The Running Back's Baby Read online

  I gave one particularly hard suck on her clit and she shuddered in my hold. I kept sucking as she orgasmed, fingers spasming on my shoulders, and I knew I’d have marks on me later.

  When her body slumped into the couch, I gave one last lick before kissing my way back up her stomach, to her lips. She groaned, tasting herself on my tongue, hands grabbing at me weakly.

  “What about you?” She asked after catching her breath.

  I chuckled. “I’m fine.”

  She pressed a hand to my crotch, and I bit back a curse at the pressure to my cock.

  “You’re hard, Howard.”

  I carefully pulled her hand away and kissed her palm. “You’re right, I am hard, but even if you’re not sleeping here, it’ll be hours before you leave. I can take my time this once.”

  Wrapping my arms around her, I shifted us around until Zoe was the one on top. I fixed her skirt, then tossed off my shirt and laid back, with Zoe half lying on top of me on the inside of the couch. I sighed at the feel of her bare breasts pressed up against my chest and tangled our legs together as I ran one hand slowly up and down her back.

  After a while, Zoe’s body practically melted into mine as she hummed. “Maybe I should spend the night, after all.”

  “No one will worry if you don’t go home?”

  She shrugged her shoulders, and I felt more than saw the movement, looking into her content face.

  “I could always lie and say I slept over at a friend’s place. I’m an adult, anyway, I don’t need to explain myself to anyone.”

  I held her tighter. “I’m not going to say no to that offer.”

  The moment would have been perfect, if not for Zoe’s expression. Was it just my imagination, or did Zoe look a little sad?

  “I love you,” I blurted out, then winced. Zoe turned wide eyes to me, and I smiled. “Really, Zoe. I love you. I have for a while now, I just couldn’t find the time to tell you, with everything.”

  I was anxious. I hadn’t meant to just blurt it out like that. All my carefully laid plans were crumbling one by one, and I wanted to smack myself. I’d wanted us to sit down and have a proper talk, not say it right after sex, when I was still hard in my pants, because that was always a bad move.

  We’d never even been on a real date yet, though I supposed that didn’t matter as much, since we had been together for a few months now, just not officially as a couple.

  She blinked, and her lips curved into a smile. “I love you, too.”

  I searched her eyes, my anxiety ratcheting up. Her words should have made me happy. It was what I’d hoped to hear when I confessed my feelings for her, but I couldn’t help worrying. For one thing, the reply came too fast, and there was no surprise or anything on her end. I was almost disappointed that she didn’t show more of a reaction.

  That wasn’t the biggest problem, though. She tried and failed to hide it. Zoe still looked sad, and I wondered what the reason for it was.

  She says she loves me too, but does she actually mean that?

  I wondered, but didn’t dare ask, because what would I do if she actually told me no?

  Chapter Twelve

  Zoe

  I left home early in the morning, long before Dad and Katie woke up, because it would be too awkward to see them. The two of them didn’t need me around for anything, and they both seemed happy with the current situation, which just made it worse for me. They were very much in love and had no problem showing it even with me in the room, and there was no way I was going to be comfortable with that.

  I really need to move out. Should I look into other teams to apply to?

  This was something I needed to put more thought into. I was sure I could get used to it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Still, it wasn’t like I was needed in the house anymore.

  Money was a problem, but not that big a problem. When Mom passed away, she’d left some money in my name, and I’d never touched it. It wasn’t enough to live on, but I could get an apartment and settle in for a few months, but no more. Still, I could have made the decision to leave the house and look for work ages ago, but the real reason I didn’t move out after I graduated college was because I’d felt guilty about leaving Dad alone. He could function by himself, but I worried.

  The entire time I was away from home, he’d eat out and called for take out a few times. He had a cleaning service that came a few times each week to clean the house, do the dishes and laundry. When I came back, the house looked fine, it just didn’t seem like anyone lived in there. In the fridge, all I could find was beer. Dad left early in the morning and got back close to midnight to sleep. I’d seen guys live pretty much the same way in college, but Dad never brought anyone home. He had his work, and friends, and of course he focused a lot on the team.

  Essentially, though, he was alone.

  Now, he wasn’t. Before, I used to be the one to cook, or Dad would just go and eat out, but now Katie had taken over the kitchen. I wasn’t even allowed to try and cook anything anymore and if I tried, she’d carefully nudge me away. Breakfast, lunch, dinner... her cooking was good, too, as good as Howard’s.

  When I thought of it like that, I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy her cooking much, though. I was the one to tell him we should keep things a secret, but it felt so wrong, like I was doing something bad, and I didn’t know how to face either of our parents. That we were living in the same house only made it worse.

  Maybe I should take Howard up on his offer to move in with him.

  That would have to be a last resort.

  “What am I supposed to do now, though?” I groaned to myself.

  Even though I left the house early, I didn’t actually have anything to do or anywhere to go, so I decided to go check out how the guys were doing. They shouldn’t have practice today, but I knew some of them would have gone to use the gym or something. They were all pretty dedicated to the sport, to the point I wondered if most of them had social lives outside of football.

  I stepped into the building and hadn’t had the chance to look for anyone when someone called to me. I looked up to see Lily, one of the staff that worked in the team’s management. Since I was the coach’s daughter, and I was always here anyway, I knew most of the staff about as much as I knew the team.

  “Zoe! I was just about to call you. Mr. Taylor wants to see you!”

  My eyebrows jumped up in surprise. “Really?”

  Brandon Taylor was the owner of the Eagles. Originally, Dad started the team, but because Mom got sick, and he couldn’t focus as much on the team as he wanted, he’d sold it to Mr. Taylor. As far as I knew, the both of them were friendly, and Mr. Taylor let Dad make a lot of decisions regarding the team, but he was still the owner, and could go over my dad’s head.

  Still, he was friends with Dad. I’d never tried to speak with him about my ambitions, because I knew if Dad talked to him, he would say no. Actually, he was maybe the one guy involved with the team that I hadn’t spoken too much to.

  “Did he say what he wanted?”

  “Yes, he wanted to talk to you about the GM job. Isn’t that good? You’ve wanted it for ages!”

  “Wait, really?”

  “Really! He’s in his office right now. Your dad isn’t around, either. You should hurry up and go talk to him. Before he changes his mind!”

  Lily was more excited about it than I was.

  “O-oh. Right.”

  It was too good to be true. It had to be. Dad would have told him about me aiming for the position and how many times he’d turned me down on it. Or was Dad the reason Mr. Taylor wanted to see me?

  This could be my chance!

  Still, I didn’t let myself get too excited. If I got my hopes up only to have them dashed again, I really would just pick a team far out of town, apply for a position, and leave. Dad wasn’t alone anymore, and I was still mad at him, not seeing him for a while would do me good.

  I stopped in front of the office and tried to calm my heart down. I raised my hand and knocked
on the door, waiting for permission before I opened it and stepped inside. It was an open room, with large windows lining one wall washing the room in sunlight, on the other wall there was a half full bookshelf. In the middle, to the back of the room was a large desk where Mr. Taylor was seated, and behind it, a glass shelf holding the achievements the team had so far.

  Mr. Taylor looked up with a smile. “Zoe, please come in. It’s good that you’re here, I was about to call you.”

  “Hello, Mr. Taylor. Is there anything I can do for you?”

  He chuckled. “I’m friends with your dad, Zoe. We’ve known each other a long time. You can call me Brandon. Please, have a seat.”

  I crossed the floor and took the seat in front of the desk as he sat down. I clenched my hands together nervously on my lap.

  “What is this about?”

  “I’ve heard from your dad that you want the General Manager position?”

  “My dad told you?” I said in surprise.

  “Hmm, yes. As you know, we’ve always kept the position open. There wasn’t any particular reason, there just didn’t seem to be the need to have the position filled. I want to start making some changes, though, for the sake of the team. I was talking to your dad about finding someone for the position, and he mentioned you.”

  I was definitely surprised. Dad had said no to me so many times, then he went behind my back and offered me up for the same job he’d denied me?

  Is this a trick?

  That might have been something rude to think of my own dad, but this didn’t make sense. If he planned to let me have the job anyway, he could have just responded positively one of the many times I’d asked. The last time I asked wasn’t even that long ago.

  Or maybe... he’d had a change of heart? Perhaps because he was happily married now, he was going to loosen his control over my life a little? If that was true, then I was suddenly ten times happier about his marriage, though I doubted the awkwardness would go away that quickly.

  “Your dad left me with your resume,” he said, pulling open one of the desk drawers and pulling out some documents. “Everything will have to be done through official channels, of course, but I’ve already gone through your resume, and I find no problem with it.”

  “That means...”

  He set the papers down and smiled. “It means, the job is yours. We’ll have to draw up a contract for you, deal with your salary, and all that stuff. Well, you’re already familiar with everyone here, so that much won’t be a problem. You can start as soon as we sign the contract.”

  “Wait, really?”

  There was no way it could be this simple, right? This was something I’d been after for years and it was always just out of reach, but I could have had it this simply?

  He shrugged. “The way I see it, there’s no one better for this position. You know this team about as well as your dad does, you know the game, you love it. You’ve even got the qualifications for this. I don’t think anyone will object to this decision. In fact, I’m sure if I tried to hire someone else, I’d get a few objections.”

  If he had hired someone else for the position, then I would have left in disappointment. Did Dad know that? Was that part of the reason the position had remained empty this whole time, teasing me with hope? If that was the case, I’d have to wonder if Dad was being deliberately nice or cruel when he did it. I would have hated to go to another team, it wasn’t until about a month ago that I started thinking of this option. Then again, giving me reason to hope and turning me down every time wasn’t nice at all.

  Dammit Dad.

  I couldn’t bring myself to be angry, though. Whatever the truth was, if the position was mine now, then I could just be happy with that much.

  “That’s great news, sir. I mean, Brandon. Thank you, so much.”

  I was so happy I was grinning, and I felt like jumping up and doing a little dance. This one moment made it feel like I hadn’t completely wasted the past three years waiting.

  “But,” Brandon said, pulling me out of my happy daze.

  I froze and felt my heart clench in trepidation. “There’s a but?”

  Of course, there is. How could this be that simple?

  I had to realize something like this would happen. Of course, it was too good to be true. There had to be some kind of condition to taking the job. Then, I calmed myself down. So, what if there was a condition? It wouldn’t be something unreasonable, and I was sure I could meet just about everything. I’d looked forward to this for years, there was very little concession I wouldn’t make.

  “It’s not anything that serious,” Brandon said. “It’s something everyone should be aware of already, but because you’re so much closer to the team, I have to remind you. There can’t be a conflict of interest with your job. While you’re the team’s General Manager, you can’t be in a relationship with a player on the team. With another member of the staff, it’s fine as long as you stay discreet, but nothing with a player.”

  Dammit.

  I knew it. I just knew it was all too good to be true. I got the idea that Dad had to be behind this. It couldn’t be a coincidence, how Howard had gotten his contract and was told to stay away from me, then the owner of the team offers me my dream job and gives a similar condition. Except, it made total sense, so there was no way to say for sure if it was a plot or not.

  A lot of teams functioned that way. There was nothing wrong with dating, but dating your co-workers was discouraged in just about any profession, and this was no different.

  “This isn’t going to cause any trouble for you, is it?” Brandon asked.

  “Oh, no,” I said quickly. “Um, thank you so much for this opportunity, but do you think you can give me some time to think about it?”

  He looked at me curiously, probably surprised I wasn’t immediately saying yes. It would probably give him some ideas, since I only hesitated after he stated the condition.

  “To be honest, your dad led me to believe that you’d jump at this kind of chance. But of course, you can think about it, it’s not an ultimatum or anything. It will take time to draw up the contract as well. I’ll give you until the end of the month to get back to me. I owe your dad, but if you reject this offer, I will have to look for someone else, Zoe. I hope you understand.”

  “I understand perfectly, sir.” I stood up with a nod. “Please excuse me.”

  I turned around and left the office in a daze, then walked all the way back outside. He wanted a reply by the end of the month. I had to think a little, but that should give me like two weeks to consider this. I shouldn’t need that long. This was exactly what I wanted, and Brandon was right, I should have been jumping on the chance, but I just couldn’t bring myself to be happy about it.

  Even though I had what I wanted right in front of me, I couldn’t reach for it because I was hesitating.

  It’s because of Howard that I’m hesitating.

  How could I have missed it? It wasn’t until Howard told me he loved me that everything clicked for me. Why it hurt so much to think of us not seeing each other anymore, even before I knew I was pregnant. I’d told him I was in love with him, too, and I meant it, I just couldn’t believe it took me so long to figure it out. It just made this whole thing harder, because while I wanted my dream job, and wanted Howard to keep his position on the team, I didn’t want us to be apart, either.

  So, what was I going to do?

  I can’t go back to the house like this.

  I’d left in a mess, and now I was in a bigger mess. There was no way I could stay in the same house with Dad and Katie. The world really was determined to drive me crazy. I thought about going to one of my friends, but I didn’t want to impose. I even wanted to go to Howard, but I hadn’t told him about the baby yet, and now I was second guessing myself over it. I couldn’t tell him just yet, not before making up my own mind about my future.

  Mom, if only you could be here right now...

  Then, it hit me. Grandma.

  I hadn’t s
een her much since Mom’s death, because she lived too far away, but we still talked regularly over the phone. I worried about her because she lived on her own, but I’d completely forgotten her after the fiasco of the past few weeks. Feeling guilty, I pulled out my phone and found a place to sit to make the call.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Howard

  “Dude, what are you doing? You’re going the wrong way!”

  “Get your head in the game!”

  I groaned. I’d heard that several times already today, and we were barely half an hour into practice. I was laying under a pile of heavy football players, and the weight on my chest was making it a little hard to breath. I was grateful when they pulled away quickly, and someone, Ted, held a hand to me to help me up.

  “Thanks,” I said, taking his offered hand.

  I winced when I stood up, and it got me a pat on the back.

  “Are you okay? That looked a bit rough, but I think you might have tripped before anyone even landed on you.”

  “I’m fine.” I stretched the muscles in my body, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong, just a bit of ache in my back from the fall. “I’m good, the guys were just heavy.”

  “If you say so. Try to keep focused, though, okay? No one wants you to get injured in the middle of practice before we even get to our first game.”

  I huffed out a humorless laugh. “Believe me, it’s the last thing I want, too.”

  Ted ran off to retake his position in the field, and I got into position, too. I heard Calvin’s voice as he started the set, and I waited to receive the ball. My job was pretty simple. I just had to run as long as I had the ball in my hands, and I had to know who to pass it to. There was more to it than that, of course, but this much I could do subconsciously, since I’d been doing it for years.