Home Run Baby: A Sports Romance (18 page)

To be honest, I think I actually preferred being in the dark about all of this. Think about it. If you were about to be hit by a train, would you rather watch as it speeds down the tracks in your direction and your mind fills with endless dread until you close your eyes at the last possible moment and — WHAM! — or would you want your back to it? Quick and painless. Never saw it coming.

But this isn’t thirty seconds. This is nine months of
Freaky Friday
Kafka-esque changes. We’re only twelve weeks in and Hunter has already fled for the hills.

Okay, he went out with the guys for one night. But still.

I know why he went out and it has everything to do with that game today. He managed a single home run in the eighth inning, earning him the right to keep his nickname, but I can tell it wasn’t as satisfying as it should have been for him. There’s only one thing that changed between yesterday and today and that’s the doctor’s appointment.

Today was my fault and he knows it. He’s pulling away from me and I didn’t even have to have the relationship talk. I guess it’s a new record.

A soft twinge twitches deep in my abdomen; one that I’ve never felt before in my entire life. My phone slips from my hand and I hold my breath, waiting with fearful excitement to see if it happens again. I touch beneath my shirt, pressing in to try and replicate it. My skin crawls over my muscles. My insides churn. Panic sets in and a moment of clarity completely strikes me down.

I can’t do this.

What the hell am I thinking? What kind of hubris does it take to think that I can
bring life into this world?
Who the hell even does that? This thing is five centimeters long right now but soon it’ll be huge and I’ll have to
give birth
to it.
Me?
Squeeze a human being out of my little body?

Oh, hell no.

I hop off my bed and rush towards the door, not even bothering to throw on shoes or even pants as I step outside.

A giggle strikes my ears and I stop cold, pressing myself against the wall as a voice drifts down the corridor at me. I hide in the door’s alcove and watch as Trisha appears around the corner with a man lingering over her shoulder with that purposeful look in his eyes.
Devin
.

Trisha flicks her wrist to unlock her door and she turns around to welcome his lips on hers as they stumble backward into the room and slam the door behind them.

I rush past her room, picking up my speed on my way towards Hunter’s hall.

I felt it move. I know I did. But even if I didn’t…

Oh, god. What am I going to do?

Chapter 23

Hunter

“Hunter.”

Her voice pulls me from the edge of sleep.

“What?” I ask with closed eyes.

“Wake up.”

I stay buried in the sheets because there’s no damn way it’s morning yet. It feels as if I just got back from that bar twenty minutes ago. “Why?”

“I think I felt it move.”

In one ear and out the other, my head sinks a little more into my pillow.

Her hand jolts my side.
“Hunter.”

“What?”

“
Please.
I’m freaking out here.”

I force my eyes open to see Daisy standing over my bed with her hands clenched over her stomach. As consciousness takes hold, I realize that she wasn’t here when I fell asleep. “How did you get in here?”

“You left your door unlocked again.”

I look at her bare feet on the floor. “Why aren’t you wearing pants?”

“Hunter,
focus
.” Her wide eyes flicker in the dark and her voice trembles with fear.

“What’s wrong?”

“I felt it move,”
she repeats, her hands shifting to one side across her shirt.

“Isn’t that normal?”

“Yeah, at like,
twenty
weeks or something. I’m only
twelve
.”

I sit up against the headboard, gesturing for her to sit down with me. “Let me feel it.”

She slides into the bed beside me and lays my hand on her stomach, guiding it down and pressing in with our fingertips. “It was right there…”

I wait, focusing for a few seconds. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Well, it’s not doing it
now
.”

“What did it feel like?”

“You remember that scene from
Alien
?”

I laugh. “Daisy…”

“It’s not funny, Hunter. I felt it, shifting around in there like a little swipe on my pelvis from
the inside
...”

“And you’re scared it’s going to come crawling out of your chest?”

“No,
my
vagina
, which is
way worse
.”

I yawn. “Okay, you already knew that before tonight, right? You know where babies come from?”

“Don’t make fun of me right now, Hunter. Of course, I know. It just…” her eyes glisten over and she holds her breath,
“sunk in.”

I pause, feeling her body stiffen as a lone tear rolls down her cheek. “Oh, hey, hey…” I wrap my arm around her. “Daisy, you’re gonna be fine.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it. Look at me.” She keeps her head down, softly buried in my shoulder. “Daisy…”

I hook a hand beneath her chin and force her head up to see a few more tears tumbling down.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispers.

I smile. “Are you kidding?”

She slaps me away and moves to leave the bed. “Hunter, seriously, don’t—”

“Daisy—” I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her back to me. “Stay here.”

“Let go of me.”

“Stop, stop.” I lay my open palm on my stomach. “You feel that?”

“Feel what?”

I hold onto her a little tighter, slowly pulling her in until she’s against me. “This.”

She sighs. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Shh.”

She waits, silently settling in beside me. I feel her pulse in her chest, thumping hard with the quick rush of her breath. Eventually, she lays her hand over mine on her stomach and the quivering fear in her shoulders stops shaking her.

“Daisy,” I tell her, “you’re going to be okay.”

“Yeah?” she sniffs.

“Millions of women do this every year and I guarantee you that each one of them is
not
more hardcore than you are.”

She chuckles and it warms my toes. “You think so?”

“I’m positive. You’ve got this.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then…” I pull her closer. “Then, I’ll be right here to back you up. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She entwines our fingers and cranes her neck back to look at me. “Hunter…”

I wipe the tears off her cheek and she smiles, gazing back at me as my fingers graze her lips. She rolls around and I cup her face, drawing her in for a soft kiss. Her mouth splits and I feel her tongue against mine, moving slowly as I caress down her body and cup her breasts.

“Hunter?”

I pause, thinking I’ve gone too far. “Yeah?”

“I’m still hot, right?”

I smile and push up onto my hands to hover above her and she shifts onto her back. “Oh,
Daisy…
”

“Is that a
yes
?”

“It’s a
shut the hell up and get on this cock
.”

“Well,” she chuckles, “when you put it
that
way.”

“I’m serious.” I lower down to kiss her neck. “In fact, I’m more attracted to you now than I was before.”

She slaps my shoulder. “Liar.”

I descend further, crawling my hand beneath her shirt to feel her soft skin. “No, really. I don’t know if it’s physical or psychological, but there’s something about a pregnant woman that gets me nice and hard.”

“Okay, now you’re just making fun.”

“I’m not!” I raise her shirt, revealing her perfect breasts and I take a bite of her flesh. “Your boobs are rounder; your hips are wider.” My lips graze her navel and I slide further towards her panties. “You taste different.”

“I
taste
different?”

“In a
good
way,” I say, pausing at her self-conscious tone. “Daisy, I would still
tear that pussy up.
”

Her jaw drops.
“Tear that
— what are you, a rap artist?”

“And I haven’t even gotten to the best part about you.” I crawl back up to her to give her a long, firm kiss. “The fact that you can be all that — tits, ass, hips, legs — while, at the same time,
growing life inside of you
is fucking extraordinary.”

She scoffs. “Come on...”

“It’s true! That’s some powerful shit and if there’s one thing that messes me up more than tits and ass, it’s that. You’re like a damn goddess or something.”

“But what about the
millions of other women
that do this
every year
?” she parrots back at me.

I kiss her again. “Those women aren’t carrying
my
baby, Daisy.
You are.
”

She smiles wider and runs her fingers through my hair. “Thank you, Hunter.”

I brush her cheeks, clearing them of the last remains of tears as I lean in again. “I mean every word of it.” I crush my lips on hers. “Especially the part about
tearing you up
.”

She laughs, kissing me back. “Well, I should hope so.”

I move between her knees and my hard cock springs against her thighs. “God, I want you, Daisy,” I breathe into her ear.

“Take me,” she sighs, gripping hold of me and guiding me between her folds.

Our hips grind, pulsing quickly together as my hands roam her whole body. She’s moaning within seconds and I feel her tightness surging with warmth, wet and willing. My blood fires through me. Pleasures build all around us and I can’t take my eyes off her face in the dark as she bites her lips and says my name.

“Hunter
.”

It’s the first time she’s said it like this; the first time we’ve dropped the pointless identities and stopped pretending to be other people while we’re together.

“Daisy,”
I groan her name and she laughs, barely able to say anything at all.

I wrap my arms around her, holding her still as I take her a little deeper and she clings to me. Her body quivers and her thighs twitch, signaling that perfect storm deep inside.

I pause and watch the pleasure take over her eyes as she comes. It’s a soft, quiet climax, but no less thrilling. Her whole body shakes in my arms. Her warm breath strikes my cheeks. She smiles and, just like that, the fear is gone.

I inhale her scent and lay a firm kiss on her soft lips. I meant everything I said to her; every unplanned word. I truly believe that she’s extraordinary. A damn goddess. She’s carrying my baby and, starting now, I’ll carry her. No questions asked.

I lay down, pulling her closer and spooning her against me as I rest my hand on her stomach.

This is as close to silence as you can get around Daisy Hawthorne, even in the dead of night. I close my eyes and listen to the oxygen entering and leaving her body. The subtle thump of her heart in her chest. The quick ruffle of blankets as she shifts beneath them to get comfortable. She rests without tears in her eyes. She breathes without a hint of sobs. Content,
happy
…

I take back what I said before.

The crack of a home run is a close second to this sound.

17 WEEKS