Page 50 of Walk Off

“Send me a list of everything you pay for that’s for Jasmine. I’ll cover it all from this day forward.”

“No, that’s not what I want.” She was shaking her head and he could see the pleading in her eyes.

“I need to do it. I need to feel like I’m doing something, like I have some sort of control over what’s happening. Please,” he added, hoping she understood. This was important to him. He didn’t want to buy his way into Jasmine’s life, but he needed to feel like he was a part of it.

She nodded. “I’ll give it to you at dinner.”

His head whipped up, his eyes connecting with hers. “You still want me to come?”

“Yes. Absolutely. I want you to spend time with Jasmine, and she and I will tell you all the stories we can about her childhood.”

A part of him was relieved that she was still willing to see him and fill him in on all the things he missed. He shouldn’t be shocked, though. That was Celia, who she was at her core. A good person. The person who’d lied to him for eight years wasn’t who she was. That person was born out of fear and uncertainty.

This was the woman he’d fallen in love with all those years ago.

The woman he was pretty sure he still loved.

Leaving her apartment was on par with leaving the day she’d broken up with him. It felt like the end, like this was it. He could only hope that it wasn’t.

He spent the rest of the night tossing and turning thinking of his time with Celia. The sex was off the charts fantastic. It had always been good, but they’d been young, still unsure about what they liked and didn’t like. Not any longer. She was uninhibited and open to things he’d done to her. She moaned beautifully at his touch, and it made him that much harder.

The fact that she’d stayed untouched this whole time blew his mind. That had to mean something. A woman as vibrant and sexy as Celia didn’t go without sex unless there was a reason. Could the reason be she’d been waiting for him to come back into her life?

If that was the case, wouldn’t she be more open to being with him? He understood completely what she’d said about Jasmine and not confusing her, but if she liked him and he obviously liked her, why couldn’t they try again?

Wait, maybe it wasn’t so obvious what he was asking for. Did she think he only wanted sex? Of course, she did. He’d shown up at her home at ten o’clock at night for sex. What else was she supposed to think? He had to show her that it wasn’t just all about sex. He had to prove to her that he wanted to be in not only Jasmine’s life but in hers too.

Only, he had no idea how to do that.

How did one go about making the mother of your child fall in love with you again?

He just might need some help.

––––––––

The next day, he hit up the gym again with Heath and Noah, and was surprised to also find Dallas and Edwin in the training room.

Dallas strolled up next to him. “I heard you had a good first meeting with Jazz.”

Hearing that made him giddy like a child. He wanted to ask what she’d said about him and if it was good. Since that would make him sound like a crazy person, he opted for, “I thought so. I’m seeing her again tonight.”

“So I heard,” Dallas said. “In fact, if you check your messages, you might see that dinner is now at our house.” Dallas raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Celia called Ruby all panicked this morning about not wanting to be alone with you. Something you need to tell me?”

Kyle’s heart practically stopped beating. She was afraid to be alone with him? Wait, maybe that was good. His heart sped up. If she was afraid, maybe it was because she was having a hard time keeping her hands off him.

That was a good thing.

He knew exactly how she felt.

He scratched the back of his neck, not sure how much he should open up to Dallas, someone he knew, but not well enough to divulge his darkest fears. In the end, he decided to go with the truth. Maybe Dallas was just the person he needed to help him figure out what to do. “We seem to have a problem keeping our hands to ourselves.”

Dallas didn’t make a move, only stared at him for several seconds. “I guess that’s only a bad thing if you're using her. Are you? Using her?”

His straightforward question had Kyle answering quickly. “No. Not at all.”

“Then what are you doing?”

Zara’s words from the day before rang through his head. Push down the door. “I think I’m trying to win her back.”

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