Hot Read: The Originals (Seattle Steelheads Book 5) Read online

  HOT READ

  Seattle Steelheads®

  Jami Davenport®

  The Originals

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  1. Mr. Irrelevant

  2. Fowl-Mouthed Friend

  3. Delay of Game

  4. The Old vs. the New

  5. Blitz Attack

  6. Illegal Use of the Hands

  7. Stacking the Line

  8. Chop Block

  9. Show No Mercy

  10. Ineligible Receiver

  11. Laid Out on the Field

  12. Threading the Needle

  13. Collision Course

  14. Cinderella Team

  15. Between the Lines

  16. Tackled for a Loss

  17. First and Goal

  18. Super Sunday

  19. Tipped Ball

  20. Game Plan

  21. Earning the Ring

  Complete Booklist

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2020 by Cedrona Enterprises

  All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Jami Davenport. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to others. If you would like to share this book with others, please purchase an additional copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  Cover by Kim Killion of The Killion Group.

  The Seattle Sockeyes®, Seattle Steelheads®, and Seattle Skookums™ are fictional sports teams. Game On in Seattle™ is a series of sports romance novels The names and logos are created for the sole use of the owner and covered under protection of trademark.

  Jami Davenport®, Seattle Sockeyes®, and Seattle Steelheads® are registered trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

  This book is a work of fiction. While references might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning

  This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-age readers.

  Email: [email protected]

  Website: https://www.jamidavenport.com

  Twitter: @jamidavenport

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  Blurb

  The clock’s ticking down, and the hearts of Estelle Harris and Steelheads quarterback Brett Gunnels are about to enter crunch time.

  Supposedly undersized for the NFL, quarterback Brett Gunnels went off to do a stint in the US Army right out of high school. Returning damaged yet stronger—and more determined than ever to prove himself—he was the last pick in the draft. Mr. Irrelevant, they called him. But he’s a starter and a winner, no matter his past few years as a backup. Now he’s going to prove it.

  Estelle Harris is engaged to a man she doesn’t love, working in the wrong job, and fooling everyone including herself in the process. Her love of animals is the only thing that gives her purpose. As she shares that love with the Steelheads’ reclusive quarterback, and much, much more, it’s only a matter of time until their friendship turns that final, hot corner. There’ll be no going back. True love is like football. It’s not always how long you have the ball. It’s what you do when you get it.

  Previously published as Time of Possession in 2014. This version has been updated, rewritten, and re-edited.

  To my husband, SportsGuy as all my Facebook followers know him, an Army Ranger and veteran of the Gulf wars who lives with PTSD every day, compartmentalizes it, and pretends it doesn’t exist, but we both know it does.

  To all the dedicated doctors, mental health professionals, and staff at the American Lake VA in Lakewood, WA, and VA facilities across the nation, who could make more money elsewhere, deal with less red tape, and have a smaller patient load but choose to work with soldiers and veterans because they believe in what they do. Your caring and concern has helped heal my husband, and we owe you a debt of gratitude for that.

  Author’s Note

  A special thank you to Tracy for naming Brett Gunnels. I couldn’t have come up with a better name myself.

  Chapter One

  Mr. Irrelevant

  Brett Gunnels had fostered an intimate relationship with his clipboard over the past several football seasons.

  After all, as the backup quarterback, he played his game on that clipboard, not out on the football field. Every Sunday during the season he stood on the sidelines making endless notes. One day he’d get his chance, a chance to prove that Mr. Irrelevant—the title bestowed on the last player picked each year in the NFL draft—was anything but.

  Today, like any game day, Brett roamed the sidelines, clipboard in hand. Every once in a while, he stopped, cupped his hands to his mouth, and called out warnings or advice to the Seattle Steelheads’ starting quarterback. Not that Tyler Harris heard him or would listen even if he did. Harris did his own thing, and to hell with anyone else, even his teammates and coaches.

  A couple penalties set the Steelheads back to San Francisco’s forty yard line, and the offense was looking at third and twenty-five with fifteen seconds on the clock.

  Harris took the ball from center and stepped back, staying in the pocket with the coolness and finesse of the elite quarterback he was. A second later, the pocket collapsed around him and he scrambled, running for his life while looking for an open receiver. Every one of them was covered.

  Harris never saw the streak of pure muscle and brawn coming from his blindside. Brett cringed as the linebacker slammed into Harris with a vicious hit, falling on him in the process. Harris was known for his toughness, but from Brett’s point of view, knees didn’t bend like that.

  As the offense returned to the huddle, a couple of them looked toward Harris, as if expecting him to bounce to his feet. He always did. But not this time.

  Sprawled on his back, the two-time championship quarterback didn’t move. Not even an eyelash.

  A hush came over the crowd, eerie in its silence, while a cold wind of fear blew through the stadium. Harris’s cousin and the Steelheads’ top wide receiver, Derek Ramsey, knelt beside the immobile quarterback as the coaches and trainers hurried onto the field. The offensive line huddled nearby, pretending not to stare but doing so anyway, worry etched on the big guys’ beefy faces.

  Brett might not like Harris much—not many guys did—but his grudging respect for the guy’s talent and work ethic overrode any personal issues he might have. Besides, no one wanted to see a teammate laid out on the field like that. Or anyone else for that matter.

  An icy shiver radiated up Brett’s spine as his brain transported him to another time where sand stretched as far as the eye could see, another body down and not moving. Nothing. Just like Harris was now.

  A cold sweat trickled down Brett’s forehea
d, and he dropped his clipboard and scrubbed his face with his hands, forcing those memories back into the compartment where he kept them tightly locked up.

  This wasn’t a war zone—well, not exactly—and his teammate was known for his dramatics. He was probably taking a two-minute siesta at the expense of everyone’s nerves. Any second, he’d hop to his feet and chastise them for being such pansy-asses.

  Only Harris didn’t move. Brett couldn’t stay on the sidelines and do nothing. He ran onto the field to join his teammates standing in concerned clusters. Harris’s chalky face looked like death. Brett swallowed back the fear and bolstered his courage. He’d be okay. He had to be. He was too mean and too tough to be seriously injured.

  After several tense minutes, Harris sat up and shook his head. The team breathed a collective sigh of relief. Groggily, he accepted assistance to his feet, only to have his knee buckle. He went down again, clutching his leg, pain carved into his usually stoic face as he rolled back and forth on the turf. A few seconds later, two linemen helped him onto a cart, and they zipped him off the field and down the tunnel.

  Only then did Brett realize the coach was yelling at him.

  “Gun, get your helmet on and get your ass out there on that field.”

  Standing on the fifty yard line, the guys in the huddle gawked at him, waiting for him to assume control. Frantic, he looked for his helmet but couldn’t find it. Zach Murphy, their All-Pro linebacker, shoved it in his hands. Strapping it on as he ran, Brett got to the huddle, only to find the mic in his helmet wasn’t working. After tapping on the helmet a few times, he took several deep breaths and squelched the growing panic inside him. He could do this. He would do this. He had to do this. The team was counting on him.

  Brett turned to the guys gathered around him, his gaze determined. He knew exactly what play to call in this situation, having rehearsed it over and over in his mind and on the practice field. He called for a quick out-pass to Derek, hoping to catch the defense expecting a run because of the quarterback change. He took the snap from center, pedaled backward, and tossed an easy lob to Derek, who collided with a defensive end as they both went for the ball. The end batted the ball into the air, and a San Francisco linebacker in the right place at the right time scooped it up before it hit the ground and ran it back for a touchdown.

  Game over.

  At first his stunned teammates stared at the end zone as if they couldn’t believe their bad luck. Then, one by one, guys patted him on the back amid murmurs of “good try,” “tough break,” and “we did the best we could.” Regardless, Brett blamed himself because that’s what a good quarterback did. A great one carried the whole team on his shoulders and found a way to win. Just not today.

  Sighing, Brett jogged for the showers and let the warm water wash away some of his frustration and disappointment. One play in an NFL regular season game, and it ended with the other team scoring.

  Damn it.

  Coach announced in the locker room that Harris was staying overnight in the hospital for observation. He’d damaged his knee, and he’d be in surgery within the next day or so after arriving back in Seattle. A collective sigh circulated the locker room, as the men slumped on the benches in weary disbelief.

  The plane trip back was quiet, no obnoxious Harris harassing the rookies or singing old rock tunes in his amazingly good voice. Brett actually missed the jerk, but there was work to be done, and it started now. Brett buried his head in the playbook, going over and over what he could’ve done differently for a better outcome. He came back to the same answer. Run that play a hundred times and ninety-nine outcomes would go as expected.

  Leave it to him to have that one-out-of-a-hundred result.

  Brett looked up as Coach took the empty seat next to him. Hubert Jackson, or HughJack as everyone called him, studied him with assessing eyes. Brett closed the playbook he’d been studying and faced the coach head on.

  “What’s up?” He attempted to keep it light even though the situation was anything but.

  HughJack didn’t crack a smile. Instead he rubbed a spot between his eyes and blew out a breath. “This is your team now, Gun.”

  Brett nodded tersely. “Harris is out for the season?” As if he hadn’t already figured that one out.

  “At the least.”

  Solemn, Brett stared at his hands. “That sucks.” He never wanted to get a starting job through injury, but it was what it was, and he’d make the best of the opportunity.

  “Sure does. We’re going into the final four games of the year, tied for the division. San Francisco has the tiebreaker.” Leave it to HughJack to point out the obvious and not sugarcoat it.

  “I’ll do everything I can.”

  “I know you will. A lack of work ethic has never been your problem.” HughJack paused to look around the plane at the various men collapsed in their seats. “This is your time to shine. Your time to prove wrong every idiot armchair critic who ever said you were too old, too short, not athletic enough. Your time to earn a big new contract as a starting quarterback at the end of the season. If contracts were awarded on effort alone, you’d have one, but it’s all about winning. I believe in you. So do your guys.”

  Brett nodded and waited for HughJack to continue. Yeah, he’d heard all the negative stuff his entire life, and he’d fought tooth and nail to overcome it. He couldn’t do a thing about his five-foot-ten-and-a-half height, which in a world of six-four quarterbacks was considered small. But he could be quicker on his feet, more accurate, and smarter than anyone else to make up for it. As for his age, he’d just turned thirty, but he had low miles on the field. That should count for something.

  “You’re more than capable of taking this team to the playoffs. I believe that. This team believes that. The question is, do you believe that?”

  Brett nodded and swallowed.

  HughJack leaned forward. His intense blue eyes drilled into Brett’s. “You haven’t worked with the first string all season, and you don’t have your timing down with your center or your receivers. There’ll be some tough times while you work all that out. Don’t get discouraged.”

  “I’m committed to making this work.”

  HughJack almost smiled. “What can I do to help you?”

  “I need time with the guys, time to click with them, time for us to get used to each other, for them to learn my cadence and for me to learn their quirks, capitalize on our strengths and minimize our weaknesses.”

  “You’ll have all the time in the world, son—until the next game.” HughJack clapped him on the shoulder. “You can do this. Harris left us in a decent position. We’ve got some leeway while you’re figuring this out. I have utmost faith in you.”

  “Yes, Coach. I know.”

  HughJack studied him a little longer, as if assessing his character right through his skin. Then he patted Brett on the arm and moved back to the coaches’ area of the plane, already game-planning for next week.

  The opportunity of a lifetime had just fallen into Brett’s lap. He’d be damned if he’d fumble it into early retirement. No way in hell. He’d take that damn ball and run with it. The guys were counting on him. This was his time and his team.

  Today was the day Mr. Irrelevant ceased to exist.

  Chapter Two

  Fowl-Mouthed Friend

  The woman of Brett’s dreams stood in the open doorway wearing a black sweater covered in dog hair.

  Forget that she was as tall—or taller—than him. Forget that her brother happened to be a premier asshole and the Seattle Steelheads’ starting quarterback, well, at least until he’d torn his ACL yesterday.

  Forget that she wore a diamond on her ring finger that would have choked Hoss Price, the team’s mammoth starting center.

  Forget all that. Standing there on the porch, Brett Gunnels fell in love at first sight—or definitely in lust. He didn’t know if it was her brilliant sky-blue eyes, her beautiful face, the dog hair, or a combination of all three. He only knew that he was hooked with
just one glance.

  “Come on in.” Estelle Harris smiled at him, a kind, warm smile, a smile that cast light into all those dark corners he swore would never see the light of day again. His heart kicked into overdrive and slammed against his rib cage, while his lungs forgot breathing was their purpose.

  She turned and ushered him into her house. Brett stared after her, his body motionless and temporarily rendered out of service like a city bus at the end of its nightly run.

  She glanced over her shoulder, and her curious expression rebooted his brain.

  He lurched forward and stumbled on the threshold but recovered nicely and stepped into the modest entryway, his pride in tatters. Her amused grin spread heat through his body faster than a California wildfire in high winds.

  God, she was stunning, and way out of his league in so many ways.

  “I hope you’re Brett, and I didn’t just let a Ted Bundy copycat into my house.” Her sweet laughter wrapped around him like a warm blanket on a cold winter night.

  Brett shook his head, appalled she might be serious. “Yes, I’m Brett. And you are Tyler’s sister Estelle?” He cringed at the stiff formality in his voice. Again that smile, like Mona Lisa. Only Mona Lisa had nothing on this woman.

  “Everyone calls me Estie.”

  “Estie then.” His own smile rushed to his lips and refused to cease and desist. He probably looked like a half-witted, grinning fool. He held out his hand. She took his in her soft one with a firm grip of long, sexy fingers. He stared at their joined hands, hers with the cotton-candy-pink fingernails and his with its bumps and scars. Her hand was so soft, so feminine, so perfect.