Catching the Pass (Football Fantasies) by Alexandra O'Hurley

I was so focused on wrapping her up I didn’t realize the time.”
    He looked pensive and sincerely upset he was late as she shook his hand. 
    “Please call me Maggie.  And I think I can forgive you for offering medical help to a co-worker in need, Mr. Hamilton.”
    A broad smile crossed his face and lit him from the inside.  The smile was infectious.  She breathed a little sigh of relief he wasn’t the dour man she’d seen as he’d first rushed in.
    “Please call me Reid.  I am so excited to meet you.  I’ve heard about your rehab talent through the grapevine in the last couple of years, and when Taylor told me you were here working with her brother, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to schedule a meeting.”
    “A meeting?  To discuss trade secrets?” she asked, fishing for the reason she was there. 
    “Why heck no, Maggie.  To offer you a job.”
    Maggie smiled widely, her day improved ten-fold.  “I’m listening.” She sat down and tucked her feet under the chair, trying to look unaffected by the news.
    Reid rounded his desk and sat down.  “After I saw the results you’d had with Les Paul in Minnesota, and how quickly you got him back on the field, I knew you were one to watch.  Then I saw Jennings at his try out, and I was impressed he was only a few months out of knee surgery and looked great.”
    “Jennings’ hard work had a lot to do with how well he did, as did many of the athletes I’ve worked with in the past.”
    “Isn’t that always the case, though?  You can only push them so far—they’ve got to want it to truly succeed.”  Reid smiled wanly.  “I do have to ask one question.  I hate to go there, but I really think we need to clear the elephant out of the room.”
    Maggie frowned.  The elephant?   Was the ghost of Brian coming back to haunt her again?
    “Taylor has intimated that there might be a relationship developing between you and her brother,” Reid said.
    Oh.  That elephant. What the hell was she supposed to say?  She didn’t want to lie, but she’d slipped with Jennings.  It had never happened before and she sure as hell didn’t plan on it ever happening again.  “I admit there’s something between us, but we made sure that the job was over before we acted on our feelings. We kept it professional while I was rehabbing him,” Maggie said, hoping lightning wouldn’t come down and strike her for the little white lie.  They’d only slipped the once.
    And oh boy had they slipped.
    “Well, I wasn’t really questioning your professionalism.  I’ve heard too many wonderful things about you from others in the industry.  I was more concerned with how you felt about working on a team where your boyfriend played.”
    Where my boyfriend played?   “Did Brian get traded?”
    “Brian?” Reid asked, a frown wrinkling his brow.  “I was talking about Jennings.”
    Jennings?  On the team?   Maggie felt her eyes bug out and her mouth drop open.  “I wasn’t aware he’d been signed.”
    “Well, he’s being offered a spot at camp.  If he proves himself, he could very well make it to the team.  I just wanted to make sure you were okay working on the same team.  I know some people prefer keeping their private and work lives separate.  But I’d hate to lose the chance of you bringing your talents here.”
    “I’d have no problem working with him.  We’re both professionals and will act appropriately.”  Maggie’s heart beat wildly in her chest.  Jennings had said nothing when she’d left for Houston.  “I have to ask.  Does Jennings know this yet?”
    Reid shrugged.  “I’ve been given the okay to talk to you about it from the GM, so I would assume they’ve made the call by now.”
    Happy tears burned the backs of her eyes.  Jennings had made it.  He’d really made it!  She wanted to scream.  She wanted to cheer.  She wanted to call Jennings and scream and cheer over some more.  She struggled to remain seated.  Maggie