And there she was. Going after the muffins. I’d asked the caterers to provide mini muffins. Jumbo muffins would’ve garnered too many questions. She’d always had a chocolate muffin the size of her head at the tournaments. Other wrestlers might’ve noticed the forbidden carbs, but I’d noticed her hunched over her food, meticulously dismantling the muffin in bite-sized chunks.

I prowled around the room. If anyone was trying to get my attention, I didn’t care. I had eyes for one person. The floral top she wore swayed with her movements, hugging her full hips as she reached forward, and the leggings she wore outlined the rest of her lush, curvy body. She’d shed her youth and was in curvy, sexy woman territory.

Could the whole room hear my heart thud?

I’d never been this nervous before. Not before any of my matches, not with any opponent, and not before any meeting. All I had to do was talk to her to see if she still affected me. If she responded, then I could ask her out, and fate would take it from there.

What good was all this money and status if I couldn’t use it to win the woman of my dreams?

Kate

The room stared at Aiden. I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t believe his confession.

He’d set up the tours just to meet me? Not only had he remembered me, but he’d…thought about me when we were kids? He’d wanted to ask me out?

Gentry shook his head like his ears were full of water. “The tour idea wasn’t community outreach? It was so you could ask Kate out?”

Aiden nodded. His jaw clenched and he stared at the top of the table. His thumb ran across the top of my hand, like it’d done while he’d told his story.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Aiden King had hunted me down?

“I manipulated you. I used the company to get you here to see if I could marry you for money. And when you talked about your dad when I proposed… I didn’t feel like I was any better. I felt worse, because I still went ahead and rushed the wedding for the trust. I should’ve been honest.”

“Yes, you should’ve, but it doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

“You were the one thing I’d done for myself in a long time. I was selfish. It was easier to shut my mind off and do what had to be done than think about where I’d rather be or who I’d rather be with. When I was tempted to speak up, the thought of losing you kept my mouth shut. I wasted four years together. I’m sorry.”