Page 86 of Game On

I had fun with Logan, but that was all it could be — fun. My heart needed to stop getting big ideas.

I chalked it up to my drunken thoughts, even though I knew damn well these were the sober dreams I never let simmer to the surface.

“Go back to sleep, princess,” Logan whispered in the dark of his bedroom. He reached out for my hand and squeezed. “I got you and the kids. Everything’s okay.”

I closed my eyes and let sleep take hold, but it didn’t shrug off the thoughts swirling around in my brain.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

LOGAN

Being a parent meant you woke up on one tiny sliver of a bed because, somehow, these little beings star-fished across the whole thing. Or with a foot on your head. Sometimes two feet when you were six-foot-two, and you and your girlfriend had two needy kids in-between you.

Not girlfriend. Casual fuck buddy. Lily was not my girlfriend.

But when I looked over at her sleeping form, her arm protectively across both kids, something tugged at my heartstrings. Waking up with them in between us made it feel like we were our own little family, if only for a moment. I felt like I could tell her anything. Maybe that was because she was Flower, and we already had an intense connection. Or it was my broken shell of a heart trying to tell me something.

Rosie stirred beside me, and she crawled onto my chest. “Da-da?” she asked.

I stroked her tiny head. “No, little miss. Logan.”

“Lo-lo!”

I grinned. “Yeah, that’s me.”

She tilted her head at me. “Mommy wake?”

I put a finger against my lips. “Shush. Mommy’s sleeping.”

She rested her head on my chest, and I held her against me. She was such a sweet baby that it broke my heart last night, hearing her cries. The parent in me wanted to kiss all her tears away. It also bothered me that her mama had cried in frustration last night.

Lily reached out and placed her hand on Rosie’s chest.

“She’s okay,” I reassured Lily and turned toward her.

“Hey,” she whispered.

“How do you feel?”

She groaned and put her hand on her head. “Like I drank way too much last night.”

I laughed. “I had a good time. I warned you Mac has a heavy hand.”

She shook her head and cringed, jostling Liam, who snuggled up against her chest in his sleep.

“Are you okay, though?” I asked. “When they woke up, you started crying too.”

She dragged her hand down her face and groaned again. “I’m sorry. This is so hard. And I’m afraid…”

“What?”

She sighed. “That I’ve repeated the cycle.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“My dad left before Mari was born. I was a baby, and I’ve never met him. Seth keeps flaking on me, and I don’t want Rosie to grow up without a father. Doing this all on my own’s exhausting. I’m working so hard at my business, but it’s not enough. I’m not enough. I can’t even provide for my daughter. I feel like such a failure as a mother,” she huffed out, tears springing from her eyes.

I reached out and brushed them away. “Hey, you’re an amazing mom, and your business is gonna thrive. I understand how hard being a single parent is. You’re doing great.”