The Game Plan A Game On Novel
Kristen Callihan
Contents
Copyright
The Game On Series
The Game Plan
Dedication
Prologue
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
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Epilogue
Thank You!
The Hook Up, Book 1 of the Game On series excerpt
The Friend Zone, Book 2 Game On series excerpt
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright © 2015 by Kristen Callihan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Digital Edition 1.0
All rights reserved. Where such permission is sufficient, the author grants the right to strip any DRM which may be applied to this work.
Those who upload this work up on any site without the author’s express permission are pirates and have stolen from the author. As such, those persons will likely end up in the level of hell where little devils shove stolen books into said persons’ unmentionable places for all eternity. Ye’ve been warned.
The Game On Series
The Hook Up
The Friend Zone
The Game Plan
The Game Plan
A beard-related dare and one hot-as-hell kiss changes everything.
NFL center Ethan Dexter’s focus has always been on playing football and little else. Except when it comes to one particular woman. The lovely Fiona Mackenzie might not care about his fame, but she’s also never looked at him as anything more than one of her brother-in-law’s best friends. That ends now.
Fi doesn’t know what to make of Dex. The bearded, tattooed, mountain of man-muscle looks more like a biker than a football player. Rumor has it he’s a virgin, but she finds that hard to believe. Because from the moment he decides to turn his quiet intensity on her she’s left weak at the knees and aching to see his famous control fully unleashed.
Fi ought to guard her heart and walk away; they live vastly different lives in separate cities. And Dex is looking for a forever girl. But Dex has upped his game and is using all his considerable charm to convince Fi he's her forever man.
Game On
To the readers who demanded “The Wise One’s” story. I thank you, Dex thanks you, and I know Fi certainly thanks you.
Prologue
“And when do you think it will all become clear?” —Lily Allen
Dex
Sweat trickles down my spine. My bones ache, and my legs are wobbly jelly as I slowly walk over the bright green turf, now marred by long gashes and deep divots.
Around me other guys amble, their uniforms streaked with sweat, blood, and chalk. Thousands of cheering spectators create a dull rumble that I feel in the pit of my belly.
Welcome to Monday Night Football. Prime time sports at its finest. And my team has just won. I’ve done my job, and now that the adrenaline is wearing off, my high is crashing down. I want a shower, a hot meal, and devote a few hours to painting in the small studio I’ve made in my townhouse. But I have a dinner date and houseguest to meet.
Teammates slap my pads, tell me “good game” as I make my way across the field. A few of the guys from the other team seek me out, shaking my hand. But I’m looking for one guy in particular.
I see him, his head above most others. He catches my eye and grins. But his face is wan, deep circles marring his eyes. I know it’s not because his team lost. We weave through the crowd to come together.
“Dex!” Gray Grayson, my former college teammate and one of my best friends on Earth, catches me up in a bear hug. It’s awkward with both of us in pads, helmets in hand. “Good game, man. But we’re totally gonna kick your ass next time.”
“Better tell your D to get their heads out of their asses, then,” I say, giving his head a light tap. “Good to see you, Gray-Gray.”
God, I miss playing with him. He’s the best tight end I’ve seen in years. And our college team had been a well-oiled machine.
The NFL isn’t the same as college. Ego, money, high stakes, all of it is just more. It’s a job now. I love it, but the carefree joy is gone.
We walk toward the sideline together.
“How’s Ivy and the baby?” I ask. They had a baby about a month ago and named him Leo, after Leonhard Euler, one of Gray’s favorite mathematicians.
“Man,” Gray says with a slow shake of his head as he grins wide. “I must have done something really right in another life.”
“That good, huh?” I’m happy for him. Even if his exuberant happiness reminds me I have no one.
“Best family a man could ask for.” Gray runs a hand over the back of his neck and squeezes. Despite his declaration, he sounds worn out.
“Not that I don’t believe you, Gray, but you kind of look like shit. What’s going on?”
His smile is tight. “Only you would notice that.”
We’re almost at the sideline, and he’ll be going to the guest locker rooms. So we slow down.
“Leo hasn’t learned to sleep through the night. Ivy and I are feeling it.” He grimaces. “Mostly Ivy, unfortunately, because I’m on the road a lot.”
If Gray is admitting he’s losing sleep, it must be bad.
I brace his shoulder with my hand. “You got a bye week after this, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Me too. Mind me coming over for a visit?”
Gray lives in San Francisco, and though I’ve been meaning to go out there, I haven’t yet done it. While I’m happy to actually visit Gray, I also know I can help him out. Not that I can tell him as much or he’d insist he has everything covered.