The End Zone: SPORTS ROMANCE (Contemporary Sport Bad Boy Alpha Male American Football Romance) (New Adult Second Chance Women’s Fiction Romance Short Stories) Read Free

coming closer to her and she warned herself not to be flattered. Even if the one football player she’d been in love with since college had been trying to flirt with her all day, she wouldn’t, couldn’t get involved.
    None the less, her pulse started to pound in her ears when Chris sat on the bench beside her.
    “So, I guess you’ve got to wait until all the kids get picked up, huh?”
    Michelle was still staring determinedly at her phone, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Chris nod in Deshante’s direction.
    “That’s usually how it works,” she said.
    “Mind if I wait with you?” he asked. “Even in the suburbs, it can get pretty dangerous after dark.”
    “You can wait if you want,” she answered. “But, I think I can take care of myself.”
    She heard him chuckle and the sound caused her to look up from her phone.
    “You think I can’t?” she asked defensively. Being the only girl in a family of boys, not to mention being a girl who liked football, she was used to being underestimated. And though she hated to admit it, she was still very sensitive to it.
    “I didn’t say that,” Chris said.
    “You thought it,” Michelle answered. She saw him open his mouth to respond but, before he could, a small voice interrupted him.
    “Mr. Watson?” it asked.
    Michelle looked up to find Deshante standing awkwardly in front of them. He was holding the football each of the kids had been given in his hands and twirling it awkwardly.
    “What’s up little man?” Chris asked with a smile at the skinny little boy.
    “I was wondering . . . I . . . I didn’t get a chance to ask you to sign my ball. Could you sign it now?” He held it out to Chris.
    “ Of course I will,” Chris said. He took the ball and reached into his pants pocket for a sharpie pen.
    “Your name’s Deshante, right?” Chris asked. Both Deshante and Michelle widened their eyes in surprise. There had been twenty kids at the workshop and the fact that he remembered this little boys name was astonishing.
    “You remember my name?” Deshante asked breathlessly, a bright smile creeping across his lips.
    “Yeah,” Chris said signing the ball with a flourish. “I remember because you reminded me of me when I was your age.”
    “Really?” Deshante asked.
    “People thought I was too skinny to play football too,” Chris continued. “I got picked on a lot by the bigger kids.”
    “What did you do?” Deshante asked. He moved close to Chris eager to hear the quarterback's advice.
    “I just kept playing,” Chris said. “I learned to tune them out. And when I got better, those guys started to respect me.”
    “Do you think that could happen to me?” Deshante asked hopefully.
    “You never know,” Chris answered. “Keep playing and we’ll see.”
    He handed the ball back to Deshante who took it gratefully. He then gave Chris the largest smile Michelle had ever seen from the small boy. He rarely smiled and had never talked as much to her as he just had to Chris.
    A moment later, a car bearing Deshante’s grandmother pulled up to the curb and honked its horn. Deshante thanked Chris and ran happily towards the car. Michelle watched the little black car drive away before turning to look at Chris.
    “Thanks for that,” she said. “That was really sweet of you.”
    “Not really,” he said. “It was true. I didn’t look like much when I was his age either. Just goes to show, huh?”
    “I guess it does,” she said.
    He smiled at her. It was that bright, white toothed smile that she had first fallen for. For a moment, she forgot that she was supposed to be steeling herself, putting up a wall, not letting the little crush she had on this man to get the better of her.
    Instead, she smiled back at him.
    “So, how are you getting home?” he asked. “You got a boyfriend or husband picking you up?”
    She rolled her eyes at the roundabout question then shook her head.
    “My car’s in the shop,” she answered honestly. “And my