Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Fuck. What was the matter with her? She wasn’t the type of woman who broke rules. And she didn’t condone lies, either.
She couldn’t believe she’d just asked Brody to throw away his honesty and honor.
With shaky steps, she closed the distance between them and pressed her face against his bare chest. She could feel his heart thudding against her ear like a drum.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to lie. It was unfair of me to do that. I’m…” She choked on a sob. “I can’t believe I just did that.”
His hand caressed the small of her back. “It’s okay. I know you’re concerned about him, babe.”
“I just wish… Damn it, Brody, I want to help him.”
“I know,” he said gently. “But your dad is the one who got himself into this mess, and I hate to say it, but he’s the one who’ll have to get himself out of it.”
Hayden’s phone woke her early the next morning, rousing her from a restless sleep and making her groan with displeasure. She was on her side, her back pressed against Brody’s big, warm body, one of his long arms draped over her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the ringing to stop. There was a second or two of blessed silence, and then it rang again. And again. And again.
With a sigh, she disentangled herself from Brody’s arms and slid out from under the covers. The sight of the alarm clock on the nightstand made her grimace. Six o’clock. Who on earth was calling her this early?
“Come back to bed,” came Brody’s sleepy murmur.
“I will after I murder whoever keeps calling,” she grumbled, padding barefoot to the armchair under the window. Her clothes and purse were draped over the chair, and she rummaged around in the pile until she found her cell.
Glancing at the display, she immediately recognized Darcy’s number. Shit. This probably wasn’t good. Not if Darcy was giving up her own beauty sleep to make a call.
Hayden quickly answered. “Darce, hey. What’s wrong?”
“Have you been online at all this morning?”
“That’s what you woke me up to ask?” Hayden edged to the door, not wanting to disturb Brody. She leaned against the wall in the hallway and added, “Of course I haven’t been online! It’s six in the fucking morning. And what are you doing up early enough to be online?”
“I never went to bed last night.” Hayden could practically see the grin on her best friend’s face. “I just sneaked out of Marco’s apartment to call an Uber and—”
“Who’s Marco?”
“Oh, he’s my new personal trainer.” There was a pause. “We hooked up last night.”
“At the rate you’re going, you’ll never be able to find a permanent gym.” She let out a breath. “Can you tell me why you’re calling or can I go back to sleep?”
“You’re all over the internet, babe.”
“What?”
“No joke. It was the first headline I saw when I opened my phone. There’re pictures of you on the front page of every sports and entertainment blog, with your hockey player’s tongue in your mouth and his hands on your ass.”
Horror lodged in her throat. “Bullshit.”
“I’m afraid not.”
Oh, fuck. Darcy sounded dead serious. And if Darcy couldn’t make a smart-ass remark about it, then it must be bad.
“I’ll call you back in a minute,” Hayden blurted out, disconnecting the call.
The T-shirt Brody had given her to sleep in hung all the way down to her knees, but her arms were bare and goose bumps had risen on her skin. The wooden floor was cool under her feet as she quickly descended the stairs down to the living room. She didn’t want to wake Brody, and her entire body felt weak and shivery as she sank onto the couch and pulled up one of the bigger sports sites.
She gasped the moment the front page loaded. Darcy was right. The site boasted a large photograph of her and Brody in the Warriors parking lot. It must have been taken the moment she’d stood up on her toes to kiss him, and there was no mistaking it, his hands were totally squeezing her ass.
The caption read: Warriors forward cozies up to Houston’s daughter.
But it was the article beneath it that drained all the color from her face. She read it twice, not missing a single word, then set her phone on the cushion next to her and dropped her head into her hands.
“What happened?”
She jerked at the sound of Brody’s drowsy voice, glancing up to see him standing in the doorway. He was wearing nothing but a pair of navy blue boxers and a concerned expression.
Without a word, Hayden pointed to the phone beside her. After a second of hesitation, Brody joined her on the couch and picked it up.
She watched his face as he read the article, but he gave nothing away. He simply blinked a couple of times, frowned once and then rose slowly to his feet.