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Ty nearly blurted, "She spoke highly of me?" but it sounded too pathetic, even inside his own head

Instead he said, "Sure thing, Steve"

He'd never escaped that night with Julie on the boat, not in ten long years of beautiful wohteen-year-old chicken-shit weasel, scared by the thought of her du his ass because he was just a poor jock He'd never even tried to make her understand how intensely he felt about her He'd thought it was easier to let her walk away

He couldn't have been

The next tih he knew the likelihood of getting it crushed was dah

CHAPTER THIRTY

Julie stood in the back of the NFL pressroom, more nervous than she'd ever been in all her life When she thought about what she was about to do, she had to fight the urge to run fast and far

Oddly, even though she hadn't known the first thing about football just weeks ago, she wasn't nervous about fielding questions about her new role Since she'd signed on as a League-wide io, she'd done her hoaa thements over and over

All she wanted was a fresh start: just the two of them, and a little bit of trust that hopefully would blosso love

She scanned the room for the hundredth time

Why wasn't Ty here yet? What if so in a hospital somewhere? Would he think to call her?

Steve Villers pulled out a chair beside him and Julie tried to focus on the welcoh all she could think about was seeing Ty again

The commissioner opened the floor for questions and she wasn't surprised that Bobby Wilson was the first to stand

"As I'm sure everyone here already knows, I aether, looking like a hungry wolf on a three-little-pig hunt "I've got a question for Miss Spencer, if y'all don't mind"

Sensing so juicy, the reporters turned their tape recorders his way

"First off all,just as pretty as ever, Ms Spencer"

Julie waited for hiet to the point

"I ondering about so you said to me in my office a few days back" He paused, pushed his cowboy hat an inch to the left "If I recall correctly, you said you didn't have the necessary skills to fix up an athlete's public iht before you told er"

Just then Ty e like he didn't have a care in the world, the way he always did He raised an eyebrow at her in his cocky way

God, she loved hieous inch of him

"So I learned recently is that we all e consultant screws up fro that this will co with professional football players"

Laughter rolled through the crowd and she hoped Ty understood that her words were meant for him

"Teeks ago I knew nothing about football Like a lot of people, I assumed football players were overpaid, dumb jocks"

The players groaned

"Sorry, guys," she said "But that's why I've decided to ith the NFL I've learned a lot about football players: I learned about their integrity and giving, and what's really beneath the surface The NFL is now est client, and I will devote the bulk of ue and its players in the inable"