Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,385

love you, and nothing sounds better than a picnic and fun-filled weekend, but this Jane Doe…she needs me. She’s scared and alone. And…” She squeezed. “I know how scary things can be when you’re that far pregnant alone.”

I wasn’t a monster, and Rory was too gifted a doctor to steal away from a girl who must have needed her.

“Tell you what,” I said. “I’ll hang around until my appointment. Dawn can entertain me. If you get done early, come find me.”

“Thank you for understanding.” Rory hummed as her pager went off. “That’s her. I gotta go. Love you.”

She paused only to lay two kisses on the baby, turned, ran halfway to the building, and then came back for a third kiss to Dawn’s pudgy cheeks. She waved goodbye.

I gave the kid a kiss too and grabbed her carrier. So much for the picnic, but the hospital had a decent cafeteria. I hauled her through the front doors, but we weren’t alone.

“All-Star!” Jack held the door open for Leah, but he raced over to shake my hand. “How’ve ya been, Coach?”

“Still feels weird to hear that,” I said.

“Stranger than Daddy?”

“It’s weirder when you say it.”

Leah bent to see the baby. Her smile grew, and she spoke in pure gibberish as she held Sammy by the hand. “Well, wellow wittle witty waby.”

Her expression changed. She held her stomach and handed Sammy off to Jack.

“Shouldn’t have bent over...”

She rushed from us without another word.

Sammy waved, shouting over the lobby. “Bye, Mama!”

Jack shrugged. “Morning sickness. We’re here for her sonogram. Finally got one to stick. Sammy, tell Jude what you want. Brother or sister?”

Sammy laughed as Jack hauled him up by his pants and carried him like a football. “Want a puppy!”

Jack nodded. “He’s very excited.”

“I can tell.”

Leah shakily appeared from the bathrooms and gestured Jack towards the elevators. He clapped a hand on my shoulder.

“See you soon, All-Star.”

“Good luck.”

“I don’t need luck.” He grinned that cocky smile. “I’m Jack Carson. Throwing touchdowns and making babies is what I do.”

2

Jack – Bad Boy’s Babies

“I can’t take you anywhere,” Leah said as the elevator closed.

“Come on, Kiss.” I held my hands over Sammy’s ears. “You haven’t been complaining about all the…stork visits that brought us here.”

She wagged a finger at me. “You’ve been insufferable ever since the championship game.”

“I take offense to that.”

“The media events. The fundraisers. Announcing to the entire hospital that you’ve impregnated me.” Leah tried to hide her smile. “You better shape up, Play-Maker.”

“Shape up?” The elevator opened. I nabbed Sammy before he took off running. He had a bit of wide-receiver in him I’d have to break. I was leaving a quarterback as my legacy. “Kiss, I think you have me confused for some other desperately handsome, ridiculously talented, love of your life. I’m a model citizen now.”

Her eyebrow rose—that pop of an attitude I loved to challenge. “You might have learned to behave. You might have learned to keep your mouth shut. You might have even learned to be a little selfless.”

“I was a lot selfless to you last night.”

“But you have yet to learn how to be humble, Mr. Carson.”

“Last I checked, you didn’t like humble.” I tugged her close. “In fact, you thought I was pretty cute.”

“Cute and infuriating. You’re more difficult than Sammy.”

“Just gotta find another way to entertain me.”

“I’m having your baby. Isn’t that entertaining?”

I gave her a devilish smirk. She didn’t know how fucking entertaining it was. Her eyes darted down, and she smacked me.

“Jack Carson, you’re gonna get us arrested.” She huffed. “I’m sweating. I’m throwing up. I’m a mess. And you’re—”

“Loving every minute of it. Why won’t you let me admire my work?”

“You’re gonna get my foot up your…” She glanced at Sammy. “Behind.”

“You sure I won’t like that?”

“Deviant.”

“Not anymore. Thanks to you, the world thinks I’m suave, sophisticated, a true gentleman.”

Leah rolled her eyes. “A gentleman wouldn’t have his hand on my butt as he escorts me into the doctor’s office.”

“I said that’s what the world thinks I am. You know the truth.”

“That you’re a trouble-maker?”

“The best kind.”

Leah squeezed my hand. I wished it was something else.

She entertained Sammy in the waiting room, but the OBGYN was a prison were fun went to rot. Spending all my time indoors slowly drove me insane. Only one week until training camp. And least the appointment gave me something else to do besides work-out.

After all, if Leah was going to get her sonogram, the least I could do was autograph the printout.

Especially since it took