Part 1 (1/2)

Love So Perfect.

by Marquita Valentine.

Star quarterback Austin Lawson's dating life is fair game to the countless gossip bloggers. Thanks to his most recent screw up with a social media savvy supermodel, he's forced to return home so that his PR team can do damage control. To help speed things along, he volunteers at Jessamine Elementary School, never dreaming he'd find the perfect solution to his image problem in Harper Bell. Sweet as anything, she's starstruck by him and agrees to date after date, never suspecting the real reason he wants to be with her. But as things begin to heat up between them, Austin realizes he wants Harper for more than just a quick fix.

Harper Bell is perfectly content as a second grade teacher in the small town of Jessamine-until she meets the one man who makes her question her lack of social life. She never dreamed that s.e.xy, hometown hero Austin Lawson would ever notice a Plain-Jane like herself. And with one hot kiss, she begins to fall head over heels for him... until she learns the truth. Austin's been using her.

Now Austin has to execute the perfect play to win back the girl of his dreams. Or will Harper bench him permanently?.

Chapter One.

Austin Lawson was a born charmer. His mother claimed that when he was a child, everyone fell in love with him at first sight. They loved his deep blue eyes, long lashes, and adorable smile.

As he grew into a man, a specific group of people started to fall in love with him-women. He enjoyed the attention, the adoration, and most of all, the privilege of sleeping with them.

But he had never fallen in love.

He supposed he could blame it on his first love, the one who captured him heart and soul... the smell, the sight of her on a crisp, blue day. The roar of the crowd as they cheered for him to throw harder, longer, and to go all the way was permanently etched in his mind.

The first time he held a football was d.a.m.n near a religious experience-although his brother, the preacher, wouldn't like that comparison. Most likely Adam would pray for him.

Right now, Austin needed all the prayers he could get.

”Look, son. We understand that Bianca secretly taped you, but it's still out there.” His coach slid his gaze to the team's PR guru, Finley Owens. ”What's the number of views now?”

Finley's brows furrowed. ”Two million an hour ago.”

Scrubbing a hand across his face, Austin groaned. ”Seriously?”

”Yes, seriously. Which is why we need you to take a breather from all of this. Go see your family for a month or two.” Her phone vibrated. ”Better make that three.”

”But the team needs me,” Austin countered. He was the quarterback and the captain of the Charlotte Avengers. ”I know we lost the playoffs against New York, but we can still-”

”We're not asking.” Coach steepled his fingers together, his dark brown gaze sharp.

Son of a gun. This was as almost embarra.s.sing as getting caught with the coach's daughter riding him on the bench in the locker room back in high school. But he had reformed since then.

Mostly.

Bianca was the only woman he'd dated for the past year, and he'd been faithful. Before her, he'd mostly kept it in his pants, occasionally sleeping with women who'd been vetted by trusted friends. He loved s.e.x as much as the next guy, but s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his career with poor decisions wasn't what he wanted to be known for.

People could a.s.sume what they wanted about him, as long as that was all they did. They could presume until they were black and blue in the face, but with Bianca's video of their break up going viral... no one had to imagine anything. His private life had been made public.

”Let's listen one more time, so you can let me know what you did and didn't say,” Finley said as she hit play on the YouTube video.

”Just say you love me,” Bianca said in a pleading voice that sounded like she was on the edge of tears, but the look in her eyes was full-on murderous.

Only the public couldn't see that because Bianca was the one holding the camera, not him. They also didn't know she had put him on the spot, had made demands, and had not listened to reason.

”I don't love you,” he softly said.

Of course, Bianca had edited out the rest. The part where he had apologized and felt guilty as h.e.l.l for telling her the truth.

”You're such an a.s.shole.”

”Takes an a.s.shole to put up with an opportunistic b.i.t.c.h for so long.”

Austin winced.

After she hit pause, Finley glared at him. ”Is that edited, too?” Usually, he liked Finley and respected the h.e.l.l out of her. She'd done a lot to turn around the team's image over the past six months. But he didn't like being raked over the coals for something he had no control over.

”No,” he slowly said. ”I said that.” He only sort of felt guilty about it. His ex shouldn't get a free pa.s.s simply because she had a v.a.g.i.n.a. She'd called him more than an a.s.shole, which was why he'd responded in kind. It may have been childish, but at the time, he hadn't given a d.a.m.n.

”And you're not going to apologize?” she asked.

”I already did,” he said.

”Too bad that's not viral,” Finley muttered darkly.

Leaning forward in his chair, he said, ”No video.”

”Again, too bad. That would have helped us.” Finley blew out a pent-up breath. ”We've worked really hard to change the public's perception of the team, and I thought you were a solid poster boy to head that.”

Yeah, he knew that. Knew everyone expected a lot out of him since he'd gotten traded to the Avengers. And, until now, he'd been more than happy to take on the role of leader. His parents hadn't raised him to be a jerk. Only that video showed him acting like nothing but a jerk. Wouldn't his momma be proud?

Coach exhaled. ”Go home, son. In two months, the Super Bowl will be over and no one will care what you said to a supermodel.”

”You're benching me?” He'd broken up with Bianca five months ago, and now it was coming back to bite him in the a.s.s.

”For now.”

If they'd still been in the playoffs, no way Coach or Finley would be sending him home. ”Fine.” Rising to his feet, he sliced his gaze to Finley. ”I know you think athletes are little more than Cro-Magnon men with an extra dose of testosterone who like to d.i.c.k-slap the compet.i.tion, but I'm not that bad of a guy.”

Finley blushed, her gaze skittering away. ”I never said that.”

”Actually, you did. You were on a panel, and the topic was Misogynistic Themes in College Sports Culture.” Finley had been very concise and thoughtful until a fellow panelist had suddenly challenged her. The frisk had been brutal and the panelist, Aiden McHugh, had been a c.o.c.ky b.a.s.t.a.r.d the entire time.

h.e.l.l, McHugh was still a c.o.c.ky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

On the field, he dominated, and off the field, he conquered. Or so he liked to boast. How someone like Finley could have ever fallen for a douche like McHugh was beyond reason.

”B-but that was five years ago, and that's not what I meant,” she protested. ”I wasn't myself.” Her gaze swung to Coach's. ”It was in the heat of the moment. McHugh and I had... broken up that morning, and he already knew my talking points, so he had time to prepare. I had no idea he would go after me. I got blindsided.”

Austin crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to let the empathy he felt for her guard his words. He wanted her to understand. Maybe then, she would tell Coach to bring him back early.