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“I need to go.” Her voice sounded hollow, matching how she felt inside. “Reschedule my afternoon calls, and clear my calendar tomorrow. I’ll be working from home, but unavailable for calls or meetings.”
Donna’s eyes widened then narrowed with a censure that made Kit’s chest ache. “Katherine! You can’t just abandon your clients for that man.”
“I’m not.” Shame and anger had her cheeks flushing hot as she packed up her computer. “I’m preparing for the inevitable shitstorm when my family, friends, and clients see an interview about my sex life plastered all over the internet.”
“Your… you and he… you’re not saying…”
“I am.” Forcing her gaze to her admin’s shocked face, Kit braced herself for the judgement. “Not that it’s yours or anyone else’s business, but yes. It’s all true, except Austin would never force himself on a woman. He would never do anything without explicit consent. Now, please cancel my meetings. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know what the plan is for the rest of the week.”
With that, she shoved her laptop into her bag, grabbed her purse, and fled her office as calmly as she could. By the time she reached her car, her hands had started trembling again and each breath was taking more and more effort as she slid into the driver’s seat.
She’d barely made it out of the parking lot when her phone rang. Seeing Austin’s name on the display filled her with a mix of relief and fury. The latter of which took the lead when she answered the call. “What the hell is going on, Austin?”
“Fuck. You heard?”
“Yes, I heard. What did you do to Chloe Carlisle?”
A long, heavy pause was followed by his quiet response. “You think this is my fault?”
“You tell me.” Despite her bravado with Donna, she couldn’t quite help the niggle of doubt in the back of her mind. “Why would she suddenly decide to out you to the entire world? It’s not like she’s getting anything out of this.”
“You don’t know Chloe. She fucking thrives on drama. Can you get away early? We need to talk, figure out how we’re going to play this. We’ll need to make a statement.”
A statement. In public. The idea had her trembling all over again. “Austin…”
“I know I’m asking a lot, kitten. But my career is on the line here. I just got cleared to play again, and I’m not losing that because some prima donna with an axe to grind decided to stir the shit pot.”
He had a point, as much as she hated to admit it. Pressing her head back against her seat, she closed her eyes, willing her jittery nerves to settled. “All right. I’m already on my way home.”
“Drive safe, kitten. I love you.”
Words he’d said a dozen times before, but now there was a sense of urgency to them. As if he was using them to reassure her, and maybe even himself, that everything was going to be okay. That love really could conquer all.
And because she needed to, she let herself believe it. “I love you, too.”
Chapter 26
Katherine
“We’ll have to do a press conference. Or an interview.” Mary Palmer, sports agent extraordinaire, prowled the perimeter of Austin’s living room, reminding Kit very much of a lioness pacing her cage at the zoo.
She wasn’t what Kit had been expecting. Granted, all of her experience with sports agents came from movies, but where she’d expected sleek and maybe a little slimy, she’d gotten… Mary. Polished, certainly, in her designer suit and perfectly styled hair. But when she’d smiled, there’d been genuine warmth and sympathy in the gesture.
“An interview would be better,” she muttered, without waiting for a response. “It will make the two of you seem more human, more approachable than a press conference.”
“I’m not giving some rankings hound the chance to pick apart our lives,” Austin growled, his grip on Kit’s shoulder tightening almost to the point of pain.
“Newsflash, Austin, that’s what the entire internet is doing right now. So you can either do an interview and have a chance to set everyone straight or you can let speculation run wild.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what the internet thinks about me.”
“I do.” Two sets of surprised eyes turned on her and she tilted her chin up, prepared to fight as she met Austin’s blazing gaze. “Your career isn’t the only one on the line, here. Do you have any idea how many clients this could potentially cost me? I can name five, off the top of my head, who I’m expecting an email from tomorrow letting me know they’re not comfortable working with me any longer. Fivehugeclients, and losing them will make things extremely tight for my bottomline. I can’t afford this kind of negative exposure, Austin.”
His expression softened, grief replacing the anger in his eyes. “I know, baby. I’m so fucking sorry. If I’d had any idea she would do something like this, I never would have touched her.”
“But you did, and she did, and I’m the one paying for it.” Some of the bitterness she’d been trying to hold back crept into her tone.
“So, you want to do the interview?” Austin asked carefully, his eyes searching her face.
