Game On (A Bad Boy Sports Romance) by Olivia Lancaster Read Free Book Online

car with a coy smile and a wave. “We’ll just have to see how far that gets you, then.”
     
                  “Take it easy, Dani,” I said, and she pulled away and out of the parking lot.
     
                  I took a deep breath, feeling a swarm of mixed emotions in my chest. Fuck, I had it bad. But I think that went better than I’d imagined it would. Maybe there was a time to hold back on the showmanship, after all. It was just so bizarre to me. Everything I did on the playing field and in interviews in the past had rewarded acting out like I did. This was a world of big personalities, big emotions, and big action. Acting like I did around my family was going to make things feel...well, I wasn’t sure how it made me feel yet.
     
                  But when Danielle would call me back, I’d be ready to dazzle her. Now that she saw I was capable of being more of a down-to-earth guy, I figured it would be good to show off all the benefits that could come from hanging with a football star. I had a few upscale restaurants in mind, but maybe that bar that had me hungover at our last interview would be a good place to start.
     
                  I mulled the ideas over while I got into my own car and headed out. It was a crimson sports car, the kind I’d dreamed about when I was a kid. There were a lot of things within my reach now that I’d only considered distant dreams as a kid, including my career. My car, my looks, my fame, and especially my ability to support my family.
     
                  Sometimes, though, my mind drifted to the idea of supporting a family I myself started, like Carter. I wondered what it was like to come home to a loving wife instead of an upscale house. Not that I could complain.
     
                  And as I made my way towards Vegas proper, I started wondering what kind of childhood dreams Danielle would like to see become reality. I shook my head. There was that crush-driven imagination again. But now, at least, maybe there was the possibility of finding out what kind of person she really was.
     
                  Right now, though, there was another dream that I was driving towards. I felt a familiar sense of home-away-from-home wash over me as the sign of the Fighting Chance gym came into view, and I pulled up in the parking lot. Gym bag in hand, I headed inside, smiling around at the sights and sounds of the place, and a familiar face greeted me on his way to the reception desk.
     
                  “Kieran, was wondering if you were gonna make it today!” Jamal Carson made his way over to me and clapped me on the back as I came in for a bear hug.
     
                  “Wouldn’t miss it, man, just had to wrap up an interview.”
     
                  “You’re kidding! Same one that ran the last one about you a few days ago? Me and Andrei were just talking about that, the interviewer made you look good. Real good.”
     
                  “Yeah, well she knows a few things about looking good herself,” I said with a grin, and Jamal raised his eyebrows at me.
     
                  “Now that’s the kinda talk we need to save for the bench. Come on, Andrei said he’d spot you when he got in today.”
     
                  Jamal was my martial arts trainer. The short dreads he’s sported since college have been seen at the Fighting Chance for a long time, but now in his mid-thirties, he only teaches, these days. He used to be a hell of an MMA fighter, and he still might be, but a nasty head injury put him in a coma for a month. Scared his wife and kids out of their wits, and worried all of us here at the gym to death--even those of us where were new meat at the time, like I was. He made a full recovery, save for a few light-sensitive migraines that made him wear those sunglasses indoors more often than not, but he promised his family he