Page 65 of We'll Meet Again

Part of her started to worry that once she had agreed to be his girlfriend, he might not put in the same effort as before, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. Ethan still walked her to work every morning, got her coffee, and on days he had to leave early to get to a match, he left flowers and a note on the pillow beside her. He was caring and thoughtful and totally doting. Not to mention the mind blowing sex.

Tessa was looking hard at Billie. “Son of a bitch, I think you really are.”

Billie rolled her eyes and held her hand out. “Let me see that article.”

She scanned the first paragraph.Stanmore FC striker Ethan Knight has started making himself quite at home here in London,it read.Knight, 26, has evidently entered into a relationship with Billie Axton, 28, a legal assistant at Stanmore. The pair have been spotted throughout the city, and after some speculation on social media, the couple confirmed their relationship on their respective Instagram accounts.There was a screenshot of Ethan’s latest post, a candid picture of Billie sipping her coffee at his kitchen table, captioned:Views. She smiled at the memory, and then read on.

The scandal in all this is that Miss Axton dated Knight’s current teammate, Peter O’Riley, just over a year ago, they wrote.No word yet on how O’Riley’s taking it, but that could explain the tension we’ve been seeing on the pitch.

She stopped reading there. “Of course they brought up Peter just to stir up drama that isn’t there.”

“Did they really?” Tessa asked.

“You mean you haven't read it yet?”

“No, I only picked up a paper to start wrapping some antiques up.”

Billie chuckled. “Well, there is a bright side.”

“What’s that?”

“I look fucking fit in this picture.”

Tessa laughed and looked at it again. “You really do, Bills, shall we have it framed?”

“Fuck off,” Billie teased and started toward the door. “I’ll see you after the match, yeah?”

“Best of luck joining the - what was it?”

“WAGs,” Billie said. “Wives and girlfriends.”

She had received an invite from Osahar’s fiance, Nadia. Apparently, they had a box to themselves where they watched the matches each week. Of course, Larysa, Artem’s wife, was only at home matches these days since she was due to have her baby in another month or so. Also joining them was Fernando’s soon-to-be fiance (and Billie was sworn to secrecy there), Astrid. Unlike the other two, she hadn’t met Fernando until after he moved to England, but they had been together ever since. As Billie headed out, she wondered if looking at them might give her insight into her own future with Ethan.

“Hey, Billie!” Nadia greeted when she arrived.

Nadia was a stunning woman with a warmth that shined through her deep brown eyes. Billie admired her dedication to supporting the club - her hijab matched her fiance’s jersey.

“This is Larysa,” Nadia said, pointing to the beautiful blonde woman in a maternity dress that perfectly showed off her baby bump.

“Nice to meet you,” Larysa said.

“Likewise,” Billie returned. “And congratulations, by the way.”

Larysa smiled and rubbed her belly. “Thank you.”

“And this is Astrid,” Nadia went on, indicating the devastatingly gorgeous brunette to Larysa’s right.

“Holy shit, you’re beautiful,” Billie blurted out.

“Thanks,” Astrid chuckled. “I should hope so, my job depends on it.”

“Actress?” Billie guessed.

“Model.”

“Sounds about right.”

They were all as kind as they were pretty. Nadia, Billie learned, was a professional makeup artist, which made sense because hers was flawless. Larysa was a competitive ballroom dancer, but was, of course, taking a break for a while to have her son.

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