Love Unmatched (21 page)

“Ashante, I think I’d kill myself before I turn out to be like that. Or maybe Zander will murder me before I can act like that,” I responded while giggling.

“Oh please, girlfriend. Zander, murdering you? Crazy thought. However, that man will butcher everyone here who has been giving you extra-friendly looks the whole night,” she said, her eyebrows raised.

I gave her a weak smile. It was true. Zander has been throwing daggers at some of the NFA players who have been giving me smiles and flirty glances even before the awards. He even said, “Why did you have to wear that dress? Now everyone can see what’s mine.”

I ignored him. I was wearing a simple green sheath dress that dipped low in the back. I loved the feel of the fabric and it hugged my curves in all the right places. Who knew? There might be another supermodel lurking behind-the-scenes and she needed to be put in her place. Inna Posey had learned her lesson. She didn’t mess with Zander after that locker incident.

I’ve been to numerous NFA events and charity bashes with Zander. Each time I dressed up in something special, he would give me that appreciative look and I’d end up having to change underwear once or twice. Earlier tonight, I had to sit more than an arm’s length away from him during the limo ride, because his hands started to wander to my most intimate places. It was only after he promised that he would keep his eagerness reined in until after we got back to our hotel when I acquiesced and leaned back into his arms.

Zander was still the same, insatiable man who I met on that fateful day at Green’s Bar and Grille. It was that desire for me and well, my equally unquenchable desire for him that resulted in the creation of another little being. He didn’t know about it yet. I was planning to tell him tonight, while we were alone. Sofia was at home in Minnesota with Zander’s parents. They offered to babysit Sofia for the whole year, or if they had their way, her whole life. Zander and I only agreed to two days, since we had to travel to Miami for the awards. My dad and his parents often got into friendly arguments as to whose turn it was to babysit Sofia.

Ashante and I talked about the next season’s charity events when a muscular arm pulled on my waist.

“Congratulations, babe,” I said, leaning into his arms. “You deserve it.”

His blue-green gaze shimmered as he said, “Thank you.”

Ashante said, “Great job, Z. You totally deserve that award. By the way, I was just telling Sedona that for next season, we should host summer games for the local kids.”

Zander nodded. “Sounds like a great plan. Ashante, Trey asked me to let you know that he’s waiting at the bar for you.”

Ashante’s eyes lit up and she excused herself from our table.

“What was that about?” I asked. Ashante had left in a hurry. She bumped into a few chairs as she tried to reach the bar area.

Zander grinned slyly. “I think it’s the same as your time alone code, babe.”

“Oh.”

Zander’s teammates stopped by at our table and congratulated him. After the last of his teammates left, he nonchalantly said in a low voice, “Do you think we’ll have a Nicholas this time around? Although I wouldn’t mind a sister for Sofia.”

I turned my body around on my seat to stare at him, shock registered in my eyes.
How did he know?
I took the pregnancy test two days ago and I made sure that I double-wrapped it in newspaper before throwing it in the trash. I wanted to surprise him.

He pressed his lips against my cheek and said, “You should know, babe. I am very familiar with your ‘twins.’ I notice any slight changes in them.” He referred to my breasts as twins since they gave him double the delight.

“Grrr. I wanted to surprise you.” I said in frustration. I could not hide anything from him.

“You can still surprise me,” he smiled as he reached for my stomach under the table. “Maybe this time you won’t graduate with honors. Now that would be a shocking surprise to me.”

I laughed. In three months I would be graduating with my Masters in Nursing, and then I’d be working towards my PhD in Sports Science. Zander often wondered how I stayed on top of my classes with the busy schedule that I had with Sofia, working part-time at the hospital, and traveling for his away games. School was not hard for me. Being a mother while going to school was definitely challenging. Sofia’s energy often tired me out, but I would not have it any other way. I was able to study at night after she went to sleep and when I attended classes, Zander was a big help and when he couldn’t, his mom helped us out.

I held his hand tighter and said, “I’d like to surprise you tonight. Instead of me doing a kneel-down on you, maybe you could do a couple on me…”

His eyes flared and his breath was hitched, “I think we’ve had enough of this schmoozing tonight.”

I traced circles around his palm, “But don’t we have to wait for the actual food to be served?” Having attended many of these banquets, I knew that the food was not going to be served for another hour and by that time, half of the guests would have left to go to another party.

He said determinedly, “We’ll order room service.”

I nodded my head, “Hmm, that sounds like a good idea.”

He stood up and held my hand, urging me to go along with his plan. “I’ll say our goodbyes to coach and the rest of the guys. I’ll let them know that something has come up.”

I grinned at him knowingly. “Sure, something has definitely come up.”

As we walked outside the restaurant and waited for the limo, he wrapped his left arm around me, his right arm holding his trophy, he said, “This one’s for you, babe, for loving me just the way I am.”

My heart squeezed at those words, I faced him and wrapped my arms around his neck, and replied, “Thank you for loving me just the way you do.”

Because you said his story needs to be told…

Coming in the Late Fall/Early Winter

Book Three in the Unexpected Series

Love Untouched

People need air to breathe.

I need to be in the water to survive.

I have loved one woman.

She loved me as a friend.

I don’t know if I will fall in love again.

If and when I do,

I will give her my world.

My name is Kieran Stone.

This is my story.

More than thirteen years ago

Kieran

I took a deep breath, jumped as high as I could, threw my arms up in the air, and rotated my body backwards as I entered the water head first. I felt the swirl of the water hit me as I sank further underneath. I kept my knees tucked together for a clean finish.

Whew! What a great flip!

As I swam upwards for air, I blew bubbles out of my nose. This was the best part; the bubbles that formed underneath the water. I loved blowing bubbles in the water. They were way better than those bottled bubbles where you had to blow through a straw to create them.

I pulled on the bottom of my goggles to let the water out. I needed new ones. These old goggles weren’t serving their purpose anymore.

“What’s your name?” I thought I heard a voice before I sank down under the water again. There were too many beginners at the Santa Monica Aquatic Center today. They stayed in the beginners’ pools, but I still didn’t like having too many of them around. I’d have to let my dad know that I’d like to change my practice times. The noise that they made distracted me.

As I re-surfaced for air, I heard the voice again. “Hey, I asked you, what’s your name?”

I pulled my goggles off of my head. Was that voice talking to me?

I rubbed my eyes and swam towards the voice. A scrawny girl in a blue swimsuit sat on the side of the pool with her feet hanging and forming circles in the water. She had long, dark hair that was stuck to her face. I paddled my feet to get closer to her. She was the only one without a gaggle of other kids around her.

“Are you deaf?” she huffed. She pushed her hair away from her face and I squinted my eyes to look at her. The sun’s reflection in the water was blinding my view of her. When I finally got a closer look at her face, I was mesmerized. Her nose was scrunched and her forehead was wrinkled into a frown but it was her eyes that drew me in. Wow! They were not blue or green. Were they …violet?

I swam closer to her. Who was she? She was new here. Obviously, she didn’t know that some boys liked to be left alone. Boys like me.

I continued to ignore her. She splashed her feet and since I was close to her, her action caused the water to get inside my mouth that was presently opened because I was about to say something to her. This girl was annoying. I spat out the water and moved to her right, ready to climb up and leave.

“Fine. I guess you don’t want to tell me your name,” she said with a snicker, “It’s cool with me. But can you just show me how to do the flip that you did a couple of minutes ago?”

I didn’t answer her. I placed both of my hands on the concrete to push myself up and leave. I wasn’t one for chatting up with a girl who couldn’t do the basic back flips, even if she had unique-colored eyes. Especially if that girl splashed pool water into my mouth.

“What if we make a bet?” Her tiny voice was clear against all the noise.

That stopped me. I liked bets. That was how I got my baseball cards – they were going to be collector’s items one of these days. I always won when someone bet against me.

“What kind of bet?” I asked as I sat beside her. She was still kicking her legs under the water.

“Now, you’re talking to me,” she said, “I don’t know, you make it up. If I win, you tell me your name and teach me how to do the flip. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about our bet. See, my dad over there,” she pointed towards a big guy who sat on a bench, reading a newspaper, “he wants me to make friends. I just want to be alone so I can read my books. But he won’t stop bringing me here until I make new friends. If he sees me talking to you - he’s gonna think I’m making friends and he’ll be happy.”

This girl talked too much.

“Stay here,” I said and walked up to where my jeans were and took out a quarter from one of the pockets.

“Do you know how to swim?” I asked. Her chin was turned up. She was cute. If she visited my school she’d have tons of guys crushing on her.

She nodded.

“Ok
ay, if you can find this quarter when I drop it, I will tell you my name and teach you the back flip that I just did.” She was going to chicken out. Girls chickened out all the time.

She stood up and said, “Go ahead. Throw it.”

The pool was only 8-feet deep. I shrugged my shoulder. Fine, she was going for it. We’ll see if she could find this.

I threw the quarter. She jumped into the water.

She did know how to swim, right? Seconds passed and her head was not surfacing.
Shoot
. Maybe she didn’t know how to swim. What did I just do? I didn’t mean to hurt her. I jumped in the water but the lifeguard was faster than me.

Next thing I knew, she was being pulled up from the water and the lifeguard was placing his hand on her chest after laying her body on the ground. He pushed his hands on her chest and a few seconds later, she sputtered water from her nose and coughed out. Her dad was now by her side. He looked scared and panicked.

Her dad hugged her and asked her, “Why did you do that?” She did not respond.

Then, he was scolding her, “You know better than to something like that. You scared me. Go get your clothes and we’ll go home.”

She lightly nodded her head and walked towards the chair where a pile of clothes were stacked. Her shoulders were slumped. It was not fair for her to be scolded at. She must have been scared and now her dad was upset at her.