"I know. Let 'em look."

She looked at him, and where he expected anger, he saw confusion instead. He wanted to say something that would help her understand where he was coming from. Only problem was, he couldn't figure out how to string a coherent sentence together. Not when her curves were pressed against him and he was ready to run back upstairs for high-school-fantasy-night, part two.

"Ty," she said softly, "everyone is going to think we're together. You're acting like I'm your girlfriend, not a hired consultant."

Ty couldn't go on playing this game anymore. He wanted her. She wanted him. It was time for them to be together. For real.

"Then they're thinking right."

She sucked in a breath and two spots of red colored her cheekbones. "We had an agreement. This thing is supposed to be a secret. No strings, right?"

She pushed out of his arms and waded through the guests. He followed close behind her, out the french doors, down the steps, past a pond, onto a path that lead through a thick hedge. When they were far away from everyone else, he reached for her and spun her around. She was breathing hard and her anger was alive between them.

"How dare you?" she spat. "You of all people should know how hard it is for me to be here, in my parents' house, with everyone watching me. After what you just did, everyone is going to be talking about how sad it is that I let myself have a crush on you, the big superstar. That you'll dump me cold at the first sight of a new pair of overinflated br**sts."

She slapped his hands away from her waist.

"Ever since I've been working with you, I've barely been maintaining my professional reputation. Do you want me to have to start all over again? Is that what this is all about?" His heart thudded in his chest. She was dead wrong about him. About his motives.

"I love you."

Her eyes grew big and he knew she needed to hear it again. And he needed to say it again, to let the truth sink into his bones.

"I love you, Julie."

She stumbled back a step, sat down hard on a stone bench, and he kneeled at her feet. She wouldn't look at him. He held her cold hands between his.

"I know we had an agreement," he admitted. "But things have changed." She lifted her chin, blinked at him. "How? How have they changed? You're still you and I'm still me." He moved to sit next to her on the bench. "At first we were playing a game of cat and mouse. We both wanted to see who would win. But that's not where we are anymore."

"Just because you like having sex with me doesn't mean you love me."

"I've liked having sex with lots of people."

Her eyes shot fire at him again. "Thanks for the reminder."

"But I haven't loved any of them." He brushed his thumb across her lower lip. "Just you." She leaned into his hand the slightest bit, and the vise grip around Ty's heart eased up.

"You've caught me off guard," she whispered. "I don't know what to think."

He pulled her onto his lap, then pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "Trust me," he said against her soft mouth "We're going to be great together."

Julie's head was spinning. It was just like Ty to spring the word love on her. One minute he was helping her forget all of her old fears, and the next, so many new doubts were piling on top of each other. What about how deeply he'd hurt her before?

What about the throngs of beautiful women who waited for him at every game, outside his locker room, and on the lounge chairs around his swimming pool?

For so long, she'd held herself back from pleasure because she'd been so afraid of being hurt again. What if this was her one and only chance to really be happy?

Maybe it was time to take a chance—to let herself be with a man who said he loved her. And then, if things continued to go well—if he didn't leave her and she didn't lose all of her business because everyone thought she was a sucker for falling for a rich playboy quarterback—maybe she could even tell him how much she'd always loved him.

But for now, she'd just let herself fall into the net he was offering. All she knew for sure was that she loved the feel of his strong arms around her, his muscular thighs beneath hers. Just sitting on his lap made her wet and hungry for him.

She said, "Love me, Ty," and it seemed like she'd hardly drawn a breath before he'd repositioned her with her dress up around her hips and her legs wrapped around his waist. His fingers moved between them and she loved the way his knuckles brushed and teased her clit as his undid his zipper and pulled his c**k free. A fresh wave of arousal flooded her as he slid on a condom, the thick head of his hard-on less than an inch from her pu**y lips. And then he was sliding inside of her, huge and thick and hot. His hands were on her ass, pulling her up on his c**k and then back down, harder and faster. She rode the long wave of her budding orgasm, everything inside of her wanting to believe he loved her.

That he would always love her.

As his thumb found her clitoris, he pushed her up and over the crest, and whispered, "I love you." The words lingered in her head long after her climax had subsided.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Julie barely registered her phone ringing the following morning as Ty stirred beneath her, mumbling something about leaving the damn phone off the hook from now on. She felt so wonderful with her head cradled in the crook of his arm, his heartbeat rhythmic and soothing in her ear. But after years of being the ultimate professional, she couldn't ignore the telephone. What if there was a fire she needed to put out for one of her clients?

And what, the warning voice in her head asked in a much louder voice, if the fire was in her own bed? Suddenly Julie was wide awake. She scooted up in bed and pulled the duvet up over her naked br**sts. She knew it was ridiculous, that no one but Ty could see her right now. Still, as she reached for the phone she brushed her hair back from her eyes and straightened her spine.

"Julie Spencer," she said in as crisp a voice as she could manage on approximately three hours of sleep.

"Honey, I'm so happy for you!"

Julie's mother had never called her this early in the morning. Usually, she was in bed until late morning, due to one drink too many.

Fear shot up Julie's spine. What was going on?

"Thanks, Mother," she said in a falsely calm voice. "Do you mind my asking what you're so happy about?"

Her mother sighed. "Oh Julie, you always did hold your cards too close to your chest." Julie didn't say anything, just waited for her mother to get to the point.

"You found your prince charming, sweetie! None of my friends can stop talking about how gorgeous he is. And the way he looks at you makes me wish I was young and beautiful again." This was the point where Julie would have usually said something like, "You're still beautiful, Mother," but today the words just weren't there.