FOOTBALL ROMANCE: SECRET BABY ROMANCE: Going Pro (Bad Boy Alpha Male Pregnancy Romance) (Contemporary New Adult Sports Romance) (4 page)

Veronica and Harry took up all her slack.  It hardly made a difference where she spent her time outside of the shop, since she already did that anyway.  Her fingers developed a twitch out of pure frustration, aching to get out and get back to her passion, but she knew she would have to face her suspicions sooner or later.

Now her fears stared her in the face, two lines on a test she never thought she would have to buy.

I could adapt my style
, she thought hopelessly, dropping the test onto the bathroom floor.  Despondency took hold, sickness roiling in her stomach.  Other thieves deployed a range of tactics and she supposed she could use her pregnancy to her advantage but now she just didn’t know what to do.  That didn’t seem right, and giving it up wasn’t an option.  No matter what, Kristina couldn’t do that to a child.

And no matter what, she couldn’t do this on her own but who would she go to?  Business was business, and her employees were not confidants.

That only left one person.

Sleet pounded the field, churning up rivers of mud underfoot.  The grass was gone beneath waves pouring at a slant toward the road.  Cutting wind sliced through Simon’s uniform, which was already plastered to his skin.  The sky itself seemed to be in mourning, weeping bitterly on the players practicing their hearts out on the field.

The blasts of their coach’s whistle was nearly lost amongst the wailing.  Simon ran the drills with his brothers just as hard as they did, slamming his cleats down as a pivot.  He might even have run faster, thrown harder, snapped into position more fiercely.  Ever since those events which seemed like a lifetime ago, Simon launched himself into his career and rose higher up his pay ladder in a month than any other player in the history of the NFL before.

He did nothing with the extra money.  It was worthless to him.

Kristina still lived on in his mind, the memory of her hair and the strength held deep in her eyes haunting him no matter where he went or what he did.  Only out on the field did he gain some peace, but that wasn’t always possible.  There were other obligations in his life which would not be put on hold for him to run outside, drive or walk to an acceptable area, and practice drills every single time he thought of her and wanted to kick her out of his mind.  That damnable thief, not only had she taken his wallet and his heart, but now it appeared as though he’d left his enjoyment with her, too.

Drawing in a ragged breath, Simon took a position at the end zone behind four other men.  There were several other lines, spread out at even intervals from end to end.  As the coach called them, Simon’s brothers took off from where they stood toeing the line, charging twenty yards down the field before spinning around to race back.  From the valued quarterback who held the team together with split-second decisions, to the enormous tanks who guarded him, the same amount of effort was required of all them regardless.  There were specialized exercises playing to the strengths of each position too, but these basic warm ups touched the whole team and brought them together as one.

Simon could appreciate that.  Now more than ever, he needed the companionship of those who understood him.

When it came to be his turn, he put everything he had into the run.  Coming back, he accepted the congratulations given to him but it barely registered in his mind. 

“Alright,” the coach said, practically shouting to be heard over the rain.  Simon paced towards him, feeling like a restless animal with water dripping down his face.  “Time to break up into squads.  You guys know what to do.”

Simon looked around for the men he always grouped with.  A flash of motion caught his attention, delicate as a sapling in the face of the weather. 

It can’t be
, he thought.  His hands curled into fists at his side.  Disbelief widened his eyes and he lifted his helmet to rub some of the freezing rain from his face, but the apparition stayed.

Kristina stood at the sidelines in the downpour, her hair matted and soaked.  She wore a frumpy, oversized sweater with an ugly pattern and baggy sweatpants, running completely counter to everything he thought he knew.  And her head was down, her shoulders slumped with defeat.

His soul cried out and before he knew it, he broke away from his team and hurried towards her.  Some of his brothers called after him but the cries died down quickly as everyone must have noticed Kristina, and understood that this was important.

“Kristina?” Simon said, reaching out as he neared.  Against his will, his hand rose to caress her damp cheek –and she let him.  His heart broke.  Something was terribly wrong here.  “Are you in trouble?”

Not that it’s any of my business.

She was shivering.  He wished he had something to cover her with.  Her jaw worked, and he saw the fear so blatant on her face now.  “Simon.”  She finally said his name, whispering beneath the rage of the winter storm.  “Something’s happened.”

“Are you hurt?” he breathed. 

“I’m pregnant.”

He reeled back with shock, tearing his hand away.  She didn’t seem to notice it was gone, or that it had been there in the first place.  “What?” 

“I’m pregnant.”

“Is it…”

“I haven’t been with anyone else since,” she admitted.  Her jaw worked again as she struggled to find words.  He ached to hold her but didn’t know if she would let him.  And even as he watched, her shivering increased.  “Why is this happening?  I can’t do this, I can’t be pregnant.  I’m not a mother, I’m a pickpocket.”

She’s…It’s mine?  It’s mine.  Dear god.

“It’s going to be okay,” Simon soothed, not knowing what else to do.  He took her shoulders in his hands, and at least she let him do that much.  “It’ll be okay.  We can figure something out.”

Her whole body seemed to crumple.  Reacting quickly, he caught her against him and held her as tight as he could with his body sheltering her from the worst of the rain.  Shaking against him, she stayed silent.

“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered into her ear so she would understand.  “It’s going to be okay.  I think I’m in love with you.”

“I don’t love you,” Kristina shot back with some of her usual fire, before faltering again.  “You’re such a fool.”

“I’ll take it,” he murmured, and stroked her hair.  “Was there ever a time when you didn’t steal?”  At her nod, he continued.  “So, you changed your life.  And you can change it again.  Whatever you need, I’ll give it to you.  You won’t have to do that anymore.”

Time stretched for an eternity as he waited, breath bated, chest trembling.  The universe seemed to die in the time it took for her to speak again.

And then he felt her hand slide into the thin, useless pocket on the side of his uniform pants.  He smiled automatically. 

“Okay,” Kristina said, turning her face against his shoulder.  “But, I’m going to need a third date.”

THE END

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I couldn’t believe I had accepted the invitation to my ten-year high school reunion.  I had sworn when I left that place that I would never go to one of those things, even if I was held at gunpoint and forced to go. The only real reason that I was going back into that viper’s nest was that
He
might be there, and I had to see him with my own eyes to know that he still existed.

Ten years ago, we parted on bad terms when I found Steph Rosling with her lips, arms and legs locked tight around my boyfriend. We had planned to go to the same college to continue our lives together, but after that catastrophe, ended up going to colleges at opposite sides of the country. But, through the years, I had thought about Jason McKenzie more often than I had realized.

Jason McKenzie was smart, cute and now he was a grown man, rich and successful. He was reported in the business tabloids as one of the wealthiest men on the East Coast and sported a different model-type girlfriend on his arm every other month.

My jealousy factor had gone through the roof. But I couldn’t take another round of heartbreak if I did see him with another space cadet bimbo who thought that
Keeping up with the Kardashians
was a reality TV show that you had to live and die by or you just weren’t ‘cool’ enough for high society. Even after ten years of life apart, I still hadn’t gotten over Jason.

I was still the same ol’ me. Long dark hair, deep brown eyes, though I was less frumpy than I used to be. I had lost a bit of weight after my mother became sick with breast cancer and we lost her not two years later, after a hard fight. I may have lost some weight, but my curves were still fully intact. I’d left college to care for her, despite her protests, coming home to work part-time in the office of the lumber mill. It was pretty much the only thing that was keeping this little town running, keeping people employed, food on the table and such.

As I’d watched my mother waste away, the cancer spreading through her body and devouring her strength, spirit and will to live, I too began to lose myself in grief. I didn’t eat, I barely slept and I became sick as well. If it wasn’t for Shelly, one of the oncology nurses, who became my best friend, I probably would have been buried right next to my mother. I had no idea where my father was.

He had skipped out on us to be with another woman and his illegitimate two-year-old son when I was a newborn, and I didn’t even remember him. I had one old picture to know him by, and that had been torn up in a tempest of teenage rage and later regretfully stuck back together with tape that had yellowed with age. For some reason, the men in my mother and my lives had a tendency to leave right when we needed them the most.

So, it was with a mix of emotions that I slipped on the form-fitting blue cocktail dress that reached just above my knees. I slid my feet into the black kitten heels and checked over my hair and make-up. I forced myself to feel a confidence that simply was not there. Tonight I was to face each and every one of my high-school demons.

Every one of them had moved away and become a success in one way or another.And then there was me, the Lumber mill receptionist, unmarried, unattached and alone.

“Stop fussin’” Shelly said as she came up behind me, dressed in her scrubs ready for her night shift at the hospital. Her Texan drawl rolling thickly off her tongue as she spoke. “You’ll be fine, girl.” After I had to sell my mother’s house to pay the medical bills, as mom didn’t have health insurance, Shelly took me in like a stray kitten and got me back to a healthy weight and helped me to get over the big mountain of depression I was hiking up. There was the occasional little hill or two to get over, but with ‘girl nights’ we got over them together,

Shelly was my rock, my inspiration, my ass-kicker when I needed it. And boy, did I need it tonight.

“Get your ass out there and show those snobby bitches what a hard-workin’ girl can do.” She said, playfully smacking my butt as I trotted out on my heels to my beat-up old Honda, the only thing I was able to keep of my mother’s big possessions, as it wasn’t even worth a hundred bucks to anyone. But to me, it was priceless.

The old Honda spluttered a little bit when I started her. The idle was rough and the steering wheel gave me a workout that felt like one day I would have muscles that Popeye would be envious of, but she was all mine. I took off in a small puff of black exhaust and her usual backfire as I changed gears, setting off the neighborhood dogs and letting the neighbors know I was going out.

The town was quiet, with many of the people sitting in or already gone out to their various evening activities, such as the movies or to a nice dinner at Antony’s Italian restaurant, where they still had the best pizza and home-made pasta that Sophia, Antony’s mother made.

It was where Jason had taken me on our first date with money he had earned at the lumber yard over summer. My hands began to shake with nerves, palms sweaty against the rough, sun-damaged hard and leathery steering wheel. I drove on, passing the park where we had shared our first kiss. Jason had started to walk me home from school, even though he lived on the opposite side of town and had to practically double back on a bus to get home.

The statue of one of the town’s forefathers had watched as he stuck his tongue into my mouth, his hand fumbling for a handful of my breast through my tank-top and the taste of peppermint was strong, as he had eaten a peppermint just before we met up. It was cute that he was worried about his breath, and made me realize that he wanted to claim my first kiss, and ensure it was memorable.

I started to breathe heavily as anxiety built up in my mind. The traffic lights of the main street, where the school was located glowed red. Cars at the intersection passed by, their drivers and passengers heading towards the school, my destination. As I pulled up at the red lights, I noticed a lot of them were luxury sedans, or high-end SUVs. The lights changed, and I turned onto the main street, my little Honda farting out another cracking backfire as I changed from first to second.

The redbrick building of the school loomed on the left. Cars were already parked out front, and the staff and student parking spaces were filled already. The beat of the bass from inside was thumping through the doors of the school’s gymnasium where the former students of my class were milling about, entering and exiting, drinks in hand, couples kissing. It was just like prom again, but this time, we were older, and could hold our liquor.

Jason had taken me to our prom, he had won the coveted prize of Prom King to Steph’s Prom Queen. I swear, ‘Miss Popularity’ Steph rigged the damned vote so she could dance close to my boyfriend. She got what she wanted that night, and a month later she got even more, when I caught them with their lips locked behind the bleachers at the school’s track and baseball field during an after-school track and field practice.