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“For one thing, I’m a thirty-two-year-old man who really doesn’t want to revert back to living with my father. And for another thing…Asher is living with him.”
“Is that a bad thing? Are you not close with Asher?” I ask.
“No, we’re close. It’s just…we’ll be playing on the same team, so a little separation won’t hurt anybody, you know?” He shrugs.
I really don’t know, but just the thought of living with a colleague—say Cora, for example—is fairly taxing.
I screw the lid back onto my bottle and turn to face him. “Thanks again for last night. You were—”
He cuts me off as he shakes his head. “No need for all that.” He takes a step toward me and pulls me into his arms, and I settle there on his chest for a beat.
We both hear the door on the other side of the house open, followed by footsteps.
He leans down and presses his lips to mine.
It’s a warm, sweet kiss, and I want to bask in it, but I really do need to head to work. I pull back first—reluctantly, but I have to.
“Have a great day, baby,” he murmurs, and he hugs me once more just as Austin clears his throat behind him.
“Morning,” he says.
I recall Grayson’s words from last night about Austin, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s up to no good with my best friend. I’ll have to warn her, but I’ll have to be careful about how I go about it, since from the look on her face last night when she walked in with him, she is one smitten kitten.
“Morning,” I say brightly, moving out of Grayson’s arms. “Gotta run to work. Have a great day!”
Grayson reaches down to squeeze my ass, and between the kiss, the baby, and the ass-grab, I’ll definitely use the rest of my day to overanalyze whether all that was sincere or just for Austin’s benefit.
My heart is trying to convince me he was being sincere—that something changed last night when I woke him crying in the middle of the night after my recurring dream.
But my brain is fairly convinced it was just for show.
I ponder it on my drive to work, and it doesn’t get pushed to the back of my mind the way it should when I’m at work. Part of me wants to talk about it, but the person I’d talk to about it is Kelly—not Cora. Kelly’s not here, though. Cora is.
I keep my trap shut. It’s the wisest move considering we don’t want it getting out that we’re not really in a relationship even if I really want to be in one.
But how exactly does one level up with a pro football player? How does one move from the little sister of the friend zone up to banging against the windows overlooking the Strip?
With any luck, time will tell, and eventually I’ll have an answer to that question.
Chapter 30: Grayson Nash
Fake Relationships Are My Specialty
At eleven o’clock, a reminder dings on my phone.
Are you thinking about Ava?
I can’t help a smile as I look down at the phone.
Of course I’m thinking about her. I haven’t stopped.
I don’t mention it, but I do text her after I get the confirmation appointment a few hours later.
Me: Are you available to meet a publicist with me around four o’clock today?
It’s a Monday, and I think she went into work at six, so I assume she’ll be off by four. My meeting actually starts at three thirty, and I figure it’ll give me the chance to make sure I like this publicist before I give her the back story and ask for her help in training Ava to handle the media.
I call my agent next. Isaac informs me that he has several interviews lined up for me along with some new sponsorship opportunities, three of them local to Vegas. I tell him to send them over, and I take a look through them. I sign off on the three Vegas ones, figuring I may as well get started on making a name for myself in the community.
