Love Me (Trust Series #2) (19 page)

Damien stops my train of thought. “You know, if you want me to give all this up, I would in a heartbeat. We could disappear and never be found again. I want to find the fucker who killed Rebecca, but you’re my priority, Alli. Your safety and happiness are what matters the most.”

I sit back up and look at my husband sitting next to me. He grips the pen tightly as he savagely signs his name over and over again.

Putting my hand on his arm, I try to calm his nerves. “I know you would. You and I both know though that isn’t how we want to live. Right now, everything just feels out of control, and we can’t slow it down or rein it all in. It feels like we’re trapped, which intensifies all this.”

Abandoning his signing frenzy, he leans back against the couch, and I follow him. He puts his arm around me while his free hand rubs his forehead.

Blowing out a long breath, he says. “After the game tomorrow, we need to get out of here and take a few days to ourselves to regroup mentally.”

We don’t have time for that.

“We just got back from our honeymoon. You have to be getting behind on your work, Damien. I don’t—”

He cuts me off. “Baby, it’ll be fine. I’ve got it under control. We might have just gotten back, but we have had to deal with a year’s worth of stress this week. Let’s just take a couple of days. It’ll give Bane time to research, and we can decompress some. No cameras, no press, just us.”

“When you put it like that, how’s a wife to refuse?”

Just then, I hear my phone chime from my purse. I grab it and see it’s Sam.

Sam: Girl, if you are preggers and didn’t tell me first, I won’t be responsible for what I do to your husband—because I won’t be able to do anything to you!

Damien looks at me curiously as I roll my eyes.

I go ahead and answer his unspoken question, “It’s Sam. She’s asking about the pregnancy rumors.”

Damien rolls his eyes right back, and I type a response. I think these rumors are starting to wear on him more than he’s letting on.

Me: No, I’m not. Press isn’t listening, and they’re going for the juicier story, of course.

Sam: Gotcha. Damn bloodsuckers.

Me: Yep, that about sums it up. How are the meetings going?

Sam: Good. Tell the hubby I’ll have the kicker signed by the end of the weekend.

Me: Be good!

Sam: You know it. MUAH! xoxo

Me: xoxo

“Sam told me to tell you that she’ll have the kicker signed by the end of the weekend.”

He chuckles. “My tenacious little sister-in-law. I almost feel guilty about siccing her on my unsuspecting players.”

I bump his shoulder. “I think tenacious is an understatement. And I think your players are big boys. Sam can’t help it if they’ve been hit a few too many times in the head or think with the wrong part of their anatomy.”

I give my most innocent smile as Damien grabs the nape of my neck, bringing our lips together. His wintergreen flavor explodes in my mouth.

Barely disconnecting the kiss, he says against my lips, “I need to get you back to our room, so I can give you another lesson in how you sack the quarterback. You’re going to have to be in top form tomorrow with Sam in order to win the bet.”

I immediately stand and start backing toward the door. “I know who I’d like to sack.”

With that, Damien stands and starts to stride toward me. Biting my lip, I turn to run. Getting chased causes excitement to pool inside me.

He catches me and scoops me up by my legs. I squeal in delight as he carries me down to the car parked at the private entrance.

It’s moments like these that make all the other shit we are dealing with seem like nothing. He’s my everything, and I’d walk through fire if it meant having just one more second with him.

It’s game day, and in an hour, we are going to head to the stadium. Sam got ready at the crack of dawn, and she has already headed over to the field. This morning, she confirmed that the kicker was signed last night. I’m glad she’s enjoying her job so far.

Trying to focus back on the task at hand, I stand in the closet, looking at my choices, as I try to decide which dress to wear. Damien comes into the room in his team outfit that all the executives seem to wear on game day—tailored khakis and a blue dress shirt with the team logo on it. He comes and stands at the entrance of the closet.

Pushing dress after dress aside, I mumble, “Don’t worry, I’ll be ready in time.”

For whatever reason, I’m feeling a little more stressed today while I’m getting ready. It’s just like the banquet—but magnified by a million times.

What if I don’t remember some of the terms? What if I make a total fool of myself? It’s sports for crying out loud, and I suck at sports. Everyone is going to expect me to know it all being married to Mr. Sports Mogul.

He chuckles from behind me, causing me to whirl around to face him with a not-so-pleasant look on my face.

He immediately puts his hands up in the air. “I come in peace. I have present. It help you with dilemma.”

The way he is talking like a caveman almost has me laughing—almost. It’s so unlike him.

I just stand there with an impatient smile on my face.
Sex is not going to solve my dress problem.

He steps out of the closet and then brings back a long rectangular box with a huge blue bow on the top. Now, he has my interest. Normally, I’m all for sex. However, I’m on a strict time limit, and I have to focus right now on getting ready as there’s a good chance I’ll be caught on camera at some point today.

After taking the box from him, I remove the lid and then the tissue paper. I grab a beautiful long-sleeved blue dress from the box. It’s fitted through the top with a modest V-neck. Looking in the mirror, I form it to my body. I notice it ties at the waist and then flows gently out to my knees. It’s made of some kind of soft material that’s not over the top, but it still has me riveted from the slight sparkle it emits.

I throw myself at Damien. “Oh, I love you. You always know exactly what I need.”

He takes a few steps back with me in his arms and chuckles. “You must’ve been desperate. Normally, clothes don’t excite you like this.”

I give him a playful slap on the chest. He bends down, gives me a kiss.

Pulling back, his lips lightly touch mine as he says. “For both our sakes, I’m glad I don’t have to get you all worked up prior to the game.”

I moan at his statement. “Not helping.”

He disengages himself from me. “I’ll let you get ready. I have a phone interview in five minutes. I’ll see you downstairs in a bit. Love you, baby.”

Giving him my sweetest smile, I respond, “Love you, too.”

With that, he switches back into business mode and disappears.

About forty minutes later, I make my way downstairs. I’ve left my hair down and applied my normal amount of makeup. I have on black stilettos that I’ve worn for an extended period of time before, and they are somewhat comfortable. My jewelry has been left to a minimum. I’m wearing only the earrings I got on my wedding day and a simple tear-drop diamond necklace that Damien gave me on our honeymoon to celebrate our one-week wedding anniversary.

As I come down the stairs, it hits me. I know what I’m going to get Damien as a belated wedding gift. I’m excited to start working on it.
What do you get the man who has absolutely everything or can get anything he wants?
It’s not incredibly original, but fingers crossed, the sentimental meaning comes through, and he likes it.

I cross the floor toward Damien.

His voice begins to rise while he is on the phone. “Ben, I don’t fucking care what you promised them. They are not allowed in the box. Take care of it. This is unacceptable. Remember who you work for.” He ends his phone call and curses to himself. “Fucking asshole.”

“Everything okay?” I raise my eyebrow in question.

He rubs his forehead. “I cannot wait to fire that asshole. The fact that my hands are tied because of that other lunatic we are dealing with has me fucking pissed.” He starts pacing.

After four rounds of his erratic ten-step performance, he stops, and I put my arms around his waist. He wraps his arms around my body in return.

Trying to comfort him, I soothingly say, “Damien, we’re going to find this guy soon, and then you can give Ben the boot. What did he do?”

“My parents and Cassandra were given tickets to the skybox.” He’s practically gritting his teeth when he speaks.

I internally cringe and mentally punch Ben in the face.

He takes a deep breath and continues. “That’s the last thing we need to deal with at this point. He needs to find another fuck buddy and stop fucking with my life just so he can get laid.”

I put my hands on the sides of his face. “Hey, after the game, it’s me and you, alone for two days in Texas. Just focus on that.”

He lets out another breath. I didn’t realize how much Damien really needed this time away to unplug from all the craziness. Hopefully, we’ll be able to distance ourselves from all this for just a little bit this weekend. I put my arms back around his waist.

“You and me. You look beautiful as always, baby.”

“Thank you for the dress.”

“Alli, I promised to give you the world.”

“I already have the world because I have you.” I give him another squeeze around the waist. “Are you ready to kick off this game?”

He looks down at me endearingly. “You were made for me.”

Stepping back from him, I hold out my elbow, and he loops his arm through mine.

“Back at you, husband. Back at you.”

We make our way down to the lobby with our usual escorts.

When we arrive in the lobby, Bane asks, “Mr. Wales, I’d like to go over some additional precautions that have been put into place.”

Damien looks at me silently asking if I want to hear what Bane has to say, and I shake my head. He smiles and walks about ten feet away to talk. Hearing all the precautions to the precautions is just too stressful for me right now. Immediately, another security guard is at my side.

To get my mind off of everything, I text Sam.

Me: Headed to the stadium. Be there in a few.

Sam: I have the best job ever. I will never tire of looking at all this hot ass. Sigh.

I’m in the midst of thinking about a response when someone clears his throat behind me. Turning, I see Ben as he walks in front of me.

“Mrs. Wales, I wanted to congratulate you. I already congratulated Mr. Wales.”

Ugh, ugh, ugh.
All I can think about is him hooking up with that bitch. Absentmindedly, as I’m thinking about my witty comeback to Sam while watching Damien and Bane interact as I try to keep my mind from picturing Ben and Cassandra together, I respond, “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Wales. I have some things to handle for Mr. Wales prior to the game. I’ll meet both of you at the stadium.”

“Thanks, Ben.”

Realization hits as to what he was probably congratulating me on. My head whips around to the retreating back of Ben.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

It’s hard to keep straight all the congratulations we are receiving and to make sure I respond appropriately.

Geez. Oh well. It’s just Ben.
I’ll tell him when I see him next.

Damien comes back over, and we head out to the car.

As we make our way to the stadium, Damien is on the phone constantly. I’m getting a better idea of what game day is really like.

Last time I came here, we just had a major bomb dropped on our laps when I received the flowers and note. We were doing everything we could just to get through the moment. The mood is much lighter today even though we know the stakes. Ignorance and the unknown are much worse, I’ve decided.

As we disembark from the vehicle, one of the team managers comes out. He’s an older man with graying hair. He has his pants pulled up just a little too high. He’s one of those guys who I just want to go up to and squeeze his cheeks because he’s so adorable.

Following him is a woman in stilettos, a black business suit, and a tight bun that causes her face to look tight. She’s a little more severe-looking with her angular face and no-nonsense attitude. Her jet-black hair and pale skin add to that contrast. It’s Miss Clickety-Clack from the hotel before the last game. She was a bitch to security last time I saw her.