Silver Fox

by Kristen Strassel

  She beamed. “We had a feeling we’d have a few instant love connections, and we wanted to give everyone the chance to play. But now we have to get down to business and shove some of you in the right direction. After the auction, you’ll have a date with a Werewife you have something in common with.”

  “Besides fucking.”

  “Yes. Hopefully in addition to fucking. Have you ever been married before, Landon?” She usually called me Fox, but her demeanor had softened. “I’ve seen you with a lot of women, but they never stick around for long.”

  “Nope. Not marriage material.” I’d managed to keep my personal life private, and I liked it that way.

  Tessa tipped her head, squinting after my confession. “What will you do when you’re done with the game?”

  It was a good question. I was forty years old, and every play could be my last. One bad hit was all it would take. I trained hard and did all the right things, but not one player on that field could beat Father Time. I shook my head. “Football’s my life. I don’t know who I am without it.”

  “LOOKING GOOD, MAN.” Tyler Jones slapped me on the shoulder as we stood backstage at the auction. He was a lion shifter and I always had to watch my back with this guy. Which was inconvenient when I was supposed to be teaching him everything I knew. In case the inevitable happened and I couldn’t play.

  Coach had been on my ass about it, telling me my solution of don’t get hurt wouldn’t fly. So I had to overlook everything about Tyler and consider his raw talent and his potential. It was more painful than the hits I took on every drive.

  The Real Werewives crew dressed all the eligible Bloodhounds in tuxedos. Some of the guys accessorized their tuxes with patterned bowties and matching vests. I’d gone classic. The bowtie was an unwanted grip around my neck. Tyler was still standing next to me, grinning.

  “What?”

  “I had them put snaps down the side of my suit.” He wriggled his eyebrows. “Once I get on stage, I’m ripping this bitch off and dancing in my boxers.”

  “Gotta have goals.” What the hell was I doing here? Tessa insisted I should go on last, because the Werewives wanted me. Unlike my backup, I didn’t have to rely on tricks to get attention.

  “Get ready to go, boys! We’re going live in five, four...” Tessa held up her fingers for the last three beats so her voice wouldn’t record on camera. My teammates lined up, some bouncing on the balls of their feet like they were about to go out on the field for the game; others, like me, tugged on our bow ties and looked longingly at the lighted exit signs.

  I had a way to go before it was my turn. I stood next to Tessa at the monitor. I didn’t need to take cues from anyone. My dating game wasn’t hurting—even if I hadn’t settled down with a Werewife yet. But I did like to be prepared.

  Tyler strutted onto the stage and the Werewives hooted and hollered at every move. His face lit up with his smile as bright as the lights flashing on the stage. Maybe I was being too hard on him—he’d just been drafted and never played in the CFA before. He was eager, and that went a long way in this league. He gyrated his hips before ripping his pants free of his legs.

  The crowd went wild.

  Maybe I needed a little more flash, I thought as Tyler pulled off the bow tie and let it dangle in front of a Werewife. He played tug of war when she grabbed it, eventually letting her have it. She cradled the fabric against her cheek, like it was really a part of him, but Tyler moved on, rolling his hips like he was in bed with the Werewife in front of him as he unbuttoned his shirt.

  “Tough act to follow,” Tessa said, her gaze glued to the screen.

  Yeah. I didn’t envy the other guys who waited to go on stage. “You said they were here to see me.”

  “You cocky bastard.” Tessa laughed, turning away from the screen and sizing me up. “Isn’t there anyone that you’re interested in, Landon?”

  “Of the Werewives?” There were a few I could have some fun with.

  “Anyone.” Tessa gave me one of the sad smiles she usually reserved for after a game when I’d given my all but still lost. “The Werewives are wondering why none of them can pin you down, but I don’t understand why the hell you’re available in the first place.”

  Tell her the truth, my fox said, and she’ll leave you the hell alone.

  I hadn’t wanted to be on The Real Werewives, but if I didn’t come to the Alaska Bloodhounds, my career was over. No other team in the league wanted to take a chance on a forty-year-old quarterback with an uneven track record. “I chose to concentrate on the game.”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it, Fox.” Tessa had been around too long to believe my lies. “The other guys all settled down. I’d love to meet the woman who broke your heart. She must be a force to be reckoned with.”

  Never gonna happen, my animal growled. I didn’t have a chance to regret my past decisions—Tyler’s auction had begun. This part I was interested in. I wanted to see what I was in for. Female voices boomed over a microphone, but from where I stood backstage, they were swallowed by feedback. The bids were sexy, judging from the flush that blossomed over Tyler’s cheeks. He held his head in his hands, laughing at the next one. I was sorry I couldn’t hear them. I liked any lady who could keep this guy on his toes.

  He stepped up to the microphone, wearing nothing but his socks and boxers, and took a deep breath. “I’ll take the strip tease in the champagne bath.”

  Good choice, rookie.

  I nudged Tessa. “Too bad we didn’t hear the rest of the choices.”

  “I did.” She motioned to her earpiece. “You’re in for a treat, Fox.”

  A young woman bounded up on the stage. I narrowed my eyes, the strangest sense of déjà vu sweeping over me. I knew her. No, it was impossible. She just looked like my daughter Fiona. Tall and thin with wavy red hair. Definitely a shifter. My animal growled, getting ready to attack. There was no fucking way. I blinked, but the image didn’t go away. I hadn’t seen Fiona in too long, but besides the fact she wasn’t old enough to be a Werewife, she should’ve been home in California with her mother.

  The Fiona lookalike slipped her arms around Tyler’s bare waist and kissed him on the cheek, to the overwhelming approval of the Werewives. She had a tattoo on her shoulder, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. It wasn’t her.

  Tyler and the Werewife who was definitely not my daughter descended the stairs, arms still wrapped around each other, laughing. She froze when she saw me.

  No, it couldn’t fucking be her. She had on way too much makeup and not enough clothes and she still wasn’t eighteen and...

  You asshole, my animal snarled at me. You’re not even sure if that’s your daughter. Some leader you are.

  She grabbed Tyler and her heels clicked on the linoleum as she made a getaway. She turned around before going behind the curtain, and blew me a kiss.

  Shit.

  We did that every time we saw each other, before she boarded the plane from whatever city I was playing in to go back home. She’d always turn around at the very last minute and blow me a kiss.

  I was going to fucking kill Tyler Jones. Did Fiona’s mother know she was here? And did Tessa know she was seventeen?

  Tessa startled when I turned back to her. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

  Problem was, I might have. I had many nightmares that looked like that. Tyler, my replacement and the future of the Continental Football Association, taking everything I had. My job, my house, and now my daughter. Any second, I’d wake up in a cold sweat. But instead, I stood backstage about to auction myself off to a Real Werewife, and Tessa stared at me like she was considering calling over the set medic.

  I tugged at my bowtie. That thing had gotten tighter. “She looked familiar, that’s all.”

  “Glad she did to you.” Tessa frowned, going up on her tiptoes to look over my shoulder, but the happy couple had already disappeared. “I’ve never seen her before in my life.”

  “Did you let outside
rs come to the auction?”

  “No.” She stared at her clipboard and frowned. “We’d never do that. We vet everyone to make sure the players and the Werewives are safe. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

  She charged past me, and disappeared behind the curtain. I turned to follow her.

  “Next up is the hottest quarterback in the league.”

  The crowd went wild, and I stopped dead in my tracks.

  “Please welcome Landon Fox to the stage.”

  I was torn. I hadn’t been the best dad, but I knew my daughter was a handful. Her showing up here wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. If she was here, it was for a damn good reason. Tessa would throw her ass out of here for crashing the auction, and more so when she realized she wasn’t even eighteen yet. And once Fiona told her who she was, she’d keep her here and let me deal with her ass.

  Right, like she’s got any reason to listen to you, my fox rumbled as I walked up the same stairs Tyler and Fiona just came down. You’ve been running all your life.

  Once I walked on stage, it was easy to block everything out. Every eye in the room was on me. It was an incredible rush and one of the reasons I was still playing football. I loved being their fantasy. Time to give them what they came for. I adjusted my cufflinks before walking down the catwalk. After Tyler came off stage, I missed the rest of the guys, but I could guarantee I’d give them everything Tyler couldn’t. Experience and class.

  But this wasn’t the type of show I was used to putting on. After a trip to the end of the catwalk, I felt like a fool. These women would bid on me, and I had to decide which one had the best offer.

  How the fuck did Tessa talk me into this?

  “Okay ladies, what will you offer for a night with Landon Fox?” One of the crew members from the Werewives crew served as the emcee. She circulated the crowd, approaching anyone who had her hand up. With the lights shining in my eyes, I could only see the bidders in silhouette.

  “A hot stone massage with a happy ending.”

  “A tantric yoga lesson.”

  “I’ll read him the naughtiest scene in my new erotic romance novel. And I’ll be happy to act it out with him.”

  “I’m offering a home cooked meal—freshly caught salmon, king crab stuffing, with a mashed cauliflower puree and a cold, locally brewed beer.”

  My mouth was fucking watering. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had cooked for me like that.

  “You all make very tempting offers, ladies.” My animal rumbled, and not for the sex. It longed to be taken care of. For the kind of stability that could come with that last bid. “I’ll take the dinner.”

  Grumbles and gasps blanketed the room, and only a few Werewives clapped. No surprise there. Some intense rivalries had already broken out between the ladies. I didn’t envy them. I knew what it was like to fail with everyone watching.

  The silhouette of the winner came into view as she approached the stage. Damn, the sequined dress perfectly accentuated her hourglass figure. This body didn’t belong to a girl, it belonged to woman. One with dangerous curves and I couldn’t wait to take a ride after that incredible dinner she described. Which Werewife was a chef? I couldn’t remember if anyone had mentioned cooking. That was the mistake the other ladies all made. They led with sex appeal, forgetting that what made it last forever was all the other stuff.

  I couldn’t fucking believe my eyes when Fiona’s mother, Jenna, walked on stage and kissed me on the cheek. I was dreaming all right, and this was a nightmare.

  Chapter Three

  JENNA

  I was used to long odds. I didn’t consider the steely expression on Landon’s face when I kissed his cheek a failure, or balk when his fingers dug into my arm on the way backstage.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he snarled. So much for things being different this time. The niceties had disappeared sometime around my third trimester, when we agreed to disagree on pretty much everything. Especially Fiona. “Do you have any idea what Fiona is doing right now?”

  How dare he play that game with me after being barely more than a direct deposit for the last eighteen years? “This is the type of thing I’ve been telling you about, and you keep telling me it’s a phase and she’ll grow out of it.”

  Landon stopped and ran his hand over his beard. It was almost totally gray, like his hair, and it made him look a lot more dependable than he really was. But the rest of him was still rock solid like he was in college. He looked better now than he did when I first met him, because it was a rare man who kept that kind of physique into his forties. My body flipped into overdrive this close to him—a mixture of rage, leftover lust, and the desire for a little understanding. We had to put our differences aside and work together before we lost Fiona for good.

  “Looks much worse in person,” he said with a chuckle, and it was impossible to be mad at him. Fiona took after him, even though he only made guest appearances in her life. Must have been the fox thing. “Tyler’s a punk. Once he finds out who she is, he won’t touch her.”

  He’d been hit in the head way too many times. “What makes you think she’ll tell him the truth? I’ve already taken two fake IDs away from her. Did you see that tattoo?”

  Landon sighed. “Yeah. It was the reason I convinced myself it wasn’t her until she turned and blew me a kiss before she disappeared behind the curtain. Why the hell did you let her get ink?”

  “I didn’t let her get ink. She had a boyfriend named Max. He was a tattoo artist.” It made so much more sense when it came out of Fiona’s mouth. The tat had grown on me, and I almost called Max for my own before we left Santa Barbara. But after the talk we had, I couldn’t trust him not to put some cryptic hate message on my body. “You think we’re the only ones she’s snowed over?”

  “You know Tessa, right? The producer? She went back there to deal with the problem. Said she’d never seen her before.” Landon raised an eyebrow at me, his gaze raking over my body, taking a pause in the places that made me think he might not be so sorry to see me after all. “Does she know who you are?”

  Great, I hadn’t met Tessa in person yet. And I wasn’t sure I wanted her cleaning up our mess when Landon should’ve gone back there. But he’d waited for me. His auction prize. There was never a clear answer when it came to Fiona. “Yeah. I just got to the compound this morning. I did all my interviews on video chat. So while she knew I was bringing my daughter, she hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Fiona. At least she’s getting a proper introduction.”

  The question was—did Tessa know Landon had a daughter?

  There was no telling what we’d walk in on behind that curtain. Landon’s demeanor changed, and he looked like a true predator as he ripped the fabric back.

  Tessa stood with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. My daughter looked more like a cat than the fox she was in the young man’s lap, completely pleased with herself. And that poor kid, his eyes were wide and his mouth gaping when Landon and I walked in.

  “Hi, Daddy.” Fiona beamed at Landon.

  “Daddy?” Fiona’s new friend jumped out from under her like she’d set him on fire. “Fox is...your dad?”

  “Hi, sweetheart.” Landon’s voice was flat. “Yes, Tyler, that’s my daughter who offered to strip for you in a champagne bath. What did I tell you today at practice about making smart decisions?”

  Sad that he was more of a father figure to this man I’d never laid eyes on before than to his own daughter. But that was what I’d come here to fix.

  “Mom, did you bid on Dad?” Fiona asked, wrinkling her nose as she smoothed out her skirt. “Eeew.”

  “Would you rather I bid on someone else?” For the first time since concocting this plan, I regretted it. My daughter’s emphatic declaration made it sound underhanded and dirty. Landon was the fox shifter, but I was the one using trickery to get what I wanted. I didn’t give her a chance to voice her opinion. “Now, tell your new friend that the striptease will have to wait until you turn eighte
en.”

  “Next week,” she reminded us, then turned to beam at Tyler. My daughter had absolutely no poker face, and the wheels were turning. “You can show me how Alaska Bloodhounds celebrate special occasions.”

  I groaned. Compromise was the name of the game with Fiona. What the hell was I thinking, bringing my wild child to an all you can eat football player buffet a week before her eighteenth birthday? Right, I wanted to get her father involved in her life. And from the look on his face, the narrowed eyes, the steely glare zeroed in on the couch, my plan was so crazy it might just work.

  “If you touch her, I’ll kill you,” Landon said.

  “Come on, Fox, you don’t mean that.” Tyler’s voice had gone up at least an octave, but he didn’t shy away from Landon’s glare. There was something much more than mentorship going on here. These two were rivals.

  Fantastic.

  The realization glittered in Fiona’s eyes like starbursts.

  “Dead.” Landon’s tone didn’t leave any room for discussion, and Tyler disappeared behind the curtain.

  Fiona crossed her arms, the shine dissolving to a glare for both of us. “How come I’m in trouble for doing the same exact thing you just did?”

  “Because you’re seventeen—”

  “For like another minute.”

  “And you crashed the show.” I turned to Tessa, who’d been a silent spectator to our family drama. “Sorry.”

  “You signed Fiona up for The Real Werewives?” Landon roared. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I didn’t.” Like he had any room to critique my parenting decisions. He made special appearances at the holidays that were convenient to him. He did not get to have an opinion right now. “I signed myself up for the show.”

  Landon Fox was a man of few words, but he was never speechless. Until now.

  “Told you this was a bad idea,” Fiona said.

  I laughed. That was how Fiona operated. So outrageously bad, and then she disarmed everyone around her by simply being herself just before they lowered the boom. “Go back to our room. And you better be there when I get back. You’ve caused enough trouble for one night.”