Shot Caller (A Bad Boy's Baby Novel) by Colleen Masters Read Free Book Online

guess.
    “I’ve
wanted to be a trainer since I was in high school,” I inform my new boss, “I
actually played soccer myself up until I got a nasty injury. The trainers and
PTs who helped put me back together were a huge inspiration to me.”
    “That’s
sweet,” O’Leary
chuckles, “But I hope you understand that these are no little girls with
boo-boos you’re going to be dealing with, here. These are full-grown,
testosterone-pumping men. And they’re not going to appreciate being coddled by
a young, attractive woman. At least, not outside of the bedroom.”
    “Mr.
O’Leary, I’ve been treating professional athletes for years now,” I snap, “And I assure
you, none of them have had any problem respecting me just because I
happen to be a young woman.”
    “Hey,
whoa. Don’t get all Femi-Nazi on me,” O’Leary laughs, holding up his hands, “I’m
just being straight with you. You’ve only ever worked with athletes one-on-one
before, right?”
    “I
worked in a team setting during my doctorate program,” I tell him.
    “So
you know that things can get a little more…personal, when you’re right up close
to the action?” O’Leary
presses.
    Unbidden,
a memory of Maddox Walcott’s cock hardening against my eager tongue bursts into
my mind’s eye. I cross my legs a little tighter and try to collect myself.
    “I
can handle it,” I
tell O’Leary shortly, “Trust me.”
    “We’ll
see whether you’re trustworthy or not,” he says, leaning back in his chair, “ I didn’t hire you. I don’t know you from Eve. Tucker wanted to make sure we added
some diversity to our coaching staff. Didn’t want the Internet getting in a
tizzy on account of there being too many white guys on our payroll. When being
white and male became a crime, I do not know…”
    “Are
you implying that I only got this job because I’m a woman?” I ask him heatedly.
    “I’m
just saying, it didn’t hurt your case,” he smiles condescendingly.
    “Well,
I’ll be on my way, then,” I
tell him, standing up to leave, “I still have a lot of unpacking to do.”
    “You
girls. Always over packing,” Barry
chuckles, following me out the door and into the hallway beyond.
    “I
did relocate my entire life for this job,” I remind him, “So, yes. I do have a few
things I need to—”
    “Oh,
look at that!” Barry
cuts me off, glancing over my shoulder, “It’s the other last-minute recruit.”
    “What?” I reply, glancing over my
shoulder. I spot the club’s manager and owner standing at the end of the
hallway talking to a tall, broad-shouldered man. He’s facing away from me, but
even so it only takes a second for my brain to put the pieces together. His
stance, his cropped umber hair, the sleeves of tattoos trailing down his incredibly
cut arms. Not to mention the fact that O’Leary called him the “last
minute-recruit”. I knew that this moment would come around sooner or later, but
I fooled myself into thinking that I could work up to it. Soften the blow of
seeing Maddox again after all these years.
    No
such luck. The second after my brain recognizes my long-ago lover, my body
senses him, too. A wave a heat washes from my core to the tips of my fingers
and toes, gathering at last between my denim-clad legs. He’s just a few yards away
from me, a fact of which every cell in my body is keenly aware. Before I can
rush down the hall and jump Maddox’s bones right then and there, my brain
manages to rein in my hormone-crazy body. I force myself to turn back to
O’Leary, who’s been gushing about Maddox Walcott the whole time I’ve been
quietly losing my damn mind.
    “Mark
my words, that boy is gonna be a game-changer for us,” Barry says.
    “Oh.
Yeah,” I
agree, grinning manically. “So. Anyway. I really gotta run. But I’ll see you
tomorrow OK bye!”
    And
with that I all but sprint out of the training facility, nestled deep in the
underbelly of our new stadium, desperate for some fresh sea air. I