“Yeah, and I’ve been telling my mom all the rules. She doesn’t watch football usually, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure she knows what’s going on.”
“Sounds like you’ve got everything covered. Tell you what, when you’re watching, keep an eye on me. At some point during the game, I’ll run the ball myself. Now, I want you to know, when that happens, that’s for you. I’ll call it the Bobby Walton play.”
“Really?” Bobby’s entire face lit up with excitement. “For me?”
“Heck, yeah. I’ve got to do something special for my number one fan. Here.” Robbie held out a canvas bag. “I’ve stuffed this with everything from a signed football, a jersey, a hat, and even a stuffed bear wearing my jersey.”
“That’s so cool,” Bobby said, immediately pulling out a Titans hat and putting it on his head. “I can’t wait to show my friends at the hospital. Thanks, Mr. Richmond.”
“It’s no problem, little man. You just remember to watch for your play, okay?”
As Robbie Lee Richmond stood up to leave, Dorran walked with him to the door, and Kerry watched as they exchanged a few words and shook hands. Bobby was on cloud nine as he went through the merch bag, showing his gifts off to his mom with the biggest smile she had ever seen.
Dorran had arranged all of this: the luxury box, the visit from Robbie, all of it. This was a date for them, yes, but it was also a VIP experience for a little boy that had been dealt a bad hand in life.
Kerry found her hand going to her stomach unconsciously and stopped herself. It was a little too obvious to keep touching her womb like that. The temptation to tell Dorran that she was pregnant was overwhelming, especially as she watched him interact with Bobby. But she knew she should wait. If she was wrong, and she wasn’t carrying his child, it would be upsetting and probably confusing for him.
Yes, it was best to wait.
She took a seat beside Dorran on the leather couch closest to the glass front of the box, watching the coin toss as the game began.
“So, I have news,” he began.
You and me both, buddy.
“I found out Friday, but I wanted to tell you in person. The annulment has gone through.” His face stretched into a smile.
“Really? That was fast.”
“Yeah, that’s why I wanted an annulment so badly, instead of a divorce. Annulments basically void the marriage, like it never even happened. Much quicker than a divorce, where you have to split assets.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“You have no idea. I’m just glad my grandma and Stan didn’t find out. That’s the last thing I need.”
She had to agree with that. Stan seemed to be looking for any reason he could find to fight with Dorran when they spent the weekend with his family.
“So, are you hungry?” He asked, and her stomach seemed to flip-flop at the mere thought. She still hadn’t been able to stomach much of anything.
“No, I’m fine.”
“You sure? I could get Trevor to whip up pretty much anything we want.” He gestured to the chef that was in the kitchenette, just waiting for something to do.
“Honestly, I’m fine,” she said, then cast around for a different subject of conversation. “So, you’ve never said much about why you bought an ownership stake in the team.”
“What’s there to tell? I’ve always loved the San Francisco Titans, so it made sense when the opportunity became available.”
“So, you’re a lifelong Titans fan, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. I grew up in Atlanta, but always had dreams of playing on the Titans’ team one day, but my football career fizzled out way too early for that.”
“Football career? You’ve never mentioned that you used to play.” It surprised her that he wouldn’t have mentioned it before, with as much as he liked to talk himself up.
Something dark passed over his face, and she suddenly realized that she had stumbled upon a sensitive topic for him.
“I played in high school and college. Quarterback.”
“What happened?” she asked. She could tell by the tone of his voice that something had happened.
“I got hurt. A back injury. It took months to recover, and I was told in no uncertain terms that I couldn’t keep playing, even once it was healed. The doctor said that another injury to my thoracic region would likely paralyze me.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes, and Kerry could suddenly see that there was a feeling of resentment that he carried around with him. It must have been so difficult to lose out on his dream so suddenly like that.
She thought about her weekend in the country and the discussion she’d had with Violet about the competitiveness between Dorran and Stan. She knew that Stan had also played football in college and had gone to the pros, playing for the Atlanta Renegades for four years. That must have been a bitter pill to swallow, his little brother accomplishing so much more than he did. She felt like a missing piece of the puzzle that made up Dorran’s life had just fallen into place.
She could have told him that he was still an incredibly successful man or that dreams are never as perfect as you think. But it was all the kind of thing that she would say in a therapy session with one of her athletic patients. It didn’t feel right to go there with Dorran. She wasn’t supposed to make things better. He just needed someone to listen, someone that cared about him.
So, Kerry reached out and took his hand silently, threading their fingers together. They turned their attention back to the field below as the teams lined up facing each other, and he slowly started to relax, bit by bit. She snuggled into his side and they enjoyed the game together.
* * *
“Go, go, go, go, go!” Kerry’s shout mixed with the others as she stood with her nose nearly pressed against the glass, having abandoned her seat when the game became tied. There were less than five minutes left in the game and the Titans were in possession of the ball. They were only twenty yards from the end zone and Robbie was following through on his promise to Bobby. He was running the ball.
Kerry could feel her heart pounding against her ribs as she watched the quarterback running, ducking and dodging the defensive line. He was utterly graceful as he leapt over two men that had just collided and tumbled to the ground. Then, from his left, came a player from the other team to intercept him. As he made a mad dash forward, Robbie’s powerful legs ate up the distance between himself and the solid white line that he desperately needed to cross to reach the end zone and win the game.
Seconds were ticking away on the clock on the big screen above the field. This was it. The last chance they had to pull out a last-minute win.
“Come on,” Dorran mumbled from beside her. There was tension in the air.
It was so close, but Robbie finally made it. Kerry gasped the second his foot touched the grass in the end zone, then everyone in the luxury box erupted into cheers. She threw her arms around Dorran’s neck and he wrapped his around her waist, lifting her up off the ground and spinning her around in a circle.
The high of watching your team win was something she was familiar with, being a big sports fan already, but it was different this time. Having someone to celebrate the win with was invigorating. She and Dorran were in this euphoric moment together.
“This calls for a celebration,” Dorran said. “I’ll grab us some champagne.”
Shit.
She couldn’t drink, but as he hurried over to the kitchenette, she also couldn’t come up with a single plausible reason not to. Sure, she drove here, but one flute of champagne wouldn’t be a problem with that.
So, she accepted the glass from him. He lifted his own into the air, “To the Titans.”
She clinked their glasses together but planned to just pretend to drink. Luckily for her, Bobby came hurrying up to Dorran at the moment.
“Mr. Dorran, did you see that play? He ran the ball just like he said he was going to. Can you believe that?”
“I did se
e it. It was totally epic.”
As Dorran and Bobby rehashed the game they’d just watched, Kerry made her over to the kitchenette, placing the untouched glass of champagne on the wet bar as she took a seat next to Bobby’s mom.
“You wouldn’t happen to have some ginger tea, would you?” Kerry asked, figuring that it was unlikely that they’d have the kitchenette stocked with something so specific, but it was the only thing she’d found so far that could settle her stomach. This constant nausea thing was a bitch, but it made her even more confident that she was indeed pregnant. To her surprise, the chef nodded and turned to a cabinet next to his head, pulling out an assortment of teabags in a clear container.
“Perfect. With a little honey, please.” Trevor nodded and started to fill up a tea kettle.
“Upset stomach?” Bobby’s mom asked. Kerry never had caught her name.
“Just a little rumble,” she said. “Nothing serious.”
“I thought so. I’ve tried to get Bobby to drink ginger ale when he gets sick from his treatments, but he hates the taste, so I’m afraid it just makes things worse.”
“He’s started the chemotherapy?”
She nodded. “Last week. It’s rough to watch him go through it, but the doctors are optimistic. It’ll be a six-week cycle, so we’ll see what happens.”
Kerry’s heart went out to the woman, and she turned to watch the child as he continued to talk to Dorran. He was now comparing football to Quidditch, his face lit up with laughter as Dorran made silly suggestions about which Titans players would be best at the fictional game. There was so much life in his eyes, it was amazing to think about how resilient he was.
“You just let us know if you need anything,” she said, keeping her gaze locked on the boy. “Dorran and I are here for you.”
She hoped she wasn’t speaking out of turn, including Dorran in her statement, but it felt right. The two of them were a team now. If they were going to have a child, they both needed to start acting like it.
Chapter Thirteen
Dorran was thrilled that his marriage mistake had been annulled. His steps felt lighter as the invisible weight that he’d been carrying for months was lifted. Sure, it cost him a million dollars, but he felt that it was money well-spent. Besides, Gia could lead a much better life with the money, never having to strip again. It was the least he could do for her.
At first, he’d been excited to tell Kerry, to announce that the potential obstacle between the two of them had been taken care of. But now that she knew, he had a peculiar unsettled feeling.
No, that wasn’t right. He was feeling tied down, almost trapped.
He told himself not to think like that, but he couldn’t seem to control it. He’d just gotten out of a marriage. That was a big deal, and he knew he should be celebrating his freedom, whether the marriage was a real, traditional arrangement or not. But instead, he was spending most of his free time with another woman already, one that his family surely expected him to marry.
Maybe it was because he was now actually free to marry anyone he chose, but he suddenly felt that things were changing too fast. He wasn’t this guy, was he?
He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d gone out for his kind of a good time. No wild parties, black-out drinking episodes, or loose women. He hadn’t indulged in that kind of thing in weeks. Even the night that he’d run into Kerry at Thrive, he’d only been there because he was friends with the owner of the club and wanted to support the grand opening.
He should be sowing his wild oats, at least one last time, shouldn’t he?
A part of his brain answered with a resounding “no,” but he couldn’t help feeling that he might regret it if he didn’t at least attempt to recapture the man he was before he met Kerry. If they continued down the path they were on now, and he never explored that urge, he’d always wonder if he let himself get tied down too quickly.
This internal battle raged as they left the Titans’ stadium after the game, returning Bobby to the children’s hospital. He gave Dorran and Kerry each a hug before bouncing out of the car. If one didn’t look too closely as his thin body, they’d never guess that Bobby was such a sick kid. For some reason, that made him smile.
“So, my dad went back to Connecticut this morning. Did you want to come back to my place?” Kerry asked.
Dorran’s first instinct was to say yes, but he just couldn’t ignore that voice in his head, telling him to enjoy one last night of freedom before he gives himself to this relationship entirely.
“You know, I would, but I have plans with some friends tonight.”
Lying to her felt wrong. It caused an uncomfortable tightness in his throat. But, to be fair, all he had to do was make a couple phone calls and his words would be true. There were always people willing to drop everything to hang out with a party boy billionaire.
“Besides,” he added, trying to make himself feel better about blowing her off. “I know you’re leaving early tomorrow to start the book tour. It’ll make things easier if we sleep separately tonight.”
That sounded lame, even to his own ears, but he was committed to this now.
“Okay,” Kerry said.
It was hard to tell what she was thinking from just that one word. Dorran drove her home, parking in front of her townhouse. When he turned to Kerry, he found himself getting lost in her brown eyes for a moment. In the natural light, he noticed small specks of gold in her irises for the first time. Reaching out to cup her face, Dorran pressed his lips against hers in a sweet kiss. There was nothing demanding about it, no fire. It felt more like a promise. Of what, he wasn’t sure, but when she stepped out of the car a moment later, he watched her walk to the door of her home with a strange pulling sensation in the center of his chest.
Once she was inside, he picked up the phone and called a couple of guys who liked to party with him. He wasn’t even sure he’d call them friends. They didn’t have any kind of relationship out of their wild, drunken nights, but it was better than being alone. For some reason, he wanted to go back to Thrive. It was the hottest new spot in the city, and in his mind, it was the place to test the waters, to see if he could still have a good time the way he used to.
The place wasn’t as busy as it was opening night, and that might have something to do with the day of the week too, but he didn’t care. The old Dorran could make a party happen anywhere. All he needed was some booze and a lack of inhibition.
With that thought in mind, he headed to the VIP area. A little smooth talking and forking over three one-hundred-dollar bills got him past the bouncer and he was sitting at a booth five minutes later, leaning back with his arms stretched out on either side of him along the back of the seat.
A waitress approached, her dark eyes scanning his body hungrily. “Hey there,” she said in a husky voice as she stopped in front of him with her notepad in hand. “You all alone tonight, sugar?”
Dorran felt his signature smirk fall into place on his face effortlessly, but it was all show. There was no stirring in his pants, no interest in the leggy blonde in front of him.
“Waiting on a few people,” he said vaguely. “But I’ll take a whiskey. Neat.”
“You got it.”
As the waitress strutted away, she put a little extra swing in her hips, which he was sure was for his benefit. But she was barking up the wrong tree. She didn’t have anything on his curvy girlfriend.
Dorran was startled by the realization that that was what Kerry was. He didn’t think he’d ever had a real girlfriend before. His sexual history was vast, but relationships? That was a different matter. He’d never given it much consideration before, happy with his casual flings and one-night stands, but what he had with Kerry was fulfilling in a way he’d never known.
Dorran tried to shake himself out of it. He wasn’t here to obsess over Kerry. This was his attempt at a last hurrah. The waitress returned with his drink and sat it in front of him on a cardboard coaster. Dorran handed over his platinum card to open
a tab.
“I’ll cover all drinks at this table tonight. And this,”- he held out another hundred-dollar bill - “is for you. Keep my drinks coming all night and I’ll have another one for you later.”
Her eyes widened as she took the money. He was sure he wouldn’t have an empty glass in front of him all night. Dorran caught sight of the men he’d invited and motioned to the bouncer to let them pass. Suddenly he was surrounded by five other guys, all ready for a good time.
They ordered drinks as they settled into the booth around him. He brushed off their questions about where he’d been lately, why they hadn’t gotten together recently. He didn’t have a good reason not to mention Kerry, other than the surety that this group of guys wouldn’t understand. Hell, he wouldn’t have understood it just three months ago, but she had changed him. Yet, he knew that none of her efforts to make him a better man would have been effective if he hadn’t wanted them to be. He hadn’t even realized how tired he was of his partying lifestyle before, because it was so much easier to indulge himself than to think about what he really wanted. After all, goals could prove to be unreachable, and some dreams were never going to be achieved. Hadn’t he learned that years ago, when he had been on track to becoming a professional football player, only to have it ripped away because of one rough play on the field?
Damn it, there I go again with that introspective shit.
Maybe Kerry was rubbing off on him in that way as well.
Dorran tried to push aside those heavy thoughts, focusing on the men around him, but not much of his surroundings was tracking. There was lighthearted conversation, and some scantily-clad women had joined them, which always happened. They were all well-dressed, good-looking men who were important enough to sit in the VIP section. Women flocked to them. Normally, Dorran was the center of attention, the one that all the women wanted to go home with, but tonight that wasn’t the case. Their guests must have picked up on his heavy mood. Thank God.
Making Out with the Billionaire Page 12