Prince Pucking Charming

She sits up, eyes narrowed. “What people?”

“Anyone who reads the news.”

She gasps, covering her mouth with her hand. “No,” she whispers, speaking between her fingers. “That’s not possible. We were careful.”

I shake my head. “Not that careful. There are pictures of me with Max at her practice. A few images of me kissing you after her games. There’s even an image of the three of us at the D.C. Zoo.”

“Ted,” she stammers. “He said…” Her eyes go wide as her voice trails off.

“I don’t think he did this. He wouldn’t let someone print pictures of Max. If he wanted to get back at me, he wouldn’t have taken it out on her.”

She bobs her head, holding her palm out. “I need to see what they’re saying about me.”

I hand over my cell phone, and as she reads, tears fill her eyes. I run my hand down her back to soothe her. All of this is my fault. If I had listened to her and waited, she wouldn’t be in this mess right now. But it’s not the article from Sports Buzz that bothers her. She Googles our names, and dozens of articles pop up in the feed.

“They even have videos,” she says with tears spilling down her cheeks. “Max is going to see these. She lives on YouTube.”

I hug her against my chest, holding onto her for dear life. She’s going to hate me. How could she not blame me for putting her in this position?

&n

bsp; “It’s not just your team that I’m worried about,” she chokes out. “All of my patients are professional athletes. I could lose everything over this…”

“I’m sorry, Lila.” I kiss her shoulder, and she cries harder. “My dad is already working on getting the articles taken down. I’ll call my lawyer and my publicist.”

“That won’t be enough,” she groans.

“Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

She sobs on my shoulder. “I told you this would happen.” Lila lifts her head, unable to meet my gaze. “I knew someone would find out. I knew this was a bad idea.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I snap. “This isn’t a fling, Lila. I’m in love with you… I love you. I don’t care what anyone says about us. It doesn’t change a thing.”

“Yes, it does.” She sniffs and then slides off my lap. “I’m a terrible doctor.” She shakes her head, her back turned to me as she mutters, “How could I be so stupid?”

I reach for her hand, and she steps to the side.

“C’mon, Lila. Don’t shut me out. We can figure this out together.”

“How?” She glances over her shoulder, wiping her eye with the back of her hand. “Your name barely got you out of the last scandal. And it won’t fix my problems.”

“This is my problem,” I counter. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Duke,” she groans. “Open your eyes. This will bounce off you like nothing ever happened between us. But for me, this is my livelihood. I worked my ass off to get where I am in my career. I was respected, considered an expert in my field. And now, I’m the laughing stock of the Internet. Have you read the comments online? They’re saying I should be fired, and I probably will be. It’s only a matter of time before the calls start rolling in.”

I close the distance between us, afraid she’ll punch me if I try to touch her again. Sucking in a deep breath, I blow it out, wishing I knew how to fix this. How to fix us. I can see it in her eyes. She regrets crossing the line with me, and I didn’t’ make it easy for her to say no. When I want something, or in her case, someone, I’m persistent to the point I wear them down. I’m used to breaking things. It’s kind of my specialty. But I never meant to break the woman I love.

Lila bites her cheek. “How am I going to survive this?”

How do I make this better for her? Words mean nothing. I can say I’m sorry all I want, but it doesn’t change the fact she is the highlight of the Internet. Our articles are trending on Google, which means it won’t be long until Max reads them. She’ll see the videos and hate me, too.

“We’ll do it together,” I promise.

My cell phone cuts through the silence. The damn thing hasn’t stopped ringing since I hung up with Austin. Lila glances over at it, and her nostrils flare. She has every right to be angry.

“Answer it,” she growls.

“The only person I want to talk to is standing in front of me.”