Daddy's Bossy Friend

by Charlize Starr

  “The media got wind that you were attending. They saw you at the seats,” he said, coming even closer now.

  “Yes, I saw the cameras. I wasn’t here for them,” I stated, folding my arms. My shoulders were still being jerked by everyone who pushed against me.

  “I find that hard to believe. Are you going to make some kind of statement?” Lewis asked. He came ever closer and I felt some of his spittle land on my face. Did he really hate me, or was he just being protective of his client?

  “No, Lewis, I am not here to make any statement. I had just come to watch the game and now I’m going,” I said and I was going to turn, but he stopped me.

  “You really shouldn’t be doing things like this. We need to put the relationship to rest. You shouldn’t be wagging the media’s tongue again. You know how it is, you’re a journalist,” Lewis lectured and I tightened my lips. It was insulting to have to hear this from him. I didn’t want to have to explain to Lewis, of all people, that I was in love with Kyle.

  “I was a journalist, and don’t worry Lewis. You won’t be seeing me around anymore. I’m leaving the city,” I said and I was about to turn again, but he stopped me again, this time by placing a hand on my arm.

  “Glad to hear it. But before you go, Kyle wants to have a word with you. He heard you were here,” Lewis said and then turned to go, expecting me to follow him.

  Chapter Eighteen - Kyle

  She was in a light floral dress, and I thought I could detect a slight baby bump on her already. Her hair was glossy, golden, and parted on the side. She had big sunglasses on, covering her eyes. Her lips were pink. This was the mother of my child, and I was delighted to see her.

  I had asked Lewis to bring her to the back room, behind the locker rooms, so we could have our privacy. And she didn’t look happy to be brought there. There was discomfort on her face, and I immediately regretted asking her to come here. I didn’t want her to think that she was being forced into doing something she didn’t want to do.

  “Hello, Erica,” I said, folding my arms. I was leaning against the table that was in the middle of the small stock room. There was one light bulb hanging from the ceiling between us.

  “Hello, Kyle,” she said, keeping her distance from me. Lewis shut the door behind him, and I let out a huge breath.

  “Thank you for coming to the game,” I said, trying to force a smile on my face.

  “You won, again,” she said, still unsmiling.

  “Despite your prediction,” I said jokingly as she slowly pulled the glasses off her face. Her eyes were dark today, a deep rich blue.

  “I didn’t wish you ill,” she said.

  I nodded my head. “I know, of course. It was only a joke.”

  “And I also didn’t mean to cause a scene. I just wanted to watch the game. I had the ticket,” she continued. I continued nodding my head.

  “Of course. You should come to all the games, by all means. You’re a sports journalist after all.” I tried to laugh again, but she wasn’t joining me.

  “I don’t know why people keep calling me that. I used to be a sports journalist. I’m not one anymore.” She looked away from me, but she didn’t look sad. She looked sure of herself, as confident as ever. I wanted to hold her, I wanted her to let it all out.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked and she jerked her head to look at me.

  “With the child you mean?”

  “With my child, yes.”

  “I feel fine.” She waved the sunglasses in her hand, and I stared at her. I wanted her to tell me the truth.

  “Can I see the baby when it’s born?” I asked, I knew I had to tread carefully.

  “I didn’t think you wanted to,” she said, looking keenly back at me.

  “Of course I want to. It’s my child. It’s our child, Erica.” I took a few steps towards her, and I was glad to find that she didn’t move away.

  “But it was a mistake.”

  “A happy mistake. I’m going to be a father. That feels great and I want to be a part of its life.” I took a few more steps towards her.

  “I was planning on leaving the city, going back to my hometown,” she said, still looking at me.

  “For a while? Not for very long, I hope. I don’t want to live far away from my child.” I didn’t know what else to say. My heart was breaking to hear that she had planned to go away. Ten days apart had been enough for me to know that I couldn’t live without her.

  “I need my family’s support.”

  “But you have mine.”

  “Lewis asked me to stay away.”

  “Lewis is an asshole,” I blurted out, and I saw the smile in her eyes. It encouraged me to edge closer to her. “He has no idea how I feel about you.”

  Erica was silent, but she was asking the question with her eyes. How do you feel about me?

  “That relationship may have been fake, Erica, but my feelings for you are not. I think I’m in love with you,” I said. The lightbulb above us was swinging. Her face was lit and then not lit, lit and then not lit. I thought I saw a smile spreading across her face, but I couldn’t be sure yet.

  “Kyle, how can this be possible?” she asked, and I reached for her hand.

  “I don’t know Erica, but it’s not impossible either,” I said. She let me hold her hand.

  “No, I mean, how can this be possible? I thought I was the only one who was feeling this way. I’ve missed you, Kyle,” she said and she was in my arms in the next second. Her face was on my shoulder and I was stroking her hair.

  My heart was beating fast, the warmth of her body was enough to make me happy. I was smiling.

  “Why did you stay away from me for so long?” I asked her. She remained on my chest, her hair spread over my shoulders.

  “Because I didn’t think you wanted me. I thought you were happy to see me go. I couldn’t imagine that you would want a baby.” Erica was speaking softly as I held her close to me.

  “That’s crazy talk. All I’ve done since I first saw you in that hallway after that first game is think about you. I’ve wanted your body, and now I want your soul,” I said and I felt her smile against my jersey.

  We were both silent for several minutes, enjoying the warmth of each other’s body.

  “What about that photograph? The one in your locker room?” Erica asked suddenly.

  “I never found out who did it. Must have been one of my teammates. But it doesn’t matter anymore. We would never have been together if it wasn’t for that photograph,” I said, stroking her hair. She smiled at me and nodded.

  Chapter Nineteen - Erica

  The press had been primed, they had all lined up outside the stadium waiting for us to make an appearance. Lewis had grudgingly arranged for it.

  Kyle was holding my hand tightly as we made our way out. My heart was pounding against my chest. I had never done something like this before. All my career, I had been on the other side. I had been the one asking questions.

  Kyle was still in his winning jersey and he had a bright smile on his face as we made our way to the front. The cameras flashed. He was a natural. “Good evening everybody. I just wanted to make an official statement and put all the gossip to rest, once and for all,” Kyle began. The cameras continued to flash as he spoke loudly, but the murmur had died down. Everybody was waiting with bated breath to hear him.

  Kyle Murphy had just won another game: he was the star of the show, also the hottest most eligible bachelor in the country, and now he was making a statement holding the hand of a girl who he had supposedly thrown out of his house only a few days ago.

  “No, I will not be taking any questions.” He shot down someone from the crowd of journalists who had said something. “The truth is that Erica and I met here, in this stadium, after one of our games. We met and we fell in love. That was almost instantaneous. We have been together since then, and it is none of anybody’s business what goes on in our personal lives.”

  The cameras flashed again. I was standing beside h
im and he was still holding my hand.

  “We are very much in love, we have always been together, and little fights and arguments are a part of every relationship. I did not throw her out of my apartment. She chose to leave of her own accord to take a break. And now we are together again.” Kyle looked at me, and I smiled at him. He hadn’t told me what he had planned on saying, but I was glad he was saying it all. Nearly everything he was saying was true.

  “I would also ask the media to exercise caution in their dealings with our relationship. We are expecting a child, and we do not want the paparazzi hounding our personal space and private lives.” He ended it on that note and turned to me. I wasn’t expecting him to kiss me, but he did. Right on the lips, in front of everybody.

  “One last thing, as you can all guess by now. I am officially taken,” he said and pulled me away, and then leaned in to kiss me on the cheek again.

  “All that wasn’t necessary, Kyle,” I whispered to him. He squeezed my hand, warm in his.

  “Of course it was. I had to announce it to the world,” he said.

  *****

  THE END

  Football Daddy

  Description

  He’s always been my dream... Now he’s my secret.

  Melissa has always had a crush on Nick. Always, for as long as she can remember.

  It’s too bad that he is not only her big brother’s best friend but also her best friend’s older brother. Talk about complicated. He is also a womanizer, with a reputation to prove that. What could she even have to offer?

  When the guys have a party to celebrate them going to the Super Bowl with their local Seattle team, Melissa is surprised when Nick approaches her with an idea. She’s helped him in the past, and now that she’s twenty-two, he wants her to help him some more... in his bed. Nick proposes a friends with benefits situation to her, and she knows that she’s crazy to think about it at all, much less say yes.

  Melissa is a virgin going into a sexual relationship with one of the biggest players in the NFL. She’s read the stories and heard the rumors, but none of that matters when she’s in his bed and finally getting her dream.

  Not at first, at least.

  Can they make it through rumors as they keep their relationship secret from the ones that they love the most? Will circumstances make it too hard for Melissa to stick it through, even though she is in love with Nick?

  One night could change everything about them and their lives. One night could change their futures.

  One night could make them see their feelings for each other, if Melissa doesn’t keep running away.

  Just one night is all it takes.

  Chapter One

  “This party is insane!” Bonnie told me, as we walked into the mansion that was packed with people. I smiled at my best friend as I tried not to think about the project that was waiting for me back at our apartment and focus on the celebration that was only just beginning. Our brothers were going to the Super Bowl with their Seattle team after only playing in the NFL for four years after college, and the entire house was vibrating with the excitement. They’d worked so hard all through high school and college but still managed to stay best friends, just as Bonnie and I were. “I wonder if we’ll even be able to find Nick. I know all too well how he likes to celebrate.”

  Bonnie’s brother Nick Harmon was a player. He’d always been a player, and it was just how things were. Bonnie accepted it, but I had a long-running, invisible crush on him. My brother Brandon James had his fair share of female fans, but I thought that he respected them. At least I hoped so.

  We managed to make our way through the crowd to the living room, where each of us stared at some of the celebrities that were there in awe. Bonnie focused quickly on a hockey player who played for the Colorado team and I figured that she’d make every effort to make the best of the next several hours. I saw Brandon in the kitchen. I also saw Nick, who was sitting on the counter with a redhead between his legs and her arms around his waist.

  I ran my hand through my red curls, which I’d recently colored, and frowned as she leaned up and smiled at him. He was gorgeous, with dark, messy hair and sea blue eyes and that damn crooked smile of his. Who wouldn’t want him? I saw him glance in my direction as I heard my name called out, and his eyes darkened before I looked at my brother. “Mel, I am so glad that you could come!” Brandon pushed forward and hugged me tightly as he spun me around. “Nice hair. I see that art school is getting in your blood.” We once had the same shade of chestnut hair, though we still had the same light green eyes. “You look beautiful, though. I mean that.”

  “Of course I’m here. You’re going to the Super Bowl! I am so proud of you, Bran,” I gushed, as I pulled away from him and looked around. “This crowd. It’s mad and wonderful, and you’ve hit your dream.”

  “Winning is the real dream,” Brandon assured, me as he heard his name called from across the room. “It’s so crazy tonight. We’ll talk later?”

  I nodded and watched as he ran into the living room and took a deep breath. I had worn a denim skirt and a green shirt with some boots after agonizing over my choices. It didn’t hold a candle to most of the women here, with most of them dressed in next to nothing and looking like super models. The ones that weren’t dressed that way were beautiful regardless, and I looked over my shoulder to see Bonnie coming my way with a smile on her face. “Drinks! Then dancing.”

  We found the bar in the formal dining room and loaded up on some sweet cocktails as we discussed the party. “Did you see Nick?” I asked Bonnie, and she rolled her pretty topaz eyes.

  “Yeah, he was a little busy. I’ll talk to him later. Fucking quarterbacks,” Bonnie said, before she tossed her third drink down and grinned at me. “Let’s dance!”

  Bonnie was a light in my life. I’d always grown up in Brandon’s shadow, and though I loved him, nothing I did would ever be as good as his accomplishments. Look at tonight. I was looking at a couple more years in art school to have maybe a gallery showing in a matter of years if I was lucky. Painting and drawing happened to be my passion and I wanted to surround my life with it in every way possible. Brandon just happened to be extremely athletic, and his calling was playing center in football, so well that he was snatched up right after graduation from the local college. Nick as well. They were happy to be playing for the same team, and they even shared this house together.

  I knew that I’d be happy, even if my name wasn’t in lights like Brandon’s was.

  Bonnie and Nick had lost their mother in a car accident when she was twelve, and she still moved through life with so much positivity. I watched as she walked towards the makeshift dance floor in the living room and took a place on the edge as a great new song came on. I didn’t think that Nick was as positive, but he managed in his own way, and he was a great player.

  We danced to every song that played and I felt the alcohol coursing through my body as I lost myself in the beat. I loved to dance as much as Bonnie did, and the hours passed quickly in between dancing and drinks. Some of the players would speak from time to time as the crowd screamed their names and cheered. It was getting wild in here and I laughed as I looked around.

  There was no sign of Nick at all and I assumed that he was off with the redhead or some other woman. I tried not to think about it as I danced and bumped against the people that were joining us on the dance floor. After a while, I got too hot, and told Bonnie that I needed some fresh air.

  I wandered to the back of the room and slipped through the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. They had a big deck for barbecues out there and a pool, and I wandered over to one of the chairs by the water and sat down with a fresh drink. I’d managed to grab it from the main fridge and I sipped from the bottle as I took in a slow breath. There was the sound of a door closing and I turned my head to see the redhead from before stumbling towards the house as she fixed her red dress around her very generous breasts.

  I glanced at the cottage by the pool to see the
door ajar and I raised an eyebrow. Nick used that a lot. I stared up at the stars as I heard footsteps and felt someone sit on the seat beside me. “Mel. I like the hair,” Nick said in his husky voice, and I told myself not to shiver. God, I loved his voice.

  “Thanks,” I said, as I lowered my eyes to glance his way. His jeans fit him well and he was buttoning his shirt as I watched quietly. “So you make them leave after now?”

  Nick shot me a dark look as he finished with his blue shirt before he shook his head. “She’s just mad that I won’t give her more than…that.” He raised his hand and gestured towards the cottage and a frown crossed his face. “I have the game to think about now. I don’t have time for a commitment.”

  “Okay. Why are you telling me this?” I asked him, as I watched his beautiful eyes lock with mine. There was something different in his face, and I realized how long it had been since I’d actually spent any time with Nick. “I’m not asking you for anything.” I leaned back in the chair and crossed my feet together as I sipped my drink. “Are you okay? I mean, this is a huge time for you and you seem kind of down.”

  “I guess I wish that Mom was here to see this.” His words sobered me, and I nodded before I looked at him. “She’d be the one planning the parties and doing all of this.”

  “You’re right about that. I think you two did just fine. It’s a great party,” I assured him, as I allowed myself to stare into his face.

  “Only because we hired everyone. Do you remember our parties back in school?” Nick asked, and we both laughed together.

  “Brandon barely knew that there was going to be one until the house was full of people and we needed food for them. Mom and Dad made a terrible mistake traveling so much,” I remembered wistfully, as I shook my head. “We’d scramble for some chips and something to heat up, but the show always went on, didn’t it?” I kept looking at him. “How did you do it?”