Page 83 of Love In The Spotlight

She was all over the place right now. Not much more than him.

“I do,” he said. “I thought we discussed this before. Things were going fast, but we understood that. We both did things because we were feeling more than we thought. Right?”

“Right,” she said.

“I wouldn’t have brought you over to my house yesterday to spend personal time with my daughter if I wasn’t falling in love with you, Laken. And walking in here and thinking I was fooled once again in my life just set me off.”

“You love me?” she asked.

There were tears in her eyes and he wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but he’d come this far and should put the winning score in now and bring it home.

“I do love you. I’ve spent the last day trying to figure out a way for Penelope to see you’re more than a friend, but she’s two and that isn’t easy.”

“I love you too,” she said, crying. “And I’m so mad at myself and I think that is why I got worked up at the idea you were using me and I didn’t want to fall for that again.”

“Let’s take a deep breath. Both of us. Inhale in and hold it, exhale out.”

She mirrored him a few times. He’d learned this to calm himself before games and on the field when it was go time.

“Wow, that worked.”

“I know it does. We’ve established we love each other. So we can get through the rest. Correct?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Who is Alex and where can I find him to break him in half for hurting you?”

She laughed. “Okay, I needed that too.”

“I’m not so sure I’m joking.”

“Of course you are. Because if you weren’t then it’d be publicity you don’t want. He’d be the one to make sure of it. He’s not worth it.”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

26

BELIEVE YOU

There wasn’t a hole big enough for Laken to hide in.

She was conflicted over calling her mother and blasting her and explaining one of the most embarrassing things she’d let herself fall for in her life.

She’d get to her mother soon enough.

Until then, she had to tell the man she loved that she’d been an idiot.

“When I first moved to Manhattan, I was focusing on work. West, Braylon and I—we were out there doing charity events. Mingling and working hard to keep building his empire.”

“Did you like going out and doing those things?” he asked.

She shrugged. “It was expected. It’s fine. It was more about making contacts than anything.”

“You did it for your brother,” he said.

“We do most things for those we love in our family. It’s a bad trait at times.” Something her mother was going to get an earful about soon enough.

“Good and bad,” he said. “Go on.”

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