Frankie shifted beside Liam. “Speak like that about my sister again, arsehole. Go on. Do it. I’ve been looking for an excuse to throat-punch you since you came to the Cougars. I won’t even feel bad about it if it means you’re out for the season. In fact, me and my brothers would throw a fucking party. So go on, just do it again.” “Fuck off,” Darius said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away. “I’m back,” Mia said, coming into the room with a tray. “I grabbed us some coffee and there was a cheesecake in the kitchen—” Darius paled and Liam grinned. Maybe Mia would be just fine, but he and Frankie would be watching just in case. The conference room was completely glass and everyone could see—if not hear—what was going on. She would be safe with the footballer and he and Frankie wouldn’t be far away. “Come on Frankie,” Liam said. “Let’s get this over and done with.”Mia took a seat at the conference table and invited Darius to join her. He sat in the chair she indicate
“What do you even know about me or football? You’re just a chick.” “Maybe, but I’ve been watching the Cougars play since I was born. I grew up in a household who have been a fan for generations. I know you’re a talented footballer and your stats are off the charts. Cheese and rice! That mark you took in the fourth quarter against the Nomads was pure gold. But it doesn’t matter how good you are because everyone thinks you are an a-hole. You could be the best forward to have ever lived but you will never get the respect and admiration of the fans unless you get your marshmallows together and start acting like a grown-up.” They stared at one another for a moment before Darius sunk back into his chair. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s get on with it then.”“You going to deal with that?” Frankie asked as they walked away from the conference room. “Deal with what?” Liam asked. “That fucker. You’re going to make sure he doesn’t touch my sister, right?” “Yeah,” Liam said. His gut was churnin
It was a few days later and the first day of the style-off and Liam was pretty sure he was going kill Mia’s brother before the day was done. The guy had an opinion about everything and it very rarely lined up with what Liam wanted. Right now Frankie was complaining about the fit of the jeans Liam picked out for him. He had a long and convoluted opinion on the downfall of the denim industry over the years. According to Frankie, skinny jeans had been the ‘jumping-the-shark’ episode for all the jean companies, not that Liam was trying to get Frankie into a pair of skinny jeans. But according to Frankie, the cut of a good pair of jeans had never been the same since the insane ‘skinny jeans’ trend. “Just put the fucking jeans on and let me have a look at them,” Liam growled. They were in one of the photographic studios on the floor above The Playbook offices. Liam had gotten racks of clothing delivered from some of the local stores so he could find Frankie’s first look for the blog. Th
“I suppose these are alright,” Frankie eventually said. “Not a fan of the dark color or the button fly, but they could be worse.” “Believe me, the button fly will win you over. There’s no chance of getting your dick caught.” “Yeah, but it takes so long to undo them and do them up again.” “Not so much,” Liam replied. “To get them undone, just unbutton the top couple and pull the fly apart and the buttons will come undone quicker than a zipper.” “Yeah?” Liam nodded. “Try it when you get changed. I want to see the other pair on you too.” “Fine,” Frankie said, moving back into the changing room. “So if you’re here with me, where’s Mia and that Darius fucker?” “She’s with him doing the same thing I’m doing with you.” Frankie grunted and then came out to show Liam the second pair of pants. They were chinos this time, a mustard color and more of a slim fit than Frankie was used to. “I look like some hipster try-hard,” he said, pointing at himself in the mirror. “Next I’ll b
Darius coughed out a laugh and then winced. “What? What did you call my dick?” “Um…twig and berries?” Cheese and biscuits, she could feel her face flaming with embarrassment. “Honey, this is definitely not a twig,” he said, cupping his…package. “If it’s going to be compared to anything in nature then it would be one of those massive big redwood trees that are so huge you need a group of people to link hands just to surround it.” Mia looked away. The last thing she needed to be thinking about was what Darius was packing in his pants. Thinking about it would only lead her to think about Liam’s…dangly bits, although they hadn’t really been dangly the last time she saw them. “Do they fit?” she asked, not game to look at him in case he was still cupping his bits. “They fit, they just…they’re not really me, you know?” “It’s just because you’re used to wearing shorts or sweats all the time,” she replied. “Not true. I wear suits too. These just don’t feel ri
When he lifted his arm, she got an eyeful of his happy trail and turned away, blushing. “I like it,” she replied, turning back to hand him a black vest. He held it up between two fingers and narrowed his eyes at her. “You want me to wear this?” “Yeah,” she replied. “It finishes the outfit.” He pulled it on, still glaring at her, before turning to look at himself in the mirror. “I look ridiculous,” he said. “You look great,” Mia said. A burst of laughter made her swing around. Liam and Frankie stood in the doorway. Frankie was bent at the waist laughing his butt off. “Oh god, Minnie Mouse,” he said through his laughter. “I needed a good laugh today. Thanks for that Princess.” “Um, Mia?” Liam said, looking between Mia and Darius. “Are you sure you really want to go with that look?” Mia looked back at Darius who stood with his fists clenched at his sides and a murderous look on his face. “Shiitake-mother-fluffing-mushrooms,” Mia muttered.
Liam gripped the coat hanger in his fist so tight he felt it crack in his hand. “I warned you—” “Chill. Geez you guys are uptight. She gave as good as she got,” he looked down at himself. “Obviously. Look at me.” “Go and get changed,” Liam said. The studio door opened and Liam turned, expecting to see Mia, but instead, Carter walked through the door. “What’s going on?” he asked, looking at Liam with a frown. “I just saw Mia running through the office looking like she was going to burst into tears. Did one of you fuckers do something to upset her?” Liam sighed. “No one did anything,” he replied. “So what the fuck is going on?” “Her first attempt at styling Darius wasn’t so great.” Carter got up close to Liam. “You need to fix this.” “I thought the whole point was for it to be a competition. Why should I fix it?” “Because if she fails, we all fucking fail,” Carter hissed. “There is more than just the popularity of your blog riding on this Liam. We’re staking the repu
Mia dragged herself through her door and closed it behind her, leaning against it and thumping her head a couple of times before taking the fourteen steps to her bedroom and flopping face down on the bed. It had been the longest, worst, very saddest day ever in the history of bad days. Not only had she made a complete fool of herself in front of Darius Freaking Carathurs, but her brother had been there to witness her absolute failure too. Not to mention Liam. Sexy, brooding, totally off-limits Liam had seen her make the grandaddy of all mistakes and had been mother-freaking nice to her about it. Cheese-its! She wished he’d yelled at her, she would have known how to deal with that, but having him come to her all sympathetic and pitying and offering to help her and using stupid Frankie’s job as motivation for her to go back and face Darius and her brother…she didn’t know what to do with that. She didn’t know where that slotted into her impressions of him. On one hand, she had the man
6 months later“Are you ready for this?” Anthony asked as they stood outside the courtroom. Talia nodded and gripped Parker’s hand. The judge had called them back in for the verdict on Mark’s trial and she couldn’t deny she was nervous. The weeks spent preparing for the trial and then sitting through the witness statements and being cross-examined by an aggressive defense attorney who made her out to be some sort of diva and ungrateful bitch who was somehow ripping off the father who had done everything for her had taken its toll. And the media beat-up was just as bad. However, not all the media had been on her father’s side. Talia had discovered she had far more supporters than she’d thought. Her fans—the true fans—had gathered in force to support her and she loved them for it. Not enough for her to consider going back into acting, but enough that going through the trial had been bearable. But if not for the constant and unwavering support of Parker, Talia didn’t think she woul
Parker rolled his eyes as he took her hand and stood. “Seal the deal?” “Isn’t that what you said earlier?” He shook his head, his grin still in place. “No, I said celebrate.” “Okay, good. Let’s do that then.” Parker grabbed her and lifted her up, making Talia squeal. He kissed her and she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders. Stumbling, he carried her to the bedroom and tossed her on the bed with a flourish, making her squeal again. “I feel like we need champagne and strawberries or something,” Parker said, standing with his hands on his hips as he looked around the room. “You mean like pouring champagne in my belly button and licking it out?” Talia asked, lifting her shirt to reveal her navel. Parker cocked an eyebrow. “Hmm…that’s something to think about for a later celebration,” he said. Talia pouted. Parker held up his hands. “I don’t have any champagne on hand,” he protested. “Then I’ll just have to
“You called Isaac,” Parker said when he walked into the apartment. Talia looked up at him and bit her lip. “I did,” she said. “But before you get mad, I didn’t say anything about what happened. And I did it because I knew you wouldn’t say anything to defend yourself.” Parker sighed. “I’m not mad,” he said, walking over to where she was seated, working on her miniature diorama. He leaned down and kissed her. “I’m grateful. Thank you. What you said to Isaac helped.” Talia grinned up at him. “So, they’re going to let you do the article?” Parker nodded. “They are.” “That’s so great,” Talia replied. “So it all worked out.” Parker pulled out a chair and sat down beside her. “Things have worked out for me, but what about you? What are your plans now? Without Mark controlling your every move, you can do anything you want.” Talia dropped her head and fidgeted with her fingers in her lap. “I don’t know what I want to do,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I wan
Talia pulled back from the kiss. “Don’t you think it was pretty selfish of me not to sacrifice myself for you?” she asked. “No,” he said, reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear. “What you did wasn’t selfish, it was survival. There’s a difference. Me expecting you to sacrifice yourself for my job would have been selfish. Are you doing what you need to in order to survive? Not selfish. Not in the slightest.” “It feels selfish,” she mumbled, leaning her forehead against his. “I feel like I need to do something to make it up to you.” Parker cupped her face. “Talia,” he whispered. “This is not some quid pro quo thing. There will be times when you will save me. I have no doubt about it. That’s how relationships work. It’s swings and roundabouts. There is no big tally sheet in the sky and nobody is keeping score.” “I just don’t want you to feel resentful—” Parker cut off the rest of her sentence with a kiss. “How could I be resentful of the fact that I get to have you in my l
“She’s asleep,” Parker said, coming into the living room from his bedroom where Talia had finally succumbed to sleep. He slumped onto the couch beside Stephen and laid his head on his father’s shoulder. Anthony looked over at him from where he was sitting, going through some paperwork on his laptop, and Carter paced, not able to sit still. “I take it the article came out,” Parker said. “Yeah,” Carter replied with a sigh as he raked his hand through his hair. “It’s going to do us some damage,” Parker said. “Maybe,” Carter said with a shrug. “Maybe not.” Parker frowned at him. “What does that mean?” “It gets your name out there,” he replied. “It will drive people to your blog.” “Fucking hell, Carter,” Parker exploded, jumping to his feet. “Seriously? You think this is a good thing?” “I didn’t say that,” Carter replied. “I just said it wasn’t necessarily damaging to us.” “And what about Parker asked. “The article would have tanked that de
Anthony had filed a police report as soon as he arrived in the city. “Their hands are tied,” Anthony said with a sigh. “There is no evidence of force and as she recently hid from the public because of a scandal, we have nothing to say she isn’t doing it again because of the latest issue.” “But can’t they force her to at least speak with them? To check that she’s okay?” Parker asked. “As far as they’re concerned, she has just gone into hiding again,” Anthony reiterated. “Until we have something to say otherwise, they can’t do anything. This has the potential to be a high-profile case because of who she is, so if they make a big deal about it and it turns out to be something innocent, it might blow up in their faces.” “That’s bullshit,” Parker growled, pushing up from his seat to pace around the room. He hated that he was sitting there doing nothing while Talia was trapped in her father’s house. It was torture to know where she was and yet not be able to get to
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Talia said. After Mark’s big reveal the night before, Talia had been left to sleep off the effects of the sedative he’d given her. The fucking bastard. He’d locked her door so she couldn’t get out and the window was too far from the ground for her to escape that way. Not without breaking something, anyway. Which Talia wouldn’t have minded, except with the way she’d been feeling, the thing that got broken might very well be her head, and she was kind of attached to it being in one piece and remaining on her shoulders. So Mark had stalked her and Parker and then kidnapped her and drugged her and imprisoned her and he was under the impression that he was perfectly within his rights to do so. “I’m doing this for you,” Mark said. “Your mental health is at stake here.” “The only threat to my mental health is your arsehole behavior,” Talia snapped. They were sitting in the sunny kitchen at the table and Mark was trying to pretend that it
Carter clicked his fingers. “The original photos, the ones that were taken when you took her out to look at the miniature street art.” Carter turned to Parker. “You were in some of those photos. Your face was blurred, but that could have been done after the fact.” “So he’s been following me?” Parker asked. “You and Carter. Both would be my guess,” Jack said. “So he’s been following us, but how did he know I was sending a car to pick her up?” Parker asked. “Have you noticed anyone following you?” Carter asked. Parker shook his head and then paused. “What?” Carter asked. “What’s that look?” “It’s probably nothing,” Parker said. “Just say it,” Carter said. “I was speaking to Talia just before I went into the meeting he said. “When I hung up from the call, I bumped into a guy…you don’t think…nah. It can’t be. This isn’t some espionage movie.” “Could he have overheard your conversation?” Jack asked, leaning back in his chair and looking up
Parker was on a high. By all accounts, Atticus was on board with his proposal. Isaac just wanted to check in with the rest of the band before giving him a definitive answer. That was fine with Parker. Things would go much more smoothly if everyone was in agreement. The last thing he wanted was a hostile environment and if any of the members had misgivings about the proposal, then he would walk away. It would hurt, but he would do it. For this to work—for everyone involved—there had to be open communication and a willingness to participate. Without that, Parker may as well give up now. He climbed into his car, cursing the parking ticket and flapping on his windscreen. Getting out again, he grabbed it from under the windscreen wiper and shoved it into his glove compartment. The Playbook could pay for that. It was the price of doing business, after all. He turned the music up loud as he navigated through the heavy traffic toward his apartment building. He couldn’t wait to tell Ta