“Baby, what would make you even think your Dad would….”
“I heard you and Aunt Jenn talking,” Megan admitted, and Keira closed her eyes. She’d tried her hardest to keep the truth about her ex’s philandering from Meg. She didn’t want her daughter to know her dad was a cheating scumbag.
“Babe…”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s a jerk. We know that. We are over it and we are so much better off without him. It’s not like he was around all that much anyhow. But like I was saying, Coach is like a Calvin Harris.”
“What?” She laughed, trying to process her daughter was trying to fix her up with the one man she had ever had a one-night stand with.
“Calvin Harris is like a one-woman guy, totally devoted to Tay Swift,” Megan shared like she was sharing all the secrets of the world. “You know, a man who open doors is nice and sweet. He can take care of you, but at the same time be comfortable enough in his own skin to let you do your own thing without getting all jelly and possessive about your time.” Keira opened her mouth and then closed it, unsure of what to say next. Thankfully—or not, depending on how you saw it—Rex chose that moment to join them.
“Hey, kid, you did good today,” his voice rumbled deeply, and Meg beamed at him. “Have you played on a team before?”
“Yeah, our junior high had one back in LA.”
“Nice. Well, you did great.”
“Thanks, Coach.”
“We should probably get going…” Keira started to say, but Rex interrupted her.
“Do you ladies like pizza?”
“Umm, duh? Who doesn’t, right, Mom?” Meg said with a flip to her hair. Keira bit her lip, not sure what was up with her daughter.
“Hmm…” she pressed her lips together. She definitely knew what he was doing though, and she didn’t know if she should clap in giddiness or groan and shake him.
“I know this place in town. Best pizza. How about we go get dinner?”
“I don’t know. We probably shouldn’t bother you…”
“Yes! Oh my god! What a great idea, Coach.” Keira and Megan answered at the same time. Keira liked the way his eyes gave away his clear amusement.
“Just Rex is okay. Save the coach stuff for practice.” He chuckled. Keira didn’t like the way her heart warmed over him being nice to her kiddo.
“Does that mean I made it?” Meg whispered, and Keira’s head whipped over to him. She watched as he nodded, looked around as if conspiring on something, and shared.
“You and Kate are in.”
“OMG!” Meg jumped high, throwing her between-a-girl-and-a-woman body at Keira, hugging her. “I’m on the team!” she whispered, and Keira hugged her baby tightly, her eyes on Rex, mouthing a thank you.
***
“Coach, I mean Rex, this is really great pizza!” Meg told Rex, smiling, her blue eyes shining, and as a Mom, Keira was proud of her kid’s great manners.
“Glad you like it, kid,” he told Meg with a nod of his head.
“Mom, can I call Aunt Jenn before going to bed and tell her about the team and pizza she has to have when she visits next time?”
“Sure, honey,” she answered softly, trying to wrap her head around the events of the night.
“Thanks, Mom! Goodnight Co…Rex!” she waved before sauntering away, obviously giving them their space since she was playing matchmaker. She never went to bed before nine, and it was only seven thirty.
“She’s an awesome kid,” Rex commented. It made her heart warm over.
“Thank you. I like her.” Keira smiled, taking a sip of her root beer. “Want to go to the patio?” she suggested so they could talk without eavesdropping teenage ears.
They sat next to one another at the patio table the house had come with on black metal chairs with what had once been bright green seating that had faded a little with time and sun. They sat in momentary silence, but when Keira glanced at him, she saw his eyes fixed on her, and she couldn’t help but smile at his question.
“Would you have told me about her if you had stayed the next day?”
“I wasn’t keeping her a secret, Rex,” she told him honestly and watched him run his hand through his short-cropped hair.
“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…” The sincerity of his voice confirmed his words. He hadn’t meant to come off as a jerk, again.
“No, you shouldn’t have. Look, we had more show than tell time that night.” His sexy mouth twitched, and she knew he was thinking about what they had done, and something about that made her open up, “If… If I hadn’t had to leave, I would have stayed and spent every moment possible with you, for as long as you’d wanted me around.” She knew that had been too honest, but it was just the way she was. She wanted to lay it all out for him and only him. She braced for him to start running for the hills.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to let you go until the last moment. Until we had to walk away to our separate gates at the airport,” he shared. The shock on her face must have been obvious. “And even then I would have called you the moment my plane landed,” he surprised her further. She had never met a man who was willing to be that honest and open with her. Not once.
“I…”
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
“She was sick,” she shared, giving him a fake smile and shrug. “Not so bad we thought that could happen. She’d been sick for a long time. But it took a turn for the worse when we were in Vegas.”
“Jesus, Key.” He shifted in his seat, pulling her closer. Being wrapped in his arms made her feel feminine, safe, and secure. With his arm around her shoulder, she looked at him, her eyes on his jaw. “I’m sorry, baby.”
“Death is a part of life,” she whispered, turning away from him. Her mother might have not been mother of the year, but she had raised her sister and her the best she could as a single mom with close to no help. Keira rested her head on his shoulder, and they looked out to the yard.
“So you have a sister. Any other siblings?”
“Just my sister. You? You’re Katie’s uncle?”
“My brother is her dad. He’s overseas serving in the Army. I try to help her mom as much as I can.”
“Only a brother?” she inquired and felt the light shake of his head.
“I wish! No,” he chuckled. “I have two sisters.”
“Big family.”
“Big, loud, some members slightly nuts, others complete drama, but we’re close. My parents live just outside of town. They help Tori with Kate and her little brother as much as they can. I have a sister in LA and the other in Seattle.”
“Did you grow up here?”
“I did. Born and raised. I left for college in San Diego, then came back.”
“That’s nice,” she commented and meant it. She liked the small town. It had quickly grown on her.
“What about you?”
“Jenn and I were born in Kentucky, but when Dad left, Mom got a job opportunity in Arizona. She hated the heat there, so we moved to California. Jenn and I went to Cal-State and kind of just stayed in that area.”
“Until now.”
“Until now.” She smiled. “I love it here, though. This is the best decision I could have made for Meg and me.”
“Why did you leave LA?” he asked, sounding genuinely interested.
“The correct sorta-first date answer would be that it made sense financially.”
“And the truth?”
“The truth…” she looked at him, enjoying how his warm, grey eyes. “Meg and I needed a change. I wanted us to start new. Somewhere fresh without rumors or memories. A place for her and I. We came here on vacation about six years ago, and I loved it. Financially, after my house sold, it made sense to give things a go here.”
“I’m glad you chose Whispering Springs, Keira,” he whispered against her hair before kissing the top of her head. “I want to see you again.” She smiled.
“Okay.”
“Kate said something about her and Meg going o
ut after school tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“You work tomorrow?”
“I actually have the day off.”
“Well, what a coincidence. So do I.” She giggled and looked up at him.
“Spend the day with me?” he whispered in a sexy low tone that made her shiver as he closed the space between them, his lips hovering over hers.
“Rex…”
“Just agree and shut up so I can kiss you.”
“Okay.” Before closing her eyes and getting lost in their kiss, she watched his sexy mouth grin.
Chapter Nine
Rex
“Batting cages?” she asked incredulously as she looked at the industrial-looking building in front of them from his silver truck.
“Have you ever been?” he asked, schooling his expression, fighting for it to remain neutral.
“No.” She laughed, bringing her thumb to bite her nail nervously. She was cute when she was nervous.
“Don’t knock it till you try it,” he tried to pep talk her, but if the look on her face was any indication, it wasn’t helping.
“Rex, I’m not what you would call athletic.” She swallowed hard, looking from the building to him, and he wondered what her hesitation was about.
“It’s okay, Key, we’re just having fun.” He grabbed her hand, gently squeezing it for encouragement.
“I know, but I don’t want to disappoint—”
“I don’t think that would even possible,” he surprised himself by sharing. He wasn’t lying or blowing smoke. He liked her a lot more than he should for a woman he hardly knew. Yet if he was honest, he felt he did know her. “Come on, clock’s ticking.”
He hopped out and rounded the truck just in time to open her door and help Keira out. She wore a creamy beige sweater that was off her shoulders and sexy jeans that made her thighs and plump ass look incredible. The black-framed glasses on her pretty face somehow highlighted her pink pout and made him think of all the naughty things her mouth was capable of. He had been fighting getting hard since he’d arrived at her place.
They walked into the lone building hand in hand. He brought out a key, and she looked at him with a smile. God help him, there was something he really liked about her smiling at him.
“It’s just us,” he told her. Her head tilted toward him.
“Just us? Do you help run this, too?” she asked like a smart ass. His own face warmed slightly with his own blush.
“No.” He chuckled. “Josh does. He owed me a favor.”
“A favor, huh?” She frowned mockingly, but the twinkle in her eyes gave her away.
“Yeah.” He locked the door behind him before taking her hand and leading her toward the back. “Did you know it’s always been one of my fantasies to bring a woman here?”
“Really?”
“Alone,” he added, and she giggled.
“Seriously?”
“Since I was a nerdy kid in high school.”
“Somehow I don’t think nerdy would have described you in high school?”
“You don’t think so?”
“No, not for a minute.” Her eyes glittered at him as she smiled. Her gaze fell to his lips, and he felt her stare in his gut and in his dick. It made his body warm over as everything tightened within him. He literally ached to touch her.
So he did.
He stepped forward, and she matched his steps until she was in his arms. Fuck, she felt great there. Like a missing piece to a puzzle. Perfect and meant to be. He'd never believed in luck, until that moment. Looking at her pretty face, soft and dreamy, he felt like the luckiest son of a bitch that ever lived.
"Who do you think I was in high school?" he lamely asked, but she gifted him a sexy grin, one of her delicate eyebrows going up.
"Honestly?"
"Yeah." The way her eyes glittered, he was slightly nervous of not living up to her expectations.
"I think you had a bad boy deep inside that only peeked out here and there while being the good guy jock people could rely on almost all of the time."
"Huh." He fought from laughing. How the hell she knew that was beyond him. He'd done stupid shit when he'd been young while being responsible and earning high enough grades and a substantial amount of trophies so his rebelliousness would be overlooked.
"Am I right?" she asked, her curiosity obvious.
"Whatever," he muttered before grinning at her, the sweet giggles that rang in the air making him lean in to kiss her.
"What about me?" she asked deviously against his mouth. He licked her lower lip, tugging it slightly before letting it go.
"Cheerleader, homecoming queen, naughty girl," he quickly answered. She shook her head.
"That sounds more of a fantasy than reality."
"We have a costume shop in town. I could pick a couple of things for us to make fantasy into reality if you would like," he suggested, wagging his eyebrows.
"Horribly awkward bookworm in high school," she told him as she created a little space between them, but he held on to her hand. He looked at her, unable to imagine her ever being awkward. He couldn't picture it. She was so confident in her skin, and everything about her dripped sexy femininity and grace.
"Well, baby, let me tell you, you grew out of that awkward stage and turned into a bombshell." Her cheeks warmed, and she shook her head.
“So you played baseball?”
“Yeah.”
“And let me guess, football?”
“Maybe.” He smiled.
“Quarterback?” She looked over her shoulder as she walked toward the last cage, and his dick stood at attention.
The last cage would work perfect for what he had in mind. She turned her head, and his eyes roamed over her body. The sway of her sweet curves made everything in his body jolt in awareness.
“No, tight end.” He cleared his throat, silently praying for control so he wouldn't just take her then and there.
“Interesting,” she mumbled, which piqued his interest.
“Josh was the QB. Why?” he asked. She shrugged, leaning slightly against the chain link fence of the batting cage. He prowled toward her, walking slowly and with purpose. He felt like a jungle predator, and she was his helpless prey.
“You're a leader,” she shared, no doubt in her voice, and his eyes opened wide.
“Am I?”
“Yeah. I mean, I know we change from who we were from when we were younger, but the essence of who we were usually sticks with us… And I mean, look at you now.”
“What about me now?” He tried not to frown.
“You're the chief of police," she quietly clarified and he shook his head.
"Of a small town," he quickly responded. Her eyes flashed, and she shook her head.
"Don't do that. Don't downplay your accomplishments." Fuck! That was exactly what he was doing. Her calling him on his shit turned him on further. He liked a woman strong enough to call him out on his crap. It told him she wasn’t a pushover. She would be a partner in life. Partner in life? Shit. He was getting ahead of himself. "Do you like your job?" she asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"I do. It's a lot of responsibility, but it also makes me a part of the community and I like that. Do you like being a hairstylist?"
"I do. I like that my job is flexible enough that I can be present for Megan when she needs me. Not only for things like tryouts yesterday, but for the little things like taking her and picking her up from school, stuff like that. Then there are the clients. People are happy to see you usually. They leave you with a pep in their step, so that's always a positive." She looked around, and when her eyes came back on his, she asked, "So what was that lifelong batting cage fantasy of yours?"
No games, no bullshit. Just like that first night they met when she asked whose room they'd go to, she surprised him, something that hardly ever happened. Somehow he knew she'd keep doing that. And he fucking liked the idea of that. Shit, with her, life would never go stagnant; it sure as hell wouldn'
t be predictable.
"You want me?" he asked, clenching his hands in his pockets, testosterone flowing heavily throughout every inch of his body.
She walked toward him, her hands at the hem of her sweater, pulling it over her head, then throwing it to the bench behind him. If his dick hadn’t already been straining against his jeans, it would now.
“What do you think?” she asked, now standing in front of him in nothing but a white lace bra and sweet blue jeans. Her hair almost set a glowing red halo from the contrast of her milky skin.
"Key..." he warned, and an evil little glint went to her eyes as she looked around the place, tilting her head, showing off the line of her neck.
"I can see the appeal. Doing something naughty in a place where you know there are usually so many people around." Her voice had gone slightly breathless.
Part of him wanted to attack, take her hard, fast, and dirty on all fours on the astro-turfed ground, while the part of him that craved control waited to see what she was up to. He watched her hands go to her waist, and his control cracked lightly. He reached out and grabbed her wrists tightly, yet careful not to hurt or bruise her delicate skin.
"I get to take those off," he told her, and she fucking smirked at him.
"I was just wondering if we were going to talk all day or if you were actually going to do something," she sassed. He reached over and lightly spanked her jean-clad ass, his face at her neck. He heard her sweet gasp that made his hard-on strain for her.
"You want to play, baby?" he asked, every cell in his body clenching tight.
"Rex..." she whispered, but in his ears it almost felt like it echoed in the empty building. He glanced at the clock on the wall and knew they had more than enough time. No one would be interrupting them.
"I was planning on teaching you to bat. Hit a ball,” he shared before leaning lower to lick the line of her neck as he walked her backwards toward the cage. "But you wanted to rush."
"Rex..." her words stopped the moment he ran his teeth over the shell of her ear. He held her head in place when he felt her arch her back, preventing her head from falling back.
Walking them into the cage, he walked them toward the pitching machine, a clear plan set in his mind, his blood pumping hot in his body.
Lucky For You (Never Too Late Book 3) Page 4
