AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The three of them shuffle through the apartment, and I join Dallas on the floor.
“You look like you’re in pain,” I say, and I brush a lock of hair away from his forehead. “Aren’t you a professional athlete? Carrying a forty-pound kid shouldn’t be too strenuous for you.”
“It shouldn’t, but when she’s grabbing my shoulders and digging her feet into my sides, it’s a little more difficult.” He reaches out and cups the back of my head. His fingers thread through my hair, and I sigh. “Missed you while I was gone.”
“For the six seconds you were away?” I joke, and he nods. “Please. We can’t turn into one ofthosecouples after only two weeks.”
“You’re right.” Dallas kisses my forehead and wrinkles his nose. “I did not miss you while I was gone, and I can’t wait to leave again.”
“Okay, I take it back. I hate that.” I crawl into his lap and rest my head on his chest. “I missed you too.”
“We probably have five minutes before those three come charging back in here.” He loops his arms around my waist and rests his chin on my shoulder. “How was your day? Where did you disappear this afternoon when I got home?”
“Good.” I smile and glance up at him. There’s stubble on his cheeks. The other day when I joked that he should do No Shave November because he’d look hot with a beard, he tossed out his razors. “I went to the soccer fields.”
“Oh?” Dallas gives me a hopeful smile. “How’d that go?”
“Really well. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to make sure I could do it on my own, you know? You being there for the first time…” I dip my chin and bury my face in his fuzzy onesie. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. But I wanted to know I could do it again.”
“Of course you’d be able to do it again. And you don’t have to play a full-length game every time you get out there. Hell, somedays you can just sit and stare at the goal. Progress isn’t linear, Mae, and what’s most important is that you did it.”
“Have you ever thought about coaching?” I ask, and I pull a piece of lint off his shoulder. “After you retire? I think you’d be really good at it, because your motivational speeches make me think I can run through a brick wall.”
He laughs. “Calm down, Kool-Aid man. You’re not the first person to tell me that, but when I retire, I think I’d like to finally make time for myself. And June. And—” he cuts himself off, but we both know what he was going to say.You. “I’ve given enough of myself to the sport. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go for good.”
“And when is that?” I ask curiously. “You know I want you to play for as long as it makes you happy, right? If we have to hide our relationship for a while, then so be it.”
“I don’t know when retirement will be. Two years from now? Maybe three? I almost threw in the towel at the start of this season. And then you assaulted me in the tunnel and barged into my private meeting, and here we are.”
“Asshole.” I poke his side, and he laughs. “I think the words you’re looking for are that I changed your life.”
“Yes,” Dallas says, and he wraps his fingers around my arm. He presses a kiss to the inside of my wrist, and I sigh. “You really did.”
“Warning,” Maverick booms down the hall, and I slide off of Dallas’s lap. I smooth my palms over the skirt of my dress, and he follows my hands with heat behind his eyes.
“Do they know about us?” I ask.
“Maverick and Reid? Yeah. They weren’t really surprised, given I told Maverick I’d punch his teeth in if he tried to ask you out.”
I burst out laughing and stand, offering him my hand. “You’re ridiculous.”
Dallas lets me lift him off the ground and tilts my chin back. Our gazes meet, and he kisses me, a slow press of his lips that has me really regretting the decision to go out and trick-or-treat when we could stay here instead.
“I wear your necklace, and you wear mine,” he says, and his thumb rubs up my neck. His hand settles around my throat, and heat rushes through me. He adds the slightest bit of pressure, and I have to squeeze my thighs together. “I dare anyone else to try and take you away from me.”
“Hey,” Maverick says, and we jump apart. “Knock it off, love birds. There are children present.”
“Yeah,” Dallas snorts. “You.”
“I’m sorry. It’s really hard to take you seriously when you’re wearing that ridiculous costume,” I say, and Maverick smirks.
“Reid and I have a bet on how many numbers I can score tonight. His guess is less than five, but I really think I can pull off at least twelve.”
“Your fucking ego is something else.” Dallas kisses my cheek and elbows past Maverick. “Let’s go, y’all, before all the big candy bars get taken.”
“You’re staring,” Maverick says to me, and I blush.
“I am not.”
