She caught his eyes and her stomach flopped.

Without a thought for Victoria, Daniel, or her discarded bags, she dashed across the airport. She felt as if she were in a movie as she rushed toward the man she loved. When she reached him, she threw herself into his arms. Her body thudded against his chest and she pressed her face into his shoulder. His arms pulled her flush against him and he hoisted her up so that her feet tucked up behind her. He smelled unbelievably masculine and delicious. The strength in the embrace grounded her, and everything felt right in the world.

“Hey baby,” Brady whispered in her ear.

“You said you were sending a car.”

“I have a car,” he told her with a kiss on her temple.

He placed her lightly back on her feet. She could do nothing but stare up at him with a dopey grin.

“I got out early to come see your beautiful face,” he said. She reached on her tiptoes and kissed him softly on the mouth once. She heard a flash behind her and turned just in time to see a few people stashing their phones and cameras.

“Should I not have done this?” she asked, concerned.

“No, Liz. I like you exactly how you are.”

“What are people going to say?”

“Whatever they want,” he said, taking her hand. “Try not to worry about it. You’re with me now.”

Somehow that did make so much of it better. Brady wouldn’t have let her throw herself at him if he had been concerned about consequences. He wasn’t one to forget himself in these kinds of situations.

“Oh, I dropped my stuff,” Liz said, turning to see Victoria and Daniel walking toward them with her bags.

“I didn’t think you’d want to lose this,” Victoria said. She was shaking her head, but had a crooked smile on her face.

Liz reached out and took her bags. “Thanks. Sorry.”

“No, you’re not,” Victoria said. “So you must be Brady.” She eyed him up and down and then nudged Liz. “I see why you would say he’s good in bed. He’s really . . . tall.”

Liz covered her face with her hand and shook her head. “Wow. Worst introduction ever.” Brady was laughing softly. Liz had told him all about Victoria, but she didn’t think she could ever adequately prepare someone for her best friend. “Brady, this is my insane roommate, Victoria, and her boyfriend, Daniel.”

“Nice to meet you,” Brady said, extending his hand and shaking with each of them.

“Daniel, huh?” Daniel asked. “I’ve upgraded from Duke Fan for the visit?”

“She didn’t want to give you a reminder about how bad we beat you in basketball last week,” Brady answered. “It was really a way of saving you some embarrassment.”

“Geez, Liz, you’ve trained him already?” Daniel asked.

Liz couldn’t hide her amusement. “Didn’t have to. Brady played basketball at UNC.”

“Another one,” Daniel grumbled. “It’s going to be a long weekend.”

They all walked toward the baggage claim. Brady laced Liz’s fingers together with his as they walked, and she realized he had that same dopey grin on his face she’d felt on her own earlier.

She couldn’t believe how easily she had doubted on the plane. Now here she was in D.C., introducing Brady to her friends, holding his hand in public. She wouldn’t truly believe it if they hadn’t gone through hell and back to get to this point.

After collecting their luggage, they walked out of the airport and into the covered garage. The guys loaded the suitcases into the back of a shiny black Range Rover while Liz and Victoria got comfortable in the plush leather interior.

“This is top-of-the-line,” Victoria whispered when she shut her door.

“Yeah,” Liz said with a shrug.

“No. I mean, my dad was looking at these things and this has all the gadgets he wanted. I bet this is over a hundred thousand easily,” Victoria said appreciatively.

Liz shrugged again. Money didn’t matter. She had never really thought about it with Brady. She knew he had a house in Raleigh, a lake house, a Lexus, and that he had flown her to Hilton Head and put her up at a resort on a whim. She knew his parents had a mansion and a house in Hilton Head, Savannah drove a BMW, and Clay drove a Porsche. Yeah, she knew they were all wealthy, but she had never cared. She still didn’t.

It was just Brady.

“All ready?” Brady asked once he sat in the driver’s seat. He revved the engine and soon they were leaving the airport behind.

This trip to D.C. was already a sharp contrast to when she had come up here to visit Hayden. She had always enjoyed D.C. with him. It had been the first time he had admitted his feelings, the first time they had kissed, the weekend that had triggered Liz wanting more from Brady. Then there had been New Year’s with Hayden, hanging with his sister, Jamie, and her husband, James, going to Jamie’s art galleries.

So many memories washed over her at once. She hated thinking about them right now.

She glanced out the window as she collected herself. It was so easy to remember everything that had happened with Hayden. It hadn’t been that long ago that they had been together and happy, and then everything had spiraled out of control. She had no interest in going back to that, but it was so fresh, like an open wound. She knew Hayden had been in the wrong by putting her relationship with Brady in the paper, and she didn’t want to feel guilt about cheating and jumping right to Brady, but it crept over her with all the old memories.

“Liz?” Brady asked.

“Hmm?” she muttered, realizing she had been out of the conversation.

“We were just seeing if Italian was all right with you?”

Italian. Another Hayden memory hit her of going out to eat after that very first press conference. God, she didn’t need this right now while she was with Brady. That was where her heart was . . . where it had always been.

Time to make new memories.

“Sounds good to me.”

Brady dropped Victoria and Daniel off at a hotel on the Johns Hopkins campus that the university had reserved for them for the weekend visit. They would be coming with Liz and Brady to the banquet tomorrow night, but for now, she and Brady had the night free and to themselves. And they both desperately needed some privacy.

The trip back into the city took longer than expected due to traffic, and by the time they reached Brady’s building the air was thick with sexual tension. He parked in his designated space in an underground garage and they took the elevator up to the top floor. The doors had barely closed before Brady had her pressed back into the wall and his mouth was on hers hot and heavy.