Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance (64 page)

How could an orgasm be as sharp as the swipe of claws? As fierce as a bite?

As perfect as
him
?

Nothing so crazed and raw had ever seized my body…

And nothing so powerful had ever conquered my heart, my soul, my past and present and the dangerous thoughts of my future.

As much as I wanted this man, as much as I had begged for his touch, I’d never be satisfied. Not because he hadn’t fucked me with a skill and power only a god should have possessed…but because
once
would never be enough.

I didn’t just want Cole for tonight.

This was the type of passion, adventure, and lust that I longed to feel for…

Forever
.

And that wasn’t a thought that would lead to a happily ever after.

Cole held himself over me, conquering his own pleasure and straining as he remained upright, tensed, and poised within me. He gently removed his thumb before pulling out. Heat splashed from me, around me, onto me.

A wonderful feeling.

I twisted, resisting the urge to collapse upon his bed and curl against the monster of a man. But he had already shifted away, offering me the chance to breathe.

Alone.

Without him.

I was lost on the bed in my own thoughts and foolish desires.

I propped myself up, not meeting his eyes. I had no idea what to say. How to explain what I thought, what he did for me, how exhilarating it had felt to be taken and taken so hard and unapologetically.

I licked my lips. Cole tugged on his pants and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Silent.

He wasn’t the type who looked for cuddles and gratitude. I brushed the hair from my face with a small smile and slipped from the bed to gather the tatters of my clothes. Fortunately, the baby monitor hadn’t made a peep.

He didn’t watch me go.

I almost wished he had asked me to stay, but I wasn’t ready for that complication.

I wasn’t ready for
him
.

G
oddamn it
—the kid’s stuffed rabbit was hidden in my away-game duffel bag.

I untangled the toy from my headphones and shoes. The bunny—Mr. Rumpleass or whatever the hell Piper called it—was buried beneath my travel case and a spare set of clothes.

Shit
.

I wiggled the little bunny. He practically became the fourth occupant in my house. Over the past week, I’d found him in the kitchen, conquering the pillow fort that had become my den, and snuggled beside Rose while she slept. Anywhere the kid was, the stuffed animal went.

He didn’t belong with me on an away game.

I hadn’t thought to check the bag before I left for the airport. Then again, I never had the risk of a stowaway before.

Now what?

I was on the other side of the damn country for the game, and the baby was probably freaking out. I couldn’t do anything to help. Just another reason to hate away games and being pulled away from my estate.

Except, this time, I didn’t mind the distance. I needed that space away from Piper, time to think about what I had done to her.

The sex had been great…at the time. It had heated my blood, cracked my bones, and drained my balls so thoroughly I was left a hollow shell for the rest of the night.

But what I was supposed to say to her now?

I couldn’t explain why I took her the way that I did. It wasn’t romantic. Hell, it wasn’t even kind. I fucked her
remorselessly
, manhandling her offered body. And I had loved it.

The thought sickened me. I really was a beast, getting off on treating Piper that way, the only woman who I might have…

I needed to apologize.

I held the bunny for a minute too long. My suite-mate for the night snorted as he glanced over.

“That yours?” Tim Morgan flashed a pretty boy smile meant to enrage me. “Didn’t know you had a stuffy, Hawthorne.”

The team captains always roomed together. Unfortunately, that meant I suffered with the league’s biggest asshole. It usually worked in my favor. One night with Tim and I’d be
eager
to hit someone by kickoff.

“It’s not mine,” I said.

“It was packed in your bag.”

“By mistake.”

“It’s kinda cute.” Tim rolled off his bed and approached. Mistake. He faked a baby-voice and laughed. “Look, it’s a widdle-bunny-wabbit.”

He reached for it. I should have punched him so hard those goddamned dimples would have popped out of his cheeks. I batted him away instead, tucking the bunny safe in my bag, on the opposite side of my shoes. No sense getting it dirty.

“Not mine. It’s my…” I quieted. What the hell was Piper to me? “My friend’s…agent’s…kid’s toy.”

“Why the fuck do
you
have it?”

I shrugged. “Maybe the kid wanted to give me a good luck charm but didn’t have the heart or motor-control to chop its foot off.”

“Yeah. That’s it.”

I frowned. “I think she was playing and lost it. Kid’s gonna be upset. It’s her favorite toy.”

“Right.”

I stared at the bunny, my voice actually warming. “She’s a little thing. Not even a year and a half.”

Tim made a face. “I hated that age. They’re always crying and shitting themselves.”

“Not this one. She’s usually happy. Giggling and babbling.”

Was I smiling? This was the most I’d ever talked to Tim—to any teammate—in years.

“She’s started…running to greet me when I get home,” I said. “Like a dog but…cuter.”

Tim snorted. “This
your
kid?”

“No.”

He sat on his bed, pulling a flask from his overnight bag. He took a swig though we weren’t supposed to drink before a game. Just lucky he didn’t use it to wash down a handful of Oxy. “You’re trying to fuck the mom. She’s the agent, right? What’s her name? Polly? Penny?”

My voice lowered. “Piper.”

“Damn. She’s got a kid?” He gave a low whistle. “Gotta love a MILF. They’re the freaky ones, can’t wait to get away from their kids. They’ll swallow a cock, bang your brains out, and kick you out of their bed before nap time ends. I got a girl like that—she’s no nonsense. In and out.”

I scowled. “Aren’t you married?”

“So?”

“Don’t you have a kid?”

“She’s got nothing to do with it.”

It was amazing how Tim’s reputation had gone from asshole of the century to squeaky-clean family man after his marriage. But, without him snorting every drug on the planet and beating a hooker, the league had no choice to focus on
me
as the current trouble-maker and scape-goat.

Christ, I didn’t even get any help from the Rivets’ quarterback, Jack Carson. Once, he was Ainsley Ruport’s whipping boy and nearly got his ass bounced from the league. Then he modeled himself after Tim. The Play-Maker cleaned up his image with a family too—though from what I heard, his was legit. Jack had changed his ways.

Tim still needed an ass kicking.

And he kept
talking
. “You already fucked her, didn’t you?”

I didn’t answer, and if he knew what was good for him, he’d shut it before I punted his worthless hide out of our fifth-story window.

“I’m going to bed,” I said.

“Dude, get the hell out of that mess. Fuck her once and toss her out. Don’t get mired with a bitch and a baby.”

“Don’t call her a bitch.”

Tim sighed. “She’s your agent. She knows what you make. She’s just looking for a sugar daddy.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Just sayin’.” He shrugged. “She’s already got one kid. She knows how the game is played. Next thing you know, she’ll be poking holes in a condom and calculating out
your
child support. You don’t want to be paying a woman off on the DL. Believe me.”

I didn’t answer him, and I didn’t bother flicking the light off. I grabbed the lamp and hurled it against the wall. The room plunged into darkness, and Tim shut up.

Piper wasn’t that kind of woman.

She wasn’t looking for another baby. Rose was her world, and nothing was going to jeopardize their bond. I was just lucky I got as close to her as I had.

I’d never met a woman like her. She faced me without hesitation, without fear, and she gave herself to me in absolute trust.

And I dishonored that gift.

I’d fucked the ever-loving shit out of her. Ruthless. Desperate. I had ached to hear her moan, and my only desire that night had been to make her come harder than she thought possible. I’d wanted to make sure that if she
ever
wanted to feel that way again, she’d have to find it in my bed.

But the things I did, the way I’d taken her…

She deserved better than a monstrous rutting. Flowers. Candles. Music. I should have worshiped her. Instead I’d treated her like a goddamned whore. I’d wrapped myself in her body, slammed a thumb in her ass, and fucked her until I nearly passed out as she bucked and groaned.

At least she came so hard my sheets were
soaked
in her desire.

Nothing about women made any sense to me.

I held my phone in my hand. Silent. Should I have called her? It felt like the right thing to do. To…check-in?

I typed out the text. It sounded stupid in my head and I deleted it after only three words.

Did I have to say
hi
in a text? She knew who the message was from, right?

Christ. I had no idea what I was doing. I rarely sent texts. Never needed to talk to anyone before.

Never had to worry about a damn toddler falling asleep without her favorite toy.

I have the bunny.

Deleted it.

I found Mr. Rumpleass.

Deleted. She hated when I called it by the wrong name.

I have Mr. Bumpybottom
.

I deleted that too. Hell if I was leaving a record of the word
Bumpybottom
on my cell phone bill. Besides, it wasn’t what I wanted to say.

The words flickered onto my screen.

Are you okay? Are you mad? Do you regret fucking me?

I deleted those too, hating myself with every typed character.

You deserve better.

I didn’t delete that one, but I didn’t send it. Instead I added to it.

You and the baby deserve better.

I almost hit send.
Almost
.

I knew Piper didn’t want to make anything complicated, and a text like that would fuck both of us over. It had just been sex. She’d wanted to get fucked, and I obliged. That was the end of it.

So why did I fall asleep worrying about both of them?

And why did I wake up, dress for the stadium, and carry the damn bunny with me to the locker room?

* * *

I
rubbed
the bunny for luck at halftime when we were down by three.

It worked. No wonder the kid liked the damn animal so much.

After a quarter of stuffing Ashenville’s offense, ours finally showed up. Tim scrambled for a touchdown five minutes before the end of the game, and we held Ashenville after I sacked their quarterback for a huge loss. The
clean
hit forced a punt, and we regained possession of the ball to run the clock out.

It wasn’t a bad win. Wasn’t a good one either, but I preferred to claw a victory out in the mud. It proved that we deserved it.

But I wasn’t sure what thrilled me more—winning the game…or coming home.

It was the middle of the night when I crawled into the house. The baby’s crying wasn’t a good sign.

I managed to step over the first baby-gate, but I crashed through the second blocking off the kitchen. My legs didn’t work, and the duffle bag clattered to the ground. I tangled in another maze of baby-proofing that served only to prevent me from moving in my own house.

Why the hell did Piper
magnet
lock the cabinets if she was just going to barricade me and the baby out of the kitchen?

It wasn’t the time to ask. For as sexy, wanton, and raging as she had looked on Friday, early Monday morning Piper was…still beautiful, but obviously exhausted. Her hair fell from her ponytail, and she wore sweats with mix-matched socks. She bounced a red-faced, frustrated, absolutely inconsolable baby girl in her arms.

When had she last slept?

When had the
kid
last slept?

What the hell happened in the day and a half that I left?

“Is…” I pointed to the weeping, snotty, bawling child. “Is she going to do that all night?”

Piper’s laugh threaded a bit of insanity into her exhaustion. “All night? Try all
weekend
!”

“Is she okay?”

“It’s…we…” Piper wrangled Rose and plunked down onto the couch with her. “We lost her favorite stuffed animal, and she has a fever, and—”

I tensed. “Wait, what?”

“Her stuffed animal. Mr. Bunny Bumpybottom—”

“Yeah, I know. Rumpleass the rabbit.” Adrenaline surged through me. “What fever? What are you talking about?”

“A little ear infection, I think.”

I
knew
I should have checked in. Something tore at me last night, and I regretted not texting, not making sure everything was okay. The baby whined against Piper, covering her delicate little ears with a chubby fist.

“She’s
sick?
” I patted my pockets for my car keys. “Do we…what do we do?”

“Do?”

“I’ll pull the car around. There’s probably not a doctor this late. That’s fine. I’ll get us to the hospital—”

Piper shook her head. “It’s an ear infection. Babies get them all the time. I already have an appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow.”

“So what do we do until then? What happens? She’s just supposed to…”

Cry?

Break my fucking heart?

Piper kissed her forehead. “I need to put her down.”

“
Jesus Christ
!”

“To
bed,
Cole.”

Oh. Fuck. My head pounded. I couldn’t take much more of this. Piper didn’t seem worried, but the thought of Rose feeling terrible and sickly and feverish?

Hell, it made
me
sick.

Made me feel…helpless.

If I couldn’t cure a fever, I’d do the next best thing. I unzipped my duffle bag and pulled out the bunny. Rose didn’t see it at first, so I flipped it in my hand, slapping his ears from one side of his fuzzy head to the other.

“I found this when we landed in California,” I said. “I think she put it in my bag.”

Piper stared at the stuffed animal like I offered her a million dollars.

Or a decent night’s sleep.

“She knows it’s your bag…” Piper bit her lip. “She wanted to share him with you.”

“She really should verbalize that.”

“Oh, you have
no
idea…” Piper knelt with Rose on the ground, letting the baby stand. “Look, Rosie. Look who Cole found!”

Rose couldn’t see me through the tears. I hobbled closer on one knee and held the bunny out.

She stumbled a bit. Looked at the stuffed animal. She babbled something adorable and excited.

Rose raced towards me. I offered the bunny. She didn’t want that.

I froze as she padded to my chest and wrapped her little arms around me in a fierce hug.

Holy shit
.

The adrenaline pumped harder. I had no idea what to do. I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.