The Run Up

By Sophia Jenkins

Dante Delacruz was the newly drafted Primetime Football Player and running back for a prominent Texas football team. He loves the game, but he's also known for his lustful ways with the ladies. He injures his shoulder on the first game of the season and soon after meets Santana Crane, a highly qualified married physical therapist. Can Dante put away with his bad habits with the ladies to get back on the playing field or will his lust for woman keep him sidelined?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sophia Jenkins
• Release date: Jan 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524211646

Book preview

Chapter One

Santana woke with a start. She stretched her arms out only to realize that the space in the bed next to her was empty and cold. She sat up, her eyes adjusting to the darkness, as she glanced at the clock on her bedside table, which glared a red 6:02 a.m.

Her husband, Davis, wasn’t home. She wondered why he hadn’t woken her to say goodbye. She sighed and changed her position to get comfortable under the covers. Davis had been leaving for work early for several weeks. As CEO for a popular Valley Ranch, Texas software company, he had to be available 24/7, and lately, he was constantly consumed with work. That’s all he could be bothered with these days, and their relationship took a back seat to everything else.

Santana took a deep breath in and blew it out. Unable to fall back asleep, she pushed back the covers, hopped out of bed, and padded to the bathroom. She switched on the light and glanced at her reflection in the mirror, her green eyes blinking to adjust to the brightness. She seemed foreign and unrecognizable to herself. Still the same long, brunette locks, slightly disheveled from sleep, and still the same body, full and lithe from her workouts, but something was different. She pinched her cheeks and rinsed her face with cold water, which further awakened her.

She didn’t need to be to work until nine that morning, and because sleep was unreachable, she decided a cup of coffee and the morning news would be a relaxing start to the day. She threw on a comfy robe and slid her feet into her orthopedic slippers, as she yawned loudly. Once downstairs in the kitchen, she careened straight for the coffee pot. It was empty. Davis was not much of a coffee drinker, and then again, if he did drink it, it was because he was trying to impress a prospective client.

Soon, the comforting sound of percolating coffee filled the spacious kitchen. As sunlight streamed through the blinds, Santana leaned on the island, enjoying the scent. Cinnamon Vanilla Hazelnut. Santana was obsessed with flavored coffees and collected them the way some hobbyists would collect candles or stamps. A wide variety of enticing flavors filled an entire cabinet in their kitchen. Davis never truly understood her penchant for flavored coffees, and Santana wasn’t quite sure if she understood it herself.

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Why not stick to one flavor at a time, Davis had suggested one lazy Saturday afternoon.

Santana was unsure how to reply; she couldn’t explain why she needed to have dozens of flavored coffees lining her shelves. She just did. There was something comforting about the choices and the smells; they reminded her of early mornings when she was a girl and her mom and dad would cook breakfast together while she watched from her perch on the stool.

Well, I guess I feel like a different flavor every day. And it’s slightly nostalgic. You think I’m crazy, don’t you? she asked, as Davis wrapped his arms around her waist, with both of them staring at Santana’s coffee cabinet.

He kissed her neck and cuddled her close. Yes, you’re absolutely insane, and that’s why I love you.

She giggled softly, and he turned her around to embrace her, gliding his lips across hers. She lifted her arms around his neck and leaned into his kiss.

I’m obsessed, she breathed in between kisses. Backed against the island, Davis lifted her onto it, and she wrapped her legs tight around his middle, pulling him closer to her. His hands lightly scratched into her back, his fingers leaving soft, red lines through her silk pajama top. She ruffled his bed head, tugging it gently as they kissed softly, his scruff brushing her mouth and cheeks.

I’m obsessed too, he whispered, as he pulled back to look into her eyes. He smoothed her long hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. Why don’t we take this to the bedroom? Davis suggested, and he swiftly grabbed her off the island and pulled her towards the stairs.

Santana glanced back at the coffee machine as it beeped its conclusion, the dark brown liquid stilled in the pot. She paused momentarily before deciding the coffee could wait, and then she followed her husband up the staircase.

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The coffee machine’s beep woke Santana from her reverie. Cinnamon Vanilla Hazelnut had finished brewing. As she poured the liquid into her gigantic mug, she sighed. Thinking back to spontaneous romantic moments that used to fill their marriage caused a longing within her. She missed stolen kisses over cooking dinner, holding hands when out at work events, the gentle pressure of Davis’s hand on the small of her back. Now, Santana was lucky if her husband remembered to kiss her before he left in the mornings.

The news was depressing, Santana thought, as she curled up on her couch and flipped on the TV, but she needed to stay current, and so here she was, forcing herself to watch at least a half hour before getting ready for her workday.

The overly coiffed, overly cheery newscasters chirped the news and weather to her, appropriating their dispositions to fit the mood of each story. The last news segment was sports, which actually interested Santana. As a physical therapist—who specialized in sports medicine—she felt at home hearing about the changes in sports news or the injuries that had benched a player that week. She was fortunate enough to have landed a premier physical therapist’s position for the Valley Ranch Vulcans Professional Football Team, where she dealt with these injuries on a daily basis. Santana loved her job helping professional sports players heal from their specific trauma. She especially loved the excitement of being just close enough to the limelight, surrounded by the buzz of the press at the games, or office, and meeting celebrity clients.

Grabbing the remote, she turned up the volume, sipping the last of her coffee, which was beginning to cool, but still smelled just as delicious as it had when it was freshly brewed. She barely caught the sportscaster at the end of his soliloquy.

Sources say that the star football player will be out indefinitely until the extent of his injuries are assessed. Back to you, Kurt, Jamie. She recognized the signature Vulcans logo, and when she paused the footage, she noticed the picture on the screen was that of