Beauty and the Blitz

by Sosie Frost

  Dad nodded. He looked to Rose, a touch of sadness in his voice. “We’re not alike, you and me. That’s probably for the best. I’ve never been a good man or father. I’m too practical. Too number-oriented and bullheaded. But you amaze me, Piper. You’ve always searched for happiness in places I’d never think to look. Education. College. Raising your baby alone. I worried about you, always seeking adventure but not watching where that first step would land.”

  “Do you still worry?”

  “I don’t have to. I couldn’t imagine you any other way, Piper. You’re a brilliant woman, and you’re an excellent mother.” He looked away. “And if Cole couldn’t see that, you’re better off without him.”

  It was amazing how one little sentence could rip through me. I hoped my voice didn’t catch, but a month separated from Cole hadn’t healed the ache in my chest.

  “It was amicable,” I said. “We broke it off when he left for Ironfield.”

  “Any reason you didn’t go with him?”

  “It wasn’t meant to be.”

  Dad snorted. He distracted himself with his computer, checking an email. “Don’t go looking for Prince Charming, Piper. Do you know what happens when you wait for fate to drop the perfect person in your lap?”

  “What?”

  “A lot of unnecessary trouble. Fingers pricked on spindles. Apples lodged in throats. Shattered glass slippers tearing up your feet. Forget what’s meant to be. Make your own happily ever after.” He raised his eyebrows. “Go get him.”

  I didn’t let my heart beat with that flicker of hope. “I have everything I need in life with Rose. She’s the one who needs the happily ever after, not me. I’m going to make sure she gets it. No princes required.”

  I stood and shouldered my purse, taking Rose’s hand before she climbed every piece of furniture in Dad’s office.

  “Wait,” he said.

  Dad rifled through his filing cabinet and pushed a folder towards me. His writing scrawled a name over the top.

  Lachlan Reed

  “He’ll go first round in the draft,” Dad said. “You should represent him.”

  “I don’t need charity.”

  “It’s not. I can’t handle him. He’ll need a lighter touch. I wouldn’t trust him with anyone but you.”

  Uh-oh. “Is he another Cole?”

  Dad laughed. Hard. “Couldn’t be more different. You’re the best suited for him, I think. I’ve been courting him, but…he’s yours. His contact info is in the folder. Give him a call.”

  “I can’t deal with both Cole and now…” I looked at the folder. “Lachlan.”

  “Looks like you’ll have to start your own agency.”

  “Dad—”

  “This has been fun, but I’m very busy, Piper. I gotta get out of the office before Monday Night Football.” He eyed me. “You shouldn’t miss it.”

  Yeah, right. Rivets versus Cyclones. Cole Hawthorne’s Ironfield debut would take place live on national television.

  Where everything could go wrong.

  My heart couldn’t take it.

  I tucked the folder into Rose’s diaper bag. “Thanks, Dad.”

  We weren’t the hugging sort. We waved buh-bye, and I left the agency for the last time with a little more confidence than when I’d entered. I loaded Rose into the car and let her babble to Mr. Bumpybottom for the ride home.

  Or…at least, what was passing as home.

  I had a lead on an apartment that would open up in a few days, but the hotel worked for a temporary stay. I couldn’t wait at Cole’s home anymore, despite his insistence that I remain until I was settled.

  The house. The beds. The garden. Everything had wrapped me in his presence. I couldn’t handle it.

  But even when I finally left, when Rose and I settled at the hotel, I still dragged memories of Cole into our life. My clothes smelled like him. Sports Nation wouldn’t stop talking about him.

  I’d dreamt of him. I’d hated him.

  I’d stared at my phone waiting for him to call.

  He didn’t.

  I knew he wouldn’t.

  When was it supposed to stop hurting? When could I go five minutes without thinking of him or worrying about him or getting angry with him?

  Everyone talked about broken hearts as if they shattered once and were lost. It wasn’t true. Every day apart from him only splintered me more. The pieces got smaller, turning to dust. Not much remained for time to heal. Maybe these wounds were just too deep.

  I shouldn’t have watched the game, but I think I wanted to know if it still hurt.

  It did.

  Rose should have gone to sleep before the game started, but I didn’t mind her company. It’d be nice to have a girls’ night, just me and her sharing an order of fast food chicken nuggets.

  Watching the game.

  Pretending to care about anyone and anything but the man wearing the black, number ninety-two jersey.

  The pregame was in full-swing, and the announcers made sure they got a close up of Cole Hawthorne, warming up on the field in his new Ironfield uniform.

  His hair was tied back, but he’d wear it loose for the game. Wild. He said it intimidated his opponents, and I believed him. His nose had finally healed, despite the bit of crookedness. It suited him.

  He looked fierce, focused. But something was different. The camera cut away just as quarterback Jack Carson walked through the warm-up, shouting to his men. Cheering them on. Firing them up.

  And Cole responded. They pounded each other’s shoulder pads and shook hands before the game.

  The Beast and Play-Maker?

  Were they…friends?

  My mouth dropped open, but I didn’t close it in time. Rose stuck a piece of previously chewed chicken nugget between my lips.

  At least I hoped it was a chicken nugget.

  I spat it out and sipped my soda, staring at the TV though they had long since panned away.

  She bounced the bunny next to me. “Cool!”

  Was it possible Cole had looked…happy? It wasn’t just him getting pumped. He was eager to start the game.

  “Cool!”

  “Bodacious, meatball. Totally rad.”

  “Mamamama.”

  I should have turned the game off. I shouldn’t have watched.

  Seeing Cole pained me in ways I hadn’t imagined.

  But the time apart from him destroyed me more.

  I allowed myself one night of weakness. I snuggled into the bed, Rose at my side, and together we watched the game.

  Cole didn’t play in the first quarter, but I hadn’t expected him to play at all. The game was an important mid-season matchup. Cole was gifted, but could he really learn the entire Rivets’ defense in two weeks?

  I never should have doubted him.

  He took the field in the second quarter, lining up to blitz on a third and long. The ball snapped, and he exploded from the line, leaping over the offensive line. He twisted from a hold and dove over the Cyclones’ quarterback. The ball popped out, and he leapt over the fumble with a superhuman speed.

  I shrieked, tumbling out of the bed and nearly bouncing my toddler off the side. I cheered with the Ironfield crowd. Rose loved the excitement. She bounced with me.

  “Cool!” She clapped her hands. “Cool!”

  “I know, Rosie! It was a cool play!”

  My child looked at me like I was an idiot. And maybe I was.

  “Cool!”

  I plunked onto the bed and stared at her. She wiggled under my attention, but that devious smile told me everything I needed to know.

  I tried to speak, but the words came out as a whisper.

  “Cool?” I asked her.

  “Cool.”

  My heart broke once, and Rose gathered the pieces together just to shatter it again. She had been babbling all week, speaking that word over and over again. Tears prickled my eyes.

  She wasn’t saying cool.

  “Rosie, do you mean…Cole?”

  She squea
led, clapping as I finally understood what she said. She repeated his name, singing each word with an excited flourish.

  “Cole. Cole. Cole.”

  Oh God.

  This wasn’t supposed to happen.

  I was the one who was supposed to be crushed, falling for a man I shouldn’t have loved.

  Not my baby. Not a little girl who loved him like he was her…

  I couldn’t even think the word.

  Of course Rose would love a man who had shared his breakfasts with her. Read to her. Danced with her. Looked after her. Spoiled her with toys and furniture.

  He’d showered her with the devotion and care and affection that he’d denied himself. And she remembered. She wanted him back.

  “Do you miss Cole?” I whispered.

  Rose nodded.

  “Momma misses him too.”

  Her little fingers poked at my lips, trying to make me smile. I owed it to her. I owed it to myself. But I had no idea how to be happy unless I was with him.

  And he had to feel the same way. I knew he loved me as much as I loved him. I should have never left without making him say it.

  Screw it.

  I wasn’t living a life of regrets.

  I’d forced my way into his home to help him once.

  This time, I’d find a way to save him.

  “Do you want to go find Cole?” I asked.

  Rose nodded.

  “Good. You and me? We’re gonna go get him.” I pulled her in for a tight hug. “And we’re not going to leave until he says I love you.”

  Cole

  It had been months since I loathed the sound of someone knocking at my door.

  Tonight, I regressed. I knew exactly who pounded on the frame. I just didn’t know why she was here.

  Did Piper want to hurt me? Did she want me to hurt her?

  I couldn’t face her. Not now. Today was supposed to be a day off, a gentle day. I hadn’t played in a month, and Monday’s game tore me apart. For the first time in weeks, my body punished me more than my fucking regret.

  But I couldn’t give her the answers she needed, and I couldn’t say the words she wanted.

  Those feelings lodged in my chest like a sickness, one that left me feverish and confused and every bit as disoriented as the first time she touched me, kissed me, and refused to leave my door.

  The apartment was furnished with items that weren’t mine and décor that didn’t suit me, but it was home enough. Again, she invaded my space. Not just my house, but my heart and soul.

  Why did she come?

  What had taken her so long?

  How could I get her to leave?

  Christ. I wasn’t afraid of seeing her, but I didn’t know what would happen when I got her back in my arms.

  I closed my eyes and breathed deep. I’d hoped for a minute to compose myself. Instead, a cry in the hall echoed through the apartment.

  The baby fussed. She had Rose with her?

  I opened the door.

  Piper was every bit as beautiful jet-lagged and pissed off as she was naked and rolling in my bed.

  “Please don’t close the door!” She stuck her foot inside the jam, as if I could slam it after seeing her beautiful eyes for the first time in a month. “Cole, please listen to me. Just once, just now, before you do anything. I’m not going to leave until you listen to what I have to say.”

  Where had I heard that before?

  “You are the most frustrating, loathsome, infuriating man I’ve ever met.”

  Those weren’t the sweet, honey-brushed words I’d expected. I frowned. Piper panted, forcing her insults through a bitter voice.

  “And you are the most intimidating man I’ve ever met,” she said.

  A knife through the heart might have been a better greeting. I tightened my hold on the door, but Piper spoke quickly. She stared into my eyes and whispered with absolute honesty.

  “But you’re not intimidating because of the man you are. You’re frightening because of the way you make me feel.”

  Christ, I couldn’t even look at this beautiful woman without bracing against the door. One wrong and right word, and I’d crumble to my knees.

  “You don’t believe me, and that’s fine. The media and the league and your reputation would prove that you’re the wrong man for me, but I know we have something special.” Piper sucked in a deep breath. “You say you’re a beast, a monster, a slave to your rage. But do you know what else you are?”

  A coward.

  A man too weak to deny his feelings but strong enough to protect the one he loved.

  “You’re gentle,” Piper whispered. “You’re caring. You’re loving and compassionate and tender. You have a capacity for such kindness. You’d did all you could to spoil Rose. You made love with me. Cole, you know those aren’t the makings of a beast.”

  They weren’t the qualities of a prince either.

  I averted my gaze only to trap myself in another beautiful face. Rose had fallen back to sleep in her stroller, tucked in with those chubby brown cheeks and tiny little hands. She snuggled with Mr. Bumpybottom. Quiet.

  I’d have committed Piper’s first cardinal sin and woken her up just to see her smile.

  Piper watched me, her voice softening. “You think you’re wrong for me. And maybe I’m wrong for you. But I’ve never felt this way before. I’ve never had anyone make me feel so beautiful and wanted. Every day with you was a risk—not because you were dangerous, but because I didn’t know how to protect my heart.”

  I didn’t either.

  Piper knew how to twist the knife into my heart. She’d make it beat once more, for her and her alone.

  “It’s not that you don’t have the capacity to love, Cole,” she said. “It’s that you love too much. You love the baby and me so much you’re afraid you’ll hurt us. You love football so much you’re afraid you’ll lose it. It’s not a weakness to be afraid of your own strength, and it’s not dangerous to let me help you.”

  Her honest admission ripped through me like silken daggers.

  “I love you, Cole.”

  I couldn’t speak. Hell, I couldn’t match anything as sweet and beautiful as her words.

  I’d show her instead.

  I opened the door wide and welcomed her inside. My apartment wasn’t much. The team said it was just something to “get me by” until I found a home.

  Except nothing felt like home anymore.

  Not without Piper. Not without Rose.

  I led her to the spare bedroom and turned on the light.

  The nursery was all white, accented with pink pillows and blankets, frilly little curtains and a fairy tale decoration. It was nothing fancy, just a crib, changing table, dresser, and rocking chair, but everything was ready for a baby.

  For Rose.

  “They asked me what I would need to furnish the apartment.” I couldn’t look at Piper, but seeing the baby was just as hard. “I told them I wanted a nursery. I don’t know why I said it. I don’t know what I thought would happen—”

  Piper didn’t let me finish. She stood on her tip-toes, tugging me closer, wanting me to touch her.

  I couldn’t leave a lady waiting.

  I kissed her, and that gentle warmth coursed through me. Not fierce. Not raging. Just perfection.

  We pulled away as Rose started to fuss. The kid was groggy and only half-awake, but her eyes widened when she saw me. She squealed, reaching for me.

  “Cole!”

  My heart stopped.

  Holy shit.

  Piper smiled as she handed Rose to me. I hoped to Christ I had the strength to hold her.

  “She said my name.”

  “Just learned it.” Piper rubbed Rose’s back as she nestled against my chest. “She’s been saying it all week. I didn’t realize that she was asking to see you.” She cleared her throat. “Really, this visit was all her idea.”

  “Was it?”

  “Well…she instigated.”

  “And pounding on my door until
I relented?”

  “It’d worked before.”

  “I don’t think I could keep you out even if I wanted to.”

  She bit her lip. “Do you want to keep me out?”

  “Not anymore.”

  Rose was asleep. I laid her in the new crib, and Piper handed me her bunny from the stroller. I tucked Rumpleass by her hand and pulled the pink blanket over her.

  And I just stared, watching her sleep.

  Piper took my hand. How was it possible two minutes with both of them healed every wound, every pain, and every ache from the past month?

  “We have to talk,” I said. “Will she be okay?”

  “She’ll be better than ever…now that she’s back with you.”

  These were promises I’d fight to believe and die to keep.

  I left the door open a crack in case the baby woke up. I wasn’t sure why that part of my life felt so natural now—bed times and cuddles and sneaking away with a proud momma who stared at me like I was every reason for her and Rose’s happiness.

  That was a blessing a man could get used to.

  I pulled her to my bedroom, the only place where I could prove to her the honesty in my words. She sat on the bed, and I knelt at her feet.

  I looked up at this woman—this beautiful, gentle woman—and had no idea how I had gone so long without touching her, kissing her, confessing to her.

  “I can’t promise you a happily ever after,” I said. “Fuck, I’m still working on this once upon a time. Everything still feels like the beginning—something new. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”

  Piper took my hand as I grazed her cheek. “For me too.”

  “I want to take care of you. I want to be that man you can depend on. But I have no idea if it’s in me. I have no idea what’s inside me, but I know it’s changing for you. Because of you.”

  I couldn’t resist her parted lips. I took her in my arms, gripping her hair and hips and tasting everything of her in a rough and possessed and terrible way.

  I kissed her, swirled my tongue over hers, then pushed away.

  I hated the growl in my words. “I can’t trust myself to be gentle with you.”