Game For Love (Bad Boys of Football 3)

If he missed her as much as she missed him.

Sunlight streamed into the box as Anna yawned. Even with her new dog--the name on his tag was Lucky, amazingly enough--she'd been so lonely, she'd woken up both herself and him from crying more than once during the night.

Frankly, the hardest thing of all at the moment was trying to act like her mother and father and sisters and brothers-in-law and her friend weren't all looking at her like she was going to break in two.

Julie walked in and came over to introduce herself. "Hi everyone. I'm Julie Calhoun. My husband is one of the guys down there."

Alan, one of Anna's brothers-in-law, all but leapt out of his seat to shake Julie's hand.

"Wow, so nice to meet you. Ty is a legend. Congratulations."

If Julie was at all overwhelmed or amused by this greeting, she didn't show it. "I'll be sure to pass on your thoughts to him." She shook her head, laughing. "Although, frankly, that head of his doesn't need to get any bigger."

Knowing exactly how in love Julie and Ty were, Anna's heart squeezed with such longing she felt choked with it.

"Do you have a moment to chat?" Julie asked her quietly, after meeting the rest of her family.

"Sure." Anna forced a smile, knowing her family's eyes were on them as they moved out into the hall.

"How are you doing?" There was no pity in Julie's voice, and none in her eyes. Only natural concern.

"I'm here." Anna honestly didn't know how she was doing, just that she'd had to come to Cole's game.

She was surprised to see Julie smile. "I think they must put something in the Outlaws'

water bottles to make sure they're irresistible." Her smile fell away. "Ty wanted to call you to say how sorry he was for his part in all of this. But I knew he'd only make things worse."

"None of this is Ty's fault." Anna shrugged, trying to act like she was more okay than she was, just as she'd been doing all morning. "It isn't even all Cole's fault. It's my fault, too."

Julie looked down. "You're still wearing his ring."

She knew she should have taken it off, that it should have been off since Saturday morning when the news broke about their fake marriage.

Julie looked like she was about to say something more, when Melissa and Dominic came around the corner. If they were surprised to see her, they didn't show it.

Wanting to do anything but have another conversation about her personal debacle, she said to Dominic, "My father is a huge fan of yours. Would you mind coming in to say hello to him? It would absolutely make his year."

And as the great Dominic DiMarco charmed not only her father, but her entire family, Anna was able to step out of the spotlight for a little while. Only her mother continued to watch her with such deep concern that it broke her daughter's heart all over again.

* * *

During her breaks at school the previous week, when everything had been going so well with Cole, Anna had studied up on football. For her second-ever game, she was no longer in the dark, and couldn't help but be wrapped up in the action, especially with Cole out there. And the truth was, knowing him so well lent an extra layer to the game. When he sacked the quarterback, she knew it was his testosterone coming into play. When he crushed a running back in the hole, she had to smile at his complete and utter confidence.

It had been a little over twenty-four hours since the article about them had hit. Twenty-four hours of being angry and feeling hurt and betrayed. And yet, she was here.

With the ring he'd put on her finger a week ago in Las Vegas still glittering on her left hand.

The field blurred before her eyes as she looked out on it and accepted the truth.

He'd hurt her feelings deeply and she didn't like him very much right now...but she still loved him. She would always love him.

He'd deserved to be punished by her for what he'd done--she valued herself enough to know that--but not being with him was punishing her, too.

A small half-smile curved her lips at the thought of taking him back--and finding other, far more pleasurable ways to make him pay. But then, gasps sounded in the room and half the people came out of their seats to press against the glass.

Anna looked around at everyone. "What happened?"

Her mother's face had gone completely white. "It's Cole. He was hit."

Anna jumped out of her seat and looked out the window, but she couldn't see Cole, only a dozen people making a circle around someone on the field.

Anna spun away, pushing blindly through the crowd in the VIP box for the door. She needed to be with him, needed to see for herself that he was okay.

"Anna." She realized there was a hand on her arm stopping her from running down the hall. Dominic turned her in the opposite direction. "The field is this way."

With that, he took off down the hallway, and she was so glad he wasn't waiting for her to catch up. As an ex-pro player, he was naturally fast, but love gave her strength and speed she shouldn't have possessed. By the time they got to the tunnel, she was running past Dominic, past all of the guards.

Heading straight for Cole, she didn't see the crowd on their feet, didn't notice the eerie silence. All she could see was her husband lying on the grass.

All she could feel was love.

Not anger. Not bitterness.

Only love.

She'd thought coming to his game was being brave. But as she pushed through the crowd of coaches and trainers, she finally realized what real bravery was.

It was loving someone so much that she would take his pain as her own.

And it was forgiving the little mistakes, the bad decisions, the sometimes hurtful words, because she knew that none of that really mattered when it came right down to it.

Her husband had told her she was brave, time and time again. She hadn't believed him, hadn't thought he was seeing the real her--when all along he'd known her better than anyone.

"Be brave for me, sweetheart," was what he'd said to her last night before she'd sent him home .

She hadn't been able to do it then.

But she would be brave for him now.

* * *

Jesus, his head hurt. And he was tired. So damn tired. Cole wanted to stay asleep, knew that fading back to black would be a blessed relief from the pain shooting through him, head to toe.

But something stopped him from drifting away.

A soft hand in his, slender but strong fingers gripping his.

Anna.

No. She couldn't really be there, had no reason at all to be at his game. But the hand in his wasn't letting go. And he knew that touch. Would never, ever be able to forget her sweetly sinful caresses.

He had to open his eyes and even though it felt like he was trying to break through cement across his eyelids, he worked like hell to get the seal broken so that he could see his Anna.