The Playbook

  Brett shook his head and chuckled. “It’s not much to see, but if you want to see it, we can.”

  “Even your high school? And were you lost your virginity for the first time?”

  His head jerked back in shock. “Surely you’re not putting that shit in the article?”

  Walking up to him, I placed my hands on his chest and grinned. The energy rippled between us and I was positive he felt it too. “Nope, that one is off the record and only because I’m guessing it was somewhere insane.”

  The left side of his mouth rose into a sexy smirk. “You wanting to top it, sweetheart?”

  A tinge of jealousy raced through my body at the thought of another woman with Brett. Sharing something so intimate. It was quickly replaced with butterflies in my stomach as his pet name whirled around in my head.

  Sweetheart. Oh, to hear that whispered in my ear as he made love to me. If he even made love. He probably only fucked.

  Stop. This. Aubrey.

  Deciding to have a bit of fun, I answered, “Maybe.”

  I quickly headed out of the library and raced up to my room to change, leaving Brett behind to think about my little flirtatious moment. It was obvious from how giddy I was I enjoyed flirting with him.

  A cold front had moved through and the temperatures were in the mid-sixties. Jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt should work nicely, plus keep me covered from wandering hands.

  “One can never be too safe,” I said to myself as I grabbed my bag.

  I bounded down the stairs and out front where a Ford F250 was parked. Brett and Mac stood next to the truck and were in a deep conversation. I’d never seen Brett so angry looking.

  “Hey,” I said as I made myself known. The two of them looked like they were about to go after each other. Glancing between the two of them, I looked into Brett’s eyes. “Everything okay?”

  He jaw was clenched. “Yeah, let’s go.” Opening the door for me, I went to get in when Mac reached for my hand and helped me in. I quickly turned to look at him to thank him, but Brett placed his hand on Mac’s shoulder.

  In almost a growl, Brett stared at Mac and said, “She’s mine to help, not yours.”

  Well. That was interesting.

  IT TOOK EVERYTHING out of me not to punch Mac in the face when he put his hand on Aubrey. I was already about to go off on him as it was. The idea of him running the ranch in Wyoming set me off. It was bad enough he was working his way in more and more with the daily running of this ranch, the last thing I wanted was him to be up there alone and taking over completely.

  I’d looked up the logs that were kept and was surprised at some of the stuff that was happening on the ranch and intended on talking to my father about it this evening.

  I grabbed his shoulder and slightly tugged him back. “She’s mine to help, not yours.”

  Mac smiled. “Sure thing, buddy. We’ll talk later.”

  Staring at him with a hard look, I mumbled, “You can count on it.”

  Turning, Mac walked toward the foreman’s house.

  “Um, what was that exchange all about?” Aubrey asked.

  “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  I shut her door and jogged around the truck. It had been a week since we’d arrived and we hadn’t left the ranch once. Aubrey didn’t seem to mind at all that we had hung around the ranch, as matter of fact; she melted right into place. It warmed my heart to see how much she loved it here.

  “All right, let’s go check out Marfa,” I said as I shifted the truck in gear.

  “Whose truck is this?”

  “Mine,” I replied.

  I could feel her stare. “You keep your truck here at the ranch? Why?”

  With a laugh, I shrugged. “What am I going to do with a truck in downtown Austin? I barely have space to park my car.”

  “That’s true. I didn’t think about that.”

  We drove down the long driveway in silence. The moment we pulled out onto the highway, she went for the attack.

  “What did you mean when you said you didn’t sleep with Ryan’s wife?”

  Fuck. All I wanted to do was enjoy one day. Just one fucking day.

  “Do we have to talk about this now, Bree?”

  She turned her body more to face me. “Yes. You promised and you’ve been avoiding me the last few days. I figure since I have you trapped in the truck, you have to answer me.”

  Glancing over to her, I asked, “Is that the only reason you came? To hammer me with questions?”

  Her eyes brightened. “No. I really wanted to see where you grew up and went to school.”

  “And where I lost my virginity?”

  She giggled. “Yes, that too.”

  With a quick look in her direction, I gave in. “What I’m about to tell you needs to stay off the record. Not one bit of it can be printed.”

  She nodded her head. “You have my word. And we’re in a vehicle. Remember, off the record when we’re in vehicles.”

  I grinned and nodded my head.

  All right, I might as well get this over with. “I was married before.”

  The quick intake of air through her mouth caused me to look at her. Aubrey wore a stunned expression.

  “Wh-what? I didn’t see anything anywhere about you being married.”

  “The marriage was annulled.”

  “Oh,” was all she said.

  “I met her when I played college football and continued to date her after I got drafted.”

  “Wait, I don’t ever remember seeing you with the same girl. No, I take that back. Your senior year there were pictures of you with the same girl. A blonde.”

  “Nicole.”

  Her name on my lips pissed me off. It had been years since I’d even spoken her name.

  “She didn’t think I should have gone into the NFL.”

  “Why?” Aubrey probed with a confused look on her face.

  All those emotions I buried came rushing to the surface.

  “Who the hell knows? Worried I was going to hook up with women I guess. I asked her to marry me, hoping that would show her I was committed to her only. It was stupid. I was young, thought it would help our relationship. It didn’t help at all. It only made it worse. Once I got into the NFL I was being named most eligible bachelor and all that shit. I ignored it, but Nicole couldn’t. I begged her to come on the road with me. I really thought if we spent more time together we could work on the marriage. I loved her, at least I thought I did. Told myself I did.”

  “Did you give her reason to doubt you?”

  My eyes snapped over to her. “If there is one thing about me you should know, it’s that I would never cheat. If I give my heart to someone, I give it to them one hundred percent.”

  “How many women have you given your heart to, Brett?”

  “One. And it was the biggest mistake of my life.”

  “How can you say that? You must have loved Nicole to marry her.”

  Shaking my head, I blew out a tiresome sigh. “I loved her, don’t get me wrong. But looking back, we got married for all the wrong reasons. I was never in love with her if that makes sense. Hell, I never even brought her home to see where I grew up. Mind you, she had no desire to see where I grew up. That should have been my first clue things wouldn’t work out.”

  “She didn’t want to see where you grew up? Did you want to show her that side of your life?” Aubrey asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe deep inside I knew she wasn’t the one.”

  “If she wasn’t the one, why did you marry her?”

  Laughing, I turned to her and winked. “That’s the million-dollar question. Like I said, we got married for all the wrong reasons.”

  “What happened? Why did you get divorced?”

  “Annulled. I had the marriage annulled.”

  “Okay, what made you do something so extreme?”

  I inhaled a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before exhaling it. “When I got injured, things between us really changed. She kept askin
g to start a family and I wasn’t ready. Something about it didn’t feel right. Maybe it was because deep down inside, I knew the marriage wasn’t really going to work for the long haul. There was always a part of her that resented the fact I was gone so much and she often told me. We fought a lot. I wasn’t going to bring kids into a relationship like that.”

  Aubrey let out a gruff laugh. “Wait, she had to know what she was getting into. Especially if she dated you in college.”

  “I guess the money kept her somewhat happy.” Thinking back on all of it, I felt myself getting angry. “Anyway, I was cleared to play again and was pretty jazzed about getting back onto the field. I had to wait one more game and then I was back at it. I asked the coach if I could fly home and be with Nicole for a long weekend. It meant I wouldn’t be on the sideline of a game and I never missed a game, but if I wanted to make the marriage work, I thought a weekend alone together might do the trick. Especially if she knew I was missing a game. I decided to fly home and surprise her. I knew this was the last chance we had at attempting to make things work.”

  “Was she surprised?”

  My stomach felt sick as the memory of that day came rushing back. “You could say. She was with my best friend who was fucking her in our bed.”

  Aubrey’s hands covered her mouth. “What? Oh my God, Brett, that must have been terrible for you.”

  “Yeah it wasn’t one of the finer moments of my life.”

  “Did you beat the hell out of your friend?”

  I laughed and looked at her. “I hit him once, maybe twice. Nicole, of course, begged for forgiveness and said it was a weak moment and that it hadn’t happened before. I believed her only because I knew she was most likely seduced by the bastard. I wore blinders when it came to our friendship. Only because he was like a brother. We grew up together. Played football together. I thought we had a bond.”

  “Why would your best friend seduce your wife, Brett? That’s crazy!”

  I was kind of surprised it hadn’t hit Aubrey yet who the best friend was.

  Turning to Aubrey, I replied, “Why don’t you ask Ryan Dryer?”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Ryan slept with Nicole?”

  “Are you starting to get why I can’t stand the motherfucker?”

  Aubrey looked straight ahead as if trying to piece additional pieces of the puzzle together. “Oh my word. Why? Why would he do that to you?”

  “Jealousy. Anger. He was still pissed I got drafted into the NFL and he didn’t. With my whole football career, Ryan had always been just a few steps behind. It’s the way it was. It was nothing I did. I was a stronger player. I was better at talking to girls, he wasn’t. The night I met Nicole, we were both at a party. Ryan pointed her out, said she was cute. When we walked up to talk to her, he stood there like a lump on a log. I figured he wasn’t really into her. She flirted with both of us. When he didn’t bite, I did. The rest is history.”

  Aubrey sat there with a blank look on her face.

  “So, Ryan basically went after your wife as a form of payback?”

  With a slight nod, I replied, “Pretty much.”

  “But that can’t be the reason you left the NFL.”

  “No, it wasn’t. Once I was drafted, Ryan bought out one of the owners of the team and became part owner. I never really understood why he did it, but it soon became clear. He couldn’t stand the thought of me succeeding at something and him not. So, with him being the owner of the team I played on, the last thing I was going to do was play for him. He knew it too. He agreed to pay out my contract if I agreed to not mention the affair. The only problem was he wouldn’t release me to play for another team. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I went public with the affair, I’d ruin Nicole’s reputation. She was an elementary school teacher and that was the last thing she needed. Ryan knew that. She was as much a pawn in Ryan’s deception as I was.”

  Aubrey’s hand came up to her temples. “Wait. Why in the world would Ryan go through all that trouble?”

  “Jealousy is a fucked-up thing, Bree. He knew I wouldn’t play for him. He knew I wouldn’t go public with the affair, and by him having the upper hand, he took away the one thing he wanted and I got.”

  “The NFL,” she whispered.

  “Yep.”

  We drove for a few minutes in silence.

  “If Ryan was capable of going to such extremes to get you out of the NFL, do you think he would sit back quietly while you became one of the best college football coaches in the nation?”

  I let out a laugh but then got where she was going with her statement. “Do you think he set up the whole thing with Emily?”

  “Considering the trouble he went through to get you out of the NFL? Yes. I could totally see him setting up the whole thing with Emily.”

  I slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. Getting out of the truck, I paced back and forth.

  “Fucking hell. It’s been right in front of me this whole damn time.”

  Aubrey grabbed my arm. “What has?”

  “The benefit dinner that night I met Emily. Ryan was there and he was talking to her before she came up to me. I saw them standing in a corner and didn’t think anything of it.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Wait! The night I was out to dinner with him. He got up to go say hello to someone and left his phone. It rang and I saw the name. It said Emily Clarington.”

  “That’s not Emily’s last name, though.”

  It hit me as she grinned from ear to ear. “That’s Emily’s real last name, Brett. I need to call someone. Come on, let’s get back into the truck.”

  I watched as Aubrey raced around the truck and jumped in. I followed and put my truck in drive and pulled out onto the highway.

  “I have a signal! Thank you, God!” she called out.

  She hit a few numbers and looked at me with a huge smile. “Michelle. Do you still have that private detective’s number? Perfect. I need you to find out information on an Emily Clarington from Austin, Texas. Mid-twenties, I’m going to guess.” I stole a peek at her as she gave the description of Emily to her friend Michelle. With a nod, she said, “Great. Tell him I’ll make it worth his while if he gets me the information back as soon as possible. Okay. I might not have a signal so be sure to leave a message. Thanks, babe! Bye.”

  Hitting End on her phone, she punched me on the side of the arm. “We need to celebrate with music!” She reached over and started changing the channel on my satellite radio.

  “Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves, Bree.”

  It wasn’t five seconds later and another eighties song was blasting.

  “Oh, I love this song!”

  “Who. Is. This?” I asked.

  She looked at me with a gapped expression. “Brett Owens, do you know nothing about good music? This is Rick Astley!” She started belting out the song. I tried my best not to smile, but I soon found myself laughing as she jumped around and sang into a pretend microphone. I wonder if she knew she got half of the words wrong to the songs she sang. It didn’t really matter, because every time she sang a wrong word I fell a little more for her.

  As I drove into Marfa, I dared to let myself think of what life would be like with Aubrey Cain in it.

  BRETT LET ME listen to four songs from the eighties station before he took control and changed it. Soon we were both jamming out to Justin Timberlake’s “Drink You Away.” I knew there was another side to Brett Owens and it thrilled me more than I wanted to admit.

  Once we pulled into Marfa, it felt as if I were on a tour. Brett showed me where he went to school, where they hung out on Friday nights after the football game, and promised to take me to see the famous Marfa lights.

  “What exactly are the Marfa lights?” I inquired as he took my hand and helped me out of his truck.

  When he slipped his arm around my waist, I tried not to think too much about it. We were comfortable with each other. That was normal when two people spent as much time together as we
had. Besides, nothing else had happened between us other than the few kisses we shared.

  The few mind-blowing, knock-me-out-of-my-socks kisses.

  “Headlights from cars on the highway.”

  Hitting him on the stomach, we both chuckled. “Way to ruin it for me.”

  “Hey, they can be anything you want them to be. They’re the magic lights of Marfa.”

  Adrenaline rushed through my veins filling me with hope.

  “Where are we going now?”

  “My friend Chip owns a bar. I always stop in and see him when I’m in town.”

  Peeking up at him, I had to catch my breath. He looked so damn hot in that cowboy hat. I was positive my panties were soaking wet. I loved how he naturally fell into this role. It was him. Not that the Brett who I met in Austin wasn’t him. That Brett was refined and focused. This Brett was relaxed. Carefree. Totally in the element that he loved and knew. I’d dare to say he loved this ranch more than football.

  “Is there a place to two-step?”

  Brett gazed at me and gave me sweet smile. “Chip’s place. You like to two-step, sweetheart?”

  Lord, please be with me because all my sense has been thrown out the door and I could give two shits that I was only here to write an article about this man. I wanted to know him for him. Not for what my boss wanted to read. “I love to two-step.”

  He tapped the tip of my nose with his finger. “I knew there was another reason I wanted to fuck you. Country girl at heart.”

  Shaking my head, I snarled my lip up at him. “You’re an asshole.”

  Laughing, he led me up to the door of a country bar. “Come on, girl, let me show you how real Texans party.”

  It was only two in the afternoon, but I had a feeling what I was about to see is how Brett Owens partied.

  The moment he walked in, the place went crazy with everyone jumping up and saying hi to Brett. He kept his arm around my waist which surprised me. Of course, every time a guy walked up to me it was hard not to notice him pull me closer into his side.

  Oh, my. Mr. Owens was sending out a message loud and clear. Even when he introduced me, he made it sound like we were together. There was no mention of ESPN, work, or even football for that matter.