Throwing Love #2 (Throwing Love #2) (4 page)

She did, however, bring in
Rebecca to discuss a punishment for her lack of research. I confronted her and
she immediately apologized and explained that Candace seemed to have the inside
scoop and was confident that I had been used by Bennett. The deadline was short
and she had no time to confirm her sources information. Rebecca offered to do a
retraction, but I immediately dismissed the idea. I was not interested in
seeing my name in print regarding that issue again, whether it was a retraction
or not.

When it came down to it, the
editor decided to suspend Rebecca for a month. She could continue to write for
the paper, but she would only be assigned fluff pieces until her punishment was
over. If she failed to do proper research again on a future piece, she would be
immediately fired. Rebecca had left sullen and I had felt better about the
future of the paper. Not just in regards to me, but it was important to me to
write for a paper that had integrity.

The best part of my week,
however, had been the realization that not too many people even remembered the
article that was written. Things pretty much went back to the way they were and
no one brought it up again. That was media after all – there was always
fresh news to distract people. I couldn't have been happier, although I felt
ill every time I thought about it; at least it seemed to be a thing of the past
when it came to everyone else. It certainly had caused a stir in the city and
especially on the college campus, but it had been short lived. Not once did
anyone say anything to me and even the weird looks disappeared. I was starting
to feel normal again. The best part was that I hadn't heard from my father at
all, which meant that he had either never heard of the article or thought it
was just too ridiculous to warrant attention. Either way, it was good news for
me.

Now that things were returning to
normal, I felt a little bit better about seeing Bennett. Not that I wanted to
jump back into anything, but the stress of it was gone. I wouldn’t have to
worry about drama surrounding the fact that we were going to talk. I was sure
he would be just as relieved as I was that it that gossip had all but
disappeared.

I had no interest in continuing
dating Bennett, though. The article had just been a little too much for me to
take. I needed him to understand that it had nothing to do with truth and lies,
I was just tired and the drama had been more than enough for me to take. I
wanted a normal existence and considering my career, I didn't want to be in the
limelight over my dating life. It just wasn't worth it for me. The relationship
just wasn't going to happen. But even though the relationship wasn't going to
happen, at least we could end things on good terms. There was obviously still a
chance that Bennett would be working with my father and I didn't want things to
be weird between us. So now that the drama was over, it was best to get a
friendship started and get on good terms for the future. My father would be
very upset if he hired Bennett and then found out that we weren't speaking.

I walked into the building that
was home to the paper. As soon as I went in there, I saw Rebecca looking
miserable at her desk. I had been reading a few of her pieces that week about
local stuff and if I was her, I would have been just as miserable.

I went straight into my editor's
office; she was sitting behind her desk typing away.

“Hey, how's it going?”

She looked up from what she was
doing and smiled at me. “Emmi, hi, thanks for coming in on such short notice.”

“No problem, what's up?”

“I just wanted to let you know
how impressed I have been with your sports articles this week. Really, really
impressed.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Well thank
you.” I was completely caught by surprise. I didn't have any idea that my
articles were causing such a buzz.

“I have been receiving phone
calls all week about them. You should be very pleased with yourself. I even had
one of the city papers call me asking for more information about this great
writer I have on staff.”

I laughed. “You're kidding me?”

“Absolutely not, like I said I
have been very happy with your work lately and I think that you will have a
strong career in broadcasting.”

“Wow, I don't know what to say.
That's awesome, thank you.”

“You're very welcome, you deserve
it – especially after what you have gone through this week.”

“Oh, I'm just glad that's over
with.”

“I hope it didn't ruin things
between you and Bennett.” She was looking at me curiously.

“I haven't seen Bennett since due
to his gaming schedule, but to be honest I have no idea if I want to continue
dating him.”

“Well, that's certainly a shame.”

I just nodded and waited.

“That's it, that's all I wanted
to tell you. Keep up the good work, Emmi, and you will certainly go places.”

I smiled and thanked her again
before heading out of the office.

As I was making my way to my car,
my phone went off. I had a text message from Bennett telling me he was in town
and on his way to see me.

Chapter Seven

When I heard a knock on the door,
my heart started slamming in my chest. Well this was it, I was going to see him
and I wasn't sure what I wanted to say – if anything. I knew that he
wanted to continue dating, but I obviously thought that was a terrible idea. I
didn't know how I was going to convince him otherwise, but I was willing to
try.

I opened the door and there he
stood – red roses in his hand. I sighed deeply; well this wasn't going to
be easy at all.

“Emmi, hi.”

He came in and kissed me on the
cheek. He held the roses out for me, and I was still breathless from the cheek
kiss. How could a simple sweet kiss have such an effect on me? I was being
silly.

I took the flowers into the
kitchen to find a vase. He followed me in and sat down at the kitchen table. He
looked so comfortable there.

“Would you like some coffee?” I
asked as I cut the stems off the flowers and placed them in a vase full of
water.

“Sure, I would love some. Just
black, thanks.”

“Oh wow, that's a vice you must
have to get used to.”

He laughed. “It's not as bad as
you think and you definitely get used to it.”

I laughed. I couldn't help
feeling a strong attraction to Bennett – just being around him made me
feel that much more attracted. He was like a magnet, pulling me in whenever he
was near. I badly wanted to take his face in my hands and kiss him hard. I had
to keep it together, however, because of the decision I had made. There was no
point in trying to confuse things – and kissing Bennett would do just
that. I didn't want to even feel this way; I wanted to fell so much less
attraction to Bennett than I did. The attraction just complicated things in a
major way. I wanted to move on and end things on a good note and the attraction
was confusing my feelings.

I began brewing some coffee and
sat down while I waited for it to be ready.

He was looking at me earnestly
with a touch of sadness.

“I'm sorry, Emmi.”

“For what?”

“For the article, of course.”

“Well, as you stated, you had
nothing to do with it, so what would you be sorry for?”

“I know I had nothing to do with
it, but that doesn't mean I don't feel responsible. What I'm sorry for is how
that article made you feel. Especially so soon into things when you don't know
me at all. I can imagine it must have rocked you a bit.”

“Well, it certainly wasn't the
best part of that day.”

He chuckled. “I'm glad you can
have a sense of humor about this.”

“I gave up being mad or upset
awhile ago, it's pointless.”

“I'm sorry you got hurt. I wish
we had been together long enough that you would have been able to laugh the
whole thing off. Knowing that other people read it and possibly believed what
the article said must have been very trying for you. That's why I'm sorry
because you don't deserve to have to go through anything like that.”

“Well, it was a surprise.”

“It was for me, as well. I was
pretty pissed off when my buddy called me. It's a slap in the face to be
accused of something like that. It's disrespectful to you and your father.”

“I'm not sure if my father knows,
I haven't heard from him about it.”

“It wouldn't matter anyways
because that's not who I am, Emmi, and I would really like the opportunity to
prove that to you.”

I took the opportunity to get up
and get the coffee. My head was swimming and I could barely keep up with the
thoughts going through my head at that moment. He sounded so genuine and nice.
A really great guy, and yet I knew I couldn't have him as my own. I poured two
cups of coffee, leaving his black and adding cream to mine. I returned to the
table and handed him a cup.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

I sat down and looked him square
in the eyes. “I don't think that we should continue to see each other, Bennett.
I'm sorry. I thought there might have been something there between us, but
after the article, I just didn't see it as a smart choice anymore. I have a
career I'm building at this point, and I don't need rumors getting in the way
of that. If we continued dating, people would see me as a fool, and I need
people to see me in a different light if I'm going to get the life that I want.”

“Emmi, us dating will not affect
your career. I promise you that.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I'm going to prove all
these doubters wrong. I'm going to show them that I'm not here in this room
drinking coffee with you because I want to be on your father’s team. I'm not
going to lie to you, Emmi, I do want to be on your father’s team, but I can get
there without sleeping with his daughter. That's why this whole thing has been
a slap in my face, too.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

“I'm a pretty humble guy, Emmi. I
don't go around and brag about my talents, but I'm also not stupid. I am no
mediocre player, I'm damn good at my job, and I can take your father’s team
higher than it ever has been, there is no doubt in my mind. And I can do that,
Emmi, without dating you. So please, I'm not here for the team. I'm here
because the first time I laid eyes on you, I thought I was dreaming. You are
the most beautiful creature I have ever seen and what's better than that is
you're brilliant and you probably know more about baseball or sports in general
than I do.”

I blushed from my nose to my
toes.

“You are the perfect woman, in my
eyes, anyways. That is why I asked you out and that is why I would like to
continue dating you, if you will let me.”

He stopped his monologue to take
a drink of his coffee. I was momentarily speechless, so I had nothing to offer
to the silence. I also took a sip of my coffee before I spoke.

“No one has ever spoken to me
that way before.”

He closed his eyes and then
opened them again. “God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to step out of line or
anything. I just wanted you to know how I feel and believe that it was
genuine.”

“No, it was...sweet. I mean,
wow.”

He laughed. “Please give me a
chance, Emmi. I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to show you
that the haters out there are all wrong.”

I looked into my coffee cup. “I
don't know...”

“Well, that's okay because I do.”

I looked up at him, and I
couldn't be more confused. I felt so strongly for him and yet I also felt like
I could be making a huge mistake by continuing to date him.

“Emmi, there was no fallout from
the article – it completely disappeared, didn't it?”

“Yes.”

“Because people don't really care
that much and for the most part, didn't even believe it. It would be silly to
deny yourself the happiness you deserve. I think we could be happy together,
and I would like to show you that.”

I certainly did deserve as much
happiness as I could get. I was just so confused.

“I want to be with you badly, can
you really say you don't feel the same way?”

“I do want to be with you,
Bennett, I always have. The last night we were together was incredible. I'm
just so confused right now.”

“Don't be. I had an amazing time
with you, also. Let me show you that I'm the real deal.”

I smiled at him finally. Maybe I
should just take a leap of faith and see what happened. You never know and like
he said, there had been no fallout. There was no proof that Bennett had done
anything wrong, so I shouldn't be punishing both of us because of it.

“Okay, Bennett. Show me. I'm in,
let's do this.”

He came over to my side of the
table and kissed me.

Chapter Eight

His kiss had taken me by surprise
and I gasped when I felt his tongue meet mine. All my reservations about him
began to dissipate and it was like I couldn't remember what I had been worried
about in the first place. The chemistry between us was electrifying, and I
almost felt stupid for ever having doubted him – or us for that matter.