Bad Boy Brit (A British Bad Boy Romance) Read Online Free

am.”
    My eyes lit with mischief.  “You’ll never find one,” I said, gesturing at his face with my half-eaten bacon sandwich. “Too ugly.”
    “I’m serious, Liam.”
    “So am I. Have you seen a mirror lately?”
    He knew I was only kidding, and he flashed me a good-natured grin, then sighed. “I really think you’d be happier with a woman.”
    “Right now I definitely would. Nice little after-breakfast romp never hurt anyone.”
    Dean shook his head and went to top up his coffee.
    “You honestly think there’s a shortage of women in my life?” I asked. “Really? Personally I could do with less.”
    “I don’t think there’s a single woman in your life,” he said. “In so many ways. For one thing they’re not women, they’re all girls. And I don’t mean their ages.” He held up a hand to silence me as I opened my mouth to speak. “I mean the way they act around the big football hero. It’s like being in a playground. Plus, you always talk in the plural: ‘women’. I said: a woman. Single. More to the point: singular. Someone special.”
    “It’s not like I’m not looking,” I said, defensiveness creeping into my tone.
    “That’s exactly what it’s like,” Dean countered. “You spend your life surrounded by women—try talking to them for once. And I mean really talking, not just sweet-talking your way into their pants.”
    “Look, it’s easy for you. Trying to find a special woman when you’ve only got five to choose from: anyone can do that. I’ve got to find one out of a hundred thousand. It’s not a needle in a haystack, it’s a specific needle in a pile of other needles.”
    Dean shrugged. “Make whatever bullshit excuses you want. It’s not like this is something that happened when you got famous. You couldn’t commit when we were in our teens, either.”
    I snorted. “Who commits when they’re in their teens?”
    Dean eyeballed me a moment before continuing with what he felt had to be said. “Mum and Dad made relationships look like a living hell and you’ve never been able to shake that image—that’s your idea of a relationship.”
    “What are you, a psychiatrist?” I said, rolling my eyes.
    But Dean continued unperturbed. “They took so much from us, Liam. Stuff we’ll never be able to get back. I’m sorry if it feels like I’m pushing you, but I don’t want to let them take this from you as well. I couldn’t bear to think of you alone all your life because of them.”
    I smiled at him, my face softening. “I’m never alone.”
    Dean managed a rueful smile back. “I guess not.”
    It was an old argument, one we’d had before and which we would have again, but we had been through too much together in our lives to let such things fester for too long.
    But, although the argument was done for another day, I couldn’t suppress a curious sensation as I headed for the shower. It wasn’t something I could put my finger on, nor to which I could put a name. The closest I could come up with was an ‘imminence’—it felt as if something was going to happen, and soon. I wasn’t a big believer in signs or omens, considering that was just so much nonsense, but the sensation was hard to ignore.
    Perhaps it was something that came from inside myself. Or perhaps my big brother’s words were starting to have an effect. Perhaps I was ready.
    Ready to meet the one.
    I quickly dispelled the thought with a shake of my head: don’t be ridiculous — you’re Liam Croft . There were only two things for which I was ready: winning and partying. That was all I needed.
    Right?

 
    Chapter 3
    Allison
    Regardless of the sport, match day is special. I was very familiar with match day excitement from my job, of course, but also from going to see one match or another with my father when I was younger. Baseball games had been a tradition for us; always sitting in the same seats and soaking up the atmosphere. It was something you could almost taste in the air, a spicy tang of