Page 104 of Winning Brynn

Brynn:It's you I'm worried about.

Leo:I'm fine.

Brynn:Are you really fine? Or fine like I'm fine?

Leo:Ah, so you admit you're not really fine.

Brynn:I have no reason to not be fine.

Leo:How do you figure?

Brynn:I'm just the nanny.

Leo:Baby, you're so much more than just the nanny.

Chapter Thirty-three

Leo

Practice sucked sweaty ballstoday. My head wasn’t in it, which Coach Carter reamed my ass for, and the boys wouldn’t stop looking at me with pitiful expressions. After my eighth sympathetic clap on the shoulder, I was ready to throw in the towel and resign from the team.

I didn’t do it, but the urge was there.

So, it’s a relief of epic proportions to breathe in the warm air of home when I finally make it through the door at long past seven p.m. Practice had run late today, which wouldn’t have been so bad, but I had to see our team physician who really loves to chat. And boy, did he have a lot he wanted to chat to me about today.

Salem sees me first, her mouth curving into an enormous smile as she flaps her hands and calls my name. “Dada!”

“Hey, baby girl, still awake?”

Beyond the windows, the sky has darkened to inky black, brightened only by a small dusting of stars and technicolor city lights. It isn't much brighter inside the apartment, with only the warm, gentle glow of lamplight.

Salem yawns, as if in response to my question, triggering one from me.

Brynn turns her head away from the window she’d been staring out to look at me. “I waited to put her down so you could see her.”

I drop down beside her on the rug and lean back against the couch. Hooking my arm around her shoulders, I pull her into my side and press a kiss to her mouth. “Thank you.”

She attempts a smile, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Her gaze dips, first to her lap, then to my daughter, who’s currently heaving herself into my lap. She’s hiding something. How she’s feeling, probably, but the way she’s gnawing at her bottom lip makes me wonder if there’s something else going on.

With Alex and me out of the apartment complex today, there was nothing stopping Isabella from showing up here and demanding to see Salem again. It was a realization that had anxiety churning within me all day. I saw glimpses of empathy on Brynn’s face last night and her sadness for her friend. She would have opened the door at the first sight of fresh tears.

She has a soft heart, and she cares about people. She’s a protector down to her soul, and while I love that about her, it also leaves her open to be taken advantage of.

But she knows how I feel about Isabella and the depth of my disdain. She would never let that woman around my child without my knowledge, I’m sure of it.

“How was practice?” she asks, resting her head on my arm.

“Fine.”

She grimaces. “That bad, huh?”

“Your brother took it upon himself to alert everyone and their dogs to our situation.”

“He’s good like that.”

“Tell me about it.”

Stretching her legs over mine, Salem falls back on my abdomen and blinks up at me with wide, sleepy eyes. “Dada! Sweep.”

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