Page 16 of Marring an Athlete

He studied her. Why couldn’t she talk to him? They’d been friends once. “Come on, Anna Banana, you can tell me.”

She met his gaze, and an exasperated expression passed over her face. “Can that nickname just die now?”

He pulled back, plastering on a hurt and surprised look. “What? You’re not in love with Anna Banana?” He tapped his chin. “Okay, if Anna Banana is off the table, what about Anna Bobana?”

She reached out and smacked him. “No.”

“Ooo, what about Band-Anna?”

She laughed. The familiar one that he’d heard growing up. He watched as her eyes crinkled, and her dimples deepened.

“Band-Anna it is.”

Anna wiped at her eyes as she held up her hand. “No. Come on, Michael. I swear, all you’ll ever see me as is your kid sister’s best friend.”

He eyed her, stifling a snort. That was not what he thought about her at all. But telling her what his mind was thinking seemed to go against his resolve not to hurt her, so he just shrugged. “So you want something more grown up. Hmm.” He tapped his chin again. “How about Your Highness Miss Anna Short of the New Jersey Shorts.” He circled his hand in the air a few times before he pretended to bow.

When he came back up, Anna rolled her eyes.

“How about, Anna. And that’s it.”

Michael shrugged. “If you want to be boring.”

She laughed, but then her expression grew serious. As if she’d suddenly remembered something. A hurt in her past. Why couldn’t she tell him?

He reached out and rested his hand on her arm. “Come on, Anna. You can tell me.”

She chewed her bottom lip as she studied him. Then she sighed and picked at some non-existent lint on her pants. “Well, I was going to go to Australia with my boyfriend. Until he decided that it would be better for him to take his assistant.” She swallowed as she folded her arms. “They’re going to get married next year.”

Michael sucked in his breath. That had to hurt. “I’m sorry.”

She laughed. It was much more forced than the genuine one he’d heard moments earlier. “Wanna know the worst part?”

“Worse than him cheating on you?”

She nodded. “He was my boss, as well. I helped him get to where he is today,” she scoffed as she leaned back in her chair.

Anger built up inside of his chest. What kind of loser uses and then dumps Anna? A sour feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. If he was honest with himself, that sounded exactly like something he would do. And here he was, allowing himself to have feelings for her.

She was already hurting, and he was playing with her feelings. Right now, all she needed was a friend and someone to help set her up with a good guy. And he was as far from good as they came.

He gave her a smile as he squeezed her hand. “What’s his name?” he asked, nonchalantly. A good friend would visit this loser to show him what happened to people who hurt those they cared about.

Anna shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. Now, I just need to focus on the future.” She blew a strand of hair from her face. “Problem is, not a lot of people are hiring PR advisors.”

That’s what she did? Now that Michael thought about it, he remembered McKenna saying something about that.

“I’ll hire you.”

Anna raised her eyebrows. “You’d hire me? Don’t you have a manager who does that?”

“Yeah, Jordan. But I’ve been getting requests to do some sponsorship things. I’d love to have you on board. Jordan thinks if I can get the press to write some more positive articles, better offers will roll in.” He glanced over at her, not sure what to make of her expression.

Her eyebrows were drawn together, but she wasn’t saying no. So perhaps, she was thinking it over. Then she sucked in her breath and shook her head. “Would I have to move to New York?”

“What’s wrong with New York?”

Anna scoffed, “There are so many people.”

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