Page 91 of One Time Player

I slowly lift off him. “I’ll go get cleaned up. Why don’t you order us something?” I suggest to him. I need some space before I profess my undying love.

“Do you want Planted?” he asks.

“No, I need the real stuff, but maybe a burger is a little heavy this time of night. How about a lasagna?”

“Um. . .okay,” he replies, looking confused.

“I told you I’ve been in the mood for weird things,” I remind.

“You want lasagna, I’ll order lasagna. I know of a good place. I just hope they are still open this time of night.”

“Surprise me,” I reply. I pick my clothes off the floor and saunter to my room as I feel cum dripping down my legs.

Evan hisses behind me. “You’ve got a great ass,” he calls out.

I smile and head to my room to clean up.

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

Evan

After calling three different Italian restaurants only for them to tell me they can’t deliver this late at night, I’m left with no choice. I leave Patty a note on her dining table and head back to my place. Hoping I have the ingredients to make my woman a lasagna. I pay a housekeeper to do my grocery shopping and clean my apartment, but lasagna isn’t always on the top of my list because I try to stay away from the unhealthy carbs. I look through my fridge first and find some spinach, which is healthy and probably good for the baby. I also find some ricotta cheese since I sometimes like to add it to an omelet or quiche. I open my phone and check Pinterest for some lasagna recipes. Then I walk to one of my cabinets and find a jar of marinara sauce. This is good. I have almost all the ingredients. Except for lasagna noodles. Dammit.

Think, Evan. Think. I find some penne noodles, so I decide to improvise. It takes me a good ten minutes to boil them. Then I mix the ricotta with the spinach and a raw egg like the recipe suggests, and I use it as my first layer. I then add some penne noodles to the dish followed with some sauce, and then I add some shredded cheese for another layer.

The ingredients are getting kind of mixed up as I layer them in the dish, but I hope it will be okay. I sprinkle shredded cheese as a final layer and pop it in the oven for another fifteen minutes until the cheese is melted and has a nice brown tone to it.

It smells good. I just hope it tastes good.

I quickly change out of my clothes and opt for a T-shirt and shorts, hoping I’ll be invited to spend the night with Patty. When I get back to her place, I find her fast asleep on the couch. Her long blond hair is splayed around her. I place the boiling hot dish on her dining table and place my oven mitt under it. Then I go to lock the door, realizing I was an idiot for leaving it open in the first place.

I walk over to the couch and lift her in my arms then I walk her to bed.

“Evan?” she asks. “Sorry, I’m just so exhausted.”

“That’s okay, beautiful. I’ll just get you to bed,” I whisper, taking her in. This woman is carrying my child inside her. She is kind and giving. Hell, she went to Europe to volunteer her time to help children. She could have just sat back and relaxed, but she wanted to help those less fortunate. My heart begins to beat in a weird way as I lay her on the bed. I can’t get her under the blanket but she has a lush blanket on a chair in her room, so I take that and cover her.

“Stay,” she mumbles.

I turn around like an idiot, wondering if she meant that comment for me but obviously, she did. I slide into bed beside her. “I made you lasagna.”

“You did? I’m so tired. Maybe in the morning,” she murmurs.

I smile and then I get into bed behind her and spoon her. I’ve never actually spooned anyone, but I enjoy spooning with her. When I look at the time next to the bed, I see it’s 2:00 a.m. I message a local bakery and ask them to make a delivery for 7:00 a.m., sharp. We have a game in New Jersey tomorrow so getting five hours of sleep isn’t optimal for either of us, but a lot has happened. A lot is still up in the air, but I take the fact she is in my arms as a win.

CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE

Patty

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. When we are in town, Evan spends the night in my bed. Not only is the sex amazing but in the morning, he orders in the best French pastries delivered to my door. Evan hates that I barely look his way when we are on the road but we have so much riding on the line, I don’t want to make any mistakes. Which has been difficult, especially when Evan was trying to convince me to spend the night in his hotel room when we were in Boston. As hard as it was to reject spending the night in his arms, I knew it was for the best. Now we have two days in town as the regular season winds down to an end and the playoffs begin. We have our first series against Pittsburgh. Since we scored more points overall during the season, the opening game will be here in midtown. It also worked out that I have a couple of days off to enjoy going for my next ultrasound and just relaxing.

“I’m coming with you,” Evan insists over the phone. He spent the night in my bed last night, trying to bribe me with all kinds of sexual goodness to let him come for the ultrasound, but even three orgasms later it didn’t change our shitty situation.

“You know you can’t,” I reply. “I promise to get you a picture this time.”

We’ve been back and forth about this appointment for the past week. Evan doesn’t want to miss the ultrasound. We can’t risk being seen together. He is easily recognizable. All it would take is for someone to snap a pic and post it to social media and tag him, and we are done for. We’ve made it this far without getting caught. I know Evan feels like the baby is more important to him than hockey, but it’s also important that as a new daddy he has a job. There’s also the little detail my father will suffer if things go south too. My daddy deserves to take the championship with this team. He’s put his time, blood, and sweat into those men and I know they respect him just as much.

“Gah,” he growls into the phone.

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