Forget friendship. Kade waited for her at the greasy lunch cart in the center of the park she’d insisted on, wearing a baseball cap and his grey hoodie and jeans and sunglasses.

“Hey.”

It startled him, how she just appeared next to him.

She laughed. “I scared Kade Kincaid.” She put two fingers up to the hotdog guy. “Two today, Ernie.”

He was an older gentleman who instantly smiled at Felicity. “Yes, ma’am.”

“With everything,” she said.

Kade wasn’t sure what that entailed. He watched as the hotdogs were loaded with onions, sauerkraut, pickles, and cheese. He laughed. “You really eat this for lunch?” The girl was waif-like, but obviously her diet was terrible.

Taking the first dog, she shoved it at him. “Gotta live each day as if it was your last, Kincaid.” She winked. “You afraid you’re going to ruin your figure?” She taunted as she took the other hotdog and shoved a bite into her mouth.

Finding himself even more delighted by her, he reached for some napkins and held one up to catch the pickles falling from her mouth.

She turned away from him. “Pay the man, would you?” she said as if they’d been married fifty years, and he always hesitated to pay.

He let out a light laugh and pulled out a ten. “Keep it,” he said.

Ernie looked rather pleased. “Thank you, sir.”

The sun was out in full force, and she gestured toward a fountain.

“Let’s walk and eat.” She nudged him.

Liking that she was so casual with him, he fell into step with her. “So what have you been working on today?” he asked, finding he really was interested in her work.

Giving him a smug look she shook her head. "You worried about my menial PR job, Kincaid?”

Rolling his eyes, he took a bite. “Whatever.”

She let out a puff of breath. “Let’s see, today I met with the senator’s daughter again and emphasized the importance of not uploading inappropriate pictures to Snapchat and Twitter.”

He choked on his hotdog.

She laughed. “I also had another chat with the senator about how we can’t help change her image if he doesn’t get on speaking terms with his daughter.”

"Unbelievable,” he said, finding he really was enjoying the hot dog.

She got to a bench and sat. “Yes, Mr. DaVinci seems convinced I’m the one for this project. Sadly, I don’t know if that’s true.”

Both of them sat and ate in silence. He wiped his face, realizing the hot dog was already gone and how much he’d enjoyed it. “Of course you are.” He flashed a grin at her. “You handled me, didn’t you?”

She let out a loud laugh. “Right, obviously, I’m so good at handling you.” She sputtered out a breath.

He smiled at her, and she surprised him when she actually smiled back. It gave him hope. Maybe they were really becoming friends.

They wandered around the fountain in the center of the park. He’d been past this fountain probably a thousand times, but he’d never stopped to stroll in the park. There’d never been time for a stroll. But suddenly, with Felicity, he constantly found himself thinking of little things he could do, as a friend, to hang out with her. Things like this, meeting her for a hot dog for lunch felt fun.

“What did you do today?” she asked after finishing a bite and taking a napkin and wiping at her lips.

Once again, her autumn colored hair fell softly around her shoulders. She wore a businesslike blue dress with capped sleeves and a yellow scarf around her waist and matching yellow high heels. She was tall, even if not as tall as him. He thought if he inched in a couple of steps and snaked an arm around her waist, he could pull her to him and his lips would be on hers. He’d been pretty obsessed over that kiss. He’d watched it a couple of times on YouTube today.

“Kade,” she said a bit louder.

Jolted out of his little daydream, he shook his head and kept walking, looking up at the sun for a second to distract himself. “Today, let’s see. We had practice drills this morning for two hours. I spent some time in the weight room. I had a check-in with my fundamentals coach.”

“You still get coached on the fundamentals of the game? You’re the number one quarterback in the league.”

He pointed at her and crunched up the napkin in his hand. “Because I never get away from fundamentals.” He sighed. "My dad taught us that,” he said, thinking of Anthony. He realized he hadn’t thought of Anthony in a few days. It had been a nice break.

"Hmm.” Out of the blue, she laced her arm with his.

“Hmm.” He copied her expression and looked at her arm looped through his, incredibly surprised she’d done that without him blackmailing her. "That’s an interesting development.” He couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. He felt like a teenager walking into his junior year at prom.

She let out a light laugh. “You’re a gentleman. I’m a lady wearing very high heels and walking around the park. I’m just holding on to you to give myself a bit of extra support.”

His heart hammered at his chest. “I think you need to wear heels all the time.”

She smiled.

He couldn’t believe how real and perfect it felt at this moment.

She shook her head and looked caught, trying to unloop her arm. “You’re making this into something it’s not.”

He squeezed her arm into him and put his other hand over it. “Nope, you’re not getting away so fast, Ms. Song. It’s what friends do.”

She relented, and they strolled deeper into the park.

“I had no idea there was a bird aviary in here.” There were huge trees, and he saw a sign and realized there were nets above them. Different areas were divided by long stretches of glass.

“It’s nice.” She nodded. “I haven’t worked for Mr. DaVinci that long, but it’s stressful, and I like to eat a hot dog and watch the birds at lunch.”

The different layers of this woman intrigued him.

He found it annoying and delightful how much he wanted to know her. “So this is what you do every day for lunch?"

She shrugged and looked away. “Mostly. I don’t always eat a hot dog. Sometimes I ...” she trailed off. “Do other things.”

He knew she was trying to keep him at a distance. “Fine, don’t tell me. Keep your secrets, Ms. Song, but in my experience, secrets always have a way of getting free.”

Quietly, she turned to him. “Then what’s your secret about Anthony? How come you don’t get along, and how come you both work so hard to keep the fact that you don’t get along quiet?"

Okay, he hadn’t been expecting this question. He felt the center of his chest tighten, and it ticked him off. He almost pulled away from her, but she held onto his arm and tightened her grip. “Oh, no. You can’t think I’ll be letting out all my secrets without upfront payment.”

It sounded funny coming from her. It sounded cocky, maybe that was part of the reason he liked this woman. She wasn’t afraid to ask for what she wanted, and when she asked, you had better be prepared to give her what she wanted or all bets were off.

He thought of skydiving with her and how she’d figured out how much he hated heights and used it against him. Admiration for her increased even more. He let out a slow breath and decided to do something he never did—trust. “It started a long time ago. My dad …” He swallowed and felt like his mouth go dry. He coughed.

“Here, let’s go get a bottle of water."

He coughed again and then again. It felt like he was having a reaction or something. He couldn’t stop coughing.

She let go of him and ran to a water vendor, buying two bottles and rushing back to him.

He opened one and downed half of it. His eyes watered, and he sucked in a breath.

Her hand was on his shoulder, rubbing a small circle. “Are you okay?”

It unnerved him to let anyone see this, but he nodded. “See? I swear my throat closes up just thinking about my brother.”

Sympathy flashed into those green eyes, and she shook her head. “You don’t have to keep talking about it if you don’t want."

The odd thing was he found he did want to. “My father always pitted us against each other. Anthony is one year younger, and we played on the same high school team. He used Anthony’s talent to drive me to be better, and he used me against Anthony. We were fine.” He hesitated.

“And.” She pressed.

He sighed. “First, there was a girl. Shelia Smith.”

“Ah,” she said, thinking it was getting interesting and she hadn’t found any of this in any interview she’d seen of him.

“We both liked her. She was Anthony’s age, and she lived on the ranch next to us. Her father was a horse breeder, and she was a cheerleader.”

“Of course she was,” she said sassily.

He grinned at her. “I think Ms. Song might be jealous.” He winked at her.

“You wish.”

“Continue.” She waved her hand in the air when he didn’t automatically resume the story.

“Anyway, he asked her to the homecoming dance, but ended up with the flu …” He trailed off, clearly not proud of his actions.

“You took her?”

Kade shrugged, unable to help smiling. “Hey, he was sick. She’d bought a dress.” He defended himself.

She pushed him again. “You’re horrible.”

The truth of her statement washed through him. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he said, regretting it. Thinking of how it had started so much between them. “I should have stayed loyal to Anthony, and I failed him.” He wasn’t comfortable with so much self-reflection.

Even though it might not be the right time, he wanted to know the answer to a question, and he’d just been real with her, so he was hoping she would be real back. “Tell me about this surgery your mother said you needed.”

Anger flashed into her eyes. “What happened to ‘we’re both being reckless, and we’ll just deal with it?’”

He frowned. It unsettled him not being able to know more about this. About her.

She took off, walking across the park without him.

“Wait.” He caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

She yanked back. “No.” She stopped walking and glared at him. “No heart condition talk.”

“Fine,” he said quickly, not wanting her to leave. “Fine.” He put up his hands. “I just …”

“You what?” She challenged him.

Wanting to spill his guts to her and tell her that he liked her, cared about her, and wanted to help, but feeling like the second string quarterback without a say, he exhaled. “Nothing.”

Hesitating, she shook her head.

“To finish answering your question, things between Anthony and me chilled for a few years in college, mostly because we were at different schools. When he got drafted to the Sentinels in Houston, our rival, they heated up again. They kind of culminated last year.”

“Guess you winning the game didn’t help things.”

He blinked. His brother would always be his inner demon. He hated it. “He came to dinner at my dad’s house the next Sunday and sucker punched me.” Kade rubbed his jaw. “Got a good one in too.”

“Really?”

Kade nodded. “I’ve been so angry at him, but the other day when he accused me of trying to steal Sheena, I realized it must all go back to high school for him, right?” Guilt washed through him. “I guess I deserve what I got, huh?” Staring into her green eyes, he felt vulnerable, and he didn’t like it.

Frowning, she sighed. “Family stuff. There’s a lot of guilt.”

Everything inside of him went numb, and he shrugged away from her. It didn’t suit him to feel all those things. He tried to keep himself mentally focused so he didn’t have to deal with this crap. Now, it was feeling fresh and too close and painful.

“Kade, are you okay?”

Moving to one of the large birdcages, he looked into it and stared at the largest bird he’d ever seen in his life. "Yeah.” He exhaled.

Appearing next to him, she hooked her arm back through his. “Sometimes, we all need support.”

For the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt the support of someone close to him. Not that he’d known her long, but the sincerity he felt was undeniable. Yes, that’s what it was. This woman didn’t want anything from him. Not his fame or his money. She just … Emotion pulsed through him, and he had the urge to pull away again.

“Are you okay?”

He blinked and told himself to get a grip. “I just, maybe I shouldn’t have blackmailed you into friendship.”

Her eyes narrowed. Then her face broke into a slow smile. “Why?”

It was weird how they were having a moment. He shook his head and wanted to laugh all of a sudden. “You’re really asking me this?”

Her smile widened. "So you hide your feelings about how much you’re upset about your brother by never talking about it? And when you do, it scares you?”

He nodded. “Pretty much.”

She grinned. “Sounds about right.” She exhaled and looked to the birds.

Still staring at the birds, she lifted and lowered a shoulder. “Maybe we could be like real friends.”

He turned to her as happiness surged within him. “Really?”

She shrugged. “If you want.”

Wanting to kiss her, he looked away, not wanting to lose the yards he’d gained.

She laughed. “So what cheerleader are you going to ask out this week?”

Feeling caught, he shrugged and thought, miserably, about the arrangement.

She let out a soft laugh. “I actually think playboy Kade Kincaid might not want to ask any cheerleader out this week.”

Rolling his eyes, he reflected on the truth of his image. “Any kind of PR person might recognize I’m not a playboy, even though I do a lot of things to maintain a certain image.”

Squinting at him, she shrugged and moved away from him. “Well, this PR person will see you again sometime after you’ve gone out on some public dates.” With a wink, she was gone.

“But we’re real friends now.” He called out pathetically.

Turning back, she grinned. “Exactly, so you need to dispel all thoughts of KadeSong.”

* * *

Three days later, Kade stared at Felicity’s office building, waiting by the hotdog stand and decked out in incognito gear again. She hadn’t returned his texts all morning, and he had to see her.

He’d accommodated Felicity and gone out for the last two nights with cheerleader types. One was an actual cheerleader. The other was a girl he’d met a couple of weeks ago at one of his father’s parties. One had been kind of stalking him since the championship game.

Both were uninteresting. Both were overly interested in him. On both nights, he’d gone out on the town, let the paparazzi do their thing, and had been home by nine. He swam laps in while waiting for Felicity to return his texts.

Which she had. Sparsely.

How was he supposed to flirt with her via text if she wasn’t hanging on his words, waiting to give a return reply like most women? Now, he stood watching her office building. He felt like a stalker.

Even though he’d run an extra five miles this morning, it hadn’t helped his angst about this woman. He had to see her. So, here he stood, waiting for her to come out for lunch. Waiting to take his chances of being rejected, unable to stay away.

His palms were sweaty, and he thought he should have brought his deodorant with him because he was sweating more than usual. And he was not a sweating as he waited to meet a girl kind of guy. Which meant this ticked him off.

After another ten minutes, Ernie offered him a hot dog.

“Naw,” he said, still distracted.

“She never eats hot dogs on Fridays,” Ernie said.

“What?” he asked, feeling like he was doing something wrong. He turned to face Ernie.

He shrugged. “Fridays she goes somewhere.”

Kade’s heart raced, had she already gone?

Ernie pointed to the building. “There she is.”

Without thinking, Kade took off into a sprint after her.

She was faster than she looked, rushing to the curb and pulling open what looked to be an uber car. It took him by surprise to see she was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, hoodie, and tennis shoes. “Felicity!” He called out just as she started to get in.

Abruptly, she stopped, whipping back to him.

He got to her, not the least bit out of breath, but definitely out of sorts.

“What are you doing here?” she asked with accusation in her voice.

Unable to make up a lie, he took off his sunglasses and searched her face. “I had to see you.”

Rolling her eyes and looking extremely put out, she shook her head. “Not today. I have to go somewhere.”

He wasn’t the type to be deterred. “C’mon, I went out on two dates. There’s no more KadeSong,” he said, feeling stupid but not caring. “Plus, we’re both incognito.” He flashed his Zeus smile at her.

“Lady, get in, or I’ll go find another passenger,” said the uber driver.

Scowling at him, she let out a breath. “I’m probably going to regret this, but get in.”

A hole in the defense. He pounced on it. “You won’t. I promise.”