Hard & Deep: A Football Romance

Nikki held the door open, moving in close to Oliver.

“Can I spend the rest of the afternoon with you?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.

“No, sorry, I can't,” he said. “I've got plans.”

“With Elsie?” she growled.

“Yes, actually,” he replied. “With Elsie.”

“Whatever.” Nikki spun around and marched over to her car. She started it up and slammed on the gas, causing the tires to squeal on the concrete as she sped out of the parking lot.

What has gotten into her? Ollie thought.

He pulled out his cell phone to see a handful of calls and texts that he had missed during the sponsorship meeting. One of the calls was from Sean. It was odd to get a call from him, since they spent so much time together during training anyway. Ollie decided to call him back right away.

“Hey, buddy.” Sean sounded excited when he picked up Oliver's call. “Man, I thought you were famous before but now you're like the king of social media. Why didn't you tell me you were getting back together with Nikki? I thought you were with Elsie.”

“Wait, what?” Oliver asked, in utter confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Seriously?” Sean laughed. “Nikki posted that picture of you guys last night and it's gone viral. Over a million 'likes' in one day. That's one way to tell the world who you're dating, I guess.”

Ollie sat silent for a moment, trying to absorb what his friend was telling him. But it didn't make any sense.

“I'm not dating Nikki,” Oliver said. “I have no clue what you're talking about.”

“Really? Because she put up a picture online of you guys laying together in bed. Nothing too risque. It was just you two cuddled up.”

“What in the hell are you talking about, man?” Oliver was overwhelmed with confusion, but desperately trying to put the pieces together.

“You really don't know?” Sean asked, his voice loosing the upbeat quality he usually had. “The picture was a selfie she'd taken. She posted it with a comment that said something about how she was waking up from a nap with her boyfriend.”

“Are you joking me?” Ollie asked. “You better be messing with me right now, Sean.”

“No, I'm not,” he said. “Why would I do that? I was kind of excited that you guys were back together, so I was calling to say congratulations. You liked the picture, so I thought it was legit.”

“We aren't back together. Nikki and I haven't been back together since I broke it off a year ago.” Oliver's confusion was quickly turning into anger. His heart was beating quickly. “Can you send me what Nikki posted? She has access to all my social media.”

“I can, but like I said, all you have to do is go online,” Sean explained. “Just type in your name and I'm sure it'll come up.”

“Thanks,” Ollie said. “I'll call you later.”

He hung up the phone and immediately got online.

What has Nikki done? He thought, as he typed his name into the search engine.

Just like Sean had said, the Internet had blown up about “Oliver Lance's love affair with his personal assistant, Nikki.” His eyes scanned down the screen of his phone. The headline of each article was similar, so he clicked on one of them. The first thing that popped up on the website was a photo. It was clearly the one that Sean had been referring to.

“What the hell,” Ollie whispered, his eyes focusing. “No way.”

On the left side of the photo was Nikki. Her arm was in the shot, as she held her phone to take the selfie. She was smiling playfully. Her hair was in disarray and she wasn't wearing make up. She was wearing a loose-fitting tank top that left little to the imagination. But that part of the image isn't what disturbed him the most. On the right side, laying directly next to Nikki, was Oliver. He was on his back with his blankets pulled up to his chin. He was sound asleep in his bed.

This has got

to be some kind of joke, he thought.

His gaze moved down to the caption at the bottom of the photo, where Nikki had written, “Waking up with my amazing boyfriend, Ollie. He's still sleeping. Football season starts in two days! He needs his rest!”

The little heart was filled in with Oliver's name right next to it, indicating that he liked the picture. There was even a comment, “You're too good to me, babe!” from his account. He suddenly regretted giving Nikki access to his social media. She'd even pretended to be him for this little stunt.