Hard Tackle (A Stepbrother Warriors Novel) Read Online Free PDF

voices
from inside, and unconsciously begin to tiptoe across the marble floor so that
my heels don't make too much noise.
    "Nothing risked, nothing gained," I hear Ray say.
    "These aren't the kind of people we're used to dealing
with," says someone else. I hear a slight mechanical crackle and realize
that the other person's on speaker phone.
    "What about Russia?"
    "They operate differently. It was just business, and a
smaller piece of the pie."
    "We're moving forward," Ray says definitively.
    "Ray—"
    "I have to go. Just get it done." Ray says
finally, and I hear the other man sigh. Realizing their conversation is almost
done, I step forward and knock on the door so that he doesn't think I've been
listening. I hear a click as Ray picks up his receiver and sets it down.
    "Yes?"
    I push the door open a bit more and poke my head inside.
"My mom asked me to come find you." He stands and checks his bowtie
to make sure it's straight as he meets me at the door. He smiles as I push it
open for him.
    "You look beautiful, Bree. I thought Anne told me you
weren't one for dressing up."
    "I'm not, but she was quite insistent," I tell him
as we walk back down the hall. "And Jack helped, actually," I add
begrudgingly.
    "I'm glad you two are getting along," he remarks
just before the guests in the foyer greet him exuberantly. I slip by as he's
surrounded and head for the backyard, my mission having been completed.
    The huge backyard is now filled to the brim with guests, all
the way from the French doors that lead to the patio down past the pool and to
the dock. White lights wind from the bases to the leaves of the palm trees and
a jazz quartet with a female vocalist is set up perpendicular to the
rectangular pool. Everyone is in tuxes or gowns, but a few giant men stick out
in particular. They must be teammates of Jack's. Like him, they're built on a
bigger scale than most humans.
    I spot Jack at the other end of the yard and feel my cheeks
begin to burn. I can't even look at him now without thinking of the fact that
he saw me almost completely naked. His head is slightly bowed, and I realize
it's because he's in conversation with a gorgeous brunette. I squint at her.
She actually looks somewhat familiar, though I can't place her.
    "You don't want any of that, believe me," comes a
deep voice at my side. I look over and up to see a tall and wide African-American
man standing next to me. "As big a player as they come. Now me, I'm
different."
    "Oh, is that right?" I ask him with a smile, too
amused by the mischievous twinkle in his eye to take him seriously.
    "Sure is. I'm a one-woman man."
    "One a night, I think you mean," I retort, and he
tilts his head back with a cackle.
    "Shaun, keep your distance," Jack says, appearing
at his elbow.
    "Don't worry man, she's doing just fine on her
own."
    "Bree, this is one of my best friends on the team, and
Shaun, this is my dad's girlfriend's daughter ," he says, fully
turning toward me. "Bree is…" he trails off and swallows.
    "What?" I ask, unnerved by his silence.
    "Ah, not interested in football players," he
finally says.
    "Probably wise," Shaun concedes with a smile.
    "Come on," Jack says reaching out his hand to me,
palm up. I place my hand in his instinctively, but then pull back as he begins
to head for the dance floor.
    "No way," I tell him. "I don't dance."
He laughs in response, continuing his path toward the clear pool covering. With
his hand still firmly around mine, I have no choice but to follow him to a
clear spot near the center. He swings around in one fluid movement and wraps
one arm around my waist, then takes my other hand in his and pulls it up to the
side.
    "This is a slow one," he says. "Just
swaying." I blush as I look up at him, then let my eyes fall to my feet.
It's not just the fact that he saw me naked earlier today, it's the feeling of
his hand placed gently on my exposed back. My breath wants to speed up, and I
do my best to fight against it, not wanting him to become