I hang up and sit with a heavy sigh.
“Shit,” I say to the empty room.
I’ve gone through just about everything you can go through with an athlete. I care about their games nearly as much as they do, and I put my soul into this job. I’m a lawyer and an agent, but I end up playing nutritionist, coach, travel planner. I can be a fan or an antagonist, depending on who the athlete needs.
But I’ve never dealt with something like this. Like Orlando.
My heart nearly seized when he walked into the restaurant. Zeke had already signed his own contract in good faith. My job was to give his guys a stern talk, eat a steak, and call it a night. Simple.
Of course Orlando is a pro athlete. The toned body and hotshot attitude should have given it away.
At first, I couldn’t think. I considered if I was hallucinating. But as Zeke introduced Orlando, I managed to gather my senses back together.
Nothing happened.
I kept repeating the words in the back of my mind. The entire time I went through my standard tough-guy speech about the agency, playing it up for Zeke’s sake, and all through the steak dinner, I kept having to remind myself.
Nothing happened. That young man didn’t seduce me at the bar. I didn’t shove my dick in his mouth over and over, holding his face.
It was anonymous. We didn’t even exchange numbers. And thank the fucking stars, Orlando seems to agree. He kept his cool, too, and treated me like a professional.
It would almost be enough to earn him some of my respect, but my mind rages when I remember what Zeke said. Orlando has a dedicated girlfriend, a trainer on the team, too. And what does Orlando do?
He runs around cheating on her. Meeting strangers from the internet.
It makes me sick.
It makes me hate what we did. After our encounter, I spiraled through confusion, unsure what it meant but hungering, too, like I haven’t in years.
He pushed me right up to the edge, and I can’t deny that it felt good. But now all I can think about is the woman Orlando was betraying.
I know all I need to know about him. But despite the urge to do so, I can’t fire him and make him disappear from my life. Even if Zeke hadn’t insisted on the contract, how the hell would I explain what I know to Mel?
So he gets to skate by. The night we met, Orlando was a risk I was willing to take. But as an athlete I now represent, he’s a headache. An undisciplined, unprofessional, cocky headache.
A headache who is currently making his way through the office with Mel and Kevyn Madrigal, receiving the introductory tour.
I’m itching with inappropriate emotions.
This is my career. My agency. Any emotions at all are inappropriate. I’m a lawyer, for fuck’s sake. Emotions aren’t ethical, and neither is sleeping with a client. I’m not representing him in a court case, but it’s still a boundary. So before I head out to greet the new athletes, I stare at myself in the mirror, building walls in my head. Turning myself to steel like I would before one of my games from years ago.
I walk into the office, moving slowly as my eyes cross the busy space. We’ve got more than forty full-time staff at this point, and the bustle and noise of the sports business fills the spacious rooms. The wood panels and sturdy desks give the office a classically handsome feel, but with enough of Mel’s stylish contemporary touches to keep us forward-looking.
It’s built to impress. I wonder if Orlando has the good sense to realize how lucky he is to be here.
Doesn’t matter. I need to stop fantasizing about firing him and face the reality that I have to work with the little cheating shit.
Mel exits the conference room, followed by the young soccer players. “Perfect timing,” she says. “Orlando, Kevyn. You remember Troy Frisk from dinner. Male bonding over steaks, if I recall.”
I furrow my brow at them. “Hello.”
My eyes only graze over Orlando for a second before I have to pull them away. He wears a proper shirt and tie, a nice fit, and I can see the firm strength of his body. Cleaned up a bit, he’s noticeably handsome.
Probably makes it easy for him to get away with bullshit. He’s got those sharp cheeks and strong features that women love, but he’s softer, too. Like those lips.
He takes in a breath, his chest widening, and I can feel it in my body. Even with my eyes on Kevyn, I can sense Orlando there, as loud as an alarm.
“Come to my office,” I say brusquely. “This way.”
