“You’re crushing it with the Matt McKenzie PR. I saw that ESPN tweeted that video clip of him helping out Raymond O’Neill. Shit went insanely viral.”
“I know.” I smile brightly and straighten my back. “I’ve been working closely with the social media reps from ESPN and other sports outlets, and that video really caught on. I had a feeling it might.”
He swirls the glass. “You’re really on to something. I’m getting tons more inquiries about him and requests for press coverage. Just from a damn tweet.”
“Twitter is power, my friend.”
“No kidding.” He looks out the window at the billows of clouds around us. “He’s a great dude. And a hell of a quarterback for someone so young.”
“He is.” I gulp some sparkling grape juice and try not to choke on this particular subject, even though the thought of telling Noah the truth and getting the thousand-pound weight off my shoulders is wildly tempting. “Great guy,” I affirm, staring down at the table. I feel the smile pulling at my cheeks, thinking about what a great guy Matt really is.
“So you’re actually getting to know him, huh? More than just as a client of sorts?”
“Oh, uh…” I fix my eyes on my folded hands resting in my lap. “Yeah, we’ve gotten to know each other.” I choose my words carefully and keep my voice at mouse volume. “Pretty well. And he’s…awesome. It’s easy to make people love him.”
“Uh-huh…” Noah narrows his eyes at me, studying me like I’m a spreadsheet.
“What?” I gather myself and nonchalantly lift a shoulder, basically holding my breath.
“Are you actually into him?” Noah leans forward and lowers his voice to a whisper, raising his brows in surprise.
“What? No.” I force an unconvincing laugh. “I’m not…”
A half smile spreads across his face as he leans back and crosses his arms knowingly, shaking his head. “Elizabeth Vice. You’ve got a crush on the quarterback. I thought they were just giving you shit at dinner the other night.” He nods in the direction of my thankfully oblivious brothers. “But they hit the nail on the head. You like him.”
I puff out a breath and drop my head into my palms. This is so not how I wanted this plane ride to go. “It’s complicated with Matt.”
“El, you’ve only known the guy for, like, a month. It’s already complicated?” He wrinkles his nose. “Not a good sign.”
“Well, it’s a…unique situation.”
“Because you’re working together?”
“No, because we’re…” I look around the plane. Mom and Dad are up at the front, well out of earshot. All other brothers are completely occupied. I glance back at Noah, forcing myself to remember I can trust him. “Because we’re having a kid together.” My whisper is insanely close to silent, but Noah’s jaw practically falling to the floor shows me that he got every word.
“He’s…you…with him…”
I keep my mouth shut and watch my brother process the absolute bomb of news I just dropped.
“But…how?” He glances behind him to make sure none of our other family members are listening.
“What do you mean how?”
“You had sex with him?”
“No, you idiot. The stork brought us a springtime surprise,” I quip with an eye roll.
“But when? I mean, you knew you were pregnant before you met him. That’s why you had to stay in Florida. I introduced you guys in my office.” His voice is filled with a frantic desperation to understand, and his expression is like a thousand question marks.
I take a slow deep breath and decide it’s time to explain everything to Noah. My chest already feels a hundred times lighter with the baby-daddy secret out, so this must be the right decision. “That wasn’t actually the first time we met. I met him at the cocktail party with the players. Remember? The one Mom organized when we officially became the team owners. We totally hit it off. I didn’t really have a clue who he was, aside from a random Rider, and…yeah. Stuff happened.”
He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head slowly, still racked with disbelief. “And you got…”
“Pregnant,” I finish.
“And Matt McKenzie—the quarterback of the football team that Dad owns and I manage—is the father.”
“By George, I think he’s got it,” I tease.
He takes a long, slow sigh and stares out the window.
“Noah.” I say his name sternly and demand his full attention. “You will not tell a soul. Not Ethan or Jayson or Clay and especially not Mom or Dad. Not anyone from