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“You’ve got a cute kid.” You’ve got a cute everything, is what I want to say in response.
“I know it’s weird to offer, but I can hold him if you wa—” “No,” I snap. “Geez.” “I mean, no, thank you. He doesn’t do well with women.” “Wonder where he got that from.”
“Oh, well that’s good. I mean, that’s not good. Or maybe it is good? Who am I to say? Goddamn, this elevator is taking forever.” She slaps a palm over her mouth, her eyes darting to Max. “I mean, gosh dang it.” That finally makes me chuckle, a small grin sliding across my lips. She softens a bit. “He does smile.”
“Maybe he should loosen up every once in a while. He’s got a cute-ass kid and an even cuter smile when he shows it.”
I love butter. Imagine being the person who created God’s greatest gift to mankind.
“And Ace,” he calls out. “Keep your dick in your pants. We all know how fucking fertile you are, and I’m too young and too goddamn attractive for someone to be calling me Grandpa.”
I’m just tired. Tired of doing it all alone. Tired of feeling like I’m not doing enough.
“He’ll be on his hands and knees most of the time.” “As all men should be.”
She mirrors my posture, leaning on her car with crossed arms, a peek of a smile tugging on her lips. I’m sure she loves the satisfaction of knowing she can get under my skin with something as simple as not having a permanent residence, but I truly have no clue as to how someone could live so unattached.
“If you’re as terrible of a listener in the bedroom as you are in real life, Miller, I can promise you this, you wouldn’t be allowed to come.” Those pretty lips part, jade eyes wide. “Two can play this game, Montgomery. Now, let’s go.” I nod toward the other side of the house once again. Her lips press together, holding back a grin. “You keep talking like that, Kai, and I’ll be ditching the ‘baseball’ part and just be calling you ‘daddy.’”
She’s fucking stunning, all earth tones and tattooed skin glistening under the moonlight.
“If you’re going to start coming to my games, I better see Rhodes on your back and I’m not talking about my brother.” “Is this some athlete kink you got? Need to see a girl in your jersey?” The old flirty side of me that I’ve kept hidden and locked down for the most part since Max came into my life is itching to break free. I pop my shoulders. “I like to see pretty girls in my jersey. Like to take it off them too.” Miller’s lips part, a shocked and satisfied grin lifting on the corners. “Well, with that kind of promise, I’ll be sure to wear it next time.”
I’m trying to hold it together, I really am, but all I can think about is climbing his giant body like a tree.
There’s only one instance in which I can see myself gagging in Kai Rhodes’ presence, and it sure as hell isn’t from liquor.
“You flirting with me, Montgomery?” “Have been since we met. You gonna start flirting back?”
“I’ve had my moments. I was a different man before Max came along.” “A man who punches other players mid-game.” “A man who protects his teammate.” I raise a questioning brow. “A man who now wants that same teammate traded.” “Well, we all have our limits now, don’t we?” “And I’m yours?” His eyes trail my face, once again landing on my lips. “I think you might be.” Fucking make a move, Kai.
“How much do you hate yourself for wanting to lay one on me again?” Hands on his hips, Kai’s head falls back in frustration, looking toward the ceiling. “Trust me, if I ever kissed you again, it will be as my last and final resort to shut you up.” “Okay, I’ll keep talking then.” He shoots me daggers. “I love how much you hate that you’re attracted to me.” Kai rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well, you and me both.”
He’s got to be freaking kidding with that. How has he not been with anyone since Max came along? All he needs to do is stand at his front door, hold his son, and maybe take his shirt off. All the women in the neighborhood would come running. It’s like watching single dad porn.
I get him another forkful. “You’re not going to blow on it for me?” He wears a devilish smile, but mine is a whole lot naughtier. “Oh, I’ll blow something for you. All you have to do is ask.” “Jesus,” he laughs. “Give me the freaking banana bread.”
He inhales and speaks in a whisper, his friends in the next room over. “You smell nice. Sweet, ironically.” “How is that ironic?” I chuckle. “I bake for a living.” “Because you like to pretend as if you’re all spice.”
it’s one of the most important parts of life. Finding people that make your heart ache when they’re not around. Having a place to call home.
How the hell am I supposed to forget what her laugh sounds like? What her lips taste like?
“It’s okay. You’re apologizing with sugar so clearly, you’re forgiven.”
“And goddamn, these legs are going to feel so warm on my cheeks when I bury my tongue right here.”
He might not know it, but this is what I need in the bedroom. Someone else to take control. At work I’m in charge, telling others what to do, but here I want to turn that part of my brain off and simply comply.
Irrational jealousy zips through me, knowing there were other women before me. He’s got a literal child, one that I care about, and I’m over here fuming because he had the audacity to have sex with someone before he ever met me.
Pure masculinity, taut muscles, lean frame with a personality that’s soft enough to lovingly raise a human on his own. I think I’m seeing the old Kai tonight and that version scares me. The confidence, the self-assurance mixed with the new Kai—thoughtful, kind. He’s a lethal combination, and not only does my body recognize it, but so does my heart.
putting myself on all fours and facing the headboard instead of him. His chuckle is dark and menacing. “You think that’s going to help you?” Shit. “You think you’ll be able to keep yourself detached because you’re not looking at my face while I fuck you?” The mattress sinks as Kai climbs on behind me. Thick thighs kiss mine and I hate how well he sees me, knows me and what my chaotic head is doing. One arm snakes around my waist, the other cupping my breasts as he pulls me up, my back flush to his chest. He lowers his mouth to my ear. “Well, it doesn’t matter if you see me or not. You’re
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“You’ve been like poison this summer, you know that? Seeping into my system and ruining me slowly.” I moan, lifting my ass to meet him in pace. “Pretty. Fucking. Poison.”
“This is why you have Max,” I somehow say. “I’m fairly certain you’re fucking me right past my birth control.” “Miller.” He halts his movements. “That’s an inside thought.” “I don’t have inside thoughts.”
I should correct him. Remind him this is casual. Easy. Detached. But this man deserves someone to fight for and stand by him. And though long term that someone won’t be me, I let myself believe, just for tonight, that maybe I could. He makes me want to be.
His scent is still on my sheets as I burrow into them. His touch still singes my skin. He was right. There’s no way I’ll be able to forget him.
“Did you just wake up?” “Yes.” I turn away from him, using the full-length mirror on the wall to quickly throw my hair up in a knot. “It seems someone here exhausted me last night.” “Well, that seems fair.” Kai occupies the space behind me, looking at me through the mirror. “Because you exhaust me on a daily basis.”
The power of a good blow job, I guess. Makes you do stupid things.
“I know you don’t want her to leave, so why are you helping her do just that?” Well, shit. There’s no way to answer that question without him figuring out just how fucking deep I am. I sink into the chair again with a heavy sigh. “Because it’s her dream, and I care about her too much to not help her chase it, even if that means I won’t be there when she gets everything she’s worked for.”
“You and me, Malakai, will never be done playing hard to get.”
“I’d do anything for you, Miller.”
I don’t want to understand it, but I do. Kai will eventually meet someone who will settle down with him, and we both know that someone won’t be me.
“Miller,” I whisper. “If you’re this sad, I have a shoulder you could lean your legs on.”
“It’s okay for the important things in your life to change, you know?” Stevie nods. “And it’s okay to change directions even when you’ve spent your entire life headed on a one-way street.” “It’s not that simple. This is everything I’ve ever worked for. Everyone in my industry knows my name. I’ve won awards that people strive their entire lives to achieve, and I’m only twenty-five. People don’t just walk away from that kind of a career.” “They do if they don’t love it anymore. If they love something or someone else more.”
Damn, drunk girls really do become best friends by existing in the same room.
“Pressure is a privilege, Miller. Expectations are high because you’re successful. If you were average, no one would be waiting on bated breath for you. I think about that every night I take the mound. You just have to decide if your dreams and goals are worth the pressure. If you want to live up to the expectations set for you.” “I do. I want to be the best.” “Then do it.”
“Mills, you’re twenty-five. You could change directions a hundred more times in your life, and you’d still never be a failure. You’re too hard of a worker to ever be considered a failure. Life is meant to be spent chasing happiness.”
“Kai?” “Yeah?” “Can we forget about some of my rules? For the rest of the week while I’m here? I just want to know what it’d feel like.” “You want to know how what feels like?” “To be yours.”
My eyes flick to him, a smirk on my lips. “You’re intimidated by me, Malakai?” “I’ve always been intimidated by you. By how free you are. How brave and confident you are in your own skin. So why do you look so unsure out there?”
My favorite thing about this man is how stable, how constant he is. He takes on responsibilities others don’t have the strength to handle, including settling me in this moment. I somehow need to figure out how to steal some of his resilience for myself so I can take it when I go.
“Did you just give me a forehead kiss while I’m wearing my chef’s coat?” “Mm-hmm.” “I’ve made grown men cry while wearing this coat.” “Oh, I have no doubt about that, but girl bosses need forehead kisses too.”
Standing in the kitchen, an overwhelming yet terrifying realization sinks in. The possibility I was feeling this way has been there, lingering all summer, but right now it’s as if a blurry fog has lifted and the sun is shining on the truth. There’s no part of me that wants to be in the kitchen. I only want to be with them.
“You’re not just the nanny and you fucking know that,” I remind her in a stern whisper. “What the hell is up with you today?” She shrugs nonchalantly and takes another sip of her drink, flipping her hair over her shoulders. I lean down to her ear, speaking quietly. “Toss your hair over your shoulder like that again, will you. It’s giving me flashbacks to a much happier Miller with a mouth full of my cock.” Finally, the smallest, most discreet smile pulls at her lips. “Jesus,” I chuckle. “That’s what gets you to smile? Am I going to have to fuck the attitude right out of you, or what?”
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She has a hard time being anything but the best.
