Dating the Defensive Back (The Nash Brothers Book 1)

Fake Relationships Are My Specialty

At eleven o’clock, a reminder dings on my phone.

Are you thinking about Ava?

I can’t help a smile as I look down at the phone.

Of course I’m thinking about her. I haven’t stopped.

I don’t mention it, but I do text her after I get the confirmation appointment a few hours later.

Me: Are you available to meet a publicist with me around four o’clock today?

It’s a Monday, and I think she went into work at six, so I assume she’ll be off by four. My meeting actually starts at three thirty, and I figure it’ll give me the chance to make sure I like this publicist before I give her the back story and ask for her help in training Ava to handle the media.

I call my agent next. Isaac informs me that he has several interviews lined up for me along with some new sponsorship opportunities, three of them local to Vegas. I tell him to send them over, and I take a look through them. I sign off on the three Vegas ones, figuring I may as well get started on making a name for myself in the community.

I stare out the window for a while as I think about this whole situation with Ava before I finally decide to call my dad.

“I was wondering when you’d finally break,” he answers.

Yeah, that’s dear old Dad. Never a hello or friendly greeting, that’s for damn sure.

“Consider me broken.”

“Asher said you’ve been in town a while now.”

“I have,” I admit. “Been busy getting my shit together.”

“Getting your shit together? Or finding the first girl who catches your eye?” he presses.

“I take it you’ve seen the pictures. You recognize her?”

“No. The name’s familiar, but with four boys and a life of my own, it’s hard to keep up.”

“She’s Beckett Maxwell’s little sister,” I say. I’m about to tell him we’re just faking it for the media when I realize…why the fuck would I tell my dad that? So he could lord it over me? Thanks, but no thanks.

“Okay,” he says, as if he doesn’t even know the name of the man who has been my best friend since I was fourteen.

I feel like my mother would have a completely different reaction to my news.

And I might even tell her the truth.

“Well…should we do dinner or something?” I ask.

“Sure. You, me, and Asher? Tonight?” he suggests, and why do I get the sudden inclination I’m going to get stuck with the bill?

“Fine,” I say with a sigh. “I’ll pick you two up around seven.”

Ava texts me back around lunchtime.

Cookie: Yes, I can make it. I’ll come straight from work, so just send me the address.

I text it over to her, and then I resume my brooding as I stare out the window.

Eventually it’s time to head over and meet this publicist, and I get the feeling that if she’s married to Luke Dalton, she knows what she’s doing. He’s a legend with the Vegas Aces, and I’ve never met anybody who didn’t respect the hell out of him. I remember playing against the Aces when I was in Los Angeles, and twice I spent the whole goddamn game trying to keep up with the guy only to have him duck away and pull moves I never saw coming.

Plus, his brother owns the team I play on now, so there’s that.

Ellie works from her home office, so I ring the doorbell promptly at three thirty. It’s not a woman who answers the door, though—it’s Luke.

“Grayson Nash,” he says, reaching his hand out to shake mine. “Good to have you on our team for a change. I always had the hardest time outrunning you.”

I chuckle as I shake his hand then slap his back. “I was just thinking the same goddamn thing about you.”

He laughs and invites me in.

“Are you still working with the Aces?” I ask.

“I am. I’ve been a consultant to the wide receiver coach for the last few years. It’s the best of all worlds. I can keep my foot in the game without the grueling schedule.” He leads me through the house toward a hallway as we talk, and then we appear in a white office with purple décor. “This is my wife, Ellie. She’s the best in the business, and she’ll take good care of you.”

She blushes a little at her husband’s compliment, and she stands and walks around the desk to shake my hand. “Nice to meet you, Grayson.”

“And you,” I say with a polite nod.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Luke says, and he ducks out as Ellie nods toward a chair on the opposite side of her desk while she slips back into her chair.

“So, Mr. Nash, what can I do for you?” she asks.

I contemplate where to start, and ultimately I decide to dive right in. “Well, I have a publicist I worked with back in Los Angeles, but I think I’d like to work with someone local. And, uh…I’m in a relationship with someone who could use some media training.”

“A relationship?” she asks, resting her hand on her chin as she leans forward conspiratorially. “Tell me more.”

I twist my lips for a beat. “This doesn’t leave this room, right?”

She picks up a folder and tosses it across the desk. “If you sign that NDA at the end of the contract to hire me, it doesn’t.”

I scowl, but I glance through the details, and it all seems pretty standard. I sign on the dotted line and push the folder back toward her. “My first night in town, I met a girl. Took her back to my hotel room. Things were great. Found out a week later she’s my best friend’s little sister.”

“You don’t know who your best friend’s little sister is?” she asks.

“Not when I’m originally from New York and somehow met up with her in Vegas, and I haven’t seen her in a decade.” I shrug.

“I’m kind of teasing. The truth is I didn’t know who my brother’s best friend was, and then I married him.”

My brows dip. “Luke? Who’s your brother?”

“Josh Nolan.”

“Ah,” I say with a nod. “Yeah. Nolan’s a beast.” He’s another now-retired receiver I had a hard time blocking back in the day.

“He’s just my brother,” she says with a laugh. “Actually, he and his wife live across the street, and we see them all the time. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. So now you’re in a relationship with her?”

“Kind of. The truth is that I was pretty angry with her for lying to me, and then her ex got involved, and photos were posted…long story short, I told her brother that we’re in a fake relationship.”

“Fake?” she asks, her eyes lighting up. “Fake relationships are my specialty!”

Oh Jesus. What the hell have I gotten into with this woman?

“But I do have just one very important question I have to ask you, and since you signed the paperwork, this really does stay between the two of us.”

My brows dip. “What is it?”

“Is it fake for both of you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said,” she says, as if this isn’t the most confusing conversation I’ve had today. “Is it as fake for her as it is for you?”

I think about holding her last night in my arms after a nightmare woke her up. I think about climbing out of her bed this morning and kissing her the way I’ve wanted to for days. I think about the anger I’m still holding onto. I think about her brother. I think about our night together at the Palms.

“Well?” she prompts me.

I guess I was thinking about all of that shit longer than I realized.

I blow out a breath. “To be honest, I’m not really sure.”

“That it’s fake for her? Or fake for yourself?”

“Both. Either. Neither. Fuck, I don’t know,” I say, running a palm along my jaw.

“Do you have real feelings for her?” she asks.

“Yes. But I promised her brother I’d look out for her, and a real relationship with me wouldn’t be protecting her the way she needs me to.”

She stares at me a long time as she processes that, and then she finally says, “Don’t you think it would be worth the risk?”

I avert my gaze out the window. “Not for her.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because of my track record. I fuck up everything that’s good.” Whoa. Where did that come from?

And…do I?

I don’t even feel like it’s a conscious thought I’ve had before, but there it is, as if Ellie has this magical ability to expose my soul right here in her office.

Maybe she should’ve gone into psychology instead of publicity.

“What have you fucked up?” she presses.

“My friendship with Beckett if I bang his little sister again,” I admit.

“Okay, but what if it doesn’t fuck it up? What if he’s okay with it?”

“You didn’t hear him when he saw the photos her ex posted of us. He was pissed, Ellie. He would not be okay with me dating his little sister, and to be honest, I don’t blame him.” A vague memory comes back to me from when I was fourteen and I was with Beckett just after his dad’s funeral. He told me his dad had gone out of town for work one time and he promised his dad he’d be the man of the house any time his dad was gone. He promised to take care of his mom and his siblings.

He took that promise to heart. His dad wasn’t just gone for a few days on a business trip. He was gone for good.

And then he reached out and asked me to help him keep that promise.

I didn’t. I failed. I fucked up because she lied.

Of course I’m holding onto anger because of that.

But I’m also holding onto something else because of that—something much, much stronger than anger.

I just haven’t quite identified what that is yet.

“Sometimes people surprise you,” she says softly. “What else have you fucked up?”

“I just left an old team for a new one, and everyone thinks it’s because of nepotism.”

“Nobody thinks that,” she says.

I raise my brows pointedly.

“Okay, fine, some uninformed idiots might think that. But the truth is that you’re a kick-ass defensive back, and before I met Luke, I didn’t even know what a defensive back was.” She shrugs.

“Neither did Ava.”

“Ava? That’s our girl’s name?” she asks.

“Yeah. And I hope it’s okay, but I invited her to come here at four for her first lesson with you.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “How’d you know you were going to sign with me?”

I laugh. “You’re married to Luke Dalton. I saw your client list. I think that speaks for itself.”

She grins. “Welcome to Prince Charming Public Relations. I think we’re gonna have a really good time working together.”

I smirk at her. “Now I’m scared.”

“Yeah, you probably should be.” She winks at me, and then she gets down to business.

We talk through my current list of sponsorships, and she takes notes as she has some ideas for redirecting my image. Instead of focusing on my relationship with my brothers, she wants me to build my own image in Vegas, which means working with charities or even starting a foundation of my own. She wants to use the relationship I’m in to showcase my dependability and my commitment to the Vegas community since that’s where she lives. She also thinks it’s a good idea to make it seem like I made the move to Vegas for her instead of allowing the focus to be on my brothers.

And the next thing she suggests knocks the wind out of me.

“She needs to move in with you to make it look serious. If you’re going to fake it, then you have to fake all the way around.”

Just after she says those words and before I even get the chance to react to them, there’s a knock at the office door. Ellie gets up to answer it, and I stand from my chair.

There she is.

My chest tightens as Ava walks into the room a little timidly. She has flour on her sleeve, but none on her face today. She’s somehow this combination of sexy and cute all at once, and I’ve honestly never met anyone like her.

She’s modest and sweet, yet that night we shared was the complete opposite of all of that.

And I think…I think…holding her in my arms last night when she was scared did something to me.

Something irreversible.

Something terrifying.

Something that makes me want to break that record I just shared with Ellie of fucking up everything that’s good.

I don’t want to fuck up Ava. I want to be better with her. I want to be better because of her.

I want to do right by her.

I don’t think I want to fake this, either. But for now…it’s the right thing. It’s the only way to keep Beckett in the dark while I explore whatever this is with her.

“Hey,” Ava says quietly to me.

“I’m Ellie, Grayson’s new publicist,” she says, sticking her hand out to shake hers. “I hear you two are in a fake relationship?”

Ava’s eyes go wide. “You told her?”

“I signed an NDA, so anything we say in here stays in here,” I say.

Ellie takes her seat behind the desk, and Ava sits beside me.

“I was just telling Grayson how fake relationships are my specialty,” Ellie begins.

Ava’s eyes widen as they meet mine, and I’m not sure why, but I get the feeling that this is going to be a whole hell of a lot of fun.