Page 113 of The Game We Played

“Alaia was supposed to come to the photo shoot. My photographer was going to snap pictures of the two of you looking all lovey-dovey.”

Lovey-dovey? I don’t ever look lovey-dovey. I’m not a member of a boy band. But it doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not parading Alaia around to repair my reputation. I won’t use her. Not anymore. She deserves better. She deserves the world.

“Alaia’s not coming. I’m not forcing her to do any more PR stunts with me.”

“Actually.” Knox clears her throat. “Alaia should be at the photo shoot anyway.”

My brow wrinkles. “Why would Alaia be there?”

“Belinda. Can we have the room for a minute?”

She glares at Knox for a second before nodding and marching into the hallway. “You have five minutes.”

Once the door is shut behind her, I return my attention to Knox. “What’s going on?”

“The Seals hired Alaia as their new PR manager.”

“They did?” He nods. “Awesome. This is such a great opportunity for Alaia. I’m so proud of her. She’s going to do such a wonderful job. The Seals are lucky to have her.”

Knox grins. “You really do love her.”

It’s not a question but I don’t hesitate to answer anyway. “I do.”

“She doesn’t seem to feel the same about you. She nearly didn’t accept the job with the Seals because she doesn’t want to be around you.”

My stomach drops to the floor. She said she cared about me, but after how I acted, how can she? I need to show her I was wrong. But how?

I run my hands through my hair and tug on the ends. I really screwed up. “What am I going to do?”

“She’ll be at the photo shoot. You’ll have a chance to speak to her then.”

But she’ll be busy doing her PR thing, and I’ll be busy with the photographers. Not an ideal situation to reconcile.

“Nah.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to beg her to give me another chance when she’s busy with her brand new job. Alaia is a professional. She won’t appreciate me interrupting her when she’s working.”

“I guess you’ll need to find a different time to speak to her.”

I snort. “As if she’ll answer my phone calls.”

“Hmm…” He taps his chin. “We need to come up with a way to get the two of you in the same place, so she’s forced to listen to you.”

The door bursts open and Belinda enters. “This is where I come in. I have ideas.”

“Were you listening at the door the whole time?” I ask.

“Not the whole time.”

I don’t believe her. I lift an eyebrow.

“I had to answer a few messages for part of the time.”

I open my mouth to remind her of a little thing called privacy. But stop when I realize this is the perfect opportunity. I have no idea how to win Alaia back. Belinda is a PR queen. She has ideas. I’d be stupid not to at least listen to her.

“Okay. What are your ideas?”

Her eyes sparkle. “Let’s get to work.”

As I listen to her ideas of how to get Alaia and me in the same room without tipping Alaia off first, I think of how I can convince Alaia I screwed up. How I can win her back.