Page 12

12

BLAKELY

The door opens as I finally get the words out, leaving Jamie no time to reply to them. It’s a blessing, really.

I shouldn’t have said anything at all. The last thing he needs is more confidence or any sort of hint that I’m beginning to enjoy his company. No, I’m not falling for him, but friendship doesn’t seem too far in the distance, and I fear that’s as scary as love.

Having him directly at my back does make it easier to face the man now in front of me. From the three-piece suit to the glistening silver Rolex on his wrist, he screams wealth in a way I’ll never be able to truly comprehend.

“Blakely, I assume?” he asks, peering down his nose at me. Not in a rude way, just . . . like he knows he’s got an advantage over me.

I refuse to look weak in front of him or any one of the men coming after him as I tilt my head back and answer, “Yes. And you are?”

Jamie leaves his position at my back, settling at my side instead. I feel the ghost of his palm as he hovers it over my back, not making contact.

“This is Briggs. He’s the lawyer I told you about.”

Right. If only I remembered a single thing from the summary Jamie gave me in the elevator on the way up here. My skull is full of hot air right now, not a lick of knowledge to be found.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I manage to say.

The lawyer shifts out of the doorway and gestures for us to come inside. “Likewise. Come in, everyone is here and ready for discussion.”

“PR is here?” Jamie asks, hovering in place.

His hand makes contact with my back, and I suck in a breath at the blistering heat coming from it.

Briggs nods sharply. “Everyone is here that you insisted be.”

“Why PR?” It’s out before I can zip my lips shut.

“You need to know everything required of you before you sign off on this. From today to our wedding and afterward. I don’t want any surprises for either of us,” Jamie says, a sharp edge to the words. A warning, maybe.

If it is one, Briggs reads it loud and clear. “We hear you.”

Jamie flashes a smile. “Perfect.”

I follow his lead, putting all my limited trust in the hope that he won’t turn out to be a piece of shit after all.

We enter the office, and I’m immediately hit with a sharp sense of inferiority. I’ve never been around so many different successful men before. It’s like being suspended above a tank of piranhas and hoping that the rope around your waist doesn’t snap.

The bulky man behind the massive desk must be Graham Warren, while the leaner one resting his back against it looks too much like a coach to be anyone else. It’s not even the windbreaker with the BC Pythons logo on it, but just an overall aura. Like he’s the guy who’s capable of demanding a team with not only power and success but respect.

Then, there’s Briggs and a—woman.

Naturally, I drink in her presence and take it as a good sign. She appears completely calm and collected, lounging on the white leather couch with one leg slung over the other beneath a slim-fitting pencil skirt. Her pink blouse is professional but still cute, and her bright red hair is swept back into a professional bun that draws attention to her plump cheeks and lips lined with a soft blush colour.

She adjusts her position on the couch and offers me a warm smile. “Hi, Blakely. Since nobody else has decided to do it, I’ll introduce myself to you first. I’m Sadie, and I’m so happy to meet you. Thank you for taking the time to come down here tonight.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Sadie.”

“Sadie’s the one with all the answers,” Jamie chimes in. “And she’s the nicest one in this room. Other than myself, of course. But you already knew that.”

Sadie looks to the other men. “Cocky as he is, he’s not wrong. The others will be on their best behaviour. Right, Graham?”

The man behind the desk clears his throat and fixes his gaze on me while moving his hand around the room. “I’m Graham Warren, the owner of the Pythons. In front of me is Coach Riley Tanner and, obviously, the team’s lawyer, Briggs Porter.”

“Briggs has been in contact with the best family lawyer in the province to organize all the paperwork for today and has also put together an NDA and contract with the information that we’ll be discussing in this meeting,” Sadie says, patting the empty couch cushion beside her.

Jamie inches away as if to encourage me to go. I jump at the chance to be closer to the only other woman in the room and sit beside her. In my old jeans and last unstained shirt, I try not to pay too much attention to how incredible she looks and the way it must make me look even sloppier.

When I risk a look up in Jamie’s direction, he’s smiling confidently at me. Aware of everyone watching us, I lift the corner of my mouth slightly and look to the last spot left on the couch. It’s a signal to take it, but he hesitates. I realize a second later that he’s become fixated on my mouth.

“The plan for today is to go over all of the contracts and upcoming obligations for the both of you, and we’ll run a background check before sending final copies of everything for signature,” Briggs explains.

A background check seems reasonable, but still. It’s freaky knowing these strangers are going to be combing through my history, even if I know there isn’t anything there for them to find unless they dive deeper than basic knowledge.

“How in-depth will this check be?” I ask, feigning ease.

Jamie sits beside me, his previous daze broken and focus back on the situation at hand. I don’t think about it again as Graham leans forward in his chair and taps the bottoms of his clasped hands on the desk.

“It will be intensive. We won’t take any chances with anything coming out in the press once the marriage is official. So, if you have anything you’d like to disclose before that happens, now would be a good time.”

From the corner of my eye, I catch the tightening of Jamie’s jaw before he speaks. “Is my trust in her not enough? She’s my choice. Do you really need to go digging into her past? I’m not going to make her tell all of you anything that isn’t your business.”

My heart swells, forcing my chest to expand around it. Appreciation blows on the ember of friendship that’s already begun to grow, expanding its flame until I’m left with no choice but to consider this man an ally. A friend.

I shove any tingle of anxiousness to the back of my hand and drop my hand to his knee. To everyone else, it probably looks romantic. But it’s a sign of appreciation. A thank you that I hope he understands.

The loose shorts he’s wearing only reach the middle of his thighs, leaving the rest of his legs bare. I seemed to have forgotten that fact when I reached for his knee. It’s warm and speckled with coarse hair that scrapes at my palm. Still, I don’t pull back.

I’m glad for that when a beat later, Jamie’s hand engulfs mine, squeezing gently while his thumb glides over my knuckles.

Curious, I stare down at the hold. I expected his palm to be sweaty, but it’s only warmth and a grounding steadiness that I feel. Unlike the last few times I’ve let a man hold my hand, there isn’t a nipping at my gut telling me that something’s off.

My intuition is one of my strongest attributes. It’s kept me from my fair share of bad situations, especially with men. I’m picky with the company I keep for good reason. If something doesn’t feel right, I’m always out of there sooner rather than later.

With Jamie, I’ve yet to feel the need to run.

Sadie speaks up from my side, her voice understanding yet still strong. “I understand how invasive it can feel. We appreciate you agreeing to help the team with this, and you have my word that everything we learn will be kept quiet. It’s for security purposes only.”

“Run one on me too,” Jamie says, the demand obvious.

Graham shakes his head. “We already have one.”

“It wouldn’t be for you. Run a new one and give it to Blakely.”

I suck in a sharp breath. “I don’t need your background on a piece of paper.”

“It’s only fair.” His grip on my hand grows firmer as he narrows his stare on Briggs. “Can you just do it, please? I think it’s the least demanding thing in this entire agreement.”

“It’ll be done. We’ll get it added to the final contract come signing time,” Graham says, his gaze curious and heavy as it hangs over me.

It would be so easy to defend myself and tell them all that I had nothing to do with Jamie’s call. Maybe when I was younger, I’d have bowed under the pressure to find any opportunity to make these people like me. Maybe .

The person I am now and have been for the last five years doesn’t give a shit what these people think of me .

“Should we start looking through the fine print, then?” Sadie asks.

It’s the break in conversation that we need. Everyone is quick to agree, and a few minutes later, I have a thick stack of papers in my hands and a highlighter I’m meant to use on anything I don’t like.

We’ve only made it to the third page when Jamie clears his throat and highlights the line about the proposed wedding and announcement dates.

“You want to leak the wedding to the media the day of? When are we announcing the engagement?”

“The engagement will be announced publicly a week before the wedding. And leaking it makes it more authentic. One public announcement is more than enough in only a couple of weeks of time. Anything more than that and it will appear unauthentic. You won’t have to entertain anyone during the wedding or afterward. Security will be tight, we’ll make sure of that,” Graham explains, voice rigid.

“It will only be our families in attendance, right? I don’t want a big wedding,” I add.

My first wedding won’t be a real one, and I don’t want it to ruin my expectations of my second. If I’m going to do this, it’s not going to be anything overly special. I won’t be able to deal with the disappointment of my real wedding never living up to the fake one.

Jamie grips his pen in his left hand and scribbles along the side of his contract. Keep the wedding small.

“As long as we can have a heavy spread of photos for the press, small is fine,” Graham agrees.

We work through the next few pages before Jamie starts reading a paragraph he’s highlighted.

“‘The Parties agree that, for the duration of the marriage, Party A shall reside with Party B at a mutually agreed-upon residence, and both Parties shall make reasonable efforts to maintain the appearance of a cohabiting marital relationship in accordance with the agreed publicity arrangements.’” He wets his lips and scribbles along the margins again. “I don’t want it in the contract that Blakely has to live with me. If she wants to leave at any time, she can do as she pleases while still fulfilling her side of the agreement.”

Nobody speaks for a moment, and I stiffen.

“If you don’t live together, it will spark questions,” Sadie cautions.

He doesn’t back down. “Let them question, then. It’ll only give them more stories to write about us. Isn’t that what you want?”

Graham’s nostrils flare. I think I enjoy knowing that Jamie isn’t intimidated by him enough to allow them to potentially take advantage of either of us.

“Fine. Once the paperwork is filed and you are husband and wife, you are not obligated to share a residence. However, you do need to do everything in your power to appear as though you do.”

“Done.” Jamie goes back to reading.

For the next hour, we don’t move from the couch. It lasts longer than I anticipated, and every minute that passed had me twitching to grab my phone to check on Nate. If Jamie hadn’t been the one interrupting every five minutes with a change to the contract, we’d have been out far earlier.

It’s impossible to be frustrated with him for that, though.

Especially when he ushers me out of the office and down the elevator again once we’ve finished.

“I’m so sorry, Bandit. I didn’t think it would take so long,” he mutters, exhaustion thick in his voice.

“It’s okay. There are no surprises in the contract now.”

“Yeah, at the cost of your entire night.”

I lean my back against the elevator wall and check my phone for any messages or missed calls. There isn’t even one.

“Aren’t you tired? You played today, right?”

“You didn’t watch? ”

“I wouldn’t have known what was going on.”

He braces his hands on the railing and hums. “Teaching you football is number one on my to-do list. You’re about to be seeing a lot of the sport these next couple of months.”

“You told them not to ask whether or not I was a fan, didn’t you?” I ask, my gut telling me that the answer is yes. It was from the moment I realized nobody had brought up my knowledge or lack thereof.

His grin is wide and knowing. “I might have given them a bit of a rundown before you arrived. Sue me.”

I swallow, copying his stance and feeling the cool gold bars in my hands. “Thank you for everything you did back there. Not just for the fan thing.”

“I’m pretty much your fiancé now, Blakely. In two weeks, I’ll be your husband. I was just doing what a husband should.”

“Do you still want to drive me home tonight?” I blurt out.

His eyes grow wide. “I do. You’re going to let me see where you live now? Is this a fiancé perk that I didn’t know I was getting tonight?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’ll still be dropping me off on the corner.”

“I should have known.” He blows out a soft laugh.

I cock a brow. “Is that still a yes, or have you changed your mind?”

“For you, I’ll hog every corner in the neighbourhood.”