Page 67 of The Wedding Deal
Pride radiated from Maribelle. “Good to hear that some of what I taught him stuck. If he ever acts like a knucklehead, you just call me, and I’ll set him straight.”
“Oh, I’m afraid if I did that, I’d never stop calling you,” Charlotte joked, bumping her shoulder into Lance’s.
Lance took a sip of champagne, frowned at the bubbly drink as if it’d personally offended him, and passed it to her. “I should’ve known that if I left you alone with my family for even five minutes, they’d fall for your charms and choose your side over mine.”
She tipped back the last of the champagne, happy to help him finish it off so he could do what he wanted to and go ordera real drink. “Yeah, big mistake on your part. I’m ridiculously charming.”
He moved his mouth next to her ear and whispered, “Just wait till I get you back to the hotel room. I’ll show you exactly how charming I can be.”
She turned her face so their lips were a mere breath apart. “Can’t wait,” she said aloud as she silently challenged him tobring it on.Bring it all.
He kissed her and curled her to him as they listened to the rest of the toasts. Maribelle kept smiling at her, and she was laughing and talking with the family, and all the while she gripped on to the moment, on to Lance.
As the clock ticked down on the evening, their time in North Carolina moving to the only-hours-left range, worries rose up one by one. About how it’d be when they got back to Texas, and how they were going to balance their relationship at the office, and all of the things she’d forgotten to worry about during the past few days.
Lance had said he wanted to make them work, and they’d even signed a quarterback today, leaving the team well on its way to becoming something bigger and better.
So why did she feel like she needed to hold tighter to the moment? As if it might slip right through her fingers if she dared to loosen her grip.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The party was winding down, and Lance was counting the minutes until the reception would come to a close.
He’d walked up to the bar to grab another round of drinks for Charlotte and himself when he felt the prickling presence of someone approaching.
After the bartender handed him his order, Lance slowly turned.
Simms stood behind him, too close, his gaze too sharp.
“I’m not giving a statement of any kind right now— It’s my brother’s wedding, and he was kind enough to invite you for some strange reason. Tomorrow you can go back to being a pain in my ass.”
The guy simply cocked his head, and something about the gesture sent foreboding across Lance’s skin.
It’s just because of my past with reporters and everything that happened with Sage. Because I have a beef with him for the story he ran afterward, about how I was as blind in love as I’d been on the field.
As if that weren’t enough, Simms had added,I called this one from the beginning. His temper got the best of him again and again, and his stats were never going to be strong enough to keep him from a future as a washed-up has-been, injury or not.
The washed-up part was a bit too accurate until now, but he was in the process of changing that.
“Just one question,” Simms said as Lance went to step around him, clearly as bad at listening now as he’d been a few years ago. “Charlotte James works for you?”
Lance blew out a careful, measured breath. He wanted to tell him not to approach her without his say-so, but then the guy would undoubtedly tell her he’d threatened him. “Yes.”
If Simms thought he could work the angle of Lance sleeping with one of his employees, he’d meet the brick wall of Charlotte’s ironclad consensual romance agreement, and for the first time, he was glad she’d insisted on it. Mostly to keep her name from being dragged through the mud as Simms worked on grinding his personal ax.
Just the idea of anyone talking shit about her ignited his anger and made his teeth clench.I can’t control what people think, I can’t control what people think.“Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
“I’m just surprised.”
A threatening noise slipped out as Lance leered at him, and the idiot at least had the good sense to back up a step. “She knows more about football than you do. She’s smart, and she cares about the team, and I’d expect better than sexist drivel from you, Simms. Actually, that’s a lie. I don’t expect anything but a cheap ploy to sell a story, no matter who it hurts.”
Simms held up his hands as if he was surrendering, and Lance hoped that was what he was doing. It’d be bad PR for him to punch the guy, and he wouldn’t even care all that much if it didn’t mean that Charlotte would be pissed and it might mess with their last night before they had to return to the real world.
Heading back to the office in San Antonio would make it easier to do their jobs, but complications would also arise— He wasn’t foolish enough to think they wouldn’t simply because he didn’t want them to.
“You do realize who she is, don’t you?” Simms asked. “Who her dad is?”
Of course he did. She was the human resources manager who drove him crazy as she also drove him wild with desire. He also knew it bothered her that her dad was a gambler, although he racked his brain, trying to remember if she’d ever said his name.
