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Cynthia blushed. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. And it really was.
People are going to find out sooner or later,
I reminded myself.

“That dress is magnificent by the way. Is it an Alexander McQueen?”

I nodded eagerly; pleased that she’d changed the subject.

“Ah, hell, they’re about to talk that fashion nonsense. Let’s go fetch drinks, Fox,” Scott teased.

“I love it. Just gorgeous and it fits you perfectly. I’ve read all the articles about you. The fashion bloggers love you! You sure know how to style. Well, considering who your mother and father were, I’m not at all surprised.”

“
Actually,
it was Ryan who picked the gown. I couldn’t decide on two others but then he found this one,” I responded, leaving out the part that Ryan had paid for it. He probably didn’t need to suffer any more embarrassment this evening.

I pinched the tulle skirting of the gown and held it up. Both of us girls laughed when we saw Ryan blush. Scott, however, was eyeing him suspiciously.

“Baby, what on earth has gotten into you? Let’s go before you start giving Cynthia fashion advice for heaven’s sake.”

When the two boys were out of earshot and making their way through the sea of people, Cynthia turned to me.

“Have you two been together long?”
Oh, here it comes.

“Err, we aren’t actually together.”

“
What
?” She blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought…well, I’ve never seen him look at anyone else the way he looks at you. To tell you the truth, I haven’t seen him with anyone else except for his sisters and well you know… the stories in the papers. Scotty told me about the fight. Jeez, he must have it bad for you.”

I blushed. I didn’t know how to answer her.

“I’m sorry. Listen to me rambling on. It’s just I’ve known him for over five years now and I’ve never once seen him act this way. He keeps his private life locked up.” Her hand suddenly shot to her mouth. “
Oh god
. I hope I’m not scaring you. Look, he’s a serial womanizer, we can’t argue that, but he’s young, rich and he’s a fantastic kid too. He has a great head on those handsome shoulders of his. He also keeps my husband young.” She let out a little chuckle, turning to where we’d seen Ryan and Scott disappear to earlier.

“Come on. Let me introduce you to the other girls. They’re all dying to meet you.”

They were? Oh god. Just how much had Ryan told his teammates about our… whatever it was?

Cynthia was right about one part. The player’s wives and girlfriends all swooped in as soon as they saw us heading their way. Some shook my hand politely, while others jumped in for a hug. They all asked about my gown, even got me to do a twirl just so they could get a ‘complete’ look of it. They all looked beautiful and elegant of course.

Once everyone settled and I had a moment to myself, I managed to grab a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and looked out into the crowd. Where on earth was he? Surely it didn’t take that long to find the bar.

“Ladies, don’t you all look splendid tonight?” Before I could spin around and greet the familiar voice of Scott, a hand grabbed me from the waist and pulled me into a firm hard chest. A tiny smile rose to my face as Ryan’s soft lips pressed against my cheek.

“I see you’ve helped yourself to a drink already,” he whispered in my ear.

“Well, you two were taking your sweet time. I got thirsty,” I teased turning around in his arms to face him. Seeing that sexy grin with the dimple made me blush.

“Scotty, you lunatic! Let go of me!”

Ryan and I both turned and looked up to see Scott hugging his wife and burying his face in her neck while Cynthia, giggling hysterically, tried pushing him away. The other women started laughing, acting as if this was just usual behavior coming from the Heilmann’s.

As Scott finally let go, a group of guys I didn’t recognize appeared and gave their partners a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Aww, look at you two. Baby, you’re one very lucky man,” a dark haired guy said with a smile and his arm around his partner’s shoulders. Ryan’s arm returned around my waist and he pulled me in tight against him, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“I am indeed,” Ryan replied pressing a soft kiss on my neck.

****

The rest of the evening went by smoothly. After a few champers, I’d forgotten about my worries of the incident in the car and focused solely on the charity event. It was a little hard to do at times with Ryan stuck by my side the entire night. It was sweet of him, but it brought up more questions inside my head about what was happening between us. His teammates seemed to think we were an item and Ryan never once corrected them whenever they mentioned it. Was that how he saw us? Or did he just play this perfect façade in front of them?

I’d managed to slip away sometime during the night, with the help of Cynthia, and spoke to the gentleman hosting the event. I told him I wanted to donate a considerable amount of money to the charity and would prefer if it were done anonymously. When he asked just how much and I told him his eyes went wide and his jaw shot open. He insisted I go up and make a speech but I refused, and begged him to keep it just between the two of us.

I wrote out the check and handed it over just as Ryan spotted me.

“What on earth are you doing over here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he asked when he’d reached me.

“Sorry, I had to fix something on my dress,” I lied.

Ryan eyed me warily for a moment and I was about to give in when someone made an announcement over the speaker.

“
Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this evening. I just wanted to make a quick announcement and then you can all go back to enjoying yourselves. This charity means a great deal to me. As most of you know I came from a broken and very unprivileged childhood, however, I was fortunate enough to meet the late Rupert Montgomery. May he rest in peace. Together we started this organization and with the support of so many wonderful sporting teams and generous people across New York, it has continued to blossom to this day. We have each of you to thank for that. We have helped many families and children throughout the New York State and I hope we can continue achieving this for many years to come…
”

“You wouldn’t have anything to do with this little speech now, would you?” Ryan mumbled in my ear as he pulled me against him. I went willingly, shaking my head as a small smile stretched across my face.

“
Thank you for the exceedingly generous donation of two million dollars from a beautiful young woman who wishes to remain anonymous. Bless you.
”

The crowd was silent for a spilt second before they exploded into cheers and whistles. I smiled at myself.

“You’re such a liar, Ms. Montgomery, but damn I’m so proud of you right now,” Ryan added, squeezing me tighter. I just hoped my parents above were proud of me too.

CHAPTER 18

It was Sunday and Ryan had just left to go to the airport for his trip away. He’d asked if I’d wanted to see him off but I declined since Derek had called early that morning and demanded he come over and I spill the beans on what the hell was happening with my love life. My best friend was not so easily ignored, especially since he had thrown the ‘I’ve been neglected’ card at me.

“I
still
don’t believe you,” Derek argued, after I insisted Ryan and I weren’t an item for the fourth time.

“I’m telling the truth. Why would I lie to you? I honestly have no idea what is happening. We haven’t had the
talk
.”

Derek threw his hand up and smacked his forehead mumbling something I couldn’t understand.

We were sitting on my sofa, snuggled up underneath a thick, warm blanket, watching re-runs of
Will and Grace
. It was cold and stormy out, so we’d decided on doing something we used to do back in Cali. Baseball might be most of America’s favorite past time, but Will and Grace was ours. Currently, we were getting through season two.

“Are you kidding me? I think you two are already in too deep to have the talk anyway. You saw the pictures, Evan!”

I didn’t agree with him about being in too deep but he was right about the pictures.

Inside the Entertainment section of the morning’s paper was a double page spread of the charity event. There were photos of celebrity couples that had attended, even a small photo of Scott and Cynthia had made it, but smack bang in the center was a photo of Ryan and me. Ryan had his ever-gorgeous smile on his face while I looked slightly awkward beside him. It wasn’t a terrible photo but the look on my face was something I picked up on right away. Derek disagreed. He loved the photo. He also eagerly pointed out Ryan’s hand firmly gripped around my hip.

“Protective much?” Derek had muttered. I’d ignored his comment. “And what about the article? Are you going to deny that as well?”

Damn it, Derek!
“No. I told you I made the contribution. I wanted to do it, Derek. Just try to keep that between us two, okay?”

There was also an article about how much the charity made on the night of the event, but the generous sum of money donated anonymously was the headlining topic. It didn’t seem like a huge issue to me. Kind hearted people with plenty of money donated to charities all the time. It was only money to me, money that others needed much more than I did. It was no big deal. But to whoever wrote the article, it seemed like a big deal. The article was sweet and touching, thanking the person and asking if they’d like to come forward so they could be properly thanked. I felt a little uneasy when I saw my name among the seven possible candidates written at the very bottom of the article.

“
Fine
.” Derek scowled before turning back to the flat screen.

My phone chose that moment to ring, earning another grumpy look from my friend.

It was Ryan.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Hey, Bella. Just letting you know I landed safely and that I’m missing your delicious body already.”

I laughed. “Just hang on there, tiger, you have a few days to get through without me yet.”

I heard him sigh. “I know. It’s ridiculous how much my body craves you. Hey, listen…” he said before going quiet.
Huh?

“Is everything okay? What is it, Ryan?”

“Yeah, babe, everything’s alright. It’s just… umm…” Why was he acting so weird? “So, my mom just called and my sister, Chiara is flying in from Australia on Wednesday and my other sister, Gabriella has agreed to fly in for a few days so we can all catch up. I… I want to know if you’ll come with me on Thursday to see them. Annabelle will be there too.”

Oh. My. God.
When I didn’t respond right away Ryan quickly continued, “My brother’s sick.”
What?

“You have a
brother
?” Why hadn’t he ever mentioned a brother to me before?

“Err… Yeah. Sorry, I do and he’s taken a turn for the worst. That’s why my two sisters are coming to visit.”

“Ryan, if your brother is really ill, I don’t think having me there is such a good idea.”

“No, it’s fine really. He’ll love it. He’ll love you and my mom will too.”

“Are you sure?”

I turned to find Derek staring at me. I shrugged, which only made him raise an eyebrow.

“I’m one hundred percent certain. Duke loves guests.”
Duke?
I opened my mouth to ask more questions about his brother Duke and why he hadn’t mentioned anything about him before but Ryan cut me off.

“Baby, I have to go. We just arrived at the hotel, so I need to unpack. I’ll call you later, yeah?”

I let out a sigh. “Okay.”

“And Evangeline?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. It will mean so much to him.” And with that he said goodbye and we hung up.

I stared down at my blank Blackberry screen in a daze.

“So… are you going to try to tell me that meeting his family is a normal step for people casually fucking each other?”