signed his first contract. And judging by the fine lines on his face and the hints of gray around his temples, he’d been playing quite a while.
“So tell me, what would you have chosen if you’d known you needed to plan a dream date?” I asked as I guided him to a slightly less conspicuous area of the banquet lobby. PJ’s broad shoulders visibly relaxed the further we moved from the milling crowd, all hoping to catch a glimpse, and perhaps a selfie, with their favorite players.
“I honestly don’t know,” PJ admitted, letting out an exasperated huff. “How sad is that? I’m thirty-five years old and I wouldn’t even know how to plan a date of my own. In this world, it’s not really something I can afford to think about, so I don’t.”
“That is pretty sad,” I agreed. I bit back the rest of my response, because nothing I could say would make him feel any better. “But I’d be willing to bet you could come up with something. When you find the right person, they’ll be happy with whatever you plan, because it means they’ll be spending time with you.”
“Yeah, not that that’ll happen any time soon,” he complained. PJ tensed again and I felt him shutting down. “Maybe after this year, once I’m retired, I’ll be able to work on that.”
“Or maybe it’ll happen sooner,” I said, knowing I was pushing my luck. Maybe Zach was right and I subconsciously saw PJ as a wounded animal who needed my help, but now that I understood where PJ was coming from, I was starting to like the guy. “You can’t control when the right person steps into your life. All you can do is hold on and enjoy the ride.”
“Again, easy for you to say,” PJ argued. “I wouldn’t be any good to anyone right now. I spend too much time away from home and the rest either working out or playing. It wouldn’t be fair to ask anyone to deal with my life.”
“Part of your problem might be how much time you spend focusing on the reasons you wouldn’t be good for someone.” Without considering my actions, I reached up and ran my hand down his arm, squeezing gently before letting go. PJ’s eyes flared to life as he stared at the spot where I’d been touching him.
He swallowed hard, shifted from one foot to the other, but he didn’t back away. Unless I was completely mistaken, he’d felt the same jolt of energy I had.
The same dictatorial volunteer who’d explained that I’d agreed to let them use my pictures in the marketing materials for the center stalked her way over to us, reminding us once again of our obligations to the fundraiser. As quickly as our feeble connection had formed, it shattered and PJ put a few extra inches between us.
He cursed under his breath, and I felt like a total dick. He was right: I hadn’t considered how bad this looked for him. This entire event was centered around the illusion of falling in love, no matter who you loved, but that didn’t mean it was cool for them to flaunt the fact that a guy had won one of the athletes.
And there was no doubt in my mind that was exactly where this volunteer’s mind was headed. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
I reached out to stop him before we got too close to the rest of the guests as well as the impatient volunteer and her photographer buddy. The photographer looked even more excited than the volunteer, if that was possible. “Look, I wanted to say I’m sorry if I screwed up by bidding on you. I really didn’t mean to make your life harder. If you’ll give me a chance, I’ll explain why I jumped in and started bidding, but not here. And you have to promise you won’t get pissed off when I tell you.”
“When you put it like that, I’m not sure I can promise you anything,” PJ said. At least he was being honest. “And don’t worry, I think it’s safe to say you have nothing to apologize for.”
“But I do,” I insisted. “I should’ve thought about the fact that you’re in the public eye and anything you do or say can be used against you in the court of public opinion.”
“Sounds like you’ve heard that more than once.”
“Our dad might’ve drilled it into our heads repeatedly,” I admitted. “Zach’s always had a future ahead of him and