Page 87 of Tapped

I’m not sure what to do with that information, so I make an excuse for the man who’s given me more orgasms in the last twenty-four hours than I’ve given myself in the last year. “I think he feels sorry for me since I’m stuck at home alone. I’m sure that’s all it is. He’s so sweet.”

“Sweet?” Landyn asks with wide eyes

Annette says nothing but rears back at my words.

“What?” I ask.

Landyn hikes a brow at Annette, and I can tell she’s being careful with her words. “I just haven’t heard anyone describe Micah that way.”

“Me either,” Annette adds.

I take a sip and turn it back on them. “How would you describe him?”

The two women pause and glance at each other. It’s Landyn who speaks first, and she sounds like she’s being careful with her words. “Loyal.”

“Fierce,” Annette adds. “But in a good way.”

After having sex with Micah three times, I can agree with that. Though, I’m sure that’s not the way she meant.

“Hard working,” Landyn says.

“Obsessiveabout working,” Annette clarifies.

I look at them unimpressed. “That’s it?”

Annette hikes a brow. “Okay, fine. He’s had his moments of being a player.”

Landyn turns to her. “Seriously?”

She shrugs. “I’ve known him longer than you have.”

“But he’s thirty-two. If a guy stays single that long, haven’t they all been a player at some point?” Landyn asks.

“Wait.” I can’t think about anyone being a player. “He’s thirty-two?”

“Yep. He’s younger than Brax,” Landyn says. “He went to the academy straight out of college.”

“Tim says he probably could’ve gone to the draft,” Annette says.

I frown. “Draft?”

“The NFL draft,” she explains like I’m from another planet. “He played Division 1. Offensive lineman. Protective by nature.”

My back is to the room, so I turn to peek over my shoulder through the glass doors to the backyard. The mountain of a man who has inserted himself into my life is standing on the patio with the rest of the men holding a beer in one hand and wrangling Brax and Landyn’s son in the other. Brian has climbed him like a jungle gym, and Micah is lifting him over and over again like he’s curling a two-pound weight.

When Brian laughs like a loon, Micah goes from curling to swinging the boy.

I can’t stop staring.

Chase has never had that from his dad. From his grandpa, uncles, and older cousins, sure.

But never Jeff. Not once that I can remember. And since the event would have been a rare one, I’d definitely remember.

And here Micah is doing it for a child who isn’t his and is carrying on a conversation at the same time like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“He’s great with Brian,” Landyn says. “We asked him to be the Godfather for our baby girl too.”

I turn back to the women and try to erase my expression from the jealousy coursing through me on behalf of my son. “I knew you were close, but not like that.”

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