Page 18 of Curvy Fake Wife for the Player

My eyes widen when I finally see what has Jack so riled up. It’s a photo of me and Alex, laughing and smiling at each otherwith total adoration. He had one hand cradling Dixie’s back as if he’d been doing it for months. It’s totally out of context, but I was there, and I knew we were just laughing at some silly joke and I still thought we looked like a couple.

“What…who would do this?”

Jack laughed. “For crying out loud, woman, will you please do a simple internet search and learn who the hell he is!” His angry words startled me, but more than that I felt silly because he was right. I knew Alex was a professional athlete but I didn’t want to taint what I knew about him by reading gossip. He turned back to Alex. “One thing,” he repeated, holding up his index finger.

Alex’s broad shoulders sank in resignation. “I know I screwed up, but it was a last minute problem and it couldn’t be helped.” He told him about the messed up order and the quick fix. “Babies need a lot of shit, and I couldn’t let her go without another day. I’m her father.” He flashed another of his charming smiles and I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my own face.

For a guy like Jack, I was sure Alex’s attitude was infuriating.

“You can afford to hire someone to do this kind of shit for you, which I have been telling you for years. Your stubbornness has finally caught up to you, and now we need to deal with this.”

“Deal with what?” I snorted the question and folded my arms. “From what you’ve said people take photos of Alex all that time. They’ll think I’m an adoring fan and move on.” Right?

“Wrong,” he went to the coffee table, spreading out the magazines so they were all visible. “This isn’t something a quick press release can fix. People are already asking questions about you and the baby,” he pointed at me as if I was the cause of this. “They’re speculating that you’re his secret girlfriend and the baby is your love child. We have to fix it. Now.”

“Jack,” Alex began but his agent stopped him with a hand.

“Twenty million dollars, Alex.”

Twenty million dollars?That was a lot of money and even though my curiosity burned, I told myself I didn’t want to know what it was about. This was his business, not mine. I reached for Dixie and kissed the top of her head.

“Dixie and I will get out of your way and let you talk business. Good luck,” I told Alex and walked away.

“Don’t run too far, nanny. You’re in this too.”

I froze and turned slowly, shaking my head. “My job is to take care of Dixie, that’s it. I signed your paper promising I wouldn’t talk about any of this, and I won’t. You’re welcome.”

Alex held up his hands, showing off sculpted biceps. “How are we going to fix this and what does Sasha have to do with it?”

Excellent question.

“I’ll get back to you on that when I’ve worked out the details. Both of you.” His gaze bounced back and forth between us before he let out an anguished moan and marched out of the penthouse like a man on death row.

“That went well,” I said sarcastically, because what I really wanted to say to him was,I told you so.

He glared at me as if he could read my mind and pointed a finger in my direction. “Don’t even think about saying it, Sasha.”

I bit back a grin. “I’m not thinking about saying anything,” I lied.

A low growl erupted and Alex opened his mouth to say something but snapped it shut. He shook his head and did it again, before he groaned in frustration.

“I’m going to work out.” He stomped from the room, a cloud of expensive cologne and anxiety in his wake.

I held Dixie close and when I was sure I was alone, I laughed.

Chapter 11

Alex

Working out. Training.

That was the only thing I did for the past three days other than spend time with Dixie, because news of me and Sasha was everywhere. I’d made the mistake of leaving the penthouse—on my own—and the first newsstand I came to was covered in images of me and Sasha from that baby store. Online was, of course, worse by about ten country miles.

There were comparisons of Sasha and Tatiana everywhere, from their fashion choices to the way I interacted with them. The consensus so far was that I was in lust with Tatiana but Sasha was my soul mate. It was totally out of hand, and after that first day, leaving the penthouse without security wasn’t possible so I spent my days working out, training and going over last season’s games.

A prisoner in my own home.

Still, the season started soon and I couldn’t afford to start with an injury so I couldn’t overdo it. I stepped back from the weight bag and wiped my forehead before leaving the gym to go in search of water.

---