Page 25 of Faking Ties

Me: I got permission to miss a day.

Dad: What could be more important than training camp?

Me: Stella Wilde.

Dad: You’re sabotaging your career for a woman? I taught you better than that.

Me: Don’t worry, my priorities are exactly where they’ve always been—on football.

Dad: Damn straight. Prove that missing this one day isn’t going to fuck up your life.

Me: I will.

Shit,Dad’s right. I’m digging myself deeper into a pile of shit by missing camp for a day. That won’t do me any favors with the team, but on the other side, I need to be here for Stella. I need the positive headlines to extend my contract.

Frustrated, I slide on my black jacket. This fake relationship is starting to become a liability, and we haven’t even started.

When Stella opens the bedroom door and comes out, some of my frustration lessens at just the sight of her. Her sparkly, gold jumpsuit fits her to perfection. The front plunges down to her belly button, tempting me to lick and kiss every bit of exposed skin. Seeing her is like a shot of adrenaline straight to the chest, making it hard to breathe.

“Holy shit,” I say. “Look at you.”

“Can you zip me?” she asks, turning her back to me.

“Shouldn’t there be a team of people here helping you?”

“Oh…umm, I don’t like having strangers in my space, so I sent them away.”

My heart pounds as I cross the room to her.It’s ridiculous to be hesitant over a zipper, over touching her. My hand trembles when I brush her silky hair to the side. A jolt of electricity shoots through me when my fingers brush her shoulder. It feels too intimate, too much like crossing into a dangerous territory that leads to distractions. I reach for the zipper,my fingers hovering.Get it together.I pull the zipper up and my hand lingers, brushing against her skin unnecessarily. Shit, I’m losing control.A surge of panic hits me and I yank my hand away and take a large step back.

Stella busies herself by playing with her bracelet and not looking at me. I spin around and slowly put my shoes on, my fingers still tingling from touching her.

The silence is awkward as fuck, but neither of us attempts to break it. Only Brian does when he enters with two room service plates.

“Here you go,” he says. “We need to leave in five minutes to make it on time.”

I grab the plates from him. “We’ll be done in ten.” Stella doesn’t need to hurry through her food just because of Jax.

Brian nods and closes the door behind him. I bring the plates over to the table and hand one to Stella.

“This is legit amazing,” she says after her first bite. She even sags a little into her chair as if she’s enjoyingit so much, she can’t sit straight anymore. I love how expressive she is when it comes to food. It’s equal parts adorable and sexy.

“It is.” I don’t start in on my burger until I know she’s full and doesn’t want it. Only then do I eat while she brushes her teeth.

When I’m done, we get into the car and there’s another bodyguard in the passenger seat, one I haven’t seen before.

Stella fiddles with her hand-made bracelet, the one hidden under a gold bracelet, the entire drive over and refuses to give more than one-word answers. When we get closer, it’s hard to miss the signs that all sayworld premiere.

I turn to Stella. “Tonight is the premiere?”

“Yeah. I guess it is. Surprise?” She tries to joke but it comes out flat. She whispers, “I didn’t know. I’ve been so focused on the tour that I wasn’t paying attention to the schedule.”

I give her a steady look, not believing her.

“Okay.” She grimaces. “And maybe I also wanted to avoid all things Jax, so I might have tuned out said schedule.”

That sounds more believable, but it also makes me wonder if Jax was more of an asshole than I originally thought if she’s trying so hard to avoid even thinking about him.

“What are the other events?” I ask.

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