I met Jacob for lunch Wednesday. We had to talk about what to do. We couldn’t leave these rumors hanging for more than a week before it affected Jacob’s career in a way he wouldn’t be able to fix. If Jacob’s history had been milder, something less affected by the rumors, it might have been all right, but seeing that he had an assault charge on his name already, it wasn’t that easy to shrug off.

Jacob might have been suspended for a whole year after he’d attacked the other player, and he might have transferred to another team, but the world still remembered Jacob Lawson and his poor hold on his temper.

Which meant Markus’s accusations of Jacob attacking him would hit a nerve with the public, and that was exactly the problem. Markus had known exactly what to do to get Jacob in trouble, and that bothered me. What else did he have up his sleeve? What else was he going to do to Jacob to get him kicked out of his football career for good?

“Thank you for meeting me,” I said to Jacob. We sat at Zuma, a beautiful restaurant on the waters of Biscayne Bay, looking out over Brickell Key. The atmosphere was calm, the weather sunny. I didn’t feel as bright as the weather, though. If something went wrong with Jacob, it wasn’t just his career that would be questioned, but mine, too. I didn’t know how to handle what had happened.

“I have an idea,” Jacob said. “I don’t know if it’s any good, but it’s worth a shot.”

I looked at him, sipping the bottled water I’d ordered. “What is it?” I asked.

“A charity,” he said.

I blinked at him. “What about it?”

“If we use you as my alibi but tell the press you were at my place discussing a charity I can donate to, it will sound better than saying why you were really at my place.”

“On a Friday night?”

Jacob shrugged. “It’s better than the alternatives. Besides, I have you on my security tapes, both your arrival and your departure, and it will prove I was with you that night, so what Markus said can’t be true.”

I thought about it. It could work if we did it right.

“Black and white videos?” I asked. I hadn’t exactly been dressed for work, but if it was at the right angle and not too great quality, then it would work.

Jacob nodded. “I’ll show you the footage if you like. It’s exactly what we need. I checked.”

I looked out over the water, thinking about it. It might just work out. It was a golden midway that somehow had come out of nowhere. If Jacob was to say that I was there for business purposes, it would save my own reputation, and if it was proven that he hadn’t attacked Markus, it would save his as well.

“You know,” I said, “it might work.”

Jacob grinned at me, and he was handsome. His eyes were a bright blue, his face lit up with that smile. I didn’t get to see that expression very often. He looked so haunted and down so very often.

“We’ll have to make sure we know exactly what we’re talking about. Which organization were you thinking of?”

Jacob mentioned the name of an organization I’d heard of before.

“They’re involved with the homeless, feeding them, distributing clothes, that kind of thing. I think it’s a noble place to start if I’m going to do this right. Might as well choose something I’m passionate about.”

I smiled. “You’re passionate about the homeless?” I asked.

Jacob shrugged. “It’s not that I’m passionate about it as much as I often think about everything I have and how many people don’t have a roof over their heads at all. I don’t think it’s fair of me to live a lavish life when people have to sleep on the streets every night.”

I nodded. I was impressed. Jacob was selfless in a surprising way.

“All right, I’ll do some research later today and see how you can get involved. If you make a donation of sorts as soon as possible, it will look like we were planning this all along—Friday, in fact—and you did what we’d planned to do.”

“Right,” Jacob said. “As soon as you find out details and send them to me, I’ll make sure I donate money into their account.”

“We should follow it up with something like you meeting with them or going on an outreach or something of the like.”

Jacob nodded. “I can do that. Soup kitchen for a day, that kind of thing?”

I nodded. It was exactly what Jacob’s image needed. It helped that he cared so much about being involved. It made me feel like we weren’t just trying to clear his name or that the whole thing was two-faced. Jacob really was a good person.

“I’ll get on it and have something to you before the end of the day. If we can do a press release stating your intentions tomorrow and the charity contacts you to thank you, which they will almost right away, it will look perfect.”

Jacob nodded, satisfied, and leaned back in his chair. We had come to an agreement, and somehow, it wouldn’t jeopardize either of our careers. I had been ready to let him mention what we’d done on Friday, to tell the world that he’d had sex with me. It was about his career, and I had been ready to sacrifice myself.

That was necessary anymore. Jacob had found a way around it, and I was more than grateful. The more I got to know him, the more I liked who he was. I hadn’t ever known him very well. I got to see a side of him I was starting to think no one saw. The world was so quick to believe what they’d said about him in the papers, that he was the kind of man who would hurt someone without thinking about it twice.

I disagreed. I was starting to see a side of Jacob that was compassionate and caring and quite the opposite of what everyone was saying.

“I’m relieved we have it taken care of,” Jacob said. “I was worried I would have to say something worse or let the world think I was the kind of person to just fight someone.”

“I’m relieved, too,” I said.

Jacob chuckled. “Markus won’t be happy.”

“What does he want?” I asked. “Why is he doing all of this? He seems to have it in for you, for some reason. Why?”

Jacob shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “Brian and Hanson told me that he’d caught wind of possibly being traded himself, and he’s not happy about that, but I don’t know what his problem is with me personally.”

“Maybe it’s because you got traded in and he’s getting traded out?” I asked.

Jacob shrugged. “I wish I knew. It would be so much easier to talk it out. But Markus doesn’t seem like the type who would be willing to sit down and talk something out. Ironic as it sounds, he’s the one who would rather fight than have a chat.”

I chuckled. “Well, at least that’s taken care of now. If he does something else, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Jacob nodded. We finished our lunch and ordered the check. I paid for it. When we stood up, Jacob put his hand on my hip. It was a very intimate gesture for a public place, especially when Jacob was famous and everyone watched him.

“What are you doing after this?” he asked. His voice was low, his blue eyes darker than they’d been a moment before.

I swallowed hard. My body responded to the way he looked at me, heat flushing through my body. But I couldn’t do this with him, not now.

“I can’t go home with you, if that’s what you’re getting at,” I said.

Jacob’s face fell a little.

“No matter how much I want to,” I added. His eyes flicked back to mine, and his lips curled into a smile. “We’ve been seen in public together. You must accept that the paps might be following you right now because of the accusations. If they see us leaving together …”

Jacob nodded and sighed. “I know. I hear what you’re saying.” He dropped his hand from my hip. I could still feel the warmth of his skin like a ghost he left behind.

“We’ve just thought of a way to sort out the mess we’re in. We can’t afford to cause more trouble now before we’ve even cleared it all up.”

Jacob nodded. His eyes were a piercing blue, boring into my soul. I looked away because my resolve was buckling. I wanted to go home with him. I wanted him to take me away to a private place and have his way with me.

“I’ll call you later,” I said.

Jacob nodded. I wanted to kiss him. He cleared his throat as if he felt the same.

“Talk later,” he said and left the restaurant. I sighed and left, too.

On the way to the office, I couldn’t get him out of my mind. We’d had sex twice, and both times, it had been fantastic. There was something about Jacob that was different than anyone else I’ve been with before. I haven’t been with a ton of guys, but I’d been with my fair share, and none of them had made me feel the way Jacob did.

Of course, the fact that he had a hell of a body on him, rippling muscles and confidence to boot, helped so much. He was the hottest guy I’d ever been with. And his money, his mansion, and his fame helped, too. I wasn’t superficial, but it helped that he was easily the best guy all around.

But that was as far as it went. He was a real treat, but I couldn’t afford to have emotions for him. I wasn’t ready for a relationship of any kind, and I had to be sure that whatever we were doing was strictly business. Or pleasure.

Jacob was great, but I didn’t have time for a relationship, not with Kyle being the way he was. I had my hands full with a difficult man in my life, and I didn’t need another one. Besides, with Jacob being one of Kyle’s former friends I wasn’t sure if that would go down very well anyway.

I wasn’t sure why I was thinking about it. I didn’t have feelings for Jacob. He was my client, and we occasionally slept together. That was it. There wasn’t even a question about us being more.

I just had to keep remembering it.

Back in the office, I walked to my desk and opened my laptop. I researched charities and found one I knew Jacob would like. I got all the contact details and sent it to him as soon as possible. The sooner we could figure this mess out, the better.

Besides, Jacob seemed to really care about this charity thing, which was refreshing. It was so good to meet a man who knew what he wanted to do and wasn’t ashamed if it wasn’t mainstream. Jacob was the type of guy who looked like he cared only about himself, but I was starting to learn otherwise. The world had the wrong idea about him.

It only mattered because I was his PR manager. I had to make sure the world saw the man he really was.