by Marie Force
“Always my pleasure to hold you up.”
“Likewise. Are you seeing Austin tonight?”
“Yeah, I’m heading to his hotel after I go home to change.”
“And pack a bag.”
“And pack a bag.”
“That’s my girl! Call me in the morning and let me know how round two went.”
“This’ll be rounds four and above, actually.”
“Whoa, girl, way to get back in that saddle.”
That makes me laugh. “I’ve got the saddle sore to prove it.”
Carmen snorts with laughter. “Best kind of sore. Have fun tonight, and call me in the morning.”
“Will do. Later.”
“Later, love you.”
“Love you, too.” We say that almost every time we talk since Tony died, because we’re now painfully aware that it can always be the last time.
At home, I grab a quick shower and wash my hair to get any germs from the clinic off me before I see Everly, whose immune system is still fragile. I make my lunch and pack a bag to stay with Austin again, but tonight, there’s going to be a hell of a lot more sleep.
I realize I forgot to ask Miranda about taking time off later in the week. I shoot her a quick text. I meant to ask you today if you mind if I take a day or two this week? I have friends in town and would love to spend some time with them if you can spare me.
I always feel guilty asking for time off because the clinic is busy every day, and whenever one of us is out, it’s a grind for everyone else. But Miranda is always preaching self-care, and time off counts.
Sure, no problem. Take Thurs and Friday. Jason is here Thurs, so we should be good.
Great, thanks.
And with that, my workweek just got two days shorter. Filled with excitement, I drive to Austin’s hotel and valet-park before taking the elevator to his room. I knock on the door and smile when I hear Everly shriek.
He comes to the door with her in his arms, the two of them sun-kissed from a day at the pool.
Before Austin can say a word, Everly says, “Rie! Scream! Swim!” As she announces our agenda, she leans toward me, and I take her from Austin.
He relieves me of my bags, smiling at the way Everly takes over. “Let Rie come in.”
“Rie! In!”
“I’m in!” I hug the sweet little girl until she squirms to be let down. After I put her down, she runs off.
Austin takes advantage of the opportunity to kiss me. “Thought tonight would never get here,” he says between sweet kisses. “Couldn’t wait to see you.”
“Same. Long day.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but I’m tired.”
He puts his arms around me and presses his lips to the top of my head. “I’ll make sure you get a good night’s sleep.”
“Why do I not believe you?”
Laughing, he says, “I will. I swear.”
“Rie! Sleep!”
He laughs at my impression of Everly. “Rie will get to sleep. I promise.”
“I took off Thursday and Friday.”
His grin lights up his entire face. “That’s the best news I’ve had all day. You can help me decide which house to rent for the winter, and then I’m going to go back to Baltimore on Saturday to pack up and get back here in time for the wedding. Does that sound like a plan?”
“That sounds good, except for the part about you leaving.”
“I’ll be quick.”
“I still can’t believe you’re staying for the winter.”
He kisses me again. “Believe it, baby. There’s nowhere else Ev and I want to be than wherever you are.”
Chapter 17
AUSTIN
That week in Miami with Maria and Everly is one of the best I’ve had in a long time. For the first time since Ev was sick, I find myself truly relaxing in a way I couldn’t when the fear of losing my daughter overtook my every waking moment—and tortured me on the rare times I actually slept. Living with that kind of fear is debilitating, so it’s a huge relief to be regaining the ability to relax and enjoy my life without waiting all the time for disaster to strike.
Of course, a big reason for my ability to relax is Maria. Her calming presence is just what I need, and I want to be with her all the time. I’ve had her with me since after work yesterday, and we’ve got until I leave for Baltimore Saturday morning to spend together—three nights and two full days of Maria.
We had dinner with Carmen and Jason last night, which was a lot of fun. Jason is a great dude, and I can see us becoming friends. He promised to hook me up with some golf and cycling when I get back to Miami. And Carmen is awesome. I love the way she and Maria finish each other’s sentences and laugh over their own inside jokes.
They speak a language all their own, developed over a lifetime of togetherness. I loved being around them and seeing Maria be completely herself with the cousin she adores.
The only thing Everly has wanted to do this week is swim. We offered her a wide variety of things to do today, but we ended up spending another day at the pool. We’ve already warned her that we’re going to look at houses tomorrow and won’t be going to the pool until later. I’ve let the Realtor know that in addition to two master suites, the house we rent will need to have a pool—with a gigantic fence around it so there’s no chance Everly can get near it without one of us with her.
Maria’s parents have invited us to their home tonight, but for now, Maria and I are enjoying some time to ourselves while Ev naps.
“What’re you thinking about?” Maria asks, tracing a path over my chest with her index finger.
“I’m thinking that being naked in bed with you is my new favorite thing.”
“That’s not what you were thinking about.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because you were tense.”
“Just for the record, being naked in bed with you is in fact my new favorite thing.”
“Mine, too, with you that is, but you still haven’t told me what was making you tense.”
“I was thinking about how we have to find a house with a pool for Ev, but it has to have a gigantic fence around it so I don’t have to worry about her the whole time we live there.”
“That’s a good point.”
“Thinking about keeping her safe made me tense, but right before that, I was thinking about how I’m more relaxed than I’ve been since disaster struck last year, and it’s all thanks to you.”
“This week has been fun. Are you ready to meet my parents and my brothers?”
“I’m ready. Looking forward to it.”
“You say that now… When they’re all up in your business, you might be singing a new song.”
“They’ll be a breeze compared to the baseball media that’s been up in my business during the season.”
“My dad asked me yesterday where you think you’ll end up. I said I didn’t know, so he’s apt to ask you.”
“That’s the big question hanging over everything right now.”
“When will you know?”
“December, when the winter meetings happen. That’s when all the deals get finalized, but there’ll be lots of talking and stuff in the meantime, and it really kicks into gear after the World Series. My agent, Aaron, is on it. I told him to keep me posted but let me enjoy the time off.”
“Three months is a long time to be up in the air.”
“I’m counting on you to keep me very well entertained.” Noting the time on the clock on the bedside table, I see that we’ve got another hour before Ev wakes up. “You can start now.” I tip her chin up to receive my kiss. I never get tired of kissing her. In fact, that’s my new second favorite thing to do. Like always with Maria, our kisses quickly become desperate and needy as we strain to get closer to each other.
I can never get close enough to her.
Her leg slides between mine, her softness presses against my hard cock, and her sweet scent fills every part of me with fierce desire. I’m
completely addicted to her, and it’s getting “worse” by the day, which is fine with me. I have no idea how I’ll leave her for five days to go home to Baltimore to pack and grab my car. That’s going to be a long-ass five days.
I’m so caught up in her, I almost forget to grab a condom. I pull back from her, stunned by how carried away I got. I never take those kinds of chances, especially not after what I suspect Kasey did.
“I’m on birth control.” Maria takes my hand to show me the bump in her arm. “Long-term, no pills, no patches, no chance for mistakes.”
“I wondered what that was. I thought your family had you microchipped.”
Have I mentioned how much I love her husky, lusty laugh? She laughs like she lives, with everything she’s got. “They’re not quite that bad.”
“So what you’re saying…”
“Is there’s almost no chance of me getting pregnant.”
I ponder that for a second. Every part of me trusts this woman, but I was so burned once before that I’m not sure I can go there, even with Maria.
Naturally, she knows that, because she’s Maria and she gets me. As she places her hands on my face, her expression open, honest and loving, I feel cared for in a way I’ve never been with any woman. I’m far more accustomed to women who are looking for something from me than I am to someone who seems to want to give me—and my daughter—everything they’ve got. “I’d understand completely if you want to still use condoms.”
“I trust you. Of course I do.”
“I know you do, and I know this is an issue for you. I’m just tossing it out there so you know.”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“Did I ruin the mood?”
“It’s not possible for you to ruin my mood when you’re soft and sweet and naked in my arms.”
She draws me into another of those hot, sexy kisses that make me so crazy for her, and with her breasts pressed against my chest and her legs wrapped around my hips, I decide to see what it’s like without a condom. Just for a second…
And it takes only that long to figure out what paradise must feel like.
“Maria… You… I… God.”
She laughs until I sink deeper into her, and her laugh becomes the best kind of moan.
“This… I was only gonna… For a second…”
Laughter has her shaking under me as I try to get myself together to make this good for both of us. With my hands on her hips, I hold her still and lose all sense of time and place and anything that isn’t this, and her, and us. Fuck, we’re so good together, and I love her, I love making love with her, being with her, touching her, laughing with her. I love talking to her and holding her and watching her with Ev, who adores her Rie as much as I do.
I wrap my arms around her, and she does the same to me.
We come together, holding on tight to each other through the storm. It’s the best thing I’ve ever experienced with a woman, and it’s all I can do not to tell her how much I love her, how I want her to stay with me forever so I’ll have a prayer of being happy. That’s how vital she’s become to me. That’s how much I need her.
But I don’t have time for that conversation now with Everly sleeping in the next room and us due at Maria’s parents’ home in an hour.
“We need a shower,” Maria says after a long period of silence.
“Uh-huh.”
She gently pokes my shoulder. “That means you have to move, Austin.”
“Can’t move. Never been more comfortable.”
“Everly is going to catch you bare-ass naked and smothering her Rie if you don’t move it.”
“Only because I don’t feel like explaining why I was smothering her Rie will I move.” I kiss her. “To be continued later.”
We take turns showering, and by the time I hear Everly stirring in the other room, Maria and I are presentable. We’ve been lucky so far that Ev hasn’t caught us in bed together, but I’m not under any illusions that our luck will last. I hope that by the time it happens, Everly will be so used to seeing us together that she won’t think anything of us sleeping together, too.
Everly wants us both when she wakes up from her nap, and while Maria helps her pick out a dress to wear to dinner at her parents’ house, I work on taming blond curls into a ponytail.
“Ow, Dada.”
“Sorry, Pooh. You’ve got some tangles.”
“Rie do!”
“Rie is getting you dressed. I’m doing your hair.”
“Rie! Hair!”
I look up at Maria, amused as always by my little boss baby. “And we’ve got another new word.”
“Let’s switch.” Maria is endlessly patient when it comes to Everly and her many demands—and she assures me that Everly isn’t turning into a brat who barks out orders to everyone around her, which was my fear. In fact, Maria says, she’s becoming a perfectly normal three-year-old.
A perfectly normal three-year-old. Those are the best words I’ve ever heard, and as I watch Maria efficiently work out the tangles in Everly’s hair, I realize how attached Ev is getting to her and how much more so she’ll be by the end of the winter. We’re going to have to figure this out and make a plan to be together, because living without Maria isn’t an option.
MARIA
I’m nervous about bringing them home to meet my family, mostly because my parents will take one look at us together and know I’m in love with him—and Everly—and they’ll have tons of questions about what’s going to happen. I have the same questions and no answers, yet. I’m going to have to wait like everyone else until Austin finds out where he’s playing next year, and we won’t know that for certain until December.
I’ve already realized this relationship is going to change my life, and I’m working on wrapping my head around that. I like things just the way they are—with most of my family and friends nearby, a job that satisfies me and a vibrant community that’s been such a big part of my life. I honestly can’t imagine living anywhere else, but as I stare down five days without Austin and Everly, my thinking is beginning to change.
And yes, that scares the crap out of me, because after Scott, I promised myself I’d never again rearrange my own situation to fit into someone else’s life. I was like putty, so intent on trying to make myself fit in Scott’s world, trying to make him happy, trying to make our relationship work that I lost myself. I swore I’d never do that again, but now I find myself wondering what it would be like to live part of the year in Seattle or Chicago or Boston or San Francisco or Los Angeles and spend the off-season in Miami.
It’s also occurred to me that Austin will be twenty-nine early next year. This next contract may well be his last one, so it’s not as if we’re talking about relocating forever. I also know, for sure, that it’s probably far too soon to be this far down the road with what-ifs. But I also know for sure that I want this man and his daughter in my life. In that way, it’s not too soon at all to be thinking ahead.
Austin drives his rental car as I direct him to my parents’ home in Little Havana. He keeps a hand on my leg as he drives, and as always, his touch makes my blood run hot through my veins. In the back seat, Everly is singing a song of her own creation with jumbled words that make sense only to her. The joyful sound of her voice has both of us smiling as we soak in the moment.
Austin’s phone rings, and he pulls it from his pocket to hand to me. “Who is it?”
“Kasey.”
His expression registers shock as he glances at me. “Decline it.”
I do what he asks, but I wonder what it means that she’s calling him. “When did you last speak to her?”
“Months ago.”
I can’t believe she doesn’t at least regularly check on her daughter, especially after Everly was so ill. But this is the same woman who left a baby home alone, so why am I surprised she doesn’t care enough to check on her? Still, it makes me sad for Everly, and in a weird way, I’m sad for Kasey, because I get to see what she’s missing out on by not be
ing present in Everly’s life.
“What do you suppose she wants?”
“Who knows?”
I have so many other questions, but I decide not to ask them now. Will he call her back? Will she call again?
We arrive at my parents’ home a few minutes later, and seeing Nona’s car in the driveway, I direct him to park on the street in front of the two-story yellow stucco house where I was raised. An ornate white metal fence surrounds the house and yard, and my mom has filled the window boxes with colorful flowers.
“Home sweet home,” I tell Austin as we walk toward the garage door, which is open.
He’s holding Everly’s hand as she skips up the driveway. “It’s really nice.”
“They work on it constantly. Painting, pruning, planting. That’s how they de-stress from work.”
“The effort shows. It’s beautiful.”
“They’re proud of it.” I stop and turn to him. “Don’t forget what I told you earlier about how my family is famous for asking inappropriate questions.”
He smiles, making me wish I had nothing else to do but stare at his gorgeous face for the next few hours. “It’s fine. I’m not worried.”
“Well, I’m worried enough for both of us. My Nona is here, which means she’s taken a night off from the restaurant, and that hardly ever happens. If she’s here, Abuela is probably with her, and they do a double-team like you ain’t never seen.”
He leans in and kisses my cheek. “I can’t wait to see them again. It’s all good, sweetheart. Nothing to worry about.”
“You say that now…”
“You love them, so I will, too.” He puts his hand on my lower back, urging me to move forward so I can introduce him to my family.
We enter through the door from the garage, which takes us right into the kitchen, where my mom has probably been all day in preparation for having Austin over for dinner. My family makes a BFD out of everything, including Thursday night dinner with Maria’s new boyfriend and his daughter.
“Lo, they’re here!” My mom beckons my dad at the top of her considerable lungs. She zeroes in on Austin, like a laser beam finding its target. “And you must be Austin.”
