Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Samuel stepped into my personal space. “I’ve been wanting to tell you all night—in fact, from the moment I saw you—that I find you very, very beautiful.”
Ah, hell. “Oh, well—”
His mouth covered mine, cutting me off.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CALLAN
There were pros and cons to anything in life. Including life as a professional football player. The biggest pro was the euphoria after a win. The sound of the crowd singing the team’s song, “Caledonia” by Dougie Maclean, as we celebrated our victory. And on the opposite side of that coin was the biggest con.
Losing felt fucking horrendous.
Because we didn’t only carry our own disappointment as a team, we carried the disappointment of thousands of people. Listening to thousands of Dalmarnock fans chant “You’re not singing anymore” to our fans was the worst sound in the world as we’d walked off the pitch yesterday afternoon.
Dalmarnock had annihilated us. On our own pitch, 4–1. Then after we’d showered and changed, the locker room subdued despite the gaffer’s attempt to fire us up for next week’s game against Perth United, word had reached us there had been an altercation between Dalmarnock and Caley fans not far from the grounds. Two people had ended up in hospital and three others had been arrested.
I knew from the look on Baird’s and the other lads’ faces that they felt the weight of that on their shoulders too.
Shoulders heavy and a black cloud hanging over me, I’d driven home wanting to do nothing but slump in front of the TV and watch something mindless to distract me from the game and all the things me and my teammates had done wrong during it. Beth had let me into the apartment building, and I couldn’t even bring myself to speak, let alone swap insults.
We had a day off training the next day, but Baird, John, and I decided to do some of our own training, including a thorough workout at the gym. Our moods hadn’t improved since the loss, and I was still feeling the burn of it as I returned to my flat.
The sight of Beth walking across the car park of our building with some bloke made me inwardly groan. When they stopped at our building entrance, the bloke bent his head to hers for a kiss, and my stomach twisted.
Until Beth jerked back from his kiss with a nervous laugh. As she glanced away from him, she caught sight of me.
A different kind of tension joined the tension already riding me when her eyes widened and she turned back to the guy. “I’m so sorry, Samuel, I have a boyfriend.”
I didn’t hear what the bloke said.
But I did see Beth gesture behind him to me and squeak out, “And he’s coming right over.”
What the fuck?
The guy whirled around, eyes narrowed as I slowed to a stop beside them. They were blocking the entrance.
“Captain!” Beth’s eyes were wide with pleading as she leaned in to press a kiss to the corner of my mouth. My skin tingled at the touch, and the smell of her perfume lingered even as she pulled back. “How was training?”
I stared at her confused and incredulous.
The pleading in her eyes turned desperate.
Even after everything, I couldn’t leave her hanging. Plus, this guy could be harassing her for all I knew.
Sliding my arm around her waist, I pulled her into my side and tried to ignore how good her soft curves felt pressed against me. “It was shite,” I answered honestly. “Still stinging from Dalmarnock practically violating us yesterday.”
Beth smoothed a hand over my chest, drawing my gaze down to her. She looked up at me, expression genuinely sympathetic as she said, “I’m sorry.”
The bloke, Samuel was it, cleared his throat.
I reluctantly dragged my gaze from Beth’s gorgeous face to him. He was clean cut, preppy, and I supposed good-looking. He also wore a pissed-off expression as he took in my arm around Beth. A strange possessiveness filled me and my fingers flexed on her curvy hip.
“Who’s this?” I asked, somewhat belligerently.
No one else might recognize the nervousness that tremored ever so slightly in Beth’s words, but I did as she gestured to the guy. “Callan, this is Samuel Green. He’s the son of a hopefully soon-to-be client. Samuel, this is my boyfriend Callan Keen.”
Samuel eyed me in displeasure. “I was unaware Beth had a boyfriend. She never mentioned you.”
“I’m sure I did.”
“She’s got a lot on her plate,” I covered for her, beginning to understand the situation.
“Interesting.” Samuel shrugged. “I don’t know if I’d be so amenable to my girlfriend going to dinner with another man.”
I smirked at the fucker. “I’m a pretty secure bloke.”
“And it was supposed to be dinner with your mother,” Beth pointed out. “She couldn’t make it.”
At the look in her eyes, I narrowed mine. Had this guy manipulated Beth into a date?