Page 63 of Teasing

This time I don’t follow him. I let him go. Give him the space he needs.

I’m not sure how we get past this, if we even can.

But I am sure I just managed to make it worse.

“But Daddy...” Rosie whines, and I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever seen this little girl bordering on a meltdown. “I really, really want to go. Mimi and Grandpop will both be there.”

Maverick squats down to Rosie’s level and calmly takes her hands in his. “Briar Rose, I told you you’re not coming to the game tonight. I won’t even be playing. Maybe... and it’s a big maybe, but maybe, I’ll let you come to one of the regular season games. But not tonight. Now I have to go or I’m going to be late, and what does Grandpop always say?”

She looks at him like she has absolutely no earthly idea what Bash says, and I have to stifle a laugh. “That I can have a pony?”

So not the right answer, kiddo.

I watch the corners of Mav’s lips tip up as he fights his own smile and shakes his head. “He says if you’re not five minutes early, you’re late.”

“Is my pony gonna be late?”

Oh my goodness. I have to walk away. There’s no way to keep a straight face with the way this kid manages to innocently manipulate a conversation.

The world isn’t ready for Briar Rose Beneventi.

After a minute, Maverick meets me by the front door with an exasperated look. “I’m not sure how many more years I’ll be the one winning the battles with her, and she’s only five. What does that say about me?”

I press my palms to his chest and run them down the hard planes over his worn tee. Vintage Philly Kings, circa twenty years ago, if I know my Kings, and Idoknow my Kings. “It says you love your daughter. It also says you need to get firmer with her or you’re going to create a monster you’ll be trying to tame the rest of her childhood.”

“Beauty and brains.” He cups my cheek in his hand. “How did I get so lucky?”

I bat my lashes and purse my lips. “You haven’t gotten lucky yet, Cujo.”

Maverick presses his lips against mine, stealing my breath and my will to stand on my own two feet. I lean into him, our tongues tangling as the kiss goes from zero to two hundred and fifty in a single heartbeat before he pulls back. “Yeah, Em... I have.” He pecks my lips and drops his hand. “I have. I’ll see you after the game.”

“Go, Kings,” I call out as the door behind him shuts, and I close my eyes and lean back against it, wondering how I got here... with this man. This life.

Falling in love wasn’t on my summer bucket list.

Not with Rosie. Not with Maverick.

Not with their friends and their lives.

None of this was supposed to happen, but I think it might have been unavoidable.

But will me giving in hurt them in the end?

Maverick

“You look like you’re going to puke, Monroe.” I stand next to Camden on the sidelines as an opera singer moves to the fifty-yard line to sing the national anthem. “You doing okay?”

Camden looks down at the helmet in his hands. “I’m fighting for my life tonight. I’m not getting another chance at starting quarterback if this doesn’t work out. I’m not that hot shot out of college anymore. This is it.”

“The position is yours to take, brother. Fucking take it. You’re the best QB on the team. We all know it. You know it too. But if you don’t believe it, nobody else can help you.” The weight of the world is sitting on this guy’s shoulders, and I wouldn’t want to swap spots with him for anything in the damn world.

“Good talk, Beneventi,” he gruffs.

“You want a sweet pep talk full of flowers and unicorns with glitter shooting out of their ass, talk to my kid. You want honesty, listen to me. Nobody is gonna give you the chance. You need to take it, and then you need to shove it down their fucking throats, so nobody forgets that it’s yours now.” The music starts, and I look at him from the corner of my eye. “Nobody gives a shit who’s the preseason quarterback. They’ll remember who starts next week. Don’t give Coach Sinclair or Coach Ryan a chance to consider anyone else. Make sure all they see is you.”

The tenor opens his mouth, and one of the most beautiful renditions of the national anthem comes out, bringing tears to my eyes. This right here is one of my favorite moments of a game. The calm before the storm. And as he holds out the final note and we all hold our helmets high in the air, Camden turns my way.

“That one was better. But your pep-talk game sucks. You better up it if you’re supposed to be captain, Beneventi.” He slaps my back and walks over to the QB coach, Brady Ryan, witha look on his face that tells me the world is about to find out just how good a quarterback Camden Monroe is.

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