Rennen, Monroe, and Lainey sat around the conference room table at the DaVinci PR firm. It had been a hectic morning. Training ran over a full hour, then Rennen had to hurry and get showered so he could meet Monroe and Lainey for this brainstorm session. Unfortunately, a swarm of reporters cornered him as he exited the Titan Training Complex to get to his car, pummeling him with questions about his and Ariana’s relationship. It astounded Rennen that people were so consumed with everything he was doing.

Monroe and Lainey sat across from Rennen, heads close together, having an in-depth conversation about Rennen’s talking points for the reporters. Rennen knew he should be more involved in the process, but he was having a hard time concentrating. His mind ran through the quick phone conversation he’d had with Ariana before darting into this meeting. She’d asked if he could meet her somewhere to talk. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. He’d be tied up at this meeting and having dinner with Monroe afterwards. Ariana’s voice was tense … worried. He could tell something was wrong. A part of him wondered if he should bag dinner and find out what was going on.

No, he had to stick with the plan. Monroe had flown in to meet with him. It wouldn’t be fair to leave him in the lurch. He promised Ariana that he’d stop by her house tonight, as soon as dinner was over. He asked her to just tell him what was wrong over the phone, but she insisted that they needed to talk in person. A knot formed in his stomach. Was she having second thoughts about the two of them? Everything had been going so well. As soon as the rematch was over, Ariana planned to introduce Rennen to her family. Sweat broke across his forehead as he went hot all over. His heart began to pound.

“Hey, man, are you okay? You look a little flushed.”

Rennen forced a smile. “I’m all right. Just starting to feel a bit of the pressure.”

Monroe nodded in understanding. “I hear ya. Unfortunately, it’s about to get worse before it gets better. The press has been sharpening their knives, howling that this whole rematch is a big publicity stunt.”

“Well, of course it’s a publicity stunt,” Rennen grumbled. “Everyone knows the fight between me and Ariana is for fun.”

“Now that you and Ariana are official, it puts a different spin on things,” Lainey added, reproof ringing in her voice.

Rennen’s head began to spin, dread clutching his heart like a vise. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. He couldn’t wait until tonight to talk to Ariana. He had to talk to her now. He scooted back his chair, giving Monroe an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but I need to cut this meeting short. There’s something I have to—”

A woman ran into the room, a shocked expression on her face. “Turn on the TV,” she ordered. “There’s something you need to see.”

Lainey peered over her glasses. “Susan, what’s going on? You know I don’t approve of you interrupting my meetings in this fashion.”

Susan wrung her hands. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Summerfield. But you’ll wanna see this. Trust me.”

Lainey frowned as she reached for the remote in the center of the table and turned on the TV.

At first, Rennen couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing and hearing.

Monroe swore loudly, pounding the table with his fist. He spun around to Lainey. “How could you let this happen? This is why Rennen hired you. To prevent crap like this.”

She rocked back, her face going rigid. “This is not my fault.” She looked at Rennen, daggers shooting from her eyes. “I warned you that something like this could happen. Tried to meet with you to come up with a plan to contain it, but you wouldn’t listen.”

Her accusations came at Rennen from a distance. All he could hear was the roaring in his own ears as he looked at the screen, trying to comprehend all that was happening. He forced himself to concentrate on the news report being delivered by a peppy reporter with an enthusiastic smile stretched over her face.

“DNA tests confirm that Delphine Degarmo, French heiress and owner of Bella Bisou cosmetics is, in fact, the birth mother of Texas Titan running back Rennen Bradley.”

A picture flashed on the screen. Rennen gulped in a ragged breath, recognizing the woman instantly—Della, from the inn. He clutched the arms of the chair.

Monroe shot him a worried look. “You don’t look so good, man.”

Invisible fingers clutched Rennen’s throat as he fought to get a good breath.

“Wait, there’s more,” the reporter said. Another picture flashed on the screen. Rennen’s eyes bulged. “This photo of Delphine Degarmo and Ariana Sanchez was taken a couple of hours ago at Café Pierpont in Ft. Worth. You’ll remember that Ariana Sanchez is the sister of Ace Sanchez. Rennen took Ace’s spot on the Titans. He and Ariana Sanchez have been spotted together several times.”

“Well isn’t this just peachy?” Lainey said, throwing up her hands. She turned to Monroe. “Now what?”

The reporter continued, laying out all the details of Rennen’s life in cold, hard facts. A bitter hurt sliced through him sending tremors over his body. Why had Ariana met with Della Chastain behind his back? Is that what Ariana had wanted to talk to him about? How long had Ariana known that Della was his mother? Della had sat right beside him at dinner, spoke of her son who died of cancer. Was anything she said even true? Somehow he doubted it. His mind was on fire. It was bad enough to be abandoned at a bus station by some poor, downtrodden mother. But a billionaire heiress? The owner of a worldwide cosmetic company? And to think that Ariana was somehow mixed up in this. He stumbled to his feet.

“Hey, man,” Monroe said. “You need to take it easy. Let all of this settle in.”

Rage boiled through him as he bolted for the door. He had to get to Ariana and find out what in the heck was going on.

* * *

Ariana paced back and forth across her living room—four steps forward, four steps back. After her conversation with Delphine, she’d gone back to the gym and tried to get some work done, but was too keyed up to concentrate. Finally, she’d called a sub to teach her last two classes and came home. Now that she was here, she wished she’d stayed at the gym. At least there she had something to occupy her mind. Here, she was just worrying herself sick.

Delphine said news of the DNA test would break in less than twenty-four hours. Meaning, she still had plenty of time to tell Rennen the news … hopefully. Maybe Ariana should’ve just told Rennen everything over the phone. No, it would come as too big of a shock to him. Heck, it was a shock to Ariana and it wasn’t even her past. She had to tell Rennen in person. Of all the days for something like this to happen, the one day when Rennen was tied up with his agent.

A knock sounded at the door. She rushed to answer it, thinking it might be Ace. She’d asked him to come over, needing a sounding board to help her figure out how to break the news of Della to Rennen. Or maybe Rennen changed his mind and decided to come over early. She threw open the door. Her shoulders fell when she saw who it was. “Paul.”

A tentative smile spread over his face as he held out a bouquet of flowers.

A hysterical laugh gurgled in her throat. “You’re bringing me flowers?” His timing couldn’t have been lousier.

Reflexively, she reached for the flowers, not bothering to bring them to her nose. “Thanks,” she said flatly, letting her arm fall by her side, the heads of the flowers nearly touching the floor.

He searched her face. “I’ve missed you.”

She tried to think of a way to let him down gently. “I’m sorry, Paul. You’re a great guy … and a good friend,” she began.

His eyes took on a wounded look. “It’s because of Rennen Bradley, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” She forced a smile. “I’m sorry. You don’t plan on these things. They just happen.”

“I thought you hated football players.”

“So did I,” she countered with a dry chuckle.

He motioned. “Can I at least come in?”

She planted her feet, blocking the entrance. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

An awkward silence froze between them.

Finally, Paul nodded. “For what it’s worth I really do love you.”

She didn’t know how to answer.

He leaned forward and gave her a peck on the mouth. “Goodbye,” he uttered.

“Well, this is interesting.”

Ariana flinched, pulling back from Paul, her eyes bulging. “Rennen,” she gulped, a hot embarrassment stinging her cheeks as she thought about how this must look. Her holding flowers, Paul kissing her lips.

A furious expression twisted over Rennen as he balled his fists. His body was taut, a panther, ready to pounce. Then he shot Ariana a withering look that cut her to the quick. “How could you?” he uttered.

Confusion swirled over her. “This is not what it looks like. Paul was just coming to say goodbye.” Rennen’s face turned a deep purple, and he looked like he was going to blow—a bull shuffling his feet in the dust, looking for the red flag so he could charge.

Rennen let out a harsh laugh. “It looked like he was doing a lot more than that.”

Paul turned to Ariana with a grunt. “Is this really the guy you’re dumping me for? Some knucklehead?”

The condescension in Paul’s voice tromped on her last nerve. She was about to put him in his place when everything imploded. Ariana saw it in slow motion—the savage look in Rennen’s eyes the instant before he hauled off and socked Paul, knocking him to the ground.

“What’re you doing?” Ariana yelled, dropping the flowers.

Paul’s eyes bulged with fear as he held his nose, which was gushing blood. “I think he broke my nose,” he wailed.

Rennen hovered over him. “I’ll break a lot more than that. Get up,” he thundered.

Paul ducked into himself as he averted his eyes.

Ariana reached for Rennen’s arm, spinning him around. “What’s wrong with you?” she yelled, a swift anger overtaking her.

“How could you?” Rennen growled, getting in her face.

“How could I what?”

His voice caught as he gurgled. “Meet with Della behind my back.”

Her heart dropped. “H—how did you know?”

A crazed look came into Rennen’s eyes as he thundered. “The whole world knows! It’s all over the news.”

She swallowed, a deep weariness settling over her. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I only found out today.” Before she could tell him the rest, he cut her off.

“I trusted you,” he seethed. “Believed you loved me.” He shot Paul a blistering look. “Not only did you go behind my back with my mother, but with him as well!”

Ariana couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The sting of his words came at her like a swarm of angry bees. “I told you, I only found out about your mother today. And Paul was coming to say goodbye. I told him it was over. Furthermore, if you’ll just shut up a minute and listen, you might have a different opinion of your mother.”

“I don’t want a different opinion,” he roared.

“If you’ll just listen to me.”

“Save it,” he sneered. “I can’t trust you or anyone else.” He shook his head. “I should’ve known you were too good to be true.”

The coldness in his eyes froze her heart. Somehow, she managed to find her voice. “That’s right. It’s you against the world, isn’t it Rennen? You’ve spent your whole life holding onto your anger like it’s some prize. Waiting for the world to disappoint you.”

He clenched his jaw, pointing at his chest, his voice going ragged. “My struggles made me who I am. I won’t let you or anyone else get in my head.”

“You keep standing up there on your tower, judging the world.” Her voice broke as she swallowed back the tears. She’d be darned if she let him see her cry. “Well, I’ve got news for you, buddy, the only person impeding your happiness is you.” Tears brimmed in her eyes. “You expect everyone around you to let you down, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I can’t be in a relationship with someone who’s always waiting for me to fail.” She turned to Paul, venting her anger on him. “Get your butt up,” she ordered. “Let’s get you inside and get you cleaned up.”

Paul rose to his feet, glaring at Rennen. “You’ll be hearing from my attorney.”

Ariana barked out a laugh. “Oh, shut up, Paul. You are an attorney. This stops here and now. You won’t sue Rennen, not if you value our friendship.”

When Rennen smirked out a justified laugh, she spun at him. “I pity you. All the happiness in the world at your feet and you’re too stupid to recognize it.”

Rennen looked at her for a long moment. She thought she caught a blip of something in his eyes that made her hope she might be getting through to him. But then a curtain came over his face as he turned and stalked away, breaking her heart into a million unrecognizable pieces.