Neutral Zone

by Amber Lynn

  Brady had always been the opposite. Love was something suckers bought into to make their lives make sense. It was a box you got trapped in and spent years trying to find your way out.

  Nina made that box seem exciting. She had a fire in her that other women tried to mimic but never really got close. At the same time, there was a fragile part of her that she kept hidden from the world, like her fear of hospitals.

  It had taken her a while to talk about it, but she had explained that there was a reason she held onto him so tightly while they waited for the babies to be born. It was the same reason most people hated hospitals; someone she loved died.

  In Nina’s case, it was her grandmother when she was eight years old. She’d been born and grew up in Chicago, but when her grandma got sick, her parents moved to New York to be with her. That meant many trips to the hospital for chemo and eventually saying goodbye. Over the months of treatments, her grandmother was the only stable part of Nina’s life, which said a lot about her childhood.

  She tried to make Brady promise he’d never need her to visit him in the hospital. He wished he could, but he wasn’t about to make a promise he couldn’t keep.

  “She’s complicated. I’ve decided that I can live with that.”

  Curtis’ head seemed to be set to perpetual shake. It was going to take him a while to digest things.

  “I just don’t get it. I know you spent those months trying to win her over for what was supposed to be just a quick weekend fuck or something, but you’re talking about spending the rest of your life with her. What about the fact she owns the team or hasn’t exactly proven she could stick with a guy on a permanent basis. You’ve been with her for months, I give you that, but there is a reason why Hannah calls the guys in Nina’s relationships toilet paper boys.”

  Yup, there was a reason, but Brady wasn’t going to talk about it with Curtis. Brady was usually very vocal when it came to sharing his sexual escapades with his friend. If a woman gave good head or made interesting noises during sex, Curtis usually got to hear about it. He always said he didn’t want to hear it, but Brady shared nevertheless.

  With Nina, he hadn’t even told Curtis they had sex. It was obvious given the whole contract thing, but not once had he mentioned what it was like. That should’ve given him some kind of clue it was special. It was different than what he was used to.

  If he hadn’t felt something for Nina, he would’ve sat across from Curtis eating lunch some day and told him about spraying her back with come before using her robe to spread it around and demanding she be ready to get on her knees as soon as he was done in the shower. That was the kind of thing a guy shared with his friends, so they could pat him on the back.

  That was the kind of story that if it had been anyone other than Nina, he would have had it circulating in the locker room. It made him feel virile and alive to know that he did those kinds of things with Nina. He didn’t need to let all the guys know about it to feel how monumental the act was.

  He also really didn’t want anyone to know about his trade secrets when it came to satisfying Nina. If everyone knew how to make her happy, the ring he was planning on giving her wouldn’t last long.

  “We’re living together. If her being the owner made a difference, we’d already be screwed. When she bought the team, she made it very clear that none of the player aspects of the business fall under her control.”

  “You’re not worried at all that she’ll get pissed off at you and find a way to get around whatever technicality she claims to have.”

  Since Brady had seen all the paperwork, it wasn’t just a claim. Nina had waived all rights to make any kind of player decisions.

  “I’m worried she’ll get pissed at me and dress my dog up in a tutu, but I’m pretty comfortable where my status on the ice stands.”

  Curtis leaned back enough that he could pick up a fry. He was still giving Brady a little more scrutiny than he cared for, but he couldn’t blame him.

  “You really think she’ll say yes?”

  That was the question of the hour. It wasn’t like Brady was going to run and ask her right after lunch. He had a few days before he thought he’d actually do it. He’d already known what Curtis’ initial reaction would be, but he wanted to see if he could convince his friend it was what he wanted to do before he tried it out on Nina. Out of the two, he thought Curtis would be the harder sale.

  Reaching into his pocket, he dug out the black velvet box he didn’t dare leave anywhere in the house. He hadn’t given Nina any hints, but if she was thinking about rings, there was a good chance she’d start looking for one.

  “That’s what I’m using to propose. Open it up and tell me if you think she’ll say yes.”

  Brady slid it across the table, and Curtis quickly picked it up and cracked the box open. His eyes widened as he opened it further. Nina was going to have to do some weightlifting to be able to even wear the ring.

  He’d seen some general rings on a computer screen she’d been looking at, but he had no clue for sure what she wanted. He figured when it came to Nina, the bigger the better, so he shopped around until he found the biggest in the city. Needless to say, the ring wasn’t cheap.

  “I think you are crazy for asking her, but if there was anything that could get her to say yes, it’s this ring.”

  Curtis turned the ring around and even the dull lighting in the restaurant reflected off it, causing Brady to shield his eyes. It was mainly a joke, but Curtis closed the box to kill the reflection and handed it back.

  “So, does that mean this summer you’d be willing to be my best man? I'm hoping I can convince her to do it this year, but we both know that she might have other ideas.”

  “If you can convince the shrew to marry you, and she makes you happy, I'm going to be there to document every second of it.”

  Brady smiled and grabbed a couple fries. His food had mainly remained untouched as he worked on sharing his news. With his mouth still full, he put a period on the conversation.

  “I think I’ve got both of those covered, but I’m not popping the question until next week, so you’re going to have to keep this all a secret from your wife.”

  Curtis gave Brady a look meant to skewer him, but Brady just shrugged it off. There was no way Hannah could keep the plan from Nina, so Curtis had to keep his mouth shut.

  Chapter 27

  Nothing Nina did seemed to calm her stomach. It felt like an alien, or two, were in there trying to break out. Brady had been acting weird, which Nina feared meant their playing house experiment was over. That went against all the plans she'd been making.

  It had been stupid for her to start looking at rings and dresses. She’d never been into that kind of stuff, and thinking for a second a man who didn’t want to be her boyfriend would ever ask her to marry him was the definition of setting yourself up for disappointment.

  For days she’d been waiting for the shoe to drop. He'd been attentive, but she felt like there was something under the surface. It made it hard for her to enjoy the dinner sitting in front of her. Brady had all of her favorite dishes made and waiting for her after work.

  It was clear to her he'd finally found the balls to tell her it was over. He'd barely said two words since they sat down. He seemed nervous, which if he was going to break up with her was smart. She was ready to scream while calling him every name she could think of. She had a large repository of names at her disposal, so it was going to take hours.

  “So how was your day?”

  Nina looked up from her plate of eggplant parmesan at the man she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with. Yet another reason to think she was an idiot.

  “Please don’t string this out. Just tell me so I can throw things and make it abundantly clear what I think about it.”

  She tried to keep eye contact, but was afraid she’d cry or something if one ounce of pity showed in his eyes. He should’ve just texted her or something and put all her stuff on the front lawn like the last t
ime he kicked her out.

  “Seriously?” Brady asked with clear annoyance in his voice. “Curtis told Hannah, didn’t he? He promised me he wouldn’t ruin this.”

  He got up from his chair and left the room. Nina didn’t know what to do. He’d told Curtis he was breaking up with her. Hannah’s jerk of a husband probably had a great laugh about that one. They all thought she was a bitch before. They were going to feel a reckoning if she even got the slightest sense they’d been toying with her.

  To think she’d actually thought she’d found the one guy in the world who could make her feel special. She knew it was only a matter of time before it would all blow up in her face. Her desire to finally be a normal person was just a fantasy.

  Nina let herself get lost in her twisted mind of revenge. Usually it took nothing to come up with a good idea. She thought about catching things on fire, or maybe starting some kind of rumor, like Brady only had one testicle and didn't know how to use it.

  That didn’t explain why she’d been with him so long, and the idea of hurting him just didn’t feel right. He was about to break her heart, but she didn’t want to hurt him. That was fucked up.

  Being in love was fucked up. It was bad enough she loved Hannah like a sister. She swore when she was a little girl, stuck in her room listening to her parents fight about every little thing, she wasn’t going to fall in love. And she had put up giant walls to keep that from happening.

  Brady had scaled those walls like a giant gorilla climbing the Empire State Building. It had been a fun experiment, but Nina supposed that was all it was.

  She was lost in thought until a white piece of paper waving in front of her face caused her to wake up. She shook her head and blinked a few times to come back to the real world. The world in her mind was a lot easier to play around in at that moment, so her brain resisted the idea at first.

  “I really can't believe he told. I'm going to kick his ass tomorrow.”

  Brady put the piece of paper down on the table and sat in the chair next to Nina. She looked at the scroll, recognizing it, then over to the man who seemed to be working overtime to confuse her. She couldn't understand what in the world the paper had to do with anything, yet he'd put it in front of her like she was supposed to do something with it.

  “I have no idea what you're talking about, but it's a bunch of shit that you'd tell Curtis you're kicking me to the curb. Did he laugh hysterically when you told him?”

  Nina wished some fire or something could shoot from her eyes to at least scare Brady a little. The glare she was giving him only seemed to confuse him for some reason. His brow furrowed as he stared at her.

  “Hannah didn't tell you?”

  His words were slow as he tilted his head to the side. He was the one running things, so the fact he was confused wasn't helping things.

  “No, she didn't tell me anything. What does the paper you had your lawyer draw up back in October have to do with me leaving? Did you predict I'd move in and have an inventory put together to make sure I don't steal anything? It's about Henry, isn't it? You thought I'd take you to court for him.”

  Nina looked down to where the mutt rested at her feet. She was usually good about sneaking him bites of her food, but she hadn't been doing a good job. His head perked up when she said his name, eager for attention. She reached down and petted his head. Nina hadn't considered what losing her lap dog would be like.

  She looked back to Brady, since he hadn't answered the question. He was shaking his head.

  “So, that whole thing about you throwing things and yelling at me when I ask you was because you thought I was kicking you out?”

  “Ask me? You're going to ask me to leave? Why the fuck would you do that. Just kick me out and let's get it over with. I don't want to play a game.”

  “Why in the world do you keep insisting I'm kicking you out? You don't want to leave, right?”

  Brady's hand slid across the table to grab the piece of paper Nina had wanted to light on fire. Nina thought about stopping him. There's was no reason for her to, but her instinct was to reach out and stop him.

  “No, I don't want to leave. Why do you think I'm so pissed off? You've been all moody lately like I'm infringing on your space or something.”

  Laughter was not what Nina expected in response. There was nothing funny about it, and she let him know by kicking his shin under the table. It only made him laugh harder.

  “I've been “moody” because I have trouble keeping secrets from you, and I wasn't quite ready to tell you one. The paper isn't some kind of inventory or dog custody insurance. It's a contract. When we got back from St. Louis, I decided to be presumptuous and get this written up. I actually never thought I’d give it to you, but I wanted it just in case.”

  He pulled her plate away from her and put the paper back in front of her. Hearing that it was a contract didn't make her feel any better. They'd had a contract before, and it had a very specific end date.

  “You had a new contract made? Are things not working the way you want? I thought I was making you happy.”

  She'd done everything he asked. There hadn't been any secrets or hidden deals that she'd swept under the rug.

  Brady leaned forward and kissed her forehead, then her cheeks, finishing with an open mouth landing on her lips. His tongue wrapped around hers and all the worry dissipated as her body came to life. Goosebumps prickled her arms, and possibly her thighs. Something definitely felt like it was bubbling up down there.

  Nina sighed as he pulled away. If that was the kiss of someone kicking her out, she was a rhinoceros.

  “Just unroll the piece of paper, will you? I hate seeing you confused and scared. You have nothing to be scared of. Right now, I'm the one who needs to be afraid.”

  He straightened up and pushed the paper towards her again. She looked at it as if it were an enemy. Even saying that he wasn't kicking her out, a new contract seemed like a step back in their relationship. It meant new rules and limitations on something that was working. The fact that he'd had it written up three months ago wouldn't have taken into account how things had grown between them.

  “It won't bite. I promise,” Brady urged. “I had planned to do this differently, but your freak out freaked me out and made me think you'd say no.”

  Brady acted like she had a choice. If he thought whatever was on the piece of paper was something they needed, she'd sign. He had proven when it came to them, he knew what was best. It wasn't something she liked to admit, but he kept her happy and sane.

  She tried to blank her face as she reached over and grabbed the paper. It surprisingly didn't incinerate upon touch. The way it was rolled up with a red ribbon around it made it seem like some medieval proclamation.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Nina saw Brady get down on his knees to get closer to her while she pulled the ribbon and unfolded the paper. She ignored him as she started scanning the paper.

  There was a lot of legal stuff about who knows what. Nina's head would have exploded if she tried to read it all. After their first contract, she knew the fine print was important, but she wanted to get to the gist of things as soon as possible. The fact that midway down the legal-sized paper there were words bigger and bold made it easy.

  I, Brady Michael McDonald, promise to love Nina Marie Hughes for the rest of my life.

  There was a line underneath the word for a signature, which already had his illegible name scrawled out in black ink. She looked up to him as tears started welling in her eyes.

  “There's no way you've read all of it. Luke spent a good hour getting that typed up, so don't disappoint him by not reading till the end.”

  Nina wasn't worried about disappointing Luke, but she was curious what else it said. He'd said it was a contract, so she was sure there was somewhere she needed to sign something.

  Sure enough, the next line read the same as the one that led with his name, but had the names reversed. There was blank line waiting for her to sign. It wasn't the end of the
paper though. Things switched back to legal words that she'd eventually need Smitty to decipher to make sure she wasn't misinterpreting things.

  Towards the bottom, again in bold letters, were the words, Will you marry me? There were checkboxes next to it, one for yes and one for no.

  There was no chance of holding the tears back. She ran her fingers across her cheeks, trying to get rid of them before she looked over to Brady, who she noticed wasn't down on both his knees, just one. A little black box had appeared in his hand, cementing the idea that she wasn't misreading.

  “You already know when I had the paper drawn up, but I'm sure it didn't cross your mind to think I signed it the same day. You were exhausted when we got home from the hospital that night. I sort of already knew before then, but lying next to you in my bed, seeing how peaceful you were, it cemented the deal. That day I tasked you with showing me the truth. You showed me that I loved my complicated little tigress, and I am honored that you put your trust in me. Whether we ended up staying together or not, I was ready to admit I love you, at least on paper. You touched my heart and that’s something that will stay with me no matter what.”

  He paused to open the box. Nina thought about closing her eyes, terrified it wouldn't be quite what she wanted and it'd show on her face. She didn't want to ruin the moment.

  She should have known better than to worry about it. The sparkling diamond he revealed was unlike anything in her wildest dreams, and she had some pretty wild ones.

  “Oh my god,” she whispered.

  He took the ring out of the box and held out his hand. She quickly put her fingers tentatively on his palm.

  “I hope that's a good reaction and not a sign you're going to start throwing things. I can't believe you thought I wanted things to be over between us. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, if you'll have me.”

  Nina stared at the ring as he slid it on her finger. There was no denying people would think it was gaudy. It had to be at least seven carats, maybe even more, as it was almost up to her knuckle.