Cassie's Choice Read Free Page A

is important, Cassie—as you know the school needs more than the government can give us. It’s so important to have someone with a public profile attend that I will even sweeten the pot. I will give the sports department a quarter of all money raised to spend on new equipment, if you can help out.”
    If the request had been made last month, Cassie would have had no problem trying to get a couple of the Jets players to turn up. She did have a contact at the Jets—her best friend was the physio there and married to the Jets halfback and captain. A week ago she would have just picked up her phone and given Pippa a call right on the spot, in front of her boss. That was last month, last week. This week, Riley Walters had taken over the role as promotion and marketing manager at the Jets. And just two nights ago, Pippa had thrown Cassie’s world into a spin by inviting her out to dinner, forgetting to mention that Riley would be sitting right there beside her, the only other single in the group of married couples that were dining together.
    As usual the timing in Cassie Davies’ life sucked.

Chapter Two
    Riley understood that life was made up of many moments that could impact, change or redefine your life and where you were headed. He had been exposed to many of these moments throughout his nearly twenty-two years, the most significant when his parents had been killed in a car accident. Riley had been ten years old, yet he still remembered with clarity the moment Caitlin, his sister, had told him what had happened. She had promised to look after him, that they would survive together through the awfulness of losing both parents in one single, cruel blow.
    Caitlin had kept her promise, but it had been tough for them both financially and emotionally. Riley had tried to help, be responsible and cause his sister no trouble, but he had been ten—just growing had put pressure on their little family every time Caitlin had needed to find the money to pay for new clothes or shoes. She had also found the funds to pay for all the swimming, coaching and school excursions, but Riley had been able to see the strain. Caitlin at twenty had put her own life on hold for him, she had been the reason Riley had not become a ward of the state and she had never questioned or bemoaned that extra responsibility thrust upon her.
    While that moment was a harsh one, the next to impact Riley had been the extreme opposite. When Caitlin had met and introduced Brodie James to their family, Riley’s life had flourished. Not only was Brodie James one of Riley’s sporting heroes, but he was also a wonderful, caring man who had taken Riley under his wing. Brodie was not only an inspiring role model but also a father figure, bringing with him a set of loving parents that immediately became pseudo grandparents for Riley. Brodie James was wealthy. Not just because he was a top level, former rugby league star turned coach—he was also an astute businessman. He’d happily lavished that wealth on Riley and his sister. Slowly at first, but after Caitlin had married Brodie and she and Riley had moved into his waterfront home, they’d never had to struggle to pay for anything again. It had taken a great load from Riley’s shoulders at the time, finally able to put aside the nagging guilt that he was a burden on his sister financially.
    The next significant event for Riley, and the only time in his life for which he despised himself or was ashamed by his actions, had occurred just over two years ago.
    Riley was haunted by it. Shocked and appalled by his reaction—the amount of anger that had risen in him, the need to do physical harm to another so overwhelming that he had fled before he had been able to act on this new and alarming emotion. Apart from witnessing the assault on Mandy Thomson back when he was eleven, violence had never been a part of Riley’s life. Even spending his youth surrounded by rugby league players, it had never existed. He had always been