Page 7 of Her Athlete's Wedding Secret

“I—I would have talked to you.” Why did that sound so timid and lame to her ears? She squared her shoulders. “I didn’t know you were interested.”

“Let’s leave the past in the past. What matters now is the fact that I’m in big trouble, and you can help me save my career.”

“And I’d be more than willing to give you that interview. Loads of interviews if you want,” Benson said. “Better yet. You want your dream job, right?”

“Yes.”

“What if I told you that you could get your dream job just by being married to me?”

“How would being married to you help me get my dream job?” she asked.

“Think about it, if you’re married to the quarterback of the New York Giants, you could get your foot in the door with all kinds of companies. You’d be famous. I’d be willing to use my name to get you into some upscale mixers where you’d have more networking opportunities.”

Tessa hadn’t thought of that. It would open opportunities that would be otherwise closed. She loved her job, but it didn’t exactly look great on a resume if she was going to go up against big-time players at a New York publication. She couldn’t even get a job as the editor of Maple Creek’s newspaper. She was pretty sure Joan was going to get the position. She’d been working for the paper longer and had more experience overall.

Benson was giving her an opportunity she would never find anywhere else. Was she being a fool to pass it up? She could get married to him, land her dream job, and then divorce him later and move on with the money. She cringed at the idea of getting a divorce. When her parents split up, it had been devastating to her mom. She watched her mother’s mental health downward spiral after her dad left. It had made her decide to stay away from relationships, even though she was such a hopeless romantic. She saw what romance had done to her mom. For years, she’d avoided it. She was only just now starting to allow herself to hope that she could find love.

“I’m going to need some time to think about this,” she said. Even the money wasn’t enough to tempt her at this point.

“I completely understand. Can you let me know before the week is up? That’s when I have to let my coach know if I’ve found someone to marry.”

“That doesn’t give me much time.”

“They’re pretty fed up with me.”

“How do I know you’re not an ax murderer?”

“Come on, you’ve known me for years.”

“Okay, maybe you’re not an ax murderer, but I don’t know if you’re someone I want to be married to. I remember back in high school when you stole those coolers and the mayor’s daughter ended up getting in trouble for it. How do I know you’re not going to pull me into one of your big schemes next time?”

“You have my word. My reckless days are over. I have too much on the line.”

“You could have a weird quirk I don’t know about.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you bite your toenails off or something.”

Benson laughed. “And here I thought you were all uptight.”

“Me? I’m not uptight.”

Benson gave her a disbelieving look.

She crossed her arms defensively. “Okay, maybe I’m a little uptight. But I’m working on it.”

Benson gave her a teasing smile. “I’m the opposite of uptight. I’ll be more than happy to help you work on loosening up.”

“Oh, great. I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Benson asked in mock offense.

“I don’t know. You’ll probably try to get me to go skydiving or something.” Tessa shuddered. She was terrified of heights.

“What’s wrong with skydiving?”

“You’re proving my point right now,” Tessa said, jabbing her finger into his chest. Wow, the guy was rock hard. She had the sudden desire to flatten her hand against his chest, to explore more of him. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad being married to him after all. He was undoubtedly the best-looking guy she’d met in a long time. Who was she kidding? He was the hottest guy she’d ever seen. His muscles were huge, and his face was handsome in a rugged, appealing way. He kept his hair cut short and spikey. She wondered what it felt like beneath her touch. Would all that spikey hair be soft?

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