Page 21 of Choosing Their Omega

“You’re not far off,” Lawson replies. “It was a concrete parking lot, actually.”

He’s obviously teasing, snarking right back at me, and I feel warmth bloom in my chest.

I really hope that my face doesn’t show how stupidly attracted I am to this man, or to all the men. My body is helpfully reminding me how long it’s been since I had any kind of romance in my life other than the ones I find in my books.

But these are my employers, and they’re worried about their kid. I’m not going to jeopardize that, especially not when I just met them. I don’t know what they’d think of me if I tried to climb into their beds my first night here, but it probably wouldn’t be anything flattering. Probably something along the lines of wondering if I was doing it just to make sure they wouldn’t kick me out.

Even if sometimes I think I see them sneaking glances at me… it has to be my imagination. They’re just trying to size me up to make sure that I’m really right for them, for Ben.

“So you guys really hadn’t worked together before the Titans?” I ask.

Cruz immediately launches into explaining how they all first worked together, and how they bonded at their very first practice, running drills together. “It’s like I just knew where Lawson and Miles would be.”

“I knew where Knox would be,” Lawson says.

“Of course you did, moron, I’m in the net all the time.”

“Hey now, sometimes you sneak out!”

“We all got a team dinner together to bond. It’s a thing that our coach does every year to start off the season when we get new players after the drafts.”

“Do you rotate players much?”

“Not when you’ve got a solid team. If you have a solid couple lines of guys, you don’t want to shake that up if you can help it. But inevitably you get new people because guys retire, and you have to replace them. Sometimes you get a guy who’s a big star, and another team offers him a sweet deal so he’ll drop you and leave—”

“Like Cruz here,” Lawson teases.

Cruz playfully glares at him. “But no, we don’t add a ton of new people to the roster every season, usually. There was a large turnover the year we all signed with the Titans.”

“It’s taken a few years to really build this team,” Miles adds. “But we’re feeling confident in these playoffs. Everyone likes to think you just get a dream team and then bam, you’re off to the races, but when it’s newer players, it can take time to cultivate everyone’s talents and get them into a well-oiled machine.”

“You all fell into step pretty quickly together, it seems,” I point out.

The men all grin at each other. “Yeah,” Cruz agrees. “We did.”

We finish eating and I offer to help do the dishes, but Miles and Cruz refuse. “You helped cook, so we help clean,” they point out. “And we want you to see Ben’s bedtime routine.”

I’m a little intimidated following Knox up as he carries Ben. It’s just the two of us for the first time all day, and I’m not sure where I stand with him.

Knox isn’t rude, though. He’s gentle with Ben as he helps the little boy wash up and brush his teeth, then gets him into bed. Ben begs for a bedtime story, and Knox agrees with a soft smile on his face.

“I try to read to him every night,” he explains while Ben picks out some favorite books. “Only three, buddy.”

Ben pouts a little but takes out only three books, as agreed.

“I don’t want him to stay up too late but I try to give him more than one.”

I nod. Knox looks a little sad as Ben climbs into bed and snuggles up to a large stuffed penguin so that he’s ready. “We travel a lot and even when we’re at home, game nights run late. And we have practices early in the morning. I can’t always tuck him in bed.”

My heart aches. This man loves his nephew so much. “I’ll make sure I read to him,” I promise. “And I’m sure he values these nights you’re able to give him.”

Knox gives me a small smile, and my heart does a flip.

He reads to Ben and by the second book, Ben’s eyes are drooping. It’s adorable. I understand why Knox still only let him pick out three books, though. I’m sure there are some nights when Ben doesn’t go to sleep right away, and even if he does he needs to learn boundaries.

Finally, Ben’s asleep and cozy in his bed. Knox picks up the books and toys that have gotten scattered around throughout the day and puts them where they belong, then leads me out of the room.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “He’s very special. I’m excited to get to know him better.”

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