That damn smile still on his lips.

Chapter Eleven

"You need anything, sweetheart, let Veronica know, okay?"

Anna nodded at the woman, and forced a smile. "I'll be fine, Cole."

He was giving her one of those looks she was starting to recognize, the one that said he knew she was anything but fine. But the truth was, she was less freaked out by being in the family VIP box before Cole's game than she'd been earlier that morning when she'd woken up in his bed, fully clothed, after dreaming of being held in his strong arms all night long. He could have easily woken her up by undressing her for bed. And if he had, well, there was no doubt in her mind that they would have made love again.

Instead, he'd made sure not to wake her, had simply climbed into his big bed and held her.

He'd acted like a man who cared.

Her chest still felt tight whenever she looked at him. Not wanting to make a complete fool of herself in front of a bunch of strangers, she brightened her smile. "Have a great game!"

She leaned over to give him a quick peck and he said in a low voice against her lips,

"We're newlyweds, remember," then slid his hands into her hair and kissed her.

Any embarrassment she might have felt at his very public display of affection was quickly lost in the pent-up desire from the previous afternoon in his kitchen. Without realizing it, her hands went around his neck, her pelvis pushed against his, and she whimpered softly into his mouth.

Finally, he pulled back enough to gaze down at her. She tried to catch her breath, but she was a long way from being able to control her response to his kisses. After he'd pressed one more sweet kiss against her lips, she gratefully sank into the chair behind her and stared out at the football field.

* * *

"Honestly, I didn't expect this from you, Cole." Out in the hall, Cole nearly walked into his agent, Melissa, who was holding her phone up and shaking it in his face.

"Not only married, but your phone is clearly broken too, huh?"

Okay, so he'd ignored the half-dozen messages she'd left him since the news broke yesterday. Sue him. He'd been busy.

With his sweet wife.

"You were on my list."

"Sure I was." She rolled her eyes. "You should have given me a heads-up on this, Cole."

"How is my marriage any of my agent's business?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Last I saw you, I thought we were friends, too. I would have liked to meet the woman you're planning on spending the rest of your life with for that reason alone. I would have liked to have a chance to congratulate you rather than ream you for keeping secrets." Her expression hardened. "But if you just want to talk business, fine. As your agent, we both know that everything you do is my business."

As if on cue, Julie appeared in the corridor. Unlike Melissa, she hugged him.

"Congratulations, stud." A bemused grin on her lips, she added, "Got quite a situation with the press going on outside there. All over little ol' you." She pulled a handful of clippings from her shoulder bag, a dozen different pictures of him and Anna. "She'd different from your previous girlfriends. Really cute." She raised an eyebrow, still smiling. "How'd you two meet, anyway?"

Cole looked over the two women's heads for their husbands, Dominic and Ty, but the hall was empty except for the three of them.

Fuck.

"I've got to get down to the field."

Melissa's eyes narrowed as Julie said, "Just be sure to come right back here after the game, Cole, so that we can work out our PR plan on this."

He stared at his team's PR rep--and one-time friend--with a look that would have had most people running. "She's my wife. I'm her husband. Our relationship is private. We don't need a plan."

Instead of looking scared, Julie simply shot one of her sassy little looks at Melissa, who suddenly looked less pissed off and more intrigued.

"Have a great game," they said in unison as they walked away, their heads tucked together as they conferred with one another.

Well, he'd f**ked that one up royally. He wanted to follow them back into the VIP box and protect Anna. He wanted to make sure they didn't completely freak her out. But he was pushing it with his team as it was, should have been down on the field thirty minutes ago.

Dread drove every footstep he took away from his new wife.

* * *

"Congrats, buddy." A hard slap sounded across his shoulders from yet another teammate. Only Ty and Dominic had kept silent, the two newly married guys who just shook their heads as they looked at him.

He'd never been happier to hear the whistle blow. After the past twenty-four hours, he needed these three hours playing a game that was so natural to him. It was as close as he was going to get to decompressing. He wouldn't give up a second he'd spent with Anna, but her family, the press, and all of the crap swirling around them was another matter entirely.

Football. That's all he was going to think about.

But even as he took his spot in the defensive lineup, he found his attention wasn't entirely on the game. He'd never paid much attention to who was up in the VIP box watching him. But today, Anna was there. What was she thinking? Feeling?

And was she okay without him there to protect her?

* * *

"Hi there. Are you Anna?" Anna looked up to see two very pretty women standing in front of her. Getting to her feet, she hoped her legs weren't nearly as shaky from Cole's kiss as they had been a minute ago.

She smiled nervously. "Yes, that's me."

She was surprised when the slim blonde hugged her. "Wonderful. It's so nice to meet you.

And such a surprise, too. Such a good surprise."

Completely off balance from the warm greeting, she was glad when the curvy woman with the curly hair simply held out her hand. "I'm Melissa, Cole's agent. And this is Julie. She does PR for the Outlaws. We're also both good friends of Cole's."

"Or at least we thought we were." Julie smiled as she sat down next to Anna, more put together and polished than Anna could ever dream of being.

Melissa grabbed a seat on her other side, her business suit not nearly stark enough to hide her soft, sexy curves. "And then he goes and gets married to a woman we've never heard word one about."

Feeling neither as put together nor as sexy as either of Cole's female friends, Anna was trying to figure out how to respond when Julie said, "Honestly, getting hitched in Vegas is something I would have expected my husband to do." At Anna's shocked expression, Julie added, "Before we got serious, Ty used to be a bit of a player."