Turn Over:A Secret Baby Sports Romance(17)

"What about it?" I asked.

"We need more of this. All the time. You did an excellent job last night. Perfect."

"It wasn't my idea," I grumbled.

Her eyebrows rose. "It doesn't have to be. I'll take care of those  things, but from here on out everything you do is scripted. The events.  The donations. Signing autographs for kids after the games. Who you hang  out with. Everything."

I felt the vise clamping down on me. I wasn't the team pet. And I sure  as hell wasn't going to let this girl tell me who I could see. Linc  needed to get her pretty white teeth off my ass.

"So you're going to tell him he can't continue to see Lexi Wilde?" Linc threw, what he thought was a touchdown, in her face.

Linc's question had the same effect as a bomb going off in the room.  Charlie was stunned, and I had to wait for the smoke to clear to decide  if I was going to punch my brother.

"Lexi Wilde?" Charlie's eyes lit. "The Lexi Wilde? You two are actually together?"

"No. It's nothing." I shook off the insinuation. "Linc is screwing around."

"Now, that is interesting." She typed into the laptop again and  whispered whatever was on the screen. I was busy threatening my fucking  brother with my eyes.

"Yes. Yes. She's in town the rest of today. She posted something on her  Instagram this morning. Perfect." Charlie's attention turned to me. "I  was going to present a list of suitable Austin bachelorettes, but this  works even better. We need a woman to clean up your image. I have to say  I'm impressed."

"Hold on. I only met Alexa last night. I don't want to drag her into  this. It has nothing to do with her. What does she have to do with  football?"

"Doesn't matter." Charlie didn't give a shit. She operated like a guy that way. "She is your ticket to redemption."         

     



 

"That's not a ticket I'm buying." My jaw clenched.

Alexa had her own problems. I knew that without knowing the details on  what they were. She didn't show up on my doorstep last night because she  had everything she wanted. She showed up because I could give her  something she was missing.

"I want you to meet her at the hospital. Take her flowers. Do something  sweet. I can help you with that part. Oh, and visit the kids. Try to  make it a joint appearance. Completely unplanned and authentic looking.

"And I don't care how or when, but I want the press to see you kiss her.  Plain as day. Nothing blurry-not one of those interpretive pictures. I  need a full-on lip-lock that is going to meltdown the internet. I want  everyone talking about you two."

Charlie's cheeks flushed and her emerald eyes glowed. She was getting  off on this. I'd seen the same look in the coaches' eyes when they came  up with a game-winning play. Or on the sideline when I ran a reverse  route no one saw coming.

"You have got to be fucking with me," I growled.

She flattened her palms on the table. "I never fuck around, Luke. Never."





13





Alexa





I blinked again. "Luke?"

Jake had hissed at me like a snake on the phone, insisting the Warriors  had set up the entire hospital ambush. For a brief second I pictured him  with a forked tongue. I wanted Luke to tell me Jake was a paranoid ass  as usual. There was no way that he would have set me up like that.

And that kiss. I had felt it down to my toes. He wanted me. We couldn't  keep our hands off each other. And for a few hours I thought he was the  sweetest, hottest guy on the planet to entertain the kids. He was in it.  I saw him. He joked with them. Tossed the ball and signed autographs.  He was some kind of an unreal mix of bad-boy-sweet-sexy-dish that I  wanted more of.

"Alexa." He turned toward the stove, dialing the burner to a low number.  I didn't care about food right now. I cared about an answer.

The whiskey burned in my empty stomach.

Every second that ticked by with Luke's silence, I had a sinking feeling  I knew what the answer was. Damn it. If Jake was right about this, I'd  never live it down. Add it to one more of the mistakes he threw in my  face on a regular basis. The silence grew to an uncomfortable level.

"I-I can't believe you aren't denying it." I waited. "What would make  you do something like this? You have plenty of press. You have  paparazzi. Why would you want us to be caught kissing? Why?"

I saw a hint of regret in his eyes. He didn't deny it. I had accused him  and he never fought back. Luke didn't seem like the kind of man to take  wild accusations lightly. All the more reason I was suspicious.

"Luke!"

"Fuck." He whipped around. "I didn't have anything to do with it. Ok?"

"Except you had everything to do with it. You knew it was going to  happen. You were there. It is not ok. My manager is having a heart  attack trying to do damage control."

"It was supposed to be good for my image," he tried to explain.

"What? How?" And then I realized what he was saying. How the pieces clicked into place.

I was what made the image complete. A kiss with me somehow righted the  balance of his bad boy reputation. For the same reason he pulled me  down, I lifted him up. He used me. And he got what he wanted.

I had to get out of here. I looked for my bag, frantic to get out of  Luke's house. I'd call a cab. I'd call Jake if I had to. I wasn't going  to spend another minute under the roof of a man who would trade me in  for his own benefit. Dragging and kicking me into the mud. Using my name  with ease as if I were his property to dictate. I had enough of that  with Jake.

"Alexa, wait."

Luke followed me to the next room.

"I'm an idiot. A naïve, stupid, girl," I huffed. "The country sweetheart  who got fucked by the bad boy. Got it. I won't make the mistake again."

There it was. I spotted the bag where I had dropped it on the leather couch.

"You're not stupid. It was a dick move."

I laughed. "Dick? That's it. Dick move?"         

     



 

"I'm sorry. Ok? I shouldn't have let it get that far."

"Which part?" I steamed. "What part exactly went too far, Luke? The part  where you led me to believe you gave a shit about sick kids? The part  when I agreed to come back here with you today? The part when I let  myself think we had some kind of connection after I spent the night with  you?" I stood with my hands on my hips. My cheeks were hot and my hands  started to shake. "I'd love to hear it. Which part exactly should you  have reined in?"

I don't know why I felt as betrayed as I did. It wasn't as if I was in  some kind of serious relationship with the quarterback. We had one night  together. One amazing, change-my-life kind of night, but  nonetheless-only one night. I was overacting to the level of deception.  Too late to dial that down now. I was in full-blown Alexa mode.

"The press. That part." He moved in front of me to grab my shoulders. I  almost stumbled into him with the impact. "And I do care about sick  kids," he added. "And you."

I glared at him. Nothing he could say at this point was going to soften  me. I was angry and there was a violation of my trust he couldn't heal  with sexy bedroom eyes and sweet apologies.

"Well, you suck."

I threw the bag over my shoulder, shaking his heavy hands from my body. I wanted out from under this.

"Don't you want to hear what happened?" he asked.

I was three steps out of the living room, but I slowed down before I made it to the garage.

"Does it matter?"

"It does to me. Come back and sit down, Alexa."

It was the way he said my name. The gravel in his voice. The forlorn  look in his eyes. Shit. My phone buzzed again and I hesitated to answer  Jake's next call.

"Don't answer it," he instructed.

My eyes darted to Luke. I didn't have to listen to him. I didn't have to  do anything he told me to do. But I thought about last night. How I  gave myself to him. How when I let myself be free in his arms I'd never  felt more alive in my life. Listening to Luke Canton last night had been  the best decision I'd made in years.

He unlocked something in me I couldn't get anyone else to see. No one  wanted to see it. But Luke did. And only an hour ago I had been ready to  go right back to that place. To his bed. To do all the dirty and  naughty things we could under his sheets before I had to get on a plane  to Nashville. I'd only had a few short hours with the man who had made  every part of my body vibrate with ecstasy. It wasn't enough.

And before now I wasn't worried about his reputation. I didn't care  about what people thought about Luke. All I cared about was what he  could do for me. How he could make me feel. I was here to drain every  last drop of pleasure from him before I flew out of town. Because what I  wanted was the bad boy. I wanted a rule breaker. Someone to push me.

Did that make me any better than Luke? Or were we the same? Both needing  something from the other? Using each other? It was personal gain in  different forms. Shit.