Lying in bed next to Kina was perfect. She reached for the lamp on her nightstand, and when she switched it off, her room plunged into darkness. We lay together in the dark, our bodies melded together. Her skin was hot against mine and her breathing steadied as she started drifting off.

She turned onto her side, her head on my extended arm. I turned onto my side, too and curled my body around hers like a question mark before I closed my eyes and let sleep drag me under.

When I woke up the next morning, Kina’s face was the first thing I saw. She lay facing me, and she was beautiful when she slept. She looked young and even more innocent than when she was awake. Her lashes made a pattern on her cheeks, her hair was spread out on the pillow, and she breathed evenly through her nose. She was pretty as a picture.

As I stared at her, her eyes opened, and she smiled at me.

“This is nice,” she said.

“What?”

“Waking up next to you.”

I smiled and leaned forward, kissing her.

“It is,” I said.

She cuddled up to me, and we lay in silence for a while.

“Kyle won’t mind this?” I asked.

Kina shook her head. “I don’t really care. This is my house, and I want to be with you.”

I chuckled. It was a very forceful response from someone who had been so unsure for so long.

“I know what to do,” she said after a while.

“About what?” I asked.

“Us. The public.”

She turned her head to me. “You’re going to have to get up and talk to a bunch of reporters in a press release. Are you okay doing that?”

I nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ve had to do that before. I know how to handle it, I think.”

“All right,” she said. “I’m going to write a speech for you and arrange for a few reporters to meet with us outside your training center.”

I agreed with her, and we got up. We showered together because I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. The shower took longer than it could have, with me not being able to keep my hands off her, but eventually, I made it out of her apartment and back home. She would send me the speech I was to make, and I had to get changed into a suit to address the masses.

I wasn’t nervous about the press release. For the first time, I trusted it would work out. Kina had only our best interest at heart, and now that she had accepted me and we were officially together, I could handle anything.

The press release took place in a hall at the Nova Southeastern University, in an auditorium. A bunch of reporters stood in a huddle in front of a podium with mics that I was to speak into.

I walked through them and cameras started flashing, taking photos of me. When I stood in front of them, I cleared my throat.

“Everyone knows I’ve been in the tabloids lately with a Miss Kina Peterson, a woman who acts as my PR Manager. I have an announcement to make. Kina and I are together.”

Cameras flashed and mics were shoved in my direction with questions flying all over the place. I held my hand up so I could continue.

“I’ll answer questions afterward,” I said. “Kina and I were in love before this went public. The time and place were inconvenient as we had hoped not to let anyone know what was happening until we were sure ourselves, but these things happen, and we like to see it as a sneak preview. We would like to extend our apologies to our friends and fans for any misleading images that have made the rounds.”

The questions started up again, and I decided to rather answer them than try to keep reporters quiet.

“How does Kina feel about you going public like this?” a woman asked.

“Kina and I are very happy to go public with the news of our official relationship,” I said.

“How does it affect your career?”

“As with anyone who is in love, I perform better when the people I love support me, and Kina is behind me all the way.”

“And her career?

“Kina will continue to represent me, and she has my best interests at heart, as ever. I don’t need to tell any of you that I think she’s the best PR manager a pro footballer can ask for.”

They chuckled at that, and I smiled at them.

“Do you love her?” someone asked and everyone fell quiet, waiting for my answer.

“I love her very much,” I said, sincerely. I was more than happy for this news to go viral. It would give the tabloids something good to talk about, and I was happy about that.

When the press release was finally over, I met Kina in the back room, waiting for me.

“It went great,” I said and kissed her.

“I heard,” she said, beaming. “Thank you for doing this.”

I pulled her against me.

“One last thing,” she said, looking up at me. “I love you, too.”

I grinned. I couldn’t be happier. It was the first time she’d said those words to me, and it made my heart sing. She was everything I’d ever wanted in a woman, kind and caring and supportive and independent enough that she was her own person even when we were together. We were just setting out and things could change, but I had the feeling she wasn’t one of those things. She would stay the same, and I loved the idea of that.

That night, Kina and I went out with Hanson and Lacey. We went to Zuma, the Japanese restaurant that had become a favorite. Kina looked amazing in a sexy variation of the little black dress and high heels that made her legs look fantastic. I had put on a suit.

Hanson and Lacey had dressed up, too. Lacey wore a red dress that made her look fierce with her short black hair, and Hanson wore a suit like mine.

We sat down at the table we’d booked at the restaurant.

The vibe was cheerful. I was madly in love with Kina and with the way she kept looking at me, she felt the same. Hanson and Lacey were both in a good mood.

“It’s quite a leap to do a press release like that,” Lacey said after we’d ordered wine for the table. “I know how much it takes.”

Hanson nodded. “Being in the public eye like that is always hard.”

“It is,” I said. “But this time, it’s about something good, not bad. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me, and that’s all thanks to Kina.”

I looked at her, taking her hand in mine.

“She knows what she’s doing,” Lacey said. She was a PR manager, too, so she understood what it had taken. It was good to have friends who had been in the same place, to have someone to relate to.

“But you must be prepared for a lot of public scrutiny,” Lacey said. “Even if you’re together now and the big drama is over. Your fans will always look out for something to go wrong. The world thrives on drama, and I’m sad to say that it’s too easy to give them something to gossip about.”

“What do you mean?” Kina asked.

Hanson sighed. “Your public face should be something that you keep away from your private life and vice versa. Whatever happens behind closed doors, if you can smile and look happy and in love in front of the cameras, you should be okay.”

Kina glanced at me. I knew that we would fight. Kina and I seemed to do that a lot. But if we could keep it at home, like Hanson said, it made sense that it would work.

“That’s good advice,” Kina said.

Lacey nodded. “It’s good to know what to expect. At first, all the fame and no secrets got to me. You really must try to keep things under wraps. Try to go public with something as late as possible, give yourself time to emotionally adjust to something.”

I watched Kina as Lacey told her what to expect. I knew that it would be hard, but I was used to being in the public eye by now. Kina was only being introduced to this world.

“If it’s anything like what happened with our photos going viral, I think we can handle it,” she said. She looked at me and smiled. I smiled back at her. She was optimistic, she was willing to make it work, and that was all that mattered. We could handle whatever came our way.

The night with our friends was amazing. I felt at home in Miami, playing for the Sharks. It had been a rocky road, but I had good friends now and a woman who meant a hell of a lot to me. Whatever came our way, I knew we could deal with it together. We had each other, our careers, and our friends to get us through it all.

When we finally left the restaurant, it was quite late. We drove back to my place. I was planning on asking Kina to move in with me, let her brother live in her apartment, but not yet. For now, I was just happy we were together.

Kina’s phone beeped.

“What is it?” I asked. The last few times her phone had gone off, it was with scandals. I didn’t want drama so soon into the game, even if we’d be able to deal with it together.

“The article about your press release,” Kina said. She scrolled through it and I watched her with one eye on the road. “It’s good.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

She nodded and smiled at me, putting her hand on my leg. “Very good.”

As we drove home, her phone lit up with articles, tweets, messages, and comments about us. Kina read them out to me as they came in. There were so many of them that, after a while, she only picked out the good ones and let most of them slide. The consensus seemed to be that the fans were happy for us.

They had been following my journey through hardship and pain, and they were happy that I was with someone now. They liked Kina. People commented on how hot I was, how beautiful she was, and how good we were together. Some people congratulated us on keeping our heads held high. Others said they looked forward to seeing Kina at the games, where we knew the cameras would flash on her from time to time.

By the time we got home, we had the whole world behind us.

“I can’t believe the positive response,” Kina said when we got into bed together. “It’s more than I could ever have expected.”

“I know,” I said. “It’s overwhelming. I’m so used to everyone hating me or commenting on my life choices that this is almost a foreign feeling.”

Kina leaned against me. “Well, you better get used to it. I’m sure things are turning around for us. This just shows how happy they are for us.”

“The climate can change very easily,” I said.

Kina nodded. “I know. But no matter what, we’ll still have each other.”

That was true, and that was all I was prepared to say on the topic. I started tugging at Kina’s clothes, eager to get her out of them. I had another topic in mind, and it involved her and me naked in bed together.