Play of Love: The Gladiator Players Box Set

by Gray, Khardine

  I shook my head, and the tears threatened to fall again. I pulled in a breath of the clean, fresh air to clear my mind and keep the tears at bay.

  “Maybe some other time.”

  Margo looked concerned now. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. My God, woman, today is your wedding day!”

  “But you’re sad, and when you’re sad, I’m sad too. How long have we been friends, Abi? You’re like a sister to me.”

  I couldn’t stop the tear that traveled down my cheek. Sometimes I forgot that I wasn’t alone in the world. I had an uncle on my father’s side, but I’d never met him. That was it, though one living relative. Everyone else had died. Margo was the only real family I had.

  “That means a lot to me. Thank you. You are my sister, too, and I want you to be happy today. You’ve been through enough over the last two days.”

  Margo reached across and took my hand to give me a gentle squeeze. “There, there. We’ll talk as soon as you want to okay.”

  I nodded, appreciating that she didn’t insist.

  The makeup artist was at the door. She stood there with a warm smile. “Sorry to interrupt. I need to fit your veil,” she said to Margo.

  “Oh, sure.” Margo stood up and beamed at me. I rose, too.

  “I’m gonna go for a little walk in the garden,” I said. A walk would help. We had about twenty minutes before we had to do pictures. I wanted to clear my head before that. Margo gave me a little hug before I left, and I made my way through the boutique to get outside that way. There was a lake in the garden on this side. I wanted to go and sit by it.

  I opened the door and proceeded to go but stopped on hearing my name being called. It was Scott. A bright smile lifted his handsome face. Wow, he looked really good. The kind of good that should come with a warning label. He’d dressed casually the last few days, but now he was in a suit and looked even more like he’d stepped off the cover of GQ or Vogue.

  “Babydoll.” He looked so happy to see me that I almost rethought this whole realization. He kissed me and didn’t seem to care who saw us .

  “Hi.”

  “I’m sorry I overslept. I wanted to spend time with you before we got busy with wedding stuff.”

  “That’s okay.”

  “Baby, you look beautiful, really beautiful.”

  “Thanks. You too. I mean, you look great, too.” I couldn’t think straight, and my head was ringing with the truth , warning me away from the man I wanted to be with.

  “What’s the matter?” he looked concerned.

  “Nothing. I…” I couldn’t. I couldn’t talk about this now. I didn’t want to talk about how I felt.

  “Abi, if you’re worried about us, don’t. How would you feel about me going back to New York with you? When we leave here, I could go back to New York. We can have another road trip. I have a few weeks before camp, and I want to spend it with you. And not just those weeks. I’d try to be with you whenever I can. I want to be with you.”

  I would have been thrilled to hear those words if not for the fear that overwhelmed me. The fear that took me back years ago when I left him. The fear made me shake my head, much to his surprise.

  “No,” I heard myself say. “You can’t.”

  “What?” The crestfallen look on his face and in his eyes pained my heart, but I couldn’t go back on my words.

  “Scott, you can’t come to New York with me.”

  “Why? Baby, why? I thought that you… Look, I know we said fun. We definitely said that, and it was fun. But then it changed, and it wasn’t just about fun. I didn’t want this thing between us to be just for the wedding. If that’s what it was for you, then I… I guess I’d have to respect that and, understand.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I wish, though, that it could have been. I wish to God that it could have been and that I had no feelings for you.”

  “What’s the problem then? I don’t understand.”

  “We did this before, and it didn’t work. I’m me, and you’re you. Scott, I don’t know how we lasted as long as we did before, but I knew you didn’t want to be with me. I know that maybe it was because I was Margo’s friend why you just kept me there like I was part of the furniture.”

  “No, God, no. I’m sorry if I made you feel like that. I was a complete jerk.

  Things will be different now. I’m different. I am. Abi, surely you can see that I’m different. We’re different.” He looked desperate.

  But I shook my head. “Scott, you hurt me. You hurt me so badly.” That was it; the tears came again. “Every time you looked at me, you looked at me like I was nothing to you. And, worse, I’ll always remember how relieved you looked when I told you I was leaving you, and then you never came after me.”

  “I’m sorry, Abi.”

  “I believe you, but I can’t risk putting myself through that again. It will be worse for me if I do.”

  “I swear it will be different. If you want me to beg, I will.”

  “No, Scott.”

  “How do you know it will be worse? How can you know?”

  My heart ached even more when I watched a tear ran down his cheek. “Because I love you. And I didn’t know until yesterday just how much. If you break me like you did before, I won’t be able to come back from that.”

  Shock filled his face at my declaration. “Babydoll…” he reached out to me, but I stepped away from him. I gulped hard, hot tears spilling down my cheeks. It was too much. I couldn’t do this and, with only a few minutes until we had to do wedding pictures, I needed to go and get my head together. Before he could say anything else, I rushed away from him.

  * * *

  Scott

  * * *

  What happened? How could that have happened?

  I thought things would be simple, that I could show Abi I was willing to make every effort to be with her, and that would fix it. I was stupid to think that.

  Fuck. Why had I been such a stupid jerk in the past? Why did I treat her like she was nothing? Why couldn’t I have seen that she was everything and that I would never be able to find anyone like her?

  She was right. All the things she said were all true. All of it. I couldn’t even protest because I thought all of that myself. What was years of mistreatment in comparison to two days?

  I watched her, feeling jealous of the groomsman that had walked up the aisle with her, holding my girl. I watched her standing there only breaths away from where I sat with my parents. She stood next to the other bridesmaid, looking radiantly beautiful. Her beauty would have been more enhanced if she smiled like the others, but I knew why she didn’t smile.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off her; I just couldn’t, and it was worse as Margo and Cole started sharing their vows.

  But something happened then. Abi looked at me. Maybe she felt the weight of my gaze on her, and she looked over at me. For the few minutes that Margo and Cole declared their love for each other, I stared at Abi, looking straight into her eyes so that there was no mistake that I was looking at her. I didn’t know what she was thinking, but I hoped like hell she could see how much I loved her, too.

  Our attention was only drawn away as the guests started clapping. I didn’t even hear what the priest had said but guessed he declared Margo and Cole married. In that moment, an idea broke through the despair I felt. It was a wild idea but, oh, so clearly obvious in its entirety.

  Abi may have been right, and she may be scared to be with me, scared of heartbreak and what it would do to her. However, that didn’t mean I should give up. It didn’t mean I shouldn’t try. This wasn’t years ago when I was the asshole that allowed her to leave me. I wasn’t going to give up and let the one woman who could make me feel like this, out of my life. Again.

  No, that was the very last thing I would do. Somehow, someway, I’d get my Babydoll back.

  * * *

  Abi

  * * *

  I thought I’d done well to last for as long as I did. I’d gone through the motions fo
r the last few hours, putting on a brave face for Margo and Cole, all the while pretending that I was fine. I was far from fine and, now, I couldn’t get the image out of my head of Scott looking at me while Margo and Cole gave their wedding vows. My defenses had weakened then and, like always, he had paralyzed me with his stare.

  I thought I’d get a head start and leave before the traffic got bad. I’d checked earlier, and all flights were back to normal. If I left in an hour or so, I could be back in New York by about ten and could drive on back to my little apartment where I could have my own space to get over the last few days.

  As soon as I kicked off my heels, a knock sounded at my door and I wondered who that could be. I didn’t think it would be Scott because it looked like he had gotten the message earlier. Apart from that intense moment during the vows, he had kept to himself throughout the wedding.

  I opened the door and was genuinely surprised to see him.

  “Hi,” he began.

  My breath stilled within my chest as I looked at him. “Hey.”

  “Can I come in?” I nodded and stepped aside so that he could come in. “Just so we’re clear, this is me coming after you. I saw you leave the reception. I didn’t try earlier when we spoke because I thought you needed time to cool off.”

  “Scott, it doesn’t matter.” I was trying to be strong, but was finding it hard.

  “It does. Tell me something… Will you forget me when you leave here?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him thinking the question strange. “No, of course not. I’ll remember you.”

  “Will that be because I’m Margo’s brother, or because I’m Scott Emmerson?”

  “Scott, that is a fruitless question. What kind of an idiot question is that?”

  “It’s not an idiot question if you think about it. So just answer it.”

  I sighed, feeling frustrated. “I’ll remember you because you’re Scott.”

  “And you love me?” He looked down at me, holding my gaze.

  “I can’t do this.” I shook my head at him. Telling him I loved him earlier had been a mistake. It just came out beyond my control.

  “Please, just tell me. Tell me again.”

  It was only because it seemed important for him to hear it again that I decided to say, “I do love you. But it doesn’t matter.”

  “It does, Abi.” He released a breath and pulled in another. “I love you, too, and I’m going to ask you to marry me.”

  My eyes widened with pure shock. There was no way I expected or anticipated him saying that and it stunned me to my core.

  “What?” I gasped.

  “I said I love you, too, and I’m going to ask you to marry me,” he repeated.

  All I could do is look at him, open-mouthed, feeling my heart race and my breathing speed up.

  “Now?” My voice was barely audible. “You’re going to ask me now?”

  “No… not, now.” He shook his head. “I’m going to ask you when I’ve earned the chance to. I don’t deserve you. I never did, but I’ll die trying to.”

  “Scott…” All the love I could possibly feel for him swelled within my chest.

  “Please, give me a chance to prove myself to you, to prove that I am committed to you, just you. Abi, I screwed up the seven years that we were together, and if it takes me seven more years to prove myself, I’ll do it and make sure that when I ask you to marry me, you’ll say yes.”

  I blinked several times to be sure I wasn’t dreaming. To add to the perfect vision of him and all that he’d said, he got down on one knee and looked up at me. “Please, will you give me a chance?”

  I reached out and rested my hand on top of his head, loving the silky feel of its texture between my fingers.

  I looked down at him and thought of all we’d been through. The good and the bad. Right from that first moment I saw him when I was nineteen, and up to this moment. Scott had captured my heart all those years ago. I’d lost him along the way and found him again. But the man who knelt before me was different. The person before me looked at me as if I was the most important thing in the world to him, and like he really would die trying to make up for the past.

  This Scott looked like he knew what he’d lost when their relationship fell apart and he wanted me to give him the chance to fix it all and make it better.

  I saw all of that just from looking at him.

  So could I do it? Could I give him a chance?

  My heart and soul was already screaming before I opened my mouth and said, “yes.”

  “Yes?” Scott asked gazing up into my eyes. He took my hand, brought it to his lips and kissed my knuckles.

  “Yes, Scott.” After hearing that, and seeing how he looked with so much love in his eyes, yes had to be the answer.

  “Oh, God. Thank you, thank you so much.” He pressed his lips together and gazed up at me with his bright blue eyes that I could almost dive into. “Babydoll…” He stood up and took me into his arms, once again holding me close to his heart. “I’m never letting you go again. Never. And I will always make sure you know every day how much you mean to me and how much I love you.”

  Despite the inner turmoil I felt earlier, I believed him.

  Epilogue

  Abi

  * * *

  Two years later…

  “Can I have my wife back now, please?” Scott frowned looking down at me as I sunbathed on the beach. I giggled and turned over to acknowledge him. I would never get tired of admiring that perfect physique of his.

  Damn, what a masterpiece – tight, taut ripples of ab muscles running down his wide torso, strong athletic legs, his face handsome and beautiful as if it had been chiseled to perfection.

  “I’m soaking up some vitamins,” I teased, knowing it would make him crazy. We were on our two-month long honeymoon on the beautiful island of Tahiti. Our love nest was just to our left, a great distance away from the other beach huts. That was Scott and his extravagance.

  “Only the best for my Babydoll,” he said, which meant he’d had this part of the island sectioned off just for us. I didn’t even know that could be done, and this part of the island came with the whole beach, a cave, a long boardwalk that led to our hut, and a perfect view of absolutely everything.

  “Scott, I’m not going turtle watching with you again.” I shook my head. That was the real answer. “And I’m gathering vitamins from the sun.”

  Earlier, he’d had me on a boat for hours waiting for some turtle to surface. It never did and, by the time I managed to get him to go back to land, I was starving.

  “The guide said the afternoon may be best. You’re going to love it, baby.” He made a move to pick me up, but I swatted his hands away.

  “No. I swear, Scott Emmerson, if you haul me into another boat, I’m going to sit down and eat sweets in front of you.” He was on a special diet in preparation to start training for the upcoming football season. That meant no sweets or bad stuff. He narrowed his eyes and pretended to pout. I started to laugh at him. “Don’t give me trout mouth.”

  “Trout?” He shook his head at me. “You’re very mean, Mrs. Emmerson. Okay, how about a walk on the beach?”

  I moved over to him and settled against his chest. “Yes. Now that sounds like fun.”

  “Come here.” He touched my face and guided me towards his sweet delicious lips that were all mine. As always, his kiss lit up my soul and reminded me how much I meant to him.

  Just like he promised. He’d been true to his word and true to me ever since that day at Margo’s wedding. Scott had gone above and beyond to show me he loved me, always reminding me that his goal was to be worthy of asking me to marry him.

  I’d never seen anyone work so hard to prove themself. He was like that for over a year, going back and forth between LA and New York, treating me to no end with gifts in abundance and love. After a year, I’d had enough of him exhausting himself to be with me. I’d been cautious of the past but felt that he’d more than done enough, so I moved back to LA to
be with him.

  While I loved my job in New York, I felt it was too much for him to leave his team, who were like family to him, or to move away from his real family.

  I found a job in LA that I loved just as much as the one in New York and, the day he came to ask me to marry him, I said yes before he could make it down to his knee to pop the question.

  Happiness and love had surrounded us and filled us with that overwhelming force. He smiled at me as he moved away from my lips and slipped his arm around my waist. I rested my head on his chest and put both my arms around him.

  “I love you, Baby doll,” he leaned over and whispered. He took every chance he could get to say that to me.

  And I did, too. “I love you, too, Scott.”

  We continued walking happily along the beach, enjoying the bliss that came with being together.

  Hearts Entwined

  Chapter 1

  Evie

  * * *

  I couldn't help it.

  It was pure instinct that made me slam the door in Gage's face. It was a simple natural response to stimuli, given our history.

  What on earth could he have wanted? And, at this time of night. It was nearly ten.

  I hadn't seen him for five years. Five glorious years of peace, knowing that when I went home to visit my family, he'd be in L.A. Far, far, away from Chicago quarterbacking for the NFL, and doing whatever it was quarterbacks did for the Los Angeles Gladiators.

  I had gotten used to relishing the thought of going home and seeing my family and friends without the worry of Gage Montgomery - my absolute childhood nemesis - scheming his next bout of antics that would make my life hell. Sure we were adults now and had been for years, but no harm ever came from exercising too much caution.

  Just now I'd foolishly dropped my guard when I opened the door. I'd thought it was the pizza guy, who was already half an hour late. Usually, I would have checked the little peephole before flinging the door wide open. This was the sort of thing that happened to people who didn't check first.