Only Work, No Play Read online Cora Reilly (Tough Games #1)

Categories Genre: Romance, Sports Tags Authors: Series: Tough Games Series by Cora Reilly
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Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
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Xavier nodded. “Sounds like fun,” he muttered.

“It’s better publicity than you usually get,” I said, remembering the horrid articles.

“True.”

“The meeting is right after training so you won’t have much time to shower.”

“If you give me a helping hand, I’m sure the shower won’t take as long,” he drawled.

As if I needed the image of Xavier lathering his Adonis body in my brain.

Xavier took longer to shower than he was supposed to and I considered heading into the changing room and dragging him out personally when one of his teammates, a broad guy with blue eyes and blond hair, stepped out and extended his hand with a warm smile. “Hey, I’m Blake and you are Evie, right?”

I smiled as I shook his hand. He wasn’t as tall as Xavier but like all rugby players I’d met so far, he was above average. “That’s me. Did Xavier tell you about me?” I hoped he didn’t tell any embarrassing stories.

“No, but everyone knows who you are. Xavier’s victims can’t really fly under the radar.”

“Victim,” I said with a frown. “It’s not like that.”

He shook his head with an embarrassed look. “I mean because you have to work for that slave driver. It can’t be easy.”

I shrugged. “Could be worse.” I didn’t want to talk badly about my boss in front of his teammates.

Xavier finally sauntered out, dressed in dark-blue jeans and a white polo shirt, looking surprisingly dapper. His eyes zeroed in on Blake, who gave him a curt nod before he excused himself.

“What did he want?”

“He introduced himself. Some people have manners, Xavier.”

“Sure. Manners are the reason why guys approach girls.” He slung his sports bag over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows. “Ready, if you are,” he said in the same voice Hannibal Lecter had used in The Silence of the Lambs.

“I love that movie,” I said as I followed Xavier toward his Maserati SUV.

He cocked a dark eyebrow. “You recognized the quote.”

“I’ve watched Silence of the Lambs at least ten times. Of course, I do.”

Xavier held out his keys to me. I stared at them. “You can drive. I want to catch a quick shut-eye.”

I took the keys hesitantly. “The drive won’t take that long. And I’ve never driven on the wrong side before.”

Xavier shook his head. “It’s not the wrong side. It’s the left side, and around here it’s the right side.”

I rolled my eyes. “You are a smart-ass.” I snapped my mouth shut. Evie, he’s your boss, for heaven’s sake!

Xavier’s eyes twinkled in amusement. “Takes one to know one, right?”

“Right,” I said, relieved.

I got behind the steering wheel, swallowing nervously. “It’s a shift.”

Xavier slanted me a look as he leaned back in the passenger seat. “It’s a Maserati, a sports car, of course it’s a shift.”

“It’s an SUV.”

“Drive, Evie.”

I turned the ignition and the beast came alive under me with a soft purr. I got used to driving on the left pretty quickly; shifting, however, was a struggle. We arrived eventually, after I’d stalled the engine or mis-shifted about one million times.

“I think in the whole company history of Maserati none of their cars have ever taken longer for five miles,” Xavier drawled before he got out. I unclasped my hands from their tight grip on the leather steering wheel. Cold sweat ran down my back and into my pants. I could only imagine what kind of pictures the paparazzi would take of me today. I needed to change my approach, and my wardrobe, or find a chill pill that worked its magic.

The cold sweat turned into a hot sweatiness when the tailor took Xavier’s measurements in the company’s office in one of the heritage buildings in the Rocks, not too far from Xavier’s apartment.

Xavier was in his Calvin Kleins as a feminine young man measured almost every part of his body. I could tell that there was one part in particular he would have loved to measure as well, but which wasn’t on his list of tasks.

Xavier noticed the admiring glances of the tailor as well and winked at me.

I rolled my eyes as I returned my gaze to the myriad of fabric samples spread out on the table before me. Xavier came up to me once the tailor was done, still only in his Calvin Kleins so his privates were on eye level with my head, which made for a very bothersome distraction.

A few members of the design team soon joined us, and they didn’t seem bothered by Xavier’s almost nakedness. I supposed it happened a lot in the business. Xavier propped his arms up on the table, scanning the samples. “What do you think?”

Surprised, I looked up but quickly put my professional face back on, considering the patterns. I pointed at few uni-colored ones, then at a few more daring patterns and at last at one with red lips all over it.



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