“You’re kidding?”

“Not even a little. Since I was a kid, I’ve had football shoved down my throat. My daddy and his brothers played when they were young, and their fathers played when they were still using those leather helmets and very little padding. They simply love the game.”

“Of course they do. It’s like an elaborate game of fetch—ow!”

Mitch rubbed his head where she’d yanked out actual hair.

“If you think this is easy for me, it’s not! And you making canine jokes just pisses me off. And for your information, every breed in the Southern states plays.”

“But the bears are unbeatable.”

“Basically. I mean, their guys can reach eight feet tall and almost four hundred pounds when human. Lord knows they could never legally play in the NFL. It would be lethal.”

“And you think I can help?”

“Remember what I told you the other night? Brendon brags about you constantly, especially about how amazing you were in football.”

He was, too, but he’d had to “tragically” end his career his senior year of college before he could be recruited by a pro team. Between those blood tests that seemed to get more extensive every year and his not being able to pull back as much if he wanted to win in the pros, it simply had been too big a risk for him and his kind. Broke his heart, too.

Mitch still caught a few pickup games with friends from his old neighborhood every once in a while, but again, he always had to hold back because they were full-humans. The thought of being able to really play the way he’d always wanted to nearly had him wiggling.

Sissy touched his leg. “I know I’m asking a lot of you, and of course we’ll wait until you’re fully recovered, but hopefully, that will be before next Saturday since that’s the day of the big game, but really, I’d understand if you say no, and I’ll fight for you to stay anyway. Travis is such an asshole, but for you, Mitch, I’ll fight him. I swear.”

She sounded so sincere, so upset, so traumatized that Mitch could do nothing but torture her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He pushed her hand off his leg, and Sissy reared back in surprise.

“Huh?”

“You heard me. Don’t you think I know what you’re doing?”

“What I’m doing?”

“Trying to use me. To entice me to play on your team.”

“Mitch, of course I’m not—”

“I’m not a whore!”

Sissy rolled her eyes. “Mitchell…”

“I see how this works.”

“How what works?”

He moved further away, giving her his best ingénue stare. “First, you sit next to me—a little too close—wearing those sexytight shorts and that begging-to-be-torn-off tank top. Then a few innocent touches in all my favorite naughty areas, of which I have many.”

Sissy slapped her hands against her thighs. “Mitchell Shaw!”

“And before I know it, I’m on my back, and you’re having your dirty, disgusting way with me. Just so I’ll play for your team.”

She looked up at the ceiling as if asking it for guidance. “Why do our conversations get so strange?”

“And because I’m weak…and your breasts are so large and full—”

“Good Lord.”

“—I’ll succumb to your She-wolf wiles and agree to play your damn game.”

“Or you could just cut the bullshit and agree to play.”

“I could. But I figured this was a better way of getting you to agree to let me look down your shirt.”

“Mitchell!”

Laughing, he held his hands up. “Okay. Okay. I’ll play.”

“Only if you want to. Only if—”

“On one condition.”

“I’m not letting you see down my top.”

“We both know you will eventually, sweet cheeks.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“But before I put on a pad or pick up a ball…”

“Yeah…?”

“I wanna know who the hell Clyde is.”

Sissy fell back on the couch, her knees raised, her bare feet digging into the cushions. She always looked so sexy like that. “You can’t be serious.”

“Tell me, or I go play for the bears.”

She shrugged. Sighed. “I’m not sure you’re ready for this. Clyde…means a lot to me. He knows how to touch all my favorite—what did you call them?—naughty places.”

“Bears,” he growled.

“Fine,” she replied stoically. “If you insist.”

“I insist.”

“Come on then. We have some time before today’s practice, which I’m sure Travis wants you at. But I really hope you’re ready for this.”

He did not like the sound of that.

Chapter 10

Mitch stepped out of the rental car and glanced around. Sissy had parked them beside a small but nice home that sat right in the middle of a ton of property. Growing up in Philly, Mitch was used to the small covered backyard his mom’s Pride had. All this property stunned him. Lots of trees with small rivers and big lakes.

Now Mitch understood why Bren had no problem coming out here to visit Ronnie Lee’s family. All Mitch had to do was sit outside on Sissy’s porch drinking coffee, and he’d see deer and elk dashing by. Of course, it kept him in a state of constant hunger.