The Curve Ball - Samantha Lind Page 0,56
I don’t intend to ever hurt her on purpose. She’s too important to Evie, to me,” JJ says, looking down at me. I can see the sincerity in his eyes. I can read between the lines of what he isn’t saying. Not that I’d expect any declarations this early on, but with the friendship we’ve built over the last few months, the trust that he has in me to basically raise his daughter as a stand-in mother, takes a lot of trust and love, on some level. “So, you can either get on board with us being together and support us, or the door is over there, don’t let it hit you on the way out. I’m not going to stop this just because you don’t like it.”
I’m a little shocked that JJ was so straightforward with Derek. We’d never explicitly talked about what he’d say when he finally told Derek about us, but we also didn’t expect Derek to walk in on us. Thank god he didn’t walk in while we were making out or having sex. That would have been embarrassing and he would have been so pissed. I can only imagine what Derek would have done if that had happened.
Derek grunts out. I’m not sure if it’s an approval? Or maybe just him conceding to JJ’s statement.
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what did you need from us tonight, big brother?” I ask Derek as sweetly as I can.
“Was just coming over to have a beer.”
“Well, don’t let me stand in your way,” I tell the guys as I step back. JJ grabs two beers from the fridge, and I watch as they both head outside to the patio. I decide to give them this time to grunt it out between the two of them. I grab my Kindle and curl up on the couch, quickly getting lost between the pages of the book I’ve been sucked into.
Fifteen
Justin
“You’re sure you are okay with this?” I ask Riley again. “I know it messes with Evie’s nap schedule.”
“Of course, I’m fine with it. We wouldn’t miss the family day for anything,” she says, bouncing Evie on her lap. Riley has dressed my baby girl in my jersey, well, a tiny version that has ‘Daddy’s Girl’ where my last name goes. It was a present from the front office, one that they give all players when they have a baby.
We’ve been successful in keeping Evie out of the spotlight, for the most part. Having my PR company send out a press release just as my attorney filed paperwork with the courts worked well. I ended up answering some questions a few days after that, but since then, the press has left me alone when it comes to my daughter, and for that, I’m grateful.
“I have a surprise for you,” Riley says as she pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth. She’s come out of her shell so much since moving in here, but I can always tell when she’s nervous about something, as she bites her bottom lip.
“Do you now?” I ask, quirking a brow up in question.
“Close your eyes,” she says, and I can feel her stand up off the couch. She places Evie on my lap, and I put my hands on her torso to hold her still. “Okay, you can open them,” she says. I do just that, looking first at my daughter, and not seeing anything different, then I look up at Riley. She’s standing with her back to me and is looking over her shoulder, a nervous smile tugging at the edges of her lips. I take in her back, and the vision in front of me has my dick hardening. Riley has my jersey on. One that fits her like a fucking glove. Seeing my name and number across her back has me thinking all kinds of crazy things. Long-term, permanent, put a ring on it, have more of my babies, kind of thoughts.
“Fuck,” I murmur under my breath.
“You like?” she says, biting that lip once again.
“I more than like,” I tell her, holding my hand out for her to grab. I move Evie to my left leg and pull Riley onto my right. “Seeing you with this jersey on makes me want to do very naughty and dirty things to you,” I tell her as I nuzzle my nose along her neck, following it with sucking kisses. I can feel the goose bumps as they break out on her