Pass Interference (Fair Catch Series, Book Four) Read online

  Pass Interference

  Fair Catch Series, Book Four

  Christine Kersey

  Contents

  Note to Readers

  Books by Christine Kersey

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Pass Protection Chapter 1

  Books by Christine Kersey

  About the Author

  Note to Readers

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  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Pass Interference (Fair Catch Series, Book Four)

  Copyright © 2017 by Christine Kersey

  Cover by Novak Illustration

  All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  eBook Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

  Discover other exciting titles by Christine Kersey available through her official author website: ChristineKersey.com or through most online retailers.

  Created with Vellum

  Books by Christine Kersey

  Fair Catch Romance

  Illegal Procedure

  False Start

  Blindsided

  Pass Interference

  Pass Protection

  Park City Firefighter Romance

  Rescue My Heart

  Hearts On Fire

  Emerald Falls Romance Series

  Crushing On You: Travis and Gabriella (An Emerald Falls Romance, Book One)

  Dangerous Lies: Sawyer and Amethyst (An Emerald Falls Romance, Book Two)

  Chance Encounter: Gage and Melanie (An Emerald Falls Romance, Book Three)

  Searching for Love

  Falling for You (Searching for Love, Book One)

  Finding Reese (Searching for Love, Book Two)

  Surrender My Heart (Searching for Love, Book Three)

  Bring Me Home (Searching for Love, Book Four)

  Lily’s Story

  He Loves Me Not (Lily’s Story, Book 1)

  Don’t Look Back (Lily’s Story, Book 2)

  Love At Last (Lily’s Story, Book 3)

  Life Imperfect (Lily’s Story, Book 4)

  Parallel Trilogy

  Gone (Parallel Series, Book 1)

  Imprisoned (Parallel Series, Book 2)

  Hunted (Parallel Series, Book 3)

  After (Parallel Series, Book 4)

  The Other Morgan (Parallel Series, Book 5)

  Over You Series

  Over You

  Second Chances (sequel to Over You)

  Witness Series

  Witness (Witness, Book 1)

  Retribution (Witness, Book 2)

  Standalone Books

  Suspicions

  No Way Out

  Box Sets

  Parallel Trilogy

  Lily’s Story

  Searching for Love bundle

  Book Description

  Jax Cordova, Defensive End for the NFL’s Sacramento Vipers, isn’t looking for love, but when a woman crashes into him at the mall, he’s intrigued. Too bad she won’t tell him her name.

  Widowed at 24, Autumn Foster is ready to move on, but when she finally dips her toe in the dating pool, strange things start to happen to her. Things that scare her. When the police don’t take the incidents seriously—and even Jax starts to doubt her—she fears she’ll never find true love again.

  BONUS: Includes the first chapter of Pass Protection (Fair Catch Series, Book Five).

  Chapter One

  Taking the day off had been a mistake. Autumn saw that now. She’d thought working today would be difficult, but having nothing to distract her from her memories was worse.

  Today was April fourth. It would have been—was—her fourth wedding anniversary. Except that she was no longer married because her husband had been killed ten months earlier. Mitch had only been twenty-six and she’d been twenty-four. Much too young to become a widow. Much too young to lose the love of her life.

  Mitch had been taking their dog—a yellow lab named Sasha—for a walk along a road near their house when a distracted driver named Glenn Richmond had run him down. Mitch had died instantly. At least that’s what the coroner had told Autumn. She hoped it was true. The thought of him suffering for even a second made her heart wrench with unspeakable anguish.

  At least Sasha had been untouched. Small mercy.

  Now, as Autumn used the flat iron to straighten her long, auburn hair, she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. A twenty-five year old widow. It just wasn’t right. She knew she wasn’t the first young woman to be widowed, and she certainly wouldn’t be the last, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

  Glancing at her bare left finger, Autumn felt her stomach tighten. It had been two months since she’d removed her wedding ring. At the time she’d felt ready, but today of all days she wasn’t sure if she really was. Still, she knew it was time to move forward with her life. Mitch would want her to. She would leave her finger bare. As a compromise, she would wear the earrings he’d given her on their honeymoon—amethyst teardrops with silver inlays.

  Smiling in remembrance of that idyllic week they’d spent driving up the coast of California—stopping in Carmel and staying at a bed and breakfast, shopping in the adorable boutiques in town—Autumn put the earrings in her ears and let the warmth of her memories wash over her.

  Retail therapy. That’s what she needed. She would go to the mall and browse her favorite shoe store. Maybe even buy a new pair of boots. But they had to be comfortable. That was the most important thing. As a hairdresser, she was on her feet for hours at a time. Comfortable shoes were a must.

  Autumn stepped from the bathroom into her bedroom and found Sasha lying on the carpet. At Autumn’s approach, she stood. “There’s my sweet girl,” Autumn said as she stroked Sasha’s head. Sasha’s tongue lolled out and her tail wagged with enthusiasm. “I’ll be back in a few hours, okay?”

  Autumn grabbed her purse from the dresser, then walked through the living room and out the front door. Fifteen minutes lat
er she pulled into a parking space and made her way into the mall. It felt strange to be shopping when she should be working, but Cassie and Haylie—her employees at the Cutting Edge Salon—had encouraged her to take the day off, and they’d been happy to cover for her.

  As she picked out several pairs of boots to try on, she realized she wasn’t feeling as melancholy as she’d feared. Relieved, she carried the boxes to a bench and tried on each pair, admiring them in a mirror.

  On impulse, she bought two pairs of shoes—cute low-heeled black boots and a strappy pair of heels—then left the store. An hour later she’d added three new blouses—they were on clearance!—and a new pair of jeans. Strolling down the mall as she balanced all of the bags in her arms, Autumn smelled the heavenly scent of cinnamon rolls. A sweet treat would be just the thing to top off her retail therapy. She looked toward the food court, her gaze searching for the cinnamon roll shop.

  And then she walked right into a massive barrier. The impact knocked her onto her butt and her bags scattered on the floor. Looking up, she realized she hadn’t run into a barrier at all. No. She’d run into a huge man. A mountain of a man. A man whose back had been turned. But a man who was now staring at her, his eyes wide with surprise.

  Mortified, Autumn felt blood rush to her face as she sat on the polished wood floor. But at the same time, she felt an unexpected spark of attraction to this man. An attraction that scared her senseless.

  She couldn’t be attracted to someone else. Not yet. Not on this day.

  Struggling to slow her suddenly pounding heart, Autumn gazed at the man. Tall and ripped, he had short brown hair and a nicely trimmed beard. And his eyes…they were the most striking shade of blue she had ever seen.

  No, she shouldn’t be noticing those things. It wasn’t right.

  Jax stared at the woman sitting on the ground. She was looking up at him, and he could see embarrassment written in her green eyes—eyes filled with such depth that they completely captured his attention. Her long hair—a beautiful shade of reddish brown—hung down her back, and the blush on her cheeks emphasized the soft curve of her jaw, the fullness of her lips, and the slender shape of her nose.

  She was nothing like the women he was usually drawn to, but there was something about her—something vulnerable and innocent, something sad—that made him want to take her in his arms and tell her everything was going to be all right. But it was more than that. The way she stared at him, like she was a doe and he was a big, bad wolf. It filled him with the overwhelming desire to convince her that he was a good guy, that she had nothing to fear from him. Something about her brought out a tender side of himself that he didn’t even know he had.

  As a pass-rusher for the NFL’s Sacramento Vipers, Jax was paid to be aggressive. And he was. Both on the field and off. But something about this woman made him put that aggressiveness on hold.

  When she turned away from him to gather her bags, he knelt beside her and scooped up the bags before she had a chance to, then he stood and held out his hand to her.

  “I am so sorry,” she said, her face flushed and her voice barely above a whisper. But she took his hand and let him help her to her feet.

  Her skin was soft and her hand was swallowed up in his.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I get hit much worse all the time.” He waited for her to ask him to explain so he could tell her he played in the NFL—in case she didn’t recognize him, which she didn’t seem to. But she didn’t take the bait. Slightly disappointed, he kept a smile on his face—the smile that made women swoon. But she didn’t swoon. In fact, she barely seemed to notice him. What was up with that? Kind of desperate for her to pay attention to him, he asked, “Do you need help carrying your bags?”

  She barely met his eyes, instead looking to the side like she was eager to escape. Finally, she faced him, her smile appearing forced—although it made her no less stunning. “No. I’ve got it.” She hefted the bags on her arms as if to prove she didn’t need his help, then said, “Again, I’m sorry I ran into you.”

  She was about to leave. He couldn’t let her walk away without at least getting her name. “You can make it up to me,” he said, putting on his most charming smile.

  Her forehead puckered.

  “By letting me buy you lunch,” he added.

  She immediately shook her head as if the very thought of spending one more second with him would be the worse torture in the world. “No,” she said to emphasize her refusal.

  Stung, Jax couldn’t stop himself from pushing a little harder. “Do you already have lunch plans?”

  She glanced away, her gaze shooting in all directions like she didn’t know the right answer. Then she turned back to him. “Um…no.”

  Maybe she was married. He glanced at her left ring finger but there was nothing there. Okay. Not married. Then why did she seem conflicted? Maybe she had a boyfriend. A woman as pretty as she was? That had to be it. Jax had to know. “Are you single?”

  A pained expression crossed her face and her teeth sunk into her lower lip as she looked at the smooth wood floor.

  Why was she still standing there? It was time to go. This incredibly attractive man was showing way too much interest in her. Interest that sent a mixture of feelings careening through her—excitement, guilt at being excited, more excitement, more guilt. Okay. Time to go.

  “I, uh…” She looked behind her and pointed in that general direction. “I’d better get going.” She took a step backwards, but when she turned to leave the man said, “Wait.” Autumn stopped and looked at him, her eyebrows tugging together.

  “What’s your name?”

  She couldn’t tell him that. It would feel way too much like she was…well, looking for love. Which she was most definitely not. How could she take a chance at love when losing the one you love was so painful?

  She looked at his handsome face and felt a fresh burst of guilt, this time for ignoring his question. But she held strong. Giving him a small smile as if to say Sorry for my rudeness. It’s not you. It’s me, she turned and walked away, certain that he was watching her. Suppressing the urge to turn and check, she kept going and didn’t stop until she reached her car.

  Heaving a sigh of relief, she tossed her bags inside, then climbed in and drove to the sanctuary of her home.

  Jax watched the mystery woman walk away, tempted to chase her down like she was a quarterback holding the football after the snap. Of course he wouldn’t actually tackle her, but still, he’d gotten the sense that going after her would be a mistake. A big one. Instead, he let her go. But that felt like a mistake too.

  Sighing audibly, he decided he’d had enough time at the mall—a place he normally avoided like the plague. He wouldn’t have come at all except that he’d wanted to get a gag gift for a teammate’s birthday. Fortunately, it hadn’t taken long to fine something that would work. He’d been trying to decide if he wanted to grab a snack when the mystery woman had run in to him.

  Now the only thing he could think about was the mystery woman and how he could find her.

  Remembering the way she’d looked so vulnerable when she’d been on the floor, Jax let his gaze slide to the spot where she’d been sitting. A small object caught his eye and he leaned closer to see what it was.

  An earring. He picked it up and examined it. A purple teardrop—he thought the stone was an amethyst.

  Did this belong to the mystery woman? Squinting, he tried to remember if she’d been wearing these earrings. Yes, he thought she had been. Huh. Maybe this would be a way to find out who she was.

  After placing the earring in the front pocket of his jeans, Jax found the Guest Services desk, and when he stopped at the counter, the woman sitting behind it smiled up at him. Her name tag said her name was Lucy.

  “How can I help you?” Lucy asked.

  He guessed she was in her early twenties, and just to reassure himself that his smile still held some power despite the mystery woman seeming to be unaffected, he turned it on f
ull wattage. “Yes you can, Lucy.” Her smile seemed to blossom, and he knew there was nothing wrong with his magnetism. Reassured, he said, “I found an earring on the ground, and I’d like to leave a message for the owner in case she checks here for it.”

  Lucy’s eyebrows pulled together. “Oh. Well, you can leave the earring with me and I can make sure it gets to the owner.”

  That didn’t fit his plan at all, so he shook his head as he smiled. “That’s very kind of you, Lucy, but I’m going to hang on to the earring and leave a message for the owner.” He gazed at her steadily. “If I leave a message for her, can I count on you to give it to her? I would be forever grateful for your help.”

  “Um. Okay. I suppose I can do that.”

  “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

  She nodded. “What’s the message?”

  Jax picked up a pen and a scrap of paper from the counter and wrote his cell number and his first name, then he handed the paper to Lucy. “If the woman who lost the earring contacts you, please ask her to text me and I’ll make sure she gets it back. All right?”