Offsides: A Standalone Sports Romantic Comedy Read online

  Offsides

  A Standalone Sports Romantic Comedy

  Kristen Hope Mazzola

  Offsides

  Copyright © 2019 Kristen Hope Mazzola

  Published by Kristen Hope Mazzola

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Published: Kristen Hope Mazzola 2019

  Cover Design: Kristen Hope Mazzola

  Formatting by: Kristen Hope Mazzola

  Editing by:

  C. Marie: [email protected]

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  The North Carolina Hogs Logo

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Did you enjoy what you just read?

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Kristen Hope Mazzola

  About the Author

  Hat Trick

  Chapter 1

  “When I saw her I was in love with her. Everything turned over inside of me.”

  ― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

  The North Carolina Hogs Logo

  Prologue

  The North Carolina Hogs Win First Super Bowl with Minutes to Spare

  Over the years, the North Carolina Hogs have fought their way to close-but-no-cigar spots in the playoffs with their eye on the prize of being in the Super Bowl. This year, that finally changed. Few football franchises have as many notable players, and this year their roster came together to finally get their hands on those coveted Super Bowl rings.

  With Logan Turner, the great NC Hogs running back and now their new most valuable player, a hunger for victory right before kickoff on Sunday predicted that the offensive line would go down in history, just like he promised his team they would in the locker room only minutes before taking the field, sources say.

  This underdog team can finally add their very own Vince Lombardi Trophy to their collection, and history gained new heroes for the franchise including Logan Turner, Bo Briggs, Thomas Whyte, and Roger Wilson. After a chaotic finish, the Hogs won their first ever Super Bowl title not because of their fearless defense, but because an intensely determined offense allowed them to defeat the New York Giants 27 to 23.

  After the Hogs lost a lead they had held since after the first possession of the game, one which ballooned to 10 points at one point, quarterback Bo Briggs and running back Logan Turner connected for a 6-yard touchdown that Turner grabbed as he was falling out of bounds behind three untiring defenders.

  The touchdown came with 26 seconds lingering and just two minutes after the Giants moved ahead on a 64-yard touchdown reception. The victory capped a season that began with a questionable onset that had many feeling skeptical about whether the Hogs franchise had what it takes to go all the way.

  North Carolina reached the Super Bowl limelight chiefly on the backs of a defense that was resolute in their guard through gritty persistence and determination. For most of the game, this defense played up to billing, thwarting one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses.

  It was the defense that gave the Hogs a 10-point advantage when the Giants were threatening to sneak into halftime with a lead despite being dominated in the first half. Mick Kalanick, the defensive coordinator for the Hogs, is in his 38th year of pro football and called it the most paramount defensive play he has seen in his career.

  “I have to say I am proud of how hard these men played to secure their victory,” Kalanick mentioned in his interview after the game.

  The North Carolina defense spent the majority of the night responding to deep plays and savvy footwork. In the fourth quarter, Davies mined the open middle of the field on hurry-up drives.

  The Super Bowl crowd of over seventy thousand, fiercely tilted toward the Hogs, fell deathly silent as the end result seemed bound to sway in favor of New York. On the sideline, Coach Billie B. Browns was notably relieved that the Hogs had not taken more time off the clock than necessary, a feat that seemed to be the driving force toward the team’s ultimate success.

  “This is the perfect definition of our team’s history,” Browns remarked. “Hogs football is not going to be predictable until the end, when they always come through for each other.”

  “Disbelief is the major feeling right now,” Ross Taylor, owner of the North Carolina Hogs, commented. “They won us the game. The offense came through when we really needed it. After going out there and giving up what could have been a game-ending touchdown, the offense came through in the end. I couldn’t have predicted them playing like that, and I am pleasantly surprised and proud of my team.”

  Few would have thought the fearsome defense would ever have given way, but even with the minor errors and opposing yards being stolen, the North Carolina Hogs still won in an extraordinary triumph.

  As fans and team members alike celebrated this unlikely win, reporters interviewed the smiling players.

  “I can’t believe how amazing this feels. It all turned around within a matter of seconds. You could have easily seen me crying in the locker room and the other team cheering out here,” running back Logan Turner answered honestly. “This game here tonight just proves that it isn’t over until it’s really over. That’s how wonderful American football truly is.”

  Chapter 1

  Blame the Tequila

  Ari

  Awful dress that made me look like an overripened eggplant—check!

  Shoes that made my feet want to mutiny—check!

  The overwhelming feeling that I was going to puke at any moment—check!

  Shaking knees—check!

  Sweating palms and pits—check!

  Standing in front of my entire family, all of my sister’s friends, and way too many people I didn’t know, I locked eyes with my little sister where she sat at a lavish sweetheart table with her new hubby. She was glowing in her sparkly, blush pink Disney princess-style wedding gown. The twinkle in her eye as she gazed at her better half melted my heart.

  With a deep breath and a tap on the mic, I dove head first into my maid of honor speech. “Good evening everyone. For those of you who don’t know who I am, I’m Ari, Josie’s older sister. When Josie asked me to be her maid of honor, I knew it was completely out of obligation since I am her only sister.”

  As I took another deep breath, people laughed at my half-assed attempt at being funny. Thank goodness it was working.

  “Three years ago when she called me in the middle of the night, I thought she was calling to tell me there was some kind of catastrophe I was going to have to help her with. Actually, it was to info
rm me that she had drunkenly kissed a football player at a bar and wasn’t sure if he was attractive or not. Thankfully, I can say we were pleasantly surprised when he texted her a few hours later with a decent selfie of a shirtless guy with a scruffy beard and a crooked smile. Good job on shaving for the big day, by the way.”

  I pointed to my new brother-in-law as he turned a few shades of red and raised his champagne flute, which was dwarfed in his gigantic hand.

  “I was going to tell a few embarrassing stories about the baby of the family, but Josie has way more dirt on me than I do on her, and we just don’t have enough time to get through that minefield tonight, trust me. With us having three older brothers and a father who have an affinity for firearms and hunting, Roger absolutely had his work cut out for him, to say the least, but he won all of us over in no time. To be fair, I think it was harder for that big brute to convince my mother that a ripped football star would treat her little princess the way we all know she deserves to be treated, and I do have to say, Roger, well done on not only sending flowers to Josie on Valentine’s Day year after year, but to Mom and me, too. That has definitely earned you more brownie points than either of us care to admit.”

  I got a few more chuckles and smiled at the crowd before continuing.

  “If you devote half the amount of time to Josie that you do to dropping passes on the field, I think my sister will be one hell of a lucky woman. Thank you for teaching me by example what a fumble is on countless Sundays and for reaffirming my disdain for a sport I will never completely understand. But, seriously, seeing the way Roger looks at Josie and how happy they have made each other, I think I can speak for everyone here when I say, thank God for Alabama Slammers and drunken make-out sessions. Everyone, please join me in congratulating the new Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, and if anyone needs me, I will be shamelessly quarantined over at the singles table as the last Owens standing.”

  Fuck yes, so glad that’s over.

  Throwing back the shot I had grasped in my hand, I quickly winked at Josie before handing the mic back over to the DJ. My sister jumped up, rushing over to me in the middle of the dance floor.

  “Thank you, Ari.” Her arms flew around my neck. “That was perfect.”

  “Anything for you,” I retorted in her ear as the DJ called for everyone to start dancing off the four-course meal we had just devoured.

  Within minutes, we were surrounded by gyrating guests as Roger grabbed his wife’s hand to make the rounds and visit guests they hadn’t had a chance to greet yet.

  Retreating to the bar, I was cornered by my oldest brother, Jayden.

  “Last Owens standing, huh?” His receding hairline and speckles of gray didn’t do him any favors as he riled me up for the hundredth time.

  “Well, it’s the truth, isn’t it?” I took my glass of champagne from the bartender, turning back to my brother.

  “If you don’t put in effort, that title is going to be etched on your tombstone.” The laugh that followed his retort made me want to deck him on the spot, but my prim-and-proper mother would have been too disappointed in my unladylike behavior, so I restrained myself.

  Chugging from my glass, I racked my brain for a witty comeback, but nothing good came to mind. “Dating blows. Not all of us meet the love of our life in high school.”

  “Hang in there, kid. There’s a guy crazy enough to put up with you and your bullshit out there somewhere.”

  “Am I supposed to say thank you to that?” I bit back.

  “It’s said out of love, Arianna.” Using my full name was his way of digging the knife farther in. Everyone knew how much I loathed it. The singsong frilly moniker didn’t suit me in the slightest.

  Within the span of thirty minutes, countless extended relatives exhaustively droned on about my lack of prospects. I hated the prying questions about my social life, and the ones asking when I would finally settle down were the worst. Was it so hard to believe that a single woman in her mid-twenties wasn’t dreaming of walking down the aisle and hunting for Mr. Right every waking second of her life?

  Ducking out onto the beachside terrace just outside the banquet hall, I welcomed the break from having to constantly defend my lifestyle. The chilly North Carolina air wrapped around me as I watched the waves dance in the moonlight.

  “That was some speech,” a voice called over.

  Turning around, I was greeted by the smiling face of one of my tablemates as he carried a coat over to me.

  “Thanks,” I muttered as he wrapped the warm fabric around my shoulders. “Logan, right?”

  He nodded before taking a long swig from his rocks glass. “Having a good time?”

  I shrugged. “It’s a gorgeous wedding. I’m really happy for them.”

  “It’ll be nice to not hear Wilson talk about wedding crap in the locker room for a change.” Logan smiled to himself before leaning on the railing next to me. “So, what’s your deal, Ari? Why are you the last Owens standing?”

  Not this again. I rolled my eyes. “I could ask you the same question. Why is a successful, attractive athlete like you going stag to a buddy’s wedding?”

  “Touché.” He rubbed the back of his head for a second. “I guess I just don’t like wasting anyone’s time. Most women who want to date me only want to do so because of how many yards I can run, not for me.”

  “That honorable, I guess.” The awkwardness of the conversation made me want to find another hiding place.

  Without warning, chapped lips landed on mine with a sloppy thud. Taking a sharp step back and consequently ramming my back into the guardrail, I planted my palm right in the middle of Logan’s rock-solid chest.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I hissed, venom in my tone as the words spewed from my tongue.

  “Wasn’t it obvious?” he teased, taking a cocky step forward with a smug, crooked smirk.

  “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone who is a cliché, and frankly, I’m not going to be branded as one of those bridesmaids.” Turning my nose up as he tried to widen his grin, I couldn’t help but notice how adorably lickable he looked in the moonlight and that perfectly fitted tux.

  “You must forgive my naiveté, but what do you mean by those bridesmaids?” The air quotes he put around the last two words were laughable.

  “One of those desperately depressed spinsters who hook up with vulture bachelors at weddings just because they’re jealously love drunk from the evening’s festivities,” I scoffed, damning him for how trapped he had made me so abruptly.

  “Now, you really think that highly of me, do you?”

  Fuck he’s hot.

  Not at your sister’s wedding, Ari.

  “Jumping to conclusions is a talent of mine, a honed skill from years of dealing with these awful affairs.” My wit with a subtle hint of bitchiness didn’t seem to throw him off. Impressive.

  “Next you’re going to say I’m a good-for-nothing jock who doesn’t know Seuss from Poe or a kindergartener’s watercolor from a Rembrandt.” His teasing was welcomed. I was a sucker for good banter.

  “And now you’re going to wow me with some bullshit from the few cultural classes you were forced to take while getting a full ride for being able to run fast with a ball clutched in your grasp.”

  He chuckled for a minute before retorting, “Would it impress you to know that the Ivy League schools don’t give out athletic scholarships?”

  “Good for them?” I crossed my arms over my chest as my resolve to resist the bearded hunk in front of me started to dwindle.

  “I guess you’re right—it is good for them—but you didn’t answer my question about you being impressed or not.”

  “Only if you know that lovely little factoid from experience.”

  “Bow, wow, wow,” he chanted loudly as his chest puffed out with pride.

  “So you’re telling me the North Carolina’s Hogs’ most valuable player, the one who scored the game-winning touchdown only a month ago, is a Yale alumnus?”

 
; “Impressive, isn’t it?” The alluring simper returned as he killed the rest of his drink.

  While he clinked the ice around in his empty glass, I grabbed the sides of his face and crushed my lips to his.

  Damn him and his tenacious, panty-melting comebacks, and damn my morals, too.

  He was hot, and I was lonely. I was also slowly turning into one of those bridesmaids.

  Pulling away from him to catch my breath, I harassed him a little. “You, sir, should know to bring lip balm with you on chilly nights so close to the water.”

  “I’ll have to remember that,” he said on an exhalation before going in for a show-stopping, fireworks-shooting, knee-weakening make-out session that should have gone down in history books.

  “I’ll take that as a yes, you are impressed,” he teased during a brief reprieve.

  “Don’t ruin the moment,” I whispered, pulling him in by his lapels.

  With the sound of waves crashing on the shoreline behind us, we lip-locked like drunken school kids for what felt like too fleeting of a moment before the sound of tapping rudely interrupted us. As I looked past my hunky kissing partner, I saw Josie jumping up and down on the other side of the glass, clapping like an idiot.

  She had planned this all along—the sweetheart table, not wanting to put the bridal party at its own table, sitting Logan next to me for dinner. That sneaky sister of mine knew I wouldn’t be able to resist him. I did have to hand it to her—she was good.