Catching Hearts Read online

  Catching Hearts

  Celia Crown

  Copyright © 2019 by Celia Crown

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are from the author's imagination or folklore, legends, and general myths.

  The book or any portion of the book may not be reproduced or used under any circumstances, except with the written permission from the author. Public names, movies, televisions, and locales, or any references are used for atmospheric purposes. Any similarities and resemblances to alive or dead people, events, brands, and locales are all complete coincidences.

  For inquiries: [email protected]

  Cover Editor: Designrans

  Contents

  Copyright

  Catching Hearts

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  Author’s other works!

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  Catching Hearts

  by Celia Crown

  Football star and Titans’ quarterback Adam Ross is tall, dark, and handsome. Muscular thighs and broad shoulders, a clean social media image with the title for being one of the most eligible bachelors under his belt.

  His dream girl comes to him like a wind whirl of fiery red hair and innocent green eyes, then she leaves with his heart. The only thing he has to go by is her student ID card, and he’s going to find her one way or another.

  He’s already so possessive over her photo ID, she’s going to get a taste of the real deal when he gets his hands on her.

  Fate favors him when they meet again.

  Simple college student Evelyn ‘Evie’ White has no interest in a bunch of sweaty men running on grass with a ball under their armpits. Her friend, on the other hand, is a big fan of football. Evie has a paper to turn in, she doesn’t have time to waste by meeting one of the greatest teams ever gone down in history.

  Meeting an obsessed man like Adam would guarantee she won't finish that English paper, he overwhelms her senses and makes her drunk on his possessiveness.

  He’s so big, so strong.

  Evie begins to understand why her friend is so into football, and it’s not that kind of ball.

  Chapter One

  Evelyn

  At some point in life, everyone has lied and gone with it.

  That’s what I did. I lied, and it just got bigger and bigger to the point that I’m pulling bullshit out of my ass.

  “You have a boyfriend.”

  I nod, I have to believe in my lie to fool the other party. I don’t think I’m doing a good job because the man in front of me is having trouble choosing skepticism and believing in me.

  “Yes, he’s waiting for me,” I said.

  This man, which I have no idea what is freaking name is, squints his eyes. The back of my neck is sweating under his scrutiny, I force a smile on my face.

  He asked me on a date after telling me how I caught his interest when he was taking out the trash one morning, which is unbelievable because I’m never up before ten o’clock.

  Sleep is important, and garbage truck pickups are really early. There’s just no possible way for us to meet unless he was being a creep and peeked into my window.

  A window that’s on the second floor and he happens to live right next to my apartment.

  I guess it is time to go apartment hunting when the lease is up.

  Julie and I had been thinking about what to do with the living situation for a while now, and this is the perfect excuse to move the hell away.

  She and I have become friends the moment we saw each other when we both went for the same seat at the lecture hall. We’re comfortable around each other and we do have fights, but it’s over stupid things. They are more of banters and playful arguments than explosive fights that could end a friendship with one word.

  “Just one date, I think we’d be so good together.” the man flashes me a smile.

  It’s not as disarming as he tries to make it.

  I laugh uncomfortably and shakes my head, “I’m sorry. I have to go.”

  Turning around, I flee the scene of this immediate danger because I don’t feel safe with him. The sky has darkened considerably, and I want to make it home after spending five hours at the library trying to research on a topic of football.

  Of all subjects my English professor had laid out for us, he didn’t even have the courtesy to let the students pick their own topics.

  I, unfortunately, got football. A sport that I have the faintest clue about other than people zooming across the lawn with a ball under their armpits.

  That is if I’m correct, I could be wrong on my assumption.

  “Wait, Evelyn!” the man shouts behind me.

  I shudder in fear and picks up my speed. I don’t even want to know how he knows my name because I didn’t give it to him, and I’m pretty certain Julie isn’t stupid enough to give out my name to strangers, neighbor or not.

  At this point I’m running like a bat out of hell, I am a lot smarter than people in horror movies. I’m not going into directions of darkness, I’m staying in the well-lit streets, and I’m definitely running towards the busy hotel just within my reach.

  “I just want a date!” the relentless man’s voice is too close behind me, I push every strength into my feet to move faster.

  I should have taken Julie’s advice for morning runs more seriously, but I can’t physically get up that early so it defeats the purpose of morning exercise.

  My backpack thumps on my tailbone and it hurts, my lungs hurt a lot more as I’m wheezing and struggling not to let one lung inhale the other one.

  I gracelessly stumble into the hotel entrance, good thing everyone is too into their own things to notice a girl dry-heaving. One businesswoman raises a concerned eyebrow at me, but she’s cautious as she doesn’t say anything. I shoot her a smile and walk calmly further into the large building.

  A gasp and thump behind me tell me that I need to pick up the pace, I stalk towards the elevator when I see the number indicating its descent.

  I thank every deity I can think of and speed walks down there, I timed it perfectly that as soon as the door opens then I would go in and shut the door quickly.

  A boney hand clasps on my elbow and jerks me back, a strangling sound comes out of my mouth as I’m turned around forcibly to face the man.

  He breathes out with a bright smile, “Wow, you run fast!”

  I try to twist my arm out but he’s not having it, “Let go of me.”

  “Evelyn, dear. It’s one date, you can give me that. I’ll take you on the most extravagant lunch you’ll ever have!” he beams.

  “Look,” I begin, yanking my arm out of his hold. “I have a boyfriend, and you’re being disrespectful.”

  “It’s just a date, your boyfriend doesn’t need to know.” he slides his hand into his hair and cocks a smirk at me.

  I want to hurl a pot of fake plant at him, he’s so arrogantly cringy. “I said no.”

  The elevator dings and I couldn’t be any happier, but a thought occurs to me. If he follows me in, then I’m trapped within and I don’t want that.

  His eyebrows crinkle and I can feel my breath hitch in fear as he takes a step forward, my instinct tells me to run and never look back until I get into my apartment with Julie holding a bat in her hands.

  I twirl around and fling myself into the arms of an unfortunate soul that would be roped in
to my lie.

  “H-honey!” I shakily laugh and grip the mysterious man’s waist tighter. “I was just looking for you!”

  I don’t know how buff this man is, but I can feel his rock-hard abs on my ribs. The good thing about this man is that he doesn’t smell bad so this should make this process a lot easier to perform.

  I tip my head up and realize that the man is a giant, he’s so tall that I only make it to his lower chest area. His shoulders are wide, and his muscles are packed like a can of sardines.

  Bad description, but okay.

  Red alarms blare into my head as I see a pair of sunglasses and a hat shielding half of his face, his sharp jawline and thick neck is the only thing visible as his arms come around my shoulders to cradle me to his body.

  My face gets squashed into his very nice chest and the protection behind those muscled arms are strongly welcomed.

  “I told you to stay,” the mysterious man growls deeply, and I shiver at his velvety voice.

  “I’m sorry, but I wanted to see you!” I smile up at him, and I don’t look back to the creepy man.

  The mysterious man seems to catch on at what’s going on and tips his eyes towards the other man, “Is this your friend?”

  I cough and move away from the secure arms to stand by his side, I fasten our fingers together to make the lie even more convincing as I smile politely at the other man.

  “We have to go,” trying to sound not so pushy isn’t easy, “We have stuff to do.”

  I yank my savior’s hand and we brush past the stunned creeper, there’s no way I could have pulled a behemoth like him with my twig hand, but he’s understanding and lets me pull him.

  Him being a giant is a good thing going for me because he shocked the other fellow into silence when all he could do was run his mouth.

  I turn my head back to see if we got followed, but we didn’t so I breathe a sigh of relief. I drop the man’s hand and look up at him when we stopped a good distance from the hotel. I just dragged this man somewhere else and he might have places to go but this was an emergency, I hope he can forgive me.

  “I’m sorry!” I rub the back of my neck as I let my mouth do the talking, “I didn’t mean to cause you trouble, but I really appreciate the help!”

  I tip my head in a nod and grip the straps of my backpack as I stare into the man’s black sunglasses in a late evening or night, who cares, he’s wearing sunglasses when there’s no sun.

  “Thank you!” I squeak and bolts the other way, leaving my savior in the dust while my hair flops messily in my face.

  In the event where my savior turns out to another creep, it’s best to put as much distance between us as possible. I don’t hear any stomping behind me so its safe to assume that he’s not coming after me.

  If the man wants to get to me, he’d have no problem chasing after me with those thick thighs and powerful legs.

  I honestly have no idea what he could be.

  Bodyguard, weightlifter, or some athlete. There are a million of possibilities of what he could do for a living, and if he’s able to get into the elevator that that hotel then he’s rich too.

  That particular hotel is known for their keycard access of the elevator, no one can get on without a card.

  My feet pounds on the ground as I zoom past buildings to get to my apartment quicker, I got enough exercise for the whole year. My lungs are scorching from the inside as my tongue lays heavy and dry in my mouth.

  I’m gasping and choking for breath by the time my feet clunk and thump on the stairs, stabbing the key into the keyhole and barreling into the apartment with Julie holding a big plate of fried chicken.

  The door bangs loudly behind me and thank goodness the downstairs neighbor moved out and the landlord is still looking for new tenants. I won’t get complaints about this disturbance, I wouldn’t want to get into trouble.

  “Are you okay?” Julie raises an eyebrow as she sets the plate of chicken down on the coffee table in the living room.

  “Fine,” I pant, rubbing a hand above my chest to ease the frantic heartbeats.

  I let the heavy backpack slide off my shoulders and I catch it with one hand to toss it on the couch while I drag my feet to the curious girl.

  “I’ll tell you after I devour this chicken,” I wheeze as I flip down on the ground between the table and the couch.

  She comes to sit next to me after she goes to check on the locks, I think I locked them, but my mind is too overworked to remember if I did it or not.

  “I thought you’re on a diet?” I ask as I take the remote and turn on the tv, it buzzes alive with a bunch of men in red and black.

  “Oh.” a low and suggestive tone comes from Julie and I roll my eyes.

  I drop the remote as I don’t have the energy to fight Julie off if I were to change the channel, she has a thing for football players and her favorite team is called the Titans. The men on the team live up to the name as they are all over six-foot and with abdominal muscles so rigid that it can be a grill for the Fourth of July.

  As Julie said, they are sizzling hot.

  Her favorite man on her favorite team is someone called Walrus, or something like that.

  Is that a nickname or did I get the man’s name wrong?

  “I have a surprise,” Julie states with a bite into a chicken leg.

  Oh no.

  I hate that voice, it’s the tone of her screaming on top of her lungs for hours before calming down to actually say what kind of news she has. I have experienced it once and it was very entertaining with her answering the door to police officers about a report of a domestic disturbance from concerned neighbors.

  “We’re going to meet the Titans,” she shrieks and her handshakes with the half-eaten chicken dropping crumbs on the floor.

  I open my mouth to bite into my own chicken leg, “Okay.”

  I’m not into football or any sports, I’m not athletic so there’s no point of me being interested in something that won’t do me good in life.

  “I have VIP passes!”

  I groan, and I make eye contact with her excited face and shove the entire leg into my mouth.

  Feel my indifference, Julie.

  Chapter Two

  Adam

  I fiddle with the plastic card in my fingers, turning it back and forth as I take note on the little scratches on the white backside of the identification card.

  Flipping the front side to my eyes, I linger on the pretty face of the girl that stole my heart in under two seconds.

  Silky red hair with a tone of brown, big green eyes, and the cutest splashes of light freckles across her nose and rosy cheeks.

  Evelyn White.

  With that name comes her student identification number and the university she goes to.

  Just thinking about her makes my cock throb painfully in my pants, she was so soft when I held her to my chest and she hugged me back like her life depended on me. The man that she was trying to get away from probably recognize me with my disguise or he was too scared of my size to do anything stupid.

  The moment she looked up at me with those begging green eyes, I knew she was going to be mine. My heart can only beat that quick when I’m on the fields, but this girl can take the record of keeping my heart pumping dangerously fast.

  “Who’s the lucky lady?” a voice asks.

  I slip the card back into my locker, no one can see how utterly adorable she is and I’d be damned if one of my teammates gets interested. They’re all harmless, but it’s the thoughts of one of them going after what’s mine that grates on my nerves.

  “Mind your own business, Romero,” I grunt, yanking on a new shirt after the water from the shower dried off.

  He laughs and clanks his locker open with a hand to secure the white towel around his waist.

  “You know there are no secrets here, your business is everyone’s business.”

  I resist a dramatic eye-roll at the blond-haired man, his Mexican accent is one of his charms that most women fall
for. That boyish charm help get ladies swooning and falling on his feet, and he has no remorse about not calling them the morning after.

  “Besides,” Romero snickers with his front row of teeth glistening, “You know we don’t go after one of our own’s girl.”

  I pocket the card and run a hand into my black hair, water drops down onto my neck as I search for my phone in the back.

  “Which is why you shouldn’t put your ass in other people’s businesses.” I shoot back.

  He shrugs nonchalantly, “There’s no harm in looking, brother of mine.”

  Oh yes, there is harm.

  My Evelyn’s beauty is for my eyes only.

  Romero gulps down his entire bottle of water with a loud sigh afterward, “Redheads aren’t my type.”

  I don’t have a type, but Evelyn is the only one that I want. Screw the notion that football players sleep around with models and attractive women, I can’t even remember the last time I touched a woman as intimately as I did with Evelyn.

  I admit I have a high sex drive, but I also like to keep my image clean so I never sleep with groupies. They can be the most beautiful piece of work and I won’t get hard; my hands have been my company for years now and I get by just fine.

  That was until I touched my precious Evelyn, she’s so soft and smelt heavenly. Her smile had me paralyzed for a moment as I let her slip out of my grasp and before I knew it, she was down the street and away from my view. All she left behind was her school ID card, and I intend on finding her little ass.

  That was only yesterday and I’m already missing her so much that it’s affecting my focus in practice. Our team just returned from a game in Canada, and now we’re back onto our territory for a home game that we will no doubt smash the other team.

  Before that, our coach had arranged a fan meeting with people who brought VIP passes. Those tickets are expensive, and fans have to sit by their computer with the fastest internet connection to buy the tickets as soon as the countdown stops.

  “How do I look?” Romero slicks his hair back with so much gel that it’s greasy.