The next afternoon, Cassidy stared at Anthony’s face on her computer. Never had Cassidy done an exclusive with an athlete and felt like she wanted him to kiss her or hold her hand during the whole thing. Granted, sure, she had interviewed her fair share of gorgeous men. Luckily most of them were so cocky and arrogant that she didn’t care much for them. Anthony was cocky and arrogant, too, but, well, it was different.

Kyle, he’d been part of an article, but they hadn’t started dating until after, so it hadn’t been messy.

Staring at Anthony Kincaid’s face on the computer, his arm linked with Sheena Turner only last year in Dallas, spotted at a restaurant before his accident, she felt … jealous. Much to her displeasure. She had been engaged and she’d loved Kyle. She had. Hadn’t she? How come, since the day she’d seen Anthony Kincaid at the sports camp, it was like she was that teenager from long ago? The teenager who couldn’t make any decisions. The one in the books she read. The one that made her throw the book across the room.

It annoyed her. Characters without a purpose always bothered her.

Tapping on a different screen, she pulled up the manuscript of the book she’d been working on for forever. Not the one with Harry that Anthony had made her quote. No, this was a simple romance. Or what should have been a simple romance. The premise of the story she’d started when she’d been dating Kyle. It was simple: a Navy SEAL and a single woman, who happened to be his neighbor, had gotten off on the wrong foot, but the SEAL ended up saving her from a stalker and they start dating.

Last night, when she couldn’t stop her mind from swimming with Anthony, she’d gotten up and began writing on the story again. The story was coming freely and suddenly, the SEAL was Anthony and the neighbor was a version of her. Of course she would never put up with her stalker, but … the story had been flowing. Now, she re-read what she’d written, laughing at some of the witty banter and loving it.

Clicking the screen shut, she thought about going to the Kincaids tonight. It didn’t feel like a regular interview. She knew it would be dressy, and she had one red dress and some gold heels. She’d worn the outfit when Kyle had been alive and they’d gone to a military ball together. She didn’t have time to go shopping now, so it would have to do.

Her phone buzzed and she saw it was Anthony. ‘R u ready for tonight?’

How did he seem to know she was thinking of him? Maybe he wasn’t that connected, but she could swear he knew what she was thinking the other night on the horse ride. During their “drill.” That felt personal.

She texted him back. ‘No.’

He texted back a salsa dancing girl, which made her laugh. ‘I’ll be there at six-thirty to get you. Dad wants Kade and I there on time. You know the old man.’

Even though she hadn’t seen John Kincaid in years, his face flashed to her mind. Yes, she’d always liked the man. His most endearing asset when she’d known him was his devotion to Anthony’s mother.

Sure, he was shrewd, and she’d sensed that even as a kid. It was clear he wanted nothing, including a girlfriend, to get in the way of his sons’ success as football players.

Thinking of John Kincaid, she thought of how a spreadsheet from Davinci PR had shown up in her inbox and the PR girl assigned to her had explained John Kincaid wanted her to have the information for the article. The spreadsheet was thorough, outlining the details of his surgery and different articles that had been done on Anthony in the beginning by Felicity, Kade’s wife. Felicity had been in charge of Kade and she’d done a good job putting out some favorable PR on her husband, who had not been her husband at the time.

Cassidy went to a clip that had Kade pushing Anthony in a wheelchair, his leg elevated, around the halls at the hospital, both of them laughing hysterically by the end. It made her almost cry, seeing the way Kade had rallied around Anthony.

As she went through all the dates, something felt off. She went through her timeline month by month. When exactly had he recovered enough to start doing drills with Kade? She would have to ask him.

Honestly, she didn’t know what to include in the article. The Kincaids were fiercely private, except to those closest to them, so not a lot had been released to the press after the initial accident.

Rapidly, the image of her and Anthony kissing for the first time after his mother had passed popped into her head. They had been so young, and so in love.

Hating that she didn’t know what to do with this nervous energy, she got up and grabbed the keys off of her desk. The old outfit wouldn’t do; she needed to find a new one.