sacrificed for these past eleven seasons?
Rory straightened her hat, like it would somehow stop looking ridiculous. She got down to business.
“Most of the Rivets are helping with Lachlan’s charity event,” she said. “This is the best time to show them how lovely we are together.”
I didn’t hesitate before taking her hand. “Shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll be the envy of the team with you on my arm, Doc.”
“That…or the social pariah.” She curled her fingers in mine. “I’m not the most popular on the team this week. I took DeSean out of the exhibition game for the concussion assessment, and now everyone thinks I’m some sort of bad omen.”
“You’re the prettiest curse I know.”
“You say that now…but what happens if I yank you out of a series, sit your butt on the sidelines, and force you into an assessment?”
“Good thing I’m attracted to powerful and confident women in silly hats.”
“The hat is a deal-breaker, Jude Owens. If you want me, you get the hat.”
“You drive a hard bargain…but I can’t overlook the hat.”
Rory’s expression crumpled.
I grinned. “Can’t look over it, can’t look through it, can’t look around it—”
She smacked me. “You’re such a tease.”
“Me?” I laughed. “At least I’m wearing underwear.”
Her shy smile and darted glance was the kind of flirt that might have encouraged a less respectable man to skip the charity event and aim her for the backseat of a car. My Jeep didn’t have doors. But Rory didn’t have panties.
It didn’t matter.
She was pregnant. Mine were not appropriate urges…even if the arch of her eyebrow twisted me in a dark and selfish way. The peach dress, her dark skin, and the stupid straw hat made her look…beautiful. So unlike the little Rory I remembered growing up.
She was a woman now. Smart and lovely with plump lips begging for a kiss and curves that deserved the stroke of a callous hand.
She was off-limits before, but now she was straight-up forbidden.
And I had to convince my cock that was a bad thing.
Especially walking into a kid’s charity event.
The practice facility was jammed with crowds. Fifty or so kids lined the field, footballs in hand. Volunteers chased them with band-aids and water bottles. Somewhere in the middle of the chaos, Lachlan leapt into the fray. He shouted encouragement and led the children through jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, and somersaults. The kids frantically attempted to follow his lead, laughing and colliding and screaming in delight. Leah Carson helped to organize the day’s events—an end to a summer-long camp that offered children of under underprivileged single-parents a month of fun and education. Today, as a grand finale, the campers got to meet the Rivets.
Rory took my hand and led me through the practice field. Wasn’t sure what jumped more—my pulse or my cock.
“Are you ready to become the cutest couple here?” she asked.
“I don’t think we have to work hard.”
“Wrong. We’re stepping up our game. I need you to touch me, but not aggressively. Smile at me, but like you don’t even realize you’re doing it. We might have to kiss too. Once or twice. Three times might be gratuitous.”
“You’ve been planning this out, haven’t you?”
“I might’ve created a game plan to make it look real.”
“What if we just acted like ourselves?”
Rory bit her lip. “It has to look like we belong together.”
“What if I can manage that without acting?”
“How?”
“Ask a silly question, Doc.”
I swung her into my arms. Rory stared at me, curious and panicked.
What the hell was I doing? And why hadn’t I done it sooner?
Her eyes fluttered closed as I leaned in for the kiss. Something soft. Feathery sweet. Meant more like a tickle than any declaration of whatever misguided and torturous feelings coursed the blood through my veins.
“Well, well, well…isn’t this cute?”
Rory broke the kiss with an embarrassed chuckle as Leah Carson shoo’ed us into the camp.
“So this is why you guys are late?” Leah said.
Rory tightened her grip on my hand. “Oh. Sorry. We were just…”
“I know exactly what you were doing. Second trimester, huh?”
“Yeah…” Rory was too damn adorable when she got embarrassed. “You know what that’s like.”
Like what was like?
Leah crossed her fingers. “And with any luck, we’ll be there again. Soon. Anyway, the rest of the team is stationed in the end zone. Lachlan’s doing a couple of photographs with the kids…”
Leah pointed to the field where Elle unsuccessfully wrangled her husband and two dozen rowdy children into a cluster for the picture.
She frowned. “Damn. I should call Piper in for backup or we’ll