had to make a decision about a child, then we would do it together.”
“If you’re not pregnant then this conversation is moot. If you are, then let me warn you in advance that I don’t intend to get embroiled in a custody battle with you.”
“Neither do I,” Ciara retorted, “and this conversation is moot.” She cradled his face. “I don’t want to fight with you, Brandt—”
“There’s not going to be a fight,” he interrupted.
She closed her eyes for a second. “Please don’t interrupt me.”
“I’m sorry.”
Her fingers dug into his stubble, causing him to wince. “Don’t say anything until I’m finished.” Ciara couldn’t hold back a smile when he nodded his head like a bobblehead doll. “You know I like you—a lot. If I didn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered how long it’d been since I last had sex. I still wouldn’t have slept with you.” Easing her grip on his face, Ciara pressed her forehead to his. “You’re exciting, easy on the eyes, incredibly sexy and you’re nothing like a dumb jock. You’re the total package for any woman looking for their happily ever after. But…”
“But what, Ciara?” Brandt asked when she didn’t finish her sentence.
She lowered her eyes. “But not for me, Brandt.”
Cupping her chin, he stared deeply into the eyes of the woman on his lap. “And why not you? Aren’t you entitled to your own happily ever after?”
Ciara affected a wry smile. “Of course I’m entitled.”
“Then, what’s the problem?”
“There is no problem. You know about Victor.” He nodded. “I promised myself I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.”
The natural color drained from Brandt’s face. His eyes paled, leaving them an eerie pale blue. “You believe that I’m controlling you? Forcing you do things you don’t want to do?”
“Don’t get it twisted, Brandt. Victor never forced me to do anything I didn’t want to do. He wasn’t holding a gun to my head or blackmailing me. When I decided I no longer wanted to be his hood ornament, I ended it. What I didn’t tell you was that I’d stopped seeing him before he proposed marriage.”
“For how long?”
“Three months. I managed to avoid him at the hospital—I had my shift changed and blocked his number on my cell. I lived in a building with a doorman, so he couldn’t get in unless he was announced. Victor wasn’t able to accept that I no longer wanted to see him after two years of dating him exclusively, so he figured if he proposed marriage I’d take him back.”
“Where were you when he hit you?”
“In my apartment.”
“I thought you said—”
“I know what I said, Brandt. That he couldn’t get in unless he was announced. I came home one night and he was waiting for me outside the building. He said he wanted to talk, that he, that we needed closure. And because I truly wanted it over, I let him into my apartment. He claimed he’d taken up two years of my life without a commitment, so he’d decided it was time to commit. That’s when he took out a ring and asked me to marry him. I wanted to ask him if he was for real, but instead said I would think about it.”
“The day I went to the hospital I should’ve asked to see him in private and knocked the hell out of him.”
Ciara laughed and shook her head. “Have you forgotten that you’re in a wheelchair?”
“Sitting in a wheelchair would not have stopped me from reaching up and grabbing him by the throat for hitting you.”
That wasn’t an image she had wanted to see: Brandt’s large hand and strong fingers tightening around Victor’s neck, cutting off oxygen to his lungs. “I don’t condone violence, Brandt.”
“Neither do I. You don’t have to worry too much about me hitting your ex, because I’m bound by my contract’s personal-conduct clause—mess up on or off the field and I’m fined, suspended or banned from football. And I’m willing to bet the good doctor would have me arrested for assault. So I can assure you that when I go after him it won’t be physical. Now back to us.”
Ciara couldn’t understand how Brandt could go from talking about Victor in one breath and about their future in the next. Given Brandt’s height, weight and strength he probably could break Victor’s jaw with one punch.
“Once my assignment ends there can be no us. You’re a celebrity, Brandt, and I cannot and will not live my life in the spotlight.”
The sweep hand on his watch made