King of Players: An Opposites Attract Romance (Billionaire Kings of New York Book 3)

20. Knockout

twenty

Chad

“Let’s take it again, from: ‘How dare you?’ and the punch. And, action!”

“How dare you?” I hissed at my scene partner who, in the film, was the man who had just informed my character that my wife was sleeping around. Clenching my hand into a fist, I took a swing at his jaw as rehearsed, and he dodged it so I would hit his shoulder instead.

“Zack, you need to calm the fuck down and listen!” he shouted.

Turning around, I grabbed the prop chair and raised it up high, yelling, “Listen to you? Denigrating the only woman I’ve ever loved?” Slamming down the chair, I watched him escape it, the wood smashing all over the rug underneath me. “I’ll never fucking believe you. Never!”

“You’ve lost your fucking mind!” he shouted, approaching me with a glare of rage and fists so tight that his knuckled whitened.

As we engaged in a choreographed physical altercation, I had to focus to not miss a heartbeat. Every movement of his had to be met with one of mine in perfect flow, so that our fight seemed believable without actually hurting either one of us.

Suddenly, I heard a door slam shut and turned around to look at who had the audacity to come onto our set mid-scene. With shocked eyes—as my scene partner punched me and I failed to move—I saw Kaira in the distance. In a blink, I was on the ground, feeling nothing while white and bright yellow patches blinked in front of my eyes.

“Oh my fucking God!” the director yelled.

“Man, I’m sorry!” my scene partner said. “You were supposed to move, man!”

While my vision gradually regained its focus, I felt wetness above my lip. Automatically, I raised my hand to feel it and looked down at my fingertips, now drenched in blood. “Oh, great. I’m fine. I’m fine.”

“Holy mother, Chad!” The scene in front of me was now in full focus as Kaira’s face filled the cadre, her hands cradling my cheeks as she furrowed her eyebrows.

“Lady! What the fuck—” the director shouted.

“Not another peep out of you! Is this how you speak to someone you just called a lady?” Kaira hissed at him, and in an instant, the entire room went so quiet one could hear a needle drop. Three dozen people stood in awe, since nobody up until this moment had dared speak that way to the master of the set. “Okay, take five, everybody,” he grumbled, strutting over to the security guards at the edge of the room, undoubtedly to unleash hell upon them for their little muck-up.

Returning her attention back to me, Kaira quickly pulled a tissue out of her purse and began to dab at my nostrils. I held her hand with the tissue and fixed it there, while pushing myself up to stand with my other hand.

I felt her grip my arm as I whispered, “What are you doing?”

Her chest rose with a deep inhalation before she licked her lower lip, blinking quickly as she fixed her gaze on me. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were shooting a fight—”

“What are you doing here?” I insisted.

“I… Uh—I came to tell you that I was wrong. I don’t care what people say.”

Tilting back my head, I felt the headache radiate from around my nose to the rest of my skull. Someone quietly brought me a chair, and I sat down, keeping my head up. Kaira stood there, towering over me and leaning slightly forward. She then placed both hands on the arms of the chair, leaning closer so that I could feel her breath on my hand holding the tissue. “I don’t care, I can learn. I’m a highly adaptable person.”

“Okay.” I blinked a few times, trying to ignore the headache and concentrate. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The scars that you have on your body? The ones from all the crazy things you’ve done?”

“Uh—What about them?”

“I bet they were some stories.”

“Kaira… I’m the one who got punched in the face, yet you’re the one who sounds like she’s got a concussion.”

“I think I’m in love with you,” she whispered.

In that position, with her completely dominating the situation and my sitting underneath her mercy, I felt my heart race faster than it had when I fell to the floor. Harder than it had when I’d made love to her. Much more profoundly. It was all I had wanted to hear. Yet, I was skeptical. “What are you on, exactly?”

“Right now, I think I’m onto something big. Something that can change my life if you agreed to do it.”

“What?”

“Marry me,” she demanded.

At that moment, I understood fully why Kaira Bradley had been keeping my heart hostage for months. That woman was fearless—in both her reservation and openness. Her soul was free to believe whatever that had called it, and she did it fully. When she had faith in something, she sought it with everything she had. And when she changed her mind about something, she wasn’t embarrassed to admit it. Kaira Bradley was the strongest, most resilient woman I had ever met.

And right now, she was making me the adventure of a lifetime.

To be hers fully was to delve into her world with faith that matched her own; a dedication and intention to be wholly there.

Stunned and slightly dizzy, my eyes roamed over the room around us. Three dozen pairs of eyes, all mesmerized. None of them had ever imagined that this woman and I were ever a thing. And now, here she was, proposing to me. Doubtlessly, most of them assumed her to be a crazy fan or a stalker. I turned to my publicist who had her lips turned inward, petrified. Silently, she slowly shook her head, gesturing, ‘No.’ My manager did the same thing with his finger, while he kept his other hand over his head.

Yes, I knew how crazy all of this sounded. The urgency. The reversal of roles. The unexpected turn of events. But I would be damned as a shameful liar if I even thought of claiming that I didn’t want to jump in with all of my being. I might regret it later, but I was definitely going to regret not trying.

And with that thought, I whispered, “My wife will have to carry the Niles name.”

Kaira’s smile slowly turned into a grin before she whispered back, enunciating, “Kaira Niles it is.”

As she leaned down to kiss me, I forgot the pain and the headache; the fact that we were surrounded by colleagues; and the notions of time and space eluded me. Lost in a kiss I had been craving for months, I only opened my eyes when the sound of applause raged through my ears. Kaira’s face was practically crimson as she broke our kiss, tittering and struggling to lift up her gaze to face them.

“Well, future Mrs. Niles,” the director finally approached her with his hands on his waist. “Congratulations, but I’m gonna have to ask you to leave, because you just cost us a full day of shooting. Thanks to you, we need to treat his nose before we can resume.” He paused, looking down at me and smirking. “Figures though, Chad. The day you got engaged had to be the day someone knocked you out first.”

In the dressing room, and as I changed out of character wardrobe, I could finally relate to why some people felt like they needed to pinch themselves to believe things. This morning, I’d left the house looking forward to a full day of work to distract myself from the despair of not being able to get through to Kaira. Tonight, she was going home with me.

As soon as we stepped into the house, Kaira grabbed my hand and tugged for me to follow her. She led me through the reception hall and up the stairs, toward my bedroom.

“This is it, right?” She pointed and pushed the door open before I could even answer.

I smiled, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Turning to face me, she helped me take off my coat. “I’m letting you have me the way a fiancé should.”

“Shouldn’t I buy you a ring first?”

“I—” She tossed away the coat and proceeded to unbutton my shirt. “I was thinking of something else. Something better than a ring.”

“And what’s that?”

“A big tree,” she said, and I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. “Something outside the public library… to offer shade.”

I chuckled and nodded, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close. “Ah, I see. But you see, I’d like for everyone to know that you’re spoken for.”

Her hands caressed my chest, slowly running up. “We’ll still get wedding bands!”

“You don’t want a diamond ring?”

“I have diamonds, Chad; another one is the last thing I need.” She then drew a long, deep breath. “Of all the things that could’ve happened between us, it was this great energy… and I don’t want it to fade. I want it to grow. And I want us both to be better people for it.”

“I’m afraid if you get any better than this, you’ll qualify for sainthood.”

“You’ll keep the little vixen in me alive,” she teased.

Her sweet laugh filled the air around me. So, when I pulled her in for a hug, I could hear the whispering aftermath of it resonating deep within me. My hands ran softly up and down her back, while I marveled at the thought of us spending the rest of our lives together.

Yes, I didn’t know Kaira Bradley as well as I should have to get hitched, and neither did she. But that was the beauty of it all. Too many marriages ended, even though the couple had known each other for years. It led me to believe that it had nothing to do with how much they knew about each other.

And I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life getting to know this woman.