or she will be jetting around the world with me. Online homeschooling will be a formality, but travel and adventure and experience are the best education you can get.”
Noah’s new office is actually in the stadium, way up at the top level with other management and staff offices. It’s surprisingly nice, with a feeling of sports filling every square inch, which is absolutely perfect for Noah.
He ponders my plan for a second. “You sure you’re still going to want to be Little Miss Adventure when you have a kid?”
“I don’t have to change who I am. I’ll just have someone small to share it with.”
“Is it still only our family who knows?” he asks, leaning forward with his elbows on his desk, slightly unconvinced but letting me go with it.
“Yeah,” I say weakly.
“Ellie…” He takes a deep sigh. “I can’t believe you won’t tell me who the father is. I’m not gonna judge you. You know I always have your back.”
“Noah.” I wave my hands and cringe at the discomfort of this conversation. I suppose the answer will come out to my family eventually. But I want to tell Matt first. I just need to figure out how.
I need time to mentally prepare for that conversation. Maybe, like, a week or so. Then I’ll dig up his contact info and come clean.
“You asked me to come here to talk about my new job position. Let’s focus on work.”
He holds his hands up defensively. “As you wish. So.” Shifting focus, my brother leans down and grabs a thick binder from under the desk and slaps it down between us. “Here is an extensive account of player information. You’ll want to familiarize yourself with everyone on the team, what positions they play, what those positions actually do in the game…” He narrows his eyes.
“I know the basics of football.” I cross my arms. “Mostly.”
He taps the binder. “It’s all here. And in a Dropbox I shared with you, of course. But sometimes stuff is better on paper.”
My heart makes an almost audible thud as I reach for the binder and know that there’s a heaping pile of details about my oblivious baby daddy sitting right in front of me.
The clock is ticking. I know. I look back at my brother and wonder what he’d say if he knew I got knocked up by a player listed in this very book.
“But your first assignment is an easy one.” He smiles.
“Okay.” I take a deep breath and try, once again, to dive into this work without distraction. “Hit me.”
“Well, you don’t have to follow sports too closely to know that the star quarterback on the Riders got injured a while back, and now the backup QB is finishing up the season…”
Noah keeps talking, but as soon as I hear the words backup QB, my mind instantly races back to that night at the cocktail party, Matt lifting a shoulder and giving a cocky smile as he sipped a glass of champagne.
Technically, I’m the backup QB. But since Kennedy is hurt, I’m starting the rest of the season.
Oh God. Oh shit.
I try to push away the flurry of nerves that swirl through my chest and focus on Noah, remaining calm. I force myself to listen to what he’s saying and silently pray it doesn’t involve spending an excessive amount of time with the aforementioned backup QB.
“Anyway…” He waves a hand, unaware of the storm going through my head. “Chase Kennedy is…an icon. Everyone knows him, everyone loves him. But he’s out now, and people are pretty skeptical about the younger dude taking his place.”
I gulp and hope he doesn’t hear it.
“We want you to use your magical marketing skills to make the Riders fans fall in love with the new quarterback and put as much faith in him to win as they did with Chase.”
Now, Ellie. Now would be a really fabulous time to tell Noah that I simply cannot complete this assignment due to the slight issue of the fact that I’m carrying the dude’s baby!
“Noah…I…listen…” I stammer, shifting in the chair.
“Oh, perfect timing!” My brother stands up, grinning toward the door.
My brain starts connecting dots, and I don’t even have to turn and look to know exactly who is standing in the doorway of this office right now.
My heart rate skyrockets, and a wave of chills ripples through me.
“Ellie,” Noah says, so painfully, blatantly unaware.
I suck in a quick breath and turn around, meeting those sinfully blue eyes, seeing that shaggy blond hair,