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“Are you sure?” I don’t want him to regret this month before it begins, and I definitely don’t want to derail his football plans.
“Yes. Let’s eat noodles.”
We spend the following day together in my tiny little apartment.
We talk and have sex, and it’s good. No, it’s great. Or maybe even better than great.
In the afternoon, Slater orders groceries, and within a couple of hours, there is more green food in my apartment than I’ve ever seen anywhere except the grocery store. Avocados. Broccoli. Kale. Spinach. Premade smoothies. It’s two hundred and fifty dollars of healthy eating, and it’s a beneficial reminder of his priorities.
He’ll leave without a second glance when the time comes. I can’t forget that.
His phone vibrates as we finish our dinner of baked salmon with steamed brown rice and broccoli. He answers it with one hand as he takes his plate to the sink with the other.
I listen with half an ear as I clear the table.
“Ronnie got arrested,” he says when he hangs up. “He was wrapped up in an illegal gambling ring. Apparently he’s being offered immunity if he shares everything he knows with the investigators. No matter what he does, his credibility is shot to hell.”
“And you’re exonerated?”
“Sort of. I mean—there’s nothing to exonerate—I didn’t do anything wrong. Ronnie threw unfounded allegations at me. Now it looks like he was trying to drum up controversy to hide his own shady dealings.”
“But some people still think you cheated?”
He wipes his hands with a towel. “Probably. But they already thought that.” He sighs. “And those people don’t matter, right?”
I nod. “That’s good news, then. It will help your free agency?”
“Maybe. It’s still going to be hard as hell to find a new team. However, the cloud of suspicion has been lifted and I’m relieved it won’t keep coming up.” He sits down and tugs me into his lap. “There’s nothing I can do to change the past. The original cheating allegations will probably never fade away completely, but this one will.”
I drop a kiss on his mouth. “And you’re okay with that?”
“I don’t really have a choice.” He leans his forehead against mine and I feel the tension seep out of him. The intimacy, the quiet—it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I’m hoping it’s the uniqueness of our situation, but I’m pretty sure it’s him.
The next morning, Slater heads back to his apartment. He didn’t exercise—unless you count sex—yesterday, and today he was practically climbing the walls to get back into the gym.
Once he leaves, I go into hyperdrive with my cleaning. He’s been making an effort to stay tidy, but he left a shirt hanging on the towel rack in the bathroom and my blender soaking in the sink. After tidying up, dusting, and vacuuming, I grab a book and spend a couple of hours reading. Slater texts me when he’s done with his workout and on his way back.
I hop into the shower. I’m just toweling off when he shoots into the bathroom.
“Amber is pregnant,” he says, his eyes looking wild.
“You’re having a baby?” The words slip out of my mouth before I can think.
He reels back. “It’s not my baby.”
“Oh, yes, of course.”
“I haven’t slept with Amber since I was seventeen.”
I wrap my towel around my torso because, while a towel is not a great outfit for this discussion, it’s better than being naked. “If you’re not the father, why are you so worked up?”
He blows out his breath. “A gossip blogger posted that Amber was pregnant with my baby on the day the pictures came out. I blew it off because it isn’t true. But now that I know she’s pregnant…”
He doesn’t need to finish the sentence. I can read between the lines—people are going to assume he is. And while having a baby out of wedlock is not a crime, the media attention around Amber Hope’s baby is going to be extreme.
Some teams, maybe even most teams, overlook personal drama when faced with indisputable talent. But coaches hate distractions. And this—this would be an epic distraction. It could derail Slater’s free agency. Rumors that he knocked up America’s sweetheart aren’t going to improve his image.
“What about the real father?” Slater will be off the hook as soon as Amber reveals him. Unless she doesn’t know who the father is? Yikes, that could get sticky. I’m beginning to think the whole celebrity thing isn’t worth the hype.
