Page 5 of Taking the Fight

Chuckling, Braden stood back and deliberately brushed his arm against my body. “Looks like I got half a million more followers overnight.”

“What?” I gasped, focusing on the computer. There was no way. But when I looked at his followers, they had definitely increased. “How did that happen?”

Natalie sat back down and typed away. “I don’t know. That’s a huge jump since the last time I checked.”

“You keep watch over our social media?” I asked, grinning at her.

Sheepishly, she glanced back at me. “I can’t help it. You’re famous and I work for you. You guys made me one of the popular kids in high school.”

I fluffed her hair. “I’m sure you did that all on your own.”

She snorted. “Not really, but I appreciate you saying it.”

Natalie typed Braden’s name in the search engine, and a gazillion different articles popped up. There were so many I couldn’t focus on just one.

Natalie gasped and pointed at the screen. “Oh my God, I found it. It was an article posted last night.” She clicked on the link, and I read the headline when the story came up.This Year’s Hottest and Most Eligible Athletes.She scrolled down and there in the number one spot was a picture of Braden.

“You have got to be shitting me,” I grumbled.

He already had women fawning over him twenty-four seven, and now it would be even worse. Braden leaned in, his chuckle deep and seductive in my ear where only I could hear him. “Don’t worry, sunshine. I’m all yours.”

Trembles vibrated through my body, and I fought the urge to suck in a much-needed breath. Heart racing, I moved away from him and grabbed my bag. “I have to go. Emma’s waiting on me.” Without looking at him, I turned on my heel and took off for the door. I could already tell Braden was going to make it hard for me to resist him.

Braden followed me to my house and parked right beside me in his metallic, graphite-colored Mercedes Benz G-Class. He grinned devilishly at me when I glared over at him. As soon as he stepped out of his vehicle, I took a deep breath before grabbing my gym bag from the passenger’s seat. Then, pushing open my car door, I slammed it hard for good measure when I got out.

“Are you really going to follow me around everywhere?” I snapped, charging toward the apartment stairs.

Still with his hat on backward, he strolled up behind me. “The way I see it, you’re going over to Carter and Emma’s, and I’m headed there too. So we might as well go together. Carter and I have to discuss our guys’ trip next weekend.”

Emma and I had to talk about that weekend too, only it was mine and her vacation getaway, not theirs. I stormed up the two flights of stairs. “What? No date tonight?” I shot back.

Braden chuckled. “Nope. Got one Friday, though.”

I jammed the key into my door as a pang of jealousy spurred in my gut. “Great. That means you won’t be following me around.”

He leaned against the wall. “Now that you mention it, I’ll probably cancel.”

Plastering on a smile, I turned to him. “No, go. I have a date too. I can’t have you screwing that up for me.”

I saw his smile falter for a split second, but he played it off. “Oh yeah? With whom?”

I pushed my door open. “That’s none of your business. You don’t see me asking you how many women you fucked last weekend.”

Braden leaned in close. “Do you want to know?”

Even though the thought infuriated me, I continued to smile. Braden was always brutally honest, so I didn’t want to know how many women he’d been with. “Don’t care,” I replied.

Turning on my heel, I left him at the door and hurried down the hall to my bedroom. The second I stepped in, I shut the door behind me and tossed my gym bag on the bed, unable to catch my breath. My focus went straight to the window where I had the best view of the ocean. Peyton had her room filled with succulent plants, but I always turned to the ocean for peace. That was why I had an ocean-themed room with my blue and white bedspread and pina colada candles.

Whenever Braden got close to me, I could feel the burn in my veins. Just watching him train put me on the brink of orgasm. What made it worse was when we would spar together. He’d always find a way to get me down on the mat with his body between my legs. That was why I refused to train with him alone. Then again, I’d never really gotten the chance to with so many people being at the gym.

Waving a hand in front of my face, I blew out a breath, hoping the heat on my cheeks would ebb. Once I had enough time to cool down, I grabbed the wedding portfolio on my bookshelf and quietly crept down the hall to see what Braden was doing. He’d turned his ball cap to the front, but I didn’t regret telling him that he looked stupid with it backward; it kept him on his toes. However, I honestly did think he was cute with it that way, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

His focus was on a shelf on the wall lined with pictures, mainly of Peyton and me, but there was one of my mom and Braden’s mother together with their arms around each other’s shoulders. They were best friends.

“I bet my mom can’t wait for yours to get back in town. I don’t think they’ve seen each other in four months. That’s like a century in best friend years,” I called out.

Braden chuckled and turned around. “Is that how you are with my sister? It’s been a while since you’ve seen her.”

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