Infamous: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Novel

“
I
’m counting
on you to not fuck this up. Do you understand me?”

“I’ve
got
it, Lauren,” I assured my boss for the millionth time, barely managing to suppress yet another eye roll as I listed off the things I needed to do. “Keep Jared out of the papers and out of trouble until you get back. I swear, I’ve totally got this. It’ll be a walk in the park.”

She looked up from the bag she was shoving her clothes into and blew her bangs out of her face with a loud puff. I shrugged my shoulders when she just stared at me with the scowl that seemed to be a permanent fixture on her otherwise gorgeous face, unsure of what else she wanted me to say.

“The fact that you think this will be easy just proves that you’ve never met Jared Moore. I wouldn’t dare say anything negative about my best client, but he’s about as far from
‘a walk in the park’
as one can get. I’m starting to think this whole trip was a bad idea.”

My jaw dropped at her cavalier attitude. “This
trip?
Lauren—it’s your
honeymoon
!”

“So? William knows I put my career above everything else. We could’ve delayed the honeymoon at least until after this latest scandal blew over. I can’t believe I even considered leaving an intern to keep Jared’s ass out of trouble,” she ranted, ending with a heavy sigh and a regretful glance at her suitcase. “This whole thing was a mistake.”

I wasn’t sure if she meant taking the time off or if she was trying to subtly hint that she thought her marriage was a mistake, but I didn’t feel like it was my place to ask. We were close, but not
that
close.

I opted to ignore the vague comment and steer the conversation back on track.

“Look, I know I may not have met him yet, but you told me once that I was the best intern you’ve ever had and I plan to keep it that way. I’ll make you proud, I swear.”

She licked her lips briefly before pursing them together and eying me with suspicion. After a long moment of scrutiny she finally said, “You’ve been interning with me for what—five months now? You’ve been assigned to multiple tasks that involved Jared and his public image, but you still haven’t met him... don’t you find it a little strange?”

I had occasionally wondered why I hadn’t met him, but between all the endorsements he did for different companies and the obligations he had to his team, I always just assumed that he was too busy to meet a lowly intern.

“I mean, sure, it’s
kind of
weird, but—”

“Let me tell you why you haven’t met him,” she interrupted, walking away from the suitcase to stand directly in front of me. “I haven’t introduced you because I meant it when I said that you’re the best intern I’ve ever had and I didn’t want to have to let you go. I
still
don’t want to let you go. In fact—I want to hire you as a permanent employee, for a full-time position, that
actually
pays you a salary and will offer benefits.”

That was news to me. My eyes went wide at the prospect of my internship turning into an actual paying job and I couldn’t suppress the urge to excitedly bounce up and down on the balls of my feet. The rest of what she said—the part about letting me go—didn’t even register in my brain.

“I would
love
that, Lauren. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“All you need to do is what I told you. Keep him out of trouble while I’m away and the position is yours. But there’s one rule we haven’t discussed yet.”

“Whatever it is, consider it done. Or not done. Whatever applies,” I rambled.

She chuckled a little at my enthusiasm before letting the smile drop. The serious expression returned to her face as she explained, “I’ve lost a lot of interns and employees because of him. I have a strict no-fraternization policy that I pride myself on upholding. Are you following me?”

I felt like I understood her just fine, but I wanted the extra confirmation just in case. “Um, you mean like no dating the clients?”

“Yes, but that’s never the issue with Jared. He doesn’t
date
anyone. He just fucks anything with tits and two legs. The rule is—Do
not
sleep with him. If you do, you’ll be put out just like all the girls before you who thought that a night with his magical dick was worth more than their job.”

My jaw had long-since dropped open from the shock of her bluntness, so when she finished, I snapped it shut with a nearly audible click and shook my head rapidly back and forth.

When she raised a questioning eyebrow at me, I told her, “You don’t have to worry about that with me. I wouldn’t sleep with a client under any circumstances.”

The appearance of her smirk was a surprise. “You’ve
seen
Jared, haven’t you?”

I had indeed. I would never admit to my boss that it was kind of a dream to work with Jared—even indirectly—considering he was both the quarterback of my favorite football team and a total dreamboat. But hotness aside, my job meant more to me than anything else.

Especially if it was going to become a
paying
job. I certainly wouldn’t give that up for one night with a man. Not even one as attractive as Jared.

“I’ve seen him and while he
is
incredibly good-looking, I’d hardly consider him worth losing my job over. I assure you that my priorities are in order, unlike your previous interns.”

Lauren’s eyebrows raised in mild surprise, looking rather impressed by my professional attitude. I admit that I was putting on a bit of a show—I was actually nervous as hell and starting to seriously question whether or not I could do this task. Not the part about avoiding sleeping with him, just about whether I’d be able to keep him out of trouble.

I couldn’t imagine a guy like Jared taking kindly to his manager setting him up with a babysitter for two weeks.

“He’s not going to make it easy on you,” Lauren chimed in, breaking me out of my thoughts with a rather ironic choice of words. “He’s very charming and pretty aggressive when it comes to getting what he wants. And a pretty thing like you? Well, you’re going to be high on the list.”

I cursed the fact that I could feel my cheeks heating up just from the idea of Jared possibly wanting me, knowing that my boss was watching me like a hawk and likely noting my reaction. I cleared my throat and shook my head firmly, trying to reassure both her and myself that I could handle this.

“He can try as hard as he wants. I’m not going to sleep with him.”

“Good,” Lauren chimed, gifting me with a rare, genuine smile. “I suppose only time will tell, but you seem pretty confident and I like that. Besides, you don’t strike me as the kind of girl who goes for casual sex anyway.”

“You’re right about that,” I pointed out honestly, hoping this confession would be the last bit of assurance she would need to resume her packing and stop worrying. “I’ve actually never had a one night stand and it’s definitely not on my to-do list.”

Lauren raised a brow and snorted. “You’re really not from around here, are you? You’re too…
good
.”

I shrugged at the question and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she went back to packing her bag for the trip. After distractedly going through my list of things to do one more time and giving me the instruction to pick Jared up from the airport the following morning, I was dismissed.

Before I made it to the door of her apartment, Lauren called out her final parting words.

“One last bit of advice? You may want to use the rest of your afternoon getting some rest. Trust me—you’re going to need it.”

The frown her words gave me stayed firmly in place during the elevator ride down to the lobby of her apartment building. I was trying to decipher any hidden meaning in the words, but then again, I really didn’t have to.

Despite her not wanting to say anything negative about Jared, I was well-aware of his reputation. Acting as his handler even for two short weeks was likely going to be the most difficult thing I’d ever done.

I blew out a harsh breath as I stepped to the curb and raised my hand for a cab, heading home to straighten up my apartment before my house guest arrived. Afterward, I planned to take Lauren’s advice and get some rest.

During the ride to my apartment, I told myself that he couldn’t possibly be as bad as Lauren and his reputation was making him out to be. I told myself that the whole ‘
bad boy playboy
’ act was exactly that—an act. A persona for the public.

Since I’d be keeping him
out
of the public eye, he would revert to being just a normal guy.

Right?

“
W
hat the fuck is this
?” I asked when my coach dropped a thick stack of papers on the desk between us and looked at me expectantly.

“It’s your new contract. You might want to look it over—it’s been heavily modified. I’ve marked the pages you really need to go over.”

I glared at him as I reached forward and grabbed the stack, flipping to the first page marked with a sticky note and scanning over the obviously new additions. With a snort of disbelief, I looked up at him and shook my head.

“I’m not signing this shit.”

Coach crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair, regarding me coolly. “Then you won’t be playing with us next year.”

“Are you fucking
kidding
me? How many of the other guys had the stipulation to not sleep with cheerleaders added on to their contract?”

“None of the other guys make it a fucking sport to do so!” he shouted, slamming a fist on the desk before standing up. “
Damn it
, Jared. Do you realize how much heat the team is getting from this paternity lawsuit fiasco? You’re a damn good quarterback and a fine young man, but this shit has to stop.”

“I’m
not
the father,” I growled out between clenched teeth. “The DNA test will prove it.”

“But until the results come back, we’re left to deal with the negative press. Even then, the fact that the other girls have come forward supporting Brittany is going to haunt us whether you’re the father or not. You’ve put yourself, and your team, in a really fucked up position, son. That dick of yours gets you into far too much trouble. You can either put a leash on it and sign the contract, or I’m putting you up for the draft next season.”

My first instinct was to laugh at how fucking ridiculous the whole situation was, but I could tell that coach was dead serious. I didn’t want to sign the contract—but I didn’t want to go into the draft pool either. The Wolfpack had been my home since I got out of college four years ago. These boys were my fucking
family
.

I tossed the contract on the desk and leaned back in my chair, doing my best to make it look like I didn’t give a shit as I said, “So give me the cliff notes of this modified contract. You want me to become a eunuch or something?”

“Don’t be so melodramatic, boy. Just keep your dick out of the cheerleaders and yourself out of the papers. If you cause any more scandals like this, we reserve the right to cut you.”

As much as it pained me to do so, I reached out and grabbed a pen from the cup on his desk before flipping to the last page and scribbling my name across the line. When I glanced up at coach, I immediately noticed the relieved smile on his face.

“You’ve made a good choice, son. I’m proud of you.”

“You’ll be more proud when we make it to playoffs next year,” I mumbled as I stood up, not wanting to dwell on the cheerleader bullshit any longer. “Is that all?”

“Yep. Where you heading to?”

“My manager wants me to stay out of the public eye until the paternity test results are in. I’m staying with some chick in New York for two weeks—Autumn or something like that. I don’t fucking know.”

“Why aren’t you staying with Lauren?”

“Bad timing. Lauren’s going on her honeymoon, so she’s dumping me on an intern.”

Coach gave me a pointed look as he said, “Just remember what we talked about.”

I smirked, feeling my swagger returning more and more by the second. “Hey, you said not to bone the cheerleaders. You didn’t say anything about interns.”

“
Jesus Christ
,” he muttered as he buried his face in his hands.

I laughed as I left his office to head back to the hotel and finish packing for my two weeks in relative solitude. Staying locked up and out of the limelight for two weeks wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time—but I always had fun with Lauren’s interns.

Plus, it worked out nicely that they all seemed to disappear after a night with me. It was far less messy than screwing someone I had to see all the time.

I hope this Autumn chick is hot
, I thought as I flopped down on the bed to get some sleep before the ridiculously early flight the next morning.

* * *

“
M
r. Moore
?”

I glanced up from the magazine I was flipping through and raised an eyebrow at the flight attendant, putting on a cocky smirk as she leaned down to purposely give me an excellent view of her cleavage.

“Yes?”

She giggled nervously and the grating sound put an abrupt stop to the slight stiffening in my jeans. As my semi began to disappear, she leaned even closer and whispered, “I just wanted to say that I’m a
huge
fan.”

“I bet you are, sweetheart,” I whispered back playfully even though my dick had pretty much written this one off. “You want an autograph?”

“Yes, please,” she breathed out, the attempt to sound sultry falling flat.

I just finished scribbling my name on a napkin when the male attendant grabbed her attention and pointed out that she needed to make the announcement of our descent. When she turned away, I gave the guy a grateful head tilt and grinned when he gave me an understanding nod in return.

It was unlikely that she was a fan of mine at all—at least not for the reasons that most were. Becoming the face of different brands and labels had introduced me to a world of fame-hungry women who only recognized me from magazine ads or commercials.

Those women were vastly different from the female football fans I was used to.

Not that being a legitimate football fan meant that their intentions were good. But the odds were a lot better than the chicks who just wanted the perks that came from hooking up with me. Thankfully, it was usually pretty easy to spot the difference between the two.

Of course, how they knew me really didn’t matter in the end. If I wanted them, I’d fuck them either way. But they were lying to themselves if they thought they could ever get more from me than just one night.

It wasn’t a secret that I didn’t date. My mother thought it was because I was concerned about people wanting to use me—but that was nothing more than a convenient excuse. The truth was that I just didn’t see the point in it.

Yeah, coach was probably right when he said that my dick got me into trouble, but I was pretty damn sure that he would do the same thing if he were in my shoes. When guys on the team got married and settled down, it always surprised the shit out of me. I never understood why someone would
choose
to stick with one chick when there was a buffet of choices for guys like us.

When Lee—my best friend and probably the greatest damn wide receiver our team ever had—asked me to be the best man at his upcoming wedding, I only agreed to it under the stipulation that he told me why in the
hell
he was getting married in the first place.

‘Because I love her, man.’

If we hadn’t had been as close as we were, I’d have called him a fucking chump. But since we were practically brothers, I settled for just thinking it.

After the flight landed and the plane finally rolled to a stop, I stood in the aisle and pulled my bag down from the overhead compartment. The over-eager flight attendant was at my side in an instant—offering in a breathy tone to help me with my bag or
anything else
I could possibly need.

And people called
me
an aggressive flirt. I was half-expecting her to just reach straight for my junk and skip the formalities.

But the harsh clearing of a throat made a bit of professionalism return to her demeanor and she stepped back, albeit hesitantly. When she turned to move away, I smirked at the male attendant and the two of us just shook our heads.

Women.

I was one of the first people off the plane and I walked through the airport with purpose—hoping to avoid being stopped. A couple of Wolfpack fans snagged me for pictures, but I thankfully managed to avoid hitting any of the negative attention I’d been getting ever since Brittany popped out a kid and claimed it was mine.

At least until I reached the overcrowded lobby.

A few photographers recognized me immediately and with no other celebrities in sight, I became their one and only target. Even though I pointedly ignored the flashing cameras and the shouted questions—I was having a hell of a time weaving through the crowd of people while simultaneously trying to dodge the press and find the girl who was supposed to be picking me up.

“Back off!”

The feminine bark to my right made me pause mid-step and I turned to watch a dark-haired woman point a stern finger at the cameramen who were trying to block me from the doors.

“Mr. Moore is not speaking to the press at this time. Kindly step aside and let us through.”

“Who the fuck are you?” one of the reporters yelled.

“April Scott of Granger Relations. Now
move
,” she commanded, her tone hard enough to make even the biggest of the reporters step to the side.

As soon as there was a big enough gap for us to move through, she turned back and waved at me to follow her. She didn’t look back at me again as we made our way to the waiting car and my impressed expression went unseen. For an intern, she handled the press like a damn
pro
.

Impressed was actually a bit of an understatement.

Being the gentleman that my mother insisted I was even though I consistently proved her wrong, I rushed passed her to open the back door of the sedan. When she looked up at me with a puzzled frown, I smirked and made a sweeping gesture with my arm.

“After you, sweetness.”

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped before she ducked her head and slid into the backseat.

I blinked twice, confused by her irritated response. I wasn’t sure what I had done to earn such a response so early in our relationship, especially since we hadn’t even been formally introduced yet.

I was already getting the distinct impression that this intern was a hell of a lot different than the others Lauren had employed over the years. She was certainly a spitfire.

The idea of spending the next two weeks in relative isolation with this girl was sounding better by the minute.