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My grin slips. "You think I'm a lunatic?"
Kelsey cracks up. I shoot her a death glare, which doesn't seem to impress her any. Kris really needs to do something about her soon. Maybe falling in love will soften her mean ass up a little.
"No," Camila says, shaking her head, "but paparazzi and the media don't really care if you're actually crazy or not. Scandal sells, and they've been making a killing off you for the last couple weeks. Speaking of which, I have an important question."
"What?" I ask, suddenly wary about what she wants to know. I can't lie to her and then expect her to trust me. But she might not like me if I'm honest about whatever she's going to ask. The possibilities are endless at this point, especially if she's really done her homework. My teammates and I…well, there's a reason Kelsey likes to throw things at us. And that reason is usually because we're dumb and alcohol makes everything sound like a good plan.
And the longer I stand beside Camila, the more I want her to like me. No, Ineedher to like me. Because my dick hasn't gonesoft yet and my heart is still trying to beat out of my chest to get into her soft little hands.
She inhales a deep breath like she's about to ask me about the worst thing I've ever done, and then pure mischief flares in her sepia eyes and burbles from her perfect lips. "Were you actuallyaimingfor her shoes, Gray?"
It takes me a second to process her question, but as soon as I do, a whole fucking world of worry falls off my shoulders.
I am so marrying this woman.
Chapter Two
Camila
I'm not sure whatpossessed me to ask Gray Larsen if he intentionally aimed for his date's shoes, but his reaction is worth it. He splutters like a little boy for a minute, sending Kelsey into a fit. She practically chokes, trying to contain her laughter.
I bite my lip to keep from laughing at his reaction. Too many people are laughing at him already. I don't want to be another one in a long line, but he does not make it easy to keep my composure.
Gray is sex on legs. There's simply no other way to put it. Not that I didn't already know that but standing in front of him is worlds different than watching him on television. His gray eyes are insanely beautiful behind his black frames, and so are hisdimples when he grins. Even though I'm in heels, he towers over me. I never thought that would be so attractive to me, but it is when it's this man doing the towering.
He's dressed simply in an old Star Wars t-shirt that's actually pretty hilarious and a faded pair of jeans. The shirt is loose, but every time he moves, I catch little glimpses of the body it hides. Like most athletes, he's muscular, his body honed from years of hard work and dedication to his sport. His nose is a little crooked, probably from being broken on the ice, but it just makes him more handsome.
He smells like the most alluring combination of citrus and rain I've ever smelled. Until five minutes ago, I didn't even know rain could smell sexy! Or that a deep laugh could make my stomach turn backflips faster than a gymnast going for gold. But here we are anyway.
Standing this close to him, I get why women go crazy over him and his teammates. He's flipping gorgeous and charming and adorably awkward. I've never wanted to faceplant into a man's chest the way I do his right now.
It's a crying shame he's an athlete.
Aside from my adopted brother, Adrian Kane, I avoid athletes like the plague. And Adrian's not even an athlete anymore so he doesn't really count anyway. He walked away from football after one of his teammates destroyed my sister. I was just a teenager when Ana fell in love with Derrick Lovelace. She fell hard, but he was not a good man. The day she caught him in their bed with someone else, he blamed her for it and locked her out of their house.
A few hours later, she drove her car off a bridge. We still don't know if she did it intentionally or if it was an accident and we never will. It took the police two months to recover her body. By then, any evidence had washed away. Adrian walked away from football not long later. He blamed himself for whathappened, even though it wasn't his fault. I think he blamed the NFL and the Titans too for not making Derrick take any sort of responsibility.
A few months ago, Adrian fell in love with Stella Quinn, a reporter. For the first time since Ana died, the world knows her story and the role Derrick played in her death. I'm so proud of Adrian for giving her a voice. Derrick died a few years ago, but at least people know the truth about the bastard now. They know he isn't the good guy he pretended to be. And they know that Adrian left the sport, not because he was forced out for some scandal like they all whispered about for so long, but in protest.
He's kind of my hero. Ana was my best friend. We used to tell each other everything. I miss her like crazy, and I know our mama does too. She was distraught for a long time after Ana died. She's gotten better in recent years, but it's still hard for her, especially since Stella's story broke. We prepare our entire lives to lose our parents, but no one ever prepares a parent to lose their babies because it's not supposed to happen.
Even with Adrian's overprotective ass watching out for me, she worries endlessly about me. She's traveling a lot now that I'm out of the house, but we still talk every day. She warns me all the time to stay away from bad men. To her, most professional athletes fall under that category.
I heed her warning. While I know not every professional male athlete is a bad man, far too many of them are self-absorbed, arrogant jerks. All they care about is their next big brand endorsement or how much their next contract will rake in. I've worked with a few of them over the years, and it never worked out. They want the hero status and all that comes with it but don't want to put in the actual work of actuallydeservingthat title.
Kelsey swears Gray Larsen is different, but I'm not sure if she means it or if she's just desperate for me to represent him.Kelsey and I have been friends since we roomed together our freshman year in college. But like I told Gray, I've done my homework and I know that she called me because no one else was willing to take him on after he punched his last publicist.
I considered telling Kelsey no myself, but if I want to open my own firm, I need to take on more than just former athletes. If I can get the world's attention off Gray's humiliating date and back on his skill on the ice, picking up new clients will be a breeze. His situation is, literally, that bad. There's even a trend on social media where people are recreating the entire thing in short videos.
It's hard not to feel bad for him since none of it was his fault—except punching Cal Hopkins, anyway. And I'm not even sure that could have been avoided without making him look even worse. Sure, it's bad that he punched someone on camera. But it would have been a disaster if the world thought he leaked the video because it didn't humiliate only him. It was even more humiliating for his poor date.
I'm not sure if he considered that or not, but I want him to be the man he seems to be. Even before I walked in here today, I wanted him to be a genuinely good guy like Kelsey says. It's hard not to like him. He's charming and a little nerdy and adorably awkward. I spent hours stalking him on the internet to prepare for today. His social media wasn't very helpful, but there are countless interviews and fan encounters out there.
He's funny and random and so smart. His teammates love to give him shit about being a nerd, but it's obvious they all genuinely respect him. He seems like such a good guy. But then again, so do most athletes. It's only when you get to know them—reallyknow them—that the truth comes out.
"I was aiming for the sidewalk," he finally says in that deep voice. It may be my imagination, but it looks almost like he's blushing behind all that sexy scruff. The tips of his ears are redtoo. "Her shoes just got in the way." He gives me a miserable puppy dog look that makes my heart flutter. "Can we fix it or am I going to have to awkwardly wave at people who mimic vomiting for the rest of my life?"
I hesitate for a split second. All my time stalking him on the internet wasn't just for research purposes. The truth is that I'm ridiculously attracted to him. Like butterflies in my stomach, heart racing, sweaty palms attracted to him.
