Once Upon A Half-Time: A Secret Baby Romance (8 page)

Not bad for my first performance, but the Rivets demanded an encore.

And I was happy to oblige.

“God
damn
, rookie!” Jack hooted with the team. “After that dance, I don’t know if I should be buying you a drink or breakfast.”

I grinned. “You buying me either?”

“Fuck no, rookie. Give us another song.”

“As you wish.” I pointed to Elle. “Gimme a song, Red.”

Elle snapped a picture, but she didn’t answer.

I hopped from the stage and sipped her beer. “Not leaving until you give me a song,”

“Where’d you learn to sing?”

“Bast had colic as a baby.” I waved for the bar to quiet down. The team teased louder. “I had to sing or none of us would have slept in the house. Come up. Sing a song with me.”

“
Nope
.”

“It’ll be fun!”

“
Noooope.
”

“You’re gonna regret it…” I gave her a wink.

“What are you doing?” Elle practically dove after me, but I escaped to the stage. “I swear to god, Charming—”

I waved Caleb and Orlando away from the karaoke machine and chose my own damn song.

The music keyed up, the lights came down low, and I growled the words to my audience as the first beat trembled my hips into one sharp roll of my butt.

“This next song goes out to the most beautiful woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling my wife.”

The co-eds groaned in disappointment, but Elle was already on her way under the table. The guys prevented her from bolting out of the bar. Jack and Orlando escorted her to a chair in the dead center of the room, somehow finding lighters. They waved the flame in the air and rocked to the beat.

This was a rendition of
Let’s Get it On
that even Marvin Gay would have appreciated.

Elle hid her eyes as I belted the song, but she was going to miss the best part.

Each sultry beat rolled through me, and I broke through the buttons on my shirt one at a time, each revealing a bit more skin, a lot more attitude, and earning the approval of everyone in the bar.

I fell to my knees, hip thrusting. The shirt tossed into the audience, nearly getting incinerated on Jack’s lighter before Elle could catch it.

“Lachlan!” Elle chastised me. “Don’t you dare!”

“Ladies and gentleman…” The song dipped, and I got a little too intimate with the stage with one, two, three leisurely thrusts against the wood. I hopped to my feet as the team nearly drowned in their beers. I gestured to Elle, giving another little pop of the goods as the spotlight turned on her. She sat, mortified, cursing at me with every breath. “I just want to ask this beautiful woman one question. Just
one
.”

“No, no no. Lachlan!” She wagged a finger. “No!”

“Oh yes.” I hissed a satisfied yelp. “Gotta ask my team, my friends, and a dozen random, panty-less strangers to help me. I need you to answer me this…”

“Charming, I am
not
doing it!”

“All I’m asking of her is three little dates!”

The crowd whooped. The extra bump of my hips helped.

“Go on, hon!” Caleb yelled.

Jack gave her a shove. “He’s on his knees!”

I pumped my arms for the bar to applaud. “I just need three nights for us to talk, get to know each other, rekindle the greatest marriage a man could ask for.” I winked. The co-eds screamed. “Three dates for her to fall
completely
,
totally
in love with me.” I dropped into the chorus of the song with a spin, pop, and lock. “So
Let’s Get It On!”

“Cut the man a break, Elle!” Jack yelled. “He’s trying so hard.”

“Yeah, what else is hard though?” Elle hid her eyes.

Wouldn’t she love to find out? I threaded the mic through my fingers, softly touching my bare chest. The guys liked the nipple tweak. I liked that Elle couldn’t stop staring.

She shouted as my hand drifted lower, popping the button on my jeans.

“Stop!” Elle stood. “If I say yes, will you stop stripping?”

“Sure thing.” I eyed the crowd. “
For now
. Three dates, Elle. That’s all I’m asking.”

She didn’t relent until I nearly deflowered the microphone stand. A white napkin waved in the air. She surrendered.

“Fine! Three dates!” She pointed at me. “But
only
three!”

I ended the song as the bar exploded in applause, cheers, and laugher. Better than winning a fucking game.

Elle arched an eyebrow as I plucked her out of her seat. “What are you doing?”

“Playing to the crowd.”

I held her close, spun her around, and dipped her low. The team hooted as I gave her the single greatest kiss she’d ever gotten in her life, the kind that made every fairy tale prince blow his load before he ever bedded his princess.

But I had a
lot
more planned than just a simple kiss.

Fuck the shattering slippers. I didn’t wait for a rose to drop its petals.

This woman would love me after three dates.

And she’d fall as hard for me as I’d crashed for her.

D
ating
my husband was probably a huge mistake. Indulging him was worse.

But I was nothing if not a woman of my word…especially when that integrity faded by the second.

I knocked on his door and fully expected him to answer naked.

I was wrong.
Very
wrong.

Lachlan wore a sleek suit, dark pants and a sexy vest tailor cut to his muscular frame. He cleaned up well. Problem was, he knew it. He grinned at me, a playful warning of all the things to come. And, if I wasn’t careful,
I’d
be the one coming.

“Welcome home.” Lachlan guided me into his newly purchased house. “Since you own half of this place now, I should give you a tour. Or should we skip ahead to the bedroom?”

Some players on the team lived in castles. Some built beautiful mansions for themselves. Lachlan bought a modern home, something bright and full of windows. A very northern Californian theme—white and wicker and driftwood. His furniture was white, but someone decorated it with good taste. Splashes of green colored the living room, matching the sea-foam hint of his eyes.

His home wasn’t a mansion, but it was far larger than my apartment, and much more expensive than the tuna can that was my childhood home.

“No bedroom yet. You promised me a date.” I spun, showing off a rather revealing black dress that hugged my curves, boosted my breasts, and flared
just right
to showcase my butt. “You said I’d have the greatest night of my life.”

“One of three.” Lachlan got excited, and his smile grew. He wiggled like a hyper puppy, but he bared the sharp teeth of a wolf. “Imagine this. Dinner in the
sky
.”

“Sounds messy.”

“Only if you fall.”

Oh, he was serious. “What are you planning? If it needs seatbelts—”

“Not a seatbelt as much as a…harness.”

“
What
?”

“It’s this brand new experience in the city. Really exclusive. I have dinner reservations for us at
Table In The Sky
. It’s a formal, five course meal, seated around a table that is hoisted into the air by a
crane
, one hundred and fifty feet above the ground!”

“Well…” I cleared my throat. “This has been a
lovely
evening, but I really should get going—”

“Come on, Elle. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“It resides exclusively at sea-level.”

“But you can see the city from
above
. Watch the sunset. Eat fantastic food. It’s supposed to be the greatest adrenaline rush in Ironfield.”

“Yeah, but adrenaline isn’t good for digestion.”

Lachlan only laughed. He took my hand and pulled me closer. Like a fool, I let him get near.

His spicy scent was mouth-watering in itself, no dinner required. He brushed my hair with a casual swipe of his fingers. I shivered as he touched my cheek.

“Just think of it as a magic carpet ride, Red. Suspended in the air, above the city, in the twilight…”

“Where all of Ironfield can see up my dress.”

“You’re right,” he said. “You go up. I’ll stay on the ground.”

I shouldn’t have looked into his eyes. That damn green could enchant anyone into making a terrible decision.

“If I plummet to my death…” I arched an eyebrow. “You better make sure my obituary says that I died as a
divorcee
.”

“This will be one of the best nights of your life, if only because you’ll be with me.” He charmed me with those dimples. “Time’s ticking, Red.”

“Yeah, we better move. God only knows if this crane turns into a pumpkin at midnight.”

He offered his arm, but a sudden knock pounded hard on his door, the rapid taps of someone very little but very impatient.

Lachlan opened the door, turning at the last minute to protect his boys as Sebastian ran at him for a hug, arms forward but fists firmly clenched.

Sebastian shouted
hi
and burst past us, immediately launching onto Lachlan’s couch.

A rather frazzled looking woman smoothed her graying hair into a low ponytail. She stepped into the entry, glanced at Lachlan, looked at me, and gave her son a familiar chuckle.

“Uh…hi, Mom.”

She didn’t waste time. “Lachlan, I’m so sorry to do this. I need a favor.”

Uh-oh
.

Only one type of favor came with a Pokémon overnight bag. Lachlan lowered his head, but he cast a single glance to Sebastian, hell-bent on making a fort out of the brand new couch’s cushions.

Lachlan’s mom pulled him into a hug, a sneaky way of transferring the bag.

“Aunt Meredith has appendicitis,” she said. “She had surgery, but she’s getting out today. Paul is stuck in Canada until tomorrow. She’s got no one to help her at home. I’m going to take care of her for the night. I need you to watch Sebastian and take him to kindergarten tomorrow.”

Lachlan nodded. He cast Sebastian’s little bag over his shoulder, about the same size as the Tinkerbell one the team still forced him carry to practice.

“Is Aunt Meredith okay?” he asked.

“Oh, she’ll be fine. I just want to make sure she’s not alone tonight.” His mother gave me a gentle smile. “I’m sorry if this interferes with any plans you might have had.”

Lachlan gestured to me. “Mom, this is Elle. Elle, this is my mom, Fiona.”

“So
you’re
the mystery wife.”

My reputation preceded me.

“Oh.” I hesitated. “He told you?”

Lachlan winked. “I tell my mom everything.”

“How…sweet.” What kind of weird, Twilight Zone dimension was this? I’d never met anyone who actually talked, let alone trusted, their parents. “And not at all…awkward.”

Fiona laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, honey. We all make mistakes. Feel free to blame Lachlan.” She pulled her son in for a hug once more. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. No problem.”

“Sebastian hasn’t eaten.”

“Neither have we.”

Fiona shook her head. “Then I wish you the best of luck. Please try to feed him something other than pizza. I’d like this child to get a little nutrition at some point in his life.”

“We’ll make him a real dinner.”

We
? I shrugged at him. “Maybe I should let you and him spend some time together—”

“It took me this long to score a date with you—you’re staying.” He waved for Fiona to go. “You take care of Aunt Meredith. Say bye to Mom, Bast.”

Sebastian yelled from inside his pillow fort. “I’m
Se
bast
ian
!”

Lachlan shrugged. “See. We got this.”

Fiona waved goodbye and hurried to her car. Lachlan closed the door, leaning against it with a sharp exhale.

“Sorry about this,” he said.

“I didn’t take you for the baby-sitting type.”

“I help her out as much as I can. It’s always been the two of us…” He nodded toward the collapsing pillow fort. “Well, three of us now. Gotta stick together. Family first, right?”

Yeah, right. He was speaking to a girl who hadn’t seen her family in years.

A girl who left
two
voice mails for a father within the past week.

A girl who had yet to hear back from her father because she had so ruined any possible relationship with him and her family it was unlikely he even thought of her as a daughter anymore.

If I had been as devoted to my siblings as Lachlan was to Sebastian, things might have been a lot different.

“Are you okay with staying here?” Lachlan asked. “I’ll make us dinner.”

“Are you a good cook?”

“No idea. We’ll find out.”

Well, this had the potential for disaster. I kicked off my heels and readied to watch the fireworks.

Lachlan surveyed the mess of pillows cluttering his living room. He picked a cushion up with his right hand and fished out a squirming Sebastian with his left.

“Okay, little man. Are you hungry?”

“I want pizza!”

“Not every dinner has to be delivered in thirty minutes or less, kiddo.”

Sebastian laughed as Lachlan flipped him onto the pillows. He curled a finger for me to follow.

I liked the kitchen—white and beachy, just like the rest of the house. Huge windows captured the sunset, streaming orange-gold light over the quartz counters. An eat-in table wedged in the corner, opposite an entrance to a formal dining room which seemed to be a catch-all for Lachlan’s equipment.

The duffel bags were his only clutter. No decorations on the shelves. No art or pictures on the walls. Totally minimalist, unlike me.

Weird
.

“I…uh…” Lachlan took inventory of his fridge with a frown. “Have a private chef now. I’ve never cooked much. Mom handled dinners when I was at home, and I ate in the athletic dining hall at college…”

He glanced at me. I hated to dash his hopes.

“I…usually grab a salad from a little bistro near my apartment on my way home from the practices.”

“Never learned at home?”

“The only thing I learned in the kitchen at home was how to jiggle the screen door so it wouldn’t squeak when I was sneaking out.”

“Naughty girl.”

Not really. Dinner time was always the worst. Dad usually demanded one of my sisters prepare him dinner. As the youngest, I never had that responsibility. Instead I was meant to sit at the table, completely silent as a woman was meant to be, and listen politely as he talked about his day at the office. It worked fine until my sisters were married off or away at their women’s colleges. Then Dad and I were alone.

I ran away the night Dad bruised my cheek because I refused to make him a steak.

I shrugged. “Didn’t stick around long enough to grab the family recipes.”

Lachlan searched the freezer. “Well, Christ. It can’t be that hard. Here. Chicken breasts. Bast, want some chicken?”

Bast wrestled with the stools at the counter, warning us of the imminent, imaginary lava danger pouring over the wooden floor. “Stop calling me
Bast
.”

Lachlan avoided the lava and stood on a rug. “If you want to eat, you’re gonna be called
Bast
.”

“Aw man.”

Lachlan glanced at me. “I named the damn kid. See the thanks I get?”

“You named him?”

“Bast. Chicken. Yes or no?”

Sebastian amused himself by clacking a salt and pepper shaker together. “I don’t like chicken.”

“What are you talking about? You love chicken. You have nuggets all the time.”

“
That
isn’t nuggets.”

Oh, this was going to be a fun night.

I leaned against the counter, chin in my hands. “Yeah, Charming. Those aren’t nuggets.”

“Well…” He stared at the package of frozen breasts. “They’re the
inside
of the nugget. You like what’s inside the nugget.”

Sebastian grinned, missing a front tooth. “I like what’s
outside
better.”

“But I know you like chicken.”

“No, I don’t.”

“I’ve
watched
you eat it for Mom.”

“Na-uh.”

“Yes-huh. You’re in the lava.”

Lachlan edged back onto the rug. I hopped from the counter and played along, dropping a paper towel to the floor so I could poke through the pantry without getting lava’d.

For a man who hired a private chef, he had a ton of pre-packaged food. Unfortunately, it was the same junk found in a college dorm, and it should have stayed there. I tossed Lachlan a blue box guaranteed to please a kid. He thunked it on the island.

“Here,” he said. “What about mac and cheese?”

Sebastian shook his head. “Nope.”

“Why not?”

“It’s yucky.”

Lachlan stared at the box. “It’s cheese and butter. How can that be
yucky
?”

“It’s
orange
.”

I bit back a laugh. The kid was lucky he was cute or he would have starved to death by now.

Lachlan tapped his fingers on the counter. “You don’t eat orange foods now?”

“Nope.”

“Little man, I watched you eat an actual orange.
Yesterday
.”

His little shoulders shrugged up to his ears, but he didn’t bring them back down. “That’s different.”

“So you won’t eat mac and cheese?”

Sebastian didn’t seem as distressed as his brother. “Can I play on your phone?”

“Let’s feed you first.”

Now he groaned. “But I’m
bored
.”

Lachlan returned to the fridge. “And I’m hungry. But I don’t have much. I’m cutting now, not eating carbs or sugar.”

Ew. I scrunched my nose. “Sounds like a boring dinner date.”

“For you, I’d cheat.” He winked. “Besides, you’d help me work off the calories after dinner. Couple special exercises.”

Sebastian tilted his head. “What kind of exercises?”

“Yeah, Lachlan,” I said. “How did
you
plan to exercise?”

“A vigorous game of tag.” He pointed at me. “And I’d be chasing you. A
lot
.”

“Sure I couldn’t outrun you?”

“I’d love to try.”

“I’ll play tag!” Sebastian slapped Lachlan’s arm. “You’re—”

He caught the rug-rat before he bolted out of the kitchen. Sebastian groaned, but Lachlan plunked his butt on the stool.

“Want a salad?” Lachlan asked.

“No.”

“Why? It’s good for you. Lots of vegetables.”

Sebastian faked gagging, cupping his throat. “I don’t like veggietables.”

“That’s crazy, little man. You gotta eat your veggies.”

“Why?”

“So you can grow up big and strong.”

“Why?”

“So you can play football one day.”

Sebastian’s toothy grin matched Lachlan’s. “Why?”

“So you can make lots of money and be a tight-end like me.”

“Why?”

Oh, this could go on all night. “Show him your muscles, Charming. That’ll convince him.”

Lachlan nudged Sebastian. “She wants to see how strong we are. Show her your muscles.”

They both grunted, flexing their arms and curling their biceps with a roar.

“Very impressive,” I said.

“I got nothing on the little man.” Lachlan pointed at the kid. “How about spaghetti?”

“Yeah!” Sebastian forgot himself and actually agreed, though he was careful to warn his brother of his preferences. “But not the stuff from a jar.”

“
What
?”