him into the elevator off the pantry.
“Did I tell you how sexy you look tonight?”
“Don’t try and change the subject, Brandt.”
“How many men tried coming on to you tonight?”
“I told you not to change the subject.”
“I’ve got it,” Brandt said, taking control of the chair when the elevator reached the second floor.
Ciara was angry with him and he was thoroughly frustrated. His feelings toward her were becoming more confusing with every night she spent under his roof. They shared a bed, but with the dawn of each new day, Ciara was more of a stranger than she had been the night before.
He’d fallen in love with her, but what nagged at him was getting Ciara to change her mind about him. He couldn’t help what the media had created—it wasn’t as if he could turn the image off and on by flipping a switch. As the Viking he was able to fill stadium seats with rabid fans. But would that success cause him to fail to win the woman he loved?
Brandt entered the bedroom, maneuvering close and transferring from the chair to the bed. He felt Ciara’s closeness as she took off the casts and his shorts, his gaze lingering on the spiral curls falling around her face. There was going to come a time when he wouldn’t need her help dressing or undressing, and that was when he would have to count down the time when she would walk out of his life, and pride would prevent him from begging her to stay.
There was a lethal calmness in his eyes when he captured her eyes. Always remember you’re a Wainwright. And we Wainwrights don’t accept defeat. His father’s mantra came to mind. Ciara may have won a battle when she told him she wouldn’t date another celebrity, but she hadn’t won the war.
What he had to do was formulate a game plan where he would not only win her love but also her heart.
Chapter 17
Brandt smiled at Ciara. The weather had changed from hot days and warm nights to warm days and cool nights, and so had their relationship. They’d continued to sleep in the same bed, but hadn’t made love in more than three weeks. The first week was because Ciara was on her menses and the next two found them in bed together without either making an overture to the other.
Brandt knew it had something to do with Ciara returning home to find the penthouse filled with strangers and her annoyance with his teammate’s groupie sitting on his chair. He’d accused her of being jealous, but in truth he was hurt that she hadn’t demonstrated a depth of emotion that went beyond their making love to each other. He knew men who had long relationships and never told their women “I love you.” He didn’t intend to be in that kind of relationship with Ciara.
She’d dated Victor Seabrook for two years, and she hadn’t mentioned loving him. Victor, who’d monopolized two years of her life and had proposed marriage when he’d feared losing her, had gotten an “I have to think about it.”
What was there to think about? Brandt mused. He’d dated Courtney Knight for a year before asking her to marry him. Fortunately he’d discovered before they exchanged vows that if she couldn’t be a faithful fiancée then she wouldn’t be a faithful wife.
Using crutches for the first time, he’d taken half a dozen steps, turned and then retraced his steps. “Congratulations,” she crooned.
Brandt winked at his nurse. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Ciara shook her head as she studied the man who’d become more than a patient. “You would have done it without me, Brandt, because you’re very competitive and refuse to accept defeat.”
He’d ramped up his physical therapy, exercising and pushing himself to extreme limits. If his therapist wanted him to perform twenty-five reps of an exercise three times a day, Brandt would increase it to fifty reps three times a day. He exercised on the days not scheduled for therapy, strengthening his leg muscles while shortening his recovery time.
Switching the crutches to one hand, Brandt used them as support when he sank down next to Ciara on an exercise bench in the home gym. “Let’s go out and celebrate.”
Ciara was taken aback by his suggestion. “Where?”
“Out to dinner.”
Even though Brandt spent time in the solarium or on the rooftop, she knew he was experiencing cabin fever. Whenever he left the penthouse it was to keep a doctor’s appointment. “Okay.”
Brandt glanced down at