by Zoe Dawson
Then the play of the game. They were tied, the opposing quarterback threw the ball, it wobbled and Shane leaped, stole the ball out of midair, and started running. Just before he was hit and taken down, time ran out. They had won. Yet the elation he usually felt was absent as Shane went down hard under a rough-hitting tackle.
###
Cat watched Shane play from the owner’s box, feeling as if everything bright and beautiful had just been snatched from her. Her mother would call it sick at heart.
“Hi, Cat.”
Great. Dick Samuels. Just what I need.
“It looks like you can’t take your eyes off Shane Bishop. I wonder why that is?”
Cat sat up a little straighter and turned towards him, seeing the knowledge in his eyes.
“What do you want, Dick?”
“I want that promotion, Cat. And you’re going to hand it to me on a silver platter. Turn it down or you won’t have a job at all,” he said and smirked. “I saw you and Shane doing the nasty during the party. I know you broke the golden rule.”
“You are such a stinking little weasel.”
“Do as I say, Cat, or all your hard work will have been for nothing.”
###
As Shane came off the field, he pulled off his helmet, holding it by the face mask. The heaviness returned, settling between his shoulder blades and weighing on his heart.
He looked up toward the owner’s box and met Cat’s eyes through the glass. Something was wrong. He could tell by her stiff body language.
As soon as he got to his locker, he called Cat’s cell. She answered on the first ring.
“What happened?”
“Dick saw us at the fundraiser. He threatened to tell Harding. He wants that promotion, and he’s happy to tell all in order to get it.”
Shane gritted his teeth. “He’s not getting away with this.”
“Shane, please don’t do anything drastic,” Cat said.
“I’m going to Harding.”
“Shane, no!”
He ended the call.
He barged into Harding’s owner’s suite without knocking. And he’d already decided to skip the pleasantries and go straight to the issue. “Catherine Everhart and I are involved, and if you don’t like it, I’ll be the one to walk.”
“What are you talking about?” The white-haired, bespectacled Harding looked confused.
“Catherine Everhart. If it comes down to someone losing their job on this franchise, it’s not going to be her.”
“The hell you say. I pay you $8 million a year, boy. You’d give all that up. Why?”
Shane walked to the desk and slammed his helmet down on top of the polished wood. “Because I want to be with her.”
“You do?” Cat whispered behind him, and he turned to see tears streaming down her lovely face.
###
Shane turned and met her eyes and her heart rolled over. He had that penetrating, black-hole look in his eyes. Walking toward her, he gathered her up in his arms and kissed her, right there in front of Harding.
Shane turned around and lasered back in on Harding. “It’s your choice. She stays or I walk.”
“Ah, what the hell, it was a stupid rule I made when my daughter worked here. I didn’t want her getting involved with a football player. Besides,” he gave Cat a direct look, “I can’t do without my new Director of Community Relations, now can I?”
Cat looked up into Shane’s eyes. Monster Man was hers in all his untamed glory. She believed, with everything in her, that they were headed into a bright, beautiful future. “I want to be with you, too, Shane.” With his arm across her shoulders, they left Harding’s office.
He stopped her in the hall and pulled her close. His warm mouth touched hers and Cat melted into his embrace. He was the man for her, and she was through kidding herself. Now they were free to explore their relationship out in the open.
“I think you scared Hardass.” she said when he broke the kiss.
“They don’t call me Monster Man for nothing.” He kissed her again. “There is nothing more important than you, my wild Cat. Let’s get out of here and find us a surface.”
*******
Lizzy Jordan has been working for the Wildcats franchise for a number of years and has maintained a professional distance from the big, hunky football players. That was until Texan Tyler Davis joined the franchise. But Lizzy is eight years older than the fresh-faced Rookie of the Year. But that doesn’t seem to affect the hawt gazes he keeps throwing her after that unexpected, completely naked encounter in the locker room—totally by accident. After seeing his buffed body in the buff, that cocky cowboy attention he’s paying her with his crystal blue eyes has everything to do with him seeing her as a desirable woman and Tyler proving he’s all…man.
Thank you!
Thanks for reading Playing Rough. I hope you enjoyed it!
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You’ve just read Playing Rough, the first book in the Forbidden Plays series. Don’t miss Hard Pass or Illegal Motions to finish out the series!
More Zoe Dawson Books Available!
Romantic Comedy
Going to the Dogs Series
Leashed
Groomed for Murder
Going to the Dogs Starter Boxed Set (includes Leashed and Groomed for Murder)
Hounded
Collared
Fetched (wedding novella to Hounded)
Handled (wedding novella to Groomed for Murder)
Tangled (wedding novella to Leashed)
Captured (wedding novella to Collared)
Going to the Dogs Wedding Novellas Boxed Set (includes Fetched, Handled, Tangled, and Captured)
Small Town Contemporary Romance
Laurel Falls Series
Leaving Yesterday
Maybe Tomorrow
New Adult
Mavrick Allstars Series
Ramping Up
Hope Parish Novels
A Perfect Mess
A Perfect Mistake
A Perfect Dilemma
Novellas
Finally Again
Beauty Shot
Mark Me
Hope Parish Novellas Boxed Set 1 (includes Finally Again, Beauty Shot and Mark Me)
A Perfect Wedding
A Perfect Holiday
A Perfect Question
Hope Parish Novellas Boxed Set 2 (includes A Perfect Wedding, A Perfect Holiday, and A Perfect Question)
Brave (Christmas novella)
Urban Fantasy
The Starbuck Chronicles
AfterLife
Erotica
Forbidden Plays Series – Erotic Shorts
Playing Rough
Hard Pass
Illegal Motions
About the Author
Zoe Dawson is the alter ego of multi-published, bestselling author Karen Anders. Karen started her career because her grandmother gave her a book to read. That book made her fall in love with romance and started her on the trek to get published. She achieved that goal in 1996 with the publication of Jennifer's Outlaw for Silhouette. Even with many books under her belt, she can't wait for that next idea, that next exquisite sentence and, of course, the next hero and heroine who fall in love.
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Dear Reader,
Thank you for embarking on this journey with me. It's been fabulous to write this book for your enjoyment.
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