by K. M. Scott
Turning her head, she stared up at me. “Do you do this with everyone?”
“Take baths? I can honestly say the answer to that is no. In fact, this might be the first bath I’ve taken since I was a teenager. I’m more of a shower guy.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
I kissed the top of her head and quietly said, “No, I don’t, Tressa. I’ve never chased anyone like I’ve had to chase you, but I’m not going to let you ruin a good thing because you want to run away.”
She sagged against me and closed her eyes. “You’ll get tired of chasing me.”
Weaving our fingers together, I splashed water against our bodies and squeezed her in my arms. “Then don’t run.”
“It’s who I am,” she whispered, like it was a secret I didn’t already know all too well.
“Then I’ll keep chasing. Don’t worry. I’m an athlete. I’m used to working day and night for the prize. A little chasing doesn’t bother me at all.”
We sat there silently as the bathwater lapped at our legs, hers long and white and mine longer and much tanner, and I knew we’d just told the truth about who we were together. She needed a man to show her he thought she was that prize, and I needed someone worth working for. We’d found what we needed in one another, and even though she wasn’t sure about it yet, I was.
Tressa was the ultimate prize, and I had every intention of winning her.
Chapter Seventeen
Killian
After two days of blissful time in the country where Tressa’s phone only rang half a dozen times, I knew we had to return to the city and get back to real life. I didn’t plan on letting it sidetrack us again, though. I’d had her for two whole days without too many interruptions and without a single reporter screwing up what I was trying to do, and I intended on keeping that progress going.
She’d still run and I’d still chase, but after our time at Darius’s house, I believed her running away wouldn’t happen as much. Or at least I hoped that would be the case once we returned to the city.
Tressa stood in the entryway looking up at the ceiling and then at the rooms on both sides of the hallway just before we left. With a smile, she said, “This house reminds me of the house I grew up in. I know it sounds strange, but I think I like something old like this more than my penthouse.”
Looking at me, she shrugged. “Crazy, right?”
“Not at all. You’re an old-fashioned girl. I knew that from the first time we talked.”
An expression full of skepticism settled into her face. “I think you’re already remembering our history incorrectly, Killian. The first time we talked didn’t tell you I was old-fashioned. That phone call told you I was difficult.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her insistence to be thought of as something most women would have hated. “Difficult. Old-fashioned. What’s it matter? All I knew was you weren’t like anyone I’d ever met before. Let’s say you were unique.”
She considered that description of her for a moment and nodded. “I can go with unique.”
Leaning down, I kissed her just as her phone rang. “Do these people not understand I was going for a moment in time there?”
“They have no respect for romance,” she said as she quickly opened her bag and rifled through it to find her phone. “This won’t take more than a minute. I promise.”
When she finally fished it out of her bag, she smiled. “It’s just my father. Hang on.”
Stepping a few feet away, she said, “Hi, Dad. What’s up?”
I watched as her expression changed from happy to serious, and by the time the call had ended, I knew something was wrong. “Hey, everything okay?”
As she put her phone back in her bag, she forced a smile. “I’m sure it will be fine. Do you mind if we take a little detour to my parents’ house? I promise it won’t take long there. I just want to talk about a few things with my father, and I’d rather do it in person.”
Why she thought I wouldn’t want to see her father again escaped me. The man was a huge fan of my team. Why wouldn’t I want to meet him again?
“Not a problem. You just tell me where and we’re on our way.”
Less than an hour later, we rolled up to a house that looked nothing like the one we’d just left. Darius had purchased an older home with some land. The place where Tressa grew up was an estate complete with security manning the main gate and a home that resembled a mansion.
“I think your description of the house you grew up in needs some work,” I joked as the car came to a stop in front of the enormous home.
She looked out the window and then at me. “Your friend’s house had a very similar feel to this one, but I get your point. They’re both older homes, though, so I was right on that.”
I moved to get out of the car, but Tressa clamped her hand down on my forearm, stopping me. Turning back, I saw pure worry in her dark eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
She hesitated a few seconds before sighing. “My mother is going to ask you questions about our relationship. I feel like I should warn you. Sorry.”
“Why? I’m sure she’ll be great.”
Tressa screwed her face into a grimace. “Well, it’s just the way she is. My mother’s an artist, so she works a lot on the emotional level of things. Think of the exact opposite of me, pretty much.”
I leveled a stare of disbelief at her. “You’re not emotional? Since when?”
Rolling her eyes, she sighed. “My mother doesn’t do icy. I get that from my father. My mother does chatty and feely. I thought you should be forewarned.”
“So what do you want me to tell her? The truth or something nice?”
“What’s the truth?” Tressa asked.
I smiled before kissing her and said, “That I’m crazy about you and might be a stalker, but that’s not entirely my fault because you make it hard on a guy.”
She laughed and shook her head. “And the something nice?”
“That I’m new to the city and you’re the only woman who will talk to me and that’s just because you paid ten grand for me.”
A sound like a growl came out of her, and she said, “I don’t like either of those choices. Maybe you should just leave the talking about us to me. I know my mother better. I can maneuver around any of her questions.”
I shrugged and opened the car door. “For the record, I liked both of those answers, but since this is my first time meeting your mother, I’ll let you take the lead this time. But eventually in the future at some point I’m going to let it slip that you played hard to get, but I did the work a man was supposed to in order to have a woman like you.”
Looking back at her, I winked and added, “Or I might tell her that I have an addiction to women who are wild in bed and you fit the bill perfectly.”
She blushed in that way that looked so cute, and I knew I’d calmed her worries for the moment. When she was like that, Tressa was downright sweet.
Five minutes after we walked in the door, Tressa and her father hurried off to his office to discuss work, leaving me alone with her mother. It didn’t take me long to see Tressa hadn’t been wrong about how her mother would want to know about our relationship.
Taking my arm, she guided me to the kitchen as she asked, “Would you like a drink? We have water and iced tea, and there might be soda in the refrigerator. I can look.”
“Water or iced tea works, thanks.”
She said nothing more and a minute later handed me a glass of iced tea. “It’s sweetened.”
I took a sip and smiled. “Thanks.”
Somehow, the feeling between us had turned, even though she still wore a smile. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I had a sense Tressa’s mother didn’t like me. I hadn’t said much at all since we got there, so I wondered if she’d heard something about my past. It wasn’t like any of it was a secret, unfortunately.
“My daughter seems to like you, Killian.”
I waited for her to continue, but N
ina stopped speaking and simply stared across the kitchen island at me. In her eyes, I saw a look very similar to Tressa’s. She’d been wrong when she said they weren’t much alike. I had a feeling behind the kind blue eyes and friendly smile was a sharp woman as bright as her husband and daughter.
So I decided to be straightforward with her as I had been with Tressa and Tristan.
“I hope so. I like her. A lot.”
“I’m curious how you got her to warm up to you.”
Nina had clearly decided to be frank with me too. Good. I liked people who didn’t pull any punches.
“I’m not exactly her type?” I said with a chuckle before taking a sip of sweet tea.
Nina shook her head. Arching a single eyebrow, she said, “Not at all. My daughter is a very serious young woman, and from what I’ve observed, you’re the exact opposite of her. She tends to date equally as serious young men.”
From the small amount Tressa had told me about her past, I could only imagine the kind of men she usually spent her time with.
Feeling there was more Nina wanted to say, I offered her a chance. “Observed? I’m guessing you don’t mean seeing us together for five minutes today.”
“No, I don’t mean that. When my husband told me you and Tressa had been dating, I checked out who you were. I’m not someone who follows football like Tristan, so I had no idea who Killian Brenton was. It didn’t take long to find out, though. You’re someone who photographers love. Picture after picture of you. I could still be looking at them right now there were so many.”
I had a feeling charm wasn’t going to work on Nina Stone, but I smiled and said what she hadn’t. “And most of them with women, right?”
My question hung in the air between us for a long moment before she said, “My husband tells me that quarterbacks are very intelligent athletes. Is this true?”
“I like to think so. I can’t speak for all quarterbacks, but I think I’m pretty intelligent.”
“My daughter isn’t like the women I saw on your arm in those pictures. Tressa is…”
Nina stopped for a moment as if she was trying to think of the right way to describe her daughter, but I knew exactly what she was saying. Smiling, I finished her sentence for her.
“Difficult. At least that’s what she says she is. I think a better word for her is unique.”
My description of Tressa made Nina’s eyes open wide, but then she nodded. “I can’t deny that, but I’d say she’s challenging. I like that better than difficult. Challenging and unique are exactly what Tressa is.”
I leaned forward toward where she stood on the other side of the kitchen island and said, “Well, if I’m being honest here, she puts me through my paces at every step of the way. I told her I’d probably wait to say this until some day in the future, but I might as well say it now because it’s the truth. She requires a lot of work, but she’s worth every bit of it.”
A slow smile lit up Nina’s expression. “I like that, and I hope you two do have a future together. I have to admit I never thought I’d see her of all my children so relaxed and happy.”
Before I could say making her happy was my only goal, Tressa poked her head into the kitchen. With worry filling her eyes, she asked, “What are you guys doing in here?”
Nina gave me a knowing look before turning to face her daughter. “Killian was telling me about how quarterbacks are intelligent and hard-working.”
Tressa stared at her for a moment before turning to look at me as if to get confirmation that was actually what we had been discussing. I nodded and shrugged my shoulders. “Intelligent and hard-working. That’s me.”
“Well, Dad and I are finished with work, so we need to head back to the city now.”
That less-than-subtle hint that she wanted to leave meant my time with Nina had ended, so I took a final sip of my iced tea and held my hand out to shake hers. “It was very nice to meet you.”
Instead of shaking my hand, she wrapped her arms around my body and hugged me like we’d known each other for years. I saw Tressa’s eyes open wide in surprise at her mother embracing me and smiled at her. I seemed to have won her over.
“It was great to meet you too,” Nina said as she stepped back away from me. “I hope this won’t be the last time we see each other.”
As we all walked toward the front door and Tristan pulled Tressa aside to tell her something he’d just thought of about work, Nina said in a low voice only I could hear, “I can see why my husband and Tressa like you. Just remember that even though my daughter is clearly a fan of yours, she’s not the same kind as her father.”
Tressa kissed her mother goodbye while I wondered what she meant by that. That Tressa and Tristan weren’t the same kind of fan or they weren’t the same kind of person?
Chapter Eighteen
Tressa
By the time Killian stepped foot on the field for his first season game as the New York quarterback, we were officially a couple for just over four months. In that time, I’d grown a little more comfortable with the press around him, and although I didn’t know for sure, I had a feeling he’d done something to make sure they weren’t in our faces twenty-four seven. Like he promised as we sat together in that bathtub at the house in the Catskills, he hadn’t stopped chasing me.
Even though I’d tried to run away a few times.
The press tried to make us out to be some high powered super couple, but the truth was we were just Tressa and Killian. I worked my job, and he worked his. I didn’t go to see him play, despite my father offering me prime seats in his box for each home game. I didn’t feel like I belonged in that part of Killian’s world because of how I felt about dealing with the press. I knew he would have loved to know I was there, but I wasn’t ready for that just yet.
That didn’t mean I didn’t watch him play and love every second of it, even though I had no idea about the rules of football or a clue about any of the other players around him on the field. It didn’t matter. I was only watching him anyway.
He had a game in New Orleans on the first Sunday in December, and as I turned on the TV to watch, I thought about doing something I’d considered for the last game he had out of town. I’d been spending more time with Diana over the past few months, so I wondered if she’d want to watch with me.
I knocked on her door and waited for her to answer. When she opened it, she smiled and pulled me inside her room.
“Look who’s here!”
I saw Ethan stand up from the couch, and I looked around for any sign of Summer. She hadn’t mentioned spending time with Diana this weekend when we talked the other day.
“Am I interrupting? I can come back later,” I quickly offered, knowing how close my brother and sister were and not wanting to intrude on their time together.
Ethan waved me toward him and sat down on the couch. “I thought you’d be in the Big Easy this weekend. Isn’t that where Killian is today?”
“I don’t travel to the cities where he plays. I don’t even go to the games here in New York,” I sheepishly admitted as I made my way to where he sat.
“Why?” he asked with confusion in his voice that matched his expression. “Isn’t that a perk girlfriends of major sports stars get?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I spend very little time in that part of Killian’s world. You know how I am about publicity.”
Diana hugged me from behind and then joined Ethan on the couch. “We were just hanging out. Come sit with us!”
“Oh. I don’t want to intrude. I just wanted to come down and ask you if you wanted to watch the game with me upstairs. It’s okay, though. You guys had plans, so it’s okay.”
Once the words left my mouth, I felt awkward standing in that hotel room. I didn’t want to feel that way around my siblings, but it had been a long time since the three of us did anything together, and now that I’d said that, I felt like it might have been a mistake.
Diana and Ethan exchanged glances, and then she turned to face me. “We’d
love to! Want me to bring anything?”
Her answer made me genuinely happy. Even though I knew she was only doing it because she had Ethan to come too, it felt like the old days when we all did things together.
“No, I’ve got stuff to drink, and we can order from the kitchen if we get hungry,” I said as my excitement grew for our afternoon watching Killian play.
Ethan stood from the couch and laughed. “I don’t know if lobster with clarified butter is really game day food. Why don’t we order a couple pizzas?”
As they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. I had no idea what to eat as we watched the football game, so I agreed with him since he seemed to know better than I did.
“Okay. We can order pizzas and anything else you guys want.”
“Great! Let’s go so we can be at your place by kickoff,” Diana said, happier than I expected at my offer.
Halftime came, as did the pizza, and even though I’d had a good time with Ethan and Diana, it was patently obvious I didn’t know a thing about the sport Killian played. When my brother mentioned how mobile he was out of the pocket, I couldn’t find any sign of anything that even looked like a pocket on his uniform. Diana commented about something involving a screen, but I didn’t know what that meant either. At least I was able to figure out what they were talking about when they kept saying he was dropping back.
Ethan tossed a piece of crust into the box on the coffee table and sat back in his chair. “This is nice. I can’t remember the last time the three of us sat around and shared some pizza.”
“It was that night Mom and Dad went with Aunt Jordan and Uncle Gage to that wine tasting. Remember? We ordered pizza and breadsticks and more soda than the three of us could consume in a year,” Diana said as she grabbed her second slice.
I thought back to that night and remembered it slightly differently. My brother snuck his girlfriend into his bedroom, and when I saw the lights from the car coming up the drive way, he had to practically push her out the window while Diana and I distracted our parents by bombarding them with questions just as they walked through the door.
