The Player (12 page)

Willa fumbled for something to say. “I guess the Kyle you know isn’t the one I grew up with. He disowned our mother and tore apart the family, and now it’s almost as if he’s trying to build another to replace it, but one that suits only him. You’ve got to see how this is going to be a big change for Maddy, just like with your daughter-”

“Maddy has a mother. And my daughter has me. If Maddy’s mum has a problem with me being here ─ which she shouldn’t since she’s moved on ─ or the way Kyle interacts with her, then you need to stop trying to use that child as your personal bargaining chip. Your little family is about to get a lot bigger, so DEAL WITH IT.”

Willa’s face crumbled, and Harlow realized her words had hit their mark. The same sadness she’d seen in Kyle’s eyes clouded Willa’s. “Yuh think there won’t be any place for yuh here with Kyle, if we’re together,” Harlow said, not realizing she’d actually voiced her thoughts. Willa stiffened, the lines etched on her forehead deepening as Harlow kept talking. “I don’t want to do whatever it is yuh do for Kyle. That’s not me. I’ve got a daughter to raise and I’ve got my own life, aside from supporting and loving him. I just wanna be clear, so that yuh understand that I can see where yuh fit in his life, aside from being his sister.”

Her stomach gave off another loud howl, so Harlow left Willa standing there, biting on her lips, looking as if she wanted to crawl under a rock. No, they’d never be friends, but they could at least keep it civil. Concentrating on her sandwich, Harlow smacked the two halves of her food masterpiece together. “Kyle’s asked me to move in here with him. At first I said no. But guess what? I like it here. I think me and my daughter are gonna fit in just fine. If yuh wanna stay, then yuh best behave. Whatever beef yuh got with me should never include my little girl.”

Willa’s strained voice floated down the length of the island. “I’d never be rude to your daughter.”

“Fine. I’ll take yuh at yuh word.”

“There’s an old saying, ‘it if seems too good to be true, it usually is.’ ”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

Willa slunk back down Harlow’s way, her voice lowering with each crouching step. “Aren’t you just a little bit curious why Kyle proposed so fast? You’ve known him about three months, right? ”

The sandwich Harlow chewed on slowly tasted like cardboard. What had Kyle said?
“When it’s right, when you meet that person, that soulmate, then time doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except me and you being together.”

“Please Harlow, open your eyes . . . You were a puzzle to him, like coming up against a new defensive scheme on the field. That’s what he lives for. And now that he’s got you, he’s going to move you around and expect you to be where he wants and to do exactly what he wants, just like he does with Scott and Shaun. If you don’t believe me, then just look how those two don’t want to be anywhere near him. Kyle’s into control, the same kind of control he gets on the field.”

Every part of her wanted to scream at Willa to shut up. But there was another part of her open to doubt. “And what about you, Willa? What are you into? Because I hope to God it’s not going behind Kyle’s back to undermine everything he does. After what yuh pulled tonight, yuh seem to be looking out for yourself.”

Long after Willa left and there was total silence throughout the kitchen, Harlow sat there. She’d been married before, so she knew there was no such thing as a happily ever after. The best she could hope and work toward was to be happy for now. Harlow kept twisting the engagement ring on her finger, feeling like the thing had turned into a vise, squeezing and stopping her blood flow. God help her, regardless of what Willa said, she loved Kyle. The ring was just a symbol. Just something to show the public that Kyle was committed to her, and she to him. But engagements could be broken. Harlow fought back tears, realizing that Willa had succeeded in planting a seed of doubt.
Was Kyle McClure too good to be true?
There was only one way to find out.

20

It was a meaningless game. The Renegades were officially out of the playoffs. But it didn’t matter to Kyle and the rest of the team. Today they were playing for pride. Watching from the sidelines, Darren went crazy when their defense forced a fumble that was almost returned for a touchdown. “YEAH BABY!” Darren shouted, slapping the first year corner back on his helmet when he made it back to their bench. Out of breath and still in shock at what he’d done, Darren’s hysterical shouts of encouragement to the first year player had them both yelling and pointing at the TV cameras. On the extra point the ball clipped the outstretched arms of one of the Atlas sized defensive players, hooked to the right and just made it over the horizontal crossbar of the goal post. It was a win that didn’t count, so the boos coming the Renegades way were for the first round draft choice they’d just lost.

As
Kyle
stood at the podium answering questions after the game, Harlow saw his interview, knowing full well that her man was mighty uncomfortable. His eyes had that glazed over expression, as if he dreaded being in the press room more than getting a tooth pulled.
Kyle shouldered the responsibility the team’s losses, saying the offense didn’t put up enough points during the season. Since he was the leader of the offense and by association, the leader of the team, it was only right.
There would be no excuses and no hysterics because the Renegades missed a shot at being a wild card.

“What about the rumors that your play was being affected by off the field activities?”

Kyle did a physical double take at the reporter’s words. His brow furrowed even deeper.
Who the fuck was this guy?
He wasn’t a sports reporter. No, someone had let in a wise ass from one of the tabloids. “Next question,” Kyle answered, clinching his jaw so tight his lips barely moved when he spoke. “If there’s no next question, then I’m out of here.”

The guy was persistent as his voice rose about the others. “Did you playing poorly because you couldn’t keep it up . . . I mean, you couldn’t keep up with you new lifestyle of hanging with the hip-hop crowd?”

There were groans and chuckles coming from the other reporters in the press room, but the guy wasn’t done. “Is there any truth to the rumor that Virgil dumped your fiancé, and so to get back at him she filed a restraining order? Or what about her bar being a front for illegal aliens?”

Harlow gasped, sinking deeper into the couch. No he didn’t just go there.

“
Get this clown out of here!!”
Kyle hollered. “NOW. Before I come down off this podium and throw him out myself.”

Security swarmed the reporter, but as he was roughly tossed out, he gave a plug for the radio show he hosted. During all the commotion
Kyle stared directly into the TV camera, mouthing the words “Harlow, I love you.”

Instead of crying she rocked back and forth, laughing hysterically. Kapono raced into the living room with Reina not far behind.

“Mom? Are you okay?”

“Come here, baby,” Harlow opened her arms to her daughter. “Everything’s fine. But I need to let you know that it’s going to be rough for a little bit.”

Aghast, Reina struggled to look up while trapped in Harlow’s embrace. “You’re not marrying Kyle?”

“Oh, we’re getting married. Nothing’s gonna stop us. But there’s an investigation about the team. Really, it’s about one player with a very big mouth and a terrible attitude-”

“Not Romero!!”

“No. It’s not Romero.” Harlow had to smile at her daughter’s crush on that guy. “It’s someone I filed a restraining order on. I may be called in to testify, because there’s a formal investigation going on by the NFL. And-and you may hear some things that will hurt. Things about me that aren’t true. But I want you to be strong. Because no matter what anyone says about me, you can ask anything you want, and I’ll tell you the truth. Okay?”

“Uh . . . Okay. But we’re not moving anymore, right?”

“I can’t answer that. Just know that we’ll be together on this. You, me, Kyle, Maddy, and even your dad.”

21

The following Sunday night Kyle and Harlow were cuddled in bed, OD’ing on back to back episodes of
The Walking Dead.
With her legs curled around Kyle’s, Harlow squealed and hid her eyes during a really gross zombie feeding frenzy. “What’s happening now?” she asked, still refusing to look. The squishy sounds of someone getting eaten alive were enough to imagine the worse.

“You’re missing the best part.” Kyle threw another kernel of thickly buttered popcorn in his mouth. “Oh Shit! Rick and Michonne are going off!”

“Is she gonna die? Please tell me she doesn’t die. Why do black people always have to be the first ones to die?”

“She’s not gonna die,” he assured her, hollering at the TV as if the characters could hear his advice.

“You’ve watched this before?”

“Yep. What can I say? I’m into all things zombies and
Game of Thrones
. Oh, and I watch The Big Bang Theory, and Empire.”

“You
watch Empire?”

As if she’d finally said the magic word, Kyle began singing
“Drip, drop . . .”
He extended his arms, looking more like he was twisting off bottle caps instead of dancing, at the same time bopping his head to the beat of his lyrics.
“. . . Drip drippity drop.”

When his hip bumped hers and he started rocking the entire bed with his exuberant butt scooting, she decided to encourage him. “G’wan boy. Yuh twerking, just a bit. Let meh show yuh how it’s done.” The Dead marathon was forgotten as Harlow straddled him, rolling her stomach as she pulled off a sensual limbo that had her reclining until the back of her head landed on his legs.

“Hello . . . kitty,” he said, in greeting to the part of her laid bare to him. Prying her legs further open, his mouth fused with the lips of her womanhood, swallowing and licking, loving how she choked out his name as her thighs trembled.

Outside of their bedroom door, Maddy and Reina were running down the hall playing tag.

“Let’s go see my daddy and your mama,” Maddy said, racing back to her father’s door.

“No Maddy! They might be asleep,” Reina warned, sliding her socked feet along the carpet, jumping from the static shock she’d get whenever she touched a doorknob or the metal banister.

Maddy facial expression was pure confusion. “I hear them laughing. Come ‘mere and listen.”

“Aw, they do that all the time. Sometimes they just look at each other and laugh. That’s what old people do since they don’t have as much fun as us.” Reina tapped Maddy on the shoulder. “Tag, you’re it.”

Falling over her own long legs, Reina clumsily got up as Maddy took off after her. On the other side of the door Harlow and Kyle’s giddy laughter soon changed to low moans as their limbs became a tangled.

In case of fire, break glass.

Only she’d done that, and the fire still burned. There was no miracle downpour to drown it out. There was no lever to pull on her heart. Nothing to warn her about falling headfirst in love with someone like Kyle.  She could never give him the adrenalin rush that he got from a hard charging game of football. But what she could give was a respite, a place for him to recharge whenever he needed her
. A soft place to land when the going got tough. She’d played to win, and in the end, she’d won.

Thank you for purchasing and reading this ebook.
For excerpts and information on my novels, please go to
http://wikkidsexycool.com

WIKKIDSEXYCOOL, where interracial romance rules!

Harlow and Kyle’s tale will continue in a sequel novella. Other books in this series are:

Released on February 21
st

EXCERPT

"You got a vibrator?" 

She nodded.

"Bring it next time."

Torii gave him a side-eye as she put on her clothes. Most of the men she'd been intimate with considered anything long and battery operated unfair competition. "Okay."

After a few more minutes of silence, Ethan piped up with, "What about anal? Are you into anal sex?"

"Ethan, just hush up.
You had me at vibrator."

He crossed his arms behind his head. "So I take that as a no."

"Take it however you want." The mattress dipped as she sat down to slip on her shoes. "I've had more than enough sex where my body's satisfied. But I-I want more. I want a connection. And don't get freaked out, 'cause I'm not talking about love." When she said that, he felt a twinge of sadness. He didn't interrupt her though, wisely realizing he needed to listen as she continued on. "I'm looking for an emotional pull, something that elevates my spirit and fills my soul. This might sound strange or even funny, but love doesn't always do that for me. The closest I've gotten is when I'm in a room full of like-minded people who love the lord as much as I do. I know I can walk out of that house of worship filled with a daily dose of goodness. It took me a long time to find a church I felt comfortable in. It's been longer than that to find someone I can call my soul mate."