“I love that plan. I just hope this is the right choice. If anything happened to you or Fia—”
“Don’t you worry, Dean. We’re a team. We got this.” She smiles, and her gaze drops down to my groin. “But since you got me into this mess, you are going to have to make it up to me.”
“Are you asking for sexual favors as compensation for dragging you into my horribly messed-up life?”
“Maybe.” Her smile grows into a full-blown display of happiness, and I can’t stop myself from mirroring her. I think this means she’s ready to take things to the next level.
Yes!
And…nooo! My excitement is immediately hampered by the fact that I need to get to the stadium. “Can I pay you after the game? I gotta get going.” There’s my press conference, warm-up, and then the game.
“No,” Lara says.
“No?”
“One installment won’t be sufficient. You’ll need to pay me several times.”
I press my hand over my heart. “You really think so little of my skills?”
She raises a light brown brow.
“I promise you’ll be offering a credit halfway through.”
She laughs, and her cheeks turn red. “Okay, big boy. Off you go to the game.” She hops up and throws her arms around me. I think she’s going to kiss me, but instead she clings tightly. “Be careful, Dean. That crazy asshole might be at the game.”
That’s a cliché. Mimi would never let that happen.
I pull away and look down at her beautiful face. “He’d be stupid to try anything in front of so many people.” The press will be there in spades. The stadium is sold out. “Tell Fia I love her when she wakes up from her nap.”
Lara blinks up at me. “You love her?”
“I do.” Even if I’m shocked to hear the words come out of my mouth, I know what I feel. That little girl stole my heart the first moment I held her stinky little body.
“How about me?” she asks, her voice saturated with vulnerability.
“You’re kinda ugly, so I’ll need to get back to you on that.”
Her jaw drops.
“I’m joking!”
Lara smacks my arms. “That wasn’t funny, Dean!”
“Sorry.”
She stares up at me expectantly with her wide brown eyes. I know what she wants to hear, but I’m not ready to say it.
Instead, I grab her shoulders, pull her into me, and kiss her hard. Her lips are stiff for a few seconds, but then she opens to me, and our tongues lash together. My body is screaming to take her, kiss her, run my tongue up and down the inside of her thigh. I want the taste of her in my mouth when I’m playing tonight.
“Wah! Wah!” screams Fia from the porta-crib I brought over, now assembled in Lara’s spare bedroom.
And there’s the cockblocker right on cue. I break our kiss. “Payment in full after the game. I promise.”
Lara licks her lips. “Okay, but don’t be late with it. I charge interest.” She flicks a thumb over her shoulder. “I should answer the call before she implodes.”
“See you at the game.”
“I’ll be in the front row with bells on. And a screaming baby.”
I love it. I love how together, Lara, Fia, and I have become a team. Life feels different now. Not to say that on our own, we were nothing. That’s not true. But we’ve become a sort of family, as untraditional as it is, and it’s made us all stronger. I can’t afford to mess this up or lose them.
When I get to the stadium, I’m not surprised to see the press clogging the parking lot with their vans. They’ve almost become a fixture in my life. What does shock me is that my team, minus a few, are gathered outside by the entrance of the locker room.
Are they holding a joint press conference? I haven’t been informed of anything.
I park in one of the last spots at the very end, grab my gear, and head toward the swarm. I’m immediately bombarded with questions from the press, but I’ve learned to pretend they’re not even there.
“Coach? What’s going on?” I ask, coming up to him. He’s at the center of it all, looking stoic.
“We heard you’re making a statement and wanted to be here to support you. As any good team would.”
I’m blown away. “But you guys don’t need to get mixed up in this.”
“No, but we want to,” he says. “Thus, the reason we’re all out here showing support.”
I don’t know what to say. My gaze glides over the faces of my teammates. “Thank you. Really, thank you. But I’d feel a lot better if you were not a part of this.”
They have no idea I’m about to call out Tony. This is not a political stand. This is not a frivolous PR stunt. I’m fighting for my life as well as my daughter’s and Lara’s.