Chapter4
All day at work, Aaliyah felt tortured. She’d thought she wanted to be known around the office, that people would actually know her as more than the person who took their pastry order in the morning, but she soon realized that “be careful what you wish for” was not just a saying. People suddenly knew who she was, but not for her work ethic or her ability to be a great asset for the company. No, suddenly she was known only for her work in the paper, the gossip section to be exact.
All day long, she had to field questions from people who had never even given her a second glance. What was he like on a date? Did they hook up? How did they meet? Were they going to go out again? Over all, she felt she had handled it well. Eli had given her the run down that morning in the office; even he hadn’t anticipated the story to blow up so big so fast. So, first thing in the morning, she had to get into his office while he gave her the story she was to spin.
They had met after one of his games while she was taking some paperwork to him, and they had hit it off immediately. He had asked her out to dinner, and she had accepted. They were going to go out that weekend. Of course, the press would take care of the rest of the details. Her job was to keep everything as uncomplicated as possible. The fewer details she gave, the less there was to remember. Lies were simple, Eli had informed her, and so her canned lie was what she repeated all day long. It did amaze her, though, how quickly people in her office had seemed to forget who she really was, an office grunt. She was nearly speechless when one of the other girls from the office had offered to get her coffee. Aaliyah had politely declined, not wanting anyone else to do her work for her. Not that she’d really gotten much done all day.
Every time she’d sit down in her cubicle to answer an e-mail or check a file, someone had had a question for her about her date. Even the press had been blowing up her phone. By the end of the day, nothing sounded better to Aaliyah than going back to her tiny apartment and soaking in a hot bath. The only problem was that she had another date. Rubbing her eyes wearily, she turned off her computer and stood up from her desk.
“Long day?” came Eli’s voice from behind her.
“You could say that,” she answered him.
“Did you really know what you were signing up for when you agreed to date a celebrity athlete?”
Aaliyah paused for a minute in thought. Had she thought about the drama and attention it would all cause? It only took a moment for her to think about it before she knew her answer. “No, I guess I hadn‘t.”
He touched her shoulder gently, like a father would his child. “Well, I guess you’re in for a wild ride.”
At least her closet was full of plenty of clothes for the ride she was about to be taking. After her shopping spree, she could probably go a year without ever repeating an outfit. God, she hoped this all wouldn’t last a year. Because she suddenly had too many clothes. For a girl who had been rotating three pairs of pants, two pairs of jeans, and a shabby looking pair of leggings among a handful of tops, her new choices were far too endless. Not to mention, she’d been attempting the cat-eye look the makeup artist had given her, and so far, she looked as if she’d put on a Halloween mask instead of sexy makeup. Giving up, Aaliyah grabbed her phone and hit the speed dial for Cameron.
‘‘I don’t blame you for panicking,” she told Aaliyah after she’d spilled her frustrations.
“Not to freak you out or anything, but you made quite the splash yesterday. You’re the mystery girl that actually got Max Connors to go on a date.” She paused on the other end, and Aaliyah could hear her take another bite of cookie dough. A little jealousy seeped through her as she eyed her new wardrobe. If she was going to continue to fit in those new clothes, her days of binge eating cookie dough would have to be put on hold. Binge eating cookie dough was one of her favorite activities, so giving it up was definitely going to be a sacrifice.
‘‘See, the thing is, “Caroline started again, still chewing her food, ‘‘everyone has seen Max come out of the clubs with a girl. That’s yesterday’s news. But you are the first girl to get him to go on an actual date. In the celebrity world, that’s huge news.”
Maybe the reason why Aaliyah hadn’t given much thought about how her life would be affected, other than the contract, was because she was not one to care about celebrity gossip. It didn’t matter to her who was dating whom, or which guys wore boxers or briefs, but apparently, for some people, those things were important
‘‘All right, well, now that I know what a big deal this actually is, what do I wear?” She knew that with just one look through her closet, Caroline would have the entire thing memorized.
“Wear that green dress, the one that’s got the beading at the neckline, and add gold hoop earrings. If you have a tennis bracelet to match, which I think you do, add that.”
Aaliyah did as she was told, grabbing things from her closet and jewelry box. ‘‘And what about my makeup disaster?”
For that, Cameron gave her a step-by-step tutorial, complete with pictures, in her text messages. By the time she was all done and put together, she had to admit she looked pretty good.
Her hair wasn’t doing anything crazy, and Cameron had definitely nailed the outfit choice, but she had to admit she still had butterflies dancing around in her stomach. She was sure Eli had leaked their dinner spot again, considering publicity was the whole point, so she knew there would be plenty of photographers.
The funny thing was, it wasn’t just the photographers that had her nervous. Max did, too. She had no idea where that bravado from this morning had come from, and what had given her the courage to stand up to him like that, but she wasn’t sure she’d find it again if she needed it. If he kept treating her like she wasn’t even there, would she mouse away like usual or would she stand up to him again? If she did, would she be able to hold her tongue?
***
It felt ridiculous that he’d been prepping himself with reminders about how to date all day. He really couldn’t afford to screw up and lose the deal. He needed to stay right where he was; there was too much at stake if he left, so he had to keep Aaliyah happy. He’d been a star all his life with women always throwing themselves at him and never really caring about how he acted. But Aaliyah was different. Not only was she completely uninterested in him, but she actually cared about how he acted. So he needed to make sure she was happy so that she would stay. It felt awful to admit, but he needed her.
From the moment she stepped out of her apartment, he made sure that his charm was on. Waiting with a glass of champagne the moment she stepped inside the car, he was armed with the perfect compliment, the words already memorized. But when she slid inside, all of his words flitted away.
‘‘Wow,” was all that popped out. He could see her become bashful, and it took him by surprise how much he liked that. Her dark skin covered up her blush, but her eyes completely gave her away. He made a note to remind himself to look at her eyes more often; he always seemed to like what he saw. She accepted the glass of champagne he’d handed her and took a sip. She was nervous, that was obvious, but Max couldn’t help but wonder why. She didn’t seem to care much about his celebrity and seemed almost annoyed about the attention that surrounded him. So if she didn’t care about who he was, then why wasn’t she more at ease around him?
“I’m sorry about last night; I’m new to this whole dating thing.”
Aaliyah shrugged. “Sorry I got so annoyed about it. I don’t know why I let it get to me. It’s not like any of this is real or anything.” She took another sip of champagne and looked away from him.
“You’re right, it’s not. But it’s got to look like it is. Plus, I should try to be better to the only other person who is interested in me staying on the team.”
He saw something cross Aaliyah’s face, a question that she didn’t want to ask, and he wondered what she was thinking. Something about her intrigued him; something about her seemed different than other girls. Before he had time to ponder it further, their car pulled up to the restaurant, and flashes started to go off like a lightning storm. It wasn’t as if Eli’s work surprised him, that he was able to get so many gossip columnists interested in Max and his new developments, but he was impressed with how fast it had all happened. He’d thought that maybe the picture in the paper had been a fluke, but there they were again, and Max smiled. The plan might just work after all.
Max stepped out of the limo first while pictures were snapped around him. He made sure to wait until the count of five, waving at the different people outside of the restaurant. Then he put his hand out and Aaliyah took it, elegantly being helped out of the limo. He pulled her next to him, and they walked into the lobby. It was a nice restaurant, much more quiet and high class than that hipster place they’d gone to the night before.
The maître d’ seated them at a small table for two where they’d be out of the public eye. Eli was a smart man—keep Max out of public eye and temptation would be far less. At least, that was the plan. Max kept bouncing reminders through his head: keep his eyes on Aaliyah, stay off his phone, no letting fans linger around their table. The longer he was able to behave, the more he saw Aaliyah visibly relax with him. They didn’t have much to say to each other. They came from two completely different universes—his was full of athletics and riding the waves of his ability to score, in every way, in life. She was a workaholic, bookish type who earned everything she got. Despite their difference, and their lack of interests, he had to admit the night was actually going pretty well.
Max also had to admit how incredibly sexy he happened to find his date. When she smiled, her eyes sparkled, and it was impossible to not be mesmerized by her. Her skin looked as smooth as dark silk, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to run his fingers along her body. He actually surprised himself that he hadn’t noticed how enticing she was before. The first night he’d seen her, she had barely registered on his radar as more than just a pretty face. Of course, the second night he could see she was a knockout in that dress she’d been wearing, but he’d been a little too distracted with everyone else to notice. Plus, sex was obviously off the table with her, and since it was off the table, there didn’t seem to be much reason to pay attention. But she had his attention, she had his full attention, and not just because of the contract.
“Before we leave, I’m just going to excuse myself for a moment,” she said and stood up from the table. He nodded and took a last sip of his wine. It surprised him at how quickly the night had gone by. He felt a slight disappointment that it was time to take her home.
“Max Connors, I thought that was you.” Max’s head jerked toward the sultry voice that he knew so well.
“Sylvia, hey, how are you?”
He was avoiding looking at her, but since she was never one to be subtle, she gracefully took the seat across from him, Aaliyah’s seat.
“I’m doing great, Max, except I haven’t heard from you in a while,” she purred.
“Well, I’ve been busy, I guess.”
“Yes, I saw the tabloids. She’s a pretty girl. Can’t believe a girl finally got you to settle down. I was never able to. Well, unless you count the week that I kept you holed up in your place during the last off season.”
“It was a good week,” he joked. He’d met Sylvia in typical fashion for him, at a club, and had taken her home that night. But the chemistry he’d had with her was so strong that she didn’t leave after just one night like usual. Instead, she’d stayed with him in his apartment for almost a week, alternating between fooling around and eating take-out. But past those few days, she was just like any other girl he’d met. Always starting to sniff around when there was an event they wanted to go to or when they wanted to show him off to their friends. The media always portrayed that he was using these girls for sex, which wasn’t a lie necessarily, but they never happened to mention how much those girls were using him too. Sylvia hadn’t been any different.
“What’s going on here?”
Max’s stomach flipped when he heard the frustration in Aaliyah’s voice. He jumped immediately out of his seat. He was a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but he hadn’t eaten anything.
“Aaliyah, this is Sylvia… a friend.”
He watched Aaliyah take a look around the room where she saw people with their camera phones out, stealthily snapping pictures.
“Right… a friend.” She leaned over, grabbed her purse off the table, and whispered in his ear, “I don’t know many friends who ride their foot up to their friend’s crotch. The contract is over.”
With that, she turned and nearly ran out of the restaurant, leaving Max behind at the table. He’d never had a girl leave like that, and he watched as people all around him took pictures. He knew they were posting those pictures all over the internet. He could only imagine the captions that were being tagged along with them. Why had he let Sylvia sit down? Why hadn’t he just given Aaliyah the one thing she’d asked for? He couldn’t even go one full night with keeping his eyes on one woman, a woman who was basically going to save his career.
He stood up quickly from his seat, not even saying a word to Sylvia, before he went chasing out of the restaurant after Aaliyah. Before he could even call out her name, she got into a cab and sped away, leaving Max to call his driver and try to catch up to her. The entire drive there, he thought about how much he needed his career. He needed to stay on his team, in this city, and if Aaliyah really walked away, it was doubtful that would happen. Anger seeped into him as he thought about the embarrassment that had just taken place and how he was going to have to hear about it from Eli the following morning. But something else wiggled in his mind, something else about her leaving bothered him.
It suddenly dawned on him that he’d actually been having a pretty good time with her and that he was enjoying his night before Sylvia had come along. Aaliyah was gorgeous, sexy, nice, and smart, and she gave off this air of being shy, yet she was incredibly feisty. God help him, he had actually liked the night with her and was mad at himself that he’d let Sylvia ruin that. In one swoop, she ruined his night and possibly his career. By the time he’d arrived at Aaliyah’s front door, his blood was boiling with frustration. Why did she have to be so difficult? She could have just seen Sylvia there, told her to leave, and continued to have a good time. But then again, why did he have to be such a fool for other women instead of seeing everything that had been sitting in front of him, everything that might get ruined if she didn’t forgive him?