Loving Him Off the Field (Santa Fe Bobcats #2)(78)

She couldn’t just fall back into that trap again. He was no longer a job risk for her, but her heart was still on the line. “Killian, why are you here?”

He waited, took a deep breath, then reached for her door. She started to tell him to wait until she dug her keys out, but her door opened easily. Raising a brow, she asked, “I’m sorry, did you break and enter into my apartment earlier?”

“I would have but, as it turns out, it wasn’t necessary. The apartment manager let me in. Didn’t ask for an ID or anything. The security here is a joke.” He took her elbow and guided her inside. “We’ll be having a chat about that later. Just come in, first.”

“Honestly, I don’t have a lot of time to be—oh.” She halted two feet in, which caused Killian to crash into her. He grabbed her before she could fall face-first onto the ground. “Okay, I have company.”

“What was I?” he asked into her ear, helping keep her upright.

“Not company,” she said, then gasped when he nipped her ear before letting her go. She put her bag on the floor and walked over to greet her unexpected guests lounging at the end of her bed. “Cassie, Trey, nice to see you both. Sorry about the last game, Trey.”

He smiled, his arm slung around Cassie like he didn’t have a care in the world. “It happens. Sorry you missed it.”

“It happens,” she echoed, grinning as he did. “Are you two in hiding or something? What’s going on?”

“The opposite, actually.” Cassie straightened on the bed, shifting so that her legs crossed beneath her. Her feet were only in socks, with her running shoes on the floor by the bed. “We’re ready to make an official, on-the-record statement about our relationship. Sort of our preemptive strike for when we’re seen together in public.”

“I’m done with the hiding,” Trey growled.

Cassie patted his thigh. “Yes, yes. No more fake glasses for you.” They grinned at each other, enjoying the private joke. Aileen glanced at Killian, who looked equally confused. So at least she wasn’t alone in being outside the loop there.

“Okay,” Aileen said slowly, opening her tote and taking her laptop out. She set it on her desk, along with her phone, and stored the bag to the side. Sitting in her computer chair, she was an arm’s length away from the bed. Killian perched on the arm of the sofa. “And you want me to help you figure out the next step? Pick a news station? Go with you to the interview? What?”

“We want you to do it.” Cassie reached over and grasped Aileen’s hands in hers.

“I’m fired/quit,” she said, deciding that combo worked best to describe her current unemployed status. “Why don’t you use the guy who did your interview with your dad when you guys first—”

“Different situation,” Trey cut her off. “We want you.”

There was only one thing she had to know. “Why?”

“Because you’re good,” Killian said. She looked over and found him staring straight at the floor, his arms crossed defensively. “You’re honest, you’ve got integrity, and you’ll respect their boundaries. They trust you.” He looked at her then, his eyes burning with words unsaid.

Words she hoped sounded like I trust you, too. But maybe that was wishful—hopeful—thinking on her part.

She squeezed Cassie’s hand and let go. “Yeah, sure. What do you want me to do with it afterward?”

“That’s up to you. However you best see fit. Use it as leverage for a new job at a station or network, go freelance and get paid for it solo, totally up to you. We trust you’ll do what’s right with it.” Trey hugged Cassie to his side and kissed the top of her head. “We just want things out in the open so we can move on and have a life together.”

Aileen’s smile widened, and her eyes stung a little. It was sort of beautiful, watching two adults who’d found each other despite the odds, making it work and carving out their own path with their bare hands. “I’ll ask questions.”

“I figured you would,” Trey shot back.

“Some, you won’t like.”

“I figured I wouldn’t.”

“I’ll annoy you.”

“Starting now?” he asked, blinking innocently when she laughed.

Throwing her hands in the air, she conceded. “Fine, fine. Let me get my tripod and camera. It’s going to be informal, I guess. Low-tech and—thanks to my menial editing skills—not all that visually stimulating. Are you wearing that?”

Cassie looked down at their outfits. Both wore T-shirts—Trey’s a broken in-Bobcats shirt; Cassie’s, a shirt with a waving flag carrying the word “Nerd”—and jeans. Though Trey had kept his running shoes on. “We want it to be casual. Like it’s no big deal that we’re dating, so we didn’t get all glossed out to do the interview. Just a casual one-on-one with a friend.”

“Two-on-one, but gotcha. Works for me.” She moved them over to the couch and asked them to hold still for a while while she fixed up the tripod and some lamps. “Killian, are you staying?”

“Just consider me your assistant.”

She glanced toward Trey and Cassie, cuddling on the couch, and lowered her voice. “Where’s Charlie?”