by Lea Coll
“Thank you for bringing me here. It’s been the most amazing night. Better than any date I’ve been on.”
I turned my head to her, thinking this girl could be it for me. “It’s not done yet.”
“It’s not?” She stared at me in disbelief.
“Yeah, I got food too.”
She sat up, looking down at me. “You are a romantic. You’re ruining me for anyone else.”
I reached up to stroke her face. I wanted to ask why there would be anyone else, but I couldn’t.
Her gaze was full of sadness, yearning. She leaned down, touching her lips to mine, her hair covering us. I let her take the lead, tentative, exploring, before her tongue tangled with mine, taking the kiss deeper. I wished she’d straddle my hips, but we were in the middle of the field. Anyone could be watching.
She pulled away finally, her eyes soft. “Thank you.”
I raised my brow in question.
“This evening. You.”
“Could you eat?” I’d never wanted to be able to say you’re welcome so badly in my life. Every time she thanked me, I nodded in response. It was lame. I hated it.
“Yes. Actually.”
I stood, pulling her with me, gesturing at the to-go bags. “I had Callie get food.”
“Obrycki’s. My favorite. Their crab cakes are the best.”
I led her to the benches on the side of the field meant for the teams during a game. I pulled out the still-warm containers, arranging the food on paper plates.
Once everything was situated, I placed the bags on the floor, sitting next to her.
Crab cake sandwiches weren’t fancy. I’d been craving them. She took a large bite of her sandwich, closing her eyes as if savoring it.
After chewing and swallowing, she opened her eyes. “It’s been a while since I’d eaten their food.”
“I’m glad you like it.” I dug into my own sandwich. I was in my favorite place with the person quickly becoming my favorite person.
We ate quickly not talking about much of anything. “Do you want to get going? It’s getting late. I know you have a long commute home.”
Regretful, I said, “I wish we could stay but Callie said we needed to be out by eight. If you want, we can play again sometime?”
“We could go to a park. I’d love that.” Her tone was wistful.
“Good.” I’d completely misread Dylan when we met. She wasn’t high maintenance. She was real. She wore evening gowns, went to fancy events. She wore sweatshirts and leggings. She was comfortable throwing a ball. When we’d cleared the trash, I grabbed my ball which was still sitting on the turf, tossing it to her.
An image popped into my head of a little girl catching my toss, one with long wavy blonde hair and big blue eyes. It was so real, I had to look away from her.
“Hey, where’d you go just then?”
I wasn’t sure she was ready for where my mind was at. Part of being with Dylan, was taking a risk. Putting myself out there, hoping she’d catch me. Lowering my voice, I said, “I was imagining what things could be like between us.”
“Oh yeah?” Her voice was breezy as if she didn’t mind the serious turn I’d taken.
“Yes.” I managed to say.
She smiled up at me. “I like that.”
“I like it too.” I wasn’t entirely honest with her. I didn’t want to freak her out. This woman was the only one I’d ever let in. It was so easy with her. Almost too good to be true.
Chapter Twenty-Two
DYLAN
I was trying to focus on prepping a case, but I couldn’t get my mind off of last night. It was the best date I’d ever been on. It beat any charity galas, dinners, and walks along the harbor.
I could easily see myself falling for him. The thing holding me back was that we didn’t talk much about our past, our family, our hopes and dreams. We had time, but I wanted to probe a little deeper the next time we were together.
Or like Avery suggested, I’d need to open up to him first. If I wanted something with Reid I needed to do more than I had with Pierce.
An email came through from Lena. Opening it, she mentioned bringing the kids onto the field for the Thanksgiving Day game. I tempered my excitement and what it meant for Kids Speak. Instead, I started cataloging what had to be done: get permission slips signed, see if parents would be willing to come with them, or drop them off.
My phone dinged with a text. I smiled seeing it was Reid.
Reid: How’s your day?
Dylan: Good.
Reid: I wish you lived closer.
Annapolis was a forty-minute drive from the city depending on traffic. It wasn’t easy for him to pop over after practice. Me too.
It was a good reminder that my life would always be in Annapolis. His would be in Baltimore or whatever city his career took him to. He couldn’t be traded to another city. He was from Louisiana, he admittedly lived there during the off-season. What if he moved there or was traded to another city?
I stood, closing my office door, then video called his number wanting to see him.
“I want to be with you,” he said as soon as his face filled the screen.
The sentiment wrapped around my heart, squeezing it. “Me too.”
“When can I see you again?” His tone was mixed with frustration and longing.
I tilted my head, trying to remember our schedules. “Thursday night or Saturday night? You’re home this weekend.”
He smirked. “I didn’t know you paid attention to my schedule.”
“I pay attention to everything about you. If that makes me seem desperate—” I shook my head. I was falling head over heels for this man. If he backed away now or thought my family was too much, I’d be crushed.
“It doesn’t. I feel the same way.”
I closed my eyes, reveling in the words I longed to hear. “How’s that?”
His eyes filled with emotion. “I want to spend all of my time with you. Even then it still wouldn’t be enough.”
I was falling in love with him. My head felt fuzzy, my fingers tingled. We hadn’t even had sex yet, but this man had my heart. I carefully smoothed my expression so he wouldn’t see the love on my face. It was too soon for those kinds of declarations, especially when we’d only shown each other what we wanted the other to see.
“You have a way with words.”
A dark cloud passed over his wistful expression. His tone was bitter. “I wouldn’t say that.”
I wanted to confront anyone who’d ever said differently. “It’s true. You’re sweet and considerate.” I wanted to add amazing and loving, but I couldn’t, not yet. Not when so much between us remained unsaid.
“I’m not what you think. I’m not someone’s ideal guy.”
You might just be perfect for me. I swallowed down the words. It was too soon. He didn’t know enough about me. I knew nothing about him. We were mysteries to each other. It was easy to love when you only showed people your good side, carefully covering the bad, pretending it didn’t exist.
I finally settled on, “None of us are.”
Reid watched me thoughtfully. “I want to fly my family to a game.”
Dread swirled in my gut. If he wanted me to meet his family, he’d want to meet mine. “I thought they couldn’t travel because your sisters are in school?”
“We have a game on Thanksgiving. It’s a good time since school’s closed.”
Thanksgiving was still a few weeks away. Introducing me to his family seemed like too much too soon.
“I want you to meet them.”
Words most women probably longed to hear. My family made me dread them. “I’d like that.”
The words felt wrong on my tongue. Panic filled me. I wanted the easy middle not the complicated long-term relationship issues like spending holidays together, mixing families. I wanted to know what he was hiding yet I didn’t want him to know everything about me. I felt unsettled with the realization.
“You’re close to your family.” He s
tated it like it was a fact.
There was a roaring in my ears making it difficult to focus on his exact words. “That’s true.”
“Do you spend Thanksgiving with them?”
I saw nothing but genuine interest in his expression even though his questions seemed like a well-executed interrogation. “I do.”
“Do you eat a big meal on the holiday?” Each question, no matter how innocent or well-meaning poked a hole in my armor.
It was traditional, meaning our housekeeper prepared a huge meal the three of us couldn’t eat if we tried. It had always felt lonely, like we were missing something important even if our family was present. What was he working up to? He couldn’t possibly want our families to meet. We’d only been dating a few weeks.
At my nod, he said, “It might not be possible then. I was hoping you could go to the game with them to watch.”
“That’s still a few weeks away. Don’t you think it’s too soon to spend the holiday together?” My face on the screen was deceptively calm yet there was a storm raging in my body with my stomach churning, my palms damp. At the same time, I hoped my resistance to his suggestion didn’t push him away.
“Would they want to come to the game too?” His expression was hopeful.
“They’ve never been before.” That’s when it hit me. I wanted to take our relationship to the next level. I wanted to meet his family. It was my parents holding me back, making me afraid to do something like meet his family.
My dad’s warnings filled my head. What if one of the media outlets picked up on our relationship, our connection through Kids Speak, and tried to make it sound like our relationship precipitated the partnership or that I manipulated him somehow?
“Would you find out if they’d like to come?” His question was so sweet because he didn’t know what his question meant to me.
He didn’t realize that he’d asked for the one thing I couldn’t guarantee, now or in the future.
I chewed my lip, not ready to tell him. My parents were rigid in their traditions for a reason. Keeping their routine was easier, more predictable. Mom’s disease wrecked their carefully constructed life, they didn’t want it touching anything else. “Don’t you think meeting the family is too soon?”
“The way I feel about you, it’s inevitable.”
“It may be inevitable but does it need to be now? We just started seeing each other.” My words came out strangled due to the panic coursing through my veins. I knew this would happen eventually. I wasn’t ready. I wanted to live in our own bubble for a while longer, enjoying each other.
“I suppose not. I thought you might like to.” His expression was pained, full of regret as if he was questioning his decision to ask.
My hands felt clammy, the walls were pressing in as I tried to salvage the closeness we had. “I would like to meet your family, learn more about you. I’m not ready for you to meet my family. For them to meet each other.”
“Why not?” He looked confused by my answer.
Every muscle in my body tensed, I had to ease my tightly clenched teeth apart to speak, “There’s things you don’t know—”
He was quiet for a few seconds considering me. “You don’t know all the things about me. We can—" He paused as if thinking of the right words.
“Figure it out together?” My chest was tight.
He nodded.
I remained stubbornly silent, not agreeing or disagreeing with his statement. How could he be so sure?
The holidays were coming up. It was foreseeable he’d want to spend it with his family. He had a home game on Thanksgiving Day so they’d probably travel to him. With my family living nearby it made sense to include them. It was sweet. Any normal girl would probably see it as a sign of his commitment, a confirmation that he was serious about me.
All I could remember was when Pierce wanted more, I couldn’t give it to him on his timetable, so he left. The cold uneasy truth slid down my spine, cooling the storm that had been raging.
“It will be okay.” His expression was soft, he was leaning forward so his face filled the screen.
“I believe you.” I was saying the words, softening toward him. I wanted to believe him more than I wanted to hold on to the way I’d been existing these last few years. The love welling up inside of me threatening to burst, wanting to give him everything he asked for.
“Great. I’ll talk to my mom and let you know if they can come. I should let you go. Oh wait, we didn’t pick a day yet.”
“How about Thursday?” I didn’t want to wait until Saturday to see him again.
“That’s becoming our night.”
The our came out sounding like ow. Carefully smoothing my face so he wouldn’t think I’d noticed I said, “It sure has. Bye, Reid.”
I thought he’d said something a little off on our sushi date and now this. It might be nothing. Maybe he was tired. Or it could be a speech impediment. Is that why he was so reluctant to volunteer or be the spokesman? Or was I jumping to conclusions because I worked with speech therapists?
I wanted him to be comfortable to be who he was with me, not who he showed the public. I wanted to know the man under the uniform, the one with flaws, one who could speak freely. The one who’d love me despite my flaws.
I couldn’t help imagining what it would be like if my mom didn’t have MS, if I was free to make plans. I’d be at his game on Thanksgiving, cheering him on. We could have a big family dinner on a different day. Together we’d make new traditions. It was a world where I’d be available to travel to away games with him, not worrying about what was happening at home, not braced for the inevitable emergency call.
The desire to have him for myself was all-encompassing. If my parents were in good health and emotionally independent, I could be the woman he needed. The one by his side. The one he needed. The one he deserved. But I wasn’t.
Chapter Twenty-Three
REID
Hanging up, I wondered if it was too much too soon. Had I pushed Dylan before she was ready? At the football stadium it felt like she was in this with me. After our conversation I wasn’t sure. I wanted to see her again, hold her in my arms, reassure myself and her that what we felt when we were together was real. I didn’t like the physical distance between us. There seemed to be something else there too.
Then I’d screwed up our. Had she noticed? I hated being on guard all the time around her. I should clear the air. I wanted to dispel any doubts she had about me. I wanted her to know everything there was to know about me. Maybe then she’d relax, letting me know what was going on with her.
I vowed to tell her the next time I saw her, regardless of my fears. I’d know if she was the one for me. There was no more delaying the inevitable. It was time for her to know so she could decide for herself if I was worthy of her.
On Thursday evening, I was more nervous driving to Dylan’s house than I was before a playoff game. Everything was at stake. Our relationship. Our future together. If she reacted badly, I’d never recover. I didn’t think she would, yet opening myself up was terrifying. She could tell the media. She could tell Lena. She could insist I come forward.
Before our relationship went any further, I needed to tell her, to make sure she was in this for me.
I used her heavy wrought iron knocker on her door to announce my presence. Footsteps came down the hall before the door opened. Dylan was barefoot, her toes painted a pale pink, in skinny jeans and a simple white-T that hung loosely off her one shoulder revealing a flesh-toned bra strap. I’d never seen her more beautiful.
She smiled, transforming her face.
I stepped into her, cupping her cheeks, kissing her like I’d imagined all week when we were separated. When I finally pulled away, she said, “Wow.”
“I missed you.”
She closed the door behind me. “I missed you too. I’m making dinner.”
I’d told her I’d be at her place at six. We hadn’t made any plans. It was sweet she’d made dinner. No one had
ever cooked for me besides my mother. “You didn’t have to do that.”
She smiled over her bare shoulder as she walked down the hall. “I wanted to. I wanted a night in.”
Every nerve ending in my body tingled as I followed her. The smell of seafood and garlic permeated the small space. The older home had been renovated but none of the original walls knocked down, so each room was separate.
“It smells amazing,” I said entering the modern yet cozy kitchen.
“I’m making a seafood medley. I hope you like it. I figured since you ate crab cakes the other day, you weren’t allergic to seafood.”
“Mmm.” All thoughts of telling her the truth, being the man she deserved fell away, until all I could see was her. Her bare neck as she pulled her hair over one shoulder, the dip in her waist, the curve of her hip. I moved until I stood behind her, my hands gripping her hips, tucking my face in her neck, kissing the space next to her bra strap.
She shivered. “You’re distracting me.”
“Am I?” I murmured, not caring if dinner was ruined.
She tilted her head, giving me access to kiss her neck, to nibble her ear lobe. I gripped her hips tighter, pulling her back against me so she could feel how she affected me. I was already hard and aching for her.
I wanted to take this further. I wanted to lift her onto the counter to feast on her even if the responsible choice was to turn off the stove and talk.
She turned, her arms going around my neck. “I want you.”
Her words were desperate. I should have questioned it, but I wanted her too. My hands cupped her ass as I lifted her, her legs naturally wrapping around my waist. I rocked into her, my cock nestled between her legs, her heat urging me on. Our kisses turned passionate as I placed her on the counter next to the stove.
I ripped my mouth from hers, tilting my head toward the stove in silent question.
“Yes. It should be done.” Her fingers tangled in my hair as she kissed my cheek, the underside of my jaw, down my neck, distracting me in the best way.
