Page 40 of Love You Too

I shrug. “I can’t help it. I’m a host down to my bones.”

“You,” he rasps against my skin, guiding my hips so they’re locked around his head. Each word vibrates through my center, followed by a surge of pleasure. “Are the perfect host. You are the appetizer…” His kisses burn my skin. “The cocktail, the main course…but I never could wait to get to my dessert. You’re the most alluring goddamn banquet.”

His hands sear my skin in every place he touches, and I sigh as he ravishes me with his tongue. My brain takes a back seat to the ribbons of heat coursing through my veins. I’m fully present and also losing my mind.

I may not be good at feeding myself at regular intervals, but I am very good at knowing what my body really wants. It’s the man who looks like a Greek god and kisses like a saint. The rest of life is negotiable.

CHAPTER 15

Ren

I wakeup feeling fucking happy. For the first time, a new day hits me without the emptiness that comes from my heart’s missing piece. I’m no longer pining for a woman who seemed lost to me forever because she’s right here. Today, I feel free.

I’m pretty sure it’s early morning, but I really have no clue. I don’t dare move for fear of waking Trix, who’s starfished on her stomach with one leg draped over my hip and an arm across my chest. Her hair is untidy and free, splayed out on the pillow, and her long lashes fan out over the tops of her cheeks. I could stare at her naked body forever, and there’s just enough light seeping through the blinds to bathe her in a pale glow.

Gazing at her, I feel a familiar sense that everything is right with the world—familiar, even though it was ten years earlier that I last felt this way. That feeling lulled me to sleep, despite the bombshell shoving its way back into my consciousness.One more minute to enjoy this please, I beg my own brain.

The last thing I remember is how good it felt when she curled her body into mine and drifted to sleep while I smoothed her hair.

The birds are awake, sitting in whatever types of trees flank my house, chirping their little hearts out about the dawn. Otherwise, the room is quiet and still, which allows me to think.

Preseason games begin in a few days, and we have an afternoon training session later. I need whatever mental energy I can muster to come up with a new form of pep talk that will inspire the guys to stop fucking around. We need to start playing like a team instead of a roster of superstars trying to hog the spotlight. I’ve said it a hundred times. Maybe it’s time to start saying something else.

Once my mind gets going, there’s no chance I’ll fall back asleep. Now that I’m awake and alone with my thoughts, there’s no escaping the truth. I’m going to be a dad.

I could think of it as pure biology. My genetic material will be part of a new baby, and Trix made it clear she doesn’t expect anything from me. I could go on my merry way, play my home and away games like usual, and pop in occasionally to visit like the mysterious, fun uncle. I could be an absentee dad and let her raise the kid with her big, involved family. They’ll barely know I’m missing.

But as the child raised without a dad, that’s the last fucking thing I want for any kid, let alone my own.

My own kid.

The words still ring hollow in my mind because they’re so new, so unfamiliar, so unplanned.

That’s the beauty of life, though, right? Not everything goes according to plan.

I can see Trix struggling with that idea. The woman I’m getting to know has plans and organizers and lists. Seeing her try to surrender to something outside her control makes me want towrap her up and take on the world so she doesn’t have to. Or do it with her.

Isn’t that why I came back to town, to try to rekindle something?

Yeah, but not like this.

“Trix,” I whisper, running a hand lightly down the smooth skin of her back.

She stirs and murmurs, “Mm-hmm.”

“Good morning.”

She turns her face toward the sound of my voice, eyes still closed. “First rule of parenting: never wake a sleeping baby.” Her voice is soft, but the small smile is teasing.

“Yeah. About that…”

Her eyes blink open, and she rolls to the side. Leaning her cheek on her hand, she looks instantly awake, ready for business. I’m still getting used to this woman who’s so much more goal-oriented than the one I knew in college. I kick myself for waking her out of the sleepy, soft state she was in a moment ago when she was pliant, draped across me, and unconcerned about anything.

“We don’t have to get into that—” she stammers and shakes her head.

“No, I want to.” I run a finger across her lips, silencing her as my hand continues to trace the delicate features of her face. “I’m in, Trix. I want to do this with you. Share custody or whatever they call it.”

Her smile grows. “Co-parenting. It’s called co-parenting.”

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