Tackling Her Heart

Punished and benched after
he paid a little needed retribution on a teammate, Marc Anders goes
into self-exile at a Tahitian resort. He needed to get away from
the media circus his life was about to become. But the ringleader
of that circus, ex–lingerie model turned sports reporter, Sofia
Figueroa, follows him trying to get her scoop.

Sofia nearly destroyed
Marc's brother's career with a slanderous mistake, one she's
apologized for repeatedly. Now she's on the hunt to write another
piece on the Anders' clan, and Marc will do anything to stop her,
even if it comes down to seducing her and making Sofia his
mistress.

Cool and controlled, they
don't call him The Iceman for nothing. Yet Sofia heats his blood
and threatens to make him melt. Knowing he needs to hold on to the
reins, his brand of control comes with cuffs and paddles, and he
has more than one reason to punish his lover.

Can he hold on to his
control and not let his own dark needs overshadow hers?

Tackling Her
Heart

Football Fantasies,
3

by

Alexandra
O’Hurley

M/F, LIGHT BDSM, SPANKING,
FLOGGING,

TOY USE, ORAL SEX, AND ANAL
PLAY

Twisted Erotica Publishing,
Inc.

www.twistederoticapublishing.com

A TWISTED EROTICA PUBLISHING
BOOK

Tackling Her Heart

Copyright © 2014 by Alexandra
O’Hurley

Edited by Marie Medina

First E-book Publication: April 2014,
SMASHWORDS EDITION

Cover design by K Designs

All cover art and logo copyright © 2014,
Twisted Erotica Publishing.

ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED:
This literary work may not be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part,
without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book
are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is
strictly coincidental.

DEDICATION

To the one person who has always believed in
me.

Tackling Her
Heart

Chapter One

“
How big do think that
fine’s going to be?”

Marc Anders had just sat
at his locker. Still in uniform, his mind was on the field reliving
what he’d done. He’d not had enough time to decompress. Marc heard
the question posed and was pretty sure he recognized the voice,
too. Why the fuck did it have to be
her
? He knew shit was going to get
deep, but he wasn’t in the mood to handle it from the one woman
able to get under his thick skin. After taking a breath, he stood
and started to take off his gear, ignoring her query.

“
Oh, is this how we’re
playing it? The Iceman tackles one of his own teammates on the
field in the pre-season opener, with the whole world watching, and
he thinks he doesn’t have to answer for it? Baltimoreans will want
to know, Marc,” sports reporter Sofia Figueroa urged from behind
him.

The Iceman.
He hated that fucking nickname, although, it
wasn’t too far off the mark. He normally kept himself cool on the
field. When he did lose it, it was a big deal. Marc glanced over
his shoulder, staring her and her recorder down. “Who’d you blow to
be let in early?” The locker room wasn’t open to reporters until
about ten minutes after the game, but then, Sofia was used to
preferential treatment.

One of Sofia’s perfectly arched
eyebrows elevated, but that was her only reaction to his comment.
He turned back to his locker and drew his pads and jersey over his
head, handing them over to the equipment handler. Sweat coated his
body. Pre-season games were sometimes the worst, with the summer
heat leeching into September. And was it hot—and not just because
of the heat.

Sofia Figueroa had been a lingerie
model before turning sports reporter, and that’s why her network
liked having her around. She had a monthly spot on their Internet
podcast and wrote for their monthly as well. Tens of thousands of
young men probably still jerked off to her as much as they had when
she’d graced the pages of the Victoria Secret’s catalog, even if
she was wearing a little more now that she graced sweaty locker
rooms instead of runways.

She had ties to South American soccer
in a big way, so strings had been pulled to land her current gigs,
he was sure. Daddy had been a player and now owned a team, where
the nepotism ran rampant. His son, and her brother, was the team’s
star player as well, from what Marc had found when he’d Googled
her.

Marc had looked over the pictures of
her in a tiny little nothing pair of panties and bra, strutting
around on stage, her long, dark hair wrapping around her curvaceous
body. All he could see was her hovering over him, that curtain of
hair falling about him as he pumped up into her body. Her caramel
skin was creamy looking and even now he wanted to reach out and
touch her to see how smooth it was.

The more those thoughts circled in his
mind, the angrier he got at her.

He’d investigated her after she nearly
tanked his brother Maddox with one of her first big stories. Sofia
had come close to ruining his brother’s life. Her report had been
on a group of MLB players who’d been using, where she’d listed his
brother as one of those involved. Maddox didn’t use, never had—and
he’d been tested repeatedly to prove as much.

Yet the truth hadn’t taken all the
humiliation away, even if Maddox had been exonerated. There was
still a mark on his character that didn’t seem to want to go away,
and the cloud would forever hang over Maddox’s head.

Sofia had done that.

No matter how gorgeous she was, no
matter how well written her piece had been, no matter how smart she
seemed to be in interviews—she wasn’t a woman for him to toy
with.

“
I mean, who knew you had
emotions? Was it retribution for what Brian Brooks did to your
sister?” Sofia asked, loud enough to get a couple of other players
to turn and look. “If it was, I might actually like you
more.”

Marc knew his teammates were curious
as to what happened. As were the coaches. And they all more than
likely had put two and two together. His coach had torn him a new
asshole, which he’d expected. Marc had been mum after it happened,
choosing to not answer. He’d be forced to talk eventually. The
commissioner would want to see him, for sure. Until then, he needed
to stop letting her under his skin—where she was firmly entrenching
herself.

“
Why take down your
teammate unless it was about vengeance. Since the only thing I have
is Brian cheating on your sister and getting caught very publicly,
that’s what I’m going to assume—as is the general public. Brian was
gunning for Jennings Ashby, who’s sleeping with your sister,
correct?”

Marc spun around and stormed closer at
Sofia. The woman had to back down when it came to his family. It
was no one’s business who Maggie was sleeping with, except
Maggie’s.

He had to give Sofia credit—she didn’t
back down at all as he rushed her. Her chin lifted and she held her
ground as he charged.

Marc glared down into her
…
gorgeous
…
eyes.
Fuck, I am
so
not going there.
“I don’t have to answer to you for anything. You
can leave my family out of this. Haven’t you done enough
damage?”

Sofia clicked off her
recorder and narrowed her eyes. “We printed a very public apology
for what I wrote about your brother. His name was listed in the
doctor’s records as having received therapy, just like the other
players I named. He was the
only
one clean out of the ten I found. He was the only
one who’d actually gone for real physical therapy. It was a
mistake, and I’m sorry he got tangled up in it.”

“
Tangled up in it? You’re
the one who did the tangling. Did you apologize to
him
? Face to face, not
hiding behind your magazine?”

Sofia swallowed thickly, her eyes
widening a bit. “No … I didn’t.”

“
Maybe you should,” Marc
added.

“
I’ll take that into
consideration, but I still have a job to do. Tonight that job is
discovering the story. You just decked a teammate on the field in
front of thousands of fans. One way or another, I
will
find out why. This
is your chance to set me straight so I don’t make another Anders
mistake.”

Marc clenched his jaw, weighing his
options. Should he talk to her and give her the truth, or should he
back off before the commissioner got involved? The second idea was
probably in his best interests, even though it would add fuel to
the rumor fires. “Even if I told you the truth, you’d more than
likely spin it, so why bother?”

He turned his back on her and faced
his locker. Ignoring her presence, he began to strip down and get
ready for a shower, one she was preventing him from
getting.

“
When have I ever spun a
story? I made a mistake. I didn’t pull crap from thin air. Come on,
Anders, give it to me straight.”

Marc kicked off his shoes
and then drew his pants down.
Give it to
her straight, hmm?
After shucking his
underwear, he turned back, naked as the day he was born.

Sofia’s eyes veered lower, and Marc’s
cock stretched a little, as if it knew it were under her scrutiny.
He felt himself stirring and anger filled him. No matter how
gorgeous she was, she was a career-ruining harpy and he wasn’t
going to get caught in her trap.

“
You want it straight?
You
don’t
belong
here. Is that straight enough for you?”

Sofia’s tongue peeked out, and she
swiped it over her glossy, full lips as she turned to stop staring
at him. Marc noticed her rapid breathing and knew he had an effect
on her, too, which only goaded his masculine pride.