Page 37 of Her Player

“Hey, hey,” I said gently.

Reminiscent of what Rhett did with me last night, in fact.

“I gotcha,” I said quietly as I placed a kiss to the top of her head.

“I didn’t even know it was legal to fly a drone up to someone’s windows like that! They were spying on us! How can we not do something about that?!”

I made a silent vow to look into exactly that once I got into my office at Caldwell Arena.

“Do you have work today?” I asked.

She sniffled and shook her head. “I called off. My boss understood.”

I paused. “You called off?”

She snickered as she raised up from me, picking up a napkin to wipe at her nose and face. “You’re telling me you wouldn’t?”

I watched her blow her nose before she crumbled up the napkin and slipped it into her robe pocket.

“I’ve never seen this robe before,” I asked, sliding my hand up the fuzzy, soft material.

“Colton bought it for me,” she croaked out.

I put my hand on the top of her head and gave it a gentle press, the way you did with someone you wanted to hold still for just a second. “Don’t let them rob you of your life, Brynn.”

“I’m scared, Mom,” she said quietly as she looked up at me. “I feel…it’s…”

“You feel violated,” I said plainly.

My daughter’s lower lip quivered as she looked into her lap, and I had half a mind to snap the neck of every fucking reporter that I knew was crowded at the wrought iron gate of the estate. How dare they make her feel this way. How dare they put a young woman in such a compromising position just because of who she cared about.

“Brynn, look at me,” I said.

She sniffled as she turned those sad eyes up to me, and I swear, for the smallest of moments, I saw Ryan in them.

It took me a second to gather my words. “Remember what I always told you growing up? About fear?”

She sighed heavily, which made me grin.

“Come on,” I said, nudging her playfully, “what did I always say?”

Brynn rolled her eyes. “You can be as scared as you want, so long as it⁠—”

I finished the statement with her. “—doesn’t make your decisions.” I cupped her cheek, turning her watery, fearful gaze to me. “Being afraid isn’t the issue. Allowing it to rule your life is. You can be scared. You have every right to be. But you can’t coop yourself up because of that fear.”

She sniffled. “You do.”

I paused. “What?”

She scoffed. “Oh, don’t give me that, Mom,” she said as she stood and walked away from the table. “Everyone sees how Rhett treats you. Everyone sees how smitten he is with you. Everyone except you, because you won’t even entertain the idea of moving on without Dad.”

My jaw dropped open in shock. Where the hell was this coming from?

“So,” Brynn snickered as she reached into the fridge and pulled out a soda, “it’s rich coming from you, this whole ‘don’t be afraid’ thing, when all you’ve been is afraid since Dad died.”

I shot up to my feet. “You take that back.”

“No,” she said as she cracked the drink open, “I won’t. Because I really do think you believe that because you work and built a business and interface with clients, that you aren’t scared. But that’s the only life you lead. Your clients are sometimes the only people you talk to throughout the day.”