Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,284

pull away. Instead, his hand rubbed my tummy.

“I finally have you. Rose. The little one on the way. Happily ever after means this has to end.” His words warmed, and he held me closer…

“And this is just the beginning for us.”

The End

Acknowledgments

To My Readers:

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be writing two more sports romances this spring—the next one featuring Lachlan Reed and the third in the series a fun little story with Jude Owens. I hope you loved Blitz as much as I did, because I can’t wait for you to see what else I have planned for the Ironfield Rivets!

To Kelley:

One of these days I won’t be frantically sending you three chapter sections to beta while I scramble to finish a book at 3 AM.

That day was not today.

Thank you for doing everything you do to make my books a success. I <3 you.

To Winter:

I know I was a basket case about this book. Thank you for sticking it out with me, talking me down, plotting, and generally fielding all my toddler-related questions without thinking I was some sort of freak born without a maternal instinct—even though I totally am.

To My Husband:

It occurs to me that I don’t often include you in the acknowledgements of my books. Whoops. I love you anyway.

Once Upon A Half-Time

Once Upon A Half-Time

© 2016 by Sosie Frost

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

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except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you’d like to share it with. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

Cover Design: Mayhem Cover Creations

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Photography Provided By: Furious Fotag

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Created with Vellum

To L.G.

You are a wealth of inspiration…

1

Elle

The idiot was about to get hit by a car.

I could see the headline now.

Ironfield Rivets’ Tight-End Rear-Ended By Speeding Vehicle.

And the quote from the scene: Who needs rims when you have a fine-looking hood ornament like Lachlan ‘Charming’ Reed?

Sure. I’d concede the gorgeous football player might have made a one-of-a-kind decoration for any rusted out Hyundai that chose to drive on the sidewalk instead of the street. But it was equally likely that his hard head would have done more damage to the car and surrounding cement.

Lachlan neither saw nor heard the car. Then again, he chose to dance through the crosswalk separating the Ironfield Rivet’s practice facility from the parking lot. He bobbed to the beat blaring through his headphones, shimmied across the parking lot, and stopped to moonwalk over the curb.

Even at his most reckless, Lachlan was entertaining.

At least he’d be the sexiest roadkill in all of Ironfield.

He gyrated onto the road—one of the busier streets in the city, the party central strip of nightclubs, restaurants, and colleges. Just stepping foot into the street tempted fate in the form of a frazzled sorority girl blowing either her boyfriend or a red light on her way to class.

Lachlan slowed his two-step to toss his Tinkerbell backpack over his shoulder. He then cha-cha slid directly in front of the car.

He’d owe me for this…if he even survived.

I dropped my camera bags and burst from my hiding spot in the bushes outside the practice facility. So much for escaping the first day of training camp without anyone seeing me.

I slammed into Lachlan, throwing my weight against the six-foot-five behemoth of muscle.

If he weren’t breaking into a whip and nae-nae in the middle of the street, I’d have bounced off the pack of muscles that was his chest and landed in the gutter. Fortunately, the big lug wasn’t expecting to get blindsided by his one-night stand.

That made two of us.

He grunted as he crashed into the sidewalk. The car veered just in time. The driver slowed to ensure she hadn’t pulverized the Rivets’ newest multi-millionaire. The first-round draft choice was merely scraped, not smooshed. Satisfied, she sped off into the city. Her illegal left turn was the least of her crimes today.

Lachlan had smacked the