“Sorry about the security. Things have been a little crazy the last couple of months. Comes with the territory.” She approached Chris with a smile and gave him a friendly hug. “So good to see you again, Chris.”
“You, too, Harley. You look lovely.” And she did. A little more daring than he was used to, but he supposed that came with the territory, too. Either way, she sparkled in a brilliant silver dress that set off the platinum curls dangling down her bare back. Her makeup was bold, smoky eyes and bright red lips. Harley was an actress, not a super model. Her figure was full and on display. Fleetingly, he wondered if it bothered her to have her body exposed for the world to see.
One glance at his brother and Chris knew Carter wasn’t bothered at all by Harley’s barely concealed assets. In fact, Carter’s mouth hung open for a few seconds before he schooled his features into the practiced disinterest he’d perfected. Hiding his smile, Chris introduced the two.
“Harley, this is my brother and financial advisor-” Carter shot him a look which made Chris smile. “Carter Bragg. Carter, Harley Stone.”
Carter took a step forward and accepted Harley’s hand, but instead of shaking it gently as he should have, Carter lifted it to his lips and pressed them to her skin for longer than was necessary under the circumstances.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Stone,” he murmured once he pried his lips from her hand. Chris frowned at the admiration in his brother’s tone. Carter could handle himself, but Chris felt a sense of responsibility for Carter’s actions, especially if he’d had a hand in introducing him to a woman.
He shouldn’t have worried, however, Harley knew what she was about.
“Oh, believe me, the pleasure is all mine, Mr. Bragg.” Her eyes narrowed knowingly even as her lips curved into a dazzling smile. “Should we be on our way, gentleman?”
Carter extended his arm before Chris even had a chance. He widened his eyes over Harley’s head, but his brother just winked. He hoped Carter knew what he was doing.
Chris shook the thought from his head. He had bigger things to worry about. Like whether or not Oakley was going to show up.
The trio made their way out of the suite and into the elevator with two of Harley’s bodyguards in tow. Chris could only imagine how it would look to anyone who happened to be watching when the doors opened downstairs, four burly men dressed in black and one petite woman who shined like a beacon between them, her head not even reaching their shoulders.
On the way down, Harley asked about Oakley. “You still haven’t heard from her?” She placed a hand on his arm, her warm green eyes filled with compassion and regret.
Chris knew she blamed herself. Or rather, her fame. If he’d been having dinner with any other woman on the planet, no one would have cared, but since it was Harley, he might as well have sent out invitations. Chris wished he would have known that before agreeing to meet with her, otherwise, he might have suggested some place more private. Or better yet, insisted they conduct their conversation over the phone.
He shook his head and offered her a small smile. He didn’t blame Harley. What happened with Oakley had been on him. All him.
Of course, Carter had to needle him. “My brother doesn’t have much success with women,” he said out of the side of his mouth.
“Man, not cool.” Chris let out a little laugh, shaking his head. But again, he needn’t have worried.
Harley turned to face Carter with a calculating smile. “Unlike you, I suppose.”
Carter leaned into her side, leaving only a sliver of light between them. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Harley opened her mouth to respond, but a grunt from one of her bodyguards as well as the opening of the elevator door stopped her.
Instead, she had to satisfy herself with leveling him with a look and taking Chris’s arm as they walked out of the elevator.
Chris eyed his brother over Harley’s head for the second time in as many minutes, but Carter just smiled.
Sometimes Carter was an idiot.
Before the gala was a meet and greet for guests to meet Harley and Chris. As was to be expected the crowd around Harley was much larger than the one following Chris, and he was just fine with that. He had his fair share of fans ask for autographs, but it was nothing like the mob surrounding Harley. Her bodyguards had their work cut out for them. He noticed their number kept increasing as the hour wore on.
As for Carter, he wasn’t one to pout. Within minutes, he had his own fan club hanging on his every word. As lovely as his entourage appeared to be, Chris noticed his brother couldn’t quite keep his eyes off the famous blonde who’d traded barbs with him earlier.
That wasn’t like Carter. Carter was more a ‘love who you’re with’ kind of man. Was it possible Harley had gotten under Carter’s skin?
“Chris! Good to see you, man.”
Chris turned to see Scott Brady who played for Los Angeles and had known Chris since their college days.
“Scott, what are you doing here?” he asked, sticking out his hand.
Scott took it, pulling him into a bro hug at the same time.
“Got an invitation. Whole team did.”
Chris already knew that, of course. “Anybody else make it?”
“I came with Max, DeSean, and Tug.” Scott tilted his chin toward the edge of the room where a handful of men who resembled Harley’s security team gathered with full plates of appetizers.
“Did you tell them we’re serving dinner?”
Scott smirked. “You’ve just forgotten what it’s like. Look at you all skinny.”
One side of Chris’s mouth lifted in a half smile. “That’s what happens when you retire.”
Scott’s smile changed. “How is retired life? Buy yourself a recliner?”
Chris slapped Scott on the back hard causing the other man to stumble forward. Pansy. “Yep. Been living the easy life.”
It was Scott’s turn to laugh. “Sorry. Had to give you a hard time. Seriously, though, tell me about this house project.”
It was the right thing to say. The new foundation he and Harley had created was quickly becoming his passion. He told Scott about their plan to buy homes and hire veterans to remodel them. His job was to find the actual houses, with the help of Carter and his team of real estate agents, remodel them according to each family’s needs, and find people to coordinate the building crews. Harley and her team were in charge of managing a website where people could apply for a home for themselves or someone they knew who needed one and then match the information with a data base of homes Chris and Carter would keep.
“Wow, sounds intense.” Scott nodded his head, looking impressed. “How can I help?”
Chris grinned. “That’s just what I wanted to hear, man.” He explained the different ways the program needed help from funds, to volunteers, to publicity.
“Count me in.” Scott gestured to the other guys on the team who had finished munching on tiny sandwiches to sign autographs for fans. “And them, too. We’ll help however we can.”
“That’s awesome, Scott. Thanks. We’ll be in touch. Maybe we can work something out with the League. Volunteer days, that kind of thing.” He was getting excited just thinking about it. He was also realizing they needed to hire someone to do the thinking for them. Chris should have come up with the idea to partner with the League before this. What good were his connections if he didn’t use them?
“Talk to you later, Chris. Miss seeing you on the field, but it looks like you’re doing just fine.”
Chris shook hands with his friend and watched as he walked toward the other players and tried to convince himself he was doing just fine. But truthfully, he wasn’t, at all. Talking to Scott and the other guests who’d come tonight was a good distraction, but nothing had kept his eyes from roving the room looking for a gorgeous brunette who held his heart in her hands.
The mixer was almost over. Soon, everyone would move into the big conference room where tables and chairs had been set up as
well as a stage where he and Harley would both have an opportunity to discuss the foundation and why they’d decided work together. Chris figured if Oakley was going to show up, she would have done so by now.
Years of disappointing losses in games, his failed relationship with Jessica, the rift between him and his parents…none of it prepared him for the reality of losing Oakley. And Kaden. Now was not the time to fall apart, he had a job to do and this project had the potential to help a lot of people who deserved all the help they could get. His personal life would just have to take a back seat.
Chris opened his mouth to welcome an older couple who’d walked up to ask him about the foundation when he turned and saw her.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Summer worked a minor miracle that day in Oakley’s hotel room. For five solid hours, she earned every penny Oakley planned to pay her with Chris’s money. She hoped he was pleased with the result since he was the one paying for the transformation, including the dress, jewelry, and shoes.
“Girl, you look amazing if I do say so myself.”
They stood in front of a full length mirror admiring Summer’s handiwork. She’d brought three dresses. One blue. One purple. And one, the one Oakley had chosen, in ruby red. The dress was off the shoulder with a sweetheart bodice that clung to her curves perfectly before slipping down her waist and hugging her hips in a mermaid skirt that flared mid-thigh. The lace overlay gave the dress an old time sophistication Oakley could never have imagined just from looking at it on the hanger. But once she slid it over her head, she immediately knew it was the one.
Summer worked for hours on her hair while Oakley played games on her phone and the two woman shared their life stories. Summer, she learned, was actually going to school to be a nurse. She only worked at the spa part time, but had earned herself a reputation for impeccable taste. Apparently, several resort guests requested Summer to help them prepare for parties and other special engagements. That made Oakley feel better. She wasn’t the only one who needed Summer’s expertise and was willing go to any length to get it!
“I can’t believe that’s me.” Oakley turned this way and that. Summer had spent a good part of the afternoon curling her hair then putting it up in a pile on the top of her head with strategically placed tendrils falling down her back. But it was the makeup that surprised her the most. Oakley liked makeup as much as the next girl, had even played around with different techniques she’d seen on YouTube, but she’d never been able to achieve the look Summer had so effortless applied to eyes, cheeks, and lips.
Oakley blinked her smokey eyes framed with lash extensions, amazed they didn’t feel weighted down. She pursed her lips, painted ruby red to match her dress exactly. Part of her felt she looked like a lady of the night, but the rest of her was sure she’d been transformed into a princess.
“I can’t do it,” she blurted.
Summer turned to her alarmed. “Oh, yes, you can.” She gripped Oakley by her shoulders and began herding her toward the door. “I didn’t just spend a whole day making you look like that so we could watch chick flicks in a fancy hotel room. Now, get out there and get your man!” Summer pushed a beaded clutch into her hands and shoved her out the door before Oakley could even sputter a word. “And don’t you dare try to come back up here, because I’m going to come spying in about five minutes.”
If she hadn’t been so close to throwing up, Oakley might have laughed. Not for the first time during the day, she had the thought that Summer and Cam would get along really well.
Still standing in the hall, she took a deep breath. Summer was just trying to help, but she still didn’t feel ready.
“You’ll never be any more ready than you are now!” Came a muffled shout through the door. “I can see you through the peep-hole, now get moving.”
Oakley stuck out her tongue at the door, but she started walking.
“I saw that!”
Oakley chuckled as she pressed the button for the elevator. If nothing else, her new friend had eased some of her tension.
The elevator door opened and she stepped inside, pressing the button for the main lobby. The gala didn’t start for another forty-five minutes, but there was a mixer going on for people to meet Chris. And Harley, too. She supposed most of them would be more interested in meeting Harley Stone, but the only person Oakley hoped to see was Chris.
And he was only three floors away.
Two.
One.
The elevator stopped and the door opened. She half expected to see him right away. Like a scene from a movie, the sea of people would part and he’d be standing front and center with a halo of light above his head.
Instead, a crush of people met her and she had to squeeze between bodies to move anywhere. At one point, she saw a man with gray hair at his temples who might have looked like Chris from behind but when he turned, she realized it wasn’t.
Fifteen minutes later, the main hall had emptied considerably. There was still a crush of people, but some had moved into the large room where tables and chairs had been set up for dinner. Dinner, she’d overheard, costing five thousand dollars a plate. All for the charity. Oakley knew a moment of panic when she heard that detail, but then she realized Chris wouldn’t have invited her and not purchased her dinner. For heaven’s sake he’d sent her quadruple the price of dinner for a dress!
She was just about to give up and go back to her room, room service and a movie sounded tempting right about then. She was on her way back to the elevator when she saw him.
It kind of was like a scene out a movie. Even without the help of cinematography, Oakley’s vision narrowed until everything in her periphery blurred. All she could hear was the sound of a thousand angels singing as her gaze clashed with his across the crowded room.
Oakley couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was more magnificent than she remembered and all she wanted was to be in his arms. It was too bad her feet had turned into cinderblocks, because she so wanted to run to him.
Good thing Chris was having no such problem.
Without a word to the couple he’d been speaking to, Chris started for her.
Oakley watched as he moved, never once taking his eyes from her. Their intensity might have frightened her if she was the quarterback of the opposing team, but she wasn’t. She was on his team, and she wanted to be on his team forever.
Without any kind of hesitation or even a slowing of his stride until he was almost touching her, Chris caught her face in his hands and brought his lips to hers in the most amazing kiss yet.
“You came,” he murmured against her lips before taking them again.
Tears sprang to her eyes, but she didn’t even notice. All she knew was his kiss. His soft lips ravaged hers. Chris’s hands moved from her face as he encircled her in his arms. Finally, she was exactly where she wanted to be.
“I’m sorry.” That was all she had time for before he kissed her again.
He stopped suddenly, as though her words had just registered. “What?” His hands were on her cheeks again, his thumbs absently wiping the tears escaping her lashes.
“I’m so sorry, Chris.” He kissed her. Did that mean he forgave her?
He frowned. His eyes searching her face. “You’re sorry? Baby,” he shook his head, “you have nothing to be sorry about.”
Reaching up she covered his hands with hers and closed her eyes, almost overwhelmed by the emotions brought on by his touch. “I didn’t trust you.”
He didn’t say anything.
Finally, she opened her eyes and what she saw in his face, in his eyes, was more than she ever dreamed. She saw love.
This time when he kissed her, it was slow and thorough. Almost as though he’d missed her as much as she missed him. He left no part of her mouth out of his exploration. It made her knees weak.
Chris caught her in his arms, bending her back over them with the gentle force of his kiss as her toes curled in her pointy stilettos. One heel popped off the floor behind her.
&
nbsp; Suddenly, Chris paused, his lips still pressed to hers as they both became aware of people clapping all around them.
Oakley’s eyes popped open.
Chris’s mouth curved against hers, his blue eyes brimming with amusement, and they both burst out laughing.
“Woot! Woot!” someone called and the room erupted into hoots and catcalls.
Oakley blushed so hard she thought she might actually burst into flames. Chris pulled her tight against his side and waved to the crowd before leading her to a set of double doors.
Chris pushed through them, never letting her go, and continued walking down a long hall.
“Where are we going?” She didn’t really care. Not as long as she was with him.
“I have to speak in just a few minutes.” He opened another door at the end of the hall. It led to a short flight of stairs which opened to a stage. Black curtains hung from floor to ceiling while lighting and sound equipment lay scattered on shelves. Chris approached a man in his fifties. They spoke briefly then Chris pointed to a corner backstage.
“Come on. John will let me know when it’s my turn.” Chris threaded his fingers through hers and started toward the corned he’d indicated. Oakley followed. As soon as they arrived, she was in his arms again.
“I’ve missed you,” he murmured into her neck. “I’m so sorry about those pictures. I swear, they weren’t what they seemed.”
“It’s okay.” Her heart still ached with the residual pain of it all, but in his arms she knew she was well on her way to healing completely.
Chris pulled back, looking deep into her eyes. “No, it isn’t. I should have told you where I was going. What I was doing. I know your stupid ex hurt you.” He ran his fingers through his hair, holding her with one arm. “I never want to hurt you, Oakley. Never.”
Oakley shook her head as he spoke. “I should have listened. I should have trusted you, let you explain before reacting the way I did. Can you forgive me?”
Marrying the Football Billionaire Page 24