Protecting The Quarterback. Kristina Knight

      

      This is more than just a game...to her

      Sports broadcaster Brooks Smith has always been more involved with the game than the players. But after she shares the spotlight at an awards ceremony with tabloid sensation Jonas Nash, one night of letting her guard down around the infamous quarterback spirals into many heated days and nights together when she gets assigned to the story of the year...

      The hottest player in professional football is hiding a secret that could end his career for good. Now Brooks is caught on the sidelines between the job she loves and the man she is falling in love with.

      “Maybe it’s just me that keeps throwing you off balance, Brook...”

      Jonas walked away, and this time Brooks let him because if she didn’t she’d... Well, she might just scratch his eyes out. The man was impossible.

      She flexed her fingers.

      “It’s Brooks,” she emphasized the s, but he didn’t look back. She raised her voice. “B-R-O-O-K-S, which every other person in the sports world seems to know but which you can’t seem to remember.”

      Who was she kidding? She didn’t really want to scratch his eyes out. As obstinate and annoying as he was Jonas was also satisfyingly distracting. He slipped inside the field house, taking his gluteus maximus out of her view. Distracting and energizing and...

      She’d rather rake her fingernails down his spine than scratch out his eyes, and that was bad. Very, very bad. Because she was a journalist with a story to tell and a reputation to fix.

      Jonas Nash needed to stay off-limits.

Dear Reader,

      I’ve been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. Baseball, basketball, volleyball...but there has always been a special place in my heart for football. I like the intricacies of the plays, I like the beauty of a perfectly thrown football, and when that wide receiver reaches into the sky to pull down an uncatchable ball I cheer.

      When I started to write Protecting the Quarterback, I wanted to convey not only my love for the game, but also my love for the players. Because there are some amazing men who take the field every Sunday, Monday and Thursday, who wear their colors with pride and who never give up on the game. Jonas, the hero in this book, has lost his way a bit, and has even lost a little of his love for the game. Brooks has a deep and abiding connection with the game and its players, and she helps him find not only that connection to the game, but also himself within the game. I hope you enjoy reading their football love story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

      You can find me online on Twitter, @authorkristina, or on Facebook or Instagram...stop in and say hi!

      Kristina Knight

      Protecting the Quarterback

      Kristina Knight

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      KRISTINA KNIGHT decided she wanted to be a writer, like her favorite soap opera heroine, Felicia Gallant, one cold day when she was home sick from school. She took a detour into radio and television journalism but never forgot her first love of romance novels, or her favorite character from her favorite soap. In 2012 she got The Call from an editor who wanted to buy her book. Kristina lives in Ohio with her handsome husband, incredibly cute daughter and two dogs.

      MILLS & BOON

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      My deep thanks go out to Dr. Matt and the team at Northern Ohio Medical Specialists; your love of the game, for athletes, and your love of medicine were evident in all of our conversations. Any medical mistakes in this book are my own.

      For all the girls out there who love football...

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

Dear Reader

       Title Page

       About the Author

       Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

       CHAPTER FOUR

       CHAPTER FIVE

       CHAPTER SIX

       CHAPTER SEVEN

       CHAPTER EIGHT

       CHAPTER NINE

       CHAPTER TEN

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

       CHAPTER TWELVE

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN

       CHAPTER FIFTEEN

       CHAPTER SIXTEEN

       CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

       Extract

       Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

      JONAS NASH SAT back in the high chair, watching the bustling backstage area. Mandi, a model he’d known for a few years, came up behind him and planted a kiss on his neck. The makeup artist swiped the mark away with a tissue and glared at the model. Mandi rolled her eyes.

      “So, what’s the plan