What Would It Take

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Present day…

A ringing phone woke Sailor from a deep sleep. With a groan, she rolled over and muttered, “Shut up.”

She needed sleep. Her head was pounding, and she had an enormous hangover from last night. Tequila shots and girl’s night were the devil.

Her phone rang again, and she threw her pillow with a loud, “Ugh.” She looked at the red numbers on the digital clock beside her bed. Six a.m. on a Saturday for God’s sake. Who the hell was calling her?

The ringing stopped then started right up again. She rooted around in her bed, trying to find the phone and finally located it under one of the big, comfy pillows on her bed.

“Hello, this better be an emergency?” Her voice came out a little raspy and a whole lot of irritated.

“You have got to get down here ASAP, Sailor,” Jill, her assistant, replied, sounding urgent.

Sailor sat up, more alert. “Why? What’s wrong?”

She rubbed at her eyes then pinched the bridge of her nose. Sitting up so quickly had sent a sharp pain through her head and turned her stomach.

“JB’s contract negotiations fell through, and he signed with another team. Dalton must have known it would happen because he’s already signed a new quarterback, and they’re all on their way to the office now. Dalton wants you here right away to handle the PR nightmare.”

Sailor was wide awake now and pulling the covers from her body. “What? Why wasn’t I informed of this?”

“Dalton said he’s been calling and texting you since last night. If you hadn’t answered now, I was supposed to come get you.” Jill sounded irritated now.

Standing, Sailor felt a little unsteady. Damn, she might still be a little drunk. “How did he find someone so quickly?”

“I don’t know, Sailor. All I know is the guy’s apparently an old friend of Dalton’s from college and he lives in the area. Since he’s a free agent, the contracts went quickly and were signed over dinner last night. I don’t even know the guy’s name. It’s all hush- hush.”

“Okay, okay, I’m up. Give me thirty minutes.”

With a click of the end button, Sailor hung up on Jill in mid-sentence then checked her phone. Sure enough, she had dozens of missed calls and texts from Dalton Green, her boss and NFL team owner of the Austin Arrowheads, the current number one team in the league.

With a curse, Sailor ran to the bathroom of her downtown loft to get ready. Without warning her stomach revolted, and she barely made it to the toilet. After throwing up all the contents of her stomach, she peeled off her clothes and took a quick hot shower. She dried off quickly, wrapped a towel around her small frame and pulled her long dark hair into a ponytail. Normally, she’d blow dry her hair into soft waves, but today, a ponytail and natural curls would have to do. Looking into the large mirror over her sink, she took in her hung-over face and blew out a breath.

“Looks like it’s going to be a concealer day.” After throwing on a little makeup and light-red tinted gloss, she ran from the bathroom and threw open doors of her walk-in closet. She chose a simple short-sleeved, black, wraparound dress and paired it with her favorite pair of red-soled black stilettos.

She surveyed her reflection in the closet’s full-length mirror. Not the best but she looked decent enough. The dress’ warm material would protect her from Texas’ late- winter weather. It also hugged her curves in all the right places, giving her a professional yet feminine appearance. The stilettos gave her the height she needed to appear taller than her five-foot even frame.