Page 9 of Hard to Fake

My old one buzzes with a notification.

Miles: Wanted to make sure you didn’t fall into the bathtub before your date.

Brooke: Why are you texting me? I lost my phone.

Miles: But you’re responding so… ;)

My lips curve.

On my way over here, I passed a bus stop with a picture of the starting lineup of the World Champion Denver Kodiaks.

Standing in the middle was Miles, a basketball gripped between his massive palms, his purple jersey revealing muscled arms. He was facing down the camera with a smirk that could melt a woman’s panties off.

He was always a fan favorite, but after the playoffs, he became even more popular. Now that their season has officially started, excitement and expectations are off the charts.

The whole city, the entire state, has had a collective hard-on for the Kodiaks since they won the championship last year.

"Who’s that?" Nova asks, curious.

“Miles drove me home after the shoot. He was there to pick up one of the models. He left with me instead.”

“Fascinating.” Nova shifts forward, her dark lashes fluttering. “Why would he do that?”

“Because my brother would have Miles’s ass if he let me drown?” I supply. “Hint all you want, but we are never getting together.” I set down the phone firmly.

“But you have chemistry.”

“I don’t date basketball players.”

“Who do you date? Because as long as we’ve known each other, I haven’t seen you date anyone for more than a few weeks.”

I kick her lightly with my toe under the table in retaliation.

“Shacking up with some baller from my brother’s team is the last thing I need.”

I grew up under my mom’s public persona, and now I have to deal with my brother’s. He’s one of the top point guards in the NBA, and even when I try to live on my own terms, existing in the same city means his world collides with mine more often than not.

“I hooked up with one of the guys on my brother-in-law’s team. It worked out pretty well,” Nova says with an innocent smile.

"And he’s the lucky one, Mrs. Wade," I say, my attention falling to her gigantic diamond ring, now with a matching wedding band thanks to Clayton Wade, the Kodiaks’ all-star forward and Nova's husband.

She didn’t know who Clay was when they met. It was a very sexy case of mistaken identity, and I was here for it.

“So, Miles doesn’t even get a chance?” she pleads.

The way he carried me out of the water comes back, coupled with the lingering look in the car after I changed in the passenger seat.

I don’t think about him like that.

Okay, sometimes I think about him like that.

But even if Miles decided tomorrow that chasing Kodashians is inferior to dating a woman who actually sees who he is and challenges him, hooking up with the most popular player in the NBA who’s also my brother’s teammate would be a kind of complicated I avoid.

“I will never date the golden boy.” I click into my social account, relieved to see the number of comments piling up on my latest post. “There’s only so much sun to go around, and I die in the shadows.”

2

MILES

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