Bad Boy Best Friend - Hope Ford Page 0,28

would be the one coming to me and asking for my daughter. I never gave up hope, son.”

Confused, I question him, not understanding. “Hope?”

He just nods his head and starts rocking again. “Yep, hope. Even then it was obvious how much you loved my daughter. Hell, I don’t even think you realized it, and what with the history of your mom and everything, I get it. And yeah, you were a little rebellious growing up, but you’re a good man, Austin, and you make my girl happy. I know you love her and will protect her. And that’s all I need to know. You have my blessing.”

Stunned, I have to choke back a little emotion. I reach my hand out, wanting to shake his hand, but I think I shock us both when I pull him up out of the chair and give him a man hug, slapping him on the back. I pull back and feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. “Thank you, Mr. Gowan.”

He laughs. “Jerry. Jerry is fine, son.”

We both turn when the front door opens and Laney walks out. “What’s going on out here?” Her mom is standing behind her looking at me apologetically, but I just smile at her.

“Oh nothing, just having a talk,” I tell her.

Laney then pulls a basketball from behind her back. “Look what I found. You up for a game?”

I can’t help but laugh. “What? I didn’t beat you enough in high school?”

She walks off the porch with the ball under her arm. “I think I got you now. Plus, you’re old now. I can do this.”

I shake my head. She always did talk a lot of smack. I leave her parents on the porch and follow behind her. “You do know we’re the same age, right?”

She stops suddenly, fire flashing in her eyes. “I’m not old.”

I steal the ball from her hands and shoot it easily through the basket. “Neither am I… and I still got it,” I tell her as I drain it, nothing but net.

She gets the rebound, dribbling around me, does a fake, and then shoots the ball, making it. We spent hours doing this when we were younger and it brings back a lot of memories.

“Maybe we should play ‘Have To,’” she says before she shoots again.

‘Have To’ is a game we played where the loser had to do whatever the other one told them to do. I laugh, because I know Laney. I won every time and when I told her what to do, she would always convince me with her puppy dog eyes to take it easy on her. She always ended up doing what she wanted to do. I hold the ball at my hip. “I’ll play, but this time no cheating or trying to haggle. I win, you do what I say.”

She acts affronted. “I never cheated. And when I win, you do what I say.”

I hold my hand out to shake on it. “Deal.”

She puts hers in mine and I resist throwing down the basketball and pulling her into me. “Deal.”

We play a few minutes and I have to give it to her, she’s really trying. After working up a sweat, I tug my shirt over my head and throw it to the side. She stops mid dribble. “That’s not fair. You’re trying to get me sidetracked.”

She’s walking toward me and I can tell she doesn’t care about who wins anymore; she has her mind on something else. She stops right in front of me, her eyes going across my chest, and I grunt because just her looking at me like she does fills me with all kinds of thoughts. I lean down and give her a little kiss before whispering, “I know that look in your eye and I suggest you start thinking about something else, because I really don’t want to take you right here with your dad watching us.”

I watch as her eyes go wide and then shoot up to the porch. Sure enough, her mom and dad are staring at us. She gives them a little wave, and I watch as Julia pulls Jerry back inside the house.

I steal the ball from her. “Next point wins.”

She tries to guard me and totally cheats, pressing her body up against mine. I could do this all day, but I’m ready now. Ready to get what I want. I shoot the ball easily over her head and sink it. “I won.”

She pretends to pout but puts