Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“Morning,” he says, sounding chipper. “I’ve got good news.”
McClain is making me an offer. Fucking finally.
“Hit me,” I say.
“Seattle wants you.”
I’m jolted into a very unexpected reality. “Seattle?”
“Yep. Their GM called me last night. They’re serious. They want you this summer.”
“Did you get numbers?”
“No, but they’ll be good. They want you for their first line.”
This is it. The goal I’ve been working my ass off toward for well over a year. All the recovery and rehab were for this, but it doesn’t feel like I thought it would.
“What about Cleveland?” I ask.
“You want me to leverage this offer and see where they land?”
I’m a straightforward guy. I don’t like games, and the thought of my agent telling Cleveland another team wants me and they’d better offer quickly doesn’t sit right.
If they want me, they’ll make an offer.
“No. Let’s sit with this for a few days and see what happens. Things could change for Seattle.”
“It’s possible. But I think they’re serious.”
“Let’s talk next week.”
“You got it, boss. Good luck on your road trip.”
9
Blair
* * *
Jules gapes at me when she walks in the house and finds me on my hands and knees cleaning baseboards in the kitchen.
“We can have Linda do that, you know. She likes the extra money from deep cleaning.”
Our regular house cleaner does a great job, and she would have happily detailed the baseboards, but I had to do something with my nervous energy.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on a road trip with the team?”
She sighs as she fills a glass of water at the dispenser. “I needed to be here for some meetings tomorrow. The office is dead because everyone worked so hard on the fundraiser dinner and McClain said we should take today off.”
It’s Monday, the day after Magnus sat in this very kitchen with me and my sons for breakfast. I’m replaying every word he said and every look he gave me, reading too much into some of them and dismissing others.
“I need there to be a button I can press to turn off attraction,” I gripe.
“Oh, so the sweaty and unnecessary cleaning is about Magnus?”
My sister sounds amused, which just grinds on me. “Why would it be? I have hot pro athletes stay the night and play with my boys every weekend when you’re not here. Did I forget to tell you?”
“Come on, babe. Off the floor.”
I exhale heavily and get to my feet, running a hand over my damp forehead. Jules sits down at the table and I take the seat across from hers.
“Yesterday I was busy with the boys, but today they’re at school and I can’t just keep studying stuff I know by heart. This feels so shitty. I don’t want to be a woman who cares if a man likes me. I’m not. I’m not that woman, but—”
Jules puts a palm up. “Pause. He fed you his dessert in front of his coach and three teammates. I would have had to discreetly pick my panties up off the floor if Noel did that before we were even a thing. Don’t be that bitch who’s like I don’t know if he likes me; all he did was feed me dessert in public, come home with me, stay all night, be a gentleman and play with my kids.”
I glare at her. “I’m his coach’s fiancée’s sister. Do you really think he’d be anything but attentive when the assholes in our lives blindsided us with a setup?”
“He wasn’t blindsided. Carter asked him, and he said yes.”
My stomach does a little flip of excitement over the tidbit of new information. “He did?”
“He likes you, Blair. Why can’t you just feel that and be happy instead of being all neurotic about it?”
“Eat shit. Have you forgotten what a hot mess you once were over Noel?”
She grins. “And look how that turned out.”
Jules and Noel are completely wrapped up in each other, and I love that for her. They spend most of their time off work together—binge-watching shows, shopping, cooking, taking his kids out for dinner.
“I can’t have what you have,” I remind my sister. “I’m raising two kids who need all of me. I’m trying to get through school, and then ...” I shrug. “I don’t even know how I’ll do it, Jules. I’ll have to find a way to work forty hours a week and take care of my boys. I’ll need childcare. I’m not leaving them with other people even more so I can go have fun with a man.”
She covers my hand with hers. “Babe, we had a terrible example of a mother. She put herself first every time. Don’t overcompensate by teaching your kids that mothers can’t have anything for themselves. You’re not just a mom.”
Tears burn my eyes, her words making me surprisingly emotional. “I’m a mom who had two kids with a deadbeat, though. They don’t really have a dad. That means I have to be more.”