And skipping off to Florida with a football-playing superstar was a major decision.
“Okay,” he said. “I have to do this charity thing and press junket. But promise you’ll consider coming while you’re lying by the pool, and we’ll talk about it tonight?”
“I promise.”
“And if you decide no, be warned—I can be very persuasive when there’s something I really, really want.”
* * *
NATE REALLY, REALLY wanted Heather.
He wasn’t sure why, couldn’t say how she’d embedded herself so deeply in his psyche, but it was true. He’d become addicted to her over the past three days.
It wasn’t just that she was beautiful, with her long, red-gold hair, pale green eyes and slim figure. He also enjoyed her sense of humor and her kindness, and was attracted to her spirit. She was natural, with not a fake bone in her body, unlike most women he met. Definitely unlike the one he’d planned to marry.
The difference between gallery-owner Heather Hughes and Felicity Monroe, his bubblegum-pop-singing ex-fiancée, was like the difference between a five dollar bottle of Chianti and Pernod Ricard Perrier-Jouët champagne. They might both get you drunk. But one would leave you with a headache and a sour taste in your mouth, while the other left you feeling pretty uplifted. The fact that he’d ever proposed to Felicity embarrassed him. He was just glad she’d eventually revealed her real, vicious personality behind the sweet facade she’d shown him at first.
As he stood in a crowded hospital corridor, he tried to force memories of Felicity out of his mind. He was always willing to help out good causes, and didn’t regret saying yes to today’s appearance at a new wing of a children’s cancer center. The press conference afterward would be a pain, but hopefully it would go quickly.
Then he could return to the hotel and Heather.
“So, Nate, do you have any comment about Felicity’s news?”
Nate, who’d been squatting down to autograph a football for a cute five-year-old, tensed, recognizing reporter-tone. He finished signing the ball, tousled the kid’s hair and rose. Before him stood a middle-aged man whose eyes sparkled with excitement. Nothing beats digging into other people’s dirty laundry.
“The press conference is happening later. If you have to ask about ancient history, save it until then. This is about the kids.”
Not even curious about what his ex’s news might be, he began to walk away. But another guy with a press label on his jacket stepped in front of him. “Nate, will you support your child?”
Nate’s whole body went rigid. Child? What the hell?
“Haven’t you heard about Felicity’s interview on The View this morning?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, desperate to get to a private spot to contact the team’s press office. He’d intentionally kept his phone off for the past few days, being focused on Heather. That must be why he hadn’t heard about this yet, though, obviously, word was spreading.
The reporter didn’t let up. “She announced her pregnancy, naming you as the father. Felicity said that when you found out, you dumped her. She mentioned a lawsuit for breach of promise.”
Christ, was that even still a thing?
“And said she’ll sue you for child support.”
“This is crazy,” he said, swiping a hand through his hair.
“How do you respond to the allegations?”
“I deny them,” he snarled. “We broke up...” He was about to yell because she cheated, which she had. But he instead fell silent. Felicity was very popular right now, and the team’s PR reps had thought it best that the breakup appear mutual.
“Because you’re just not ready to be a father?”
“That wasn’t it.” He glanced around for an organizer, hoping someone could get rid of the human piranhas who loved to nip at the heels of any celebrity, especially one who’d recently dumped a VH-1 goddess. No one was nearby. Figures.
“Is it because of the redhead?”
Jaw tight, he responded, “What redhead?”
“You’ve been seen all over town this week with a mysterious red-haired woman named Heather.”
Nate reached for the guy’s lapel, ready to grab and shake him, but sanity prevailed. “She has nothing to do with this.”
On cue, the other one leaped in with the same question. “Is she the reason you abandoned Felicity and the baby?”
There is no baby, he mentally screamed, absolutely certain it was true.
Yes, he and Felicity had broken up only a month ago. But before that, she’d been on tour in Australia. Before that, he’d been wrapped up in the playoffs. Plus, their relationship had been on the rocks, since he’d suspected—correctly—that she was cheating on him. The point was, they hadn’t slept together since Christmas. If she was four months pregnant, the world would have known about it by now, or she’d have told him during their ugly breakup scene when she’d begged him to take her back.
This was a publicity stunt, it had to be. And on the off chance she was pregnant, the baby wasn’t his. The father was probably the married music producer she’d screwed around with.
“Look, this is the first I’m hearing about any of this.”
“Did you have an affair with Heather and break Felicity’s heart?”
It was like talking to a damned wall.
Whatever happened, he had to protect Heather. She was a private person, one who valued her reputation as a business owner. The first priority was to get the spotlight off her.
“This redhead you keep harping on is a stranger,” he said. “I met her a couple of days ago, we hung out and that’s it.”
“So there was no love triangle between you, her and Felicity?”
“Definitely no love triangle,” he said, keeping cool. “There’s no love between me and Felicity, or me and anybody else. The redhead is a chick I picked up in Vegas. She’s a nobody.”
He mentally apologized to Heather. He’d explain it to her later, when they were safely inside his gated house in Miami.
Unfortunately, he immediately realized, that wouldn’t work.
She couldn’t come with him, not now. Bad enough that he lived in the spotlight because of his own fame. Felicity positively thrived on it. She’d milk this as much as she could, for whatever twisted reasons she’d come up with for announcing the pregnancy and naming him as the daddy.
The press would watch his every move, and would notice if Heather traveled with him or if she showed up at his place. She’d be thrust into the spotlight, and she would hate it.
As
