by Sosie Frost
I guessed that was different.
Coach Thompson waddled onto the field to yell at the defense. Coach Wallace, the quarterback coach, winked at me. He patted my shoulder before grabbing a playbook to consult with Matt.
“Jack, you are playing better. Considerably. Don’t you feel it?”
Yes. “I guess.”
“Then I’d keep doing what you’re doing regardless of who it pleases. So long as you get the results, what the hell does it matter if it keeps the league and Coach Thompson happy? Keep that good luck charm or the new exercise routine. It’s working.”
Except it wasn’t luck or me.
It was Leah.
Holy shit, they were right. It wasn’t just my image. It was Leah.
I grabbed another bottle of water and sprayed off the sweat. My eyes searched the crowd. Enough people and press, kids and fans crowded around the outdoor practice facility. Training camp was a big event, and a lot of people came to watch the open practices.
Today, I knew where to look. Leah promised to stop by during her lunch. I scanned the faces in the crowd until I found her. She took my advice and waited beside the field, beyond the ropes cordoning off the fans from those who had clearance to be close to players.
God, she was beautiful.
And smiling.
And fanning herself in the heat as she sought the shade on the sidelines. She twisted her visitor’s pass and used it to cool her face. Her wave was half-hearted, and she stumbled.
Backward.
My stomach pitted as she wobbled again. I shouted, sprinting across the field and pushing through my teammates. I hopped over the equipment set up next to the sidelines. My legs pumped harder than I ran for the forty, and I was certain I broke my own goddamned records to rush to Leah.
I didn’t reach her in time.
Leah fainted before I made it, but she woke as soon as her butt slammed into the ground.
“Kiss!” I scooped her from the turf and carried her to the nearest bench. I pointed at a trainer. “You! Get your ass over here!”
Leah waved me away, rubbing her head. She sweated, but she managed a weak smile.
“I’m just hot,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m okay. I’m hot.”
Well, good for fucking her. I was chilled to my core.
“Sit here.” I searched for the trainer. “Bring her some fucking water!”
“Language.” Leah pointed to the kids nearby, as well as the sport reporter chasing us across the field to get a picture. “Gotta be careful.”
“Fuck being careful. Are you okay?”
The trainer hurried to our side—a nosy little redhead who busted the guys’ balls and had a bad habit of ferreting out concussions. She edged me away and offered Leah water and a cool towel.
“Miss?” The trainer felt her pulse and gave her a drink. “It’s very hot today. Were you in the sun for too long?”
“Look at her—she’s well done.” I forced a joke. It didn’t ease the twisting in my gut.
Leah smirked as I poked her dark skin. “I’m just hot.”
“You might have some heat cramps, maybe exhaustion. Do you have a headache?”
“No, I got dizzy.”
“Nausea?”
She glanced over the growing pack of fans and press. My teammates and coaches also started to crowd, checking on why the star quarterback freaked the fuck out and ran fifty yards to help a girl off the ground.
If nothing else, the pictures of me scooping her up and helping the trainer would give me that prince charming image Leah so desperately cultivated. Lately she had leaked stories of dining and dancing and long stemmed roses delivered to her work. That wasn’t a line for the media. I sent her a dozen roses as an apology after every morning of fucking that made her late to work.
She was starting to like getting the roses.
“Miss?” The trainer asked. “Are you nauseous?”
“With all these people staring at me…yeah.”
I smirked. “You get used to it. Just swear a little. Wave a champagne bottle. They love to hate that.”
The trainer had no patience for me. “Were you nauseous before you fainted?”
“Maybe? I’m okay now.”
She nodded. “We should take you inside and cool you down. Did you get hurt when you fell?”
“No.”
“Have anything to drink today? Anything alcoholic?”
“It’s only eleven o’clock?” She pointed at me before I made a joke about it being happy hour somewhere. “And don’t you say anything.”
The trainer took her pulse again. “Any medical conditions? Diabetes? Heart disease?”
“No.”
“Any chance you might be pregnant?”
And just like that, Leah froze.
So did I.
We both counted the days, though I had no idea where I was supposed to start counting or why. Leah said some nights were better than others for our chances. I fucked her indiscriminately to ensure they’d all be good.
Leah covered her mouth with her hand, staring at me with wide, startled, absolutely beautiful mocha eyes. She didn’t speak, but I knew the answer.
Yes.
It wasn’t a chance that she was pregnant.
She was.
She had to be.
She leapt into my arms with a squeal, burying her face in my shoulder as the excitement turned to tears. I held her close, grinning like a fucking idiot at the trainer who probably thought Leah was the world’s worst patient.
“You gotta go get checked out,” I said. “What if something—”
“I’m okay…” Leah pulled away, sharing my grin. “I know I’m okay.”
“Go to a doctor?” I asked. “Please.”
“Right now.”
I glanced over the field. “I’ll come too.”
“It’s okay.” She stood on her tip-toes and kissed me, earning a clap from the growing crowds. “I promise. I’ll go in right now. Meet you at your house?”
“Yeah…”
The trainer offered her arm, and Leah took it, beaming a beautiful smile that sucked every bit of courage from me.
At least she was taking it well.
Pregnant.
We did it.
I was having a baby.
The revelation got to me. I crumpled on the bench and nearly puked. Coach Thompson shouted for me to return to practice.
Holy fuck.
What the hell was I supposed to do now?
Coach yelled again. “Get your ass on the field, Jack!”
The adrenaline surged through me. I did what I was told and jogged to the huddle.
And I played even better than I had before. Now I had two reasons my game was improving.
Nothing was going to stop me from getting everything I ever wanted.
But I wasn’t sure the championship was all I wanted anymore.
Chapter Thirteen – Leah
I didn’t know what to do.
I didn’t need a doctor. I probably needed to sit down. I should have wanted a stiff drink but that wasn’t a good idea now.
The trainers said to wait it out, drink some Gatorade, and let an ambulance take me to the hospital. I refused, staying until the dizziness stopped and I could make it to my doctor without the media blitz.
This wasn’t a story I wanted spread unless it was absolutely true.
The doctor confirmed our suspicions with a smile.
I didn’t believe her. I left her office and bought three other tests before heading to Jack’s. If I wasn’t dehydrated before, I was now.
The tests all said the same thing.
Pregnant.
Holy. Hell.
I always wondered how it’d feel when it happened. I once pictured a very different life. Husband. Stability. A candlelit dinner and me brushing Wyatt’s hand, whispering my excitement. That was the romance I planned. I imagined soft music playing while I revealed to him how our lives would change. I thought we’d dance in candlelig
ht and just enjoy that miracle.
I could have made Jack a dinner. Maybe? But he already knew. There wasn’t much of a mystery anymore, and I didn’t know what to serve for such a blessed revelation. Or what music to play. What we’d do after we confirmed the pregnancy…
And Christ, there was no comparing Jack and Wyatt, even if every time I imagined that gentle dance, I saw me swaying in Jack’s arms.
This was so not how I planned my life, but I wasn’t regretting it. Not in the least—and that was weirder than everything. The past six weeks of “dating” Jack by day and rolling in his bed at night wasn’t structured or planned.
But it was fun.
Was life supposed to be fun? Having a baby was a serious, life-altering event. We had to plan things and organize everything and prepare for a multitude of changes and events and—
I grabbed a pen, paper, and my laptop. I could make a list of things that were immediately necessary. Doctors and more vitamins, insurance changes. One afternoon, and I’d map out our life for the first trimester, at least. Maybe tonight I’d tackle the second…
Jack’s car roared up the driveway. He didn’t wait for the garage doors to open. Jack leapt out as soon as he parked and sprinted into the house. The front door slammed behind him, and he bellowed my name like it was Christmas morning and I was the present waiting for him under the tree.
“Kiss?” He held his arms out, phone in hand. I already texted him the news. He wanted more. “Tell me it’s true.”
I held up the three home-pregnancy tests. “It’s true.”
His smile only faltered for a split second. “That’s really gross. Drop those before you give me a kiss.”
“Oh, come on, Jack—”
“Kiss me, Kiss!”
I dropped my notebook and paper and the tests, but Jack swooped over me before I could move. His arms captured me. I sucked in a breath to reveal it again.
“Jack, I’m—”
He didn’t let me finish.
His kiss overwhelmed me, stealing the words, savoring the truth, and hiding it from the world so it could be ours and ours alone.
I hadn’t expected the kiss, but my body desired nothing but his lips, his touch, his cock. Six weeks of complete and utter passion had left me starved for any contact, any attention from a man who operated on pure testosterone. I’d warned him it’d be harder than it seemed to get pregnant, and that it might take some months of trials. I thought he’d be demoralized.
Jack took it as a personal challenge.
I should have known not to doubt him.
He fucked me every morning. Every night. Sometimes in between. My life became little more than the impatient hours when I wasn’t in his bed.
His cock hardened. My body responded, melting into his arms and sighing in his kiss. I moaned against him and let his dominating tongue lure me into that fuzzy, heated world where I lost all control.
God, what were we doing?
Jack’s hands drifted over my curves, grasping me as if he hadn’t felt the softness of my skin for decades, not hours. We fucked in the morning. Passionate. Fast. Demanding. I rode him, seizing the pleasure he gave. Again and again. My orgasm was frenzied, and I knew something had changed.
I just had no idea how much.
What were we doing?
I pulled from his arms and released a shaky breath. “Jack, we should…talk.”
“Talk?” He didn’t know the meaning of the word. “Kiss, we need to celebrate!”
“Celebrate?”
“Damn right! We should hit the town. Go out for dinner. Fuck, we’ll go out for two. Have the second deliver to the first restaurant. What do you think? Italian and sushi?”
“I…I don’t think I can have sushi now—”
“We have to tell everyone!”
Not a good idea. “Jack, we can’t announce it yet. It’s too early. We don’t say anything until I’m about twelve weeks along.”
“Twelve weeks?” He groaned. “This is huge, Kiss! What’s the point if we don’t tell anyone?”
“We just want to be safe.” I bit my lip. “So we don’t…you know, jinx it.”
“Oh…can we still be excited?”
God, he was cute. “Of course.”
He grinned. “Perfect. Then…we’ll go out. Hit a club. Dance. You can’t drink now, but I’ll buy a bottle of sparkling grape juice. Or…better yet…” His grin turned mischievous. “I’ll go rent us the biggest, swankiest, most luxurious hotel in the city.”
“Why?”
Jack’s eyes brightened, excited and wild and staring at me like I was either a prize to win or a piece of meat to devour.
“Why?” He moved close, brushing the hair from my cheek. “Because you’re carrying my baby!”
I shouldn’t have had such a good shiver warm my core.
I shouldn’t have parted my lips for another kiss.
I definitely shouldn’t have let him overpower me again. He scooped me into his arms and carried me to the bedroom. I rested on the bed where we had fucked, where I whispered so many secrets but never revealed what I was truly feeling.
“Do you know how I want to celebrate this with you, Kiss?”
Jack brushed his lips against my ear. His lips tickled my neck. I was dizzy again but not from the heat or the news.
“I want to strip you bare…kiss every inch of that beautiful, dark skin…hear you moan my name while you come and come and—”
“Jack…” My body naturally surrendered as he rested over me. I curled my fingers into his shirt, grazing hard muscle. How many times had I clung to his strength as he fucked me through the night? “Really…we have to talk…”
His hands were already at my waist, tugging down my skirt and marveling at the little black panties I wore. “No reason to talk. We just need to fuck. I need to be inside you, Kiss.”
“Why?”
I didn’t know what answer I hoped for or why I even asked.
Sex was complicated enough while trying to make the baby. Now we had one growing inside me, safe and warm and our little secret.
We didn’t need to have sex now. We had no reason to continue beside our own greedy comfort.
But I wanted it. Him. Us. Together.
And so did Jack.
It scared me.
“You think I need a reason to fuck you?” Jack dove for my throat, nipping where he had learned I loved to be bitten. “What reason do you want, Kiss? That you’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen? That when you come you almost squeeze my cock off, and I love to take my chances?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then how about the biggest reason?” Jack ripped my panties off, staring at my soft petals. “How about that you are carrying my baby. That I took you, seeded you, and now you’re doing the most amazing fucking thing I can think of because of me. I fucked you. I put a baby in you. And if I don’t have you again I’m going to go fucking insane because that is the hottest thing I have ever heard in my life.”
Jack lowered himself between my legs, making good on his demands as his tongue flattened against my quivering pussy and struck hard, fast, and completely enveloped me in his mouth.
“But…what about…”
Why was I still talking? His tongue fit inside of me, licking and savoring and drawing every little slickness from me with the full intent of preparing me for his fucking.
His mounting.
Except we didn’t have a real reason to do this now. I couldn’t justify fucking him, not when we had the baby and we already convinced the press that we were a couple.
Sex could ruin everything.
Especially when I didn’t understand what I felt for him.
“What does this mean?” I tried again, my mouth dry and words fading as Jack’s tongue flicked over my clit. He rewarded my body with the same trouble that tangled us together in the first place. “We’re…we’re already…I don’t know what it means.”
Jack grinned at me, ravaging my puss
y with his tongue and earning my shudder. “It means I can’t spend another without sliding inside you. It means the only thing I want to do is bury deep in your pussy and celebrate what we made.”
And God, I wanted that too, I just had no idea what wanting it would eventually lead to.
How dangerous this would become.
And I didn’t care. Damn the lists. Screw making plans.
He was right. It was time to celebrate. I spread my legs and welcomed another lap of his tongue against the furiously hot center of me.
He knew exactly how to tease me, how to make me scream his name as his teeth nipped my clit. He was never rough, but Jack was too big, too strong, and too raging with his own desire to ever truly be passive. His kisses were meant to lower my defenses. His licks against my most sensitive area a deliberate attempt to weaken me to his commands.
And when he fucked me?
I could cling to the bed or I could hold onto him, but there was no escaping that masculine, animalistic war between his humanity and the primal need to sate himself inside me.
I trembled and welcomed the first rush of heat flooding my slit with his reward for nearly bringing me to orgasm. I whined as Jack stilled. His movements turned deliberate.
I watched as his hand brushed from my hip over my sensitive slit. He tickled his fingertips over my stomach, but he touched too high for where the baby was inside of me.
I took his hand. He looked at me, and I lost my breath. His eyes burned through me. I felt stripped. Not just bare, but utterly exposed and vulnerable, as if I’d slip and reveal the words hidden within my heart.
I couldn’t speak them. I didn’t understand them. I had no idea where their place was.
But I knew where mine was.
Under him. With him. Taking him.
I guided his hand lower, below my navel, and pressed his fingers where I would eventually grow. His body shuddered with mine, and I knew what he imagined.
A baby. A miracle. A little part of him and me.
It was just as we planned, but nothing like what we expected. The baby was our little secret. Something we shared alone.
It was an intimacy that overwhelmed both of us.
Jack kissed me, slowly. Gratefully. The tender brush of his lips was so different from the rushed, desperate crash of our bodies.
