Page 23

Decker shakes his head, lost for a response. Something tells me this is their normal rapport, but I still make a mental note to look into the Pro Bowl and whether there’s anything I can do to help him participate since—from what I’m gathering—it’s a coveted event, at least for these two.

Cole smiles slyly, glad his jab landed as well as Decker’s had. “Maybe someday you’ll get voted in to do it too. I’m sure Lena’s fan base will have no problem spamming the polls ‘til they get you in. Unless you break her heart.”

I grab his bicep, running my hand down his arm until our fingers entwine. “Not gonna happen.”

Decker looks down at me, his lips smoothing into a soft smile.

“Enough of the googly eyes. I’m still here.” Cole turns and leads us to another pink door. “Well, the whole place is yours for the next fifteen, so better make it a quickie.”

Decker shakes his head but wastes no time pulling me past Cole and through the pink door to what I now realize is a candy shop.

The walls are striped with creamy yellow and powder blue.

I feel a little like I’ve walked into a nursery, but something about it works with the pops of pink.

It’s warm and fun, and I’m absolutely giddy to be surrounded by rows upon rows of sugary goodness.

Staring up at the cheesy, lollipop-shaped light fixtures, I let Decker lead.

When the silence stretches on for too long, my eyes drop from the ceiling to him.

He shuffles along, brows crinkled as he reads the tiny labels and examines each case.

It’s cute how focused he is on finding whatever it is he’s looking for.

When he freezes two steps later, I have to backpedal so I don’t slam into his rear.

Decker gestures toward an acrylic box, smiling like he’s won some grand prize. “I thought we could start here.”

My jaw drops when I realize it’s stuffed to the brim with multicolored, sugar-coated gummy worms. “You remembered my favorite candy?”

“How could I not? You almost murdered me over it.” A wicked smile parts his lips as he turns and grabs a rose-colored plastic bag from a dispenser and hands it to me. “Here. Go crazy.”

I eye him as I gently pick up the silver scoop, but I can’t resist. Throwing open the bin, I shovel until the bag is so full my fingers strain to hold it. Decker swoops in, his hands cupping the bottom of it as we work together to twist and close it with a metallic tie.

“What’s next?” he asks, pulling out another bag.

I slap my sack of sugary bounty. “This is it.”

He arches a dark brow. “Anything you want. I’m buying.”

He and I both know that him buying makes no difference.

I shake my head. “This is my favorite. It’s all I want. What about you? What do you want?”

“Can’t. Been trying to eat clean for tomorrow.”

“Right. The kickoff game.” Suddenly, the room is too hot, and I pace until I find a vent to stand under. “Gotta stay in shape for our debut.”

“And what could possibly be my last season of football.”

I freeze where I stand. Retirement? I know he worried about his body holding up for the remainder of his career, but I didn’t realize he wanted to end it so soon.

Retiring from something you love, that’s brought you so many opportunities, is hard.

I don’t know if I could ever give up my job.

I don’t know if my manager would ever let me.

Decker trails after me, standing with me beneath the AC, his arm brushing mine in a warm contrast to the cool, blasting air.

I turn toward him, tilting my chin up until I find his eyes. “What about all that champagne and cheesy frites we ate?”

The air kicks on higher, blowing my hair until a few strands stick across my face. Without missing a beat, Decker clears them away. “It was a special occasion. Didn’t want to disappoint my new business partner.”

I stare up into his eyes, examining his tan skin, his green eyes, how perfectly they contrast with his near black hair. When God created Decker, He really showed off. I don’t care how creepy my staring is, I can’t think about anything other than what a beautiful man he is.

“What?” Decker asks.

“I’ve never seen someone with greener eyes.”

“Is that a compliment?”

I hold his gaze. “If you want it to be.”

“Does my girlfriend actually find me attractive?” He leans closer, lowering his voice. “I want to hear you say it, Lena.”

My eyes go wide as a thud pulls me from my trance.

I scan the space for any sign of Cole or other eavesdroppers.

And that’s when I see it. The pink accordion shades may be pulled tight across the large glass storefront, but the one on the door is too small, leaving its margins completely open.

Light peeks through the exposed glass along with someone’s face.

And then another face. And then a lens. The flash is blinding as the camera goes off.

It’s the guy from the back lot. The paparazzi.

Decker curses, stepping around me to block their view as the mumbling outside builds to excited shouts and screams. What have I done?

Did I really think closing the door in that guy’s face would deter him?

Paparazzi are relentless. If there’s one truth I know, that’s it.

Decker’s warm hands grab my now-frigid arms and sweep me back to the storage room.

I attempt to calculate how long I might have until this leaks—until it’s everywhere.

Before my mom and Antonia see that I’ve gone completely rogue. Again.

Decker paces as I sit on a box. “Do you think we can make it to my car?”

Loud music blasts from beyond the closed office door, and I can only assume Cole is behind it, keeping himself distracted.

I shake my head. “I’ve gotten stuck places before. I can call Gustav.”

“Why don’t we try to sneak out the?—”

“I had a lot of fun with you,” I say honestly, letting the gravity of the situation pull me back to reality.

I can’t just gallivant around like everyone else.

My reputation can be ruined in seconds. With one click of a camera or one slip of unkindness from my mouth.

I could lose everything. And now with Decker tied to me, our futures are in my hands, even if they’re separate.

I have to save both my butt and his. That’s the only reason we’ve connected with one another.

Like he said, it’s for business . I can’t lose sight of that, regardless of how much the lines have blurred today.

“We only have until tomorrow. Then we don’t have to be so careful. Today we soft launch, tomorrow we hard launch, and all the rumors will come true. Lena and Decker, star-crossed lovers.” I can’t keep the sarcasm from my voice as I pull out my phone, dialing Gustav.

“Lena, I want you to?—”

I turn away, holding up a finger to Decker as I explain the situation to Gustav.

I desperately want to know what he was going to say, but at this point, whatever it is isn’t going to fix our situation.

Gustav tells me he’ll be here in twenty to extract me.

My mom has meetings, but Antonia will come along, and she agrees that Decker and I should leave separately.

The sooner we split, the better. She rambles off more instructions, and I assure her I’ll relay them to him.

“Can you leave in a way that makes it seem like we’re traveling together? They want you to go first to divert attention. They said they’ll pay Cole for staying with me.” It feels silly to say, like I’m some child to be babysat.

Decker’s hesitant but finally agrees. There’s something that shifts in his demeanor, though. “I don’t want to leave you here. I don’t care what they?—”

I hold up another hand. “Decker, please. I know this isn’t how we saw the day going. But at this point, timing is crucial and I’ve already screwed it up enough.”

“Because you said you wanted to do this on your own accord. Our accord.”

I can’t meet his eyes. “I know, but you said it yourself. This is a business deal, regardless of how unprofessional it feels. Business. I’m a musician, not a businesswoman. I think it’s best from here on out that we listen to our teams. Stick to the plan.”

“Stick to the plan,” Decker repeats, running a hand through his thick hair. When he sighs, I know he’ll comply even if he doesn’t agree. “So when should I leave?”

“Probably now.”

A hush falls between us until Cole meanders from his office.

“The paps found us. Can you stay with Lena ‘til her ride gets here?” Decker directs his request at Cole, but doesn’t look at him. His eyes are locked on me.

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you guys need.” Cole looks confused, but bless him for being a good friend.

Decker backs away toward the exit. “Jason will send over suite details to Antonia. Not sure who will be in there tomorrow, but my mom never misses a home game.”

“Your mom?”

Decker lifts a corner of his mouth into a wry grin. “Time to meet the parents. See ya tomorrow night, Lennie-Pie.”

And just like that, he disappears.

“How long did you say you two have been seein’ each other?”

My attention snaps to Cole. “We didn’t, but it’s still pretty new.”

He sucks in his bottom lip, nodding as he processes it. “So tomorrow you’re meeting Darlene for the first time?”

My body stiffens like I’ve been doused in laundry starch.

Why didn’t I ever ask Decker about his family, or at the very least, their names?

I wanna knock my head against the wall for being so caught up in everything else that I never even got the names of his family members.

So I nod, hoping that my apprehension passes as nerves.

I try my best to commit her name to memory so I don’t screw up at the game. Darlene.

“Calm down, girl. You look like you’re gonna be sick.

” Cole gives me a once over and I force a smile onto my lips, a little embarrassed that I could pass for on-the-edge-of-vomiting, but mostly just grateful that he didn’t pick up on my lack of knowledge about Decker’s family.

“No need to freak out. Darlene’s seen a lot, and I mean a lot, throughout the years.

Decker doesn’t always seem to have the best taste in women. ”

I stare up at him.

“Besides you. Until you , I should say.”

“They can’t all be that bad,” I say, trying to be the girls’ girl all my fans claim I am.

To be clear, I’m supportive of other women, but Vista City can be small in some ways.

I’ve met a couple of the girls on his dating roster, and I have to admit, their beauty seems to soak in about as deep as their moisturizer.

Though they were kind enough to me, I watched one dump a drink on a waitress because the bartender forgot the extra lemon peel in her cosmo.

Not exactly the type I’d want to bring home to the family.

“Trust me. They were.” He runs a hand over his buzzed hair, bugging his eyes.

“You two seem much more natural together. Him and those other girls, I don’t know.

It felt forced. He’d pick ‘em up treats from here and then tell me the next day they refused them because they’d ruin their cleanse or something.

” He shrugs. “You two seem to have a better flow, ya know? Most girls of his I meet are so rigid. Like, if they crack a joke or smile, they’ll ruin their aesthetic or whatever.

And Decker’s a funny dude. His jokes deserve laughs. ”

“Did he tell you to say that to me?”

Cole’s smile is broad. “Nah, but sometimes his humor’s so cheesy I figured I’d give him a boost.”

“You’re a good friend.”

He winks at me. “I try. That’s why I’m happy he’s finally with someone that looks at him the way you do.”

My heart stutters like someone zapped it with a cattle prod. “The way I look at him?”

“Yeah, like you’re not rolling your eyes at him all the time, even when he deserves it. I’ve literally watched his dates walk away from him when he cracked some subpar joke and laughed at it himself. Trust me, I can already tell you’re genuine. You guys are endgame.”

And I do trust him—though I feel a bit guilty because he shouldn’t trust me—but I ask, anyway. “Then why’d he bring them home to meet his family?”

“He didn’t. They always meet Darlene at the games. In the box.” He must realize what he’s said because he immediately starts to backpedal. Maybe if his feet weren’t so big, he’d be able to keep them out of his mouth. “But she’s going to love you. I have a feeling. Just wait.”

He holds up a finger before darting away just in time to miss me deflate.

I remind myself it’s a good thing Decker’s going through his typical relationship motions by having me meet his mom in the suite without him present.

If he did it differently this time, people would get suspicious.

I brush a piece of hair from my eyes, and my mind can’t help but to wander to earlier today.

When I was on his lap, and he was bold enough to clear my vision himself.

Before Callum walked in and wrecked my life again.

“Here.” Cole returns from the storefront with a pink box in hand, a golden ribbon tied tightly around it.

I take it from him as a knock resonates from the back door. My chest tightens.

Cole checks through the peephole. “There’s a big dude out here. Sunglasses. Shaved head. Tight shirt.”

“Gustav,” I say, relieved.

He arches a brow.

“My security detail.”

Cole nods and pops open the door as I push to my feet to leave. He greets Gustav before turning to me one last time. “Chocolate-covered dates with sea salt sprinkled on top. They’re Darlene’s favorite. She’s the only reason my mom orders them.”

I take the box as Gustav leads me out. “Thanks for everything, Cole, and good luck tomorrow.”

Cole fills the doorway, his white teeth blinding in the bright sun. “Same to you.”