Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

brADEN

FOUR DAYS LATER

I was a massive fucking bundle of nerves as I sat on the couch in our hotel suite, dressed in this ridiculous penguin suit and waiting for Dani to finish getting ready. She'd refused to let me see her dress, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect when she walked out of the bedroom.

This was going to be our first real outing since the night everything had changed between us. Since she'd finally told me the truth – and since our relationship had actually become real. And honestly, I was terrified. I knew there were going to be photographers and reporters there today, and while this event was about Kyler, not me, I knew there would be no getting out of answering questions when Dani and I walked the red carpet.

I had no idea what to say, though. I didn't want to drag Isaac into the spotlight, especially not like this. But at the same time, I knew it was only a matter of time before the truth came out, and it was probably better if it came from us.

If only I had a publicist to help me figure out how to navigate this uncharted territory. I still hadn't found a replacement for Vicki because I was being way more careful in my selection criteria this time around. I wanted to find someone I actually jibed with, not just someone who came "highly recommended" in the industry, who would just take my money and treat me like a number. What I wanted was someone I could build a rapport with. Someone who really cared about me.

The door to the bedroom opened, and all coherent thought immediately left my mind as my girlfriend walked out wearing a bright pink floor-length spaghetti-strapped dress that hugged all her curves perfectly. The fabric cinched to one side at her waist, and the dress had a long slit on that side that revealed her long, slender legs, adorned with silver heeled sandals that had straps going a few inches up her calf.

"Fuck me," I breathed. "You look incredible, sweetheart."

Her cheeks flushed bright red as she turned around, revealing an intricate crisscross pattern of straps going down her back, stopping right above the curve of her ass, where the dress flowed down with a small train. My cock stiffened in these already-restrictive dress pants, pressing painfully against the zipper. I had no idea how I was supposed to go all fucking night not being able to bury myself deep inside this woman.

"Can you zip me up?" she murmured shyly.

I chuckled quietly as I stood and walked over to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her shoulder as I tugged the small zipper up. Then I pulled her flush against me and pressed my cock into her ass, showing her exactly what she was doing to me, and she let out a quiet whimper.

"You have no idea how much I wish we didn't have to leave in twenty minutes," I whispered into her ear, nipping at the lobe. "And how fucking torturous it's going to be to spend all damn night looking at you in this dress, not being able to bury myself deep inside you."

As Dani turned around, her hand slid down to palm my erection through my slacks, making me groan in utter frustration.

"I'd say I'm sorry…but I'm not," she said with a playful grin.

"Don't start something we can't finish, beautiful."

"Who said I'm not going to finish it?" she purred.

And then she dropped to her knees, timidly gazing up at me with those beautiful doe eyes. Gone was the confident temptress from a moment ago, now replaced by a timid lamb.

"I've never… Will you show me how to do it right?" she mumbled, glancing downward.

Fuck, she looked so insecure right now. And I hated it. I hated her thinking that she could ever do anything wrong. That I'd ever judge her when I knew how much trust she was putting in me just by asking for this.

I put a hand under her chin and tilted her face up toward me. "You sure about this, sweetheart?"

She nodded. "I want to make you feel as special as you always make me feel."

I bent down and claimed her lips in a searing kiss. Trying in the only way I knew how to show her exactly how damn special she made me feel every single day just by choosing to love me. By choosing to see the best in me and doing everything she could to help me see myself the way she saw me.

"You already do, Dani," I said quietly. "But if you really want this, I'm gonna need you to use your words. Tell me exactly what you want."

If it was possible, her cheeks got even redder as she let out a nervous chuckle. "I…I want you to show me how to suck your cock."

Groaning, I kissed her hard and deep before standing back up and unbuckling my belt. "Okay, beautiful. Unzip my pants and take it out."

Dani's hands rose to the button of my pants, deftly unfastening it and pulling the zipper down. Then she pulled them and my boxer briefs down in one quick motion, causing my cock to spring out, already standing at attention with a bead of precum on the tip. Without any instruction from me, she leaned forward and licked the salty essence away, then pressed a delicate kiss to the crown, making me take a sharp inhale.

"Shit, Dani," I breathed, then leaned down and took her hand, placing it on my dick and folding her fingers around it. I let out a low groan as I guided her hand up and down, showing her how to stroke me. "That's it, beautiful."

Lifting my hand from hers, I blew out a breath as I watched her hand gliding over my cock, making sparks course through my veins just at this light touch.

"Squeeze me tighter, sweetheart. I won't break," I told her, letting out a quiet hiss when she complied. "Fuck, just like that. Now, when you're ready, I want you to wrap those pretty lips around my cock and suck. Just take as much as you're comfortable with and breathe through your nose. Don't hurt yourself."

As much as I loved having a woman take me all the way down her throat, I couldn't do that right now. Not during her first time. Maybe it was something we could work up to, but today, I needed to let her set the pace and just get her comfortable with having me in her mouth.

When her lips parted and I felt the wet heat of her mouth enveloping my cock, I groaned as my fingers buried themselves in her hair. Hollowing her cheeks out, she sucked me hard before starting to bob her head up and down, quickly finding a rhythm with her mouth and hand.

"Oh, fuck," I mumbled as she used her free hand to massage my sack without any prompting. "That's it. Keep sucking me just like that. You're doing so damn good."

Dani moaned around my dick, sending shockwaves reverberating all the way through me at the vibration. I could see her squeezing her legs together as she worked, and knowing that this was turning her on just spurred me even closer to oblivion – a destination I was barreling toward much too quickly.

"Look at me, sweetheart," I told her. "Let me see those gorgeous eyes."

Mouth still full, she gazed up at me as the sounds of her slurping filled the room, a stream of spit starting to trail down her chin.

Fuck me , this woman was every man's wet dream. And she was all mine. Out of everyone in the world, she'd chosen me to share this part of herself with.

"Good fucking girl," I praised her as I felt my balls draw up and my spine start to tingle. "I've never seen anything so damn beautiful. You want me to come in that pretty mouth of yours?"

"Mm," she whimpered, picking up her pace and starting to suck harder.

And the second she lightly grazed her teeth against my cock, I couldn't hold back anymore.

"Dani, fuuuuuck," I groaned, bracing myself on the wall as my knees buckled and I emptied myself down her throat.

She drank down as much as she could and didn't stop working me until I lifted my hand from her hair. Only then did she release my dick with a soft pop, using the back of her hand to wipe away what had leaked out. I bent down and kissed her hard, groaning again as I tasted my arousal on her tongue.

"That was the best damn blowjob I've ever gotten," I told her, helping her to her feet.

"You don't have to lie, B," she mumbled bashfully. "It was my first ti?—"

I cut her off with another kiss. "I'm not lying, sweetheart. I'll never lie to you, and especially not about us. Every single time we're together, it's the best sex I've ever had. Because for the first time in my life, it's real. Because you make me feel things I never thought I was capable of feeling. Because this – what you and I have – is once in a lifetime." I cupped her cheek in my palm, smiling when she leaned into my touch. "And now that I know how it feels to love someone the way I love you, there's no way I'll ever let you go without a fight."

"I'm not letting you go either. No matter what. Te amo, Braden." Her voice was thick with emotion. "No puedo imaginar mi vida sin ti."

"What'd you just say? I know ‘te amo' now, but not the rest."

"I can't imagine my life without you," she translated, barely above a whisper.

"Ditto, beautiful." I brushed my lips over hers. "And you'll never have to. Now, come on. We're going to get ourselves cleaned up and you're going to fix your makeup, then we're going to drop our little man off with Lina for the night and go support our friends. And when we get back here tonight, I'm going to show you exactly how much I loved having those perfect lips of yours wrapped around my cock."

Dani's face turned bright red, but I didn't let her say anything. Instead, I kissed her slow and deep as I gathered her in my arms, wishing like hell that we didn't have other obligations tonight. Wishing we could just stay here, cocooned in our little bubble, forever.

"You ready for this?" I asked as our limo pulled up to the theater.

"Not really," Dani chuckled nervously. "I know I'll have to get used to the cameras and reporters, but I'm not there yet. Can you do most of the talking?"

"I planned on it," I assured her, turning her head to steal a kiss. "All you have to do is stand there and be your incredible self. Unless you want to say something."

She snorted. "Got it."

Just as she grabbed her clutch bag off the seat next to her, our driver opened the door for us. I stepped out first, then held out my hand to help Dani out of the vehicle. Apprehension and fear were written all over her face as she stepped onto the pavement, and I could hear her taking several deep breaths like she was trying to calm her nerves.

Pulling her into my side, I kissed her temple, then lowered my lips to her ear. "Just breathe, sweetheart. I'm right here with you. We're in this together."

She gave me a quick nod, and I brought her hand up to my lips before linking my fingers through hers and turning us toward the carpet. And as soon as I saw all the cameras and reporters inside the press tent and all the fans surrounding us, I started to second-guess my decision not to bring our personal security with us tonight.

When I'd planned this trip out with the security team, I had decided to leave all four guards who had accompanied us at the hotel with Lina and Isaac since there would be security here already. But now, as I looked at the sea of people in front of me – where Vicki could have easily blended into the crowd – the thought of not having someone here who was specifically dedicated to guarding us bordered on terrifying. Yes, Vicki would have had to have a death wish to show up here or at the after-party and try something, but she had literally nothing to lose now. So, if she really wanted to make a statement…well, I wouldn't have put anything past her.

"B! You're here!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, I turned in the direction Kyler's voice had come from. I knew I couldn't put off talking to the vultures forever, but having a legitimate excuse to procrastinate for even a few seconds was a welcome distraction.

"Did you really think I'd stand you up?" I chuckled as I pulled her into a hug. "I'm so damn proud of you, Ky. Look at this turnout."

"Thanks," she murmured as she pulled back. "I sort of can't believe this is all for me."

"Believe it, baby," Ian said as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed her head. "You've earned every bit of this."

"Yeah, what he said," Melissa said as she joined us.

"Ian, Ky, Liss, come on. We need to get pictures." Our friend Hannah Olsen walked up to the group, then looked over at me. "And you'd better get your ass up there too, sir. We need some with you and your woman too."

I snorted. "Yes, ma'am."

As we all started to walk forward, Hannah turned her attention to my girlfriend.

"You must be Dani," she said with a grin. "Sorry I couldn't be at dinner on Monday. I had to catch a later flight. It's really nice to meet you."

When Dani turned to me with a confused expression rather than saying anything, I realized she had no idea who this woman was.

"Dani, this is Hannah," I introduced her. "She's one of our friends from high school. She's also Ian and Ky's publicist, and she's in the documentary too."

As I said that out loud, it hit me all over again how much I wished I had someone like Hannah in my corner. Someone I trusted who could help me navigate the murky waters I was almost certainly going to be treading in the second the press got wind about Isaac.

"Hi, Hannah," Dani mumbled. "It's nice to meet you."

I slipped my arm around her waist and kissed her temple. She leaned into my embrace, and I started to rub what I hoped were comforting circles into her side with my thumb.

"I know that look, B," Hannah chuckled. "You okay?"

Damn it, she had the worst timing. If this had been literally any other day, I would have talked to her about my current situation. Asked her for some advice on how to vet publicists since she was one. Hell, possibly even asked if she'd be willing to work with me even though she was based in Kansas, not Florida.

But Hannah was working right now, and she needed to be focused on doing her job. Kyler deserved that. She'd worked so damn hard on this documentary, and she'd more than earned her moment in the spotlight.

So, instead of asking her any of the numerous burning questions in my mind, I just nodded. "Yep, I'm fine."

Stopping and turning so she was facing me, Hannah put a hand on my arm. "Look, Ian and Ky gave me the thirty-second version of what's going on with you so I wouldn't be blindsided if someone asked them about it tonight since your friendship is public knowledge. I'm going to tell you what I told them. If anyone starts asking inappropriate questions, I have zero problem having security throw them out. This event is not the time or place for them to be hounding you with questions you're not ready to answer, so if they try, just come find me. Okay?"

I let out a long sigh of relief. Knowing that I had someone who knew how to handle the press on my side tonight made me feel so much better. And so did knowing that all it would take was one word from me to get anyone who tried to give me or my girlfriend a hard time tossed out on their ass.

"Thanks, Hannah," I said quietly.

"Of course," she murmured. "I'll be glued to Ky's side all night, so I won't be hard to find if you need me."

With a reassuring squeeze to my shoulder, she turned toward her clients and led them into the press tent while I looked at Dani, who had a hesitant smile pasted on her face. The kind that told me she would rather have been anywhere but on this red carpet preparing to answer questions, while praying someone didn't ask us the wrong ones.

"Let's do this, sweetheart," I sighed. "The sooner we get it over with, the sooner we can get to the fun stuff."

She chuckled softly. "Okay. Lead the way."

Taking Dani's hand, I led her into the press tent, where our friends were already posing for pictures in front of the step and repeat banner. We joined them for a few pictures, then got some pictures with just the two of us before heading closer to the reporters standing behind the barricade waiting to ask questions.

"Braden, you looked pretty friendly up there posing for pictures with one of Orlando's biggest rivals," Jerry Meyers, a reporter I recognized from a few press conferences, said.

I snorted. "Ian Thomason and I have been best friends since high school. No matter what teams we play for, he'll always be my brother from another mother. And tonight's not about football or professional rivalries. It's about celebrating Kyler, who I'm so damn proud of. This documentary has been a labor of love for her, and I can't wait to see the finished product tonight."

"Did you know Kyler when the events from the documentary took place?" a man a few yards away asked.

"I did, but not well," I admitted. "I didn't really get to know her until our senior year of high school, when she started dating Ian. But now she's one of my closest friends. I'd walk through fire for that girl."

"Speaking of girls, who's the lovely lady on your arm this evening?" a woman who appeared to work for a trashy tabloid magazine prodded.

Pulling Dani into my side, I smiled. "This is my girlfriend, Daniela Ramos."

"Girlfriend? Someone managed to take football's most notorious playboy off the market?" she chuckled.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Basically because, while the question was in kind of poor taste, she also wasn't entirely wrong.

"What can I say? Turns out I was just waiting for someone special," I said, turning to kiss Dani's temple.

"Aww. How'd you two meet?"

"My best friend is Morgan Hill, Malachi Houston's girlfriend," Dani supplied. "Braden and I met through her a few months ago, and we've just been enjoying getting to know each other since then."

I gave her a reassuring squeeze, silently praising her for keeping her composure and sticking to the story we'd come up with in the car on the way over here. It wasn't a complete lie, just not the whole truth either.

"Yeah, until he gets bored with you," a whiny female voice said from behind me. "Then he'll just shove a hundred bucks in your hand like you're a whore and toss you to the curb like he did with me."

I could hear my pulse hammering in my ears as I turned to face this woman, whose name I now remembered was Leslie Greer. She was a sports journalist for Orlando's local newspaper, so what in the actual fuck she was doing here , at a documentary premiere four hours away, I had no idea.

I wished like hell that I could take this bitch's head off. Remind her that I'd made it crystal clear up front that our "romantic" encounter would be nothing more than one night of sex between consenting adults. But I couldn't do that. Not here. Not now. I couldn't fuck tonight up for Kyler by causing a scene.

"I'm sorry your feelings were hurt," Daniela said quietly as she threaded her fingers through mine and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "But that's not the kind of relationship we have."

"Whatever," Leslie scoffed. "If you want my sloppy seconds, have at it. I've had way better anyway."

My hand was gripping Dani's so tightly that my knuckles were turning white as pure rage coursed through my veins. It was taking every ounce of self-control I possessed to keep my mouth shut and not fly off the handle.

Why was this woman doing this? What did she hope to accomplish here? Was she just trying to humiliate me the way she'd been humiliated that morning? Was she trying to shake Dani's faith in me and drive a wedge between us? Or was she trying to turn my friends against me by painting me as a hypocrite while I was here, at a premiere for a documentary about sexual violence?

Somehow, Dani read me like a book. And she saved me from making this godawful, uncomfortable situation worse than it already was.

"This interview's over," she said, calm but firm. "If you can't be respectful to Braden – not to mention to Kyler, who's the reason we're all here – then we have nothing more to say to you. Come on, B."

With that, she gave my hand a gentle tug and guided me toward the doors of the theater, away from the screaming reporters. Once we were inside, she glanced around before leading me down a quiet-looking hallway.

"Dani, I?—"

Spinning around, she cut me off with a kiss, immediately licking at the seam of my lips. I happily granted her entrance, plunging my tongue into her mouth and massaging hers with slow, purposeful strokes. Her fingers tangled in the hairs at the nape of my neck as she kissed me like I was cold water and she was dying of thirst. And finally, I felt my heartrate return to normal as I just poured everything into the connection and lost myself in the woman I loved more than life itself.

"You don't have to say anything, B," she breathed when she finally pulled back. "It's in the past. I know that."

I nodded as I cradled her face in my hands and rested my forehead against hers. "It is in the past. I promise you that. Even back then, though… That day isn't one I'm proud of. It was the day I got arrested. I got woken up by a phone call from my mom telling me I'd missed my uncle's funeral, and I was so upset. So angry. All I wanted was to be alone. I was just trying to pay for Leslie's Uber and breakfast and get her out of my hair. But I can see why she felt the way she did about it. I wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy when I gave her the money."

One of her hands found its way to my face, her thumb softly stroking my cheekbone. "Everyone's allowed to have bad days, mi amor. And you've grown so much since then. I see it every day. In the way you love me, in the way you love Isaac, and even in the way you handled yourself out there just now. You didn't lose your temper or attack her. You kept your cool, even though it took everything you had. But you're human, and humans make mistakes. No one's perfect."

Smiling, I turned my head to kiss her palm. "I'm trying. So hard. I want to be the kind of partner you can be proud of. The kind of father Isaac can be proud of. I'm fighting every day to become the man you deserve. Because for the first time in my life, I have something worth fighting for."

"You can stop fighting now," she whispered, leaning up to feather her lips over mine. "You've already won the battle. A long time ago. I know exactly who you are, Braden Hicks, and I couldn't be prouder to call you mine."

Unable to find a single word, I just pulled her back into my arms and crashed my lips against hers. I had no idea how she saw me that way after everything I'd put her through. After all the heartache and suffering and exhaustion she'd endured because of that week I'd spent with her sister. Because honestly, I still couldn't get past it, and I wasn't sure I ever really would.

But one thing I did know? I would never stop trying to be that man – the one she saw – for as long as I lived.