Calling the Play (20 page)

“I must have missed that part,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “You’ll have to tell us again later. Dinner tonight? My place?”

Randi couldn’t resist kissing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and found his mouth with hers. He tasted salty from sweat and a little sour from Gatorade, but his lips were soft and tempting. She kissed him and he lifted her feet off the floor. She kicked her feet up so that she wasn’t hanging off of him. His shoulders seemed so broad with the pads on.

“
Our
place, and I’ll make dinner,” she offered in between nibbles on his bottom lip. She was relieved they didn’t make a big deal out of her confession. She almost laughed at the horrified expressions on their faces. “Don’t be stupid,” she said as Ty put her down. “Takeout.” She opened the door and walked out and they followed her. Brian directed her down the hall the way she’d come.

“Whew, okay,” Ty said with relief. “We, um, have to call my mom,” he said, making a face. “I’ve got to tell her about us before she moves here.”

“Oh, God,” Randi said, her stomach lurching. “I don’t really do the mom thing. You talk.”

“I love your mom,” Brian said. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Yes,” Ty and Randi said at the same time.

“You know she’ll be cool with it, right?” Brian said. “She loves you.”

“What about your family?” Randi asked. “You’ve never mentioned them.”

Brian shrugged. “We’re not really that close,” he said. “No bad feelings or anything like that. My parents divorced when I was young, and shared custody, so I was always bouncing back and forth between them. Once I hit eighteen, I was pretty much on my own. They’ve both remarried and have younger kids.”

“Therapy,” Randi said to Ty. He nodded.

“Stop,” Brian said with a laugh. “I’m good with it. Really. We’re going to have enough family around here.”

“That reminds me, Johnny will probably come by,” she said. “We talked today. He’s feeling guilty. I told him about us. So he’ll do the big-brother thing.”

“Is Moon back in town?” Ty asked nervously.

“No,” she said with a laugh. “He won’t hurt you. Honestly, though, he’ll probably be the one to bury Tater.” Brian laughed, but when Ty and Randi didn’t, he looked at them wide-eyed.

“Really?” he asked.

“He is one scary guy,” Ty said. “Seriously.”

Randi punched him in the arm. “That’s my brother. You’ll love him. He grows on you.” They’d come to the locker room doors and there was a big group of players standing around. She recognized some of them from the pool party. She stopped, suddenly nervous at having to walk through a crowd of professional football players, which pissed her off. She’d never been scared to wade into a group of guys before, no matter who they were. Brian put a hand on her arm.

“They’re harmless,” he said softly. “Not one of them will touch you without permission.”

“Your permission?” she asked sharply. She didn’t want them to think she was a possession or some shit like that.

“No,” he told her. “Yours.”

“Well, all right, then,” she said. That got her moving. She walked through the suddenly quiet group, feeling their eyes on her. She saw Rasheed and actually blushed. “Sorry,” she said to him, stopping and meeting his eyes. “I’ve had a really shitty day and took it out on you. That was wrong. Thanks for not telling me to go fuck myself.”

“That’s okay,” he said with a smile. “I play defense in the NFL. I’ve heard worse.”

“Well,” she said, with a grin and wink, “I put on my big-girl panties and apologized. See?” She hooked her thumb through the string on the side of her thong and yanked it up as she shoved the side of her pants down an inch or two.

“God almighty,” Jo Jo said, staring at her ass. “Please, please tell me you kicked these two to the curb and you’re shopping for replacements?”

She grinned at Brian and Ty. “Not gonna happen,” she said. “I’m keeping them.” Then she turned and headed home.

This book is for everyone who has been so supportive of this new series. My husband, my family, my friends. For Kimberly Rocha, who made my life infinitely easier while I was writing this book. And for my street team, The Kaniacs, for their enthusiasm and support.

My football knowledge was gleaned from my husband, Julie Parkinson, Howie Long’s Football for Dummies, and the NFL Network. Thanks go out to Lee Lofland and The Writers Police Academy for help with research on police work. Any mistakes or liberties I took with respect to football or undercover work were of my own doing, and these excellent sources are not at fault. Thank you to the city of Birmingham, Alabama, for your excellent website, and to Google Maps Street View, which helped me describe locations in the city correctly.

The Devil’s Thief

Tempting a Devil

Devil in My Arms

Broken Play

Calling the Play

Reviewers have called
S
AMANTHA
K
ANE
“an absolute marvel to read,” and “one of historical romance’s most erotic and sensuous authors.” Her books have been called “sinful,” “sensuous,” and “sizzling.” She won the Passionate Plume for best erotic historical in 2008, the Historical CAPA award from The Romance Studio in 2011, and has been nominated multiple times for Favorite Author at The Romance Studio. She was born in the Midwest, but now resides in North Carolina with her family.

samanthakane.us

Facebook.com/SamanthaKane.author

@skaneauthor

Happy Holidays from our hearth to yours! This month we’re sending you some hot Loveswept romances to keep the fire burning:

USA Today
bestselling author Bronwen Evans’s new Disgraced Lords novel is about a marriage of convenience and its delightful pleasures—and mortal danger in
A Whisper of Desire.
K. J. Charles turns up the heat in her new Society of Gentlemen novel,
A Seditious Affair,
as two lovers face off in a sensual duel that challenges their deepest beliefs
.
Samantha Kane’s Birmingham Rebels series proves that three’s never a crowd…at least not for the hard-bodied football all-stars who give teamwork a sexy twist in
Calling the Play
.
Welcome to Forever,
new from author Annie Rains, introduces a small coastal town where America’s best and brightest risk everything for love. Jackie Ashenden ups the ante in the seductive Deacons of Bourbon Street series, co-written with Megan Crane, Rachael Johns, and Maisey Yates, with
Hold Me Down,
a story about what happens when the biker who broke Alice’s heart rides into town, and she must choose between passion and duty. Another story for MC fans is Violetta Rand’s irresistible novel about a sexy-as-sin biker who tempts a good girl to go bad,
Persuasion.

In
USA Today
bestselling author Tina Wainscott’s gritty, emotional small-town romance
Falling Hard,
passions run high as a reformed bad boy reconnects with an old enemy…and gets her engine revving. In Laura Marie Altom’s tale of forbidden love,
Stepping Over the Line,
meet two tortured souls with an unbreakable bond. Then comes a tender military romance from Serena Bell,
USA Today
bestselling author of
Hold on Tight,
in which a war-shattered veteran gets a second chance at love with the one that got away in
Can’t Hold Back
.

Writing duo MJ Fields and Chelsea Camaron release another sizzling-hot Caldwell Brothers story—
Morrison,
which hits the Vegas strip as a bad-boy gambler from Detroit Rock City shows a single mom what it means to play for keeps. Then it’s off to Los Angeles where Hollywood’s hottest young actor hits the road to chase his big break—and discovers a leading lady where he least expects in Cassie Mae’s
No Interest in Love.

I can’t believe 2016 is upon us, can you? Thank you for spending your reading time with Loveswept, and we hope to entertain you all over again in the new year.

Happy Romance!

Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher