Page 80 of Under My Skin

“Yeah, what he said,” Melissa said as she joined us.

“Ian, Ky, Liss, come on. We need to get pictures.” Our friend Hannah Olsen walked up to the group, then looked over at me. “And you’d better get your ass up there too, sir. We need some with you and your woman too.”

I snorted. “Yes, ma’am.”

As we all started to walk forward, Hannah turned her attention to my girlfriend.

“You must be Dani,” she said with a grin. “Sorry I couldn’t be at dinner on Monday. I had to catch a later flight. It’s really nice to meet you.”

When Dani turned to me with a confused expression rather than saying anything, I realized she had no idea who this woman was.

“Dani, this is Hannah,” I introduced her. “She’s one of our friends from high school. She’s also Ian and Ky’s publicist, and she’s in the documentary too.”

As I said that out loud, it hit me all over again how much I wished I had someone like Hannah in my corner. Someone I trusted who could help me navigate the murky waters I was almost certainly going to be treading in the second the press got wind about Isaac.

“Hi, Hannah,” Dani mumbled. “It’s nice to meet you.”

I slipped my arm around her waist and kissed her temple. She leaned into my embrace, and I started to rub what I hoped were comforting circles into her side with my thumb.

“I know that look, B,” Hannah chuckled. “You okay?”

Damn it, she had the worst timing. If this had been literallyanyother day, I would have talked to her about my current situation. Asked her for some advice on how to vet publicists since shewasone. Hell, possibly even asked if she’d be willing to work with me even though she was based in Kansas, not Florida.

But Hannah was working right now, and she needed to be focused on doing her job. Kyler deserved that. She’d workedsodamn hard on this documentary, and she’d more than earned her moment in the spotlight.

So, instead of asking her any of the numerous burning questions in my mind, I just nodded. “Yep, I’m fine.”

Stopping and turning so she was facing me, Hannah put a hand on my arm. “Look, Ian and Ky gave me the thirty-second version of what’s going on with you so I wouldn’t be blindsided if someone asked them about it tonight since your friendship is public knowledge. I’m going to tell you what I told them. If anyonestarts asking inappropriate questions, I havezeroproblem having security throw them out. This event is not the time or place for them to be hounding you with questions you’re not ready to answer, so if they try, just come find me. Okay?”

I let out a long sigh of relief. Knowing that I had someone who knew how to handle the press on my side tonight made me feelsomuch better. And so did knowing that all it would take was one word from me to get anyone who tried to give me or my girlfriend a hard time tossed out on their ass.

“Thanks, Hannah,” I said quietly.

“Of course,” she murmured. “I’ll be glued to Ky’s side all night, so I won’t be hard to find if you need me.”

With a reassuring squeeze to my shoulder, she turned toward her clients and led them into the press tent while I looked at Dani, who had a hesitant smile pasted on her face. The kind that told me she would rather have been anywhere but on this red carpet preparing to answer questions, while praying someone didn’t ask us the wrong ones.

“Let’s do this, sweetheart,” I sighed. “The sooner we get it over with, the sooner we can get to the fun stuff.”

She chuckled softly. “Okay. Lead the way.”

Taking Dani’s hand, I led her into the press tent, where our friends were already posing for pictures in front of the step and repeat banner. We joined them for a few pictures, then got some pictures with just the two of us before heading closer to the reporters standing behind the barricade waiting to ask questions.

“Braden, you looked pretty friendly up there posing for pictures with one of Orlando’s biggest rivals,” Jerry Meyers, a reporter I recognized from a few press conferences, said.

I snorted. “Ian Thomason and I have been best friends since high school. No matter what teams we play for, he’llalwaysbe my brother from another mother. And tonight’s not about football or professional rivalries. It’s about celebrating Kyler, who I’msodamn proud of. This documentary has been a labor of love for her, and I can’t wait to see the finished product tonight.”

“Did you know Kyler when the events from the documentary took place?” a man a few yards away asked.

“I did, but not well,” I admitted. “I didn’t really get to know her until our senior year of high school, when she started dating Ian. But now she’s one of my closest friends. I’d walk through fire for that girl.”

“Speaking of girls, who’s the lovely lady on your arm this evening?” a woman who appeared to work for a trashy tabloid magazine prodded.

Pulling Dani into my side, I smiled. “This is my girlfriend, Daniela Ramos.”

“Girlfriend? Someone managed to take football’s most notorious playboy off the market?” she chuckled.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Basically because, while the questionwasin kind of poor taste, she also wasn’t entirely wrong.

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