by Cala Riley
“Sounds good. I haven’t been there yet.” Garrett leans down and kisses me softly before backing away. “See you at home around six?”
“See you then.” I can’t help but smile.
Garrett winks. “Later,” he calls over his shoulder, walking down the hall.
I watch a substitute secretary lean out of her chair, falling onto the floor while watching him walk away.
He’s something else.
I head back into my office and get ready for my meeting with the other recruiters. Before I know it, Jerry, Kline, and Roy walk into my office and take a seat.
“Let’s get started.” I stare each man in the eye before looking down and opening my notebook. “Kline, you start. How’s Clemson look?”
The rest of the afternoon goes by in a blur of stats and game tape.
Garrett
I’m sitting on the shower bench, letting the water bounce on my tense muscles. I see a shadow pass and I open my eyes, turning my head and looking out of the glass stall.
Reagan. Mi reina.
There she is naked as the day she was born and putting her hair on the top of her head to keep it from getting wet.
Mine.
“Mi reina, you made it.”
She steps into the stall and shuts the door behind her. She walks over and pushes me back, making me lean against the wall. She straddles my lap and kisses me.
“Hi,” she says after breaking the kiss.
“Come back here,” I growl, trying to kiss her again.
She rubs her bare pussy on my cock, making me hiss. Reagan leans forward and sucks on my ear before whispering, “Let me take care of you.” Her hands slowly crawl up my arms, to my shoulders and start digging into my tight traps, making me moan. I hang my head and rest it on her chest. Closing my eyes, I let the tension roll off me, loving the feel of her hands on me. Loving on me. I open my eyes to see the goosebumps covering her skin, nipples pebbled, rubbing against my chest. I lightly blow on her nipple, making it pebble tighter. Reagan rocks against my cock and hisses. I kneed her hips, tipping my head up and run my tongue along the column of her neck.
“Tell me what you need, reina,” I murmur against her neck.
“You. I just need you.”
She lifts up before sinking slowly down on my cock, both of us moaning in pleasure.
“Condom, mi reina,” I remind her while nipping her collarbone.
“I’m clean and on birth control. We’re good.”
“Are you sure?” I ask.
I’ve never gone bare with anyone. In my line of business, you can’t trust a woman isn’t trying to rope you into having her kid.
Oddly enough, the idea of Reagan having my kid makes me harder.
“If you don’t fuck me right now, I’m going to lose my mind.” Her reply comes out as a demand.
I don’t ask again.
I lift her again before slamming her down onto me, making her cry out.
“Mine. God, this pussy was made just for me,” I pant into her ear.
I hold her against me as her body adjusts to this new position. Once her breathing calms down, I slowly start thrusting into her.
She meets me thrust for thrust. As I push up, she grinds down, driving us both crazy. When her nails bite into my shoulders, my patience breaks. I grip her hips, setting a punishing pace.
The noises she makes are straight from heaven. Each moan of my name brings me higher. When she finally crashes over the edge, her entire body clenches around me.
Her pussy around my dick is like a vise. With two more thrusts, I follow her over, spilling my seed inside her.
I continue to hold her, kissing her shoulders and collarbone until she comes back to me. Once she does, the smile covering her face makes my heart stop.
In that moment, I realized something.
I’m in love with Reagan Kelly.
We walk hand in hand through Pike Place Market, both wearing sunglasses and ball caps at Reagan’s insistence. If I didn’t know better, I would say she doesn’t want to be seen with me. Reagan is a machine knowing which shops she wants to go into and what ones she doesn’t. I see a flower stall and can’t help but want to grab some for her. I squeeze her hand, getting her attention.
“Hey, I want to go over there and look at something. Wait for me?”
“Of course. I’m going in there to grab some more soap.” I look into the specialty soap store. “Find some for my place and I’ll pay for it when I come back.”
“I can afford to buy soap for your place, Garrett.” She rolls her eyes.
“I know but I want to.”
She ignores my plea and stands up on her tippy toes, kissing me square on the lips.
“No pink.”
She winks at me before walking into the soap shop.
I look back at the flower stall and they have a ridiculous pink bouquet front and center.
How did she know I wanted to get her flowers? And who made the mistake at buying her pink anything?
I shake my wayward thoughts away and walk to the stall and inspect each arrangement.
“If you’re buying for the woman you just mauled, I would go with these.” The older lady working points at some flowers.
“What are they?” I gently touch the purple petal. It’s just a few flowers with some greenery mixed in.
“Those are purple calla lilies, they symbolize passion and by the looks of that kiss, you two have that in spades. That right there...” She points at the green leafy plant mixed in. “Is eucalyptus. Smells amazing, and if you’re one of those all-natural people, it has a lot of health benefits.”
I look back at the store and can’t see Reagan, so I turn around and grab them. “I’ll take them.”
The lady rings me out and I stick an extra twenty in her tip jar.
“You have a great day, Mr. Stone.”
I try to suppress my smile. “You too, ma’am.”
I find Reagan smelling a bar of soap.
“Find one you like?”
“This smells like bourbon and vanilla, what do you think?” She sticks the bar under my nose, making me smell.
“They nailed that combo.” I grab the bar from her hand and smell again. The smoky smell of bourbon and sweet smell of vanilla overtake my senses, instantly making me think of sitting back relaxing by a fire and sipping on a fine drink.
“What about this one?” Reagan pushes another bar into my hand, and I give her back the bourbon one. I eye the bar before lifting it and inhaling. Instantly overcome with a woody but citrus smell.
“That’s sandalwood and citrus. Which do you like more?”
“I like them both.” I take the basket from her arm before dropping the bar in my hand into it.
“You don’t need both,” she chastises.
“One can never have too much soap, reina,” I tease.
Reagan rolls her eyes before wrapping her hand around my bicep. “Let’s go before you spend all that money.”
“Reina, it will take a lot more than soap to break the bank. But you want to try? Go for it.” I shrug. Reagan ignores my comment.
“Come on, I want to grab some fish and produce before we leave.”
We check out and make our way to the fish market and it suddenly hits me. This is the most normal couple thing we’ve ever done, and I love it. I could see us doing this every Saturday morning for the rest of our lives.
Chapter 8
Week 8
Garrett
“Don’t worry. We will take care of him.” I stand next to her dad and pops, with my hand on Nick’s shoulder.
Reagan is in Texas for work for the next week. She was fine leaving Nick with her dad and grandfather, but Pops also has doctor’s appointments to go to. That left her struggling to find someone to cover Nick on the days it affected his school schedule. She was reluctant to add me into the mix. I rearranged my schedule so I can be there for him.
We have been seeing each other for well over a month now, whether she a
grees with that assessment. I understand why she wants to keep us separate. Nick’s her child. He’s the most important thing in her world. While she likes me, if it came down to it, I would be out on my ass in a second if it meant protecting him. I don’t fault her for that. What she doesn’t understand is that the little bit of time I’ve spent with Nick has changed me. He was already important to me because he is important to her, but getting to know him? Even if she left me, he would still be important to me. I would still always be there for this kid. I might not be his father, but I sure as hell want to be his family.
That’s why I volunteered to care for him while she’s gone. Planning to come over every morning to have breakfast with him before taking him to school, then picking him up at the end of the day. What I didn’t expect was for it to be so easy.
“Hey.” Nick jumps onto the stool at the kitchen island.
“You hungry?”
“After-school snack?” he teases.
“Don’t be a smart ass,” I say, making him laugh. “What do you want to do today?” We both look out the window and the rain coming down.
Nick turns back towards me. “How do you feel about video games?”
“I’m a guy, safe to say I like them.” I quirk a brow.
“Gramps and Pops don’t,” he points out.
“Yeah, well, I’m not old,” I say, making us laugh.
“Come on.” I follow Nick out of the kitchen and up to his room. Next thing I know, we’re on our fourth game of Fortnite and I’m losing my cool.
“Did you see that?” I point to the screen, losing my shit. “That was straight-up bullshit. Was that a glitch or something?”
Nick laughs his ass off, holding his stomach, tears streaming down his face.
“So glad I can make you laugh,” I mutter.
Nick rips the controller from my hand and plays the next round. “Hurry, the circle is closing.”
“Chill, Stone, I got this.” And sure enough, the kid pulls through with the victory.
“I don’t know how you managed that.” I rub my face, suddenly feeling old. I look over at Nick and see him looking at me with a curious look on his face. “What?”
“Do you love her?” he blurts out.
Shit. I was not expecting to explain myself to him. He’s old enough to see what’s going on between us, but I didn’t think he would ask me point-blank. I’m hovering on dangerous ground. I’m not sure if Reagan will approve of it, but I can’t lie to the kid.
I take a deep breath before looking him in the eye. “And if I do? How would that make you feel?”
“I mean, as long as you don’t send me to a boarding school, we’re good.” He shrugs, biting his lip. “She deserves love and a husband.”
“She does,” I agree. “I do you know. Love your mom.”
“You’ll take care of her?” he challenges.
“I’ll try,” I say sincerely. “But Nick.” I get his attention. “I don’t just want her, I want you too. You and your mom are a package deal, I know that, I’m cool with that.”
He nods. “Good.” He looks back down at his hands. “I think it would be cool to have another guy around, especially another Super Bowl winner.”
I smirk. “I think we’re good then, kid. But I have one piece of advice.”
“What’s that?”
“You should start learning Spanish now. That way you can understand my familia. One second they are speaking Spanish and the next in English. You never know.”
“That’s so cool.”
I ignore his red cheeks. “How about we order some food?”
“Pizza.”
“Pizza it is.”
I think tonight was a success.
Reagan
“What do you think?”
My eyes don’t leave the field as the coach comes over to stand next to me. Instead, my eyes continue to follow the recruit. Stephen Sanders is an up-and-coming receiver. His high school records were impeccable, but that was high school. This is his second year in college, but he was red-shirted his first season. This will be his first season playing on the big field. We will see if he has what it takes to make it.
“He can move. He needs to learn discipline though. He makes split-second decisions that only work out half the time. He has work to do, but if he does it, he could make an excellent candidate.” I finally turn to meet Coach’s eyes.
This was all a part of recruiting for me. Yes, I’m here to look at potential recruits. Possibilities for the draft.
With that being said, this is more than that for me. I want to help these kids meet their full potential. Even if they have no plans to draft, they can still learn lessons in the game.
Hell, I never played football on a real field with teammates, but it still taught me a lot.
Leadership. Discipline. Teamwork. Family.
These aspects are important in life. Things football teaches you.
“Thanks for the feedback,” he says as he makes his way onto the field, calling to the kid in question.
I watch as the players line up to run a play. While my eyes should follow the recruit, I let myself watch the rest of the team. My eyes catch on one of the linemen. His face is determined, but an underlying anger in his movements causes me to continue to watch him. As the ball snaps, he juts forward, meeting his opponent. However, instead of bouncing off and letting go, he grabs his jersey.
If this was an actual game, that would be a holding call without question. What concerns me is the fact that by making the call to go after his teammate, he left his quarterback open. He let his emotions determine what his actions would be, costing his team a sack.
My eyes meet Coach as he yells at the kid. His pissed off look is still there. Whatever made him mad is the reason that he took his mind off the game. His eyes keep cutting to his teammate, the opponent he faced off against, I would have to say it’s him.
I let my mind wander to Garrett. The whole reason he came to Seattle was to move away from his mistake. He couldn’t bear the fact that he made one wrong decision that led to his quarterback being seriously injured. Did he let his emotions rule him too?
Shaking my head from the thought, I finish watching practice, speaking with the coach for a little bit afterward to give him my assessments of not only the recruit, but the other players.
This is why I came here and to most other colleges. I might be a female, which made them wary at first, but I was not single-minded. I would give them a full assessment of the entire team by the end of my observations, making the team better.
I must have dozed off at some point. I planned to stay up working while waiting on my nightly call from Nick. Then Garrett would call me later and we would have a different kind of nightly call.
Instead, I passed out after my solo act, causing me to jerk awake when my phone rings.
“Hello,” I mumble into the phone, not bothering to check who it is.
“Hey, reina.” The sound of Garrett’s voice immediately causes a warm feeling to spread in my chest.
“Hey.” I roll over onto my back, smiling at the fact that he’s calling me.
“I need to tell you something, but I need you to let me get it all out first.” The tone of his voice has me sitting up straight.
“What happened? Is Nick okay? Pops?”
“Nick wanted to go to the field after school today. So I arranged for us to go. Finch met us there so we could teach him some techniques.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “Nick broke his arm.”
“What?” I screech, jumping from the bed.
I pace the room, my hands tangling in my hair.
“Calm down. He is perfectly fine. The doctors say it may take six to eight weeks to fully heal, but he’s okay.”
“Don’t try to soothe me, Stone. What the hell were you thinking? Never mind. I’m coming home.” I start packing my stuff while still holding the phone.
“There’s no need to come home early. We have this. I just wanted to let you know, so you weren’
t surprised.”
“Stop. I can’t even talk to you right now. You really think I would stay here knowing my baby is hurt? Fuck you, Stone. I’m coming home.” I hang up the phone, tossing it on the bed.
I let it ring several times before turning it off. Within an hour, I’m at the airport on standby for the next flight to Seattle.
Hours later, I’m pulling into my driveway, anxious to see Nick. I slam the car into park and run into the house. I see Pops, Dad, and Garrett sitting in the family room.
“Welcome home, sweetheart, how was your trip?” Pops asks.
“Not now!” I snap, running up the stairs to my boy. I stop right outside of his bedroom, laying my head on the door and try to compose myself. I open the door and walk in.
My boy.
I may not have given birth to him, but he’s mine. He looks so small lying on his bed. My eyes catch on the cast.
That fucking blue cast.
I walk over and sit down on the edge of the bed and run my hand through his hair.
“Hey honey,” I say softly.
Nick rolls over, frowning. “Ma? Why are you home? You’re not supposed to be home yet.”
“Nickolas, did you really think I wouldn’t come home knowing you were hurt?”
“I’m fine, Ma.”
“Yeah? Well, that’s up for me to decide, and that cast says otherwise,” I deadpan.
“It was an accident, Ma. Accidents happen. I’m a boy.”
“We will talk about this tomorrow, okay? You get some rest.” I lean forward and kiss his forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Ma.”
I walk to the door and stop, looking over my shoulder to just look at him.
He is everything.
I shut his door softly and make my way downstairs.
“How is he?” Garrett asks.
“He claims he’s fine.”
“Broken bones goes with raising boys. Your dad already broke three by the time he was Nick’s age,” Pops chimes in.