Looking up at him, I didn’t know where the knot in my throat came from, but it took a long time for it to go away.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I didn’t know who he was trying to fool, because he wasn’t fooling anyone.

The black knit beanie he had pulled down to nearly his eyebrows wasn’t hiding anything. Neither were the sunglasses he’d left on even after we got out of the car. Sure his hoodie mostly hid just how developed those big muscles underneath it were, but a nearly three-hundred-pound man wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.

It was like dressing an elephant in camouflage.

In this case, it was a sports superstar going into a college-level basketball game trying to be as inconspicuous as possible with the most minimal effort. That was the thing about Aiden, he never really went out of his way to go incognito. He just preferred being a hermit at home to avoid being spotted. Hence why I’d been hired. I understood. I really did. He valued his privacy, and in my heart, I knew he would be the exact same way if he weren’t famous.

Yet here he was, walking into a basketball stadium with me in Denton, Texas, where there was going to be at least a few hundred people in attendance, all to watch my little brother play.

When I’d gotten up early that morning, the day after Thanksgiving, the last thing I expected was to find Aiden awake at the breakfast nook. Usually the day after a game, he slept like the dead and even went as crazy as to get an extra two or three hours more of snooze time. With the Three Hundreds’ game falling on Thanksgiving Thursday, the team gave the staff and players the rest of the weekend off.

But there he’d been at nine in the morning, in the kitchen, in his pajamas, eating an apple, looking just as surprised to see me awake as I was to see him. After dinner the night before, we’d watched two episodes of “Dragonball Z,” and then Aiden had tromped upstairs to hit the sack.

“Where are you going?” he had blatantly asked that morning.

“My little brother has a game,” I answered him as I made my way toward the fridge to make breakfast.

Holding the apple up to his face, his features went pensive. “What kind of a game?”

It was then that I realized I had never told him. “He plays college basketball for Louisiana.”

The Wall of Winnipeg blinked. “What position?”

“Point guard.” I wasn’t sure why, but I suddenly asked, “Do you want to come? It’s only an hour away.”

“I was planning on resting today…” He kind of trailed off and shrugged. “What time do you want to leave?”

Yeah, I’d been dumbstruck for a second.

It had only taken me the entire drive to decide that maybe I should have left him home. It wasn’t like I cared if fans came up to him or anything—he was what he was—but I hadn’t taken into consideration that he might not enjoy being gawked at for hours if anyone recognized him.

And why wouldn’t anyone recognize him? He was the face of a professional NFO team in Texas. Even people who didn’t watch football knew who he was with the big-name endorsements he had.

I then reminded myself that Aiden was always well aware of the pros and cons to the decisions he made. Always. He was a big boy and he made his own choices, so screw it. If he wanted to tag along, who was I to say no? I kept my mouth closed and my advice to myself.

And so, hours after my invitation, we were at the coliseum where the university held their games. Finally getting a chance to watch my little brother play for the first time this season, I was pretty excited both to see the team’s starting point guard and to have The Wall of Winnipeg tagging along when he was usually content to stay home.

After picking up the tickets I’d bought on the way from will-call—I had originally only purchased one—we made it through security without any issues. In no time at all, we found our section and Aiden gestured me to go ahead of him down the stairs.

The stadium wasn’t anywhere near being packed. Considering it was the day after Thanksgiving, most of the North Texas’s students were probably with their families, doing things other than going to a basketball game. There were only a couple handfuls of Louisiana colors in the stands. It suddenly explained why we’d gotten such good seats at the last minute.

By the time we sat down, the game hadn’t started yet, but it was almost time for the players to come out. I smiled over at Aiden when he was seated next to me, the side of his denim-clad knee touching mine. I reached over and patted his thigh. I mean, I’d sat on his lap. He’d slept in the same bed as me. I’d given him a hug. What was a little pat in comparison? “Thank you for coming.”

His careful expression slowly melted into a flat one. His words were clear cut. “Shut up.”

I stared at him for all of two seconds before grinning and touching his thigh again with a snort. “What? I can tell you thank you as much as I want.”

“Don’t.”

I ignored his comment. “I’m glad you came. Doing things with someone else is a lot more fun than being alone, even if you’re telling me to shut up. I appreciate it. So sue me.”

Aiden made an exasperated sound. “I’m going to find the bathroom. I’ll be back.”

I gave him a thumbs-up before he got to his feet, which earned me an annoyed look, and then he disappeared up the stairs. I sat there drumming my fingers on my kneecaps waiting for the players to come out of the locker rooms. Someone tapped on my shoulder from behind, and I glanced back to see three guys in their early twenties sitting forward, eager expressions splashed all over their faces.