The sweat dripped from my brow. “Again!” I yelled.

I lined up to take the snap. The ball landed in my hands and I counted back to throw to James. He had run the wrong route again. Damn it. Where was his head today? Up his ass?

“No!” I roared over the practice field. “Do it again.”

Three hours into practice and I refused to let the kid take a shower until he had this right. He had the skills. I had seen them. He was fast. He had the hands. He just needed to take some time to study the playbook.

James ran toward me. He was sweating harder than I was. He gasped, gripping his thighs. “I don’t know if I can keep going. The sun is a bitch today. Can we run it tomorrow? I’ll get it tomorrow. Swear.”

I looked up at the sky as if I hadn’t noticed it before now. “You’re a Warrior.” I smiled. “Warriors play in the Texas heat, son.”

He was the youngest guy out here. He couldn’t be the most out of shape. There were some guys close to thirty not huffing as much as he was. I remembered he wasn’t from the south. He had to get his conditioning under control. Texas was torture, but I wouldn’t live or play anywhere else.

He scowled at me, but took his position behind the line. “On my count,” I ordered. I called for the snap, waiting for him to run the fucking route the way we talked about.

If he wanted to be a blocker the rest of the season I could make that happen. I was feeling unusually generous and less dickish today. I’d give him one more chance.

And then I saw him. Wide open. Ready. He cut left then right, throwing the defender off track. My eyes darted to the opposite side of the field before I hurled the ball forward. It was a perfect spiral. Damn, it hit him square in the chest.

“That’s it.” I jogged toward him. “That’s fucking it.” I laughed.

I slapped the back of his helmet with a few taps when I got to him. “Now we can hit the showers.”

James fell to the ground with a thud. His legs and arms flailing in all directions. “Thank God,” he groaned.

I chuckled. “You said you wanted advice, so here it is. QBs throw to the same guys in the game who can catch during practice. There’s some confidence going into Sunday that he’s going to catch the ball. Get it out here and you get it on Sunday. Understand?”

He rolled to his side, beating the ground with his fist. I knew he was hurting. I had run him hard. His eyes were closed. The trainers tried to step in, but I waved them off. Out here was my domain.

“Got it.”

It was the first time I’d actually given him a useful tip. A small glimpse into how I made decisions. I didn’t share often.

I knew I’d throw it to him. If he ran the route like that on Sunday, he would be my first target. I never made promises. The game always changed. Players were injured. Someone always had an unexpected breakout game. The circumstances unfolded like a storm on the field. And I was the one who had to navigate everyone through the lightning and blasting rain. This was my fucking ship.

Today’s grind felt good. Working my body to the point of exhaustion was something I was built for. And I realized how different it was showing up to practice sober. I had more speed. My engines fired with precision.

I walked off the field toward the locker rooms.

The trainer was waiting next to the tub. “I have everything ready for you, Canton. Just like you like it.”

The cold water filled the tub. I could almost feel the water on my skin now. I threw my gear in the equipment bin and plunged one leg and then another into the water. Robbie tipped the bucket and a fresh avalanche of ice floated on top of the water.

I exhaled, letting my head rest on the hard surface behind my skull.

“How are you feeling?” the trainer asked.

“Good,” I grunted. I wanted to let the heat evaporate. I was on fire.

“Your neck isn’t bothering you?”

“No.” I had an injury last season that had irritated me off and on, but it never kept me out of a game. Robbie asked like clockwork.

Somewhere in that twisted head of his he wanted there to be something wrong. Something he could fix. There were plenty of guys on the team who could use help. I wasn’t one of them.

“I’ll check back with you in a few.”

“Hey, grab my phone for me.” I pointed to where it was lying on the top shelf in my locker.

“Here you go.” Robbie passed it over the ice cubes and walked off so I could soak in silence.

There was no one else in the rehab room with me. I pressed Alexa’s number and waited for her to answer.

“Hey.” Her voice was like pure heaven in my ear.

“How was the flight?”

She’d landed this morning and had been in Nashville for the entire day, but this was the first chance I had to call her. Team meeting followed by practice. After showers I had another meeting with Applewhite. It would be ten o’clock before I was at the ranch again.

“Good. Fine.” She sounded stiff.

“Is someone there?” I asked.

“I’m in the studio,” she explained.

“I thought you had a break.” The ice started to melt around me.

I had this mental image of her doing the same thing I was. Soaking her tight body in a marble tub. Her hair over her shoulders. Her tits bobbing on the water while the bubbles gathered at her curves. Fuck, it made me hard. I wanted to get in that tub with her and splash the water on her expensive tile floor until she was delirious from my cock pounding inside her. Hell, I had it bad for this girl.

“I sort of burned through it when I took that extra day with you,” she whispered.

“Any regrets?” I grinned. I already knew the fucking answer.

“No. None.”

“Good.” I saw Robbie on his way back. He was just on the other side of the glass window where the other guys were talking about practice. I had to make this quick. “I’ll try to call later. It will be late though.”

“That’s ok. I don’t know when we’re going to finish here.”

I wanted to ask her what she was working on. Was she recording the song she played for me last night in the living room? Had she approached Jake with the idea of expanding her audience? I thought it was a hell of an idea. If she could convert me to a fan, she could hook anyone.

Robbie’s hand was on the door. “Gotta go, baby.”

I tossed the phone on a dry towel folded on the bench.

“More ice?” he offered.

“Nah.” I shook him off. I hauled my large body from the tub. “I’ve got a meeting with Applewhite.”

Robbie handed another towel to me. I draped it around my hips and shuffled to the lockers. A few minutes later I was dressed and ready to run the playbook with Coach.

I headed up to his office with my notepad and the binder for this week’s game. It changed, depending on the opponent. There was a full team roster along with their most popular plays. There was no way to count on the injury report until minutes before the whistle blew. I made my decisions with the information I had.

I rapped on the outside of the door.

“Come on in,” he called.

We did this every week. Three days before the game we sat down and discussed the final strategy. Last time I was in this office he had handed my balls to me on a platter.

I spread my materials out on his desk. “I’ve got my first two drives set.”

We were past pretending we needed to small talk.

“Before we get to that I wanted to ask how things are going with Charlie.”

“You could have fucking warned me she didn’t have a dick.” I eyed him.

He laughed. “Yeah, she’s not a man. She’s the best in the business though. She keeps a low profile, but she has resurrected quite a few AFA careers. You can be sure of that.”

“I’m also sure she’s got her shit in my business.” I glared at him. I wasn’t giving up this fight.

“I’m counting on her to bring us a win.”

“I bring the wins,” I growled. Charlie might be good at her job, but she wasn’t the one the fans rooted for. They didn’t give a shit about a beautiful woman in a designer suit calling the shots on my personal life.

“It’s already working though. Had a call from McCade this morning. He liked the article on your donations to the children’s wing and was impressed with your visit to see the kids. He’s looking the other way right now and that’s what you want.”

“I’m only doing this because you threatened me with a league ban,” I snarled. “I didn’t get that girl pregnant. She played him for a complete fool and took him to the bank.”

As soon as I said it I thought about Alexa. I wondered what she would think if she knew there was some chick out there, claiming I was going to be a dad. And I couldn’t help but think about whether Alexa had gotten on a plane, carrying my child. That one moment of panic when I saw the broken condom had unfurled into dreams that I had planted my baby inside her. I didn’t know if it made me an asshole that it turned me on so much, or a real man who had found the right woman to give him a baby. I shook my head. It was too fucking confusing to sort out right now.

“I was trying to give you a compliment.” Coach pulled on his visor. “Let’s just forget it. I’ll let Charlie handle you where your image is concerned and you and I will focus on football.”

“I think we need to do that.”

We agreed on one thing. Only one fucking thing.