Fair Game: A Football Romance (49 page)

“So you were going to have my baby. And not tell me. And support it alone.”

“I didn’t really think it through very well, I guess. I would never have kept it from you. You deserve to know you have a child. Dr. Kumar reminded me of that today.”

“I wanted to wring his neck a couple of times, you know.”

“I’m sorry. It was nothing really. He had a crush and I didn’t. End of story.”

I sigh, and my breath blows a piece of her hair. It flutters off her cheek and against her neck.

“It’s not just Katie that has kept me from having anymore kids. I never wanted to fall in love again, and I had a difficult childhood. I’m not sure I can be the right kind of father.”

“You will be the exact kind of father our baby needs, because you’re his father. I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. Malory is a great kid, and she knows you love her to the moon and back. That’s all that counts, Major. She knows you’re there for her no matter what. That’s what kids need.”

“You sound like the therapist I went to when I signed custody over to Sam. You don’t look like her though. She was old and wrinkled and she had spiky hair.”

“You’d better love me when I’m old and wrinkled with spiky hair.”

“Old and wrinkled okay, but keep the hair. I love your hair.”

I cover her mouth with mine and breathe in her scent, feel her lips sliding against mine, listen to the soft snore of a sleeping child in the adjoining room, and taste her tears, memorizing the moment that I learned I was going to be a father again.

Just when I’m about to strip her bare and very slowly and very quietly make love to this new mother to be, I feel a light tap on my shoulder.

“Daddy, I don’t like sleeping with Summer. She snores,” Malory says.

Violet pulls down her t-shirt, and I moan. Kids, they have crummy timing.

“Come on up here. You can sleep with us. It’s all right.”

And it is, because Violet makes everything all right for me.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Violet

Never Ending Story

I can’t feel my right arm. Where the hell am I? When I open my eyes, I’m staring up at an unfamiliar textured ceiling that looks like a series of palm trees. I don’t have palm tree ceilings in my apartment. I blink and turn my stiff neck to see what’s cutting off the circulation to my arm and find a mess of soft blonde curls in my face.

I blow the hair away from my mouth, and the past three months come rushing back to me. Major, pregnant, Samantha, accident, kids, hotel . . . yep, that’s about it.

Major is curled up, mirroring me, and Malory is in between us. Our bodies form a heart, and fittingly, she and my tiny baby bump are at the center of it. I wonder if it’s a girl or a boy. I wonder if Major will want to find out. I sort of don’t want to. There aren’t very many true surprises in life anymore. Having the gender be a surprise might be fun.

Wait, what am I thinking? Major is a plan-a-holic, he will have to know the sex to prepare and categorize every detail of the pregnancy, the birth, the baby room, all of it. Oh well, maybe next time. Next time? Oh, Lord, I think Malory and this baby will have to be enough.

I lift my head to assess the arm situation and find myself staring at my glorious man. A lifetime with Major Steele, or at least I hope so. I shouldn’t assume that just because we’re having a baby, he wants to shack up and get married. Do I want to be married? Yes. If it’s to him, I think I do.

I jump when he snaps his eyes open like he wasn’t sleeping at all. “What are you thinking? I feel you looking at me.”

Mmm, Major’s gravelly morning voice is my favorite.

“That you’re pretty.”

He arches one brow and repeats my compliment. “Pretty? Girls are pretty. Women are pretty. I, my dear, am manly.”

He holds up his right bicep and flexes it. Yes, I’d have to agree with that. He’s more than a little manly.

“Okay, agreed. But you have such nice hair and long eyelashes. Parts of you are definitely pretty.”

“Just don’t say that in front of the guys.”

I pretend to turn a key between my lips and throw it over my shoulder.

“So can you help me? I have no feeling in my right arm and don’t want to disturb sleeping beauty here.”

“What time is it?”

“Uh, no idea. Only one arm here, remember?”

“Sorry. Here, I’ll get her.”

Major lifts Malory’s head up just far enough off the pillow that I can slide my arm out. I turn and sit on the edge of the bed and look at it hanging limply at my side.

“Hurt yet?”

“Nope. Oh wait, here it comes.” As the blood returns to my blue fingers, the pins and needles prick and stick my arm from the inside out.

“Oh, this sucks so bad.” I wiggle my fingers, and Major leaves the bed and starts to undress.

“Gonna shower?” We need to get back to the hospital, and the kids will be awake soon, no doubt. Maybe I’ll get a few minutes to hop in and out after him.

“
We
are going to shower. I never leave an important job incomplete.”

“What about the kids? They’ll be up soon.”

“Hotels have locks on the bathroom doors and the kids got to bed really late. Are you trying to make up excuses not to shower with me?”

He cocks his head to the side and frowns the sexiest frown.

“I like it when you frown.”

He chuckles. “You do, do you?” Well, I’ll try to frown more often,” he says with a roll of his eyes.

“I’m serious, that scowl you just did there. It’s commanding, domineering, very sexy. Love it. Keep it up, Major, good job.”

“I’ll show you a good job.” he quickly closes the gap between us and pulls me to my feet. “I’d throw you over my shoulder, but I don’t want to hurt my baby.”

His baby
. I haven’t allowed myself to think that Major could be happy about having another child, but he almost sounded pleased just now.

He walks backward, leading me into the bathroom, and I glance back to make sure Malory is still sleeping—and thanks to a very late ending to her day yesterday, she is.

Inside with the door locked, he is true to his promise when he quietly lifts my t-shirt over my head. His back is to the mirror, so I have a perfect view of not only the front side of my athletic man, but the backside as well. And what a backside it is. He has the kind of ass that makes women moan when he walks by. I know. I’ve heard it. Hell, I’ve done it, it’s that good.

He steps back and rests his dreamy ass on the vanity with his hands palm down on either side of him like he’s holding himself back. His gaze travels up my legs, pausing when he reaches my tummy, and for a split second, I think he is going to wrap it up and call it quits. He begins to peruse my scantily covered body again, pausing once more to focus on my mouth. When he reaches my eyes, he holds them for what should be an uncomfortable amount of time, but it isn’t for me. I could stand here until the end of time and let him ravish me with those eyes.

When he’s had his fill of turning me inside out with his passionate stare, he pushes off the vanity. He steps to me so we are toe-to-toe, touching foreheads, and he places his hands on my baby bump and closes his eyes.

I don’t touch him. I stand quietly and let him absorb what I’ve had weeks to soak in. There is a tiny human growing in there, half me, half him. It’s incredible.

“Violet.” He exhales my name, and my blood races in my veins.

“You are my real never ending story. I didn’t know when I got the tattoo that its meaning would continue on forever. I thought it stopped with Katie’s death, but I was wrong. Oh, so wrong.”

His eyes open slowly, and his hands glide up over my breasts. His callouses brushing over my sensitive nipples sends an electric jolt between my legs. I gasp as his hand slides up the back of my neck and his fingers tangle in my hair, holding me steady, commanding my attention.

“Marry me, Violet, be my never ending story.” He makes me dizzy with his words. The way he breathes every one with such meaning makes me swoon. I want to say yes, I have to say yes, but I’m so hypnotized by his voice and his presence, I can’t.

“I knew you’d say yes. I see it in your eyes, Mrs. Steele. Now let me thank you properly.” His hands meet at my middle again right before he slides his fingers under the lace on the sides of my panties and slowly, torturously drags them down my legs.

When I’m bare, he stands and I watch as he removes the rest of his clothes. Our eyes are locked, never drifting. He lifts me onto the vanity and places my hands exactly where he wants them, the way he does most things, just exactly so.

He spreads my legs wide and kneels on the tile between my trembling thighs. I drop my head back and bite my sore lip to keep quiet when his tongue slides between my wet folds.

His fingers are next, one and then two. His free hand is splayed on my belly as his fingers rhythmically slide in and out of my core. The tip of his tongue rotates between flicking and circling my clit, sending me into orbit.

His hand leaves my belly and I look to see where it’s gone. He has it wrapped around his thick cock, stroking it to the same rhythm of his finger’s penetration.

The sight of him pleasuring himself alone is enough to make me come, but combined with his talented tongue and long fingers, I’m doomed.

I grip the granite and clamp my legs around his head. If we were anywhere else, I would scream, and it’s almost impossible not to. Somehow, I rein it in and only a whimper escapes when I release weeks of pent-up worry and anxiety onto his lips.

When the pulsing slows, he slides his fingers out of me and around my thighs, resting his cheek against the inside of one. He inhales deep, and blows out the breath as he stands up with a scowl on his face.

A

Sexy

As

Fuck

Scowl.

He couldn’t have timed it better. It couldn’t have turned me on more. We spend the next forty-five minutes in the shower together, washing and exploring until a soft rap on the door pops our magical bubble.

“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Malory says.

Ahh, the joys of parenting. We may as well get used to interruptions and secret rendezvous because this is only the beginning. The beginning of our never ending story.

Chapter Thirty

Major

Angels and Fairies and Leprechauns

Samantha’s bruising looks better already. The nurse has allowed Davy and Summer to sit on the bed next to their mother and hold her hands. I’m not sure if they are doing it because they think it will help her come around or because they think it could be the last time they see their mother alive. Whatever the reason, it’s making them feel better and it isn’t hurting Sam.

The room is quiet but for the occasional word exchanged between Davy and Summer. Violet is in the waiting room with Malory. We all wanted to see Sam, but the hospital has a two person at a time visiting rule that is already being broken. We didn’t want to push our luck.

“I’m going to check on Malory. You won’t touch anything, will you?” The nurse has given them instructions on how to hold Sam’s hands without disrupting her IV lines and the electrodes elsewhere on her body.

“No, promise,” Summer says, and Davy nods.

The waiting room is right across the hall from Sam’s room. I don’t really have to leave the room to check on them, but I thought the kids might want a little privacy.

The halls are bustling with activity this morning, a stark contrast to the calm quiet before we left last night. The hospital seems to come alive during the day. I hope that rubs off on Sam.

Violet and Malory are cuddled up together on a couch watching the Disney channel. Malory is engrossed; Violet, not so much. They are so comfortable with each other after only meeting a day ago, but in times of crisis, bonding intensifies. I read that somewhere once, and it stuck with me. Turns out it’s true.

I sit down on the other side of Malory and stretch my arm along the back of the couch behind Violet’s neck and squeeze some of her tension away.

“Mm, that feels good.”

“How are my girls?”

Malory tilts her head up to see my face, “Okay, Daddy. Is it my turn yet?”

I kiss her forehead and breathe in the familiar scent of her strawberry shampoo.

“Not just yet, but soon.”

Her bottom lip slips out in a pout, “She’s my mommy too, not just theirs.”

I gather her in my lap and kiss her cheek. “Of course she is, but the rule is two people at a time. You and Violet can go in next.”

“Is Violet going to be my mommy now?” Her big blue eyes are full of equal parts hope and confusion. My poor daughter doesn’t know where she belongs, and that is my fault.

Violet and I lock eyes. “I think Violet might like to be your mommy sometimes, and when Sam wakes up, she can be your mommy too. How is that?”

Malory nods vigorously with an ear-to-ear smile.

“That’s okay with you, isn’t it, Mommy Violet?” I ask, rubbing her neck a little harder to influence her answer.

“Mommy Violet would be honored.”

“Violet?” Summer says in her softest voice behind me. Violet leans around Malory to see Summer, and I crane my neck so I can see her too.

“Yeah, honey, is something wrong?” Violet asks.

“No, but you wanted me to tell you when the Angel came back, and she’s in Mommy’s room.”

“Nobody else is supposed to be in there, they said two at a time. Damn it, who would be visiting her? We haven’t even told anyone she’s here.”

“Major,” Violet says, taking my hand from behind her neck.

“I think she means a real angel, not a person.”

Violet’s lost her mind. Angels don’t hang out in hospital rooms, and people certainly can’t see them. She must be going along with it for Summer’s benefit.

“Oh, okay, well in that case, we had better get in there and see what she has to say today.” I say, playing along.

Summer’s face lights up when she thinks we believe her. She turns to run back into Sam’s room and the three of us follow. The nurse eyes us, and I hold up my hand, palm out. “We have to see an angel. It’ll only take a second, and I promise to go back to two visitors.”

She nods, and we all enter the dimly lit room. Summer is having trouble crawling back onto Sam’s bed, so I go to give her a boost.

“See? I told you she would come back. She wanted you to come in the room so she could do something.” Summer is pointing at the empty space at the foot of the bed. I wonder if kids hallucinate when they’re really stressed out, and if they do, am I supposed to encourage it or not?

“Really? What’s she going to do?” Violet says, moving to the space next to where the angel is supposedly standing with Malory.

“She’s going to wake mommy up,” Summer says, smiling wide.

Violet and I exchange worried looks. I hate to see Summer disappointed again. This is so hard on her.

“She is? That’s amazing, is she sure she can do it?” Violet asks.

Summer looks to the void next to Violet and back, “Yep, she can do it. She says God sent her to answer our prayers. You were right, Violet. Praying works.”

“Oh no, this is going to be heart wrenching.”

I reach out and rub Summer’s back and break the news that prayers aren’t always answered quickly, and sometimes the answer is no. “Sweetheart, I don’t want you to get your hopes up too—”

“Major,” Violet says, interrupting me.

“We need to explain this to her, Violet—”

“No, Major look,” she says, pointing at the screen that reads Sam’s vital signs and brain wave activity, or lack thereof, as it’s been lately. At the exact moment Summer made her claim about the angel answering our prayers, the minimally wavering lines reading her brain’s activity started to spike and drop drastically.

No way. I can’t believe it.

“See, told ya,” Summer says, leaning down to hug her mother around the waist. With her eyes closed, she snuggles her mother with the most peaceful smile. Davy hasn’t said a word. He’s been staring at the end of the bed with his mouth hanging open since we walked in.

Summer reaches behind her for her mother’s hand and pulls it around her waist. If you didn’t know better, it looks like Samantha’s hugging her daughter, and then I see it. Sam’s fingers moved, all of them. She’s patting Summer’s hip ever so slightly, but she’s moving.

“Get the nurse. Tell her to get Dr. Kumar,” I say, making my way around the bed to look at Sam’s face. Her lips part, but that is all. She’s trying to talk. She’s trying to wake up.

When I look down at Summer, she peers up at me through her eyelashes with a slightly smug expression. Then I glance around the room at Davy, who is now concentrating on his mother’s face, and Malory, who is smiling up at the empty angel space.

“Malory, what are you doing?”

She looks at me with sparkling eyes and says, “Daddy, Violet’s going to have a baby. I’m going to have a real brother or sister!”

I can’t swallow past the lump in my throat, and I stumble back a step and grab onto the bed rail for support. She can’t know that, there’s no way . . . unless . . .

Violet returns with a nurse and Dr. Kumar. When our eyes meet, she can see something’s wrong—or right. I can’t think right now.

Nurses and Dr. Kumar gently escort the kids out of the room, and Violet pulls me aside while they examine Samantha.

“Hey, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I need to sit down.”

“Oh, okay.” She takes my arm and leads me to a chair at the opposite end of the room from the activity happening around Sam.

“Do you feel all right? Should I ask Dr. Kumar to check you out? Seriously, Major, you’re white as a ghost.”

“Did you tell Malory about the baby?”

“What? No, of course not. I would never do that.”

“Who else knows?”

“My mother and Dr. Kumar. That’s it, nobody else. Why? What’s going on? You’re freaking me out.”

I turn to face Violet in the chair next to mine. “She knows. Malory knows you’re pregnant, and she said the . . . the angel told her just now.”

I’m not a man of faith. I believe in God, but I’ve never been a big prayer or churchgoer. The first half of my life I hated Him. I couldn’t understand how a loving God could give me such horrible parents. But as time went on and I grew up, things got better and I released my anger. Now I’m sort of in limbo, well, until a few minutes ago anyway.

“I think there was a real angel in here, Violet. I think Summer and Malory saw something.”

Violet chuckles and takes my face in her hands. “Of course there was.” She presses a soft kiss on my lips, “You don’t believe in angels and fairies and leprechauns, do you?” she asks with disapproval in her tone.

“I do now. Maybe not leprechauns though, they’re creepy.”

She laughs and kisses me again, and my mind wanders to all of the things Violet has given me in the short time we’ve known each other. She’s given me a calm I’ve never experienced, happiness, a new child, a soon to be wife, a family of my own, faith, support, and above all, love.