The Backup Plan: A Friends to Lovers Sports Romance (One Pass Away: A New Season Book 2) Read online

  THE

  backup

  plan

  ONE PASS AWAY: A NEW SEASON

  BOOK TWO

  ©2020 MARY J. WILLIAMS

  Copyright © 2020 by Mary J. Williams.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the Copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  First E-book Printing, 2020

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Writing isn’t easy. But I love every second. A blank screen isn’t the enemy. It is an opportunity to create new friends and take them on amazing adventures and life-changing journeys. I feel blessed to spend my days weaving tales that are unique—because I made them.

  Billionaires. Songwriters. Artists. Actors. Directors. Stuntmen. Football players. They fill the pages and become dear friends I hope you will want to revisit again and again.

  Thank you for jumping into my books and coming along for the journey.

  HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

  Please visit me at these sites, sign up for the Mary J. Williams newsletter, or leave a message.

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  MORE BOOKS BY MARY J. WILLIAMS

  Harper Falls

  If I Loved You

  If Tomorrow Never Comes

  If You Only Knew

  If I Had You (Christmas in Harper Falls)

  Hollywood Legends

  Dreaming with a Broken Heart

  Dreaming with My Eyes Wide Open

  Dreaming of Your Love

  Dreaming Again

  Dreaming of a White Christmas

  (Caleb and Callie’s story)

  One Pass Away

  After the Rain

  After All These Years

  After the Fire

  Hart of Rock and Roll

  Flowers on the Wall

  Flowers and Cages

  Flowers are Red

  Flowers for Zoe

  Flowers in Winter

  WITH ONE MORE LOOK AT YOU

  One Strike Away

  For a Little While

  For Another Day

  For All We Know

  For the First Time

  The Sisters Quartet

  One Way or Another

  Two of a Kind

  Three Wishes

  Four Simple Words

  Five More Minutes (The Sisters Quartet Christmas)

  Six Days (The Sisters Quartet Wedding)

  Rock & Roll Forever

  Almost Paradise

  Almost Blue

  Almost Everything

  Almost Home

  Almost Like Being in Love (A Rock & Roll Forever Christmas)

  One Pass Away—A New Season

  The Devil Wears Blue Jeans

  The Back-Up Plan

  The Last Honest Man

  AUDIOBOOKS

  ONE PASS AWAY SERIES

  After the Rain – click here

  After All These Years – click here

  After the Fire - click here

  HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS SERIES

  Dreaming with a Broken Heart – click here

  Dreaming with My Eyes Wide Open

  HARPER FALLS SERIES

  If I Loved You – click here

  If Tomorrow Never Comes – click here

  If You Only Knew – click here

  If I Had You – click here

  THE SISTERS QUARTET

  One Way or Another - click here

  Two of a Kind - click here

  ROCK & ROLL FOREVER

  Almost Paradise - click here

  Almost Blue - click here

  Almost Everything - click here

  Almost Home - click here

  Almost Like Being in Love – click here

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

  MORE BOOKS BY MARY J. WILLIAMS

  AUDIOBOOKS

  PROLOGUE

  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

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  EPILOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  ▲ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲

  LOVE AT FIRST sight. Fact or fiction?

  Levi Reynolds smiled as he remembered the first words Piper Winslow ever said to him. More of a challenge than a question, her green eyes a bit hazy from weariness and a few precisely timed shots of her drink of preference—ice-cold, premium-grade vodka—she seemed to dare him to produce an answer she could rip to shreds with her sharp, smart-ass brain.

  If Levi recalled correctly, he hadn’t been in the best of moods when Piper approached him. All he wanted was to exit the noisy ballroom, get in his car, roll down the windows, and crank up some tunes. Perfection equaled an open road and a heavy foot on the accelerator. The last thing he needed was to be waylaid by a nonsensical question delivered by a woman whose bad mood almost rivaled his own.

  As the memory solidified, Levi’s smile widened. From the first moment, Piper Winslow was impossible to ignore. How could he not be drawn to a fiery-haired woman with an attitude to match? A woman who, despite her momentary belligerence, was also adorably tipsy. Not drunk, but floaty—her word. And, looking into her soft-focus green eyes, he saw no reason to argue.

  Levi would learn in the years to come that Piper was a woman who knew how to handle her alcohol.

  As the band played one more syrupy love song, despite his wish to be anyplace else, Levi was intrigued. Instead of leaving, he watched as Piper hitched up the mermaid-style skirt on her dress and climbed onto the barstool to his right.

  “Vodka. Straight up,” she told the bartender. She leveled her gaze onto Levi. “Love at first sight. Fact or fiction? I’m Piper by the way. Can I buy you a drink?”

  Because Levi neither accosted women nor was he a glutton for punishment, he swallowed his sudden and illogical desire to plant a kiss on the woman’s full, red lips. He cleared his throat as he reminded himself that he was, at heart, a gentleman.

  “Levi.” He smiled. “The drinks are free.”

  “So they are,” Piper said with a wink of one green eye. “Well, what’s the verdict?”

  “Love at first sight is a fallacy,” Levi stated, ignoring the flutter of increased interest. “Lust, yes. But love? Absolutely not.”

  “Exactly!” Piper slapped a palm onto the bar. The sound was loud enough to momentarily rouse the drunk four chairs away. “And yet, three weeks after they first laid eyes on each other, the happy couple has tied the knot. Why?”

  Rubbing the back of his neck, Levi pondered the question. One answer came to mind.

  “The need t
o justify twenty-one days of sexual hijinks.”

  “Reasonable assumption, but you are way off the beam, my newly acquired friend.” Piper sighed. “The reason you see me dressed in a bright pink taffeta confection straight out of every bridesmaid’s worst nightmare isn’t because of an overload of sex but a massive case of unfulfilled desire.”

  “Unfulfilled?” Levi glanced toward the door, remembering the newly married couple’s hasty retreat after a rushed cake cutting ceremony. He’d wondered at the time why the groom looked so wild-eyed. Now he had his answer. “She wouldn’t sleep with him until he put a ring on her finger?”

  “Typical,” Piper said with a scoff. “Place the blame on the woman.”

  “You mean…? He wouldn’t…?” The idea was too inconceivable for Levi to articulate.

  “Don’t tell anyone.” Piper leaned his way, her voice lowering to a whisper. “Virgin. Not that there’s anything wrong with waiting.”

  “Agreed.” Levi didn’t understand, but nor did he judge. Still… He felt a wave of sympathy frustration. “I get why he was in such a hurry. Thirty years without getting laid is a long time.”

  “The bride swears they’re in love.” Piper rolled her eyes. “Maybe. Hopefully. I’ve known Celia for five years. She was born dreaming of her wedding day. Started planning every detail before she was old enough to understand there’s more to life than getting dressed up in satin and lace.”

  Desperate Bride Syndrome. Levi nodded. He’d witnessed the phenomenon before, up close and personal, with his older sister. She turned a certain age, panicked, and jumped into marriage with the first man who asked. Or did she do the asking? Didn’t matter. After months of getting every detail perfect, becoming a bridezilla from hell, and spending a cringeworthy amount of money, the union between wife and husband lasted all of six tumultuous months.

  “Since when is thirty old?” Levi asked with a frown, the image of his sister’s desperation burned indelibly into his brain. Plus, as a man about to leave his twenties, he wasn’t ready to brand himself as over the hill. “Don’t we still have plenty of good years left?”

  Pushing her hair from her face—the teased bouffant style had collapsed and now resembled less of a poof and more of a pancake—Piper raised an eyebrow.

  “We?” She took a sip from her glass, her lips quirking upward on one side. “What makes you think I’m in my thirties?”

  Levi knew the signs. He’d entered a minefield. Swerve the wrong way and, boom! However, something told him Piper Winslow didn’t care what anyone thought about her or her age. If he was wrong, then he’d deal with her withering glance. If she threw her drink in his face, all the better. The vodka would nip the bloom right off his budding crush on the redheaded beauty.

  “You could pass for twenty-five.”

  “I know,” Piper said matter-of-factly. She let out a small chuckle. “Why do I hear a however lurking in your voice?”

  “Most women in their early twenties bore me.” Levi shrugged. “You, Piper Winslow, are anything but boring.”

  “Damn straight.” Piper grinned. “I’m thirty-three. And, if I don’t miss my guess, older than you.”

  “Three years isn’t older,” Levi argued. “It’s—”

  “A lifetime,” she interrupted. “In terms of wisdom and experience, I’ve been there and done that more times than I care to remember.”

  “If you don’t remember, what’s the point?”

  Glass halfway to her lips, Piper froze, snorted, then let out a full-blown laugh. As he watched her face light with delight, Levi felt his low-grade crush take a worrisome step toward rock-solid.

  “Well articulated, my handsome friend,” Piper said. “You have the kind of quick and agile mind I might appreciate if I weren’t dressed like a slightly pornographic version of a Disney princess.”

  Levi had to admit the amount of cleavage presented by Piper’s dress was a trifle risqué for a church wedding. However, from a strictly male point of view, he appreciated the way the material clung in all the right places.

  Searching for a compliment that wouldn’t make him sound like a clueless man, Levi fell back on an oldy but goody.

  “The color suits you.”

  Piper smirked as though she recognized his dilemma.

  “Most people think redheads should never wear pink.” She finished her vodka in one gulp. “Most people are wrong. Since I’m booked as a bridesmaid four more times in the next six weeks, it’s a good thing that I look good in all colors. Though lime green, neon yellow, pumpkin orange, and a shade of blue that would make Mother Nature cringe might push even my fashion tolerance to the brink of implosion”

  “I believe the color is called powder blue,” Levi said with a shudder. “The groomsmen’s tuxedos match the bridesmaid’s dresses.”

  As the meaning of Levi’s words sank in, a commiserative glint entered Piper’s gaze.

  “You, too?” she asked.

  Levi nodded.

  “Best man.”

  “Maid of honor.” Piper shook her head. “Something’s in the water this year. Seems every other person I know decided to get married. Football players. Ugh!”

  Trying to keep a straight face, Levi nodded as he rubbed his face while his hand hid a grin.

  “Not a fan?”

  “Sacrilegious, right?” Piper said with a sigh. “Seattle loves its Knights. And my best friend has been crazy for the game since forever. Me? I don’t get all the fuss. Grown men chasing a weirdly shaped ball? Kind of ridiculous.”

  Piper wasn’t wrong. However, personally and professionally, Levi felt the need to defend the sport.

  “But entertaining,” he told her. “Maybe if you understood the rules better then—”

  “Didn’t you hear what I said? Best friend. Obsessed. Since childhood.” Piper snorted. “Hanging around Darcy, the game seeped into my pores. I’m a reluctant expert. Not by choice; by osmosis.”

  Again, Levi did his best to stifle a smile. Damn, she was cute.

  “I do love one thing about football.”

  “Enlighten me,” Levi urged.

  “The money. Rich athletes? Yes, please.”

  As Piper’s eyes took on a dreamy quality, Levi’s stomach sank. Straight to the floor like a freaking lead balloon.

  “Money?” he asked, hoping for the first time in his life that his hearing might be on the decline.

  Making a happy humming sound, Piper gave a short nod and Levi felt his crush dissolve just as quickly.

  “Half of the team are my clients,” she said.

  Clients? Levi didn’t want to know. Except he did. He really, really did.

  “What’s your, um, occupation?”

  “Working girl,” Piper answered without a blink or a blush.

  “Ah.” Levi cleared his throat. “I see.”

  “Oh, if you could see your face. Wait.” Piper lifted her phone and snapped a picture. She surveyed her handy work and laughed. “Better than a thousand words.”

  Despite himself, Levi tried to take a surreptitious peek.

  “Maybe another time. After you use my services,” she said with a wink.

  “Not going to happen.”

  “I’m pretty persuasive. Ask around. My reputation is stellar and growing all the time.” Piper opened her purse and removed a small, rectangular piece of paper. “Here’s my card.”

  “Card,” Levi muttered he accepted without thinking. “Of course. Why not? Every working girl should have one.”

  “Excuse me?” Piper beckoned to the bartender. “Could you give Levi here a large bucket of water? He has a dirty mind in need of a major washing.”

  “Uh…” Frowning, the bartender looked from Levi to Piper and back again. “I don’t have a bucket. Would a couple of brandy snifters work instead?”

  “Ignore her,” Levi said. His gaze narrowed onto Piper. “You played me.”

  “Wrong. You played yourself,” she told him with
a satisfied smile. “Most women work. You simply chose to misinterpret the meaning of the words. However,…”

  Afraid Piper was about to rub his proverbial nose in a steaming pile of poop, Levi rubbed his temples, and motioned for her to continue. He was a man who never shied away from taking his medicine.

  “If I were a member of the oldest profession?” She held his gaze. “What would you say?”

  Name your price. I’ll pay. Gladly. Levi almost laughed out loud at the outrageous thought. Pay for sex? He kept his gaze on Piper and sighed. If anyone could tempt him, it would be her.

  “Our conversation has taken an odd turn,” he said.

  “Mm.” Elbows on the bar, Piper propped her chin up with her hands. “True. But I thank you for the distraction.”

  “I’m here because most of my friends are members of the Knights. One gets married, we all celebrate. Team first.” Levi pounded a fist to his chest in solidarity. “What’s your excuse? If you hate weddings so much why participate?”

  “You play football?” Piper asked.

  Levi wondered if he imagined the look of disappointment in her eyes.

  “Play?” He shrugged as he recalled the trajectory of his less-than-illustrious career. “Technically, I suppose the word applies.”

  “Figures,” she muttered. “What happened to lawyers or plumbers? Since I moved back to Seattle, my life is nothing but football players. Not that I’m complaining. My business is thriving because of the Knights.”

  Curious, Levi glanced at the card she’d handed him. The lettering was simple, yet elegant. The words direct and to the point. Piper Winslow. Certified Public Accountant. He thought for a moment, certain there was something he needed to remember.

  “You’re the tax genius all the guys are crazy about,” Levi said as a light turned on in his brain.

  “Genius might be a bit of a stretch.” A bright twinkle entered her gaze. “Then again, what’s the point of false modesty? Where numbers are concerned, I freaking rock.”

  Since her reputation preceded her, Levi didn’t doubt Piper’s word. Brains and beauty. One was his weakness. If he weren’t careful, the other might be his downfall.