Catching Cameron: A Love and Football Novel by Julie Brannagh Page B

that looked out over the lake, which beckoned to anyone who wanted quiet and solitude. She noted there weren’t even boaters on the lake tonight. She wrapped both arms around herself, and resisted the impulse to keep walking until she found a way out of here.
    “Cameron.” She didn’t miss the warning note in his voice. “We still need some voiceovers, and we’ll have to piece this together. We’re not done yet.”
    “Fine. I’ll be right there.” She turned to go back into the building, and reached out for the doorknob. She pulled hard. It didn’t open. She pulled again, rattling the door in its frame. It still didn’t budge. “I’m locked out,” she said into the mic still pinned to her dress.
    The producer swore extravagantly into her earpiece. A few minutes later, Kacee appeared in the hallway and held the door open for her. She didn’t look happy, either. Cameron reached up, yanked off the portable microphone and earpiece, and faced her assistant.
    Kacee didn’t even wait until the door slammed shut behind Cameron.
    “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you guys were married. Married! Are you kidding? You were going to introduce me to him! Why? I saw the way he looked at you. Are you crazy?” Kacee was waving her arms around. “When did you get married? Why didn’t you give him a chance?”
    The sheer number of Kacee’s questions made her head pound. Cameron started walking away from her, wrapping her arms around her midsection. Her stomach was churning. Maybe she should have eaten more at dinner, but she wasn’t all that hungry these days. Kacee tried to grab her elbow. Cameron pulled away from her.
    “I’m not discussing this right now. I have to get back to work.”
    “I can’t believe you’ve kept this a secret for how long now? Why? He’s really cute, and I—what’s wrong with him? Was he bad in bed? What ?”
    Kacee was still following her, still chattering, and Cameron wanted to put both hands over her ears. “I can’t believe you won’t talk to me about this. I thought you trusted me. Why won’t you discuss it?”
    Cameron let out a groan. She didn’t want to consider what would happen when this all got out.
    Z ACH VAULTED OFF the bench in the Sharks’ weight room and mopped his dripping face with a towel. Maybe he should go for a run next. He needed to work off the adrenaline and nerves still surging through his body. One thing was for sure: He was an idiot. He’d just told Cameron he would do whatever he had to do over the next twenty-nine days to get her back. He’d meant every word, but he’d lost the element of surprise. Talk about showing one’s hand in a high-stakes poker game. He was stuck in a dorm with seventy-nine other guys who wouldn’t object to a date with her.
    It wasn’t as if the usual items for wooing a female were at his fingertips. Champagne and candlelight dinners for two were pretty thin on the ground at an NFL training camp facility. He should be concentrating on keeping his damn job instead of chasing a woman who’d made it clear she didn’t love him, didn’t want him, and had other things and people occupying her time. Then again, he loved a challenge.
    He couldn’t get her off his mind before, and now it was worse than ever. She’d grown even more beautiful in the past ten years. He remembered how she’d felt when she’d fallen into his arms earlier, the unguarded, slightly embarrassed smile on her lips when she looked up at him. The fifteen seconds or so before she’d glanced away from him with remembered pain and pulled herself free.
    He wanted her back. He wasn’t sure how he was going to accomplish this, or what he could say to make her understand how much he regretted that he hadn’t fought harder for her.
    There had to be something that would turn her to putty in his hands. He wasn’t unimaginative in the romance department, but he hadn’t had to chase a woman for a long time now. They chased him. To admit that to another