Chapter 9 - The First Date

Ryder’s POV

I was up and out of the house before Keegan was up the next morning after the debacle that was last night and our ackward conversations about clothing. Both Faith and I had been clients of Courtney since I signed my first contract, and I thanked God we were every day. I had no idea what was in style for a young girl. Courtney had saved me a lot of embarrassing trips to the types of stores that teen girls frequented.

I did my usual morning run and exercise routine and then headed to the house of the private coach I worked with during the summer to run drills until I was ready to collapse. When they looked at basketball players, all people saw was the million-dollar salaries, the groupies, the cheerleaders, and the fame. They didn’t see all the hard work we put in to keep our bodies in the shape required to play professionally or the toll it took on our bodies and our families. During the season, I sometimes travelled more of the week than I was home. I had broken fingers, my nose dislocated my shoulder, and I had knee surgery, all in the name of continuing to play the game I loved. The money and fame were great, but the main reason I played was my love for the game.

After my session with my coach, I showered, changed and met Marcus for lunch to discuss the event tonight as he was joining us there to help wrangle the press, which would more than likely go ballistic when they realised that Keegan wasn’t just an ordinary date. Tonight was the best night to announce this whole thing as all of the team, and even the owner and general manager of the Lakers were coming to the restaurant opening. Omar had played for the team for ten years before he retired, he was family, and the team always looked after family and helped them succeed.

When I got back to the house, the car I had picked out for Keegan to use was in the driveway but slightly different from how I parked it earlier in the day, so I knew she had been and came back. I was going to knock on her door after I checked in on Faith, who was about to head over to her friend's house for another sleepover, but when I listened at her door and didn’t hear any movement, I decided to meet her downstairs when it was time to leave instead.

I showered, shaved and then examined the options that Courtney had sent over for tonight, eventually settling on a charcoal Hugo Boss suit, white shirt, navy tie and black, leather shoes. I might be biased about the subject, but I looked damn good.

By the time I ran some product through my hair and made it downstairs, it was only five minutes before we were supposed to leave. I was so nervous while I waited that I had to resort to shoving my hands in my pockets to stop myself from fidgeting. Could we actually pull this off? I was staring at my shoes when I heard the click of heels coming down the stairs. Lifting my eyes up slowly, first landing on the sexy black heels, which made her legs look longer, my eyes trailed up her bare legs until I reached just above her knee. That’s when I started to see the dress and knew Courtney had come through yet again. I knew she had an amazing figure, but this dress clung to every curve. She had heavier make-up on than I had seen on her before and the red shade on her pouty lips was like waving red in front of a bull. All I wanted to do was kiss them. My tie started to feel extremely tight around my neck at the thought.

When she finally reached the bottom step, I loosened the tie a little and cleared my throat, “You look great.”

“Thanks”, She replied with a smug look on her face, “glad this lives up to girlfriend standards.”

Of course, I walked right into that one, “The cars waiting out the front for us.”

She nodded, keeping her eyes on me as she walked past me and towards the front door. I had to bite my lip to suppress a groan because her rear was just as good as the front. If she hadn’t taken sex off the table from the get-go, I would have said screw the opening and stay home and screw her instead. Instead, I fixed my tie and followed her out the door. By the time I locked it, the driver had already opened the back door for her to slide in.

“Hey, Roger.” I said to the driver holding my fist out for a fist bump, “How’s the family?”

“They are doing well, Mr Masters.” He answered back as he bumped my first, “the kids are looking forward to seeing you play this season.”

As a player, one of the perks is four tickets to every home game. Faith sometimes deemed me worthy enough to come to watch, she wasn’t a huge basketball fan, but she humoured me on occasion. I used the car service I was using tonight a lot when I had events to go to, as it meant that I didn’t have to worry about what I drank. Roger was my go-to driver, so I had gotten to know him over the years and sent tickets to the games every now and then.

By the time we made it to the restaurant, the paparazzi and reporters were everywhere. I saw Keegan’s eyes go wide as she shifted in her seat, looking at all of the flashing cameras that were taking photos of our car as we approached.

“Hey.” I stated, getting her attention, “just follow my lead, and everything will be fine. I’m with you every step of the way.”

She took a deep breath and nodded, “I’m going to hold you to that.”

The car door opened, and I winked at her as I got out of the car. The calls from the paparazzi and the sounds of the camera shutters were deafening, but I ignored them, focusing my attention on the car as Keegan slid over. She placed her hand in mine, stepping out of the car and standing at my side. She looked a little like a deer in headlights to start with, not that I was surprised as the flashes from the cameras could be blinding if you weren’t used to them. But she was a trooper as we made our way up the red carpet. The questions from the reporters were coming at us from all angles. I did my best to answer them as Keegan stood next to me, smiling politely while I wrapped my arm protectively around her waist.

One of the reporters seemed to catch that and ran with it, especially as I tended not to get up close and personal with any dates I brought to these sorts of things and normally walked the red carpet alone and met my dates inside the venue mainly because I didn’t want to be used by some fame-hungry woman who thought that she could use a date with me as a way to get her picture in the magazines.

“So Ryder, I have interviewed you at a few of these events, and you’ve always been solo. Are you going to disappoint a lot of young women and tell us that you are finally off the market?” The reporter queried, holding her microphone out to me for a response

I gave her an award-winning smile and pulled Keegan’s body against mine as tightly as possible. “You know I'm pretty tight lip about my personal life Nina, but when you've got a beautiful woman like this by your side it's hard not to show her off.”

Before she could ask any more questions, I led Keegan away and through the front door. With the reporters, I had learned that less is more. You answer their questions without giving too much away because then they talk about you more. Our pictures will be all over the magazines by early next week, speculating if we were or were not a couple. The longer there wasn’t a definitive answer, the longer they would talk about us.

Marcus was waiting for us as soon as we entered the door with a big smile on his face, “Well, don’t you two look like a cute couple.”

“Save the smug tone.” I advised him quietly, “We still have a long way to go.”

Omar had outdone himself with this place. He decided to open a high-end restaurant serving different cuisines from all over the world and would place live music on weekends once dinner service was over at eleven at night, and it would turn into a nightspot. The dance floor in the center of the space was huge. After leaving Keegan for a few minutes with Marcus to say a quick hello to Omar, who was running around like a headless chicken, we made our way over to our table, which several of my teammates and their partners were already occupying. I guess it was time to get our game faces on.

The looks around the table when I introduced Keegan as my girlfriend ranged from pure shock to disbelief, but they were all very polite to her in introducing themselves as I pulled her chair out for her so she could sit down. That’s what boyfriends did, wasn’t it? Once everyone had ordered their meals for the night, that’s when the questions started, and they were as we expected. How did we meet? How long had we been together? What did Keegan do for a living? Etc, etc. I had to give it to Keegan. She was being warm, funny and capturing everyone’s attention. She had taken a liking to Michael’s wife, April, so they were chatting the most while Michael had been giving me a few strange looks, and I knew I would have to tell him the truth soon before he went postal on me.

I excused myself for a few moments after the main meals were finished to check in on Faith like I did every time she stayed at a friends house, and when I stepped back inside, one of my teammates, Archer, who was sitting at one of the other tables was now occupying my seat and talking to Keegan. I didn’t know why but it was making my blood boil watching him smile at her. I knew that smile. He used that smile to get many girls into his bed when we were on the road.

I walked back over to the table as quickly as possible, “Archer.” I acknowledged, standing right next to them, “Think you’re in the wrong seat.”

He laughed, not moving from my seat, “Sorry, Ry, I was just keeping your lovely date company.”

“My girlfriend had plenty of company at the table, and I was only gone for a moment.” I replied, trying to keep my tone even.”

“Girlfriend.” He repeated, amusement in his voice, “Since when do you have girlfriends?”

“Since now.” I growled, holding my hand out to Keegan, “now, if you’ll excuse us, I owe my woman a dance.”

Keegan took my hand without a word, and I pulled her onto her feet, leading her to the dance floor. A slow song was playing when we arrived to join the ten or so other couples that were already there. Instinctively I pulled her towards me, her arms automatically wrapping around my neck as we slow danced together in time with the music.

Keegan leaned her head on my shoulder, her face tucked into my neck to hide her facial expressions, “What was all that about?”

“What was what about?” I responded, keeping a neutral expression as I sensed many eyes on us, so I needed to keep up appearances.

“He just came over to introduce himself.” She advised me softly.

I snorted, “Sure he did.”

She lifted her head so I could see her smile, “If I didn’t know any better, I would think that you were jealous.”

Jealous? I couldn’t be jealous. I was just playing my part. No guy would like another guy chatting up his girlfriend, even if it was a teammate. I couldn’t put into words to her why it bothered me so much, so instead of answering her question, I cupped her cheeks in the palms of my hands and pulled her face to mine, pressing our lips together hungrily.