Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
What was going on?
“Isn’t there a team lawyer who can issue a cease and desist?” She could hear him pacing now, his footsteps much slower than the rapid beat of her heart. “They can’t just ransack our lives because the internet decided to take an overnight interest. They’ll move on to someone else tomorrow.” He cursed. “I swear to God, if anyone harasses Eve . . .”
His pacing stopped. A crashing sound followed from what Eve assumed was Madden’s fist slamming into a cabinet.
“Do I know how her job reflects on the organization?” Madden asked in a hushed rasp. “What the fuck does that mean?” He hissed an exhale. “Don’t even say the word prenup to me.”
No. Please, no.
Out of necessity, Eve went on autopilot.
The shock of what she’d overheard was too great to deal with, so she desperately switched her focus to what she could control right now. Getting out of there as fast as possible. Driving back to Rhode Island, picking up the kids, thanking the Pages, getting an update on the construction at the club, preparing for the week. There was so much to do and she was two hundred miles away.
And if she’d heard correctly, she was causing trouble for Madden.
Not just by existing. By existing as his wife.
He’d garnered some attention with his heroic play yesterday and now he was under scrutiny. Which meant, she was. And he’d be guilty by association. Just like Skylar had been in high school. Outcasted because they were friends. Just like Lark and Landon being treated differently at school. Because of her.
“I’m such an idiot,” Eve whispered, lurching around the room collecting her things. Panties. Her phone. Everything else, like her purse and shoes and dress, were on the other side of the door with Madden.
“Shit,” she breathed, looking down at the screen of her phone.
Five texts from Veda. She’d slept through five texts?
Popped by the club last night and there’s a news van in the parking lot. WTF.
A reporter asked if I know the owner of the club. I said no comment. Hilar.
Holy shit. You’re on ESPN’s Instagram.
HOLY SHIT. You’re on the whole internet.
Hey. You should probably call me.
Taking the deepest breath possible when she felt like curling up in a hyperventilating ball on the floor, Eve inhaled deeply and left the bedroom with her chin firm, head high. She didn’t make eye contact with Madden. She couldn’t. Why had she agreed to this marriage?
What was this going to mean for him?
“Eve.”
“Just grabbing my stuff.”
“Don’t even think about leaving.” He tried to block her path, but she had momentum going in her favor and ducked past him, continuing out onto the balcony to find her dress, her shoes. She stripped off the borrowed shirt on the way back into the apartment, yanking on the dress without ceremony while eyeballing the living room for some sign of her purse. There.
As soon as she grabbed it, she’d go.
“Okay. You obviously overheard my phone call. There’s some media attention involving us, but we’re going to handle it together.” When she tried to sidle quickly past him, Madden hooked Eve around the waist and drew her back against his chest. “Stop. Just stop.”
Despite the fight-or-flight response burning her alive, her eyelids nearly fluttered closed over the firm, reassuring strength of him. The scent that washed over her, making her think of laughter and messy sheets and crackers and skin. Memories that would have to last a lifetime, because they couldn’t make any more. “Let me go.”
“No.”
Oh god, being held by him was going to cause her to break down. “Madden, I’m sorry,” she whispered, racked by a sob of pure devastation. Dread for everything to come. The unknown. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
He took a measured breath in and out. She didn’t have to turn around to know he was angry. His frame vibrated with the emotion. “I don’t consider myself a violent man, Eve, but I would very much like to murder everyone who put this burden of fucking responsibility on you.” He turned her in his arms and shook her, but she could only stare at his chin and try not to shatter. “You are a miraculous woman. An amazing woman. And that includes everything about your past, present, and future. They are the problem. Not you.”
“It won’t matter. ‘Amazing Woman Marries Yankees Catcher’ is not the headline. The headline is ‘Yankees Catcher Marries Daughter of Strip Club Owner.’ Or ‘Failing Burlesque Club Owner Sinks Claws into Yankee Phenom for Health Insurance.’ Followed by a whole lot of quotes from the good people of Cumberland about how I’ve always been a blight on their town.” Being careful of his shoulder, Eve wiggled out of his hold. Get me out of here before I cause any more damage. “It’s okay, I can take it. The fact that you saved the game yesterday makes you a hero. I’ll get all the blowback and that’s good. That’s good.”