If Anthony had known when he’d made the decision to come talk to her about the article that he would end up going dancing with her, he would have sung We are the Champions by Queen at full volume.

Cassidy was very formal during the fifteen-minute drive into Dallas, asking all sorts of questions about how he was feeling and what the doctors had said. Frankly, it was annoying as ever, but he tolerated it, telling himself he’d better get used to her doing this. She just sounded so … bookish.

When he parked, she turned to him. “You’re going to have to be more explanatory when we really sit down for this article.”

A bit flippantly, he crossed his heart. “Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” It’d been something they’d always said to each other.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m serious, Anthony.”

It was strange how much he adored this older version of her. She’d always been more serious and she was acting the same, but it was like she’d finally caught up to her older self.

“Why are you smiling? I mean it.”

Slipping out of the truck, he ran around to her side, though she had the door open before he could do it for her. He did, however, take her hand and help her all the way down. “The article will be great, but let’s have fun tonight with your friends, okay?” He winked at her. “Can’t waste the new hat and boots.”

Annoyed, she pulled the hat off and tossed it back into the truck. “I don’t know why I’m doing this.”

He laughed and took her hand, again. “I like it.”

Ripping her hand back, she walked faster toward the club. “Fine, we’ll have fun tonight. But, just so you know, I don’t know the whole group we’ll be with. My friend invited me. She writes for Dear Abby, and her name is Samantha.”

“No worries.”

As they walked up to the line, Samantha’s friend gave her a wide-eyed look.

She smiled at her, feeling nervous. “Hey, this is Anthony.” She nodded to him.

Anthony stuck his hand out.

Samantha took it, her eyes raked up and down Anthony, making him feel a tad uncomfortable. “Well, cook my biscuits, I was not prepared for this.”

Cassidy gave her a half smile.

Samantha still held to Anthony’s hand. “Well, welcome.”

He had to pull it back a bit forcefully. The woman looked at him like Gargamel looked at Smurfs.

Samantha gestured back over her shoulder. “This is Tim and Tom from accounting.”

He and Cassidy both shook hands with the two men, who both seemed a bit star struck by him, too.

Samantha’s eyes didn’t leave Anthony’s. “I didn’t realize you two knew each other.” She gave Cass a questioning look.

Cassidy didn’t look proud, the way most people did when they introduced Anthony. No, she seemed almost miserable. “I just got hired today to do an article on him, so he came with me tonight.”

Noticing she hadn’t mentioned that they’d been in love ten years ago, Anthony politely smiled at all of them and decided to ruin the charade. “Cass and I go way back. What was it? Summer of freshman year of high school?”

Dramatically, Samantha cast an amazed look at Cass. “Wow.”

Cassidy shook her head and a wry smile played at her lips, clearly realizing he’d purposefully blown the whole “this is only for an article” bit. She turned to the group. “Yep, he kicked me off his property and it started a lasting friendship.”

“What?” Samantha laughed a bit off-key.

Anthony hadn’t expected Cass to own it so well, he nodded to the front of the line. “Why don’t you all come with me?” He didn’t want to be cocky and say he never waited in lines, but he never waited in lines.

Of course, more and more people were starting to recognize him as he waded through the crowd to the front of the line with the rest of them tagging behind. People called out or asked for an autograph or selfie, which he obliged. Finally, they got to the front, where the bouncer had already pulled the rope and waved them all in. He asked Anthony for a selfie, and Anthony obliged him as well. “VIP section is top floor, stairs over that way.” The bouncer pointed to the right.

“Sounds good.”

As they walked into the club, it was loud. There were different levels to the club. The whole group stayed next to Anthony, ushered by bouncers to the top floor.

Cassidy snorted. “Note to self: Anthony Kincaid demands preferential treatment.”

He laughed at the way she was trying to find something wrong with him. “I guess you can put that in the article.”

Sticking her chin into the air, she retorted, “I will put the truth in the article, that’s all.”

Anthony didn’t like the edge in her voice, but he pushed it aside.

Samantha had glued herself to his other side and was now closer to him than Cassidy was. “That’s so cool you were hired to work with him.” She gave him another ‘I want to eat you for dinner’ kind of look.

Tim and Tom talked to him about the game coming the next week, going through stats with him.

The third floor opened up to another dance floor, less crowded, but with more people on the Dallas who’s who list. Anthony wasn’t surprised to hear his name called out from some guys on the team gathered together in a corner.

He turned to Cassidy. “Would you mind if we said hello to them?” She looked so cute, he wanted to show her off.

“You want me to come?”

He grinned. “Yeah, I want you to come.”

Samantha was still glued to him. “How about we all go.”

He was a bit reluctant to bring Samantha’s type over, but if Cass would only come with her, then that’s what they would do. “Sure.”

Cassidy nodded. “For interviewing purposes, sure. Let’s go.” She didn’t seem happy to be out with him at all. Not that he’d expected a ticker tape parade, but c’mon. Didn’t she want to be with him even a little bit?

Samantha looped arms with him. “Let’s meet your friends.”

Not liking this situation, but unable to stop it, they all walked over to his people. He introduced the group to some of the players, and he fell into easy conversation about the upcoming game with the Wildcats.

Scar, practice quarterback for the Titans, appeared at Cassidy’s side. “You’re the one who bludgeoned my friend here.” He laughed and whacked Anthony on the back. “We met at the sports camp.” He put his hand out. “I’m Scar, by the way.”

Cassidy shook his hand. “That’s right.”

Samantha tugged on Anthony’s arm, laughing hard at something one of the other players had said. “Did you hear that, Anthony?”

“What?” He didn’t want to be with this woman all night. It occurred to him that Samantha was definitely here to pick up a player. Cassidy, on the other hand, had no interest in any of the players. Including him?

Scar leaned over Cassidy to talk to him. “Hey, Anthony, could we have a chat about a project I want to develop?”

Anthony didn’t want to chat with Scar. The month leading up to the season hadn’t changed his opinion of the guy, who was the kind of person who made trash talk an Olympic sport. The only redeeming thing about the guy was that he was tough as nails and the stories he could tell about combat should be a made-for-television movie, but he could really get under Anthony’s skin. “No.”

Scar scowled. “It’s important. I want to expand my gym downtown and build a separate area on the parking lot next to it to help military vets.” When Anthony raised his eyebrows in interest, Scar continued. “There are so many guys that could benefit from having a place to go to hang with other vets. A gym where they could spar and get out some of their aggression. Also, a place where they can play pool and watch a game. They could build camaraderie, and I was thinking I could even have a counselor or therapist on hand if they want a no-pressure place to discuss things they don’t want to take through the bureaucratic mess of getting a government-paid-for therapist.”

For a few seconds Anthony didn’t respond, thinking the idea actually sounded pretty good.

Cassidy piped up. “I like it.”

Anthony thought of her late fiancé. “I like it too,” he said, considering how they could run some money through their charity or set up one explicitly for military vets. “Tell me more.”

Scar looked surprised and a bit nervous. “Okay, it would be so great, man. You would never regret how many guys who would be helped by this. I mean, I thought we could start in Dallas, but it could branch out into other cities too. I’m from San Diego and we could definitely put together something like this there. There are a ton of vets.”

Anthony held up a hand. “Let’s start in Dallas.” He liked the excitement, but he’d been through a couple of started charities and they had to get the details right. “What do you need?”

Scar swallowed. “I need money to buy the land adjacent to the parking lot for more parking, for permits, construction.” He rushed on. “I don’t even care if you want to call this the Kincaid Vet Reach Out or something.”

Anthony could tell he was spit balling, but it didn’t sound like a bad idea to him. He knew his father would be all about having the Kincaid name on something to help the military. “I want to hear more,” he said quietly.

Scar’s face lit up, and Anthony wondered if it might be the first time he saw the guy ever smile. “You do?”

Anthony nodded. “Yes.” It felt good, thinking about doing something like this. “I’ll text you tomorrow and we can work out some time I can come down to the gym and talk about the project. I’ll bring my brother and my father. I think it’d be cool.”

Scar fist-pumped the air. “Wow.”

Cassidy let out a soft laugh and grinned. “Wow is right.”

Anthony liked the way Cassidy looked at him.

Startling him, Cassidy turned to Scar and reached out her hand. “Thank you for serving our country.”

Scar nodded. “It was my honor.”

Anthony didn’t know if he should tell Scar, but he said, “Cassidy’s fiancé recently passed while serving.”

For a second Cassidy’s face flashed to angry.

Scar’s face darkened. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

Cassidy turned to face Scar, a shimmer of tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”

For a few minutes she and Scar discussed the details of Kyle’s deployment and the fact he was a SEAL as well. Anthony listened, but didn’t feel it appropriate to add any comments.

They finished talking about the military and there was a bit of a lag in conversation. Anthony didn’t know the right thing to say so he nudged Scar. “Have you heard Cassidy just got hired to do an ‘exclusive’ on me for the Dallas Star.” He wiggled his brow at Scar. “So feel free to tell her how wonderful I am.”

Not having any of this, Scar made a gagging gesture.

Cassidy laughed.

Scar turned his attention to Cassidy. “So, you know if Kade goes down and our boy, Anthony here goes down, I go in for him. I’m third-string.” He looked too proud of it. “So the real story is me.”

Cassidy racked up a smile. “Nice. Maybe I should do the exclusive on you and get the ins and outs on the team?”

It made Anthony feel tremendously better to see Cassidy had lost all traces of her earlier anger, but he didn’t know if he liked the way Scar was looking at her.

Scar put his arm around Anthony. “Ya see, Ms. Stone—”

“Call me Cassidy,” she interrupted.

“Cassidy.” He patted Anthony on the shoulder. “Anthony’s good,” he said in a patronizing way. “I’m better.”

Anthony coughed. “Bull.”

Cassidy and Scar both laughed.

Scar pulled his arm back. “Maybe he’s better on the field, but this guy hasn’t been to my gym. The gym you just heard us talking about. Yeah, I think you should make room in your article for a session at my gym where Anthony and I spar. That would be press-worthy.”

Her eyebrows went up. “It would be interesting.”

Anthony couldn’t think of a worse thing to do for a press event. He could just see the headline: “Recently Recovered Neck Injury Sparring Against a Trained Killer.” “Not gonna happen.”

Scar snickered.

They all continued to talk until Cassidy’s friend, Samantha, dragged Anthony out onto the dance floor with some other players. As they got to the floor, he thought Cassidy would be coming, but she was still talking to Scar.

Samantha put her hands on both sides of his face. “Anthony Kincaid. A legend. Back from the dead and traded back to the Titans, where he rightly belongs.”

He sized her up and his previous bad opinion of her was reaffirmed, she could be one of those groupies that hung around the team. The kind who moves from guy to guy, up the pay scale, until they’re with the guy who brings them the closest to fortune and fame. He hesitated and didn’t want to tell her to take her hands off of him, but he would.

Sensing his discomfort she pulled her hands back.

Trying to be polite, he started doing a little dancing. “Most people would say they already have Zeus, and they don’t really need me in Dallas.”

Her black vixen hair bobbed back and forth as she shook her head. “No. We need you.” She leaned closer.

The song turned slow and he found her in his arms and bumping up to him a bit too closely. The dance floor was packed, and it felt like maybe the others at this club had started a lot earlier than everyone he’d come with—a bit drunk already. A bit too close for his comfort.

Quickly, he detangled himself from Samantha. “I gotta go use the bathroom.” He would not be caught in the wake of one of these types of women again. He’d had his fill of these women. Even if he weren’t out with Cassidy tonight, he knew what he didn’t want.

Cassidy wasn’t where she’d been. He couldn’t see Scar either. For a second he worried, until he spotted them on the dance floor. Not close, not draped on each other. Still, too close for his liking.

“Whatever.” He ran his hand through his hair, unbelieving of all the old feelings that had assaulted him in regards to her. He rushed to the bathroom, and when he emerged, he found Cassidy still on the dance floor and seemingly closer to Scar than she’d previously been.

His whole group of teammates were dancing with assorted women, and to his relief, Samantha had found another player to glom onto.

Lazily, he walked over to the bar and found the two guys Samantha had brought with her. One nodded to him and slung back what looked like some hard liquor. “Hey.”

Anthony didn’t drink anymore. He asked for another bottle of water. “Hey.”

“Don’t drink?” one asked.

“Nope.” He turned back, eyes still on Cassidy.

“You like her?” the other one asked, glancing at Cassidy.

Anthony thought it was funny he’d gotten stuck with the guys from accounting, who were supposed to be her and Samantha’s dates. “She’s writing an exclusive on me,” he said robotically, feeling like an idiot.

The one chugging back the liquor—Tim, he remembered—nodded. “Lots of the guys at the paper like her, but she isn’t on dating services or anything.”

The other one, Tom, sighed. “Yep, no Bumble for her. It’s too bad, because she could have a lot of dates within a small proximity of her work space.”

Anthony had never done the online dating, but he wanted to discreetly elbow both of them for talking about her.

Tim casually pointed to Samantha. “Are you interested in her?”

Anthony gave them a wave of dismissal. “Free-rein gentleman.”

Both of them smiled and watched her.

The song switched to something fast—“Mr. Vain.” He remembered dancing to it with Cassidy.

Cassidy and Scar came off the dance floor and he intercepted her, giving her the Anthony Kincaid smile. “Want to dance?” he asked her.

A smile played at her lips. “No.”

“Yes.” He nodded, sounding a bit desperate but not caring. “It’s ‘Mr. Vain,’” he said, sounding like a teenager.

She laughed. “No.”

Scar stepped in front of her. “If the lady doesn’t want you to dance with her, let her off the hook.”

Anthony was flummoxed by the fact this player was already acting territorial of her.

She giggled harder.

He pushed Scar aside. “Back off, Walker, I’m dancing with the lady.”

She winked at Scar. “It’s okay, Scar. We have a routine to ‘Mr. Vain’!”

Anthony didn’t quite know how it happened, but they were suddenly out on the floor, dancing the moves like they were sixteen again.