Game for Tonight (7 page)

“Stop.” Aubrey’s cheeks turned pink, and Willow started to laugh.

“And I bet he was huge, huh? A boy that tall and with those arms has to be packing, if you know what I mean.”

Good Lord, she couldn’t believe what Willow was saying but…yes. She was so dead-on about what he was packing. “Fine,” Aubrey said with a put-upon sigh. She was having fun chatting with Willow, and maybe sharing this little bit would bring them closer. “He was totally hung.”

“Ha! I knew it. Lucky girl. Not that I’m complaining. My man is very well endowed,” Willow said smugly.

Aubrey stuck her fingers in her ears, not wanting to hear any details about Nick Hamilton’s…genital area. Oh God. And was that older woman sitting the next table over really glaring at them? Crap, she’d probably overheard.

She desperately wanted to crawl under the table. Or slink her way out of the deli, never to return. Which would be a real shame, since she loved their sandwiches.

Willow, though, was laughing her butt off at Aubrey’s misery. The brat. “Sorry. It’s just…that woman glared at us and, yeah. That was hilarious. I bet we shocked the crap out of her.”

“It’s not hilarious. This is my life,” Aubrey hissed out the last word. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”

“You’re the one who asked me to meet you for lunch,” Willow reminded, amusement lacing her voice. “And you’re the one who wanted to talk about your sex life.”

Well. She had her there. “So tell me what to do. Tell me how to handle this, because clearly I’m just as bad at the game as Flynn is.”

Willow raised a brow. “Have you had sex before?”

“Come on.” Aubrey barely restrained from rolling her eyes again. She wasn’t a crazed sex maniac who’d had an endless stream of partners, but she’d been with a few guys.

“And have you been in a steady relationship before?”

“Yeah, but it’s been a while.” She thought of her ex. It didn’t even matter anymore that he was getting married. But thanks to her freak-out over Derek’s engagement announcement, she’d approached Flynn and…landed him. So did that mean she owed Derek a thank-you?

Ha. Now, that would be a hilarious conversation.

“Then, you definitely have a leg up on Flynn. So I think you need to implement a plan.” Willow smiled and took a sip from her drink.

Unease slipped down Aubrey’s spine. “A plan?” she asked weakly.

Willow nodded. “It’s going to be fabulous. He won’t know what hit him.”

“What sort of plan are you talking about?”

“The plan that we shall name Operation Seduce Flynn Foley.” Willow laughed and shook her head. “Don’t worry. This is going to be easy.”

Aubrey wasn’t so sure about that.

…

“You wanted to talk to me?” Flynn hovered at the open doorway of Harvey Price’s office, nerves making him jittery, bouncing from one foot to the other. He was exhausted after running his ass off for hours, pushing himself beyond his usual limits.

Jared Quinn outplayed him every single time. Trotting out onto the field as if he wasn’t even winded, and he was an old man compared to Flynn.

Damn it, he couldn’t even hate on the guy long enough to let it fester in his gut. He liked Quinn. Flynn knew he irritated the crap out of the quarterback sometimes, but he admired the guy. He was a freaking legend.

And Flynn was nothing but a benchwarmer.

Get over yourself, you damn baby.

“Come in, Flynn. Shut the door.” Harvey waved him in, and Flynn went inside, letting the door shut behind him. “Have a seat.”

He settled in the chair across from Harvey’s desk. The publicist’s usual friendly expression was gone, replaced with a dour look. Like a world-is-gonna-come-crashing-down-on-their-heads type of look. “Everything okay?”

“We need to talk, son.”

Well, crap. Any conversation that began with those words couldn’t be good. “What about?”

Harvey took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, as if he needed to calm himself down. “Did you leave the party at the restaurant Sunday night with Aubrey?”

Flynn went still. So this was about
Aubrey
? Had she told on them to Harvey, or what? “I gave her a ride home, yes. She wanted to leave the party early, and so did I. It made sense for us to leave together.”

“Did anything…happen between you two?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Flynn said defensively as he started to sweat.
Hell.
He felt like the world’s biggest jackass, how he hadn’t talked to Aubrey since that night. He’d told himself he’d been too busy, but the reality was…

He didn’t know what to say. How to act around her. Stupid, he knew it, but hell. What was he supposed to do? If he was around Aubrey, he wasn’t sure if he could fake it that nothing had happened between them. Because something had—something major—and if it was written all over his face, then he could possibly get her in trouble with her boss. And he couldn’t risk it.

Forget that. He wouldn’t hurt her. And he didn’t want to get hurt, either. Relationships were nothing but trouble. His dad had said that to him time and again throughout high school and college and especially now. Friendships, girls, hell, even his grades to a point, should’ve all fallen to the wayside, according to his father. Football was the end all, be all. He remembered his dad’s words. They’d become a mantra in his head from the time he was young.

Focus on the game. Focus on the ball. Focus on you.

“Listen, it’s going to become everyone’s business because
US
magazine has a picture on their website of you and Aubrey together, leaving your house in the middle of the night.” Harvey pushed a sheet of paper toward Flynn, across his otherwise pristine desk.

Picking it up, Flynn could tell immediately it was a page printed right off the
US
website. A small article, a few hundred words, talking about his lackluster career, his late night—more like an early morning—with a “mysterious and beautiful redhead,” and how maybe his new girl would give him a stroke of luck after she de-virginized the infamous virgin football player.

Funny word choice there, “stroke.” Oh, and talking about his sexual status, that was a nice touch, too. But what else was new?

The picture was grainy, taken from a distance. They were in his car, just pulling out of his driveway. The dazed and confused look on Aubrey’s face was clear as day. As was the equally dazed and confused expression he wore.

Great. A sleazy reminder of their night together. A night that he considered pretty damn amazing and that he hoped she felt the same way about.

Now it had become fodder for a gossipy website.

“Nothing happened.” Flynn set the paper on the edge of the desk, not really wanting to look at it anymore. “I usually notice those reporters and photographers hanging around my neighborhood, but they haven’t been by in forever.” No one cared about him, since he didn’t play much. Or so he’d thought.

“Please. You were too distracted at the idea you were about to get some with Aubrey. Or let me rephrase that—you probably already got some and were too distracted by your high.” The disgust in Harvey’s voice was clear. “You know what this means, right?”

Flynn frowned. “Means? No, I don’t know what this means.”

“They’re going on the hunt for your mysterious, beautiful redhead so they can label her your new ‘girlfriend.’” Harvey made air quotes at the description of Aubrey. “They’ll have her figured out within hours. They probably already know who she is. And then they’re going to know that you and the assistant publicist for the Hawks are having a fling. Which, you do realize, is against company policy. This could cause a major media shitstorm for the Hawks organization, you know. And Charlie Monroe won’t be pleased.”

Flynn wanted to groan. Now the Hawks owner was involved? Could this get any worse? “We are definitely not having a fling.”

“So, what is it between you two?”

As if he knew. And if he did, he wouldn’t tell Harvey what it was. “We’re…friends.”

“Friends who sneak out of your house together in the middle of the night? That’s pretty damn friendly,” Harvey pointed out.

“It wasn’t that late,” Flynn argued because hey, it had been morning, so technically it had been early. But Harvey shook his head, shutting him up.

“Doesn’t matter. It looks illicit.”

Yeah. He knew it did. “Look, we act like it’s no big deal, it becomes no big deal, right?”

Harvey studied him for a long, too-quiet moment, his always-assessing gaze narrowed, his lips thinned. For so long, Flynn was tempted to squirm in his chair, like a little kid who’d just gotten busted. “No big deal. Fine. Let’s go that route. Get back to me and tell me how that works out for you, okay?”

Flynn knew when he was being dismissed. Rising from the chair, he nodded at Harvey and took off, more than ready to leave for the day. After the excruciating practice, the agony over having to avoid Aubrey, and then the bad news and intense drill from Harvey? He just wanted out of there.

Running scared? Probably. And he never ran scared from anything or anyone. The past few days had been pretty damn intense, though. He needed to get some alone time. Get his head back on straight.

Not bothering to say good-bye to anyone, he grabbed his duffel bag and fled down the hall, toward the exit that led out into the side lot where players and staff parked. His hurried steps echoed in the otherwise empty hall, his mind running over again and again what Harvey had said to him.

Redheaded girlfriend.
Stroke of luck.
Scandal. De-virginizing the virgin football player—was that all he’d been reduced to? He’d played a hell of a season when he’d stepped in for Quinn. He’d broken records in high school and college. He wasn’t a joke. He had a future, damn it.

This would blow over. It always did. Some other scandal would break out and take the focus off him. Besides, it was just a tiny mention on
US
magazine’s site. Big deal. It hadn’t even made their print version, he’d bet. Flynn Foley was a nobody. Whoever he happened to be banging shouldn’t concern anyone else. Right?

Right.

Pushing through the double doors with a hard shove, he stopped short when a swarm of photographers came at him. Their flashes repeatedly going off blinded him, and wincing against the brightness, he threw up an arm. Tried to make sense of the cacophony of voices coming at him all at once.

“Flynn! Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Are you dating the Hawks publicist?”

“Are you and Aubrey Cooper an item?”

“Did you finally lose your virginity, Flynn?”

“Is the pretty redhead your lover? Are you two serious?”

“No comment,” Flynn muttered, dropping his arm and putting his head down as he moved through the throng.

They followed him all the way to his car, never letting up on the questions, the photos of him and Aubrey, the fact that the Golden Boy had been soiled. Yep. One of them actually used the word “soiled.”

Unbelievable.

He climbed into his car and backed out of the parking spot, not bothering to check if he was going to hit anyone. They all scattered like the cockroaches they were anyway, so he wasn’t worried. He’d dealt with this sort of thing before, but never with a crowd of paparazzi this size. They were relentless, still shouting questions at him, despite the facts he had his windows rolled up and he wasn’t saying squat.

Freaking Harvey Price. He was right, as much as Flynn didn’t want to admit it. There was no way he could ignore this. It wasn’t going to just go away. In fact, it would probably get worse if he never acknowledged their questions. He’d always talked to the media. They liked him for the most part, and he played up his wholesome-boy image as best he could. He’d figured any sort of attention was good for his public image, right?

Not this sort of attention, though.

First thing tomorrow, he was talking to Harvey—and Aubrey—about the situation.

A world-weary sigh escaped him as he glanced in his rearview mirror, noticed three cars trailing behind him. One of them had a guy hanging out the passenger-side window, camera in hand.

Great.

Chapter Six

“Your ignore-it-and-it’ll-go-away strategy didn’t work? Is that what you’re telling me?” Harvey rested a hand against his chest, his expression aghast. Though the twinkle in his eyes was undeniable.

Flynn wanted to sock him in the face, and he never wanted to hit anyone. He usually got all of his aggression out on the football field. “I’m not even going to bother answering that.”

He’d come into Harvey’s office at eight o’clock on the dot, not able to sleep hardly at all last night. He’d finally given up around six and crawled out of bed, restless as he’d paced the near-empty rooms of his house. The sun wasn’t up, the sky was a gloomy, wintry gray, and he’d finally gone out for a run.

Only to be trailed by a handful of photographers asking where his new girlfriend was and why she wasn’t running with him. And if she was back at the house, hadn’t she given him a good enough workout last night…in bed?

Yeah, he’d ended that stretch of exercise real quick.

“From what I saw for myself yesterday evening, the photos of you and Aubrey made it on
TMZ
,
Entertainment Tonight
,
Inside Edition
, and fucking
SportsCenter
,” Harvey said, slowly, shaking his head. “
SportsCenter
. They all sat around speculating about your love life, like gossip columnists. I’ve never seen such a thing. Well, maybe when Tom was first dating Giselle and the scandal erupted, with the previous girlfriend having his baby and all, but still.”

Flynn hung his head, exhaling loudly. It was one thing to be put in the same league as Tom-freaking-Brady. It was another thing entirely to be compared to Brady because of their complicated love lives. Talk about ridiculous. “It’s gotta be a slow news day, right? I mean, this is insane.”

“I heard from Charlie Monroe myself before I even got out of bed,” Harvey continued, his voice low. “He is not pleased.”

Flynn grimaced and looked up to find Harvey glaring at him. He and Charlie got along pretty well. Flynn always believed it was because Charlie loved his wholesome good-ol’-boy image, whereas so many of the Hawks were a bunch of punk asses. “He mad at me?”

“He’s mad at the entire situation.” Harvey paused, his gaze like laser beams, searing right into Flynn’s brain. “He suggested I consider firing Aubrey, citing the no-fraternizing policy. Sordid little affairs like the one you and Aubrey must’ve indulged in disgust Monroe. We are a family organization, and he wants it to stay that way.”

Shock coursed through Flynn at the suggestion, at Harvey’s words. He’d kept away from Aubrey on purpose so no one would see them together and get suspicious. Yeah, he worked directly with her, but he wasn’t sure how he’d react around her after what had happened between them. Instead, it only had made the two of them look worse. “No. Hell no. She shouldn’t lose her job over this. Nothing happened between us.” Lies, lies, all lies, but no way would he let her get fired for this.

“I know. You already said that.” Harvey smiled, but it had “fake” written all over it. “But what’s done is done. So I have a proposal for you.”

“What is it?” Flynn asked warily.

“Let’s just cut to the chase.” Harvey leveled him with somber eyes, his expression like stone. “Don’t bother denying something happened between you and Aubrey. We know it did.”

Flynn clamped his lips shut. No words said were better than another protest.

“Aubrey’s sweet and young and a hard worker. You’re our benched Golden Boy, wholesome representative for the Hawks.” Harvey sat up straighter and pointed a finger at him. “I think you should go out with her for real. Play it up for the press, but go ahead and pursue her.”

“I thought…” Flynn’s voice drifted, his thoughts jumbled. This was the last thing he’d expected Harvey to suggest. “You just said it’s against company policy for Hawks employees to date each other.”

“It is.” Harvey nodded. “But when I was talking Monroe off the ledge, in regards to Aubrey’s future employment with the Hawks, I came up with this brilliant idea and suggested it to Charlie. He had to agree the two of you do make an adorable couple.”

Flynn grimaced.
Adorable.
Really? “So you’re encouraging me to go out with Aubrey,” he said slowly, wanting to make sure he really understood this. One wrong move, and he could get Aubrey fired—no way could he deal with the responsibility of that. He needed to protect her.

“I am.” Harvey smiled and rubbed his hands together. “The media seems to already love the two of you together. Don’t you think?”

Huh. Flynn supposed they did. But would Aubrey be game for this? Or was she mad at him for avoiding her? “What if Aubrey’s not interested?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Harvey said. “She’ll be interested.”

And how the hell would Harvey know? “I won’t make her go out with me.”

“So you’ll go ahead and risk Aubrey losing her job?” Harvey raised a brow.

No way. He’d totally make her go out with him.

“You care for her. I can see that. Your feelings are genuine for Aubrey, and I think that’s sweet.” The word “sweet” coming from Harvey sounded all sorts of wrong. “No way could she resist you.”

Flynn wasn’t so sure about that.

“And you can test your skills on her in about five minutes.” Harvey checked his watch and made a face. “Make that about one minute, since our girl is extremely punctual.”

“She’s going to meet with us?” Dread coiled in the pit of his stomach, like a deadly snake lying in wait for its prey. He couldn’t go on avoiding her forever, but man, he felt like a jerk for not reaching out to her since the night they were together. And now with everything going on, they had to talk. He just wanted a little prep time first. “Right now?”

“Yes.” Harvey took a swig of his Starbucks coffee. “Don’t look so panicked. She likes you, remember?”

Flynn couldn’t count on that, but he really didn’t have a choice. It was time to strategize.

Within seconds, Harvey’s office door swung open and in walked Aubrey, looking gorgeous in a deep green dress that lovingly clung to her abundant curves. She stopped short when she saw Flynn sitting in his chair, her gaze narrowing, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink.

Flynn’s skin tightened. His blood roared in his ears. Damn, she looked good. Despite the irritation rolling off her in palpable waves, he was happy to see her.

She didn’t look so happy to see him, though. Not a surprise.

“Good morning, Aubrey,” Harvey said cheerily.

She stood by the only other empty chair in the office—which just so happened to be sitting next to the chair Flynn occupied—gripping her to-go coffee cup as if it was a lifeline. “Morning.”

“And you know Flynn.” The teasing tone in Harvey’s voice was unmistakable.

Aubrey rolled her eyes, looking ready to kill him. “Very funny, Harvey.”

“Sit down, sit down. Not like Foley’s going to bite you.” Harvey waved a hand at the empty chair, and she settled in it heavily, not once looking in Flynn’s direction.

Not that he needed her to. He was perfectly enraptured with her delicate profile, her wavy auburn hair cascading down her front, stopping just at her breasts. She brought the coffee cup to her lips, taking a sip, and all the while, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“You’re staring,” she whispered, never looking over at him.

He blinked. “Sorry.” That apology spoke for more than his staring at her. He regretted how he’d treated her the past few days.

And he really hoped she could sense that.

“I spoke with Charlie last night,” Harvey said, distracting Aubrey from her reaction to Flynn. “He’s not pleased at all that this happened.”

Aubrey sat up straighter in her chair, causing her chest to thrust out. Damn, Flynn felt like a pervert, ogling her, but he remembered exactly what her breasts felt like in his hands. Soft and heavy and with the prettiest pink nipples he’d ever tasted. “Is he angry with me? I know I made a mistake, Harvey. I should’ve never let myself be seen leaving Flynn’s house at such a late hour. I forgot all about the paparazzi.”

Flynn turned to look at her head on, incredulous. She was going to take the fall for what was going on. He couldn’t freaking believe it. “It’s not your fault.”

She chanced a glance at him. “I know better than to allow myself to do something as stupid as this. Trust me.”

Ouch. Well, that hurt.

He turned to Harvey. Now wasn’t the time for him to ask Aubrey out on a real date. She’d probably chop his balls off if he so much as suggested it, what with the blatant hostility she kept tossing toward him. He’d wait until her mood eased a bit. “I’ll leave you two to your meeting,” he said as he stood.

Harvey slowly shook his head. “You sure you don’t have anything else to say to Aubrey?”

“Let’s talk later.” He lowered his voice, his gaze locked on her and nowhere else. She stared back at him, her lips parted, her eyes wide. She looked as if she didn’t know what to say. “When you’re done with Harvey?”

“Um.” She tore her gaze from his and stared at the top of her to-go coffee cup. “Sure.”

Relief filled him, and he saluted Harvey as he headed toward the door. “I’ll wait out in the lobby.”

“We won’t be too long,” Harvey called after him as Flynn closed the door.

…

“I think Flynn Foley is in love with you,” Harvey stated flatly.

In love?
Had the man lost his marbles? Yeah, she liked Flynn, was attracted to him, was irritated with him, too, if she was being honest. Was it wrong that seeing him look so miserable when she’d first walked into Harvey’s office had filled her with a teeny-tiny sense of satisfaction?

Probably. But she couldn’t help it. She needed to know he was just as torn up over this entire fiasco as she was. A fiasco he’d originally created, because if he’d just come around and talked to her, hell, just sent her a “hey, what’s up?” text, she wouldn’t be harboring all of these negative feelings toward him.

That wouldn’t have stopped the paparazzi from taking that photo, though. They’d had no control over that.

Well. They could’ve never gotten together. That would’ve nipped all of their problems in the bud. But too late for what-ifs.

“He’s not in love with me,” Aubrey said, because no way did she believe that.

“Fine. He likes you. And you need to keep up the pretense that you like him, if you know what I mean,” Harvey said cryptically.

She shook her head, panic rising within her. “No. No, no, no, Harvey. You can’t try to pull off another fake relationship within the Hawks franchise. You already did it once with Jared and Sheridan Quinn, and you lucked out when it became successful. The general public is going to start thinking something weird is going on here if you try again.”

“No way will we chance anyone finding out that this is a fake relationship. Right? You two haven’t talked to anyone about this, I’m sure.”

“Um, no,” she lied. The pointed look Harvey was sending her way struck terror in her heart.

She’d told Willow everything. And she wanted to trust Willow, really she did, but a secret was no longer secret when more than one person knew about it. And if Willow knew, then most likely—eventually—Nick would know. And then Jared would know. Then Sheridan. Then…

“Perfect. Everyone knows you and Flynn have been dancing around each other since you started working here, Aubrey. It’ll make perfect sense that you end up together.” Harvey clasped his hands together, looking inordinately pleased with himself. “It’ll be brief. Flynn’s going to be traveling so much the next few weeks for the play-offs, it’s not like you’ll see each other much. If this thing looks real between you two, then terrific. A serious commitment, the powers-that-be won’t necessarily frown upon. So you can nurture your relationship and have fun with it, all the while, playing it up to the press.”

That sounded like a nightmare. She didn’t want to lie to Flynn and do this because her boss had told her to. And who knew if Flynn wanted to play pretend, either? He had better things to do. Such as play football, his life’s work. “This is insane,” Aubrey murmured.

“You can make this work. I have faith in you.” Harvey smiled. “This is what you’ve been training for. The opportunity of your career has just landed in your lap.”

“Yeah, at the expense of my personal life going to crap,” she mumbled, sipping on her now cold coffee. Ugh.

She glanced down at her lap, letting her hair fall in front of her face. If she could be anywhere else, she’d be there. Right now. The dentist for a root canal. Her yearly pap-smear appointment. Getting waxed down there. Yes, she’d rather go to any of those appointments than have to listen to Harvey convince her that pretending to be with Flynn was the right thing to do.

“Aubrey, look at me.”

Slowly she lifted her head, trying her best to keep her expression impassive. Harvey smiled, and it reminded her of the devil. Satan wasn’t a red dude with horns and a pitchfork. He was a slick publicist, in an expensive suit, who also happened to be her boss. “What?” she mumbled.

“You’ve been an excellent asset to my team since you’ve come here. You know this, right?”

She nodded, deciding it best not to say a word.

“I appreciate your hard work. You’ve done wonders with Nick Hamilton. You’ve worked great with Foley. Whatever I ask you to do, you do. That means a lot to me.” He paused, and she waited with dread in her stomach for his next words. “So I need you to do this. Pretend to be with Foley. The less distractions we have, the better. It’s the play-offs, for the love of God. So if you can pretend for a little while that you’re madly in love with Flynn, give a press conference, and then lay low, we’ll be good.”

“I don’t want to pretend I’m in a relationship with him,” she said. More than anything, she didn’t want to lie to him. Yes, she liked him, but she didn’t want to have a “boyfriend” all for the sake of the media. “I don’t want to fake it. Haven’t we had enough of that around here?”

“This is different than the Quinns. Small. Temporary.” Harvey waved a hand. “One press conference is all I’m asking for. An appearance at a game, with you wearing Foley’s jersey. No biggie.”