She rolled over and giggled as she lay curled up in her sheets. "Daddy. I'm a peanut. Not peanut butter. Get it right."
"Well, I know how to turn peanuts into peanut butter." I walked in and shrugged, feigning innocence. "It's what I do."
"Wait." She sat up and lifted her little hand in the air as blond curls spilled over her shoulder. "How are you going to do this, exactly?"
"Like this?" I jogged to the bed and pounced her, making loud bear noises as I tickled and nibbled at whatever I could get a hold of.
She screamed as loud as she could and thrashed around. "Daddy! Daddy! Okay. You made peanut butter. Stop!"
"Daniel Blandon McAdams. What are you doing to that baby?" My dad appeared in the door behind us.
I whispered in Lyndsay's face. "Sh. Pretend like you're asleep. Snore a little." I dropped down on the bed and the two of us started snoring.
"Yeah. Right. I thought someone needed help. I guess not." My dad turned and Lyndsay shot up, smacking me in the face with her sudden movements.
"No! PawPaw. I need help. This big Jelly guy came to turn my peanuts into peanut butter."
"And I'll do it again." I growled and rolled over to grab her and tickle her some more.
My dad pulled her from me and wrapped his arms around her. "You dad is quite the sugar stealer."
"Oh no. Here we go." I pulled a pillow and covered my face.
"Really? He steals other people's sugar?" Lyndsay's voice grew dim. Dad must have been taking her back to the kitchen.
"Have you asked him about Miss Terra?" My dad chuckled as I groaned.
"Thanks a lot, dad," I called after him and rolled onto my back. I fixed up a few pillows under my head and let out a long sigh.
"That sounds like a man with a lot on his heart." My mom leaned against the door frame with a smile on her face. "Anything I can help with?"
"Can you make Terra Harmon love me again?" I lifted my hands in a heart and chuckled. "I feel like a fourteen-year-old boy around her again."
"Eww... gross. Fourteen was such a bad age for you. Remember you kept getting those abnormally huge zits on your face and your bottom?" She walked in and dropped down on the bed next to me as I gave her a very teenage boy look.
"Mom. Really right now? I'm suffering from heartache and you want to remind me that I was hideous at fourteen?" I was teasing her, but she loved it.
"You still are hideous sometimes." She reached over and brushed her fingers through my hair. "Every time I see you on TV at one of those parties, you're drunk or you have some floozy on your lap. It's not at all who you are, Daniel."
I rolled over and swatted at her playfully. "Go away, Mom. Next, you're going to tell me that I'm getting fat."
"Well-" She broke into laughter as I jerked up and turned to face her. "I'm kidding. You're so perfect it's not even funny." She reached out and touched the side of my face. "I just wish you would settle down. You're thirty and life is more than baseball and making money."
I cupped my hand over hers. "I know it is. I never wanted anything but a family. You know that."
"Then what's holding you back, son?"
I didn't have to think about it. "Terra."
"Really? A relationship that ended seven years ago still plagues you?"
I pulled her hand down from my face and nodded. "Yeah. Absolutely. It's like knowing you were supposed to be with this one person, and yet, you fucked it-"
"Daniel!" She gave me a stern look.
"No F-bombs with your mom, please." My dad appeared in the doorway with a grin on his aging face.
"I'm sorry. I meant to say that messed it up." I gave her a sheepish look. "I messed things up with Terra a long time ago. I did it again last night. I'm not sure how to win this woman back, or if I even should."
"I say no." My father gave his same opinion that we were all used to hearing.
"I say yes." My mom turned around and stuck her tongue out at him. "She's a good girl, honey."
"Nope. I saw the way she was looking at Dan when we were at the funeral. I don't believe that for a minute."
"She's a virgin, dad." I got up and gave him a look. "She's not the whore you think she is, though that might make things a little easier."
"Daniel! Watch your mouth. Jeez."
"Sorry." I moved out into the hallway. I loved them to death, but the truth of the matter was that it didn't matter what my mom or dad thought about her. I loved her and wanted her in my life.
I just had to work hard not to be a possessive caveman around her.
Good luck with that shit.
Chapter 18
Terra
"You know that you didn't have to come down here again so soon. I know it's expensive." I turned as Niki got into my car at a hotel just down from the ballpark. "And I'm a little hurt that you didn't stay with me."
She got in and buckled up, taking her time. "I love you. I'll always be here for you, and I didn't stay with you because Benji loves this hotel. Seeing that he's with me for the weekend, I figured I'd treat him to something fun."
I sat idle in front of the hotel. "So... are we waiting on him? Where is he?"
"Oh no. His best friend's mom already picked him up this morning. They have plans to make dents in the floor in front of a TV with Xbox live on it." She snorted and I smiled.
"Sounds like a good time." I pulled away from the hotel. "I wish you would have given me more heads up. Your text on my phone shocked me a little last night."
"Sorry. I figured you'd try and talk me out of it, or would want to pay for it." She shrugged, looking too cute for her own good. Her long black-brown hair was as straight as a board, but it made her look dangerous, sexy. "And it worked out just fine."
"Yeah. I guess so." I tugged at my seatbelt. "Where too?"
"Let's grab something to eat and go shopping." She pointed out the window. "Let's go to the big mall we always wanted to shop at when we were kids."
I laughed. "Funny how it looks so small now that I've been a few places in the world." I turned into the mall and parked. "Sit down meal or grab something and shop?"
"Oh, grab something and shop for sure." She got out and smoothed her hands down her blouse. "How was the transition from Oakland? Did you and Paul have it out again, or were things over from the last time?"
"I had to see him while I was there, but it wasn't too bad. I think part of him hoped that things would work out between us, but we really weren't suited for each other." I pointed to a pastry shop with a huge selection of treats in the window. "There?"
"Looks fattening. I'm in." She slipped her arm into mine as we made our way over there. "And what's going on with Danny? Any movement forward there?"
I pulled my arm from her and opened the door, holding it for her. "I don't know. I'm not really looking for anything from him, you know?"
"Can I go after him then?" She moved up in line and glanced back at me. The false innocence on her face had a torrent of emotions flooding through me. She was like a sister to me.
"Hell no," I barked at her. "What's wrong with you?"
She laughed and pointed at me. "See there. You do want something to go down between you."
"I hate you sometimes." I crossed my arms over my chest and turned to face the front of the line.
"No, you don't." She pressed her shoulder to mine. "You know he's into you, Ter. He has been since we were kids. Why not just give him a chance?"
"I did. Sort of." I moved up to the counter and ordered three different pastries.
"That for both of us?" She laughed and glanced over at me.
"Heck no. I had a long night. I need sugar and coffee seeing that it's too early to start drinking." I walked over to a small table by the window and sat down. After putting my phone down on the table, I leaned back. I'd almost expected Danny to text me the night before and say something. Fuck, anything.
But no. Nothing. He'd pulled back, and I honestly couldn't blame him. After the hostile reunion we'd had together, it didn't surp
rise me much that a few kisses and some oral sex hadn't fixed anything.
"So now you have my interest piqued." She sat down and leaned forward. "What happened between the two of you?"
I shrugged, not sure how much I wanted to tell her. She'd been my best friend for the likes of forever, but we weren't girls anymore. "We went dancing last night and ended up back at his place."
"Holy shit!" She slapped her hand to her mouth and glanced around. "Sorry."
"It wasn't that big of a deal." I reached for my phone and put it back in my purse. I'd be eyeballing the damn thing in hopes of him calling the whole meal. "Honestly. We made out and stuff, but once he found out I was still a virgin-"
"You told him?" Her eyes widened. "That must have shocked the hell out of him."
"I guess. It seemed to disturb him more than anything else." I turned and took the tray of treats from one of the cafe workers. "I thought we were walking around with this."
She shook her head side to side. "No fucking way. I want to hear all the delicious details."
Embarrassment swelled in my chest. "There's nothing to tell, Niki. We meant something to each other a long time ago and seeing that we're both single, we got together."
"And fucked?" She leaned closer, whispering far too loud for the small cafe.
"Ugh. Disgusting." An older woman got up from the table beside us.
"No. Well, oral sex, but he stopped things when I mentioned that I hadn't slept with anyone." I waved my hand in front of us. "Forget about it. Seriously. It was just a wakeup call that I was being an idiot. I'm his boss now. Sleeping with someone on the team or even worse, loving them, isn't something I need to do. You know that would never work out."
"I don't believe you're right, but I know how hard-headed you are." She leaned back in her seat and picked up something covered in icing and cherries. "If Brandon was still around, I'd have made a move on him."
"No, you wouldn't." I picked up my miniature cinnamon roll and took a big bite of it. "He's a horrible guy that doesn't deserve any of you."
"I know he doesn't, but I still miss him, Ter. He was my boyfriend from fifth grade through twelfth."
"And he abandoned you and Benji. Fuck him." Anger burned deep inside of me. Niki had been through more than her fair share of storms, and yet she persevered.
"I understand what you're saying, but I'm telling you that if he was here right now, I'd at least take him for a spin in the bedroom. He was amazing with his hands, and the thickness of his cock?" She moaned and closed her eyes as she ate another bite of her breakfast.
"But what about the moralistic issue here? It's not right."
"Fuck right. Right never did anything for me, Ter." She opened her eyes and leaned toward me. "You know how tiring it gets to have men ogling after you, throwing money at you while you strip and yet you're nothing to them."
"You need to quit." I offered her a napkin, hoping like hell that she would at least consider it. "Stripping isn't a profession."
"I'm a good dancer, and it makes more than enough money for me and my son." She licked her fingers. "I'm fine. You don't need to save me. You need to make a decision to work things out with Danny or close the fucking door. Stop playing around with your emotions and his. Give him your virginity and lock the past in place, or find someone else, but do something. Seven years of kinda sorta dating and living a lonely life has to be over. You know I'm right."
And I did know she was, but the need to defend myself roared to life. I tried to push it back down, but it rested on the back of my tongue, threatening to choke me if I didn't say something.
"Danny isn't the man he was."
"You're right." She picked up another pastry. "He's a grown man. He's thirty, Ter. He's looking for a wife and a family for him and Lyndsay. Believe me in this. Whether he knows it or not, he's looking. That baby deserves a momma, and our boy deserves a wife. He's not a bad guy, and we both know that too. The media has a field day with him because he's handsome, successful and an all-around American guy. Everyone wants to be him and every single gal out there wants to sleep with him. It's a fucked-up life for him to live."
I tilted my head to the side and studied her. "Did he pay you to do this? I feel like you should get a stipend from him or something."
She laughed. "No. I'm just speaking from experience. I'm not getting any younger. If I could find a good guy, scratch that if I could find a bad guy that was good to me and Benji? I'd offer him the world and my heart. It's about connecting and meeting people right where they are, not trying to turn them into something they used to be or might become one day. See him where he is right now and reach out, or close the door."
I nodded and shoved the rest of the cinnamon roll in my mouth.
She was right. I needed to step up to the plate or turn in my bat and glove. Something had to give, and it felt like it might be me.
Chapter 19
Three Weeks Later
Daniel
It had been three weeks since the shit went down with Terra, and I knew I needed to resolve it, but ignoring her felt better. Fear held me captive where she was concerned. It was just me I needed to worry about. It was Lyndsay too. I had a little girl to protect from heartache, as if I had a fucking clue how to make that happen.
"You gonna eat that?" Jeremy reached over and poked at the burger on my plate.
"Naw. Go for it." I pushed it across the table and glanced up. The game wasn't set to start until a little later that night, but I wanted to get out of the house, to breathe a little. "You think there's such a thing as true love, or do you think we're all just fucking kidding ourselves."
"This about Terra again?" He took a huge bite out of my burger.
"Maybe." I shrugged and glanced across the road to the field. My favorite burger joint always seemed to be open, and it was so close to the ballpark that I haunted the place often. "My mom and dad have been together forever."
"Yeah. My folks too." He wiped his mouth and picked up his beer. "I don't know, man. I think if you want her, just go after her. Ignoring her and trying to get away from her is a pussy move."
I laughed, loving how honest the guy was. "You're a bastard for taking steroids. You know that?"
"Yeah. I know." He shoved more of my burger into his mouth.
"What are you going to do now?"
"Come back." He licked his fingers. “I'm meeting with Terra or Miss Harmon here in about twenty minutes. Come with me. Plead my case with me."
"No fucking way, man. I'm not asking Terra for a damn thing." I lifted my hands and shook my head. "I fucked up big time the last time I had her close enough to reach out and grab her. I'd only mess things up for you."
"Stop crying and go after her. She's not seeing anyone else." He reached into his back pocket and threw a couple of bills on the table.
"Fuck you too." I leaned back and pulled my phone out as it buzzed. My mom. "Hey, I gotta take this."
"Alright. You going with me over here?"
"Nope. You're on your own." I got up and walked out as I pulled my phone to my ear. "Hey, mom. What's up?"
"Daniel. Your father isn't feeling too good again. I think I'm going to take him to see Dr. Miller on Monday. Can you help me find someone else to keep Lyndsay that day?"
"Of course." Worry raced through the center of my chest. "What's going on with Dad? He overdo it again?"
"I don't know, but you know his father died of a heart attack. I'm just scared." She let out a soft sigh.
"Nothing to be worried about, Mom. He's as healthy as a horse, and he still chews like one too."
She laughed. "Okay. Well, I love you. Good luck tonight at the game. We'll be watching. Or I will. Your father is lying down."
"Alright. Tell him not to watch tonight. His blood pressure always gets so damn bad when he watches." I smiled and glanced up to see Terra getting out of her car. Without thinking about it, I moved across the road and picked up my walk to a jog.
"Be safe, son."
"Al
right. Talk to you soon." I slipped my phone in my back pocket and moved up beside her. "Terra."
"Oh! Shit, Danny. You scared me." She pressed her hand to her chest and offered me a shy smile. "You done avoiding me now?"
"I'm sorry." I slipped my hands into my pockets and glanced around, wondering if I could let my guard down just for a fucking second. The world could see me as an asshole bad boy, but I wanted my woman to know there was a different side to me. One that would protect her and love her the way she wanted to be loved. The boy she'd pledged to keep herself pure for was still very much alive inside of me, and he craved her in ways that didn't make sense.
"No. It's okay." She reached up and brushed her hair off her shoulder. "No harm. No foul."
"No, that's not true." I glanced over my shoulder to see Jeremy walking our way. "Have dinner with me on Monday night."
"Um... let me think about it?" She moved around me and extended her hand. "Jeremy. Good to see you again."
I turned and pursed my lips as Jeremy made up an excuse that he'd left his phone in his car. He promised to be right back, winked at me and jogged back toward the players’ parking lot.
She turned and laughed. "You paid him to do that, right?"
"Maybe." I smiled. "It's just a meal. I won’t push anything, but I want to talk about what happened the other night."
"Just the other night?" Her eyes pulled me in deep and my body reacted violently to her. Never in my life had I wanted someone so fucking bad. Crazy how she was just out of reach.
"No." I pulled my hand from my pocket and reached out to touch the side of her face. "Though I haven't stopped thinking about the other night since you walked out pissed at me."
She pulled my hand down carefully and nodded. "You didn't understand seven years ago, Danny. You're not going to understand now."
"What if I want to try to?" I closed the gap between us as I fought against myself. Jeremy needed to hurry the fuck up, or the bastard alpha in me was going to rear his ugly head again.
"I don't need you to." Pain moved across her expression. "I'm happy being single, and I don't need us to heal the wounds of the past."
Stealing First: (A Bad Boy Single Father Billionaire Novel) Page 10