I'm a football player... She's a cheerleader... Bound by a no-fraternisation rule.

But now we're stranded in a storm, alone in my car, and every inch of my being wants to ignore that contract.

With a demanding father who won't get off my back about carrying my team to the NFL final, I have no time-or desire-for anything that doesn't involve football.

But my team's image needs mopping up, which means spending time with the cheerleading coach's ambitious and sprightly daughter, who I'm pretty sure dislikes me almost as much as her mother does.

She's bold, outspoken and a hazel-eyed, honey-haired pain in my ass.

A pain I'm slowly starting not to mind.

Everything in our contract says we can't have each other, but I've been expected to follow the rules my entire life.

And I'm tired of it.