False Start: A Fake Dating Sports Romance (Red Zone Rivals)

The next day, I sat in my car with a bag full of rocks in my lap, but they might as well have been in my stomach.

I was about to meet Sebastian for the first time.

When Madelyn and I had made this plan, I’d peppered her with questions about her son. I wanted to know everything — what he liked, what he didn’t like, anything I could find out to get to know him a little before we actually met.

For reasons I couldn’t articulate, it mattered to me that his first impression of me was a good one.

It mattered to me that Madelyn was trusting me to meet him. Period.

It’d been surreal, to listen to her talk about her son, to know she was a mom at all. I’d watched her so closely as she detailed everything about him, the way she lit up with pride, how her smile seemed genuine for the first time since the day I’d shown up at that house and ran straight into my blast from the past.

Today was a big deal. It meant a lot to her, to me.

And as if all that wasn’t already enough to make my gut heavy with a mixture of emotions, I’d pulled into the park and immediately received a phone call from my agent.

About me being seen with Madelyn.

“There are no pictures, though?” I confirmed again, my heart thundering in my ears at the thought of having to tell Madelyn about this.

“No pictures,” Giana echoed. I could hear her typing away in the background. “I mean, there was one, but it was blurry and far away, and the only part of the woman they could see was one leg. Not really the kind of gold the press will pay for.”

I let my head fall back against the headrest. “Thank fuck.”

I’d been lucky with the media so far, most of it dying down soon after the draft. There was team press, of course, but that was on our terms. For now, I was just a rookie tight end. I wasn’t hot enough to be in any kind of spotlight.

But apparently, I wasn’t free of the claws of the press on a slow news day.

There was a pause on the other end. “Okay… clearly, this girl isn’t a one-night stand. If she were, you wouldn’t be so concerned.”

“She’s not,” I said with a swallow, lifting my head again to search the park for her. We’d decided to meet in a neutral place for my first time being around Sebastian. She’d be here any minute now.

The week had passed in the strangest blur.

From the moment she crashed back into my life, I couldn’t escape my thoughts of Madelyn. Add in the fact that I’d seen her almost every morning to look at houses, and that I’d had to endure the sweet torture of watching her try on evening gowns, and you could say I was going a bit mad.

Part of me wanted to hold onto the anger I had for her for so many years.

The bigger part of me couldn’t even remember why I’d been so mad.

I’d blacked out that chapter of my life long ago, but I never forgot how Madelyn had been acting weird toward me even before my parents’ party, before the incident… and I’d been upset with her for not talking to me, for not coming to that party when I really needed her to.

Then, my father had crossed a line in his drunken, asshole state of being, and Madelyn had sided with her parents, writing me off before I even had a chance to talk to her.

I’d been so pissed back then.

But now that I was older, I could understand.

Madelyn was a family girl. She always had been.

“Okay…” Giana prompted. “Is that all I get?”

“For now? Yes.”

She huffed. “If it’s someone you want help in protecting, I can’t do that if you leave me in the dark.”

“You’ll meet her at the wedding.”

“Ah, so that’s why Clay added a plus one for you,” she mused. “You know, that was a pain in the ass to do. We already gave final numbers to the caterer.”

“Hey, you’re the one throwing a wedding in two weeks. Don’t blame me for your mistakes.”

“That’s fair,” she conceded. “Okay, fine, so I’ll meet her then. For now, my recommendation is a security team with decoys ready to confuse any greedy paparazzi that might want to stick on you. Especially for the airport when you and Braden head this way with your mystery guest.”

I groaned, scrubbing a hand over my five o’clock shadow. “I hate this.”

“Welcome to the NFL. It’s not just your social media that gets to tell the story anymore. Any bastard with a camera gets to weigh in, too.”

I nodded. “Thank you, G.”

“You know how you can thank me?”

“I’m not telling you who she is.”

“Ugh!” She pouted. “Fine, but can you give me something? Tell me how you know her, or what level of serious it is. Oh, tell me your tropes!”

I blinked. “I am not going to even pretend to know what that means.”

“Okay, so, in romance books, a trope is—”

“Gotta go, G. See you next weekend,” I said, cutting her off when I noticed Madelyn across the park. Giana whined a bit when I ended the call, which made me smirk.

That girl and her damn smutty books.

She was going to have a field day with Madelyn. I needed to prepare my fake date for that.

But right now, I wasn’t thinking about the wedding.

Right now, I was too focused on where Madelyn was smiling and walking toward the swings we’d agreed to meet at, hand in hand with a little boy who looked just like her.

For a moment, I let myself sit in the privacy of my car and watch them. Madelyn released Sebastian’s hand, letting him run full speed toward the slide while she hovered close to the swings. She folded her arms over her chest and looked around.

She seemed as nervous as I was.

My gaze floated to Sebastian, to the way his smile lit up his entire face as he zoomed down the bright yellow tube slide. He tumbled into the wood chips at the bottom, and then popped up on a laugh, running right back up the stairs to go again.

He looked so much like her, it was like an ice pick to my chest.

Even from this distance, I could see how the shape of his nose mirrored hers, how his hair had the same coppery tone to it — though his was a bit browner. And I knew once I got closer, I’d see more and more evidence of their relation.

She was a mom.

I couldn’t explain why that made my next swallow harder to take, or why my chest fired up with the need to protect them both. But I didn’t overanalyze it before kicking my door open and climbing out of my Aston Martin.

Madelyn noticed me when I was twenty or so yards away. She didn’t smile, but she did offer a slight wave of her hand in greeting. It was a warm summer day in Seattle, the kind the locals wait all year for. It was just after noon now, seventy-eight degrees with not a single cloud in the sky.

Because of that, I had the fortune of seeing Madelyn in a pair of shorts and a tank top.

They weren’t the same as what she used to wear. No, those had been ripped-up jean shorts and tank tops so small they might as well have been bras. Now, she wore a more conservative outfit, the shorts cutting her off mid-thigh and the tank top a bit baggy on her.

She still looked as hot as ever, though.

“Hey there, friend,” I greeted when I found her. And just because I loved the particular shade of pink her cheeks turned when I flustered her, I reached one hand for her hip and lowered my lips to her cheek.

“Let me guess — practice?” she mused when I pulled back, tucking her hair behind one ear. That blush I was aiming for bloomed beautifully on her face.

“Indeed, and you did great. Look,” I said, thumbing the pinkness on her skin. “Barely a blush. A plus.”

Madelyn rolled her eyes, and then she frowned a little, her gaze on Sebastian.

“You ready?” I asked her.

She let out a long breath, and then turned to face me head on, her shoulders square. “To him, we are friends. Now, and after all this is done. Okay? This is serious, Kyle.”

“I know.”

“I mean it,” she echoed.

“I know, Mads.”

She paused, swallowing. “No matter what happens, we cannot hurt him. This is a big commitment and I understand if it’s too much to make. You can call this whole thing off. But you can’t meet him and then… and then…”

I stepped into her, careful not to push too close. I knew she was in a nervous state, and I only wanted to calm her — not agitate her more.

“I’m in this,” I said with absolution. “It was my idea, remember? If anyone is wanting out, it’s you. And considering the fact that you don’t want me to just say yes to the next house you show me — which I’d make sure was out of my budget just to up your commission — my guess is you’re not backing out, either.”

“You’re a real jerk for doing that, you know.”

“Well, I need a date to this wedding.”

“More like you need to insert yourself into a situation you should just leave alone.”

“Shut up and let me take care of you.”

Madelyn sighed, but the way her eyes held mine, the way the corner of her mouth lifted just slightly, I wondered if deep down, she liked the sound of that.

I wondered if as much as she fought me on it, she wanted someone to take care of her — even if just in this small way.

Sebastian came running toward us with his hands waving crazily over his head. He skidded to a stop at my feet, and Madelyn bent to his level, ruffling his hair.

“Did you see that?!” he asked, a bit breathless. “I went down the slide on my stomach!”

“I did see that,” she echoed, plucking wood chips out of his hair now. “And you set a new record for how fast you could dirty a new shirt.”

He looked down at the shirt in reference, one that said, “I’m a Book Dragon, Not A Worm.” It had a dragon blowing fire and sitting on top of a stack of books like it was golden treasure.

He was beaming when he looked back up at his mom. “Two for one!”

I chuckled a bit, especially at how Madelyn nodded like she had taught him what that phrase meant and now regretted it a little bit. When that little laugh left me, it drew Sebastian’s attention to where I stood.

Just like I’d predicted, I saw their similarities even more now that I was standing a foot away from him. His eyes were hazel, green and brown battling for dominance, but they were the same shape as Madelyn’s. There was something about his smile that mirrored hers, too.

My chest ached the longer I looked at him, and when I glanced at Madelyn, she offered me a small, understanding smile.

“Sebastian, this is my friend, Kyle.”

I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t for the kid’s eyes to go as wide as baseballs, nor would I have put “crush my legs in a fierce hug” on my bingo card. But that was exactly what he did. And when he pulled back, he jumped up and down excitedly.

“Mommy never has friends!”

Madelyn and I were silent for a beat, and then a loud laugh burst out of her, and she covered her red face with both hands before shaking her head and looking up at me.

I grinned, arching a brow at her before I bent to one knee so I could be on her son’s level.

“Well, good thing I moved to Seattle, then, huh?”

He nodded excitedly.

“It’s nice to meet you, buddy,” I said. Then, I offered him the black velvet bag in my hand. “I heard you like rocks.”

His eyes shot wide again, and then he took the bag and ripped at the strings tying it closed.

“Wow!” He gasped, showing it to his mom next. “Look! Calcite, topaz, obsidian…”

It was my turn to have my eyes grow twice their size, because the fact that he knew those words and could pronounce them nearly perfectly shocked the shit out of me.

He shook his little head, looking back at me next. “Thank you.”

“Of course. There’s a magnifying glass in there, too. And some seashell fossils.”

“Whoa!” He dragged the word out, digging in the bag. “Do you wanna come to our house and look at them with me?”

I peeked up at Madelyn, who smiled and petted her son’s hair again. “Maybe another time. For now, why don’t you hand those to me and I’ll hold them while you play.”

“Okay,” Sebastian said. I didn’t know why, but that shocked me, too. He didn’t whine, didn’t throw a fit. He trusted Madelyn, trusted that when she said later, that meant it would happen. And for now, he was content to do what she asked. “Can Kyle play, too?”

“You’ll have to ask him,” she answered.

I stood, dusting off my hands. “Oh, I don’t know…” Then, I gave him a grin. “Last one to the merry-go-round has to push!”

I took off on a slow jog, and Sebastian froze before all but throwing the bag of rocks at Madelyn and sprinting after me. I made him work until we were almost there, then I pulled back a little, letting him beat me. He flew onto the merry-go-round and jumped up and down in victory before holding onto the safety bars as I grabbed the outside edge and gave it an easy spin.

“Faster, faster!” he called.

And then he laughed, and my stomach hollowed out again.

His laugh reminded me so much of the way Madelyn used to laugh, it was like going back in time.

Almost an hour passed like that, me chasing Sebastian all around the park while he made up games for us to play at each and every piece of equipment on the playground. Our only breaks were to run over to Madelyn long enough for him to have a snack or a drink of water, and then we were off again.

Madelyn watched from a blanket she’d laid out under a tree, something between joy and terror marking her face.

Eventually, Sebastian begged his mom to play with his rocks, and she let him take them over to a sand pit and pretend to dig for them. I sank down next to her on the blanket with a grunt.

“Tired already?” she teased. “Maybe he’s all you need to get your stamina up for the season.”

I shook my head. “I wish I remembered what it was like, to have endless energy like that.”

She smiled. “He’s a good kid.”

“He is,” I agreed. “And you’re a good mom.”

Madelyn’s smile softened a bit at that, her eyes flicking between mine before she looked down at where her feet were at the edge of the blanket.

“He looks like you,” I added. “Laughs like you, too.”

“Poor kid,” she joked, shaking her head. “That laugh got me made fun of a lot in middle school.”

“Well, by high school, I assure you — there was nothing to make fun of.”

She cocked a brow, and I shrugged.

“It was one of my favorite sounds. I loved how you’d hold it back until you had no choice but to let it free, like you’d try to be annoyed by me but then I’d somehow win.”

Madelyn rolled her eyes. “I was mostly laughing at you, not because you said something funny.”

“Didn’t matter, not when I got what I wanted. That laugh… all smoky and sexy without you even trying.”

“Oh, my God, Kyle,” she said, covering her face with her hands. “Stop. You’re so stupid.”

“I’m serious. Used to be my goal, to get that laugh out of you at least once a day.” I paused, waiting until she uncovered her face. “Think I might need to bring that goal back front and center, actually. Think I might like to hear you laugh more now.”

Her eyes sparkled a bit when they met mine, a thousand questions dancing in her curious gaze.

But when her attention snapped somewhere behind me, she froze.

All the playfulness left her in an instant.

“Shit,” she whispered.

I turned to look over my shoulder, wondering what the problem was since Sebastian was playing in the opposite direction where we could see him and he was fine.

But when I cranked my neck, I saw a red-faced man storming toward us.

And there was no mistaking who it was.

He was older than Madelyn, that was easy to see from the get go. His medium-length brown hair had that whole salt and pepper thing going on at the edges, his eyes crinkled with crow’s feet, his freshly shaved jawline a bit soft. One look at his gait told me he held himself in high esteem. He walked the way only an overly confident man could.

I could admit he wasn’t ugly. But he was… average. About what I would expect to see if I pictured an almost forty-year-old veterinarian.

“I take it that’s your darling ex-husband?” I asked, cocking a brow at Madelyn when I looked back at her.

The joke died a bit when I saw the worry in her eyes. She masked it, feigning indifference, but I could see it.

She was scared of him.

Fuck, if that didn’t piss me off more than anything in my entire life had.

“Hey,” I said, calling her attention. For a long second, her gaze was stuck on where he was charging toward us. I didn’t dare touch her with him watching our every move, but I called her name. “Mads.”

Her eyes snapped to mine.

Slowly, I took a deep breath, nodding my head toward her to do the same. “I’m right here,” I told her. “I’ve got you. Okay?”

Madelyn just swallowed.

“You are safe,” I said, softer this time. I covered just the edge of her hand on the blanket with my own, angling my body so the touch was hidden from Marshall’s view.

It was like touching an electric fence.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” I said.

Finally, she pulled a fresh breath through her nose, nodding, her eyes slipping to where my hand covered hers before she slowly found my gaze again.

And in that moment, in that particular light, she looked like that girl I fell in love with years ago — her brown eyes golden in the bit of sun sneaking through the trees, the freckles on her cheeks dark enough to draw a map between them.

I smiled.

She smiled.

Then, I climbed to my feet, cracking my neck before I turned to face Marshall. He was just a few yards away now.

His stride slowed a bit when he realized how tall I was, and that made my fake grin even easier to slap into place.

Alright, motherfucker.

Let’s play.