Page 19 of When to Call a Blitz

Leo scoffs. “And you’re just scared.”

It’s always entertaining to listen to the new ways that the guys will absolutely obliterate each other day in and day out.

I love my teammates and I love my friends, but it’s also no secret that I’ve never been the most talkative out of all of them. Although I love my job and I love this sport, I look at it more as a job than the other guys. I go to work, get whatever I need done, but my ultimate goal is to get home and be with my kid for as long as possible. Well, Juniper and my car in the garage.

“You guys going to Lulu’s tonight?” Cooper asks the guys. He probably shouldn’t be going out tonight, but Cooper is a special breed.

When there’s a quick break in conversation, I stand, leaning into Leo. “Hey man, can I talk to you for a few?”

Without a word, Leo pulls me into one of the side rooms. “What’s up?” he asks, his chest practically touching mine.

“Why does this feel like we’re participating in a drug deal or something?” I ask with a laugh, stepping back.

Leo takes a step closer. “You’re the one making it awkward. What did you have to tell me?”

I close my eyes, completely aware that after I ask this, there’s no real going back. “I need you to do me a favor, if you’re open to it.”

He takes another step forward. “You know I got you man.”

Needing to get this over with, I spit it out. “I just hired Heidi to help me with Juni. I was wondering if you could make sure she has a ticket and a place to hang at the game this weekend with her, is that okay?”

Leo smirks. “It’s more than okay. I got you.”

But the little glint in his eye tells me that he’s more than okay with it. He’selatedwith the idea of Heidi being there for me.

The man has been trying to get me to date forever, and when he realized that I was talking to Heidi more than just every once in awhile, or when she was watching Juniper for short bouts of time, he was an absolute menace.

I can’t date. I won’t date. Sure, I’ve had some flings every once in awhile, but they were few and far between, not that a lot of the team knows that.

Leo has been the only person on the whole team that I’ve trusted with my whole life. The guy may be a complete idiot sometimes, but I love him. He’s always had my back no matter what and he’s cared for my family as his own.

He was the only one up until recently who even knew I had a daughter. Owen didn’t even know for the longest time. I love being a dad, but I didn’t want to explain where her mom is.

I wasn’t trying to hide her, but I was trying to protect her.

“I’ll talk to Briar tonight, alright?” I can feel his breath against my neck, and it makes me want to die.

“Yeah. Thanks. Now please get away from me.”

9

HEIDI

“Ineed to go outside,” Juniper tells me, her face dead serious as she stares at me, a plate of apples in her hands.

“O—okay,” I say, confused. “Everything alright?”

Instead of answering me, Juniper sets off.

It’s been a couple days of watching Juniper until Emmett gets home, and nothing special has happened. Not that I ever expected it to. I think, for whatever reason, Emmett and I are destined to be magnets, our poles just never quite aligning.

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t watch as he scoops his daughter into his arms, a giant smile across his face of which I’ve never seen before. His biceps are so big they make my brain buzz, and I wish more than anything that I can sink my teeth into them.

Or the way his pants end up riding up his ginormous tree-trunk thighs that I’m too ashamed to admit I’ve dreamt of being crushed between. I’ve always been a thigh girl. The thicker the better. Emmett’s happen to be the biggest, most muscular I’ve ever seen, and if I focus on them for too long I almost feel faint.

It’s just a small crush. It’s always just been a small crush.

I’ve always been attracted to the quiet, moody men, and while Emmett is certainly both of those things, I feel like he at least knows how to treat a woman right. A lot of them don’t.

---