‘Yeah,’ Ryan sighed, following Gary out of the room, a headache starting to form right behind his eyes that he could well do without, especially with a training session in 30 degree heat looming. ‘So everyone keeps telling me.’
Amber swung the car into a parking bay and quickly jumped out, recoiling slightly as the midday heat almost knocked her backwards. Twenty minutes in a lovely, cool, air-conditioned car made you forget how incredibly hot it was outside.
Sliding her sunglasses down over her eyes, she walked quickly out of the car park, almost jogging across the small road that led onto the busy coach park at Reina Sofia Airport as she made her way towards the arrivals entrance.
Walking into the busy airport, she pushed her sunglasses back up onto her head and stood still for a second, breathing a sigh of relief. She was just glad to be out of the heat for a little while. It was so hot on the island right now, so stifling, that any shade or escape was welcome, no matter how brief.
Looking up at the huge screens that hung from the ceiling, she scanned the list of arrivals to see if Ronnie’s plane had landed on time. It had. Five minutes early, to be precise, so she quickly headed over to the arrivals gate, joining a handful of other people who were waiting for friends/relatives/clients to arrive on this beautiful Spanish island.
Amber Allen was living a life she hadn’t expected to be living. But she was more than grateful that her life had turned out the way it had. Just a year ago she’d been the Sports Editor for News North East. It was a job she’d loved, a job she’d been good at. And she’d honestly thought she’d always be there, that she’d never leave. Because she hadn’t wanted to, not really. But a lot had happened over the past year. She hadn’t banked on becoming involved with one of the most high-profile, most talked-about footballers in the game – Ryan Fisher. She hadn’t banked on that, and she certainly hadn’t banked on everything that had come with that relationship. She hadn’t expected to let it get so far, to care so deeply about a man who had so many problems. A man so much younger than her. A man who had caused her to break her strict, self-enforced no-footballer rule. She hadn’t expected any of it. And she certainly hadn’t banked on Jim Allen – the love of her life; a man who’d hurt her so badly in the past, not once but twice. A man she hadn’t really thought she’d ever see again. She hadn’t banked on him walking back into her life. But from the second he’d taken the manager’s job at Newcastle Red Star a year ago she should have known that everything would eventually come to a head. Still, she certainly hadn’t expected – less than twelve months on – to be Jim’s wife. Mrs. Amber Allen. Something she’d dreamed of being since the age of sixteen. Just thinking about that made her stomach flip over in a barrage of glorious somersaults, and she couldn’t help but smile to herself, staring down at the ground for a brief second in case people thought she was slightly crazy, grinning away like some demented idiot.
But marriage to the Premiership’s hottest – in more ways than one – manager wasn’t the only change in Amber’s life. She’d finally bitten the bullet and left News North East for pastures new. Top footballing agent, Max Mandell, had been on her case for months, telling her she could easily become the female face of football on national TV, bombarding her with texts and phone calls, job offers that just seemed too good to be true. She’d never been someone who enjoyed being the centre of attention, never been one to court publicity or feel that urge to become a celebrity of any description – despite her father being a famous ex-professional footballer himself, and her husband being about as high-profile as you could get in the world of football right now. But Max had worn her down with his almost dogged persistence, and with Jim’s encouragement she’d joined Max in London a few weeks ago for a series of interviews and meetings, which had culminated in her landing the job of presenter/reporter for Cloud Sports, a major satellite TV sports channel. She had, indeed, become their new face of football, and the fact it now meant that she also got to work alongside Ronnie – her best friend – well, that just made it all the more perfect. Of course, it was going to mean working in London a lot more, and long periods away from Jim loomed on the horizon, which she wasn’t particularly looking forward to, but she was enjoying the challenge. Football was her world. The people involved in the sport were her life. It was where she wanted to be.
As bodies started to stream out of the arrivals exit, Amber craned her neck to see if she could spot Ronnie. She knew he’d be travelling light, just hand luggage, so he wouldn’t have to hang around by the baggage carousel. He should be one of the first out of there.
Ronnie White. Her best friend. An ex-professional footballer-turned-TV pundit, they’d known each other for years, slept together a few times, and remained as close as two people could be, on a purely platonic level. He’d just remarried his ex-wife Karen, and as far as Amber was aware that was all going well, second time around. She couldn’t be happier for him. But the summer break had meant they hadn’t really seen all that much of each other since his wedding, and she couldn’t wait to see him now. To start working with him. It was just another amazing chapter of this dream-come-true life she’d suddenly found herself living.
She checked her watch. Jim would have the squad out training now, despite the fierce lunchtime heat. He wanted them to be ready, to be used to the temperatures this island could throw at them, even though all their games would be evening kick-offs, when the temperatures were cooler – but only just, at this time of year.
She smiled again at the thought of Jim. Jim Allen, her handsome, beautiful, all- American man. With his grey-flecked hair and that low, deep accent of his, she didn’t think it was possible to be more in love with anyone than she was with him. In some shape or form he’d been her world for over twenty years, made love to her when she’d been just sixteen years old and a star-struck teenager, and he’d been a twenty-seven-year-old teammate of her dad’s at Newcastle Red Star.
Their history had been chequered, to say the least. There’d been a lot of pain, a lot of heartache; people had got hurt – Ryan had got hurt, her father had got hurt, and that was something she really hadn’t wanted to happen. Telling him that one of his oldest friends had slept with her when she was still a teenager was a memory Amber couldn’t erase. The look on his face when he’d found out about her and Jim, it still made her flinch. But all that mattered now was that Ryan seemed to be okay, her dad was slowly coming to terms with everything, and Jim was finally where he belonged. With her. The way it always should have been.
She felt her stomach give another flip as she remembered Jim touching her that morning, waking her up with a kiss before pulling her against him, stroking her breasts and kissing her neck as he’d gently pushed inside her from behind. Oh, Jesus, why had she started thinking about that now? She could feel the tingling between her legs already taking effect and it really wasn’t the time or the place for that to be happening.
She shook out her hair, taking a deep breath at the same time, looking up again at the trickle of people still filtering out of arrivals. And then she saw him – all tall, dark and handsome, dressed casually in a pair of dark trousers and a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his hand-luggage holdall slung over one shoulder, his sunglasses perched in his short, dark hair.
He saw her almost immediately, his face breaking into a wide grin, his pace quickening as he approached her. Amber couldn’t stop her heart from beating faster as he got closer, dropping his bag on the floor as he scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tight, kissing her quickly on the mouth.
‘Hey, gorgeous! How’s my beautiful new work colleague doing?’
Amber repositioned her sunglasses on the top of her head as she smiled at him. He’d picked up a bit of a tan since they’d last seen each other, and it suited him. ‘I’m doing just fine, thanks. You?’
‘Yeah, things are okay. They’re okay.’
Amber frowned slightly as she watched him pick up his bag and sling it back over his shoulder.
‘Been looking forward to heading out here, though,’ he went on, shoving his hands in his pockets, his eyes now fixed firmly on hers. ‘Kind of itching to get back to work.’
She raised a questioning