Catching Summer (Second Chances, #6)(13)

I shook her hand and smiled. “Nice to meet you, Miss Morgan. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

She bit her lip and opened her small black book. “I was wondering if I could schedule a meeting with you. I’m writing an article about the country’s sexiest bachelors in the sports world. You were one of the top picks in our polls.”

“Really? Damn, I never would’ve thought that.”

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she laughed breathlessly. “Oh, yeah, you better believe it. The world wants you, especially the ladies. Are you interested?”

“Hell, yeah. What all do you need from me?”

“Oh, just some answers to a couple of questions,” she replied with a small shrug of her shoulders. “They might get kind of personal, but if you don’t want to answer them, you don’t have to. I just figured the ladies would want to know what kind of woman you want.”

Over my shoulder, I looked at Summer, who was now standing with Jaxon in the middle of the field, a little too close. Quickly, I turned back to Bailey. “Are you free tonight?”

Her smile brightened. “Yes, definitely. Where would you like to meet?”

“Seven o’clock at the Carolina Tavern. It’s not far from here. I’ll meet you there.”

“Great, I’ll see you then,” she called out as I turned and headed straight for the fifty-yard line. With my back to her, I waved my hand in the air and marched to my target.

Jaxon was our kicker and was showing Summer how to kick the ball. When she tried, it didn’t go very far. Her laugh echoed in the air, and as she prepared to try again, Jaxon had his hands out, ready to put them on her waist.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not the way you go about showing her how to kick the ball,” I said, almost growling the words. Jax quickly pulled back before Summer even noticed he was about to touch her. Sly bastard. His eyes narrowed, but then changed when Summer turned around.

“Did you see how horrible that was?” she asked. “I think I have a better chance at running the ball than kicking it.”

Jax bent down and picked up one of the balls. “I thought I’d teach her how to kick since I noticed you were a little busy talking to your friend over there,” he explained. “I didn’t want her to be alone since everyone else is leaving.”

“That lady isn’t a friend; she’s a reporter. She asked if she could do an interview with me.”

Summer’s eyes went wide. “Evan, that’s great. What’s it about?”

“I know,” Jax interrupted. “She’s interviewing me, too. It’s something Sports Unlimited does every year. They pick the country’s top twenty-five sexiest athletes.”

“And you both made it on the list?” she exclaimed. “That’s amazing.”

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure I was at the bottom. Evan, here, is the one all the ladies want. I swear, we can’t go anywhere without women throwing him their thongs.”

Summer’s smile faded. “Wow, that’s pretty interesting. I guess that stuff happens all the time with you guys.”

Jax smiled innocently. “Nope, only to Evan.”

Clenching my teeth, I was about to go off on him when Gavin ran up and joined us. “Yo, Townsend, you about ready to get started? I’m ready to get the f*ck out of here.” He threw me a ball and I clutched it tight.

“Summer, do you mind waiting on me for a few minutes? I’ll be done soon and then I can take you home.”

“Or I can just take you,” Jax offered.

Summer glanced at us both and cleared her throat, obviously picking up on the tension. The last thing I wanted to do was fight with Jax in front of her. He’d pulled this same shit with Lindsey and ended up f*cking her behind my back. The only problem with beating his ass was that he was our best kicker. I didn’t want to risk our team playing without him. Not to mention I’d get in a shit ton of trouble if I hurt him.

Summer turned to Jax and smiled. “I’ll just wait on Evan, if you don’t mind. But you’re more than welcome to show me some of your moves while I wait.”

Jax grinned widely and winked at me without her noticing. “I’d be happy to do that, darling. I have lots of skills.”

If he so much as touched her, I was going to make sure he wasn’t capable of showing her any of those skills. Now I definitely regretted being late this morning.





Chapter 7


Summer


The tension between Evan and Jax was palpable. There was something there that I didn’t know about. Judging by the way Evan gripped the steering wheel, I could tell he was still angry, even after busting Jax’s nose with the football. Evan and Gavin were off practicing when Jax got a little too close and put his hands on my waist. After that, it was game over. I saw the ball fly from Evan’s grasp before I could even open my mouth. Needless to say, I rushed to grab some towels and sat with Jax until his nose stopped bleeding. I told Evan to take me to my house. I really needed to take a shower before going to the restaurant, now that I was covered in blood.

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” I asked. “Why did you flip out on Jax when he touched me? He was just showing me how to turn my hips to kick the ball.”

Blowing out an angry breath, he snorted darkly. “That’s not what he was doing, sunshine. He was trying to mess with you to f*ck with me. We don’t exactly have the best history.”