayed behind.

  “I have to get ready, too,” I said. “Some of us need to make a living.”

  Matt chuckled. “Yeah, as a printer girl. You’re so accomplished.” I threw a bunched-up napkin at him.

  “You only get to mooch around all day if you have no ambitions.”

  “Hey, I have ambitions!”

  I raised my eyebrows at him.

  “To marry some rich girl. It works for you guys.”

  I laughed out loud and got up to leave the kitchen. Matt would find his way home by himself. Or not. He might spend the whole day at our house. His parents only lived a few blocks away, and they worked most of the time, traveling often. He was still studying at the young age of twenty and the summer holidays were far too long.

  “Later, printer girl,” he called after me as I walked down the passageway to my bedroom. I ignored him.

  I worked in a printing shop. I needed the income while I was looking for my dream job. I wasn’t precisely a printer girl – I’d studied Graphic Design at Colorado Mountain College, so I designed the flyers, banners and business cards whenever a client needed them. It wasn’t brilliant work, but it paid well enough, and I could help my parents out with the bills. I would still find something great, I just had to keep my eyes open.

  Five minutes to opening time Tanya whipped open the front door. Her curly brown hair was a mess around her face, and her cheeks were flushed.

  “You’re late,” I said.

  “Technically I’m five minutes early.” She walked around the counter and into the staff room, dumping her bag on the floor. She then came out again, pinning her name tag on.

  “If you were a customer you would be five minutes early. But you’re not.” We had to be in fort
y-five minutes before opening time to fire up the machines and make sure everything was ready. “Lucky for you, Brian doesn’t come until ten. And yes, I won’t tell on you.”

  I smiled sweetly, and Tanya hugged me. “Nothing better than working with one of your best friends.”

  Tanya had recommended me to Brian, our boss when I’d graduated. As soon as he had heard of my degree and the fact that no one had scooped me up yet, he offered me a salary which covered just about everything. We both knew I wasn’t going to stay here forever, but my time to leave hadn’t come yet, and my work made Brian happy.

  “Are you coming out with us tonight?” Tanya asked, turning the dates forward on all the stamps. “We are going to Lemon.”

  Thursdays saw great specials before the price sky-rocketed for the weekend. If we went out at all, it was on a Thursday.

  “Okay, but I can’t have a hangover tomorrow. Remember the last time we went out?”

  We didn’t work in the sun, but it was torture to work a full day on the computers and printers with a gut-wrenching hangover. Electronics and alcohol aftermath don’t mix well together.

  “We’ll be good, I promise.”

  Tanya batted her eyelashes at me, and it was impossible for me not to laugh. There was no way she would behave. Tanya and “behave” just didn’t fit in the same sentence.

  “Grace will meet us there. She’s already trying to figure out what to wear.”

  I groaned. That was something I had to think about. I knew I was in good shape due to my running sessions and all, but it wasn’t like I was a sex goddess. I wasn’t sexy the way Tanya was – I didn’t exude sexuality. And I wasn’t naturally skinny the way Grace was. I wouldn’t tell either of them that, though. They always reprimanded me for not knowing how hot I really was.

  Still, if I was really that perfect…

  “I was thinking of the red dress for you. It would go great with your hair.”

  I shook my head. “I’m sure I can find something to wear.”

  Tanya nodded. “Yeah, but none of your clothes show anything, so what’s the point in going out then?”

  “Having fun?”

  She shrugged, and the door pinged with the first customers coming in. We stopped talking and got down to work.

  The day dragged by and by the time we locked up I was about just as excited as Tanya to get out and let my hair loose. We left the shop together, and we went to her place. I texted my parents to let them know where I would be for the evening.

  “Look,” Tanya said, holding up the red dress. I eyed it.

  “That’s way too tight.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You can’t argue until you see it on.” She shoved it at me, and I disappeared into the bathroom to change.

  The dress was so tight it looked painted on as it accentuated every part of my body. I felt naked and exposed, but when I looked in the mirror someone else was staring back at me. The dress hit me mid-thigh, and it had a scooped neck and small capped sleeves. It made my breasts and ass look fantastic, and Tanya had been right about my hair. The red of the dress contrasted beautifully with my blond hair.

  “Oh, my God,” Tanya said when I stepped out of the bathroom. She lay on her bed with a magazine on her hands which she dropped to the side, as she saw me and sat up. “You’re definitely wearing this. I don’t care what you think.”

  I looked down at my own body. “You don’t think this is too much?”

  “If by too much you mean edible, then yes.”

  I chuckled. “I don’t know…”

  I knew I didn’t have much of choice. Tanya insisted, and she was a dominant kind of person. Besides, I liked what I looked like in the dress even if it wasn’t what I usually wore. Nothing wrong with stepping out of my own image occasionally. I’d paired it with my own black heels, and Tanya had straightened my already straight hair. I looked like I’d stepped out of the cover of a magazine.

  Tanya wore a black dress with mesh across her whole back which she matched with a beautiful pair of heels. You could totally see her perfect body, and her dark hair, piled on top of her head in a messy bun made her look exquisite.

  When we arrived at the club, Grace was already waiting for us. She wore a green dress with a peplum waist, another set of heels just like ours, and her mousy hair pinned back. We were a picture, the three of us.

  “Nice outfits, ladies,” she said, hugging Tanya first, and then me. “God, Alyssa, your body. I hate you.”

  I rolled my eyes and smiled. They were being nice. I was sure.

  “Let’s get inside and have a drink before it gets packed. Ali, you’re on drink duty. Looking like that, every guy in the room will want to buy you one.”

  I shook my head as we walked through the door. “I don’t think so. You know they always come with strings attached. Do I really want to pick up a stalker?”

  “It’s just a phone number,” Tanya said. We stood around a tall table, and a waiter came to us. They were going to serve as long as there was space for them to move freely. The moment it became too packed they disappeared.

  We placed our order; three Cosmopolitan cocktails. It was our signature drink – cliché but delicious.

  “James started as just a number,” I said. Tanya rolled her eyes. Grace changed the topic. It was sweet of her, but it was too late. I’d mentioned his name. I shouldn’t have done that.

  It was at a club in Jersey where I had met him. I’d gone to stay with an aunt for the weekend. I’d gone out with Brooke, a cousin I didn’t have much in common with, and James had bought us drinks. I was the one on drink duty, just like tonight.

  “You can’t be stuck on this guy forever, Ali. It’s been over a year.”

  She was right. We’d broken up more than a year ago. But how did you forget? How did you know it wouldn’t happen again?

  James had been everything I’d ever wanted in a guy. It had turned out he wasn’t from around there, either. He stayed in Colorado, a few miles outside Denver. When I came back home after the weekend, he called me and asked me out for drinks. He’d been the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen – tall dark and handsome – and chivalrous to boot. How had a girl like me attracted someone as perfect as him?

  “You know,” Grace said when our drinks arrived. She sipped through the short straw in the Martini glass the Cosmos came in. “The only way to move on and really forget him is by getting someone new.”

  Tanya nodded. “She’s right. And there are a lot of cute guys here tonight. Look at those guys over there. Muscles for days. Yum.”

  I glanced over to where they were pointing, and they were right. It was a whole group of them, and they were built and attractive. Some of them were looking our way. Tanya was smiling her ‘I’m available’ smile, and Grace twirled a loose strand of hair around her finger.

  “Come on, get us some drinks. I think the big one is staring at you.”

  There were a few big ones, but one stood out above the rest, and he was huge. I took a deep breath and nodded. I would do what I had to do. But I was not hooking up with anyone – I wasn’t as liberated about my body as Tanya – and I would make it clear I wasn’t looking for a relationship, either. No hookups, no forever’s. Just drinks.

  I just couldn’t do that again. I’d lost so much of myself the last time, and it was even before everything had gone wrong. I didn’t have anything left to try again.

  Not anytime soon.

  Chapter 3

  Jake

  The white stucco house at the back of the yard was where I’d grown up. I’d lived here all my life, even when things had changed.

  I parked my car in front of the garage, and I was preparing to get out when the front door of the house opened, and Maurine stepped out, smiling. I got out, finding the food in the passenger's foot well. I turned to her and looked at her from afar before I walked closer.

  She’d gotten older as if she’d shrunk in on herself during the time I was gone. My dad should have been this old now, too, I realize
d with a pang. My parents had stayed young in my memory, but they would have aged as well.

  Maurine’s short dark hair was styled in curls on top of her head, the same way it had been for the last nine years she’d been looking after us. Her skin was getting crinkly, but her smile was steadfast and sure as ever.

  “Are you going to stand there forever or are you going to come and say hello to your favorite aunt?” She asked. I smiled and walked up to the porch. I hugged her, folding her slight frame in my arms.

  “It’s good to be back Aunt Maurine,” I breathed.