Player: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (25 page)

“
T
here she is
.”

That voice of his is the first thing I see, followed by those perfect hazel eyes the second I open mine. He’s leaning over me as I open my eyes, his face full of concern but with that smile teasing his lips.

I cringe. “God, did I
faint?
”

I start to try and get to my feet, but his hand is on my arm. “Whoa, hang on, princess. Everything’s fine, but just sit tight a few.”

A cold fear shoots through me as my hands suddenly move to my belly.

“
Everything
is fine,” he says softly, looking down at my laced hands as his moves to cover them. “Medics said you just had a panic attack, that’s all. No concussion, nothing serious.” He closes his fingers around mine. “Feel like standing?”

I nod, and he slowly helps me to my feet. The glint on my finger catches my eyes, and I glance down and shudder at the ring on my finger.

Vince’s
ring.

I quickly claw it off my hand like it’s burning me, tossing it into the grass with a shiver before I turn to look up at Austin. I’m almost afraid to ask the next thing that pops into my head, but knowing I have to lay it out here and now.

“Look, if you came here today because of
this-
” I look down towards my belly. “I’m not- I mean, I’m not
that
girl, Austin. I’m not going to be like Tina or something and try to sue you or anything like-”

“The Tina thing is over,” he says quickly, shaking his head. “Turns out it was
Harry
.”

My jaw drops. “Wait,
what?
”

He makes a face, pushing his fingers through his mop of hair. “Yeah, some sort of- look, not important.” He grins as he glances up into my face, his eyes twinkling. His hands move to my waist, sliding over my hips and gently pulling me towards him.

“The only thing that’s important is that I’m all yours, princess,” he says evenly, his eyes burning right into mine. “Of course I came back for
this
,” he says, bringing a palm down to lay across my belly. “But I came back for
you
.”

He pulls me closer against him, and it’s almost on instinct that my hands slide up to his chest.

Suddenly, Austin’s face goes tight as he starts to breath quickly. He starts to drop to his knees, and all of a sudden the panic comes rushing back into me.

Oh God, the tackle in the church.

I’m suddenly realizing that in my whole ridiculous fainting spell, I’ve never asked him if
he’s
hurt from slamming Vince to the ground.

“Oh
God
, Austin!” I drop to my knees, my hands going to his face as my eyes go wide. “
Shit
, are you okay?!”

He stares at me. “What?” he shakes his head as his brow furrows. “Nat I’m-”

“Is it your head?” I’m gasping, feeling the the panic spiraling through me as I cup his face in my hands. “Sit down! I’m going to grab one of the med-”

“
Natalie
.”

The firmness of his voice stops me, and as I turn back I suddenly realize he’s grinning at me. “No,
you
stand;
I
kneel.”

“I-”

Oh.

OH.

He rolls his eyes as I slowly stand, feeling my heart hammering in my chest as my chest rises and falls.

“So, you left this at my place-”

Austin holds his hand up, and there in his fingers, glittering gaudily in the sunlight, is the ring.

My
ring, from Vegas.

“And I was sort of hoping you might want it back.”

Oh my God
.

My lips are opening and closing, but no words come out as I blink and just stare at the man on one knee before me.

“Natalie Ames-”

Austin looks up at me, that same cowboy grin on his face and that dangerous glimmer in his eyes that swept me away by the elevators of the Chateau Marmont.
Before
the fake marriage,
before
Vegas,
before
all the ups and down and turmoil.

Before I realized I fell in love with him with that first look.

My heart
stops
for one single beat as the whole world goes still around us and Austin looks right into my eyes and takes a deep breath.

“I fucked this up the first time around. But
this
time, I want to do this right.”

He looks me right in the eye, and I’m almost saying yes before he even says the words.

“Will you marry me? For real this time, and for always.”

I’m screaming and throwing my arms around him as he stands. And then his lips are on mine, kissing me fiercely - a kiss that fills in all the gaps and lets everything else in the world just fall away.

“I love you,” he murmurs into my lips, and I can feel the tears start to pour down my cheeks.

Happy ones
this time.

“I love you too,” I whisper back, feeling him grin as he picks me up and spins me around, kissing me all over again.

“Natalie!”

I turn from Austin just as Vivian all but tackles me, throwing her arms around me and hugging me tight. “You scared the
shit
out of me!” She pulls back, grinning at me. “I can’t believe you
fainted
.”

My jaw drops. “Well I can’t believe you
left
me here!”

She laughs. “
Please!
I was getting your
man
here and his smooth spy of a friend to come break this whole thing up.” She nods behind her to a sheepishly grinning Kyle.

I furrow my brow at him over her shoulder. “Yeah, Kyle, you carry a
gun
now?”

He frowns, stooping to pick Vince’s glittering silver ring off the grass. “Why is this so hard for everyone to comprehend?”

Austin laughs and shakes head. “Because you’re a big sweetheart, buddy.”

“I am not,” he mutters.

Vivian grins. “Oh, I think it was
very
sweet of you to come help rescue my sister, you know.”

Kyle looks up, flashing a charming grin as he pushes a hand through his hair. “Hey, you know, just doing my job.”

I glance at Austin in time to see him roll his eyes.

“So, listen,” Kyle turns towards my sister with a shrug. “I was thinking maybe you and I-”

“
Oooh my God
,” Vivian’s face goes white as her eyes drop to his hand. “I, uh, look, I don’t even know you-”

Kyle’s face falls before he follows her eyes to the ring in his hand. “Oh
shit!
” His face goes red as he quickly jerks the ring behind his back. “No! No-no, I was going to say ‘get some coffee sometime’, not-” He swallows quickly. “You know, not that.”

Vivian blushes. “
Coffee
I could probably commit to.”

Austin pulls me aside.

“You know, you, uh-” He clears his throat and arches a brow at me.

“You never actually said yes, you know.”

The corners of my mouth curl. “Oh, I didn’t?”

“Nope.”

“Hmm…” I bring my hand up to tap my chin, pantomiming a long thinking face. “I mean, I’m going to need some sort of prenup - you know, to
protect
myself.”

Austin rolls his eyes.

“And of course we’re going to have to sign a legally binding napkin of some-”

“Hey princess.” He yanks me tight against him, his hand coming up to cup my chin.

“Will you just shut up and say yes?”

I barely have time to get the word out before my mouth goes crashing into his.

“
Yes,
” I whisper out into his lips. “A
thousand
times yes.”

“You know-” Austin shoots a look back towards his friend and my sister. Vivian’s making gooey eyes at Kyle, who seems to have the world’s biggest grin on his face as he shrugs casually and says something that makes my sister laugh.

I turn back to see Austin flashing me a smile as he dangles a set of keys in the air between us.

I raise a brow at him. “And what might those be?”

He grins. “
These
are the keys to that
lovely
new yacht tied to the pier over there.” He nods towards a sleek looking boat down on the water before turning back to me and winking.

“And whether she knows it or not, your sister is running some
seriously
great interference on a certain
owner
of that boat.”

The smile creeps across my face as I shake my head at him.

“You are
terrible!
”

“Terrible enough that you don’t want me to take you out on that boat and tear this
terrible
wedding dress off of you?”

My jaw drops. “
Terrible,
huh?”

Austin makes an exaggerated grimace face as he scratches his head. “Awful, honestly, I’d be doing you a favor by literally ripping it off of you.”

My cheeks flush as I step into him, dragging a finger up his hard chest through his t-shirt. “Is that a threat, or a promise,” I husk against his lips.

“
Both
,” he growls, his eyes flashing hungrily at me.

I shrug as casually as I can with the raw need for him coursing through my body like hot fire.

“Well, I suppose it
is
a pretty terrible dress.”

“The worst.”

“Tear it off me you say?”

“There won’t be a
stitch
of it left on you.”

“Why Mr. Taylor, are you saying you want me
naked?
”

“Nothing but a smile and that ring, princess,” he growls.

I shiver as the heat pools between my legs, pulling his lips to mine by the collar of his t-shirt.

“I think we need to get to that boat,” I moan into his lips as he kisses me. “
Right now
.”

I muffle my shriek into his shoulder as he scoops me up and makes a dash for the dock.

Ten minutes and half a mile out to sea later, he makes good on that promise.

S
tandalone Stepbrother Romance
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S
oldiers of Fortune Series
:

Heat

Burn

Scorch

Roar