They found a booth in the corner and sat down. Their food came, but neither of them ate.
Dominic spoke first. "I don't want to hide from my past."
Melissa's eyes widened in surprise. "I would never ask you to do that."
"I know you wouldn't. Other agents maybe, but not you."
Melissa took a deep breath. "I've been thinking things over all night long. I'm positive that we can turn your story into something positive, something that will hopefully make other teenage boys think twice before they steal a car and crash into a tree. You've already done so much by donating the high-school stadium." "I can do more."
She nodded. "And you will. We will."
"Thank you for helping me. For listening and not being angry."
"Of course," she said, not knowing how to put her feelings into words.
"Now let me help you. Please."
Melissa's throat closed up. She'd been so afraid of letting Dominic take over, so scared that he wanted to help her for all the wrong reasons. But things were different now.
"Thank you, Dominic. I think I could have gotten JP a good team by working with him, but with your help, hopefully we can bring in a great team instead."
His body was tense, his hamburger untouched. "I'd like to set up a meeting for JP with Sean from the Outlaws."
She furrowed her brows in confusion. "The Outlaws already have enough wide receivers."
All at once, she understood. He was going to retire. She felt as if he'd punched her in the gut. She couldn't imagine the Outlaws without Dominic, a Sunday without him on the field. It was wrong. So wrong. Yet she knew he was hurting. She'd seen him limp, felt his scars beneath her fingertips.
He watched her process the news. "I've been thinking about it for a while now. I refuse to be a liability to my team, a disappointment to the fans."
It was difficult to speak. "How long have you been thinking about this?"
"It's been brewing for a while now, but working with JP really made things clear. I ran myself into the ground just to see if I could keep up with him."
"You can," she protested, still unwilling to accept his decision. It would be such a loss. "You're still a phenomenal player," she protested.
"I'm not healing like I used to. I wake up in the morning and I know the stiffness isn't going to be gone by the next day. I'm starting to dread blocking. That's not the kind of game 1 want to play."
"Okay," she said slowly, "we'll work out an exit plan." Emotionally, she hated the decision he was making. Professionally, she knew he was right.
"Obviously, you have a strong future ahead of you with speaking engagements, maybe some non-fiction, even fashion if you're interested." What the hell were the Outlaws going to do without the top wide receiver in the country? She hated having to break the news to the team.
He shook his head. "We'll see what happens once people find out about my past."
That pissed her off. "Dominic, you're an amazing man who made a mistake as a kid. Sure, maybe you should have come clean a long time ago, but your friend is doing fine now, isn't he?"
Somewhat reluctantly, Dominic nodded. "Better than fine. Great."
Her cell phone rang and she looked down at the small screen. "It's my father," she said, then clicked it open.
"I should have known you were sleeping with him."
Fear gripped her heart. "Excuse me?"
"I couldn't figure out why Dominic wanted to work with you," her father said. "Now I know."
"We're not—" she began, wanting desperately to deny her father's accusation. Even though it was true.
"Be in my office at eight a.m."
Tom severed their connection and Melissa carefully put the phone back down on the table next to her untouched burger.
Dominic reached for her hand, covering her cold fingers with his warmth. "What's wrong?"
"He found out about us."
Dominic's grip tightened on her hand. "It's all right."
She pulled her hand back. "No. It isn't. Now he'll never take me seriously. He'll think I'm sleeping with all of my clients. He'll think that's how I get them to sign with me." A tear fell down her cheek. "By sleeping with them."
"He knows you'd never do that."
She blinked away tears. "You didn't."
A spark of anger lit Dominic's eyes. "You know that I'm sorry for thinking you wanted to be with JP. 1 was jealous. I should have known better. And I'm retiring because it's time for me to retire, not because I want so desperately to help you that I'm giving JP my spot. JP should play for the Outlaws because he's got the talent and they're the best team for him. Period."
She didn't know what to say. What to do. She didn't want him to be angry at her. Didn't he know how much she loved him? How much she'd always loved him?
"I know I've screwed up countless times," he continued in a raw voice. "I didn't recognize real love when it was right in front of me the whole time. I didn't see the real, amazing woman you are—but I'm not blind anymore."
Melissa's brain shouted the words I love you but she couldn't get her mouth to say them. Something inside her, some wounded part of her that had more questions than answers, held the words back.
Dominic hated to watch her leave. He desperately wanted to fix everything. He wanted to call her father, tell him that he seduced Melissa, not the other way around. He wanted to pull Melissa into his arms and kiss her until she saw reason. He wanted to be there for her emotionally and professionally, to assist her in the exhausting work of managing a player like JP.
But he couldn't do any of those things. Not if he wanted there to be a snowball's chance in hell for Melissa to realize that he could change, that he could back off and let her take the wheel.
And that she loved him, too.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
A s she drove down the winding freeway to San Francisco, Melissa felt thirteen years old again, terrified about bringing home a B on her report card, praying that her father never found out about the one and only biology class she'd ever skipped—but knowing that he would—and that she'd be grounded for a month for the transgression.