I'll Catch You by Farrah Rochon Page B

that.

Chapter 5
     
    A s she made her way through the wide concrete corridor toward the Sabers locker room, Payton mulled over the difference a couple of weeks—not to mention a legitimate reason for being there—could make. The last time she’d made this journey, her knees had felt like water and she’d been sure she would have to financially support Susan Renee after her dear friend was fired for loaning Payton her press pass.
    Today, no one questioned her presence as she entered the Sabers’s sacred domain. Agents were allowed to move freely in and out of the locker room. Payton nodded at David Sage, one of the few fellow agents she’d met and actually liked. He held a cell phone to his ear with his right hand, had another in his left and a third clipped to his belt. David gave her a slight wave as he passed her on his way out of the locker room.
    “One day,” Payton said under her breath. She’d warrant multiple phones one of these days. For now, she was fine with her solitary BlackBerry.
    She spotted Cedric as soon as he exited the shower room, his white T-shirt plastered to his muscular chest.
    Don’t stare. Do not stare.
    “How was practice?” she greeted, triple-dog-daring her eyes to drift below his neck.
    He shrugged a shoulder, which Payton knew would cause all those muscles to ripple even more. She so wanted to look. Pretending the sight of his outrageously sculpted body didn’t affect her was getting harder by the minute.
    “It was good,” Cedric answered, motioning for her to follow him out of the locker room. “We had to stop early so they could repair a part of the field that got messed up during the game this weekend. I hope the city has that water main fixed by tomorrow. We need to be at our regular practice facility.”
    The Sabers, like every other NFL team, had a separate practice facility with a full-length football field, state-of-the-art weight rooms and everything else needed to help keep their players in tip-top shape. Payton had yet to set foot in the Sabers facility. A major break in the city’s main water line had relegated them to practicing at the stadium for the past couple of weeks, which was inconvenient, since they shared the stadium with New York’s other NFL team.
    “So what’s up with my endorsements? Am I rolling like Tiger Woods or what?” Cedric asked.
    “Ha ha,” Payton drawled.
    “You’re the one who said you were going to land an endorsement deal by the end of today.”
    The grin on his face was nearly as irresistible as that muscular chest Payton was still having a hard time ignoring. She should have known he would throw the overconfident claim she’d made during their postgame brainstorming session in her face. She’d crisscrossed the city, going from storefront to storefront like a door-to-door salesman, determined to make good on her promise.
    And she had.
    “Have you ever eaten at Gianni’s Pizza?” she asked.
    “Sure.” He nodded at a maintenance guy driving a golf cart piled high with shoulder pads. “Matter of fact, we had a couple of pizzas delivered last Sunday night while we played dominoes. There’s one just a few blocks from Torrian’s place.”
    So those were the plans he’d had last Sunday night. Payton didn’t want to explore why knowing he was at Torrian’s instead of on a date was such a relief, but it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Just the thought of him cavorting with one of the many women he’d been linked to over the years made her chest tighten with unease.
    She needed to squelch this unhealthy fixation on his love life. As long as it did not compromise his image, Cedric was free to date any woman he wanted. Yet even as she said the words to herself, a disturbing weight settled in Payton’s stomach.
    “What about Gianni’s?” he asked.
    “You’re their new spokesman. You’ll be signing autographs for an hour at their original location in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon.”
    Cedric stopped and turned to