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

“Why do you look so nervous?”

Braden turned to look at me from the driver’s seat of his beat-up piece-of-shit car the following Friday. I’d considered hiring a driver along with a few decoys for this trip to the airport, but when Braden offered to drive, I realized there was no better way to fly under the radar.

There was no way in hell anyone would think an NFL player was in this car — let alone two.

“I don’t,” was my answer.

“The only one looking at your sorry ass right now is me,” he said pointedly. “And trust me when I say you look like you’re two seconds away from being caught cheating on a math quiz.”

I cracked my neck, hanging one arm out the window and watching the trees pass. “You know how I feel about weddings.”

“Sure it has nothing to do with this mystery guest we’re picking up?”

“Madelyn.”

“Ah, so she does have a name,” he said, shifting his grip on the wheel. “You know, you could have given me a heads up. Now I’m the only one going stag to this thing.”

“I didn’t exactly see this coming,” I said.

Braden was quiet for a moment. “You want to talk about anything?”

I flattened my lips when I looked at him, and when my gaze slid out the window again, he chuckled.

“Come on, man. You haven’t posted her on social media. Say what you want, but for you?” He shrugged. “That’s a big deal.”

“I’m private when it comes to things like this.”

“Things like what?” he probed. “Things that are real?”

I laughed, both because I wanted to hide the way I hated how that motherfucker saw right through my shit, and because technically, what was going on with me and Madelyn was everything but real.

It was fake. It was pretend. It was me not taking no for an answer when it came to protecting her and her son.

But looking at houses with her, watching her try on dresses, spending time with her and Sebastian…

Fuck.

I was having a real hard time not blurring the line.

I heaved a deep breath, turning to face Braden. He was the closest thing I had to a best friend. When it came to the guys on my college football team, we were like family. But in my family, we didn’t talk about feelings. So, even when the guys opened up to me, when they let me in on what was happening in their lives…

I had a hard time doing the same.

But I knew now after meeting Sebastian — after facing off with Marshall — this little plan I’d schemed up wasn’t something trivial.

I was already in over my head, and I had a feeling I’d need a friend to help me through it all.

“Don’t make a big deal of this,” I said to start. “And don’t say a fucking word to anyone else — not Clay, not Zeke, not Leo, definitely not Holden.”

Braden’s brows bent together the more names I listed. “Okay…”

I ran a hand through my hair as the GPS told Braden to hook a left. “Madelyn and I knew each other growing up,” I said. “She was my babysitter.”

“Um…”

I held up a hand to stop him. “Just let me get this out. Okay? This shit makes me so uncomfortable I already have hives.” I shifted in my seat. “It’s a long story. She’s only a couple years older than me, but my parents didn’t trust me home alone after I threw a massive party. Our parents were…” My stomach turned. “Friends, or something similar to it, anyway. So yeah, she was charged to watch me.”

Braden licked his lips on a grin. “This is way better than I imagined.”

“Just wait,” I said.

And then I told him everything I could stomach telling him.

I told him about how we went from me being a brat and her being a bossy babysitter to being friends, and then… more.

I told him how my family had moved, and I hadn’t seen her since.

I left out why my parents had moved.

I skipped forward to the house, and quickly filled him in on the last couple of weeks. And when I told him about the bruises on her arms, I saw his hands tighten on the wheel.

To my surprise, when I told him about how I’d proposed a fake relationship, he didn’t seem shocked.

Then again, after Clay and Giana, I guessed we had practice in that area.

“So, you’re pretending to be her boyfriend so that piece-of-shit ex-husband of hers knows his place,” he filled in for me. “And she thinks you care enough about not going to another wedding single that she’s also doing you a favor in all of this.”

I nodded, though my throat was tight.

Because I actually did care — but Braden didn’t need to know that part.

He whistled, shaking his head as we turned onto her street. I didn’t know where Marshall lived, but I knew he was close by. I glared at every house we passed as if I could stare through the walls and kill him with just a passing look.

“Your secret is safe with me, man,” he said. “But I gotta say… good luck keeping this from Giana. You know that girl. Not much gets past her. All those smutty books she reads give her superpowers to see right through shit like this.”

“I’m hoping she’ll be too distracted by her own wedding. And pregnancy.”

“Too distracted to see North Boston University’s most notorious bachelor smitten over a girl she’s never met?” He laughed. “Yeah. Again — good luck with that.”

I smirked, because I knew he wasn’t wrong. Giana would be watching us in that studious way she assessed everyone. It was part of what made her a good agent.

It was also part of what made her a pain in my ass.

But when we pulled up to Madelyn’s house, all those nerves I’d been feeling scattered, and a warm calm settled in its place.

Because I had a feeling I’d have no trouble at all pretending Madelyn was really mine.

Madelyn

I rolled my suitcase out to the curb when the car pulled up, hoping I looked steadier than I felt.

My hands weren’t shaking. My smile felt easy, unforced.

But inside, I was freaking the fuck out.

I was about to get in a car with Kyle Robbins. A car that would take us to the airport. And then we’d get on a plane.

And then we’d be at a wedding.

Together.

As a couple.

I blinked, wondering if I really was existing in the longest dream ever. There was no possible way this was my reality. Two weeks ago, I was just living my usual life and routine. I was taking care of Sebastian. I was working my ass off to sell houses. I was dealing with my ex-husband the way I had been for years.

Now, I was playing dress up with the first boy I ever loved.

When Kyle climbed out of the car, his massive frame towering over the thing as he walked around it and toward me, my breath hitched in my chest — reminding me exactly how real this all was.

God, he was so handsome it hurt.

It didn’t matter how many times I’d seen him over the past couple of weeks. Every time I did, he shocked me with how tall he was, how broad his shoulders were, how muscles stretched over every inch of him. I was never quite prepared for the cocky grin he always threw me, or the way his hair was always carefully styled to look like a woman had just run her hands through it.

“This is it?” he asked, taking the carry-on sized luggage from my hand. He tossed it into the trunk without an ounce of effort.

I shrugged. “I don’t need much.”

His mouth quirked up at that, and then, he snaked an arm around the small of my back, pulling me into him.

He did it without hesitation, like he’d done it a million times before.

Suddenly, I wished I’d taken him up on all those practice rounds he’d offered.

My heart stopped before kicking back to life in an unsteady rhythm, and Kyle used his free hand to tilt my chin up. He smiled, one brow arching as if to say, you ready for this?

Then, he lowered his mouth, and pressed a featherlight kiss to my lips.

I didn’t mean to, but I sucked in a breath at that touch, at the first kiss we’d shared in years. It didn’t matter that it was short and sweet, the kind of kiss you greet someone with.

It sent heat rushing down my spine.

It sent memories flashing behind my lids.

It sent fluttering wings free in my stomach, and my fingers curled into a fist where I didn’t even realize I was holding onto his shirt.

When he pulled back, he smirked down at me, lazily — like that kiss had meant nothing to him. Like it was easy. Like it was fake.

And I reminded myself quickly that it was fake.

For a moment, I stood there, staring up at him with my mouth open like a guppy, my breaths shallow and short. Something shifted in Kyle’s expression then, like he was searching for whatever emotion he thought I was feeling.

I quickly wiped my face blank, inhaling a deep breath and tucking my hair behind one ear as I put distance between us. “Ready?”

“I was about to ask you the very same thing,” he said. Then, he frowned, looking behind me. “Where’s Sebastian?”

Warmth spread through me again, but I dumped a bucket of ice water over it.

“School,” I answered. “My mom’s flight just landed. She’s got plenty of time to get settled, and then she’ll pick him up later.”

Kyle’s face went a bit ashen at the mention of my mother.

Probably because the last time he’d seen her was the night before he found out I was pregnant.

And then he’d left.

Yeah… let’s just say I couldn’t exactly tell my mom who I was going to this wedding with. I’d been very adamant about the time she flew in so I could avoid her finding out at all costs.

She was just happy to hear I was dating again, and aside from the adorable kind of prying all mothers did, she was leaving me alone about the details.

For now.

I knew if this went on for too long, she’d want answers. And there was no way I could tell her Kyle Robbins was back in my life.

I definitely couldn’t tell her that we were dating — which was why reminding myself this was all temporary made it a bit easier to breathe.

The kiss was fake. What Mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her. And soon, this will all be over, anyway.

But holding up my end of the bargain had my chest tight as Kyle opened the back seat door and helped me inside. Him pretending to be my boyfriend around Marshall was one thing.

Me pretending to be his girlfriend around a wedding full of his old college buddies?

This was a whole new level of what the fuck did I get myself into?

As soon as Kyle climbed into the passenger seat again, the guy in the driver one turned around to face me.

“Hey, I’m Braden,” he said, extending a hand with the widest, most dazzling smile I’d ever laid eyes on.

He was hot — the kind of hot that makes you a little breathless to be in close proximity.

Kyle I was used to. I could still see him as the little brat I used to fight with. But Braden was an NFL player.

I was in a car with two freaking NFL players.

I was about to be at a wedding full of them.

I shook his hand with an awkward smile, my heart working overtime again. “Madelyn.”

“She packed lighter than you,” Kyle teased Braden when we released hands. He turned to me next. “I can’t convince this guy to use his signing bonus to get a car from this decade, but he has no problem buying a new pair of shoes every day and insisting they all need to come with him on a long weekend trip.”

“You’re just salty because I dress better than you,” Braden quipped, throwing the car into drive. “Always have.”

“It’s four nights,” Kyle said. “You have two giant suitcases for four nights.”

“Well, we might be hiking!” Braden said, as if that was all the defense he needed. “And then there’s the rehearsal dinner, the groom’s brunch, the wedding itself, whatever we end up doing the next day — which could be hiking. I’ll be hitting the gym every day, we might play football while we’re there — what? Don’t look at me like that. We might!”

Kyle barked out a laugh, razzing his friend as my eyes lost focus once we pulled onto the highway.

What the hell am I doing?

My hand gripped the seat below me, my chest aching with the pressure of each breath. I thought I might actually be hyperventilating when I felt a pair of sea green eyes on me.

Kyle had pulled the visor down, and he was staring at me through the mirror of it.

When our eyes met, time slowed, the sound of traffic and the radio and Braden continuing to defend his packing all fading until everything was muted.

Relax, he mouthed in the mirror.

I glared at him, and he smiled.

Then, he reached one massive hand behind him and squeezed my knee.

I stared at that point of contact, fire licking along the inside of my thigh. And when I glanced at him in the mirror again, I saw his eyes sparkling.

And for some reason I couldn’t understand even if I dissected it, I did relax.

I took a breath. I smiled. I shook my head and flushed as Kyle squeezed my knee once more before removing his touch altogether.

Something about the way he looked at me told me this wasn’t serious enough for me to freak out over.

Something in those eyes of his told me to have fun.

Fun.

I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d done anything like this. I used to love to take long weekend trips, to travel, to meet new people.

Sometime in the span of my brief marriage and time of being a mother, I’d lost that.

I’d lost me.

But until the plane landed back in Seattle on Tuesday, I didn’t have anything to do or anywhere to be other than right here with Kyle Robbins.

My blast from the past who turned everything upside down.

Maybe I didn’t have to think too hard about it all. Maybe I didn’t need to stress about being underdressed or out of place or states away from my son.

Sebastian was safe with my mom.

Work was on hold until next week.

Right now, regardless of what I was wearing, Kyle had his eyes on me with all kinds of mischievous promises dancing inside them.

And my only job was to pretend to be his girlfriend.

I smiled.

Yeah…

I could work with that.