Read Online If The Shoe Fits by Judi Fennell - Free Book Online Page A

you
missed?”
    Once upon a time they’d been friends.
Teammates. Business associates.
    Once upon a time was over.
    “ Hey, buddy.” Luke extricated
himself from the chair—Reese’s chair—with the grin that had always
saved his ass in the past. He’d been a media bad boy in their
football years, but had always managed to come out smelling like a
rose with that smile. Pure charm and charisma. But Reese was
immune. “Look, Reese, I’m really sorry, but Tanya—”
    “ Cut the crap, Luke.” Reese
stormed past him, hands fisted. One more word and he’d put them
through Luke’s pretty-boy face. “Last time it was your mother, this
time your ex-wife. Now I’ve got a pissed off client and an
MIA caterer. Not to mention the meeting with me you skipped
yesterday.” He walked behind his desk. “It’s over.
Promotional Sports is finished with you.”
    He tore a file from the top drawer and slammed
it open on the desktop. “This paragraph says no fee is to be paid,
and any advance is to be returned, in the event the
contractee—you—fails to appear at the contracted event.” He slammed
it shut, then leaned onto his palms, his face inches from Luc’s.
“You owe me ten grand.”
    “ Look, Reese,” Luke said in a
voice Reese knew all too well. The come-on-honey-I-won’t-bite voice
that had gotten him more gullible women than Reese had thought were
on the planet. “The money’s gone and without your gigs, well,
there’s not much left to pay you back with.” He sat in the chair
facing Reese and grinned. “Come on, man, give me another chance.
I’ll be there. Promise.”
    Reese closed his eyes and hung his head. The
unmitigated gall. He glared at his old teammate. “You don’t get it,
Luke. This isn’t a game. It’s my business, my reputation. While you
have no regard for your own, I have a lot for mine. I gave
you your second chance. Sunday night. And you blew it.”
    “ Yeah, but you were there.
I knew they’d be more thrilled having the winning quarterback than
the tight end there. You could handle it.”
    “ The point being— you were
contracted. They wanted the guy who caught that Hail Mary pass. Not
the one who threw it.” Reese shoved his hands into his pockets
because they wanted to make contact with Luke’s jaw way too much.
“We’re through, Luke. You’ve got a month to get me the ten grand or
I call my lawyer for breach of contract.”
    Reese was serious. Even as Luke pursed his
lips, Reese hoped the man realized he knew him too well to think
about trying to schmooze his way out of this.
    “ How about I work it off?” Luke
lost the grin and, with it, the cocky attitude. “I can’t afford
another court battle. Tanya’s last one used up all my cash as fast
as I could earn it.”
    Reese had heard too many of Luke’s “deals” to
want to touch this one with a ten thousand foot pole.
    “ Seriously, Reese. You must have
some event coming up where you could use me? I’ll do it for the ten
grand I owe you and we’ll call it even.” Luke shifted in his seat.
“I promise I’ll be there. Tell me where and when. I’ll even call
you the day before to let you know I haven’t forgotten. Please .”
    Shit. That last word got to him. Luke’s motto
had always been, “Never beg for what you can win with charm.” He’d
never needed to beg. Until now. Shit.
    Reese shouldn’t give in to him. He knew that.
Luke had always been unreliable. Well, except in a game. There he’d
proven himself, time and again. But he was going through a
rough patch. His ex-wife—one of the gold-digging groupies who’d
followed their team and had managed to catch the uncatchable Luke
in the oldest way possible—was demanding almost everything he owned
in return for joint custody of their son, Jared.
    That “please” had been all about his son, and
Reese couldn’t punish the boy for his father’s misdeeds. Nor risk
Tanya getting full custody. Luke might not be a prince, but, in
Reese’s opinion, he was