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“Ah,” Sam shouts excitedly after rummaging through the fridge. “I knew there’d be eggs in here. Madi says Callum makes a mean omelet and has Knox hooked on them.”
I move to stand behind her and wrap my arms around her. “I'm sure I'll be hooked on yours too,” I tell her, planting a kiss on her cheek. I lift my head as I hear the doorbell ring. “Let me see who that is. I'll be right back.”
Samantha playfully throws a kitchen towel at me and I laugh as I head to the foyer. “Damn, I can get used to mornings like this.”
Preoccupied with the sight of Samantha in the kitchen making breakfast, I open the front door smiling. I stand there for a second before the shouting and clicking of camera shutters register.
“Asher! Stoll!” the reporters call out, but I'm too dumbstruck for a second to respond.
I go into auto-mode. “No comment,” I tell them, backpedaling into the house.
Samantha shouts from inside, and I turn, quickly slamming the door shut as I sprint back to the kitchen. I find her struggling to shut the blinds on some of the more cutthroat assholes who have no problem trespassing onto private property.
I gently bump her aside and close the blinds from the cameras, but I'm sure they got more than enough shots. I just hope they didn’t catch us coming down from the Treehouse.
“What the hell is going on? Why are reporters outside?” Samantha asks, her voice pitched and shaking from the adrenaline.
“Someone must have tipped them off that I'm here. I guess with the launch and everything, I'm news again.” It’s the only explanation I can think of why they would show up like this.
“But why are they taking pictures of me? I don’t do publicity; I leave that to Philipa. Unless…” She trails off and I have a sinking feeling.
“Sam,” I warn, but she moves away from me, takes her phone out of her pocket, and I know she is doing a search. “Samantha, don’t.”
She gasps before reading. “A New Woman Every Night: Stoll Back to His Womanizer Ways.”
I curse as she continues to read another headline, “Is Stoll Cheating on Hendrix?”
She looks up from her phone and I can see the accusation in her eyes. “You were with Valerie Hendrix?”
“No! I wouldn’t touch that walking jock itch if she was the last woman on earth.” I have to make her understand. “Baby, her father is an investor. She’s been trying to get with me for years, but evenI'mnot that stupid. I’ve never been with her. I swear!”
She stares at me for a moment longer, and when she says, “Fine,” I breathe a sigh of relief. But the feeling of alleviation is short-lived as she goes back to reading those tabloid headlines.
“Oh, God,” she croaks out, voice shaking.
I walk over to her and look at the phone as a video starts. It's one with the group hosts ofTit for Tat, Chicago’s most popular gossip entertainment show. The group of five are sitting around in various chairs, and the camera pans to the lone female.
“Oh boy, do we have the scoop! Three-time Superbowl champion winner, Asher Stoll, is at it again. Sources say the buff playboy was seen at the launch of his new sneaker line with socialite Valerie Hendrix on his arm all night.”
“My man,”one of the male hosts says and the three others join in cheering.
“Wait, it gets better,”the woman continues.“Later that night though, he is caught with a pintsize blonde beauty heading up to his hotel room.”
The men cheer again as the woman moves ahead with her story.
“But it gets even steamier, people. That blonde hottie is none other than Samantha Bennett, the owner of the party event planning company for his launch, Transcend Events.”
“Damn, that little shorty is the owner?”a male host says as the screen shows a picture of me and Samantha waiting by the elevator door of the hotel.“Man, I need her for my next event. Transcend is like the premier event planner in the Windy City, man.”
I want to punch their faces in for talking about Samantha that way.
Another male host snickers.“Catch this headline: Did Stoll Transcend by Seducing Bennett?”He laughs aloud.
The video pans to the woman as she puts up her hand as if rolling out a banner.“Did Bennett Get with Stoll to Take Transcend to New Heights?”
The video continues to play but I block it out, looking at Samantha. Eventually, I take the phone from her hand and turn it off. She is pale and shaking.
“Sam, it's okay, this will blow over.” I wrap my arms around her, but she doesn’t move. God damnit! I swear, why did this have to happen now? I tilt her face to look up, forcing her blue eyes to focus on mine. “We’ll get through this, Sam. I promise it’ll be okay.”
