Page 13 of The Cupcake Cottage

His coach sat up straighter. “If you won’t tell everyone what really happened in Lafayette, then the team has to do what it has to do.”

Maverick exploded out of his seat, arms in the air. “This is as bad as before with all the lies and deceit.” He pointed in the direction of Lafayette, his old team, the press that had hounded him. He was shouting and someone closed the office door. “Telling the world that Daisy-Mae and I are an item—” His mind froze for a second. He’d seen her earlier in the day and she’d been hands-down sexy in her new work wardrobe, giving him long, heated glances that made him want to hit the elevator’s Stop button and mess up her lipstick.

There had been no hint in her quiet body language that she was upset about anything. There’d been no dragging him out of the elevator and demanding he explain himself, the photos, the article, this entire crazy corporation.

“Have you even spoken to her?” he asked.

Louis stroked his neck like he did when he was stressed about a high-stakes game. “Maverick,” he said evenly, “it’s been months of this mess following you around. I talked to you about doing something about it at the beginning of the season. We’re into November now and you haven’t made any moves to make this better. The PR team saw an opportunity, and we took it.”

“Nobody cleared this with her? You set us up.” She was going to be justifiably angry.

Louis sighed.

“Well, I’m sure you can expect Daisy-Mae in your office at any moment. And yes, yours. She’s not dumb.” He crossed his arms. “You dragged her intomymess without asking her if she wanted to be tainted by all of this. She’s just starting out here. This could impact her career. Did you think about that?”

He felt sick to his stomach. You didn’t treat friends this way. You protected them.

Louis cleared his throat, toying with the pens on his desk. “I think this could be a good thing.” He wouldn’t look at Maverick.

“It’s finally come down to money mattering most, hasn’t it? What if I say no to all of this? Are you going to fire me?”

“Maybe.” Louis shifted forward in his seat.

He felt his jaw slacken as he realized how serious Louis was. The man had always been in his corner. Always.

He sagged into his abandoned chair.

“What if I deny this?” He pointed to the article. It was mostly photos. A few lines about him, Daisy-Mae, their friendship and careers. His throat tightened, and the walls felt like they were pressing in on him. He wanted these photos to be true. He wanted what this article was selling.

“I don’t think anyone will believe you,” Louis said quietly, as though embarrassed by voicing the truth.

“I thought this photographer you had shadow me was supposed to help.”

Louis spun the papers, shoving them Maverick’s way. “Look.”

“I already have.”

“No. Impartially. Objectively. Not as some alpha trying to protect the woman you have the hots for.”

Geez. Was he that transparent?

Reluctantly Maverick obeyed and pulled the papers off the desk. He didn’t want to look at the photos, didn’t want to admit to himself or to Louis that he was cornered and possibly facing the end of his career if he didn’t accept the sudden change of rules.

“This is literally the only helpful stuff he got after tailing you for almost two weeks. You’re a hermit.”

“I thought everyone told me to lay low,” he grumbled.

The first shot in the article was of Daisy-Mae leaning in at Myles’s party. Her long hair was tickling his sleeve, and both of them were smiling as though sharing a private joke. He remembered that moment. She was dishing it back after he’d teased her about the promotion. The look she’d given him when she’d realized he’d helped her had hit him hard in the gut. Her expression had suggested nobody had ever helped her out like that. Which couldn’t possibly be true. But it made him want to help her all the more.

He curled the papers into a tube in his hands. “The staff won’t take her seriously if they think she’s dating me.”

“Why not?”

“It’ll look like nepotism. Like you hired my girlfriend.”

“They hired her before this article says you started dating.”

He uncurled the pages. “Or they’ll call her a puck bunny. Or…” He looked at the photos again. Daisy-Mae wasn’t wearing her usual sexy attire. It was more subdued. She was wearing cowboy boots, hat, and jeans, but her shirt covered more skin than normal. She looked like a beautiful professional woman who held an amazing position on the team.

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