In the End Zone: A Sports Romance

  In the End Zone

  By Nacole Mills

  Copyright 2016 Nacole Mills | Ruby Holler Publishing

  Disclaimer

  All characters, events, and settings are works of fiction. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is coincidental. All sex acts depicted occur between consenting characters above 18 years of age or older.

  ---

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Epilogue

  Preview of “Love Among the Violets”

  For the real number 93.

  -Me

  Chapter One

  Morgan McMinn’s heart was racing deep inside of her chest and she swallowed hard, pushing her nervousness down. It was the first day of her marketing internship with the Caimans, one of the country’s top football teams, and she was excited, but scared. She needed an internship to finish out her college degree in marketing, and when she heard about the internship with her father's favorite football team, she jumped at the chance. She had grown up watching American football, and this opportunity seemed perfect for her.

  After a half-dozen interviews, Morgan found out that she had been selected as one of the three interns for the fall semester, and to be honest, tears of happiness were shed. And now, it was time to start the internship and Morgan could barely bring herself to step into the building.

  The main building of the Caimans team stood tall and glinting in the bright morning sun. Rays of light reflected down on Morgan and she had to squint to look up properly. Morgan whispered to herself, saying, "Everything great that will ever happen to me will start right now!"

  Morgan looked down at herself and smoothed out a wrinkle in her clothes. She was wearing a dark women's suit, her first one ever, She paired the dark pants and jacket with a pale pink button up shirt and she had pinned a small rose broach to her lapel for good luck. After smoothing away any wrinkles, Morgan then patted her thick, wavy hair, which was wound up tight in a high bun. She knew that her makeup was perfectly on point, even if it was brushed on with a light hand.

  The young intern was ready.

  Morgan took a deep breath and gripped her little gold clutch tightly and slung her laptop bag over her shoulder. She forced a smile on her nervous face and she pushed open the front door and headed into the tall, looming building.

  Sitting right at the front was a U-shaped desk. A busy-looking woman wearing a thin headset answered phone calls while sorting mail, and when Morgan approached, she looked up. "Yes?"

  "Uh... hi..." Morgan's voice was small and squeaky as her nerves took over.

  The woman looked aggravated. "Can I help you?"

  "Uh... Um... I'm starting a new internship today." Morgan's fingers twisted over themselves and she was suddenly very unsure of herself.

  The woman looked down and began flipping through papers. "The intern in sports medicine, the intern in internal affairs, or the intern in marketing with Mr. Dryer?"

  "Marketing! That’s me!"

  "Elevator is to your right. Marketing is on the seventh floor."

  "Th-thank you," Morgan said, but the receptionist was already back at work, answering calls and putting them through. The receptionist gave a curt nod of her head, and Morgan knew that it was her way of saying either 'You're welcome,” or “get lost.”

  Morgan walked slowly toward the elevator, taking a few deep breaths along the way. She hopped on and the ride up seemed like the longest ride of her life. The lift stopped at almost every floor and people shuffled on and off in waves. She caught the eye of a man pushing a mail cart and he nodded with a smile. "First day?" he asked gently.

  "Mmm-hmm," Morgan affirmed with a nod. "You could tell?"

  "I know everyone here."

  "Oh." Morgan felt a little weak from her nervousness and she could barely feel her limbs.

  "What floor?"

  "Seventh."

  "Ahh, marketing and advertising," the man said. "You will like it there. Dryer's a stiff, but he is a nice enough guy. Just keep your nose clean and you will do fine."

  The elevator doors opened wide and Morgan stepped off on to the seventh floor. Waiting by the door was Mr. Dryer, her boss and the man who had interviewed her so many times for the position.

  Morgan smiled at Dryer and she felt her nervousness wane. When she met him all those weeks ago, she liked him instantly. Mr. Dryer was an old school advertising guy, with the shockingly white hair to prove his years. His skin was tanned and wrinkled and his blue eyes always seemed to be searching for the details in everything. When Dryer saw her, he reached out and took her hand in his, shaking it firmly.

  "Ahh, Ms. McMinn! Welcome!" he said with a firm voice and a smile.

  "Thank you, Mr. Dryer. I am so excited to be here," Morgan said, finally finding her voice for the first time that day.

  But Dryer waved her off. "Don't bother with the 'mister' garbage. You'll make me feel old."

  Morgan laughed and replied, "Well, I'll drop the 'mister' if you will call me Morgan."

  "Deal." Dryer extended his hand and the pair went off into the heart of the advertising and marketing department.

  Morgan was floored with the Caimans marketing department. Everywhere she looked, she saw the gold and orange colors of the team and the wild cat from the Amazon forest was emblazoned on everything. Morgan noticed that there were no cubicles or walls. Everything was open and the whole office buzzed with activity.

  "Walls keep us from thinking," Dryer said after Morgan mentioned it, "We all seem to work cleaner as a team when we all work together."

  Dryer brought Morgan over to a small desk off the side of the man board area. "You'll set up shop here," he said, "From here you have a good view of where we do our pitches, as well as see how we do the day to day things here."

  Morgan let out a little sigh of happiness and she dropped herself on to her desk chair. It was a small little desk, nothing big or fancy, but it was hers and it was perfect. She reached into her bag and began pulling out all of the things that she would need for the day. Her laptop was first, a sliver of a thing, but it was perfect for the job. Pens, pencils, and notebooks were next, followed by a single candle scented with eucalyptus, just to make her space seem more like hers.

  Dryer sat on the edge of the desk and he said, "Now, Morgan, this isn't going to be your run of the mill internship. You won’t be fetching anyone coffee or filing papers or doing piss work. We want you to head up some of the social media campaigns that we will be running before the season starts in a few weeks."

  Morgan's jaw dropped. "What? Really?" she breathed, unable to comprehend it. Never in a million years did she think that she, a lowly intern, would be doing anything half that cool, and her excitement grew by the second.

  Dryer smiled, his teeth lighting up like they had been painted dayglow white. "It seems," he said with a jolly tone, "That you young kids know all about the social medias, and no matter how hard I try, I just cannot get the hang of it."

  Morgan shrugged, but she could not stem the grin that split her face. "My own assignment… I
cannot believe it!"

  "You better," Dryer said. He reached over and clapped his hand on Morgan's shoulder, a gesture that reminded her of her father. "If this goes well for us, and for you, then this could turn in to a full-time job for you once the internship is over. Look at this like a trial run that could turn into a full time position."

  The flutter in Morgan's chest came back, this time raging. A full-time job? It was her wildest dream come true! Morgan had fantasized about her first real job for so long, and when she heard that she was definitely getting the internship, she let herself daydream about what a real job with the Caimans would be like. And now, her opportunity was there, staring her right in the face. She just needed to impress Dryer and the others in the department and show them her skills.

  "Sir, that would be amazing," she said breathlessly.

  "Well, come with me," Dryer said. He stood and Morgan followed him as he walked to the elevator. "We are going to head down to the field. I want you to check out the training center and meet a few of the players, so we can get started on a good campaign for the preseason."

  Morgan nodded. Walking over to the elevator was akin to walking on clouds. There was nothing in this world that could bring Morgan down. Oh, her father would be so excited to hear that Morgan was heading to the training center! And which players would she be meeting? She could barely remember her father's favorites, especially since most of them had retired in the past few years. Morgan and Dryer stepped onto the elevator and when the doors closed, Morgan wondered which doors were opening up for her next.

  Chapter Two

  "Now, we are headed down to see the guys," Dryer said as him and Morgan made their way to the basement level, "Some of these men can be fairly nasty, if you know what I mean. You know how guys can be. And you are a really pretty girl, so I know that they will notice you. Just keep it professional and try to ignore any raunchy behaviors." Dryer offered her a supportive smile. “

  Morgan gulped. At 22, she still felt naive when it came to men, and the idea that these famous football players could be ogling her, or even catcalling, made her uneasy. "Okay," she said, her voice wavering ever so slightly.

  Dryer put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Morgan's affection for Dryer rose. He wasn't some creepy old boss, but rather a father figure looking out for her. "I've got daughters your age and I know how it is," he said, "Just let me know if any of them cross a line with you and I'll stop it."

  "Thanks," Morgan said.

  The elevator came to a shuddering halt and the doors drew back. Dryer took the lead with Morgan in tow. They went to the left and walked down a long corridor with gray, cinder block walls, with a single stripe of orange and gold running the length of both sides. The air was cool and moist down here, and every step made Morgan's excitement rise.

  As they grew closer to the training field, Morgan could hear the loud shouts and grunts coming from the players as they practiced, as well as the shouted orders coming from the coaches. At the end of the corridor was a doorless doorway, and it opened up to a lush, green field located completely underground. It was the training field.

  Morgan's eyes struggled to take in all in when they walked on to the sidelines toward the stands. The field boasted a beautiful green turf that mimicked a playing field in every way. Rising high on the side where Morgan and Dryer stood was a set of bleachers. When Morgan looked up, she saw many people sitting there, all taking notes on the players as they tried out various plays. They were coaches and assistants. Some where investors. And then there was Dryer and Morgan from Marketing.

  The team seemed to be doing a friendly match. The players were divided into two teams, some in gold and some in orange, and they played hard against each other. Coaches for both sides were shouting plays and orders, and the men scrambled to beat their team mates.

  Morgan had not realized that she had been staring until Dryer reached over and took her elbow, shaking her from her stupor. "Let's have a seat and I'll explain why I brought you down here."

  "Really? We get to watch!" Morgan asked incredulously. She was going to get to watch the team train, which was a guarded secret. She practically flew up the bleachers and sat quietly next to her boss, trying to remember everything that she could so she could tell her dad later. He is going to be so jealous, Morgan thought excitedly.

  Dryer leaned over and pointed at one of the coaches. He was a tall, thin man, who looked a little older than Dryer. The coach sported a shining bald head with a ring of dark gray hair circling around. "That's Coach Boss," Dryer said. Morgan nodded, but in truth, she would have recognized the famed coach without Dryer's help. "He can be a nice guy, even if he is a bit of a bulldog out there." Dryer looked at Morgan and he said, "I've got a project for you during your internship, and if it all goes well, it will turn into a full-time job, if you are interested."

  "You mean work for the Caiman's permanently?" Morgan had to fight her excitement to keep it from getting the better of her. "I would love that!"

  Dryer smiled. "We are looking for you to write and publish a series on our social media pages about the players and the team. We want to showcase a different person every day or two, letting the fans really get to know the people that they root for. You'll need to interview them, do the photography, maybe do some video with our audio/visual team, then publish them online. Something longer than 3 minutes but shorter than 6 minutes."

  "Oh, Mr. Dryer! I can handle that! It's completely in my wheelhouse," Morgan said. Her mind was already whirling with different ideas on what she could talk to the players about.

  "I know you can. And remember, if these pieces are as good as I think they will be, then that desk will be yours permanently." Dryer sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Want to stay and watch the rest of the practice?"

  Morgan grinned and could not stop herself from bouncing a little in her seat. "Are you kidding? Of course!" She turned back to the field and said, "My dad is going to be so jealous!"

  Dryer laughed and slapped his knee. Morgan joined in, and their giggles must have been heard down on the field, because of a few of the players dressed in gold and standing on the sidelines turned to look. One of them, the number 93, pulled off his helmet and smiled up at Morgan.

  When Morgan saw the player looking at her, her breath caught in her throat, choking her. He was the most beautiful man that she had ever laid eyes on. His face was tanned and chiseled to perfection. His dark brown, shaggy hair fell just over his eyes, but he pushed it back easily. His face shimmered in the white lighting, as it was drizzled with sweat, and even from her seat high in the bleachers, Morgan could see his dazzling blue eyes glittering up at her.

  Morgan's eyes could not tear away from the player, and it was as though time stood still. Everything else in the world melted away except for her and this strong, muscular, tanned man who would not quit staring at her.

  A strong voice broke through and yelled out at the player. The man looked away for just a moment, and then his eyes came back to Morgan, giving her a wink before he put his helmet back on his head and ran back off to join the team. Morgan sighed as she watched him run off in his tight little uniform, but she quickly tried to recover before Dryer noticed. She wanted to do as she was advised and keep her nose clean, and that meant that she couldn’t be fawning over the cute football players.

  Especially if that player made her toes tingle.

  As the team practiced on, Morgan had to stop herself from staring at the beautiful number 93 player, even though she caught him looking over at her more than once. He was playing running back, and he was damn good at the position, too. He was quick, snapping up and running as though he had been shot out of a gun. He was faster than Morgan had ever seen a person sprint, and he could easily catch every ball that was thrown at him. He looked like a god out there, and if Morgan wasn’t mistaken, he would look in her direction with every pass he caught.

  When the practice began winding down, Dryer leaned over and began talking to
Morgan again about her assignment. "Start with Coach Boss, of course. He's a fan favorite. Then make sure that you talk to the quarterback, all of the running backs, the tight ends, and a few of the guys from the defense side, too."

  "Can do," Morgan said, trying to pull her glances away from the handsome football player.

  "I've set up an interview with Coach Boss today. You're to head down to the locker room after practice and he said that he would give you ten minutes." Dryer smiled at Morgan, but Morgan's stomach tied itself in a knot.

  "Today? Now?"

  But Coach Boss's deep voice screamed across the field and cut across her. "Alright, boys, good practice. Shower up."

  Morgan's eyes moved from the coach to her boss, and Dryer took a small notebook from his pocket and pressed it, along with a pencil, into Morgan's hands. "Trial by fire, my dear," he said. Dryer stood and began walking down the bleachers. "Have that report on my desk in the morning. If it looks good, we will post it. If not... well..." Dryer looked down on Morgan sternly. "We just won’t talk about what will happen."

  Dryer turned his back on Morgan and headed down the bleachers before disappearing down the hallway toward the elevator. Morgan gulped and she found that she was terrified. Not only would she have to head into the locker room with a bunch of huge, scary strangers, but she was expected to interview the legendary Coach Boss, as well as create the perfect piece about him.

  Morgan watched as the football players filed off of the field, heading toward the locker room. That handsome player wearing the number 93 watched her as he walked by, waving slightly and giving her a wink that made an electric shock run through her body. There was just something about him... Whenever he looked her way, Morgan felt something deep within her that she had never felt before. He was so different...

  But all of those feelings flooded away from her and nervousness set in. She took a deep breath and stood, gathering all of her courage as she did. Morgan held on tightly to the pad of paper, which trembled slightly with nervousness, and she tucked the pencil behind her ear. She was off to interview Coach Boss, arguably one of the greatest football coaches of the new century.