Off sides, p.1
Off Sides, page 1
Contents
Copyright
Title Page
Off Sides: College Football First Time Virgin Romance
Publisher's Library of Bonus Books
April's Daddy: Secret Baby BBW Celebrity Best Friend’s Brother Romance
Murder at Whisper Bay: A Best Friend’s Brother MMA Fighter Cozy Mystery Romance
Heart Sold Separately: Contemporary BBW Cowboy Western Romance
Sophia's Gift: A Billionaire Doctor Workplace Romance
The Soldier’s Doctor: A Military Medical Biker Bad Boy Romance
Unexpected Daddy: A Historical Secret Baby Romance
Through Hayden's Eyes: A BBW Military Bodyguard Romance
Following Orders: A Military Navy Seal Romance
Mail Order Family: A First Love Western Cowboy Mail Order Romance
Murder in Cedar Falls: A Billionaire Hometown Law Enforcement Cozy Mystery Romance
The Lady and Her Guard: Historical 19th Century Victorian Romance
Serving the Order: A Paranormal Romance Series
Hometown Heartbreak: A Sweet Hometown Second Chance at First Love Romance
Forbidden Fantasies: A Taboo Married Pregnancy Fantasy Romance
Guarding Bella: An Italian Mafia Bad Boy Alpha Male Bodyguard Law Enforcement Romance
Protecting Emma: A Paranormal Wolf Shifter Romance
Resisting the Boss: A Billionaire BBW Office Alpha Male Romance
Insubordination: A Billionaire Boss Bad Boy Alpha Male Forbidden Office Romance
Murder at Harlan Lake: A Cozy Mystery Romance
Mail Order Rescue: A Mail Order Bride Historical Western Romance
Saving Clara: A Historical Western Mail Order Bride Arranged Marriage Romance
Cherished for Centuries: Historical and Contemporary Vampire Romance
Rescuing the Duchess: Historical Arranged Marriage 19th Century Victorian Romance
Secret Protector: A Historical Suspense Older Man Younger Woman First Time Romance
Protecting Hope: A Vampire BBW Military Bodyguard Romance
Afraid to Tell: A Sports Hometown Pregnancy Romance
The Perfect Rebound: A BBW Contemporary Western Cowboy Pregnancy Billionaire Romance
The Best Revenge: A Bad Boy College Athlete First Time Romance
Julia’s Daddy: A Secret Baby Brother’s Best Friend Sports Romance
About the Authors—Book Club Writers
(C) Copyright 2016 by ML Michaels - All rights reserved
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors of bonus material own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
Off Sides: College Football
First Time Virgin Romance
By ML Michaels
It had been a long night of intermittently getting woken up by her roommate coming in and out of the room before finally settling down around four in the morning. Tomorrow was the first day of classes, and it was not an ideal night to keep getting disturbed. When Libby’s morning alarm went off, she rolled over, annoyed, and swiped her phone to turn off the blaring sound. She laid in bed another ten or fifteen minutes, wondering whether or not she would have to eventually move back home. College hadn’t even officially started yet, and this just wasn’t working out. Her roommate, Chelsea, was the complete opposite of her—tall, thin, and popular, where Libby was short and curvy and studious. Chelsea was dating Josh Timbers, the head quarterback and the most popular and handsome guy on campus. Libby could have sworn she heard his voice in the room last night as well, but she was half a sleep and could have imagined it. They’d all grown up in the same nearby town, but Libby wasn’t in the popular group like they were. In fact, she wasn’t really in any group at all.
Libby rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the backs of her hands. She blinked and looked around the room. She noted that Chelsea was nowhere to be seen as she pushed the blankets back, swinging her legs out of bed. Her toes connected with the dark blue carpeting of the dorm room, and she stretched her arms up, yawning. It was going to be a long day on little sleep.
Drowsily, she gathered her toiletries and her towel. They had a bathroom connected to their dorm room, but the showers were down the hall. Upon reaching the door, she realized she’d forgotten a change of clothes and headed back to her wardrobe. She didn’t like to walk down the hallway in nothing but her towel; she was way too modest. She decided on a pair of jeans and a purple cardigan. She wanted to look good for her first day. She caught glimpse of herself in the mirror above her bed, and thought that maybe she should wear something a little more feminine but decided this outfit was fine it. Turning on her heels, she nearly fell over at the sight of Josh Timbers standing naked in the middle of the room.
“Oh my god!” she exclaimed and dropped her shampoo as she tried to cover her eyes.
“Hello there, Libby,” Josh said casually.
Libby couldn’t help herself from looking down at Josh’s...everything. Immediately, she wished she hadn’t. She’d never seen a man naked before, at least not up close like this.
“How are you this morning?” he asked, nonchalantly.
He just stood there, hands on his hips, naked as a peeled potato, as if nothing at all were wrong. Libby stuttered but couldn’t find any words. Her cheeks grew hot, and she knew they must be bright red. She bent down and picked up her shampoo, and then rushed across the room without saying anything. When she passed Josh, he pivoted, continuing to face her. She caught a glimpse of his junk swaying as he turned. Libby slammed the door behind her, breathing hard. She closed her eyes and leaned against the door, trying to catch her breath. Damn Chelsea for letting Josh stay over without telling her. Seeing Josh naked first thing in the morning was the last thing she needed. She opened her eyes, and realized Chelsea and a couple of her girlfriends were standing just down the hall, staring at her.
“You okay, Libby?” Chelsea asked, making her way down the hall.
Libby’s hands began to shake as she tried to contain her embarrassment.
“Y-yes, I’m f-fine,” Libby managed to say.
“She must have run into Josh,” one of Chelsea’s friends said.
“That’s obvious. Look at how she’s blushing!” the other one agreed.
“Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you that Josh doesn’t like to wear any clothes in the morning.”
Libby couldn’t hold back a retort. “You forgot to tell me that he was staying over in the first place!”
“I didn’t think you’d mind,” Chelsea explained, feigning innocence.
Libby pushed past them and hurried towards the showers. She was nearly in tears. As soon as she got into the shower, they began to overflow. She couldn’t remember the last time she had cried.
After her shower, Libby walked back to her room. Just as she had hoped, Chelsea and Josh were gone. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but she got ready for class anyway, trying to forget what had just happened. Today was the first day of classes, and she had much better things to worry about.
She adjusted her purple cardigan, rolling up the sleeves to three quarters length and put together her book bag. She doubled checked her belongings to make sure she had everything and headed out the door, confident she was ready for her first class. She had completed all of the suggested reading, and even went over her notes from previous classes to make sure her brain was sharp after the summer holidays.
She hurried down the hallway, even though she was early, and nearly tripped going up some steps. She caught herself on the handrail, and stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding, and her hands were shaking. “Calm down,” she told herself. “It’s just your first class.” Her parents put a lot of pressure on her to do well in school. If she didn’t get straight A’s, there would be hell to pay. It’s not that she didn’t like school, it was simply that there was an incredible amount of pressure on her to be a perfect student.
Taking a deep breath, Libby climbed the rest of the stairs, rounded a corner, and arrived at her first class. She was one of the first students to show up, and wanting a good view of the white board without being in the front and center of the room, she took a seat near to the front, but off to the side. As the classroom filled up around her over the next fifteen minutes, Libby wondered if she would see any familiar faces. Chelsea waltzed in with a crowd of cheerleader friends around her. They all sat clumped together in the back, near the football players. Libby rolled her eyes. The professor came in, and everyone fell silent.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Professor Jameson. Welcome to Biology 101.” Pausing for a moment, he looked around the room. He was a handsome man, perhaps in his early forties—tall, with glasses, and a dark green, corduroy blazer.
Suddenly the door opened, and in sauntered Josh Timbers. Libby turned away immediately and felt her cheeks begin to blush again. She immediately saw the image of his naked body in her mind’s eye. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of such thoughts.
Even though class had already started, Josh came in loudly and high fived a couple of other football players who were sitting at the back of the room. Libby chanced another glance and saw that Josh was headed straight towards her. She cringed, remembering the embarrassment from earlier, she then realized that the only remaining seat was next to her. Josh was coming to take it.
“Well, now that all of us are here,” Professor Jameson said, eyeing Josh from the front of the room, “we can get started. Everyone will pair up with the person sitting next to them.”
It took Libby a moment to realize what that meant. She turned her head slowly.
“Hello, partner,” Josh said, grinning like an idiot.
Libby hung her head, letting her pencil slip out of her fingers. She couldn’t believe her luck. How bad could this day get? It wasn’t even close to lunchtime yet.
The room broke out in a low rumble of voices as people familiarized themselves with their partners. To get the class back on track, Professor Jameson said, “Now, Josh, why don’t you tell us which famous scientist introduced the idea of natural selection?”
The grin fell off of Josh’s face. He stared blankly towards the front of the room, his lips parted slightly.
“Um…” It was obvious that he didn’t know the answer.
“Really, Josh?” Professor Jameson asked, annoyed. “You show up late, and you obviously didn’t do the suggested reading. What a way to start our first day of college. It’s apparent that science doesn’t come as naturally to you as football does.”
Libby raised her hand; she knew the answer.
“Yes, Libby?”
“It was Charles Darwin,” Libby squeaked. She wasn’t trying to show off or to help out Josh; she simply wanted class to get started.
“That is correct, Libby. Thank you. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’d like to explain your first lab project.”
Libby looked at Josh and rolled her eyes. There was no way he would make a successful lab partner. He put his head down for the rest of class, and even though Libby was mad, she felt a little bit sorry for him. When class was over, she put her books away quickly.
“Look, Libby. I promise I won’t mess this up for you.”
“Whatever, Josh,” was all she replied and left before he could say anything more.
Weeks later, Libby sat at her desk, studying for biology. Even though it was her favorite subject, she knew it was going to be a difficult class. She would have to put in extra time if she was going to get a good grade. It was nice and quiet in the dorm room right now, which was rare. She was getting some good studying done. I’ll have to arrange a time to work with Josh, she thought to herself. And then she realized that it probably wouldn’t happen. He had better things to do, like going to football practice and hanging out with Chelsea.
A banging at the door disrupted her. She heard giggles, and knew that it was Chelsea. Libby put down her pen, and stood up, sighing.
“What is it?” she asked as she opened the door.
“Oh, thanks, Libby. I knew you’d be here. I forgot my key.”
“How did you know I’d be here?”
“Where else would you be?”
Libby took a step back as she recovered from the insult. Chelsea waltzed right past her with Josh on her arm. They both flopped down on Chelsea’s bed. Libby closed the door slowly, and then made her way back to her desk. She tried to get back to studying, but the sound of Chelsea and Josh smacking lips was incredibly distracting. She put her headphones on and tried to focus, but she couldn’t stop looking out the corner of her eye. She’d never kissed anyone like that. In fact, she’d never been kissed at all, except for once in high school during a game of truth or dare, and she’d rather not think about that. Finally, she couldn’t bear it any longer.
She took off her headphones and wrapped them around her phone. She thrust her books into her bag and threw on a jacket. As she turned to face them, Josh asked if she’d like to go to a frat party with them. Libby was surprised he would take time away from making out just to invite her, but she chuckled at the thought of going to a frat party.
“Are you kidding?” she scoffed. “I’m going to the library.”
Josh’s face was blank, as if he didn’t understand her.
“You know, the library? The place with all the books…”
Still she got no response out of him. Libby rolled her eyes, and stormed out of the room in a huff. Why did he have to be so infuriating? Didn’t he realize she was going to study for their project? The least he could do was offer to help, not invite her to a party that he knew she wouldn’t have been welcome at.
The library was packed with people, busier than a beehive. There was no way Libby was going to get any work done. She had forgotten that it was sorority rush night, and it was louder than a frat party. Libby found an empty table at the back of the library, but it was still too loud for her to work. She tried for about twenty minutes, and then gave up.
It was strange to see the library so crazy. It was nothing like the usual serene, studious, and reliable environment that Libby was used to. She decided to head back to the dorm room, hoping that Chelsea and Josh had finished slobbering all over each other.
Luckily, they were gone. The room was peaceful again. Libby pulled out her books, and went straight back to work. Her stomach rumbled, but she had too much studying to do to stop and eat. So she carried on, focusing and drinking water to curb her hunger. She had gotten quite a lot of work done but was stumped on one biology problem, when there was a knock at the door. She got up and answered it. It was Josh.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice harsher than she intended.
“I was just looking for Chelsea.”
“Well, she’s not here.”
“Oh, okay.”
Libby looked at Josh closely. His eyes were rimmed with red, and his shoulders seemed to hang like he was defeated. He actually looked depressed. Libby had never seen the quarterback looking anything but confident before. She decided to take pity on him.
“Would you like to come in for a moment anyway?”
“Are you sure?” Josh asked, his eyes lighting up. “I would really like that.”
“Yeah. I’m studying so you’ll have to be quiet, but you can come in and wait for Chelsea if you want.”
“Okay. Thanks, Libby.”
She took a step back and let Josh in. He made himself comfortable on Chelsea’s bed and laid there with his hands on his chest, staring at the ceiling. Libby sat down at her desk and tried to get back to the science problem she was working on. It had been stumping her for quite a while now.
“What are you working on?” he asked, sitting up suddenly.
He peered over at Libby, but as soon as she said, “Science homework,” he leaned back again and simply said, “Oh.”
Libby couldn’t help herself from inquiring even though she was pretending not to care. “Are you okay, Josh? You seem…sad.”
“I’m just…the problem is…” He paused for a moment, looking down at his feet. “Chelsea won’t talk to me again.”
“Again?”
“Yeah, it’s happened before. She’s so stubborn and won’t say a word to me. It’s honestly pretty dramatic.”
“Sounds like it,” Libby said. “Did something happen? Did you two fight or something?”
Josh went silent. He obviously was holding back from telling her something about what had happened between him and Chelsea. Libby gazed at him from across the room, actually feeling a little bit sorry for him. He cleared his throat and said, “I don’t understand why I can’t just fall for simple girls like you.”
Libby couldn’t help but laugh. “Like me?”
“Yeah, like you,” Josh said, almost earnestly.
Libby shook her head. He didn’t know what he was talking about. She wasn’t simple. Maybe she wasn’t dramatic like Chelsea, but she definitely wasn’t simple.
“What do you do for fun, Libby?” he asked.
“Oh, you know…”
“No I don’t…I never see you at any parties or football games. All I ever see you doing is studying.”
“Well,” Libby said, “That’s pretty much it. I study a lot. I like to study.”
“Nobody likes to study.”
Libby smiled at him. Maybe he isn’t so bad after all, she thought to herself.
“You know what?” Josh suddenly asked as if an idea had just come to him. “I think I’ll write her a letter, and leave it here on her pillow, something that will hopefully smooth things over. What do you think?”
