Bigger Than Beckham (53 page)

Tony put his arm around her waist and gave
her a little squeeze. “Before you answer Holly’s question, love,
let me say something. Because since we got here, I’ve been doing
some more thinking about the move.”

“Oh, you have, have you?” Martha gave him an
imperious stare.

Tony’s arm tightened around her. “Yes, I
have. Just because you’re not going back to the paper, it doesn’t
mean you have to abandon Philadelphia. After all, most of your
friends live here, so it doesn’t make sense not to be in the city
for part of the year.” He bent his knees slightly, looking straight
into her eyes. “So, why don’t you keep the condo, love? Hell, it’s
not like we can’t afford it. I enjoy baseball, and it’ll be a hell
of a lot of fun taking in some Patriots’ games, watching Nate mow
down batters. Who knows, maybe you could even write some freelance
features on the Patriots.”

“Oh, God, no. Just when I thought we got rid
of her,” Nate muttered, clutching at his chest.

Martha laughed at her friend’s fake heart
attack, but she quickly turned her full attention back to Tony. “I
have to say that you appear to have come up with yet another
brilliant idea, Mr. Branch. One that makes perfect sense to
me.”

She leaned up and kissed him on his slightly
stubbled cheek, wondering if life could possibly be any sweeter for
her than it was at this very moment. She had her team, her career,
and, most importantly, a wonderful man who loved and accepted
her.

Her father would have indeed been proud.

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And for a taste of the other books in our
Philadelphia Patriots Series, please check out the following
excerpts from Fastball and Hardball.

Happy reading!

Book One in the Philadelphia Patriots Series

Baseball reporter Maddie Leclair has spent
years chasing her dream job—covering the major league team, the
Philadelphia Patriots.  Now that she’s landed the assignment
she intends to make it big, with feature articles on the front page
of every sports section in the country. But to do that, she needs
to score an interview with the most private and elusive athlete in
baseball, Patriots’ superstar Jake Miller.

On the rebound from a devastating injury that
knocked him out of play for a season, Jake has a lot to prove to
the suits in the head office.  He’s sure he still has what it
takes to win, and he’ll be damned if he lets anything get in the
way of his climb back to the top of the charts.

The last thing Jake needs is a pushy female
reporter distracting him.  But one look at Maddie and he knows
he’s in trouble.  He finds himself trying for a different kind
of play, one that involves bedrooms and not baseball stats. 
Sleeping together could damage both their careers, and Maddie is
all about saying
no. 
But when it comes to the game of
love, Jake is playing to win.

After what seemed like an interminable and
altogether tense cab ride, Maddie arrived at the restaurant shortly
after eight. She spotted Jake immediately, already seated and
looking astoundingly handsome in a navy sports jacket that framed
his broad shoulders, a crisp white shirt, and a gold silk tie. The
tie alone would likely have cost her at least a week’s salary and,
for a moment, she couldn’t hold back a flash of anxiety. Jake
Miller was so far out of her league it wasn’t even funny, and she
had to fight the urge to back slowly out of the room before he even
saw her. Impossible, of course, since the maitre’d was conducting
her to the table with as much ceremony as a drum major led the band
before a college bowl game.

Suck it up and act like a pro, girl.

She plastered a smile on her face as Jake
stood to greet her, his sexy mouth parting in a slow grin, his gaze
flicking appreciatively over her body. For a few seconds, she
actually felt faint with pleasure and nerves, and she had to clamp
down hard on the dizzy sensations rocking her body. Despite the
effort, she could still feel the blush spreading over her cheeks,
and the butterflies in her stomach went into full flap as Jake
gallantly brushed the maitre’d aside and pulled out a chair to seat
her.

As a sportswriter, Maddie was used to being
around hot guys. She’d had her share of locker room encounters, and
had seen enough naked chests and towel-wrapped asses to make such
sights routine. But no player had affected her quite like Jake
Miller, and she’d only seen him fully dressed. All he’d done so far
was smile and pull out her chair for her, but she could already
feel her hormones sparking in reaction.

And she couldn’t even remember the last time
a guy had pulled out a chair for her, waiting until she was settled
before taking his own seat. She had to get a grip on her
all-too-eager libido or she might be offering to have his babies
before they finished the first course.

“Thanks, Jake. Sorry if I’m a bit late. I
hope you haven’t been waiting long.” She tried for casual, even
though she felt anything but.

He shook his head, sending a lock of thick,
wheat-colored hair sliding onto his forehead. He quickly raked a
hand back to put it in place. “Maddie, would you mind if I say that
you look absolutely spectacular tonight?”

She accepted the compliment with a smile and
fussed with her purse for a moment before meeting his gaze. Casual
wasn’t working, so maybe a little honesty was called for. “I’m not
exactly sure how to do this, Jake. I’m obviously not used to
conducting an interview under these circumstances. Maybe the best
thing would be to eat, and then I’ll get out my recorder and we’ll
talk business over coffee. Would that be okay?”

Jake shrugged, and Maddie found herself
mesmerized by the slide of his brawny shoulders under the smooth,
expensive fabric of his jacket. She blinked and gave her head a
mental shake. Man, she truly needed to get a grip.

“Sounds good,” he said. “But why don’t we
make a start on it now, after we get you a drink?”

“Even better,” she said, relieved to focus on
work. Right now, it felt just a bit too personal for her
comfort.

Jake motioned to the waiter. Since it
was
supposed to be a business meeting, she thought about
ordering a coke or mineral water. But she opted instead for a glass
of Sauvignon blanc, secretly acknowledging she could use a drink to
settle her nerves. Jake ordered a bottle and Maddie retrieved her
digital recorder, placing it on the table between them.

“Okay to start?” she said.

He leaned back, elbows resting on the arms of
his chair, fingers laced in an easy grip. “Fire when ready,” he
replied, looking totally relaxed. Maddie had never met a man who
seemed more comfortable in his own skin, and it had the effect of
easing her own nervous tension.

You can do this. Just stick to the prepared
questions and you’ll be fine.

A deep breath and she launched into her
questions. “Jake, I’m sure you must be expecting that I’ll want you
to talk about the progress of your recovery from the ankle
surgery,” she said rather formally for the benefit of the recorder.
“About your expectations for this season and so on. I do want to
talk about all that, but we can get to those things later, if
that’s all right.”

He arched his brows slightly. Good. She had
surprised him.

“I say that,” she continued, “because that
stuff isn’t really what I’m interested in for a feature piece.”

He unleashed one of those sexy smiles.
“Whatever you like, Maddie. I’m in your capable hands.”

It finally dawned on her just how much that
devastating smile contributed to his charm. His was an open and
honest face with chiseled features, and his easy, masculine grin
conveyed both mature intelligence and good humor. Maddie found it
disarmingly inviting.

She blinked, losing her bearings for just a
second before pulling it back together.

“Um, what I want to write about is what it’s
been like to be Jake Miller, ballplayer and man. What was it like
for you growing up? What were your hopes and dreams, and have you
fulfilled them yet? What your life is like now, both on and off the
field—who you’re close to, what inspires you, that sort of
thing.”

His sharp gaze narrowed on her, as if
assessing her intent. That irked her a bit, since she’d been
straight with him from the beginning. If someone at this table had
an ulterior motive for the evening, it sure as hell wasn’t her.

“You said you’d tell me what I wanted to
know. Well, that’s what I want to write about,” she said, defiantly
meeting his gaze. “I want my readers to know something about who
Jake Miller really
is
. I don’t want to simply feed them the
usual babble and athlete-speak that players and reporters always
trot out. That’s incredibly boring and we all know it.”

When she stopped talking, a short silence
fell over the table. Maddie reached over and clicked off the
recorder before lifting her eyes back to his face. “Look, Jake, I’m
even willing to let you see a draft of the article and talk about
it before I submit the final version to the paper. I don’t want you
to hold back because you think I’ll sandbag you somehow. That’s not
my style, and I think you know it. When this piece is ready to go,
my hope is that you’ll be as happy with it as I am.”

She held his gaze, praying she hadn’t made a
huge blunder by coming here. She couldn’t afford to offend him, but
she had a job to do and he needed to be clear on that. Whatever
else might be going on she could address later, after she got her
interview.

If
she got her interview.

Jake took a drink, his eyes narrowed in
concentration. She had to repress the temptation to fiddle with
something—always a dead giveaway whenever her insecurities rose to
the surface—but she vowed not to back down. She’d be willing to bet
that no other reporter had ever stated the matter so bluntly, or
under such unusual circumstances. He’d always made it clear to the
world that he was a very private person, rebuffing any attempt to
get him to talk about anything other than baseball. And although he
had a well-deserved reputation for being a gentleman, she knew Jake
had told more than one pushy reporter to mind his own damn
business. His personal life had
always
been out of bounds to
the press and the public.

As the silence between them lengthened, and
Jake’s inscrutable expression revealed nothing, the butterflies in
Maddie’s stomach took a synchronized nosedive. It looked like her
exclusive, ground-breaking interview would be over before it
started.