A wry grin transformed his tense features. “Too bloody right. Plus there’s the fact that no one else could put up with your weird habits.”
“Weird habits? The fuck you talking about?” We taxied down the private runway, but I barely noticed, too focused on Nate.
“You can’t be serious?”
“As a bloody heart attack.”
Nate chuckled. “You don’t think stripping when you do a dump is weird?”
I gaped. “That’s not weird, it’s—hygienic and comfortable. And it’s not like I do it if I’m not at home or in my hotel or anything,” I said. It was something I’d always done, and he knew it. I watched him stand and followed his lead.
“Okay then, whatever you say. What about when you whacked your foot on the bed frame?”
“What about it?” Confused, I stared at him as he took hold of my hand.
“You then kicked the other foot. On purpose.” Wide-eyed, he waited for me to respond.
I shrugged, a little sheepishly this time, aware of the door at the front of the plane opening. “I feel, I don’t know, uneven if I don’t do it.” Okay, so maybe that was a bit weird.
Before I could challenge him with my own list of oddities that I had for him, a throat cleared. I realized Nate was already looking forward, his expression calm and maybe a little smug.
A broad-shouldered middle-aged man stood a few feet before us. His gaze was unwavering and a little intimidating. I assumed he was the security Micky had organized from the suit he wore and the muscle he was packing.
“Mr. Broadwater, I’m Matt Tully from Stronghold Security.”
I nodded and offered a tight smile. “Call me Ryan. And this is Nate.”
Matt dipped his head in acknowledgment. “I’ve got Zoe waiting in the car for us. She’ll be driving us tonight. I spotted two local paps out front. Chancers. Your bags are all loaded. Border control just needs to do a quick check of your passports, then are you ready to go?”
“Yes, thanks.” It was then I realized I still held Nate’s hand. Doing so felt phenomenal, eased some of my uncertainty, and reminded me of one of the reasons I was doing this.
After a woman from border control entered and did the necessary checks, Matt rejoined us. “Let’s get going then.” As we followed him out of the jet, our baseball caps firmly in place, I took a cursory glance at my surroundings.
A scattering of planes of various sizes caught my attention, along with a few people milling around, all focused on whatever their task was. This was ideal. “We should travel this way more often,” I said quietly to Nate, who snorted at my side. I wondered if he remembered our conversation as kids.
Once we were in the SUV, Matt turned in his seat from the front. “There’s news crews and several paps camped outside your condo.”
My stomach dipped.
“Don’t worry. We have guys there. We’ve also made a call to the local PD for crowd control support.”
While Matt’s face held nothing but clear-cut certainty, and I was sure he was used to this sort of thing, my stomach twisted. Nate’s hand on my thigh had me drawing in a breath, reminding me I was not alone in this. Gripping his hand, I forced myself to loosen the tension in my shoulders.
“Ryan.” My attention darted to Matt. “Trust me when I say we’ve got this. We’ll get you home and without a single camera shoved in your face. We’re on your detail for the next week, but more if needed.”
I blanched at that, earning me a reassuring smile from Matt. “Hopefully the buzz will have died down long before that.”
I nodded, knowing other pro athletes had been where I was, and while they’d been big news for a while, they weren’t regularly in the press anymore. I’d always known that. It was just now I had to deal with being one of them. “Thanks. I’m just so not used to any of this.”
Matt studied me for a beat as Zoe said something quietly to him. He signaled he heard her with a nod before we pulled away. “You’ve stayed out of the media and have done an impressive job of doing so.” The wide eyes I shot his way made Matt chuckle, a deep rasping sound. “We had twenty-four hours to prep before you were due back on American soil.”
The squeezing of my hand caught my attention again. Nate’s warm eyes met mine. “You’ll be able to get that back again,” he said.
Once Matt turned around to face the road, I pressed a kiss to Nate’s temple. He sighed against me and traced his fingers over my chest.
“You doing okay?” I shrugged, not willing to lie to him by saying yes. “Have you still got your phone switched off?”
“Yeah. My phone blowing up was stressing me out.”
