Read Online Chasing Jillian: A Love and Football Novel by Julie Brannagh - Free Book Online Page A

fairly sure that there were thousands of other women in the Seattle area who would be happy to see him at six AM for any reason at all. Mornings were never her favorite time, but maybe she needed to rethink that whole thing if she got some time with him as a reward for pulling herself out of bed.
    John blew through the office as he returned from a meeting. “Hello, ladies. Jillian, you got the stuff I left you?”
    “Yes, John. I’ll finish it as quickly as possible.”
    “Actually, do you have a minute? Come into my office.” She followed him in as he flipped the lights on, hung up his coat, and dropped his briefcase next to his desk. “Sit down.” John sat down in his chair, steepled his fingers, and regarded Jillian for a minute. “Remember when I interviewed you for this job?”
    “Yes, I do.”
    “We talked about not getting involved with the players, didn’t we?”
    Jillian swallowed hard. The hair stood up on the back of her neck. “Yes, John, we did.”
    “Do you have something you’d like to tell me?” He waited.
    “I . . . I went for a walk at lunchtime a couple of weeks ago with Seth Taylor.”
    “Why?”
    She bowed her head. She twisted her hands in her lap. What should she say? She took a deep breath and said, “It’s not what you think.”
    “What do I think, Jillian? Fill me in.” He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest.
    “We’re not involved with each other. I . . . I was trying to work out, and he decided to help.”
    “Excuse me?”
    She let out a sigh. “I bought an exercise DVD. A gym membership isn’t in my budget right now. My neighbors get mad if I exercise in my apartment. The walls are thin.” She pulled in a breath. “I didn’t know how to get started, so I wondered if I could use the gym in the evenings after work. Seth found me with the DVD and offered some exercise pointers. And . . . well, it’s stupid. I’m sorry, John. I know you’re probably not happy about this.”
    “So, you were in the weight room after hours. What else happened?”
    “Seth was initially mad at me. I think he thought I’d broken in or something. Then I think he felt bad for me. He said I was doing it all wrong, so he showed me how to use the treadmill. Sometimes he walks with me on the sidewalk outside the facility at lunchtime.”
    John had leaned forward in his chair and laid his forearms on his desk. “No gym membership, huh?”
    “No,” Jillian said miserably.
    “Taylor called me over the weekend.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “He wanted your address.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”
    Seth didn’t seem like some kind of stalker, but this was a bit worrisome. She was a bit confused as to why he’d asked John for her address. They’d talked on the phone, but she couldn’t imagine why he wanted to know where she lived.
    “He wouldn’t tell me why he needed it. I told him that I couldn’t give out that information without your permission. He apparently dislikes the word no.” Jillian saw John’s smirk. “Does this mean I’m going to have to chaperone you? You might want to tell him that you’re dating someone else.”
    She should never have lied to John in the first place. She needed to confess, but maybe that might work out better for her another day.
    Her words burst out. “I’ll take care of it. He said he didn’t mind showing me some exercise stuff, but—”
    “You don’t need a gym membership,” John said. “We have one here. You can use the machines if you’d like when the team isn’t in there, but first of all, you need to get checked outby a doctor. We have one of those here too. I’ll ask the team doc to take a look at you—draw some blood or whatever.”
    He gave her an encouraging smile and pulled his desk drawer open and rooted around in it. He passed a pink heart-monitor watch to her across the desk. “We get free stuff from athletic companies all the time. Go in the storage area later and check it out, okay? This is