Bryant pulled to a stop in front of an ancient diner. They removed the helmets and he explained, “I love this place. It looks crappy, but the food is the best. They have huge, fluffy biscuits that are covered in a creamy sausage gravy, cheesy scrambled eggs and endless coffee. All the things a growing boy needs. I call it heart attack on a platter”
“It’s the perfect way to celebrate a wild, reckless ride through Boston. I may order two plates.” Emily was so wound up she practically bounced into the old diner. It’s gray linoleum, laminate tables and red barstools reminded her of the places she had gone to in the south while she was shadowing Uncle Wayne. She missed those days.
Chapter 5
They ordered a huge breakfast feast from the smiling, wrinkled waitress. Bryant declared, “She’s always here. I think she must have worked here since it opened. Despite her age, she really knows her job. I’ve met the cook. He’s just like the huge, gruff guy smoking a cigar as he cooks that you see in movies. I think he might be her son.”
The picture he painted with his words, startled a giggle from Emily. He was good at that. He always had been. Somehow, it didn’t fit in with his reputation as a troublemaker. She dared ask, “How many of the tabloid stories were true?”
Bryant’s smile faltered. He really didn’t want to discuss it. He wanted to leave all the gossip far behind and forget it had ever happened. He answered, “It doesn’t matter how much was true and how much wasn’t. People believe all of it anyway.”
Emily surprised herself by replying, “I don’t. You were never the type to cause trouble for fun. I think a little of it found you and the rest was an embellishment of the facts. The cheating may be true, but I can’t imagine you in a fist fight with anyone, especially a teammate.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I did fight with my teammate. In fact, I beat him bloody. Let it go. I don’t want to talk about it.” Bryant’s frustration made him push away his food.
“Fine, but we have to discuss it at some point. I can only fix what I know about. You’ll have to be truthful with me.” She shoved his plate back to him. “Answer one question for now and I’ll stop and you can eat. How are things with your wife?”
He shrugged, “She’s in Philadelphia and I’m here. So, obviously, things aren’t good. We speak once in a while, but it only ends in an argument. We both have short tempers and set each other off easily.”
Emily wanted to know more, but she kept her promise and dropped the subject. Monday would be a different matter. An important part of the contract, he would be signing, contained a clause on behavior. She wouldn’t allow him to sign unless he cleared up a few things, namely his marriage.
The ride back to the baseball field was short and quiet. Bryant considered their conversation. He needed to make a difficult decision. There were two choices, make his marriage work or end it. Having Emily’s arms around him made it even harder to decide. Seeing her in the stands had slapped him in the face with memories. He had tried to forget the girl he left behind, but she had stayed with him no matter what else occurred in his life. Bad decisions and sad mistakes haunted him. Emily was from a time in his past where everything went great. He prayed she could return him to that life. It felt right to be here with her. He just needed to convince her of that. There was a lot of thinking to do.
Monday morning, Emily rose earlier than usual. She showered and began to dress. She skipped the business suit and donned a blue, above the knee skirt, a paler blue silk tank, and black heels. She left her hair down to highlight her delicate face. Emily told herself the extra attention to her appearance had nothing to do with Bryant coming to sign his contract. It was just too hot for a suit. Deep inside, she knew it wasn’t true. He was already under her skin.
Bryant showed up at the specified time. He looked terrific. He had dressed for the occasion in tan slacks and a green button-down shirt that brought out his eyes. Kim ushered him in to Emily’s office. She held up ten fingers behind his back, rating the man for her boss’ benefit. Emily didn’t need to be told, she had always seen Bryant as a ten in the looks department. It was his attitude that needed help.
She waved to the chair directly in front of her desk. “Take a seat. I have all the paperwork ready.” She walked to the printer and picked up a stack of papers. Bryant admired her long legs in the short skirt and the wiggle in her walk caused by the high heels. He turned away before she could notice his rapt attention. If she found him staring it might break their deal.
He looked at the papers as she sat them in front of him. It was a thicker stack than he was used to. “Why all the extra pages? Am I signing over my firstborn or something?”
With her elbows on the table and her head resting on steepled hands, she stared directly into his eyes and explained, “The first three pages are a standard contract. You can read it if you want or have a lawyer look it over. The fourth page is a full disclosure contract. It means you must tell me everything about your transgressions. I can’t explain or fix what I don’t know. The last two pages are a behavioral contract. If the bad behavior continues, the original contract becomes null and void. In other words, it’s my out if things go sour.”
Bryant was disconcerted by her bluntness. “Wow, you’re a hard ass. I never knew that about you.”
Emily replied, “I was just a kid when I knew you. The hard line comes from experience in this business. I have to cover every angle or I lose money and a good reputation.”
Bryant picked up a pen and signed the regular contract and the behavioral one. He hesitated over the full disclosure. There were some things he didn’t want to explain. He signed it anyway, imaging giving her only the bare facts without embellishment.
Emily took the offered papers and said, “Now, for the hard part, what are you going to do to change things?” She pulled out a tabloid with today’s date. “As you can see, your wife was out partying last night. There is also a picture of you at a bar with several empty shot glasses in front of you. Speculations are rampant. It has to stop immediately.”
Chapter 6
Bryant stared at the tabloid and replied, “I thought about my situation all weekend. It was difficult to make a decision. But, that headline makes it easier. My marriage is over. I can’t fix it. It’s for the best. We always fought anyway. I’ll let her know that I’m filing for divorce. As for the picture of me, it was taken the night I arrived in town. I swear it was before we talked. Drowning my sorrows was a mistake that won’t happen again.”
“It’s time to come clean. I stopped asking questions as a friend, but now you’re my client and I need the details.” Emily watched his eyes narrow and sweat break out on his forehead. She asked, “Did you commit the transgressions you’re accused of? How many and where are important too.”
Bryant danced around the questions. She hadn’t asked why he had made the mistakes, so he wouldn’t need to tell her. He answered, “I did cheat on her, just not as often as they claim.” He stared at the floor and admitted, “I even cheated with you. We weren’t married at the time, but she was my girlfriend. Some of the women were part of the publicity my former agent demanded. I should never have gone along with it. He felt I should appear single and desirable. When it all backfired, he dumped me.”
Emily held back her anger, though it hurt to hear he had a girlfriend while he was with her. She asked, “What about the fight with your teammate? Was it provoked or just a drunken brawl? Were there other fights that might pop up in the news?”
Bryant carefully replied, “It was definitely provoked. We weren’t drunk. I thought he was a good friend. It turned out he wasn’t. We argued and anger got the best of me. I deserved that headline. Thankfully, he didn’t press criminal charges. He knew that the beating was well earned.”
Emily could tell he was leaving out something, yet she didn’t press the issue. He had told her more than she expected. Time would take care of the rest. Trust was earned and it would take a while on both sides to make that happen. “Okay, that’s
all for now. I will send out a press release stating that you are now a client. Don’t make me regret it.”
Bryant was relieved to get by with telling her so little. He was happy to promise, “I won’t. No more bar hopping or sleeping around. I am going to spend the day looking for a good divorce lawyer, one that’s discreet. I’ll call my wife and tell her it’s over.”
It wasn’t as difficult as Bryant had imagined finding a discreet lawyer. He set the divorce in motion and headed back to his hotel. He dreaded the phone call to his wife. She answered on the third ring saying, “When are you coming home? It’s so lonely without you.”
Bryant dismissed the question with, “Maybe you didn’t see the tabloids this morning, but I sure did. You don’t appear to be lonely at all. Drinking’s not good for your baby. I suggest you stay out of clubs. Your baby’s daddy should know better as well.”
She replied, “I want you to be the baby’s daddy. Come home and we will fix it all. We were just having some fun last night. I came home early and only drank ginger ale. I didn’t let him in the house.”
“We have tried to fix it repeatedly. It’s not meant to be. I just called to let you know I’m not coming back. I signed with a new agent and filed for divorce. The papers should reach you in a couple of days. Sign them and you are free to do whatever pleases you. I’m done.” Bryant waited for a reply. None came. He hung up and sat on the bed. She would call back as soon as his words sank in. There would be tears and begging before the fight as usual.
Emily went home to her empty apartment and changed into a pair of shorts, a tank top and running shoes. A few miles of jogging through the park would shut off the urge to call Bryant and ask him to join her for dinner. Suddenly, her workaholic lifestyle wasn’t as appealing as it once was. The baseball field, motorcycle ride and diner breakfast had made her long for more fun and excitement than an office could give. Bryant had tapped in to her wild side and she liked it. An unspoken sexual tension hung in the air between them at all times, though neither mentioned it. It would be so easy to slip into a relationship once again. She planned to jog until that idea completely left her mind. Sadly, she figured it would take a long run for that to happen. Even now, she was wondering if he had found a lawyer and called his wife to tell her about the divorce. She picked up her phone to slip it in a pocket. Her fingers lingered over the numbers, shaking. She quickly shoved the phone in her pocket and went for her run. Rekindling a long dead romance with a married man was not a good idea. Her brain knew it, but her heart continued to argue.
Bryant turned off his phone. He couldn’t stand another round of pleading from his wife. Three hours of her calling repeatedly was enough. Her tears didn’t work on him anymore. She had used them far too often to get what she wanted. He was immune. He wondered what Emily planned for her evening. Maybe, he could convince her to meet him in the hotel restaurant. He had almost turned the phone back on when he realized what a bad idea it would be to call her. He had gone to her to straighten out his life, not complicate it. She didn’t even know all the facts. How would she react to the news that his wife was pregnant by another man, one that he had beaten to a pulp? How would the tabloids react?
Chapter 7
Emily left the press conference with a bad headache. It had been intended to promote a football client, but the questions about Bryant kept overshadowing the real subject. One came up more often than the others. It seemed the press was speculating that Bryant’s wife was the reason he fought with his teammate. From the questions, Emily gathered that they felt his wife had an affair with the teammate. Was this what Bryant had been holding back? She was finished playing games with him. No more secrets could be allowed. The press had blindsided her with the information, and it couldn’t happen again. He had wormed his way back into her life and possibly her heart. She needed to know all the truth, not bits and pieces. Instead of returning to her office, she called his number and simply said, “Meet me at the diner in half an hour.”
When Emily stepped into the diner, she saw Bryant was already at a table. His face looked tired and drawn. There was no sympathy in her gaze when she sat down and said, “Spill it, all of it. I just faced a mob of reporters and they threw questions at me I couldn’t answer. It hurt the poor client I was there to represent. I have to be told everything now or I walk out on you professionally and personally.”
Bryant knew his reprieve was over. If the reporters were asking questions, it would all come out soon anyway. He took a long, deep breath and began, “I met my wife in high school. We dated off and on until the first year of college. It became an exclusive relationship at that point, or so I thought. Her idea of exclusive needed some work. When I left for tryouts, I broke it off with her. After I signed with the agent, she called and claimed to be pregnant. He demanded that we get married. I stayed away because I was in love with you. The agent threatened to drop me if I didn’t do the right thing. I couldn’t face you, so I disappeared. There was no baby. She had lied to keep me, but it was too late to change things.”
Emily cut in, “I don’t understand. Your picture was always in the tabloids with different women. They never mentioned a wife.”
“That was the agent as well. When he realized there wasn’t a baby, he didn’t announce my marriage. He made us promise to keep it a secret. It was supposed to help my reputation if I appeared single and wild. Needless to say, it put stress on an already bad marriage. She slept with an old boyfriend and in retaliation, I slept with a super model. The fact that we were married leaked to the press. We cheated on each other three or four times. We never loved each other. It was more of a competition than a marriage. I didn’t push for a divorce because the press had enough to ruin me already.” Bryant paused to catch a breath and shake off his pain. “I got traded to the Phillies. We decided to try starting over. The scandal followed. She had too much time on her hands and cheated again. By the time I found out, she was pregnant. It’s my teammate’s baby, thus the fight.”
Emily didn’t want to ask, but it was necessary. “How do you know it’s not yours?”
Bryant ducked his head and almost whispered, “I haven’t touched her since we left Chicago. I found that I didn’t really want to start over with her. I, also, didn’t feel I could drag her name through the mud, so I left her alone. I didn’t fight because I loved her. I did it because I was angry at her, my teammate, my agent and most of all, myself. This should have ended years ago. I filed for divorce as promised. She’s not happy about it of course. She likes the money a lot.”
Emily discovered that she felt sorry for him. It was so often the kind of thing that happened to famous people. They lost control over their own lives. It’s why her clients trusted her. She would never have put Bryant in such an awful situation, neither would her uncle. She reached across the table and took his hand. “This may get worse before it gets better. You’ve got to do an interview and clear as much of this up as possible. It will hurt some people, including you, but it will be over quickly. I’ll stand by you and guide you through it. You deserve to have your life back. I guarantee your former agent will pay a heavy price when all this comes out. Can you handle it?”
“With you by my side, I can handle anything. Do you have a reporter that you can trust to state the facts? How soon do we need to do this?” Now that he had come clean with Emily and the pressure was off his shoulders, Bryant was ready to finish this. Telling the world would be far easier than telling her had been.
“It’s best to rip off the bandage quickly, so I’ll call a friend to do the interview today. I trust her to tell the truth. She’s never lied in a report about one of my clients. She’s blunt, but truthful, just like me.” Emily tried to let go of his hands, but he lifted them to his mouth, turned them palm up and kissed the soft centers. A tingle ran up her arms instantly. She stared at his lips for a minute, then shook herself and tugged her hands away. She pushed her speed dial and when the voice answered she said, “I have an exclusive interview for you. How so
on can you get to my office? It must be today or it may get out another way. It’s a delicate situation and you’re the only one I trust to tell it right.”
Chapter 8
Bryant struggled through the interview. It was hard to tell all his secrets to a virtual stranger especially knowing that it would soon be broadcast worldwide. He had held on to the information for a very long time. Letting it all out in an instant made him nauseous. He was glad to have Emily offering encouragement and strength. The reporter was kind and understanding. She didn’t judge him, just wrote down the facts.
The reporter congratulated him on his honesty and bravery. The story would be in the morning news. Tears spilled from Bryant’s eyes when the reporter had gone. They were tears of relief and fear. The pressure on his shoulders was gone, but the fallout, from the tell all interview, was yet to come.
Emily wrapped her arms around him and held on while he let out the tension. The tears dried out and Bryant began to notice how good she felt against his body. He turned his head slightly and kissed her neck. He felt a shiver go through her and allowed his lips to roam until he reached the area just below her ear. This had always been an erotic zone for her and he hadn’t forgotten. In response, she dug her nails into his shoulders. It made him bolder and he planted a searing kiss on her mouth. To his surprise, she kissed him back. There was no resistance when he opened her lips with his tongue. The old fireworks began to burn brightly.
Emily marveled at her nerve. She should be backing away and chastising him. Instead, her hands delved under his shirt to touch the hard muscles beneath. He moaned into her mouth and moved his hands to cover her silk clad breasts. She pulled her mouth from his and let her forehead rest on his chest. She heard him gently ask, “Are you sure about this? We can stop if you want.” She shook her head no against his chest and started lifting his shirt higher. He raised his arms allowing the shirt to be tugged over his head. Emily’s tongue flicked over his nipple and his knees almost gave way.
A Sugar Daddy’s Secret: Billionaire Romance Page 5