Page 30 of The Sacrifice
Our fingers brush against each other as she takes her glass. The widening of her eyes, the small gasps, and the dark pupils are enough to have me ready to unravel.
My fingers itch to caress her curves as my eyes drink her in. But this is Mia. She isn’t looking for a relationship with a guy with baby momma issues. Or a guy who plays a game for a living. It’s not mature enough for her. Besides, she can’t stand me.
Or couldn’t stand me. Now, she’s telling me what a good job I’m doing with Hadley. She came to my rescue when my brother showed up unannounced. She’s an angel with my daughter. And she cooked for me. Is she doing this because I’m her boss, or is she softening to me? I’m afraid to ask. Either answer would knock the wind out of me at this point.
She takes a sip of her wine and leans forward. “How was practice today?”
“Good.”
She arches an eyebrow and returns the glass to the table. “That’s it?”
“Do you really want to know, or were you making pleasant dinner conversation?”
“Of course, I want to know. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.”
The other women I’ve dated had no interest in me. They wanted the package. The man who hams it up for the camera and scores the touchdowns.
You aren’t dating her, remember?
But what if I want to?Would she freak out if I asked her to go on a date with me? If she said no, it would make things awkward since we’re living together.
As we chat about my day, she listens and interjects comments about our upcoming game between bites of food. I tilt my head. “I thought you didn’t like football?”
“No.” One corner of her mouth raises. “I love football. I didn’t like you.”
“Ouch.” I clutch my chest. “That hurts.”
“I’m sorry for how I acted when I first came to live here. It was rude and uncalled for. You’re not who I thought you were. Or you grew up. Either way, I’m impressed with how you’ve taken to Hadley and welcomed her into your home. And how seriously you take your career. And….” She winks. “How good you are at putting things together.”
Hell, I didn’t realize I had a praise kink. I wasn’t expecting to ache with the need for more of them from her. I never expected one compliment. Let alone a string of them.
Her eyes grow serious as she lays down her fork. “When you asked about kids, and what went wrong with Warren, I lied. It was a big deal. Not the Warren part. Things weren’t great, but I wanted him to be the one. It was convenient.” She wipes her hands on a napkin and lays her hands on her lap. “I’ve always wanted kids, but due to a medical issue, I won’t be able to have children naturally.”
“I’m sorry.” I ball my hands into fists to keep from trying to fix her problems. I need to listen. That’s it.
“I’m not going to lie. I was jealous and angry when Andrew told me you had a baby with a one-night stand.” Her shoulders sag. “And I don’t like that about myself. I don’t want to be that person.”
I push back my chair, step around the end of the table and drag her to her feet, wrapping my arms around her. “It’s okay.” Her face presses against my chest, and I never want to ever let her go. “You have the right to feel any way you want to about it.”
The scent of her perfume tickles my nose and confirms what I was already suspecting. I’m going to fall in love with the one person I should never have feelings for, and it will blow up in my face. “I wasn’t trying to get someone pregnant, and Roxanne screwed half the people who went into the bar. The other half were women.”
She laughs weakly and sniffs. “Thank you. I felt like shit for hating that you had a baby. Especially after I met her.” Her arms encircle my waist, and my knees go weak. “She’s the most adorable, sweet, and awesome baby in the world. She’s lucky to have you.”
I kiss the top of her head and bite my lips together to keep from saying something that ruins our newfound truce. I want things I shouldn’t. I want a relationship with her. And I have no idea where in the hell that came from. Or what to do about it.
Chapter Eighteen
Mia
His arms are tense as he stills against me. I’m in over my head. My cheek rests against his chest, where his heart beats erratically. Our arms are wrapped tightly around each other, and the heat radiating off him ignites a wildfire inside of me.
My breath catches in my throat. The only thing moving between us is my spinning head. This is Jackson. The kid that drove me nuts with his endless antics. The guy that’s almost four years younger than me. Yet somehow, my brain can’t remember any reasons to say no, and my body checked out days ago.
It’s not just the endless display of muscles. Although, if truth be told, that would be enough. But it’s also watching him with Hadley. The way he kisses her forehead. The way he snuggles her as she falls asleep. The fact he put together a crib and everything else in her room. And he picked pineapples because I did. Gah.
But the part that has the butterflies in my belly doing synchronized swimming is this. A simple hug and no judgment over a petty and bitchy thing that I thought. I don’t deserve his compassion. Yet, he walked around the table and consoled me.
But I can’t do this. I’m too old for him. He could have any woman he wanted. And there will be other women. I can’t compete with the cleat chasers that will follow him around, licking their plump red lips and pushing their tits in his face.