She closed her eyes. “Because I don’t date athletes.”
Grant was getting really tired of that line. She said it all the time without giving any good reason behind it. They’d just kissed, and she was still reciting it. “But why?”
She bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “I’ve always found them to care too much about themselves to have room for anyone else.”
That’s why she mentioned my “workout” videos. She thinks I’m self-absorbed.
“I’m not like that. I only post so much about myself to get visibility. Once the camera is gone, I don’t care. I just told you that.”
Em put a hand to his chest, and he calmed. “I know. But it’s more than that. I’ve been hurt so many times.”
Grant already knew about the disaster with Damien. He also knew it was an awful set up coordinated by herlovingbrother. Other than that, he couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her. He pushed down the anger that came with that thought and reached out to grab one of her hands. “What happened?”
She looked up at him with wide eyes. “Do you really want to know?”
“Only if you want to tell me.”
“The only other person who knows everything is Frida. It’s not something I talk about, but for some reason, I trust you.” She lifted a shoulder. “Maybe hearing these stories will make you understand why I’m so hesitant to trust another athlete again.”
He squeezed her hand hoping it would encourage her.
She took a deep breath. “I didn’t date a lot in high school. I mean, I might go to a dance with a guy friend, but it was never serious.”
Grant was sure every single one of those guy friends wanted something more, but he kept his mouth shut, knowing she needed to say it all without interruption.
“But my junior year, I started hanging out with this guy named Travis. He played varsity soccer with Finn. He seemed like a really cool guy. We had a lot of fun together, but he always wanted to take things a little further than I was comfortable. He had a lot more experience than I did since he was my first real boyfriend.”
A sinking feeling of dread settled in Grant’s stomach. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. He wanted her to stop, knowing she was about to relive something that was very painful for her, but he wanted her to know she could trust him.
“He told me that he loved me and that he was always going to be there for me. I thought I loved him too, but I see now I was just desperate for anyone other than my brother to find me worthy.” She looked down, tears shining in her eyes. “But silly me couldn’t tell the difference. So when he wanted us to ‘go all the way’ one night, I let him.” She closed her eyes. “The next day he showed up to school with another girl. He didn’t even bother breaking up with me properly.”
“Em.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. It’s not like I’m the first girl who’s fallen for that trick, right?”
Her voice was light and airy, but Grant saw the glistening of unshed tears in her eyes. She lifted her shoulder. “Anyway, when Finn saw him with his tongue shoved down the other girl’s throat, he beat the crap out of him—and that was without him knowing all the details.”
Grant didn’t want to think what would have happened to that poor sucker if Finnhadknown.
“So, I swore off guys for the next year. But then I met Mark in college. He was another soccer player and so sweet. I told him right off the bat that I wanted to take things slow, and he agreed. We dated for two years. I thought we were going to get married. But then he slowly drifted away. He became obsessed with working out and watching clips of himself playing. He wanted to play for the EPL and didn’t have time for me. He dumped me on Valentine’s Day. Thankfully, Finn was in a different state that time.”
What a jerk.
“You’d think I’d learned my lesson, right? Soccer players were bad news. But then Finn started playing for the Storm, and I was hanging out with players after the games. I got a little flirty with some of them. Even after Finn broke Parrera’s nose for hitting on me, I didn’t want to listen. When Damien asked me out, I jumped at the chance.”
Grant had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying that Finn had told Damien to do it.
“I don’t know if I even liked him. Maybe I went out with him just to spite Finn. Either way, it was a huge mistake.”
“How so?” Grant leaned forward, eager to hear what happened on the date Finn had secretly ordered.
“He didn’t hurt me like the others. It was more comically bad than anything else.” She laughed to herself. “He wouldn’t stop talking about himself. When my car battery died, he left me stranded at the restaurant with the bill. Thankfully, Finn was able to rescue me. He’s the only one I can always count on to be there.”
Grant fought to keep his expression neutral, but just beneath the surface his blood was boiling. Em trusted her brother even though he was just as bad as the other guys, not that Grant could tell her that. It would crush her to know that Finn had been keeping secrets of his own and controlling her life.
“Which brings me to you,” Em said, pulling him from his quiet rage. “I’ve been struggling with what to think about you, Grant. I’ve been afraid to admit that I like you because I don’t want to get hurt again.”
Of course, she was hesitant to open herself up to him. All she’d known were jerks, but she had to see that he was different. “I would never hurt you like that.”
