Huddle With Me Tonight Read Online Free PDF Page B

the realm of possibility. Maybe if their paths had crossed at another time; if they had encountered each other under different circumstances. Just maybe…
    But that wasn’t the case. Her acquaintance with Torrian was professional. Period. She’d had to make tough choices for the sake of her career before. She couldn’t allow fantasies of happily ever after to derail her from reaching her goals.
    Still, she didn’t want to be Torrian’s enemy.
    His reaction didn’t surprise her. At this point in her career, she was used to hostile authors. But she’d never shared a…a something with those other authors. However small that something was, it had been there with Torrian. She’d felt it.
    Paige took a deep breath and steeled herself against the warring emotions rioting within her brain. Her professional integrity was on the line, and it was everything to her. She wasn’t about to lose credibility with her readers by recanting her review, especially since she meant every word.
    “You done?” Angela came back into the office with two skinny vanilla lattes, a Monday morning ritual.
    “I am,” Paige said. “And I, unlike Mr. Smallwood, was very professional.” She accepted the paper cup from Angela, removed the plastic cover and blew at the foam topping the cup of steaming milk and coffee. “Of course, I had to take a few gibes,” Paige added. “The man did, after all, question my ability to read.”
    Angela paused with her cup halfway to her mouth. “What kind of gibes did you take?” she asked, her voice full of caution.
    Paige twirled around in the swivel chair, “Nothing too bad. I just asked if his book writing has possibly gotten in the way of his game on the field. And suggested that if he were more focused on playing ball instead of opening a restaurant, maybe the Sabers would have made it to the Super Bowl last year.”
    Angela choked on the coffee she’d just sipped. “Are you suicidal? Do you know the kind of heat you’re going to take for bringing up last year’s NFC Championship game?”
    “He intimated that I don’t know how to read,” Paige repeated. “Excuse me for taking offense, but because I make a living reading and writing, I’m not inclined to show Torrian Smallwood mercy.”
    Angela shook her head. “I don’t know about this. I think you’re playing with fire.”
    Paige eyed her coworker over the rim of her coffee cup. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle the heat.”
    “At the risk of sounding cliché, be careful what you ask for,” Angela warned. “You just might get it.”

Chapter 4
     
    T orrian hissed through his teeth. His arms quivered under the strain of the weight bar. He should have stopped twenty minutes ago, but each time he attempted to place the metal bar back into its resting place, he thought about the team doctor waiting for him just down the hall. He knew he should man up and face the music, but he wasn’t ready to hear the words. He couldn’t stomach the doctor telling him he could no longer play ball because of his eyes.
    Guilt lodged in his throat. The internal debate had been a constant companion; his questioning of his worth to the team. In his heart, Torrian knew he was on the verge of becoming more of a liability than an asset.
    Memories of last year’s conference championship game ran through his mind. He’d been so close. Moving at lightning speed toward the end zone. Passed the thirty-yard line. The twenty-five. The twenty.
    The hit had come out of nowhere.
    Torrian’s gut clinched as he recalled the force of three hundred pounds of determined linebacker plowing into him. Because of his deteriorating vision he hadn’t seen the guy approaching.
    He could still hear the raucous cheers of the crowd resonating through his brain. They’d had reason to cheer. Their team was headed to the Super Bowl, while his teammates were headed home.
    How much longer could he stand to do this to them? How deep did his selfishness run?
    The self-disgust