Page 299 of Vegas Heat

It’s a roller coaster, and there’s no one I want to ride it with as we scream our lungs out and toss our joined hands up in the air than Cooper Michael Noah.

And then he kneels down. He presses his lips to my stomach where our baby is growing. “Hi little one,” he says softly. “I’m your daddy.” He presses his cheek there and holds me for a beat, and then he lifts to a stand. His gaze is hot when it finds mine. “And I’m your daddy, too,” he rasps.

I giggle, but the truth is his words send a wave of need through my entire system that seems to land with a needy ache right between my legs. It’ll have to wait, though.

When we arrive in Mike’s office, he gives me a hug.

“Congratulations,” Mike says.

I look over at my dad. “You told him?”

My dad laughs. “I’m excited, okay?”

“Okay, but let me make the announcements from here on out.”

Cooper chuckles at the exchange between us and somehow it makes me feel like everything’s going to be okay—even between the two of them. Maybe my dad didn’t like the idea at first and that’s okay. He doesn’t have to like it. Maybe me standing up to him was what he needed to see I’m not just a little girl. I’m an adult capable of making my own decisions—and he got to watch as Cooper chose me, too. He can see for himself how right this is. How right we are together.

“When are you due?” Mike asks, and I can’t help but find it sort of funny that he’s the one who asks first…not the father or the grandfather.

“September ninth.”

Cooper’s jaw slackens at the realization.

“That’s a month before the regular season ends, and then we’ll have the postseason we’re going to plow through,” my dad says.

Cooper glances at him, but before he gets the chance to say a word, my father speaks first.

“I’m not letting you walk away, Noah,” he says gruffly. “You’re part of my daughter’s life, and that means you’ll be part of mine. I fucked up, you fucked up…we all fucked up. But this is where we make things right again. We should probably sit down and set some ground rules for how this will shake out. Obviously we’re not going to share our conquests the way we might once have…”

I wrinkle my nose at the thought, and my dad laughs.

“Sweetheart, if we’re all adults here, don’t make me point out that you’re carrying his baby, so we all have a pretty good idea of how that happened.” He holds up both hands as if he’s just stating the obvious.

“Dad!” I screech, covering my blushing face with both hands.

“I believe it’s safe to travel up to thirty-six weeks barring any complications,” Mike says. “So if we hire you as our social media manager, we’ll need a solution for what to do from August through the end of the year.”

“Hire me?” I echo.

Mike nods. “You were head and shoulders above the rest and you weren’t even fighting for the position. I knew I needed to find a way to get you to stay.”

“I appreciate that more than I can say. And I can think of somebody who might have a good solution for the whole maternity leave thing,” I say pointedly.

“Joanie?” Cooper suggests, his tone full of absurdity as if no one else considered that.

My dad draws in a deep breath and closes his eyes for a beat, and then he nods. “Let’s go.”

When the four of us show up in Joanie’s doorway, she looks somewhere between surprised and shocked.

“What’s going on?” she asks. She sits behind her desk, and her eyes move to my dad’s. His are on hers, too. The tension in here is palpable.

Mike sits in a chair across from her desk. Cooper stands back, and he tosses his arm around my shoulders while my dad glances at me and offers the other chair facing her desk with a nod. I shake my head, so he makes his way onto the chair, and Joanie looks epically confused.

“I believe my daughter would like to throw her hat back into the ring for the social media management position,” my dad says rather formally.

“I can speak for myself, Dad.” I roll my eyes. “Joanie, I would love to be considered for the social media manager position.”

Joanie’s face breaks out into a wide smile. “That’s why I had you interview, Gabby. I knew you were perfect for the positionand I had to get you in the lineup just in case you changed your mind.”

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