She opened the door to the dry cleaning machine just as his hands came around from behind and over her breasts as he squeezed gently. He groaned softly against her neck as he kissed it, still squeezing breasts she was surprised fit in his hands. But then everything about the man was much bigger in person than she’d imagined.
The moment she was done with the towel she turned around to face him. The way he lifted her and carried her over to the laundry room’s sorting and folding table was like he’d already had it planned. Like he’d staked out her mother’s ridiculously huge laundry room the moment he entered for the best place to do whatever it was he had in mind.
Addison didn’t think her heart could beat any wilder until he sat her at the edge of the table and spread her legs so he could stand between them. “We need to talk,” he said, surprising her. “I know it’s soon, but I’m only in town for another day, and I’ll be working most of it.”
“I’ll be at your game tomorrow,” she said this time, surprising herself.
Before tonight, she had absolutely no intention of making tomorrow’s game. Today’s appearance had been out of sheer necessity. She’d done it for Clair’s sake. Clair had looked forward to today all week, and while her parents never minded looking after her at the games, pawning Clair and her little friend on them today seemed a bit much. But tomorrow like Friday would’ve been just Clair and her parents again. Addison had already given them a reason why she couldn’t make it. Tonight changed everything. Nothing would keep her away from tomorrow’s game now.
“Good,” he said, pecking her softly. “But I wanted to talk to you about something. I know you said you want to wait to say anything about us to your dad and Clair.”
“Yeah,” she said, reaching out for his hand. “There’s more I want to explain.”
“You already have, sweetheart, and I get it.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I really want to explain this to you.”
AJ nodded, the genuine tenderness in his eyes nearly melting her. It was clear he meant it when he said he got it and that was just another reason why she’d given into her body tonight and gone there with him. His candor was one of the things about him she already knew was going to have her falling hard. It was a part of him that was as endearing as it was nerve-wracking. As with everything else when it came to AJ, his emotions were blunt and in your face. Good or bad. He couldn’t hold anything back if he tried. Addison had never known someone for such a short time that she could feel she could trust completely, even around Clair, and that was huge.
As soon as she’d let things happen between them, she was ready to do so again, but he was right. They should talk. It was important that he understand exactly why she wanted—needed—to hold off on telling her parents and Clair about this. And she wanted to make sure she got one thing absolutely clear.
“For all the intellect I was supposedly born with, I’ve made some pretty stupid mistakes in my life. Clair has been the silver lining of one of the biggest I ever made. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. She’s who’s given me strength at some of the lowest moments of my life, and I’ll stop at nothing to protect her.”
“And no one would ever blame you,” he said, his eyes as serious as her words.
Addison smiled back, wondering if it were possible to fall in love with someone this fast. “I trust you, AJ. I really do,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I know I haven’t known you long, and this might sound like BS to you, but what happened tonight would not have happened so soon if I didn’t. I haven’t taken a risk like this in years. But trusting my instincts that you are a man of your word and deciding to take the risk is something I can only do with my own heart. It’s not fair to Clair to risk her little heart this soon. If, for whatever reason, things don’t work out”—she slowed but shook her head when she saw the distaste that remark gave him as it had earlier—“or if it turns out I made a mistake opening up my heart to you so soon, that’s on me. No one else has to be affected by this. My dad adores you”—she smirked—“in a manly way, of course.”
That softened the distasteful expression. “I adore him in a manly way too.”
“Seriously,” she said, smiling even bigger because everything out of his mouth now warmed her insides. “He really has the utmost respect for you, and I wouldn’t want to ruin his perception of you or your relationship with him.”
“I get it,” he said, pecking her sweetly. “I also get that your instinct to protect Clair and my relationship with your father is the only reason why your expectations of what this could become aren’t more optimistic. At least, I’d like to think that’s why, because, personally, I think we’re gonna make a pretty good team: you, Clair, and I.” Addison grinned, feeling delighted that he’d be thinking this way already until his next question. “Tell me about her dad.” That wiped the grin right off her face.
“There’s not much to tell,” she said, glancing away for a moment but then brought her eyes back to his. “He was a mistake I made when I was too young to know better. He said all the things a girl wants to hear until he found out I was pregnant. He was young and scared and insisted I terminate the pregnancy. The relationship I thought had been really beautiful up until then got nasty real fast, until I finally told him I was having my baby and he didn’t have to be a part of our lives.” She stopped and shrugged, reflecting for a moment how young and very naïve she’d been. “It was never my intention to trap him or anything. I just knew abortion wasn’t an option for me. But I can admit now that a part of my young broken heart thought maybe once the baby was born he’d come around. He never did.”
She raised a brow when she realized she’d said enough. AJ had the power to make her feel so safe and free to say anything to him. This was not something she’d ever shared with anyone, not even her parents, who she’d always been so close to. She certainly wouldn’t be sharing more of it with AJ. She’d told him everything he needed to know. It was all anyone needed to know about the chapter in her life she’d forever closed.
“Hard to believe someone could be so coldhearted.” AJ’s expression had already gone hard, but it went even harder now. “Especially since it sounds like it wasn’t just a physical thing you two had. You called the relationship beautiful. He must’ve had feelings for you that I doubt he was able to just shut off so easily. He never tried to contact you again?”
“He did,” she said cautiously. “But it was years later only to toy with my heart. He said that he missed me and thought of me often but still wasn’t ready for a family or to meet her. I know now he was just trying to stay in my good graces because, soon afterward, he contacted me to tell me he was getting married and he appreciated me not pursuing him with my kid.”
That sparked something in AJ’s eyes, the same familiar spark she’d seen many times in videos and stills of him on the web. That notorious spark had been caught in action shots just before he unleashed the rage. But he didn’t say anything, and Addison could almost feel him hold back from commenting, so she continued.
“Basically, it was his way of asking me to keep it that way. Apparently, he was never going to tell anyone about his love child. I vowed he’d never get the honor of meeting Clair. His having any part in creating her was a total fluke as far as I’m concerned. He doesn’t deserve any credit, and I’ll never give him an ounce. I won’t even utter his name ever again unless she asks me to. For now, it’s like he doesn’t exist. He turned out to be completely different from the person I first met. So I treat it as if I’d had an unknown donor.”
“She’s never asked about him?”
“She did.” Addison breathed in deeply, remembering the day not so long ago. “That’s how smart she is. She asked once way back when she started pre-school and realized most of the kids had dads. She was so young and her attention span so short I gave her a lame excuse that he lives too far to visit, and she quickly moved on to another subject. But I think she’s always sensed there’s more to why we don’t speak of
him, so she hadn’t asked again until earlier this year. It was more of a curious inquiry out of the blue. ‘Is my dad still alive?’” AJ’s brow lifted, the severity in his eyes ever present. “Then came the dreaded one. ‘Why haven’t I ever met him?’ I told her what I’d always planned to tell her: the truth. Just because someone can physically make a baby doesn’t mean he has any business being a parent. He didn’t and that’s why he never has been. Then I told her I’d explain it to her with more detail if she still wanted to know when she got older. She let it go and she hasn’t asked again.”
“On that note,” he said, nudging her legs further apart and leaning in to lick her lips, “I think I’ll let it go too. I can think of a much better way we could be spending our time than talking about someone who doesn’t exist.”
Addison smiled against his lips, feeling her insides heat immediately. “In case you didn’t notice,” she said, feeling her face flush, “it’s been a while, AJ. I may be a little rusty at a lot of things. I guess I’m gonna need some practice before I’m up to speed.”
That made the new kind of spark in his eyes even sultrier. “I’m your Huckleberry.”
Laughing out loud at the Tombstone reference, she let her head fall back, and in an instant, his mouth was on her neck.
Chapter 10
AJ
AJ didn’t even know why it surprised him anymore. This wasn’t the first time his family had heard something about his personal life from the media before he’d had a chance to tell them. Apparently, the array of photos taken last night at Galaxy Pizza had made it onto the Internet, and the tabloids were already speculating about Rage and the coach’s daughter and coming to their own outrageous conclusions.
Of course, he didn’t know any of this since his night with Addison had gone on much longer than he’d anticipated and he’d gotten home in the wee hours of the morning. They’d made good use of that laundry room and then the garage when she’d finally walked him out and their goodnight kiss got a little carried away. He’d be paying for it today. But it’d be worth every single yawn he’d be squelching all day. AJ walked into the kitchen to his brother’s and Sabian’s staring faces. “What?”
“Something you wanna tell us?” Isaiah, his oldest brother, asked tapping on his phone’s screen.
“About what?”
AJ walked over to the coffee machine and started setting up a cup just under it. “Coach’s daughter,” Nathan said.
“I didn’t say shit,” Sabian said, holding his hands up when AJ turned and glared at him.
“So it’s true?”
The alarm in Isaiah’s voice was almost annoying. So what if it were? Though he wasn’t sure what exactly they were all talking about. Given the near riot they almost caused at the pizza place last night, he had an idea how it might’ve gotten back to them that he’d been out with Addison last night.
“Is what true?”
Remembering Addison’s adamant request to not go public with this until she’s was ready to tell Clair, he laid on the indifference and prepared to tone his night out with her way down.
Isaiah nudged him then showed him his phone. AJ felt his eyes widen as he read the headline on the phone screen.
Is AJ “Rage” Romero a secret Padre literally?
AJ went on to read the rest of the article and now understood why Isaiah sounded so alarmed. The article speculated that the mystery of who the elusive father of Coach Lara’s only grandchild might finally be solved. AJ’s jaw locked more than once as he continued to read. The probing article stated that it’d been long rumored that the father could be a player—someone the coach and his daughter decided to cover up because of her age at the time she got pregnant. She’d been a minor and this could’ve easily ruined said player’s career. It would make sense if Rage was the father and now going public since the statute of limitations on any statutory rape charges would already be up.
“This is bullshit,” he said, handing the phone back to Isaiah, disgusted and hoping Addison wouldn’t be upset about it. “If I was that little girl’s father, the whole world would know it. They have Clair’s and Addi’s ages wrong, mine too. It’s all over the place and completely false.”
“Addi?” Nathan asked. AJ wasn’t even facing him, but he could hear the smirk in his smartass brother’s voice. “I thought her name was Addison?”
“It is,” AJ said without further comment as, thankfully, his sisters and their husbands arrived.
They were all going to the game today. AJ had reserved a suite for them. But they were going out for breakfast first. By the time they were all done saying hello, AJ thought any talk of him and Addison was over. But Nathan just had to go back to it. “So there’s no truth in any of those stories?” he asked, bringing everyone’s attention back to AJ. “Like you two aren’t romantically involved or anything?”
“Nope,” AJ said simply as he sipped his coffee, feeling all eyes on him.
“Who?” Livi asked curiously.
“AJ and the coach’s daughter were out last night,” Nathan annoyingly offered, a little too eager, “like real late.”
“Yeah?” AJ asked, feeling himself get hot. “I didn’t know I had a curfew you were keeping tabs on.”
Nathan laughed; then his younger sister Em added, “I saw that when I checked my email today. Oh c’mon, Nathan, you know all those stories are a bunch of lies.”
“I’m just saying whenever I stay out as late as he did I usually don’t bother coming home.”
Sabian was grinning from ear to ear. No doubt the idiot thought AJ was going to fold under the pressure and admit what he was sure his smug teammate already knew.
“Well, I’m not you,” AJ said, trying not to sound as agitated as he already begun to feel. “Clair invited me to go with them. So I went. But we’re just friends.”
Nathan smirked, still looking completely unconvinced but turned back to Emi. “Did you see the other article? The one that counters the lies about AJ being Clair’s dad because they have proof that the dad’s the very married Barsetti from the Cubs.”
“What?” AJ was too quick to jump on that, and his brother brought his hand to his mouth and laughed out loud at AJ’s louder-than-expected reaction. “You lying sack of shit.”
“Oh.” Nathan laughed even more now. “You’re gonna get all crazy eyes on me over that when you and Addi are just friends. But I’m the lying sack of shit?”
“I’m not the one making shit up.”
“I’m not either,” Nathan said, shaking his head adamantly. “There was an article that said that. And weren’t you the one who said she and her little girl just moved out here from Chicago?”
The coffee went down hard as AJ stared at his brother, still not convinced he wasn’t making this up.
“I read that one too,” Emi said, making AJ’s head jerk in her direction. “And I almost believed it, until I read the other headlines on that same site: the one about the first lady having an affair with the secret serviceman and the one with the ultrasound of the octuplets some lady is having after being abducted and impregnated by aliens. It’s one of those outrageously ridiculous sites, AJ. The story’s as false as you being her little girl’s daddy. So relax.”
Relax? God damn it! Had they all noticed how completely incapable he was of keeping his cool about this?
“I am relaxed,” AJ lied, trying desperately to appear so. “It’s none of my business anyway. Thing is I was thinking of bringing her by for the barbeque later today, and I don’t want you guys making more of it than it is. We have her daughter to think about.”
They all stared at him as silent and as curious as he’d known they’d be, even before this morning’s revelations. He turned to Livi this time, trying to act like he didn’t notice how quickly he’d silenced the room. “I’ve told Clair a lot about King and Queen,” he explained. “She’s never seen a Komondor in person, and I’ve been saying I’d bring her to see them one day. You think maybe you can bring one or both today? Otherwise,
I could swing by your place so she can see them there instead.”
“No, I could bring them,” Livi said, smiling big. “They’ll be excited. They haven’t gone on a trip in a while.”
AJ turned to Nathan, who he knew was the most unconvinced in the room. “She wants to see the dogs, okay? That’s all this is, ass.” AJ watched his brother smirk as he popped a grape in his mouth. “Don’t go embarrassing me or saying anything stupid.”
Placing his cup in the dishwasher, AJ let them know he was getting in the shower and would be right out. Even as he walked out the kitchen, the quiet in the normally noisy kitchen with these many people in it was all too telling. They weren’t buying his “just friends” story for a minute.
~~~
If his family’s reaction to the media speculation was any indication of how not easy it would be to keep this under wraps, the mood on the field and the locker room was just as bad. AJ had already texted Addison to ask how she was doing with this morning’s media excitement. Her response made him smile. “Slow day for the tabloids, I guess.”
Clearly, she wasn’t too worried about it. When he met with her and Clair on the field, there were noticeably more photos snapping away. The moment Clair was far enough away to not hear, AJ asked what he’d begun to worry about. “Has she noticed the stories?”
“Are you kidding me?” Addison said with a smile and a playful roll of her eyes. “It’s the first thing she said to me this morning when I walked into the kitchen. ‘They think AJ’s my dad.’ She thinks it’s a hoot. I’m surprised she hasn’t brought it up.”
AJ had a good feeling why she hadn’t. Clair had been too busy giving him the heads-up on Jefferson, the short stop standing in for the Cardinals today. Their starter pulled a hamstring in yesterday’s game, and Clair had to wait until this morning to know for sure who’d be on today’s lineup. He saw her talking to today’s pitcher with her little notebook in hand. She must have been giving him her spiel on Jefferson’s batting stats. It made him smile that this would obviously be the bigger thing on her mind. He wouldn’t worry so much anymore about the stories that would likely keep coming the more he was seen out with Addison and Clair.
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