by Sosie Frost
“—Don’t say it.”
“Trade.”
“Jesus fuck, Piper.”
I glared at him. “Watch your language. Do you not see the baby lying right here in front of you?”
“Of course I see her!” He braved a glance at the blanket. His expression twisted as I pulled off her diaper. He spun away, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “This isn’t happening.”
He skittered backwards like I brandished a lit torch at him instead of a dirty diaper. Good God. Even Dad tolerated the diaper changes, and it wasn’t like he had ever picked up a wipe or some powder when I was a baby. At least Mom had died after I was potty-trained or Dad would have let the nearest wolf pack raise me.
Cole gagged as I tended to Rose. “I can’t believe you’re doing that here.”
I pulled out the wipes. “It’s only a diaper change.”
“No. No, no, no. It’s not only a diaper change. That is a used diaper in my living room!”
“I’m sure you’ve done worse here.”
“Nothing like this.” His head tilted as I folded the diaper into a disposable bag. “Now what are you doing? Keeping it for later?”
I held out the bag for him. “Do you want to throw it away for me?”
Never thought I’d see a man that tough nearly pass out. Cole retreated as far as he could without ceding the house to me.
“I’ll find you a Tupperware to stash it in,” he said. “Just keep it away from me.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never been around a baby before.”
He gestured over his house. “Oh yeah. I’m loaded with babies. I got a swarm of infants crawling over my attic. Gotta spray under the deck too. A couple toddlers are teething on my posts.”
“I’m almost done.”
“Take your time. I’ll have to burn the room anyway.”
I kissed Rose as she kicked her perfect chubby legs. “I guess there’s two babies in this house, isn’t there? That’s right.”
“Sure, I’m just a big baby.” Cole crossed his arms. I pretended not to notice how the ink tightened over his ripping biceps. “Let’s recount all the shit you’ve caused here, not including what you have in that bag.”
“Language.”
“Like she cares! She’s covered in shit!”
“She’s cleaned up now.”
He didn’t listen, just counted off the inconveniences I caused on his fingers. “Destruction of property. Trespassing. Harassment.”
“I apologized for those things,” I said. “And I am sorry for what happened in the hot tub.”
“Don’t you dare apologize for that,” Cole said.
I pretended my heart didn’t beat a little harder. “It wasn’t appropriate.”
“It was fun.”
I shook my head. “It was a mistake.”
He nodded, his jaw tightening. “You never said anything about having a kid.”
The fresh diaper fit snug around her bottom. “We have a professional relationship, Cole. Or we’re supposed to. I shouldn’t have revealed nearly as much as I did.”
“Are you embarrassed about having a baby?”
My hackles rose. “Excuse me?”
“You almost slept with me.”
“I most certainly did not.”
“I had you yesterday,” Cole said. “A couple more minutes with me, and you’d have burned hotter than the water.”
“Not true.”
“You were definitely wetter.”
“Cole—”
“But you didn’t tell me you had a kid. Did you think I would have cared?”
Was he serious? “Obviously you do care or you wouldn’t freak out about a little diaper.”
“That doesn’t explain why you kept her a secret.”
“She wasn’t a secret. She didn’t come up in conversation.”
Cole devious smirk meant to twist a dagger in my side. “Do you think I wouldn’t have fucked you if I knew you had a baby?”
“I’m not having this conversation with you.”
“You break my doorbell, trespass in my house, nearly snap off my fingers, and then you leave me with the worst case of blue balls in my life.”
I launched to my feet, gesturing with Rose’s leggings. “My baby is right here. Watch your language.”
“What? Not like she has any.”
“You’re impossible. You think every woman in the world is dying to tame the beast, don’t you?”
He shrugged. “Like you aren’t wetting at the thought of it.”
“No.”
“Right. You gotta be all respectable. Can’t admit you wanted me just like you can’t admit that you hid your baby.”
My hand connected with his cheek.
Holy shit.
I slapped a man who had just hospitalized a wide receiver with a broken back. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t afraid of him, and I wouldn’t let him talk about my baby that way.
“I wasn’t hiding her.”
Cole raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t speak. Good boy. Smart boy. Best move he made in the past two goddamned weeks.
“You don’t know a thing about me or Rose or what we’ve been through,” I said. “Yeah. I’ve been at your house, in your foyer, pestering you for days. Now do you understand why?”
Cole didn’t speak, but he nearly smiled.
I’d smack that smirk off his face too.
“It’s for her,” I said. “Everything I do is for her. That’s why I’m here, trying to track you down. The league is pissed, and Bennett’s fining you twenty-five thousand dollars. You’re lucky you aren’t getting a suspension.”
Cole had the decency to look shamed, but I wasn’t done yet.
“I’m here to do my job. I have to keep you out of trouble so that I can be paid. I have to take care of my daughter—a baby I never get to see anymore because I’m too busy working all hours of the day.”
“Beautiful—”
“The truth is I need you to take this trade. And you can doubt that I’m actually trying to help your career. That’s fine. Maybe I’m in it for the money. Or maybe I know the Monarchs will cut you and that will ruin any chance of you signing with another team. But because of your reputation, I won’t be able to feed my child.”
“Piper—”
“So you listen to me, Cole Hawthorne. Maybe I am a little greedy. And maybe I am pushing you to do this trade. But don’t you dare insinuate that I’m embarrassed because I’m a single mother with a baby? I work hard for her. I do it all for her.”
“That’s pretty damn impressive, beautiful.”
“You wouldn’t understand. Rose is my entire world.”
“Really?” He waved a hand over the room. “Then where the hell did she go?”
I spun, checking the blanket.
Gone. Of course.
My toddler staged another diaper change prison break.
But this time…she was lost in a castle.
8
Cole
How far could a baby get in thirty seconds?
She was hardly stable on her feet. The kid toddled like a drunk in heels and had no sense of direction. Even a bird could find its way north and south.
“She’s gotta be close.” Piper bolted from the room but stopped in the hall, staring up, down, left, and right as the entire mansion opened before her. “You take the east. I’ll take west.”
“She’s just a kid.” I shrugged. “She can’t possibly break more stuff than you already have.”
Piper freaked. “She can break her neck!”
“What?”
“You have stairs.”
“She can’t walk down stairs?”
“She’s a toddler!” Piper groaned. “She’ll take a running leap and launch off of them. Just…go find her!”
Find her. Right. And then what?
Piper sprinted away, calling for her kid as she searched the halls.
Holy Christ, I was too afraid to even take a step. Why was Piper so damn worri
ed about stairs when I was big enough to crush any toddler who sprinted in front of my foot? I shuffled my steps to be safe.
There was a reason I lived alone in my twenty-thousand-square-foot mansion. It was the only place I fit.
I stood six foot six and packed two hundred and eighty pounds of pure muscle. A bull in a china shop had nothing on me. I was a beast prowling the woods—and the instant I reached civilization, I fucked everything up.
I knew my limitations and liabilities. That’s why I was only comfortable in two places: inside my own house where I couldn’t break anything or anyone, and outside on a football field where I faced men who could handle a hit.
But a baby?
Christ. Three days ago I broke a man’s back. In what universe did Piper think it was a good idea to bring a baby to me? I couldn’t be trusted around anything that required a soft touch. My body…wasn’t capable of gentleness.
I hit men for a living. I fucked women when they thought they could handle a taste of the wild side.
And the rest of my life?
I lived alone. I worked with the team when they conducted group meetings and practice, but I did my own workouts trapped in my own home.
Not so I’d be safe from them…but so they’d be safe from me.
The kid wasn’t in the kitchen, and she hadn’t crawled through the dining room. The door to the patio and pool was closed, so she wasn’t taking an afternoon dip. If it were me, I’d have headed downstairs to the wet bar, but something told me the kid hadn’t traded her milk for any margaritas yet.
Most of the spare rooms were closed, but one door remained open. I heard the squeal before I saw her.
Piper’s tiny princess waddled right into my weight room. It was probably the most dangerous place for her that didn’t contain an open fire, alcohol, or a marble staircase.
I stopped in the entryway, staring as she hopped onto the mat.
Rose wiggled as the stereo blared a song that contained language they didn’t air on Radio Disney.
“Hey, beautiful…” I called to Piper, my voice echoing. “I found her.”
The kid—Rosie?—spun when I spoke. She gurgled something. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to make it out or not. I had better luck deciphering the driver who delivered my Chinese food.
What was I supposed to do? Smiling usually worked. People smiled at babies.
I tried except it felt more like I bared my teeth.
Rose made a face. Christ. Even a toddler knew my smile was unnatural and weird.
She stopped stamping her feet and looked at me with widening eyes. Was she excited? Was she sad? Who the hell knew!
The song distracted her. She bounced again on tiny legs and flung her arms high and low.
Like all men, I’d often wished for a half-naked woman to dance around my house. I wondered if genies did refunds. The boogying baby was not what I ordered.
Piper rushed into the room, and Rose waved at her momma. She toddled closer to the speakers. But Piper caught her and tossed pants on the kid before she could get away.
“Thank you for finding her,” Piper said. “She loves music. Must’ve heard it playing.”
“They…can dance?”
Piper kissed Rose’s cheek. “Yeah. She can also walk, talk, eat…pretty much everything except drive and vote. We can even count to twenty if you don’t mind eleven coming after nineteen.” She shrugged. “Haven’t you ever been around a baby before? Not even family?”
“Not much family left.” Never had much of one to begin with.
“Well, she won’t hurt you. Here.” Piper lifted the baby and presented her to me with a smirk. “Rosie, this is Cole. Cole, Rosie.”
Usually civilized people shook hands. Rose didn’t offer her chubby fist. That was good. Less of a chance for me to accidentally crush her.
I didn’t know what Piper wanted me to do. How was I supposed to compliment a baby? Good job on the breeding was probably insulting. I nodded my head. It felt safer.
It wasn’t.
Rose’s eyes lit up. I thought I might have amused her, but it was just my long hair. Rose grabbed a handful, squeezing it in her mocha grip.
She tugged, nearly ripping a chunk out of my skull.
“Ow! Jesus Christ!”
Her strength surprised the hell out of me, and I bellowed as she wrenched the handful out of my head. I jerked away.
Then the waterworks started.
I had never been around a baby before. I had no idea how loudly they could scream when a beast of a man scared the piss out of them.
Rose’s eyes welled with tears, her cheeks puffed, and those tiny little sable lips trembled. The baby wailed and buried her head in Piper’s neck.
My heart stopped, shattered, and turned to ash. Goddamn it. I didn’t mean to scare her.
“Smooth,” Piper said. “Really?”
“I…fuck, I’m sorry.”
“Cole, stop swearing!”
She soothed the baby with a soft pat to her back. Just another reason for me to loathe myself. I followed Piper to the den as she attempted to entertain Rose with a stuffed animal. That did nothing. Rose fussed and whined and beat her little fists into her momma’s chest. She wouldn’t look up.
How was I supposed to calm a baby?
The League took fines when I fucked up. Would she shut up if I gave her a college fund?
And sometimes Coach Scott would order us to run laps when we copped an attitude in practice, but I doubted sweating would pacify a kid.
“I didn’t mean to yell,” I said. “I had no idea she could pull that hard.”
Piper sighed. “Yeah, they’re stronger than you’d think. Should have felt her practicing punts in my tummy.”
The thought silenced me. Piper held Rose in her arms, but I couldn’t imagine her carrying a baby.
Or could I? Someone that beautiful deserved a family. A baby. That happiness.
“She’s just cranky,” Piper said. “It’s been a long day, and she’s hungry.”
“Oh. I can help.”
“Cole—”
No, I had this. I could handle feeding a kid.
I thought.
I headed to the kitchen, but I had no idea what she ate. Rose had a couple teeth, I saw them while she was screaming. That meant I wasn’t limited to protein shakes.
I tossed everything I could find onto a tray. String cheese. Cold chicken breast. Some brown rice. A banana. Half of an Italian sub.
I brought the tray to the den and thunked it down on the coffee table. Then I retreated a respectable distance.
“There,” I said. “Give her something.”
Piper’s eyebrow rose. “As much as I think she’d love leftover Kung Pow chicken…”
“I brought it all. Would’ve hauled in the fridge too, if it made her stop crying.”
I didn’t expect Piper’s grateful smile, a flicker of forgiveness.
“I see her favorite.” She reached for the banana. “Rosie, look what Cole gave you.”
Through the sniffles, tears, and chubby hand rubbing her face, Rose squealed in excitement.
“Nanner!”
And just like that…she was happy.
I collapsed on the couch.
I’d known the kid for less than fifteen minutes, and already my heart couldn’t handle this bullshit. I terrified the baby and then made her goddamned day in a five-minute span.
Rose squished the banana, and Piper took it away from her. “Can I borrow your kitchen to cut this up?”
“You desecrated this place with the diaper change. Do whatever it takes to make her stop crying.”
“Babies cry, Cole.” Piper winked. “Get used to it. You might have one someday.”
Never. Was she crazy? Who would trust me with a baby?
I followed Piper to the kitchen. She steadied Rose on the island and fed her chopped up pieces of banana. The kid giggled with each bite. Like, lost her shit. I made millions of dollars and lived in a fucking mansion, and still
I had never felt as happy as that baby with her damned piece of fruit.
“Yum.” Piper hummed the word.
“Ummm,” Rose mimicked.
“Tell Cole thank you.”
Her tiny little voice was heart-melting. “Ank you.”
I hated asking. I ducked away from the kid and cleared my throat. “Are you…where’s her father?”
Piper hesitated, almost long enough that I regretted the question.
“We’re not involved,” she said. “He’s…hardly in her life.”
That made our adventure in the hot tub more palatable. “You’re raising her alone?”
“I didn’t have a choice.” She bopped the baby on the nose with a kiss. “I got pregnant in college. Grad school actually. I wanted my doctorate.”
“In what?”
“French Literature.”
“Booming career field,” I said, accidentally insulting her. Figured. “I…haven’t met anyone with that major before.”
“What was yours?”
“Hell if I can remember. Football?”
Piper shook her head. “Jocks.”
“Nerd.”
“Very much so.” She smiled, proud. “I love literature and art and everything that my father warned wouldn’t pay the bills. But he supported me anyway.”
“Didn’t know Maddy had a heart.”
“He doesn’t. He was hoping I’d find a nice man and get married straight out of school.” She sighed. “He expected me to have a big home, family, and kids…but not so soon.”
“And you didn’t marry Rose’s father?”
“God no. Jasper was a mistake. He was the arrogant, popular, selfish fraternity president. But he chased me, and he was the only one who ever did. But he only dated me because he thought he’d look better with a pretty virgin on his arm. I was too naïve to realize his game. Then one day…whoops.”
Rose chattered. “Mamamama.”
“You said it, meatball.”
“So…” I tried to put it delicately. “You got knocked up.”
“My dad was furious. He had been paying for everything—college and my apartment and food and books. Cut me off the instant I refused to marry Jasper. He said he’d give me a job, and I took it, but…”
“You don’t know the first thing about football.”
“Bingo. But he said I was smart enough to learn. I dropped everything, started working, had my baby, and now…” She shrugged. “Here we are.”