Read Online The Jock by Jasmine Leveaux - Free Book Online Page A

glass until she visually located the offending object.
    It
was only a baseball.
    Gwenyth's
cathartic sigh could be heard from across the room. No doubt little Billy Banes
next door was practicing his hitting—badly—yet again. Shaking her head in
mirth, and at herself for damn near screaming over a freaking baseball, Gwenyth
strolled over to where the ball lay and carefully removed it from its nest of
broken glass. She picked it up as she envisioned lecturing Billy on his
tendency to wreak havoc on her property, then turned the ball over and read the
message that had been scrawled in bold letters for her to see:
    NAM .
    Just
three letters. Three small letters that started her pulse racing and caused her
breathing to hitch. It wasn't Billy Banes after all.
    The
front door crashed in a moment later and Gwenyth screamed for real. She whirled
around, preparing to do god only knows what to her would-be attacker, and found
instead—to her wide-eyed relief—a fuming, angry, royally pissed off Sam
Trevianni glowering down at her.
    Thank
god.
    Sam
stomped through the doorway and slammed the door shut behind him. His nostrils
were flaring, the muscles in his neck and arms were corded, and his blue eyes
were staring daggers at her. Gwenyth had never been so happy to see a
disgruntled male before in her life. "Gwenyth Marie Jones! You and I
have got to talk!"
    Gwenyth
bit her lip and nodded. She couldn't agree more. The fact that she probably
wanted to talk about something vastly different than Sam did didn't register in
her brain as she ran toward him and threw herself into his arms.
    Sam
grunted, whether from the impact of her barreling into him or from male
satisfaction she didn't know. "Now this is more like it, Cupcake. This is
how you should have greeted me days ago."
    Sam
plowed determinedly onward, apparently not taking notice of the broken glass in
the living room or of the fact that Gwenyth was shaking like a frayed leaf
caught in a storm. "A man expects to have his phone calls returned after
sharin' an experience like you and I had the other day, Cupcake." He
stroked her affectionately on the back, his hand occasionally drifting down to
her derriere as he continued his lecture. "A man expects a hell of a lot
more than bein' avoided by the woman he's crazy about, that I can tell
you."
    The
shaking finally started to register a little bit. "Cupcake?" Sam
pulled back slightly and used his hand to notch Gwenyth's chin up toward him.
"Cupcake?"
    He
saw the terror plain in her eyes and realized then and there that the reason
Gwen had run to him had been out of fear. That fact should have annoyed him,
but it didn't. It brought out all of his protective instincts and caused his
heart rate to accelerate even though he had no idea what had spooked her.
    "Cupcake?"
    "I'm
so glad you're here, Sam," she breathed out.
    Sam
could feel the hard something that Gwenyth was clutching in her hand. He looked
down at it and, realizing it was a baseball, he gently pried it out of her
grasp to find out why she was all fired up and wild eyed over a little ole
ball.
    And
then he knew.
    NAM .
    The
words were written as plain as day. Sam glanced toward the living room for some
unknown reason and immediately noticed the broken window. Those damn
bastards .
    Sam
forgot all about his reason for being here, the reason he'd walked around
throwing tantrums and being generally disagreeable for the past three days, and
pulled Gwenyth back into his arms. He hugged her tightly against him and placed
kisses on top of her head. "It's okay, baby. You're okay."
    "Yes."
    But
was he? The fear that had gone through Sam when he'd realized what the scene
around him meant told him he'd emotionally gone beyond the point of no return
with one Gwenyth Marie Jones. Hell, he'd probably been at that point years ago
unknowingly and just needed a nudge in the direction of the obvious. Well he
knew now, damn it. And as soon as this nasty business with NAMwas taken
care of, Sam