Free Chasing Jillian: A Love and Football Novel by Julie Brannagh

realized she was babbling, but she couldn’t seem to stop talking. He looked like he was about to laugh.
    “Shit, yeah.” He raised an eyebrow, smirked, and pushed past her into the apartment. CB raced into the living room and came to a dead stop on the top of Seth’s foot. “Who’s this?” He reached down and scooped the kitten into one big hand.
    “That’s Crème Brulee, but I call her CB.”
    “The hell? It’s a kitty, not a dessert in a four-star restaurant.” He looked into the kitten’s eyes. “I can’t believe you let her name you that.”
    CB responded with a purr. Seth cuddled her close to his chest, and she nestled into the crook of his arm. “You know, I usually don’t like cats,” he said.
    “You can leave at any time.”
    “What if I don’t want to?”
    “I don’t get it. Why are you here?” she said.
    He ignored that, crossed the living room, and sat down on the couch with the cat in his arms. “If you’ll put some shoes on,” he coaxed, “we can get out of here. We’ll get to where we’re going before the tourists take over the place.”
    She indicated her current attire with one hand. “Tourists? In my nightgown? And I have to be at Treehouse at eleven AM .”
    “Whatever floats your boat,” he said. He gave CB a scratch behind her ears. “I see your ‘casual thing’ boyfriend is nowhere to be found.”
    “He could be in the bathroom.”
    “Sure, he is,” he said. He lifted one eyebrow.
    This was her time. She couldn’t imagine what in the hell was wrong with him. There must be something else for him to do at the crack of dawn on a Saturday.
    “Don’t you have a new girlfriend or something?” she said.
    “Nope.” He settled one ankle over his knee. “Right now, you’re my date. Go get dressed, and I might even pay for breakfast. I’ll have you back here by ten AM .” He held the cat inches from his nose again, looked into her eyes, and said, “Sorry, kitty, you can’t go. We’ll try to find you a treat.” CB let out a pitiful mew. He stared into the kitty’s face. “I’ve dated supermodels. You’ll have to try harder than that.”
    Of course, CB purred some more and head-butted him. What a flirt.
    He glanced over at Jillian again. “You’ve got ten minutes.”
    “Is this a dress-up thing?”
    He looked horrified. “Oh, hell no.”
    Jillian turned and fled into her bedroom. She wanted to slam the bedroom door, but waking up the neighbors this early on a Saturday would be a disaster. She pulled off her nightgown; brushed her teeth; yanked on a bra, T-shirt, and sweats; covered the T-shirt with a sweatshirt; and jammed on her cross-trainers. She put her front door keys in her pocket. Minutes later, she reappeared in the living room.
    He looked like a cover model in messy hair, stubble, a pair of warm-up pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt advertising some NFL event. She didn’t even have time to comb her hair.
    “Nine minutes and thirty seconds, Jillian? I’m impressed.”
    “Again. Why are you here?”
    He gave her a raised eyebrow and explained in an excruciatingly slow manner. “We’re friends. Friends spend time hanging out. I think you’ll enjoy what I have planned this morning.” One side of his mouth twitched. “Okay?”
    “Fine. Let’s go,” she said, both hands on her hips. “Don’t you have to be at the walk-through before tomorrow’s game or something?”
    “We’ll do that shortly before we go to the team hotel late this afternoon.” He let her kitten head-butt him again. “Crème Brulee, do you mind if I call you CB?” The kitten meowed. “Your mom is pissed at me,” he said.
    Jillian steeled herself. She was not going to melt at how cute he was with her kitten or how at home he looked sitting on her couch. “Do you often get out of bed at six thirty on weekends?”
    “I was up at five,” he said. “I waited an hour.”
    “You’re joking!” she cried out.
    “Oh no. I don’t joke about stuff like this.”
    S ETH SET