“… a wild ride, sit tight and hold on!”
Tope Awofeso
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Dedication
#23 Leroy “Boo-Boo” Irvin
Chapter 1
“Stop it, stop.” Andie Wales swatted at the wet sponge mopping her face. Her back was freezing, and a hubbub of voices murmured above her. Where the heck was she?
She cracked her eyes open right into a big pink tongue. Her dog, Gollie, panted puffs of steam in her face.
Strong hands lifted her from the snowy ground, and a whirlwind of jumbled thoughts floored her. She’d just had the best weekend of her life, thought she’d found her one true love, and now?
“You fainted, Andie. Let me help you up.” The voice belonged to Cade Preston, or rather, Cade Prescott. The man she’d carved her heart out for was an imposter.
Someone stuck a microphone in her face. “As Cade Prescott’s girlfriend, did you know he’d gotten another woman pregnant?”
“Stay away from her.” Cade yanked Andie to her feet, his protective arms shielding her. “We’ve no comment. This is a private matter.”
Pregnant? Andie squinted into the wintry sun and spotted the woman wearing furs—more like, dead animal skins. Tall, decked out like a model at a photo shoot, she snagged Cade’s jacket.
“This would have been a private matter had you not pulled your disappearing act. Maybe you should clue in little Miss Snow Bunny here.” The witch darted a sneer at Andie.
Immediately, half a dozen mics blossomed in front of Andie, and reporters shouted questions at her.
Whatever was going on, Andie wasn’t going to react. She’d already given the news crew plenty of fodder by fainting. Her stomach cringed. Hopefully her mother was too busy to watch the newscast, but with the way gossip traveled in the small college town of Itasca and the lack of big events on campus, her little fainting spell would be on everyone’s flat panel screen by dinnertime. Not to mention, it was her dog having public sex on the Engineering Quad a few minutes ago.
“Hey, you okay?” Cade’s deep voice rumbled in her ear at close range. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Where are Gollie and Red?” Andie darted a panicked glance around the wall of people. The two dogs had been inseparable a few minutes before she fainted, and Gollie had licked her back to consciousness, but now, they were nowhere in sight.
Cade’s shoulders hunched, and he wiped a hand over his forehead. “They probably ran back to my place. Don’t worry. Red knows the way home.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. Even though every nerve in her body screamed to ask Cade who that woman was, and why she was accusing Cade of getting her pregnant, Andie had to maintain composure in front of the press.
Reporters swarmed around them, each trying to get his or her questions answered.
“Prescott, did you know you knocked her up?”
“What’s your agent going to do now that you got his sister pregnant?”
“Did you really think hiding in Itasca’s such a great idea?”
“Are you going free agent? Are your days with the Flash behind you?”
“I’m not answering any questions,” Cade said, keeping his head down and one arm around Andie.
“You’re not getting away from me.” The woman with the furs jutted herself in their path. “You got me pregnant, and I’m not going away.”
“Please, Roxanne, not here. I’ll talk to you after I speak with my lawyer. Good day.”
“It’s not a good day,” the woman screeched. “You ran, and now I’ve got you. You’ll pay through the nose for this. Everyone, listen to what I have to say about this no good loser.”
She gestured for the mics to be brought closer, and the swarm of reporters buzzed a circle around her.
Taking the opportunity to escape, Cade guided Andie across the bridge toward College Town. Their footsteps crunched over the well packed snow down the slope, and Andie’s head swam with the whirl of events.
She’d met Cade last week in the library and after spending a weekend together, she’d convinced herself she’d fallen in love with him. Which wasn’t logical, because after all, how could she really know him enough to have those feelings?
Obviously, she didn’t. The man stomping through the snow next to her had given her a fake last name and wooed her with sweet words and hot lovemaking. Gah! How could she have let things get so far?
She peeked at Cade’s rugged profile, and he gave her a pleading stare, his lips tight.
“I didn’t mean for you to find out this way,” he said. “I was going to tell you who I am this morning, but when I woke up, you were gone.”
“I had to go to work.” Her excuse sounded doubly lame since she was, at this moment, definitely not at work.
“The note you wrote on the mirror, it sounded like you regretted everything.”
“I didn’t last night, but seeing how things turned out …” She swept her hand toward the campus. “Why did you hide your identity?”
“I was ashamed.” He plunged his hands into his pockets and shrugged as they stepped around the trash bins lying in the gutters.
“I can see why.” Her voice took on a sarcastic lilt. “Do you always have women tracking you down?”
“Hey, I can’t help it if I attract the stalking kind.”
His attempt at humor dropped like a cow pie on Andie’s snow boot.
She should kick him to the curb, although truth be told, she had been searching the internet for his fake name. These days, who didn’t research a potential contact? It was the sensible thing to do.
Now that they were suitably far from the campus and alone on the sidewalk, Andie pulled Cade to a stop inside an alley. She wasn’t going to go all the way to his apartment and let him weasel his way out of this.
“Who is she? Why’s she here?” Her breath came out like puffs of steam in the wintry air.
“She’s my agent’s sister, Roxanne Cash. As far as why she’s here, she’s after money. I suspect she’s been cut off by her brother who’s in charge of her trust fund.”
A flicker of hope blossomed in Andie’s heart. Perhaps this was the price Cade had to pay for being famous. If he was truly a professional football player, he was a target for all sorts of unscrupulous people.
“But why does she think you’d give her money?” Andie narrowed her eyes. “I mean, it’s not true, right? You never slept with her, did you?”
Cade darted a stealthy glance up the street and scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t think it’s true. I mean, if I slept with her, I used protection.”
“If?” Andie’s face broiled hot, and her pulse jumped to her throat. “You mean, you slept with her?”
“I’m sorry, Andie. It was before I met you.”
Duh, obviously. Everything was way, way too much.
“What else don’t I know about you? It’s been a shock of a day. First, Margo tells me you’re a football player, and now this? How many other women have you slept with, and how many other babies have you sired?”
“You’re overreacting.” Cade grabbed her shoulders. “This stuff with women claiming things. Happens all the time when you’re famous and everyone knows how much you make.”
“This isn’t about money.” Andie clawed at Cade’s jacket. “It’s about you lying. You slept with her, didn’t you?”
“Maybe, but if she’s pregnant, it’s not mine. I always use protection.”
“Like you did with me?” Hot blood flooded her face, and her head felt like exploding. “You forgot, and you shot inside of me. You didn’t even have the decency to pull out.”
“You’re different.” Cade’s eyebrows inverted, and he squeezed her shoulders. “We got carried away. I’m sorry. The important thing is, I want a relationship with you, Andie. You’re the one I love.”
Somehow none of it rang true anymore. How many other women had he made to feel special? Different? How many other times had he gotten carried a
way? Bottom line, Cade hadn’t been honest with her when he rolled into town with a fake last name. He’d lied and misled her, and she, like the naïve idiot she was, had swallowed it all and given her heart.
“I can’t be with you anymore.” She pushed away from him. “I’m sorry, Cade, but you need to work it out with that woman if she’s pregnant. You need to think about your kid. You have to do the right thing.”
“You’re jumping way ahead. We don’t even know if it’s my kid or not.”
“That’s just it. We don’t know, but I’m not taking a number and waiting around. I have to go.” Every muscle in her body tightened to hold back the tears. She had to be strong. Her father was paralyzed from a stroke, and her mother needed her help. Her life was here, in Itasca, with her parents, far away from the glamour and bling of Hollywood, where the Los Angeles Flash had their stadium.
“Andie, please.” He swept his fingers over her temple. “I thought we loved each other.”
The last thing she wanted was to hurt him. He’d been a foster child, a baby no one wanted to adopt. But right now, she had to save her own sanity and protect her own heart.
“You will always be precious to me, Cade. Always, but I can’t be with a guy who sleeps around.” She wanted so much to kiss him one last time, but it would be a bad idea. A really bad one.
His face was stricken as he cupped her head between his large hands. “I’ll never sleep with anyone ever again. I’ll prove to you how much I love you. Stay by my side, Andie. I need you. I can face anything if you’re with me.”
“I can’t.” She swallowed hard, unable to stem the tears from trickling. “I almost married a guy who turned out to be a man whore. My heart can’t take it, and I have my family—my father’s paralyzed and my mother needs my help. I wish—”
His lips were upon hers before she’d finished her next sentence. He kissed her slowly, not invasive, but strong and firm. His hands caressed her as if memorizing every line and contour of her face, her neck, underneath her hair.
Andie breathed in his manly scent, like pine and soap, distinctively Cade. She tasted the mint of his toothpaste mingled with the bitter dregs of his morning coffee. And she wanted him, more than all the particles in the universe, more than her studies and research, she wanted him. But like her historical studies had shown her, a man’s biography was often not what it seemed. The King David persona was invented to teach lessons in morality, to glorify a kingdom, and to uphold a religious sect. Somewhere behind the legends and myths was the real man.
And the real man was not so pretty. The real man did despicable things. The real man was not a hero.
Her real man stopped the kiss, peering into her eyes and leaving her lips tingling, wanting more.
He swept a thumb over her cheek, catching a teardrop. His eyes were moist pools of blue. So blue she’d sink and never find herself again.
She had to leave. There was nothing more to say, so she ran away.
Chapter 2
Every muscle and nerve in Cade’s body spurred him to go after Andie, but he clenched his jaw and swallowed, holding back.
The entire situation was his fault, plain and simple. He’d come to Itasca to escape the humiliation of throwing an interception in the last few seconds of the Super Bowl, not to fall in love.
But how could he help it? He was a goner from the day he spied Andie underground in the library, all absorbed in her study of King David and his wives. She wasn’t on the prowl for a man but was truly invested in her research. She had no clue about her beauty and how sexy she was, and she was kind and loyal to her family, too. She was the perfect one for him, or so he thought.
Until his past fucked it up. Grinding his teeth, Cade stomped his boots in the snow and headed for his apartment. He didn’t know how he’d do it, but someday, he’d show Andie he was worth her attention.
In the meantime, he had to find their dogs.
His heart sank as he approached his apartment. A crew of reporters stood around petting his Irish setter, Red, and Andie’s golden retriever and collie mix, Gollie. One had his hand hooked onto Gollie’s collar, and another one was feeding Red strips of meat.
The crowd spotted him coming down the hill and approached with their mics jutted forward like bayonets.
“When are you returning to LA?”
“Who was that hot redhead you were kissing?”
Kissing? They’d spied the kiss?
A photographer snapped his picture.
“Step aside and let me get my dogs.” Cade shoved the mics from his face.
“The commissioner has questions for you,” a female reporter said. “Rumor has it you threw the game away to pay off your sister’s gambling debt.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Then tell me why your sister bet heavily against the Flash? Isn’t it against your contract for family members to bet on games?”
“She’s not my sister. I have no other comment.” He tried to sidestep the swarm, but a photographer stuck a big lens into his face, snapping pictures. “Stop taking my picture.”
A female reporter stuck to him like flypaper. “Turning your back on your relatives? Got too big for your britches?”
“I have no family.”
The lowlife who shared his DNA had abandoned him when he was a baby with a cleft palate and shunted him to foster homes. Now that he’d made a name for himself, they were only too happy to give interviews and hit him up for money at every turn.
“You’re about to have one soon,” a male reporter jeered. He stepped aside. “I believe Miss Cash has a lot to say to you.”
Roxanne jumped forward and threw her arms around his neck, aiming to kiss him. He tried to duck, but was hemmed in by the crowd behind him. Her bright red glossy lips landed on his mouth, and when he turned to twist away, she smeared lipstick over his cheek.
Not giving up, she clutched him tight and made smooching noises, even if all she hit was air. Her fur-lined hood flapped over his face as he dodged and gasped to keep from being marked.
Around him, the crowd hooted and hollered, as people shoved pens and articles at him, yelling, “Autograph, autograph.”
Woof. Woof. Red leaped between Cade and Roxanne. He landed his slushy paws on her coat while Gollie tugged on the fur cuffs trailing down her front.
“Ewww!” the model thin blonde squealed. “Doggy breath. I hate doggy breath.”
Her flapping hands and animal-scented fur excited the two dogs who barked and growled with bloodlust frenzy. They nipped and tugged at her fur coat, trying to rip it off her body.
“Get these monsters off me,” Roxanne screamed. She tottered back and fell into a pile of road salted slush left behind by the snowplow.
The dogs jumped on her, chewing the coat. Cade wasn’t about to call them off. Served her right for wearing the pelts of precious animals. He was no gentleman, no pretty boy quarterback, and he didn’t give a damn.
Elbowing his way past the autograph seekers and reporters, Cade strode to the door of his apartment. Right before entering, he turned and held up his hand to fend off anyone from sneaking in with him.
A hand with a mic slipped past the door frame, so Cade grabbed the mic and said, “Tell LA, I will be back.”
Now that he had to prove himself to Andie, he’d face his problems full on. The running game was over.
# # #
Andie took the rest of the day off work. She sat in her father’s room, holding his hand. He was at least trying to interact, a marked change from when he’d first returned from the hospital two weeks ago after his stroke.
“Dad? Did you figure out why David brought back two hundred Philistine foreskins instead of the one hundred King Saul requested?” Andie’s voice trembled from the emotional roller coaster with Cade.
Her parents had been eager to meet Cade, and Dad had even spoken a word when she’d talked about Cade. He would have liked him, too. Her father, a professor, was a closet football fan, always hiding in his den watchi
ng the games, but never letting his erudite colleagues in on it.
He grimaced as he nodded, seemingly eager for her to continue.
“David loved Michal and wanted to make sure Saul didn’t renege on his promise for her hand.” Andie picked a piece of lint from her father’s face.
He raised one eyebrow, in the disbelieving way he always played to get her to go on and fiercely defend her theories.
“You’re doing it again, Dad. I bet you want to challenge me, don’t you? You want to say what everyone else believes, that David only married the princess Michal for political reasons, that he was a crafty guy, and he used Saul’s daughter to weasel his way into the kingdom.”
What appeared to be a nod and a half smile glided across Dad’s face.
She was amusing him. Good. She could use some theatrics both to distract herself from the pain deep in her heart and to bring her father toward recovering from his stroke.
“I say it was true love.” She wagged her index finger and tilted her chin up. “Back in the day, if a man were to behave inappropriately with a maiden, such as touching or kissing, and maybe even sleeping with her, he was required to marry her and pay the double bride price.”
Dad’s forehead wrinkled as if to say, Indeed?
“Yes, indeed. Who knows? Maybe David was able to sneak around with Michal in that big, big castle and pull her into a dark corner and have his way with her. Probably not, but by bringing double the bride price, and having King Saul count it out in front of his court meant that he was essentially implying to the world that he’d slept with her.”
The frown on Dad’s face was dangerous, as if he’d caught Andie disgracing herself. If he could speak, he’d be questioning her about Cade and whether he should be paying double or not.
Andie’s face heated, but she stood and stretched, looking out the window. Yesterday at this time, she’d been giddy and hopeful about Cade, in the throes of a new relationship. She’d grabbed the day, carpe diem, like her mother had said, and opened her heart full force to Cade.
Now? Her innocence was lost.
Behind her, Dad made a grunting sound.
Boxed Set: Intercepted by Love (The Complete Collection): Books One - Book Six Page 10
