The Playbook (a Secret Baby Sports Romance) by Avery Wilde Read Free Book Online Page B

will be pleased, I thought. I couldn’t let him go! I had yet to keep any player in the seat for longer than five minutes since I had started, and if another one walked out without scheduling a routine appointment, I was going to be in trouble. I needed one success story. I needed to prove that this really worked, that I could make a difference!
    “No, wait, please,” I started, standing. He stopped and looked back at me, some of the color returning to his face. Obviously, his childhood was a sore subject. I would make a note of that later. “I’m sorry. I can help you however you would like. We can talk about anything or nothing at all, just please, don’t leave.”
    He looked at me, and I knew I sounded desperate. I was desperate. This whole thing needed to work, otherwise I might as well pack up my diplomas and leave with my tail firmly between my legs and with the shame of letting my father down hanging around my neck. I already lacked the confidence of the majority of the coaches, and if my father got wind that I wasn’t having any success with the rest of the guys, I knew that would be the end of this little experiment. After all, my father wasn’t known for wasting money. I would be a failure, the one word I could not stomach. I was more than that.
    “Why?”
    “I… er, because.” How could I find the words to explain it all to him, to open myself up to that kind of scrutiny? This wasn’t my therapy session, for God’s sake.
    “You really need for me to do this, don’t you?”
    I cringed at the way he said it. I should just let him go, wallow in my self-pity, and move on. “I do,” I all but whispered, feeling a bit useless. “I really need this to work.”
    A strange look crossed his face as he walked back toward the desk, his intense eyes staring into mine. “OK, fine. But on one condition.”
    “What is it?” I asked, breathless with anticipation. Short of sleeping with him, I would do anything to keep him here.
    He grinned then. “A date.”
    “What?” I responded, surprised. A date? No I couldn’t go on a date with him! I had a strict no-player policy built into my contract. Besides, my father would kill me if he found out. “No I couldn’t possibly. It’s not allowed.”
    “Oh well, then I can’t come visit you regularly,” he replied with a sad, exaggerated shrug. He was loving this. “Sorry, Doc, those are my terms.”
    “One date?” I asked hesitantly. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go out with him. He was after all Jacob Maddox, handsome, cocky, and could kiss like the world was ending. I could only imagine what type of date we would have, but I had to stick to my guns, right? If I gave in just one time, I would be treading into some dangerous waters in more ways than one.
    “One,” he replied, holding up one lone finger. “But sometimes you can’t just stop with one.”
    I sighed loudly and sat back in my chair, glancing at the calendar before me. Could I make this work? I had to didn’t I?
    “Fine, one date. I have an opening this Friday.” That was two days from now, giving me plenty of time to prepare for him and whatever antics he might try during the date.
    “I’m free after eight,” he said, a grin appearing instantly on his face. I nodded and wrote down my address on a pink sticky note and handed it to him.
    “Here, pick me up here.”
    “See you then,” he said.
    Before he could walk out the door, I quickly added, “There will be no kissing! Or… or touching!”
    “Oh, Doc, I can’t promise anything of the sort.” He winked at me then started to whistle as he turned away.
    I scrubbed my face with my hands and fought the urge to scream. What had I just done? I felt like I’d made a deal with the devil. Not only had I agreed to go out on a date with him, but he’d managed to wangle his way out of the therapy session we were having! I groaned. He’d played me. And I could lose my job over this—breaking my contract so openly—but if I