Her Football Boss Fake Fiance Read online

  Her Football Boss Fake Fiance

  Brady Brother Romances

  Taylor Hart

  Contents

  Copyright

  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

  Epilogue

  Her Protector Billionaire Groom by Taylor Hart

  Also by Taylor Hart

  About the Author

  Copyright

  All rights reserved.

  © 2019 ArchStone Ink

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. The reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form whether electronic, mechanical or other means, known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written consent of the publisher and/or author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This edition is published by ArchStone Ink LLC.

  First eBook Edition: 2019

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the creation of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Ocean Brady sat on his back deck and stared at the moon. He loved living in Los Angeles, and he loved playing football for the Los Angeles Wave. He had a good life. A great life, in fact, but it wasn’t perfect.

  Unrest stirred in his gut. He’d lied to his family about still being engaged. He’d been lying for almost nine months. It had started as a simple way to protect the family from dealing with his youngest brother Ty’s diagnosis of ALS last Christmas. Then it had blossomed into a massive cover-up on his part.

  He raked a hand through his hair and wished he’d just told them all the truth when he’d broken things off with Susan initially. He’d thought he could protect them from more bad news. Truthfully, he’d wanted to protect his mother the most. Now the whole family was descending on his home to spend five days together before Christmas. Five days that Ty had already deemed part of the “No Regrets Tour” that he’d been on since finding out he had a terminal illness. Five days of family time to do things that Ty wanted to do together for Christmas, because it could be his last.

  Ocean felt the pressure of that “last” tag attached to all things Ty-related, so he’d chickened out in telling them about his own problems. He cringed and wanted to slam someone, wishing for the tackling dummies at the stadium. He’d been preparing himself to face the music, to face the onslaught of his mother crying and his brothers wanting to kill him for causing her tears. When their father had passed of cancer three years ago, Ocean had sworn to protect his mother. Now, he would fail.

  He hadn’t been able to eat or sleep the past week, trying to figure out a way to tell her without turning it into an international incident. His very Catholic mother, who wanted all her boys to be married off and happy, would take it badly. He knew she would.

  As if on cue, his phone buzzed and he saw his mother’s number. Dread filled him as he answered. “Hey, Mom.”

  “Ocean, how are you?” She sounded out of breath.

  He grinned, sure his mother was madly cleaning her home in Denver. She always cleaned frantically before a trip. “Good.”

  “Good. Listen, I was just thinking that we need to have a meal plan so I can shop when I get there,” she said in between breaths.

  Ocean scoffed, eyeing something hanging on his sliding glass door that he’d missed. He pulled the paper off the glass. The flyer declared, “Supreme Chef: Let us cook for you for Christmas!” He hated it when people put advertisements on his window. “Mom, you’re not going to cook on your vacation.”

  “But I have some classic Christmas dishes I want to make.”

  “That’s fine, but I don’t want you cooking the whole time.” As he stared at the paper, an idea formed in his mind. “I’m hiring someone to do that.”

  “What? No.” His mom sounded horrified by the idea.

  “Yes. Mom, listen. This could be our last Christmas with Ty. I want us all to enjoy it. We only have five days before league break ends.” Ocean and his other brothers—Dax, Ziggy, and Boston—all played professional football. Sucking in a long breath and feeling overwhelmed by all of the people coming to visit, he scanned the flyer again. He’d call them tomorrow.

  There was silence on the other end of the phone.

  “Mom, are you okay?”

  Finally, she spoke. “I don’t want to talk about Ty’s illness while we’re there. I don’t want it to be the focus. I just …”

  He could picture her with her hand over her mouth, holding back tears. Dang it. “Listen, Mom, it’s going to be great. Just great.”

  “Have you found a shelter to serve Christmas dinner to? Even with everything going on, I want to carry on that tradition your father started.”

  “Yes, and the guy is willing to do a disco dancing party like Ty wants, too.” His brother was ridiculous, but what could any of them do? They weren’t going to tell Ty no.

  She let out a light laugh. “I don’t know what to do about Ty and his “No Regrets Tour” bucket list. I guess we’re all in it.”

  “I’ve got it all covered, don’t worry. We’ll have fun, Mom.”

  “I know. And it will be great. Christmas is always fun with the Brady brothers. How’s Susan?”

  Sucker-punched, he sucked in a breath. “Ah, good.”

  “She’ll be there for Christmas, right? She’s not on assignment? I really want everyone there.”

  The only reason he’d been able to maintain the lie so far was because unlike his brother, Boston, who was a media freak, Ocean hardly ever posted on social media. Plus, Susan was a war correspondence reporter, so she wasn’t able to come to a lot of family gatherings because of her job. It’d been the perfect cover-up once he’d broken things off. “Yep, she’ll be here.” He pressed his forehead into his hand. Even though he knew he shouldn’t keep lying, he couldn’t make himself stop. For crying out loud, he’d made his mother cry seconds ago. He didn’t want to do it twice in less than a minute.

  “Oh, good.” She sighed, taking in an uneven breath. “Good. Yes. Perfect. It’s going to be so nice for all my boys to have that special someone this holiday.”

  Sadly she would be the odd person out. A stab of pain hit the center of his chest. His father had been too young to leave his mother all alone.

  He put on a fake smile; he’d read somewhere that people could always tell if you were really smiling when you spoke to them on the phone. “Love you, and see you Monday.”

  “Wait, Ocean?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You might want to consider helping someone for Christmas. I know you get busy and kinda lost in your head.”

  Well, that was unexpected. “O-kay.”

  “I mean, just giving to others feels good, Ocean. Be helpful, and your life will be better.”

  He fought the urge to roll his eyes at the life lecture. “Sure, Mom. Love you.”

  “Love you, too, Ocean.”
br />   He pressed end and stared at the phone, wishing he could take a time machine back and tell the truth about Susan from the beginning. What was he going to do?

  Moonlight beamed down, and the water was calm. He sucked in a breath. It’d been rough since Ty had told the family last year that he had ALS. Ty was his baby brother, the brother right beneath him, and the news had nearly ripped his heart out.

  He tried to push all the anxiety away. It would be fine. All the Brady brothers were hitched now, except him and Ty. At least Ty had Luna, his girlfriend of the past few months. Ocean and his brothers worried about Ty having a girlfriend, but none of them ever mentioned it to him.

  Ocean needed to run. He left his flip-flops on the patio and took off down the beach. It was almost eleven o’clock, but the dark didn’t bother him. Why should it? If someone was crazy enough to attack a six-two, two-hundred-fifteen-pound running back, they’d regret it.

  He ran faster, loving the release he felt when he pushed hard. He thought of Rocky and Apollo running down the beach in Rocky. Briefly, he slowed so he could tug his phone out of his pocket, put on the Rocky soundtrack, and slip his earbuds in; then he took off again, letting the music swallow him. Faster, faster, faster.

  He didn’t know how long he’d been running. He was a couple of songs in and “Hearts on Fire” was blasting his ears when he saw someone. It looked like a woman was crying on the beach, holding her ankle. He slowed to a walk and yanked an earbud out.

  Curse words tumbled out of her. “I hate this!” she growled.

  Athletic, blond, pretty face. Cute in a girl-next-door kind of way. Ocean stopped next to her. “Excuse me, can I help you?”

  Chapter 2

  Augusta Deluca had been warned not to run on the beach by her sister, Larissa, who had wanted her to wear a reflective vest and take pepper spray. Augusta hadn’t worn the clothing, but she had taken the pepper spray.

  “Back up!” she shouted. The past six months with her psycho ex had made her leery of all things male. She’d finally had to file a restraining order against Jason.

  The stranger gaped at her, but he didn’t go away. “Excuse me?”

  Her heart raced as she tried to stand. “Just go away!” she shouted again.

  The stranger took out his phone and put on the flashlight. “Hold up, are you okay? What’s going on?”

  Her hand began to shake. The guy was huge. He could hurt her. She reached for her pepper spray tucked into her bra and sat back on the beach.

  He put a hand up. “Whoa. Just hold it. I don’t know why you’re acting this way, but I can help you.”

  After losing her father last June, and then everything that happened with Jason, the only people she felt she could really count on and trust were her sisters. “Back off or I’ll—” Fear pricked through her as she raised her hand with the pepper spray higher. “I’ll spray you.”

  “Don’t spray me. I believe you.”

  For a few tense seconds, they just stared at each other.

  Finally, she dropped her hand down. “I hurt my ankle,” she said in a measured tone. “But please just go. I’m staying with my sister for Christmas, and I’ll call her.” She tried to dig a phone out of her pocket and cursed. “Where’s my phone?”

  “You kiss your momma with that mouth?”

  His words took her by surprise and she stared up at him. “What?”

  He wagged a finger at her. “It’s not polite to curse.”

  This took her aback. Sure, she knew that. She had been raised right, but she didn’t need this huge guy correcting her. She glared at him and then patted her pocket, cursing again. “Where is it?”

  The man held up his phone, moving the flashlight around so she could more easily search the sand around her. “I’m guessing you can’t find yours.”

  “No, no, no. I can’t lose my phone again. I just paid two hundred dollars to get it replaced, and I don’t have the money.” She literally had forty-nine dollars in her checking account right now, and Christmas was coming. She had no presents for anyone, especially not with tuition due at the beginning of the year.

  “Seriously, why are you freaking out so bad? It’s just a phone.”

  “Freaking out? You think I’m freaking out? I said get back!” She raised the pepper spray and tried to spray it at his face. When it didn’t work, she threw the can at him.

  “Hey!” He jumped out of the way as if it was a loaded bomb.

  She couldn’t believe she was in this crazy situation. “Just go home to your girlfriend or wife and complain about the crazy girl you found on the beach, okay?”

  He grunted. “What? You don’t think I have problems?”

  Her eyes drifted down to his feet. The buff guy wasn’t wearing shoes, so she assumed he lived close. “You are running on the beach. Probably have a house on the beach. I’d say you have plenty of money.”

  He looked offended and pointed at her. “You think money fixes everything?”

  Augusta reeled her anger in. She’d been raised by a father who’d reiterated to her and her sisters that just because they didn’t have a lot of money didn’t mean they didn’t have a lot of love. Just thinking of him made her blink back tears. “Please, just go.”

  Now the guy crossed his arms over his chest. “Listen, my brother has a terminal disease, so don’t tell me that losing a phone is a big deal.”

  Terminal. That word was always bad. Okay, so the guy had put perspective on this. She gave him a cursory up-and-down look. By the look of him, he was probably some type of professional bodybuilder or athlete. Definitely not the type who ever had to worry about money.

  He threw up a hand. “A phone is replaceable. A fiancée, well, that’s not replaceable. And my mom is not going to be happy I’ve been lying about having one the past nine months. Plus, I have a stupid disco party to worry about!”

  She grimaced. Okay. The guy clearly had issues.

  “My mother is going to cry when she gets here, and I don’t have a fiancée.” He put a hand to his chest. A bit dramatic, she decided.

  “Hmm.” She was a bit surprised at this guy, but he did have a situation. “Okay, I can agree that a crying mom is worse than a lost phone.”

  His eyes met hers and his lips turned up. “Yes, it is.”

  He was kind of cute when he smiled. She examined him more, trying to figure out if she’d seen him before.

  A huge grin swept across his face. “Go ahead, check me out all you want.”

  She glared at him. “Listen, you egomaniac, I wasn’t checking you out. I was—” She managed to cut herself off before she said something she’d regret. “Nothing.”

  He grinned wider; then his face softened. “Listen, what can I do to help?”

  The sincerity of his words surprised her. Out of the blue, she broke into tears like an idiot. She covered her face. “I can’t believe this. I just got into town and I just needed to run. I was going to work over Christmas break with my sister, but now—” She grasped her injured ankle. “—I might not be able to make money for tuition.”

  The guy bent down, cautiously reaching out toward her ankle. “Let me see.” He waited until she nodded, and then his fingers brushed the skin.

  “Ouch.” She winced and pulled her foot back.

  His lips pursed. “I know sprains. Let me see.”

  She hedged, but then moved her foot back out to him.

  He touched around the bone gently. “It’s a bad sprain, but not broken.”

  She tried to suck in air slowly. “I know.” She’d dealt with this ankle her whole life.

  He stared at her. “Okay, you don’t have a phone, and it’s close to eleven thirty at night. Plus you’re injured.”

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious. You’re a genius.” Her ankle throbbed, reminding her that she was being rude even though he was only trying to help.

  He cocked an eyebrow at her.

  “Sorry.” She shook her head and stared out at the ocean, trying to regain some composure. Th
e water was lit up by moonlight, providing a gorgeous silver view. “I’m sorry, I just …” What could she say? That everything in her life had been thrown off since her father passed away?

  The guy stood, reaching out a hand to help her up. “Let’s get you where you need to go.”

  “I need to find my phone.”

  “Do you know if you dropped it here or farther back?”

  She bit back a snarky comment that she didn’t know where she’d lost it. “I don’t know.”

  The guy crouched down again so they were on the same level. “Why don’t you let me carry you home?”

  She scowled. “Uh, no. That would be creepy. You could be a weirdo who wants to hurt me.”

  “C’mon, if I was a weirdo, I would have already hurt you, don’t you think?”

  Her head jerked to face him. It was true. According to her research, if people got attacked by someone random, it usually happened fast. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Ocean Brady.” He waited, like he was resigned to face an inevitable overreaction.

  “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

  The corners of his lips tugged up. “Dang, you’re hard on this egomaniac, aren’t you?”

  She didn’t know how to answer that, so she just stayed silent.

  “Listen, I’m going to pick you up and carry you. So you need tell me where to go.”

  She bristled at his offer to help. He was so much bigger than she was, and she hated feeling weak. “Why are you doing this?”

  He shrugged. “Because you need help. I can help, and it’s the right thing to do.”

  Tears misted in her eyes, and she tried to focus on something that wouldn’t make her a blubbering fool. “Okay.”