Playing Dirty (A Bad Boy Sports Romance)

by Avery Wilde

  I carried Kate’s suitcase into my building while she carried the bag of takeaway food. The doorman smiled at us and let us into the elevator, and I noticed that even though Kate seemed to be relaxing as time went on, she was still tense.

  “You okay?” I asked, squeezing her hand. “I know this kind of stuff can be traumatic.”

  She nodded. “The only way I would have gotten on that plane was if Josh was chasing me,” she said in a dry voice. “And that just makes me think…well, I can’t help but wonder about my job. What’s going to happen?”

  I shook my head. “No way of knowing,” I said as I reached over and ruffled her hair. “But everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

  “I hope so,” Kate said. “It seems trivial to worry about now, after what happened today, but I can’t help it. I just spent so much of my working life on that show. To watch it go up in flames now would hurt a lot.”

  I shrugged. “The media is fickle,” I said, remembering how my ‘fans’ lapped up every piece of shit journalism from Hannah. “I wouldn’t worry about it, or at least try not to.”

  We set up a feast on the floor of my flat and turned on the news. I was relieved to see Kate eating—she looked wan—and admittedly, the food helped to calm my nerves. But the news wasn’t good; despite the best efforts of the rescuers, most of people on board the planes had died. I could only thank whatever god was listening to me that Kate hadn’t been on that plane.

  There was a buzz and Kate and I both looked at our phones.

  “It’s me,” she said. “Hold on.” I watched as she wiped her lips and composed her face into a professional mask. “Hello?”

  I couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but it was fascinating to watch Kate’s face as she spoke. She had a colorful range of expressions and I loved seeing how animated she could be, even though the news perhaps wasn’t great.

  “What happened?” I asked as soon as she’d hung up.

  “That was one of my executive producers,” Kate replied. “He said the same things that Josh said, but at least he was nice about it.” She let out a long sigh, sending a stray strand of hair high into the air. “He told me that the ratings have fallen pretty sharply in the last three weeks while they’ve been airing the remaining episodes, and they think it’s because of that so-called scandalous piece your ex wrote about me. But he said he was holding off on telling me because he wanted to be sure.”

  “And?” I raised my eyebrows. “Is he sure now?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think he has much of an idea,” she replied. “He said there’s a meeting with all of the producers at the end of the week, and then he’d get back to me and let me know. But….” She paused and let out a sigh. “But since I talked to Josh the way I did, it’s possible that he could sway everyone into voting against me. It was stupid for me to ever be involved with him.”

  “I feel your pain, trust me. I never should have gotten involved with Hannah.” I said, rolling my eyes. “She’s tried to ruin my life more times than I can count. And yours, too, if I might add.”

  “Yeah. Hey!” Kate suddenly said as she pointed towards the muted TV. “There we are!”

  I groaned as I saw the caption beneath the footage: “Hunky Footballer Jay Walsh Steps In!” Reaching forward, I tried to turn the TV off, but Kate held up her hand.

  “As disgustingly crass as it is for the reporters to cash in on you doing that,” she said. “It’ll do your reputation good, Jay. You could probably use that, to be honest, after that whole drug rehab scandal.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure Hannah will find a way to twist it somehow,” I replied. “Just give her time. She’ll come up with something. She always does.”

  “Well, at least she doesn’t have my career to trash anymore,” she said. She kept her voice light, but I was impressed with how she was dealing with things. I had a feeling that before she’d met me, she’d controlled her image tightly. This had to have thrown a wrench in her plans to have a spotless career, but she was taking it like a champ.

  “Come here,” I said, patting a spot of floor next to where I sat. “I want to snuggle with my girlfriend.”

  Kate smiled. “After the horrible day we’ve had, I like the sound of that,” she said as she lowered herself down and rested her head against my shoulder. “I like the sound of that a lot.”

  ***

  The next few days were incredible. I barely let Kate out of my sight; she went back to Lizzy’s to drop off some of her things and reunite with her sister, but aside from that, we were together all the time. The season was almost over and when I finished, I’d be able to spend every morning with her. I was so excited—I felt like a little kid waiting for a holiday.

  Even though I hadn’t been thrilled to see Kate and myself on the news, helping out at Manchester Airport, I couldn’t deny that she’d been right. It was good for my reputation—now all of the tabloids were calling me the “Hunky Helper” instead of whatever slang they could come up with after all of Hannah’s little articles. Even my coach was impressed—he’d slapped me on the back and told me I’d done a good job. My mates teased me, naturally, but after a stern look they calmed down.

  “Shut up, you lot could do well to learn something from Jay,” Coach had snapped one afternoon when my mates couldn’t stop calling me Hunky Helper. I’d just grinned. It felt better than I’d expected it would to be recognized for something nice.

  One morning, a few days later, Kate burst into the bathroom when I was in the shower. She grinned at me and tossed her hair back over her shoulders, and just the sight of her was enough to make my mouth go dry; after dating countless women over the years, somehow Kate managed to excite me every day. I wanted to spend the rest of my life staring at her, looking deep into her green eyes and wondering how I’d gotten so bloody lucky.

  “I got an email from the producers,” she said after knocking on the glass door of the shower. “I haven’t read it yet. Can you come sit with me?”

  I nodded. “Of course,” I called. “I’ll be right out.”

  Suddenly, my heart was pounding in my chest, and I grinned to myself. I couldn’t believe it—I’d never been nervous for another person before, and here I was.

  Oh, well. As they say…there’s a first time for everything.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Kate

  I paced nervously from one end of the room to the other as I waited for Jay to get out of the shower. The past few days had flown by, and I was jolted out of whatever happy, warm place I’d been in when I saw the subject line from my producers.

  My heart was pounding in my chest. Somewhere in my inbox lay the keys to my future. I was afraid to open the email without Jay by my side, and it didn’t even occur to me to feel embarrassed if the news was anything less than amazing. I knew he’d be supportive of me no matter what it was.

  After the plane crash, after everything that had happened, I realized how much I felt at home in Manchester. Even though I hadn’t planned on staying, I was definitely thinking about it now. It was going to be so hard to go back to New York, to the hustle and bustle of jaded urbanites every day, especially after being in such a beautiful and relaxed city, so close to some of the most gorgeous parks I’d ever seen.

  My phone beeped once and I looked down, smiling as I saw a text from Lizzy. When we’d gotten together the other night, we’d had one of the most honest talks that we’d ever had. Even though we were close, we didn’t often spend a lot of time talking about our emotions and how we felt about things, because I wasn’t exactly comfortable sharing my anxieties with my younger sister. I thought it would make me a bad sister. Instead, I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure Lizzy felt like she had a strong, fearless role model.

  “I was so afraid,” I’d said to her when I’d let myself into the flat. “I was so afraid to get on that plane, I couldn’t go without letting Jay know how I really felt about him.”

  Lizzy looked at me with wide eye
s. “Are you kidding?” She reached over and lightly cuffed me on the side of the head. “My big sister, afraid to tell some jock asshole how she feels?”

  She winked at me and I felt a blush spreading over my cheeks. “Hey, just because I called him a jock asshole a month ago doesn’t mean anything now,” I replied.

  Lizzy stuck her tongue out at me. “So, where are you going to live? And don’t say New York, because people will literally want to kill you if you take Jay away from Manchester United.”

  I laughed wryly. “I couldn’t see myself living in New York and being happy ever again, honestly,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “That city is just so unhappy and jaded. At least with all the people I know there, anyway. I don’t know why I used to idolize the place so much.”

  Lizzy smiled. “I remember that. You had posters of New York in your dorm room!”

  I laughed. She was right—in college, I’d been completely obsessed with the idea of moving to the city. I shook my head. “I just don’t think I can go back,” I said. “Or at least, I don’t think I can go back and have things be the same as they were before.”

  Lizzy batted her eyelashes at me until I was choking back laughter. “And leave your precious Jay?” She fluttered a hand to her chest, then closed her eyes and pretended to faint. “I doubt you could, Kate.”

  “It’s not just him,” I said, although that was maybe only half true. “I really like this area. Even some of the foods that I wasn’t a fan of before are growing on me.”

  Lizzy raised her eyebrows at me. “You’re telling me you want to try blood pudding now?”

  I shook my head quickly. “Maybe not that,” I said, before she could suggest any other number of things. “But there’s something magical about being here.”

  “I know,” Lizzy replied. She folded her hands in her lap. “I don’t want to go back to the States, either. I want to stay here and finish university in Manchester. Then maybe I can get a job and I won’t have to go home.”

  I frowned. “Isn’t it hard for Americans to emigrate to England?”

  “Maybe if my older sister marries a famous football player, I won’t have to try very hard.” Lizzy pouted at me and folded her arms over her chest. “I mean, you would do that for me, right?”

  I laughed. My cheeks were burning bright red. Marry Jay? I’d barely known him a month! And yet…..it wasn’t the craziest idea I’d ever heard. It definitely wasn’t the worst, either.

  “He’s different,” I said, barely aware of the dreamy tone that was slipping into my voice. “He’s different from any other guy I’ve ever been with. He’s…considerate. And he’s kind. He doesn’t do things just so people will know he’s doing them.”

  “That’s good,” Lizzy replied. “And I know he’s a nice guy, Kate. You wouldn’t be with anyone who treated you like crap. At least not anymore.”

  Crying over other guys seemed like a thing of the past. I didn’t know how Jay and I were going to end up, but I had to believe that we would succeed, somehow. Even though we lived an ocean apart from each other, we’d find a way to make everything work.

  I had a feeling this email from my producers would be a defining moment in our relationship, and I looked up at Jay anxiously as he finally exited the shower.

  “Hey there,” he said. He swatted me with a towel and made a face at me as he posed naked. “Fancy this bloke, do you?”

  I laughed. He always did a better job than anyone of making me feel relaxed and happy. I was definitely going to miss that if I had to head back to the States.

  He pulled a pair of sweatpants over his delicious hips and grinned at me, shaking the water from his close-cropped hair. “So, what’s this email all about?”

  I pushed my laptop towards him. “Can you read it for me?” I asked. “I can’t look at the screen right now. I feel sick.”

  Jay pulled me into a close hug. Water from the shower was still clinging to his face and neck in tiny droplets, but I didn’t even mind. He smelled clean and masculine, just good, the kind of scent I wanted to bury myself in. I kissed his neck and gently bit the soft skin, and he groaned and nuzzled into me.

  “Come on, let’s go to bed,” I whispered. “I don’t even want to look at this right now.”

  Without waiting for a reply, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed my way down his chest, and Jay put his hands on my shoulders. I thought he was guiding me further down his body, so when he pushed me away, I was surprised.

  He grinned at me. “You know how bloody strong my will has to be to decline sex with you, Kate?”

  I blushed furiously. “So don’t decline,” I said, as casually as I could muster.

  Jay shook his head. “Nope, sorry, but nice try. We’re looking at this email right now, and that’s that.”

  He pulled me onto his lap, and I reluctantly pulled his computer towards us. My nerves were jangling and I could feel my heart thudding in my chest, slamming against my ribs to the tune of my anxiety. As I settled on his muscular thighs, Jay wrapped his arms around me and hugged me close.

  “Just breathe for a minute, okay?” He nuzzled into the back of my neck. The sensation of his warm breath against my skin made me shiver, and I could feel goose bumps breaking out over my whole body. “Just relax. Know that whatever happens in this email, everything is going to be okay. I love you, Kate, and I’ll love you no matter what your producers have to say.”

  I felt a tiny wave of calm break over me, and I grinned and blushed, glad that Jay was unable to see my face.

  “Okay,” I said in a shaky voice. “Here goes nothing.”

  I clicked on the subject line (‘Hello Kate, Please Read’) and took a deep breath. In front of me were several paragraphs of text that threatened to swarm together in one mass of black and white scribbles. I closed my eyes.

  “I almost don’t want to know what it all says. It’s better not knowing sometimes, right?”

  Jay chuckled, low and deep in his throat. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you knew what it said already,” he replied. “Come on, Kate. Don’t drag this out any more than you already have.”

  I frowned. “Okay,” I said. “I’m reading it now.”

  Taking a deep breath and swallowing hard, I began to skim the first paragraph.

  When I was finished with the whole email, I read it again, then once more, to be sure that I’d really understood what they were saying. My mouth was dry and I wanted to get off Jay’s lap but I felt like I couldn’t move.

  “Well, what is it?” Jay shifted underneath me. “What happened? What did they say?”

  I blinked. “They’re ending my show,” I said softly. “The ratings were too bad towards the end. But they’re giving me one more episode, which they say I can broadcast from here in England, to kind of wrap things up.”

  I wiped a tear from my eyes. Even though it wasn’t the news I’d been hoping for, I couldn’t deny that I felt better for having read it. At least now I knew where I stood, and I could start to plan for the future.

  “Oh, Kate,” Jay said. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and squeezed. “I’m so sorry. I know that isn’t what you wanted.”

  I bit my lip. “It’s not, really,” I said. “But I guess this is how it had to end.” I slid off Jay’s lap and climbed to my feet. Already, miraculously, I was starting to feel better.

  He frowned at me before giving me a cautious look. “So, how do you feel?”

  I shrugged. “Not great,” I admitted. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen now. My future is in limbo.” I sighed and stretched, raising my arms high above my head. “I could do anything, I guess.”

  He grinned. “You could be a zookeeper,” he said with a grin. “Or maybe a lion tamer.”

  I rolled my eyes. “With you and your Manchester United lot, I feel like I already am a lion tamer.”

  Jay winked at me and pulled me close. He wrapped his arms around me and I pressed my face into his bare, muscular torso, wondering how I got to be so lucky. I had one o
f the hottest and most sensitive guys in the world rooting for me and my career. I’d never felt as supported as Jay had made me feel, and we’d barely known each other for a month!

  There really was a silver lining to every dark cloud.

  “I guess I’m lucky,” I said into Jay’s smooth chest. “I mean, now I get to stay here, right? And on top of that, I get to stay with you.”

  He reached down and slipped his fingers under my chin, tilting my head up so our eyes were locked. “Yep, you’re a lucky bird, all right,” he said in a cheeky, teasing tone before leaning down and pressing his lips against mine. A little shiver of lust went through me. “And I love you, too,” he added.

  I licked my lips. “Now I can do whatever I want,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. In truth, I wasn’t as upset as I’d thought I might be. I mean, part of me was sad—part of my life was over. But now I felt hopeful about the future. Now, I could do something else if I wanted, and on top of that, it meant no more working with Josh. I grinned as I realized I’d never have to see his smug face ever again.

  “What’s so funny?” Jay smirked at me.

  “Just realized I never have to see Josh again,” I replied. “Definitely a perk of being fired.”

  He chuckled. “True. Although you weren’t exactly fired. Having a show canceled isn’t really the same thing. And with the show canceled, that means Josh is out of a job too….boo hoo.”

  “That’s true,” I admitted. “On both counts.”

  “And you know, I wasn’t lying when I first met you,” Jay went on.

  “Wasn’t lying about what?” I asked, my brows furrowing with confusion.

  “When I said you have tons of fans here in the UK. I bet you’d easily be able to score a gig working in TV here, if that’s what you wanted to do.”

  I nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s an idea.”

  I wasn’t sure exactly what the coming weeks, months or years held for my career, but I knew it would all work out in the end, and at least I knew who I was going to be spending all that time with.