Page 3 of The Linebacker

Then there was Jalen and Diana. They had never been together.

She hadn’t cheated when she and Amil hooked up that one incredibly awesome night two years ago.

Pedro’s assessment that Diana was out of his league—at least, he assumed that was what Pedro meant—was probably true.

While Amil and Diana had talked during the postcoital cool down, under the guise of darkness, he’d realized that she was a really cool person. Confident. Happy. Funny. Intelligent. Damn proud of her team.

Which was probably why he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head, even after two years of no contact. Okay, yes, the sex had been off-the-charts phenomenal, but he’d had phenomenal sex before and honestly couldn’t even remember the chick’s name. Because that was all it had been: sex, period.

Amazing sex, smart, and a cool personality? Bonus that she hadn’t used him to cheat on her boyfriend after all.

Yep, totally out of his league.

Pedro’s warning drifted through his head again.

You and Jalen need to figure out how to play nice.

After all the chirping and shit-talking (that he’d started, by the way), after the way Jalen just stormed into the coach’s office and was clearly venting about the trade, Amil knew he was going to have to be the one to extend the olive branch.

Stay the fuck away from Diana.

That was the line that sucked the most.

Because regardless of Amil’s libido standing up and cheering over the fact that Diana was single and available, Pedro was right.

She was out of his league. Besides, he was here in Portland for one reason. To win the Super Bowl.

Rehashing that one incredible night over and over was not going to accomplish that goal.

He needed to focus on the game. On bonding with his new team.

It was time to stop antagonizing Jalen. They were teammates now. And teammates did not deliberately provoke one another. Not if they wanted to stay teammates for long.

And if working all that out wasn’t bad enough…

It looked like Amil was going to continue his celibate lifestyle for yet another season.

Chapter

Two

“I’m sorry, you want me to do what?” Diana Jenison asked, staring at the marketing director like he’d just asked her to take a dive over Niagara Falls.

Without the barrel.

“Head down to the practice field, get some footage of the new linebacker. Put together a press release and get it sent out. You know, your job.”

She didn’t take offense to his tone. They were friends as well as coworkers. He had played professional ball for six years before retiring and putting his college degree to use by taking a job on the admin side of the game. And she knew this had traditionally been a man’s sport, on the admin side as well as out on the field. Jeff Sandusky was used to talking gruffly with guys who sometimes needed their heads knocked together for them to do their jobs.

She waited one, two…

Jeff pinched the bridge of his nose and bowed his head over his desk. “I did it again, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“Sorry. You’re damn good at what you do, Diana. I would never question that.”

“I know. And anyway, that’s not what I’m talking about.” She shook her head. “I need you to tell me the name of the new linebacker. Again.”