Vivian, Midnight Call Girl (Iron Orchids Book 6)

by Danielle Norman

  “In the baby’s room, I did the kingdom with the castle from Beauty and the Beast, in Gianna’s room I did the mine and woods from Snow White and then in Harlow’s room I did Cinderella’s castle.”

  “Can I have mermaids?” Ireland asked nonchalantly.

  “Absolutely. I could paint one wall to look like the ocean with fish, coral, and some mermaids. Then the rest of the walls we can paint another color to match.”

  “Really?” Ireland pulled her legs up on the stool, so she was sitting in a crisscross position as she looked between Aaron and me.

  “Sounds good to me, I told you that it was your room. We just need to know where to go.” Aaron grabbed hold of my hand and squeezed.

  “Let’s make a list. Aaron, do you have paper and pen?” My mind was already whirling with ideas. “Okay, I think we need to start with the important stuff.”

  “Like clothes?” Ireland asked.

  “Yep, and then we can order furniture because that will take several days. After that, we can pick out paint colors you like.”

  “I’ll have to sneak away for about an hour around one o’clock for a meeting. You two can come and sit in the lobby at the arena or keep shopping, and I’ll come right back there when I’m done.”

  I looked over at Ireland and could tell that, while she wanted to go shopping, she wasn’t sure about hanging out with me without Aaron around.

  “How about we decide after we eat? Let’s see how we feel then, okay?”

  I glanced at Aaron, who winked at me, and Ireland was relieved.

  Vivian

  “Hey, ladies, we have gotten a lot accomplished so far.” He held up several bags. “But it’s almost one. I have to head to the arena. Do you want to stay and shop or come with me?”

  It was the subtle movement, Ireland taking one step closer to Aaron. I knew what I needed to do for her comfort. “We’ll go with you. That will give us time to mark off the things we got and decide what we still need.”

  We piled into the Porsche Cayenne and headed to the arena.

  “Can we walk around?” Ireland asked.

  “Sure, just stay with Vivian. I’ll text you two when I’m done if you aren’t in the lobby,” Aaron said as we walked around to the side entrance.

  A camera flashed, I flinched. “Aaron, where have you been?” a reporter asked.

  “Don’t you have a home; are you just lying in wait?” Aaron barked back.

  “This is my home, and I’ve been waiting for you.”

  We ignored him, Aaron didn’t say anything else as the man continued shouting questions and we pushed inside. Aaron locked the door behind him.

  “What was that man screaming about?” Ireland asked.

  “I’ll explain after my meeting, but let me show you where I’ll be.” Aaron led us down a hall. “See the basketballs on the floor that’s what you’re going to follow. There are a few halls that look exactly the same, and they put these on the floor so us jock-heads don’t get confused.” He smiled.

  The hallway opened to a lobby that looked to house several offices as well as a giant conference room. “Okay, we’ve got it from here, right, Ireland?”

  “Right.” Ireland kept her eyes on Aaron as he stared at her.

  “After this, why don’t we go get you a cell phone?”

  “My very own?”

  “Yeah,” he said softly. “That way you’ll always be able to reach me, okay?”

  Her lips were tight, but she nodded.

  Aaron headed into the office, and I held out my hand for Ireland, but she didn’t take it. So, we just walked side by side. “Do you play basketball?”

  “I used to with my dad. Do you?”

  “Never played. If you promise not to make fun of me, I’ll tell you a secret.”

  The grin she gave me was wide and full of anticipation. “Promise.”

  “I don’t know how to play.”

  Her jaw dropped with shock. “You don’t know how?”

  “Nope. I saw Aaron play once, but that was about it.”

  “I think that I’ve seen just about every one of his games.”

  “You’ll have to teach me how to play sometime.”

  “I can do that. Aaron can help too.” Ireland’s face lit up with excitement.

  We rounded a corner and got our first glimpse of the court, the same one from the game a few weeks ago. Banners were lining the arena, benches decorated, and a big scoreboard in one corner.

  “Come on.” I raced forward, happy that she followed. “This is where Aaron plays when he has home games. I think this might be where he practices too.”

  “Look.” Ireland pointed to a ball. “I’ll teach you now.” She raced over, grabbed it, and started to dribble. “Catch.” She tossed it to me. “Now you dribble.” Ireland mimicked bouncing the ball with her hand.

  So, I dribbled. I didn’t tell her that I knew some simple basics like the word dribble; she was alive with excitement teaching me. I bounced the ball with my left hand, then my right. “Catch.” I tossed it back to her.

  “Okay, so that’s pretty much all we do as we work our way down the court until we get close enough to the basket. Then we shoot. We want the ball to go into the basket.”

  “Way up there?”

  “Yep, way up there.”

  “Okay. That seems easy enough.”

  She laughed and passed the ball back to me. I took a step and dribbled, my hand-eye coordination was seriously lacking. Step, dribble, pass—crap, I forgot to shout catch. I watched Ireland as she dribbled and ran at the same time. Her hands moved in sync, and less than a second later, the ball was back to me. Shit, shit, shit. Walk, dribble, walk, dribble. “Catch!”

  Ireland giggled as she continued her fluid motions, and we were at the basket. She tossed and missed. “Now your try, Vivian.”

  I took the ball and focused on the basket. Then I cradled that orange, grainy sphere in both hands, swung almost to the floor between my feet, and launched it toward the basket. It went up, up, and over the basket.

  Ireland was on the floor cracking up. “No one shoots like that.”

  “I do, I just did.”

  “No, let me show you.” She chased down the ball and then moved to stand next to me. “Put one foot forward. Take the ball and hold it up, keep your eyes on the basket. You want to flick your wrist and let the ball smoothly fly. Okay, try.”

  I followed her instructions and flipped my wrist, but the ball didn’t go five feet.

  “Maybe we should work on shooting first.”

  “Really? You think that’s all I need work on?” I asked her teasingly.

  “Well . . . no. But I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

  “Get out of here.” We both turned at Aaron’s booming voice. I saw the same guy who had been screaming questions at us outside. Out of instinct, I put myself between the stranger and Ireland until Aaron could reach us.

  Aaron was racing toward us, shouting even louder, “Security.”

  The man curved his camera around and was snapping photos of Aaron, who swatted the camera out of his face.

  Two men in security uniforms came running downstairs from upper-level rooms. Several people came in from the same direction Aaron had. Ireland took off and rushed to Aaron’s side. Pretty soon, there were at least fifteen people huddled around Aaron and the photographer.

  I stood there, watching from the peripheral of the group. One minute passed, then two, then five, and still no one turned to see me, they moved in a group toward the door that we had come through.

  Aaron

  My knees were bobbing, the leather of the seats squished when I moved, and my hands were leaving sweat prints on the large glass table. This was the same conference room that Carmen and Coach Hargrove had used when we negotiated my contract for the Lightning. This time, I was just as nervous, but for entirely different reasons.

  I sat straighter when the door opened and Miss Romero and Coach walked in, followed by Dylan, the head of public
relations, and John Savage, our attorney.

  I stood and held out my right hand to greet them before we settled into chairs.

  “First, Aaron how are you doing?” Carmen asked.

  “As well as can be expected.”

  “What ended up happening?” Carmen looked as if she were genuinely interested, and not just placating me until she could ask when I was coming back.

  “I have a seven-year-old daughter who will be coming to live with me, but I’m going to hire a nanny to help get her to and from school and stay with her when I’m gone.”

  “You sure you can handle both a child and this career?” Carmen raised one brow and waited for my answer.

  “Absolutely. Ireland is my biological daughter, so there is no other answer than yes, I’m ready for this.”

  “If I may interrupt, what about the latest tabloid images?” Dylan asked.

  “The woman in the picture was the family law attorney who was helping me get everything settled. I’m not sure how it became gossip or why someone thought we were together. That picture they are claiming was a ‘tender moment’ was when she patted my hand, reassuring me that we had this.”

  Dylan opened her laptop and started typing. “You know that the media is going to be hounding you, especially when they learn you have a seven-year-old daughter, right?”

  “I know, but I’m ready for it. I’m not going to change my mind.”

  “Then let’s get to the real topic at hand: your team needs you,” Carmen jumped right in. “John is here to assist with any changes that we need to make to your contract.”

  “I’m ready to come back. For the first several games, I may ask that Ireland come with me, but after I hire a nanny that shouldn’t be an issue. Her life has been turned upside down, so my main priority is to help her settle in and feel at home.”

  “I don’t see any problem with her joining us, do you, Coach?” Carmen asked.

  “Not as long as his head is in the game.”

  “Agreed,” Carmen added. “Now, what did you want to add, Dylan?”

  “I need us to decide how we want to present this to the public. Aaron, as you know, it is always best to get ahead of the media so we control the story. Have you given this any thought?”

  “I’m thinking a quick press release or short conference, no questions. I will see if Ireland wants to do it with me or if she wants me to do it alone. My private life shouldn’t be up for public consumption, so we should make it clear that I am asking for my privacy in this matter. Are you okay with that?” I glanced over to Carmen because I wasn’t stupid, I knew who my boss was and had no problem kissing ass.

  “I think that sounds doable, do you agree, Dylan?”

  “Absolutely, when would you like to schedule that for?” Dylan asked.

  I thought about it for a second, it had been thirteen days since I had gotten the news about the accident. “I guess we could do it tomorrow.”

  Carmen waited for Dylan to answer. “Let’s schedule it for tomorrow at ten a.m., but we need to decide what you’re going to say and how much information to relay.”

  I had no clue how Ireland wanted me to refer to her. I pulled out my phone and sent Vivian a text and got worried when fifteen minutes had passed and I still hadn’t received a reply.

  Vivian

  Slowly I took a step back and moved toward the other doorway. I scooted back even more when no one noticed me, and the small throng of people was almost off the basketball court.

  Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I pulled up the Uber app and requested a car to meet me outside.

  I needed to analyze what I had just seen. It wasn’t that Aaron only had eyes for Ireland, it was strange people following and invading his privacy. Inviting reporters and photographers back into my life was something I promised myself that I would never deal with again. My hatred for them was genuine, and their tenacity was equal to that of a great white shark. I couldn’t put myself in that position again.

  I could still hear that damn photographer guy hollering questions at Aaron.

  “Aaron, whose little girl?”

  “Aaron, was that the mom, and is this your secret love child?”

  “Aaron, what’s her name? Introduce us.”

  When my phone dinged to alert me my driver was here, I headed for the car and got in. I only lived about ten minutes away, so I was home in no time.

  My phone rang, dinged, and beeped, all from Aaron. He’d tried calling, texting, and even sending an email, but I wasn’t in a mood to talk.

  I had only been home about thirty minutes before my doorbell rang. I peered through the peephole and was not too surprised to see Aaron and Ireland standing on my front porch.

  “Open up, Vivian, I saw your shadow move past the window,” Aaron said loudly, but not quite loud enough to be a yell.

  With a huff, I opened the door, but there was no holding back my smile, because Aaron and Ireland were holding a box of pizza and pack of soda.

  “We brought dinner,” Ireland announced. “Where did you go? I looked everywhere, I was worried that there were more of those photographers and one grabbed you.”

  “Come on in.” I held open the door to my small house and then led the way to the kitchen. I grabbed plates and napkins as well as cups. “Ice?”

  “Not for me, the Cokes are cold.” Aaron opened the box and pulled one out. “Here you go,” he said as he handed one to Ireland and then set one down by a third chair for me. “What happened back there?”

  “Too much. You know that I hate the press. I couldn’t take it. I can’t imagine how you live like that.” I inhaled deeply and then went for a slice. “It isn’t something I could live with. Your life is way too public for me.” I tried to act nonchalant, as though I wasn’t calling a halt to us, because I didn’t want to alarm Ireland, but I needed him to know that this wasn’t going any further. Feelings for him be damned, I wasn’t doing that to myself.

  “Tomorrow, I’m holding a press conference to let the media know a little of what is going on. After that, most of this should die down. I usually don’t have much of a problem shopping or going out. Occasionally, people will interrupt me and ask for an autograph, but they leave me alone for the most part. I promise that this isn’t the norm. It is simply reactions to what is going on. It will get back to normal, trust me, please.” I locked eyes with Aaron, he was offering me a life raft, and I wanted so badly to take it.

  I wanted to trust him.

  I nodded, and he slipped one hand around the back of my neck and pulled me in for a quick kiss.

  “Not at the table,” Ireland moaned, and I cracked up laughing.

  “So, Ireland, tomorrow do you want to talk with me?” Aaron asked.

  “In front of people?” she asked.

  “Yeah, it will be for the public,” Aaron explained.

  “No. Can I just stay with Vivian? She and I could work on my room.” Ireland watched me and waited for my answer.

  “I have to run into Sixes tomorrow and grab the books for payroll, but other than that, I’m free. So, I’m fine if Ireland stays with me. Maybe we can go get the paint?”

  “Fine by me,” Aaron agreed. “Do you want to pack a bag and stay over at my house?”

  “Please, Vivian, please. Then tomorrow we can go shopping again. We got all the stuff from that barn store, but we still don’t have a lot of clothes for me though.”

  “Not enough clothes?” I asked, shocked.

  “Nope.” Ireland mumbled as she shook her head, her mouth full of pizza.

  “My god girl, you have more clothes than I do.”

  “Maybe you two need to go shopping and get clothes for Vivian too,” Aaron added, but I ignored him. When he wasn’t getting anything from me about his last statement, he changed the subject. “Why don’t we get paint on the way home?” Aaron asked.

  “Can we, please?” Ireland was super excited.

  I mixed a bag of play sand into clear glaze for the bottom of the ocean wall while
Ireland pressed blue painter’s tape around the baseboards. We had the television on and were waiting for Aaron to come on. There had already been a few teasers about big news from the NBA all-star.

  “We interrupt this regularly scheduled show,” Channel Four News announced. I avoided Channel Two like the plague thanks to Bitchasaurus, Haley Loles, but this wasn’t something that would be picked up by national news anyway.

  Ireland and I turned our attention to the screen.

  “Thank you for coming today,” Aaron announced. “First, I’d like to address the events from yesterday. A photographer stalked and harassed my family. I do not and will not accept any member of the press treating anyone like that, let alone my family.” Aaron paused, and I was silently high fiving him. “Not only did it frighten a woman and a seven-year-old girl, but the police were called, and the single photographer cost taxpayers money because the police had to spend man-hours on him since he decided to break the law. Our fine men and women of Orlando Police Department have better things to do than babysit you. Please know that I will not tolerate any harassment of my family.” Aaron paused, his eyes scanned the crowd.

  “Two weeks ago, I received devastating news, friends of mine were in a car crash and the only survivor was their seven-year-old daughter, Ireland. I am now the legal guardian of Ireland. She will be living with me full-time as my daughter.” Aaron took a long sip of water. “I have two people in my life. I love this seven-year-old girl who will be living with me. And I’m in love with the other woman who called me late one night and has been a part of my world ever since.” Aaron peered into the camera and I swore he was talking straight to me. Holy cow, he loved me.

  “He just said that he was in love with me, right?” I asked Ireland.

  “Yep, he loves me too.”

  My phone dinged and I glanced at it.

  Stella: Holy shit, he loves you.

  My phone dinged again.

  Mikki: You and Aaron, like really a couple? I’m so jealous and yet happy at the same time. Can I go to another game?