She snaked her arms around his neck and he grabbed her ass in both hands, lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist in response and moaned his name. Her mouth latched on to his neck, and she lapped at him.
“I’ve missed you,” she murmured against his skin.
“God, Min, you’re my everything. I didn’t even know what love was until I met you. I’m so sorry I let you go.”
“Not your fault.” She kissed him, opening her mouth in invitation. His body responded, and he was hard for her. He walked backward with her to the couch and sat down. Their hands were everywhere, roaming under each other’s clothes.
“We should stop,” Devon said. “You said your mom will be back soon and this isn’t how I want her seeing her future son-in-law.”
“Was that a proposal?” Mindy leaned her forehead against his, breathing hard. “Don’t ask me that yet. There’s something you should know.”
“You’ve found someone else.” He knew he’d waited too long. Stupid to think she was sitting here at this house alone, waiting for him.
“Don’t be ridiculous. There won’t ever be anyone else for me, not like that.” She slipped out of his arms and onto the couch. “But there is someone you need to know about before we can be together. We’re a package deal now.”
Was she seriously talking about her puppy now? “I could care less if you have a dog. We’ll take her on the road with us.”
“Dog? What?” She half-smiled, her head tilted.
“The toys. And the blanket. You’ve got a dog, right?”
Mindy stood up and crossed to look out the storm door. When she turned back, her fingers twisted together. “Katy isn’t a dog. Those were baby things.”
“Oh.” They could get past this. He wasn’t going to be angry at her because she’d been with someone else in the year they’d been apart. “You had a baby?”
“No, Devon. We have a baby. A little girl. I named her Katherine, after my mom.”
A flush of adrenaline hit his bloodstream and his stomach was heavy. “A baby. You and me?”
Chapter Nineteen - Mindy
Mindy’s insides felt torn apart at the idea that Devon might reject their child. What if he didn’t even believe her? What if he was worried she wanted something from him? What if, what if, what if. It was all she could think about.
“You should at least meet her, Devon. Even if you don’t want me, you should see her. She’s beautiful, smart… perfect. She’s my perfect little angel.” She took a faltering step closer.
The door opened behind her. It was her mom. She was chattering away at Katy and the stroller wheels squeaked on the hardwood floor. Mindy whirled around to face them. She couldn’t keep looking at Devon, his face slack with shock.
She wondered as she had a hundred times before, at her choice to keep this a secret from him. She hadn’t wanted to saddle him with responsibility he wasn’t ready for, hadn’t asked for. Katy was precious to her, but having this baby had been her choice.
“Devon?” Her mom stopped in her tracks and looked at Mindy, her lips pursed.
Mindy undid the latches and picked the baby up from the stroller. “Mom, can you excuse us?”
Her mom gave her a long, questioning look then nodded. “I suppose so.” She started to turn, then stopped. “Devon, I’ve known you a very long time. I treated you like one of my own.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Devon said.
“Think very, very carefully about the next words you say. They’ll define who you are to this child. And to Mindy.” Her mom turned at that and walked into the kitchen. She was right. If Devon couldn’t find a way to love them both, then they could never be together.
“I understand.” Devon took a step closer to Mindy, his eyes bulging from their sockets. “Can I hold her?”
She held Katy close, inhaling her scent for a moment. She smelled so clean and new, still. Her child… their child. “Yes.”
He crossed the room and held his arms out. She slid the baby into them, helping him adjust to Katy’s small size. “She was two weeks early. It made me think of you. She was so excited to take center stage, she couldn’t wait.”
“And she’s healthy?”
“Absolutely perfect. Has been since day one and she’s in the ninetieth percentile for her development.”
“Is that a good thing?” He looked into his daughter’s clear, blue eyes, Mindy’s eyes. She saw it on his face, the moment everything clicked into being real for him. He hugged the baby close. “You’ve got a head start on me. I don’t know what any of that means.”
“It means she’s smart and developing well physically.” Mindy sat down on the couch because her knees were wobbly. She wanted to ask him what this meant for their future. Did the three of them have a future? But that seemed selfish considering he’d only just found out he was a dad.
“Is this why you left me? Because you didn’t think I’d want her? Because I already love her. She smells like nothing else, and she looks so much like you.”
“She got your blond hair, though.” Mindy couldn’t help but smiling when she talked about Katy. But her stomach fluttered with nerves.
“Sure she does. She’s got to have a little bit of her old man. As long as she looks like her beautiful Mommy.” He sat down beside her and laid Katy down on his thighs. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Yeah, this is why I left. I knew Bret would try to make you marry me, I knew the label would try to make you marry me, and that was the last thing I wanted. If you want us, I want it to be because it’s what you want.”
“Are you kidding me?”
She couldn’t meet his gaze, staring hard at a spot on the old hardwood.
“Min, look at me.” When she lifted her face and looked at him, he touched her cheek, keeping one hand firmly on the squirming baby’s belly. “Of course I want you both. I love you. Hell, I’ve known her for less than five minutes and I’d cut off an arm for her. I love both of you.”
Relief rushed through her like standing under a waterfall. “So, you’re not mad?”
“Oh, I’m going to kill your brother. If he’d only told me what was going on…” He shook his head, his mouth a hard line.
“I made him promise me he wouldn’t. Here.” She scooped the baby up, spread a blanket on the floor and laid her down there. “If you don’t kiss me in the next five seconds, I might die.”
Devon stood and was by her side in a flash. He wrapped his arms around her and looked down at the baby and then into her eyes. His lips took hers, gentle and sweet, and then more. Demanding and hot, everything at once.
When they parted, he held her close. “We’re a family. We’ll always be a family. I love you, Min.”
“I love you, too, Devon. So much.”
Today, they would start their lives together. She didn’t care if they ever married, though she’d remind him he’d sort of proposed to her. She just wanted to raise their daughter together, as one. For the first time since she had left him, she was truly happy again.
*****
THE END
Bonus Book 5: Touchdown Daddy
Description
Jennifer
I have the best job in the world. I get paid for touching hot men. And not just any hot men: I am the sports therapist for Philly’s professional football team.
Of course the guys hit on me all the time. But I know their tricks. I’m a professional and never break my rules.
Until he lands on my massage table. Justin’s the most gorgeous, the most cocky, and the most annoying player on the team. He flirts without trying and offends the hell out of me. So why am I falling for him so hard?
I need to stay away from this guy, he’ll bring me nothing but trouble. But I can’t. He’s injured and Coach Michaels wants me to treat him.
Then the guy kisses me one day when I’m trying to work on him and I know I want him. I run after one explosive night together and try to hold my crumbling world together, facing life as a single
mother.
He’s turned my world upside down, but I can’t ever let him know how much our night changed his.
Justin
Every guy wants to be like me. I am the most admired player in the NFL and the most desired one by the ladies. I can talk any woman into my bed. I live for the chase.
Until I lay eyes on the new sports therapist Jennifer. She’s gorgeous and tough and I know I’ve met my match. Too bad she’s not interested. But I don’t care. I’ll find a way to have her.
When I finally succeed, she gives me the best night of my life. For the first time, I want a woman to stay in my life.
She doesn’t.
I know I’ve fallen for her when the pain doesn’t go away. I need to find her to convince her we need a second chance. But where the hell is she?
Chapter One
I was working on the computer in the event planner’s office when I heard someone say my name. I tossed my thick braid over my shoulder and glanced over to see Coach Michaels standing in the doorway. “Here you are, Jennifer. Are you helping Michelle out again?” His face twisted into a frown, one that I suspected meant both sympathy and a bit of worry.
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about her having another baby after this. This first trimester is brutal for her, Coach. She was in the bathroom most of the morning before I saw her long enough to send her home,” I remarked with a wrinkled nose as I pictured her pale face in my mind. Poor thing…I never wanted to have kids, but that was probably what most twenty-two-year-old graduates thought. “What’s up?”
“I’d like you to take a look at one of my guys. He’s dealing with something in his shoulder, and I’d rather be cautious about this.” There was an evident worry in his voice.
“Sure thing.” I stood and walked into the hallway to the room that was set up for me several feet down near the stadium. “Who is it?”
“Justin McLeod,” Coach Michaels replied, and I frowned. Even if I weren't in sports therapy, I would know something about Justin. He was gorgeous, and he knew it, but he was also an excellent quarterback. With their leading scores so far this season, I doubted that they were willing to lose him to an injury. “Do you know him?”
“Who doesn’t?” I asked as I led the way into the room connected to the locker room where all of my stuff was meticulously stored. “Is it an old injury?”
“It is. He pulled some tendons last year and the kid won’t take care of himself, Jennifer. I want you to take a feel and see what you can tell him that he’ll listen to.” Coach gave me an imploring look with his tired, dark eyes and I smiled and nodded.
“I will do my best, but stubborn athletes have a hard time with listening.” I saw Coach nod before he ran a hand through his graying hair. He wasn’t just my boss, but also my father’s best friend and lifelong family friend. I graduated from Boston University with a degree in Sports Medicine just a few months ago, and he’d needed a new therapist here in Philadelphia, so here I was. It wasn’t favoritism though I didn’t let it out that we knew each other well, fearful that it might look that way.
There was no reason to tell him that I doubted that Justin would take my words to heart. He was a wild man who played by nobody’s rules, on or off the field. He’d been spotted by the paparazzi many times at some bar with a woman or two, sometimes three. I doubted that he’d worry about his health and how it might affect the team. It was a shame that he was one of the big talents on the team and that Coach depended on him. “I’ll tell him to come and see you. Practice is over in about an hour. Can you stick around?” His eyes pleaded with me, and I nodded with what I hoped was a relaxed grin.
I knew how athletes were when they saw a girl in the staff. Not that I was a supermodel by any means, but my strawberry blonde hair was pretty and brought out my deep blue eyes. I kept myself in shape since this job required me to stay active. I could end up treating half the team on any given day and they required strength on my part. My friends thought that I just got this job to check out hot guys but it was more than that. My brothers had played sports when I was younger and whenever they got hurt, it made me realize that I wanted to help others.
One thing led to another and I found myself in college studying that very subject. I memorized more muscles than I cared to think about as well as the various injuries that could happen to them. I wanted to stay at the top of my field so when the opportunity came to work for a pro football team, I took it.
I turned on some music as I went through my inventory and waited to see if Justin would listen to Coach and show up. I had casual plans after this to meet friends for dinner. I glanced down at the standard blue pants and tank top in the team colors that I was wearing and wondered what I was going to throw on when I got back to my apartment, only a few blocks away.
“Hello, gorgeous,” a voice said as I paused and raised an eyebrow. Any woman could appreciate a smooth voice like that, one that reminded me of a good whiskey that slid well down my throat.
I looked over to see his intense green eyes looking me up and down before they settled on my face with a crooked smile that probably melted panties right off of women in seconds. Justin McLeod was a hot specimen of a man.
“Hello. My name is Jennifer Collins. I am the new physical therapist for the team. Coach said you’re dealing with some pain?” My voice was nothing but professional as he seemed to frown and try to figure me out.
“I pulled a muscle. It’s not that big of a deal,” he shrugged before he stripped off his t-shirt and walked over to me.
“There’s no previous shoulder injury that you should be keeping track of, then?” I knew his type and rolled my eyes as he looked around the room.
“Where do you want me?” His voice was suggestive as he looked back at me and I stifled a laugh, shaking my head.
“Sit on the table there. I’ll see what I can find.” He did, and I took a moment to appreciate his muscled torso as I pressed my glossed lips together. “Right or left?”
“It’s on the right.”
I took a breath and reached out to press against his skin. He kept the breath that he sucked in subtle. “Yeah, this feels pretty tight. How is it affecting your game?” He tensed as I pushed in and realized that it was more than just a pulled muscle, although probably not career threatening, at least not yet.
Chapter Two
I listened to her speak in her steady confident voice as I memorized the feel of her hands on my skin. I focused on her question and wondered how I could get under her skin. Jennifer was a beautiful girl, and most women didn’t turn me away quickly, if at all. “The injury? It was the beginning of last season, and I played it through just fine.”
“I saw the game. My dad watches a lot of sports. Looked like an injury that might take a while to heal,” she shot back without missing a beat, and I let a long breath out.
“How the hell do you know that?” I heard her chuckle behind me.
“I am a physical therapist, Mr. McLeod. It’s my job to notice injuries on athletes, so I tend to do that. Quite a lot.” She pushed a little harder, and I froze and clenched my hands. “I think I am going to put some heat on it. Lay down and I’ll get one of my pads ready.”
I moved onto my stomach and rested my head on my good hand as I heard her behind me. I thought again of her body with its soft curves in all of the right places. I felt a cloth placed on my skin and then something hot over that as I closed my eyes.
“That feels good,” I admitted in a soft voice as I felt her pressing down on the gel pad.
“I can do this for you every day. I know that Coach wants you playing and I assume that you want to play. I am going to keep a close eye on this injury. Understand?” I nodded. “He and I have a good working relationship, and I won’t hesitate to share it with him if you’re not careful with this and follow my instructions,” she informed me as I felt the nerves in my stomach tensing up. This woman meant business.
“Are you sure I can’t bribe you with dinner and drinks?” I fli
rted although I already knew her answer.
“I am young, but I have been doing this for a while, Mr. McLeod. You’re not the first hot shot athlete that has tried to hit on me for some benefit to them, and you won’t be the last. I have a high respect for my job, and it’s not going to happen.” She was blunt if nothing else.
I decided to try something different. “Where did you go to school?”
“Boston. I graduated last year,” Jennifer replied and I raised an eyebrow.
“That’s quick to have this job already.” There was a silence and I wondered if I’d struck a nerve.
“It was good timing.” She pressed again and sighed. “Relax. Does anything else hurt?”
I told her about some leg pain that I was having and she raised my shorts to rub my leg as she asked me if she was getting it. She had great hands and I decided that I could get used to this. Our last therapist was a grumpy older man with no sense of humor.
She left the heat on for a while before removing it. “You might want to take a hot shower tonight, or a bath if that’s possible.”
“I have a hot tub in my yard. That’s very possible,” I replied as she voiced her admiration at my recent purchase. “Do you have one too?” I asked and she laughed.
“I just have a condo so I am stuck with the fancy bathtub. It’s not quite the same but it can be quite relaxing if I set the right atmosphere.”
Was she flirting with me? Damn, I hoped so and I felt my cock respond as I sat up and stretched carefully. “Want to come over some time to try out the hot tub with me?”
“Mr. McLeod.” Her voice held a warning as I looked into her flushed face.
“Call me Justin, at least.” Jennifer gave me a stern look with her mesmerizing ocean blue eyes. “Come on. We’re going to see a lot of each other. Do you prefer Jennifer or Jen?”
ROMANCE: Older Man Younger Woman Romance: Daddy’s Business Friend (First Time Virgin Pregnancy Taboo Romance) (Alpha Male Contemporary Romance Short Stories) Page 25
