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“Deal,” he says, holding out his hand so we can shake on it. I don’t know if I’ve ever made a deal while still naked and totally wrung out from what a man just did to my body, but here we are. “What are your birthday plans?” I ask sleepily.
“Well, I’m supposed to be at practice, but I’m calling in sick. I canceled my original plan to go out to dinner with my dad when I found out he fathered my twin half-brothers. I went to meet them, and then I decided life’s too short to fuck around, so I’m back here to spend my birthday with you.”
I yawn and close my eyes as I lean into him. “I didn’t get you anything.”
He sets his hand on my stomach, and he leans down and kisses the top of my head. “That’s okay. I have everything I’ll ever need right here.”
A wave of love crests through my chest at his words. I wish we could stop time and live in this moment a little longer. I know it won’t always be as perfect as this feels, but there’s an awful lot we need to figure out as we plow ahead into the future.
Chapter 48: Desiree Dixon
I Have Some News
We spend Asher’s birthday at my apartment. We pack a little to start the process of moving me out of here, we look up houses in Vegas, we order food from my favorite places, we laugh, and we get naked. A lot. Lots of naked time when Addy is at work, and again when Addy is starting to bring some of her stuff over to Chloe and Lauren’s place.
Asher has to head home for practice when he should’ve been there today, but he’ll be back in town this weekend since the Aces are playing the Storm. My mom will be in town, but she’s staying at the home they didn’t sell when they moved to Vegas so they’d always have their home here in San Diego.
And then next week, I’ll be moving to Vegas.
It’s still a little surreal, and I still haven’t told my parents.
Maybe I’ll get up the nerve this weekend, but I have a feeling they’re going to have about a million questions, and I’m not sure I’m prepared to answer any of them.
Because the charity ball is getting closer. Because I need to be in town to manage the auction items.
Because I want to be close to my baby daddy, and oh, by the way, I’m pregnant.
Yeah…I’m not ready for that.
Christmas is less than three weeks away, so I do a little online shopping from the comfort of home, I watch the Aces roll over the Storm at the Storm’s home stadium, and I head out to dinner on Sunday night after the game with both my parents.
“I have some news,” I say, clearing my throat after we’re seated.
A shudder runs through me.
I have multiple pieces of news, but the thought of telling them the biggest one brings back a brand-new bout of nausea.
I’m not ready for that.
They’re both staring at me as those thoughts run rampant through my mind.
“Is everything okay?” my dad asks, and God, it feels sowrongto keep such abigthing from them.
“Everything’s fine,” I say with a smile that I have to force. Is it fine? Will it ever really be fine again, or was Asher right about my father potentially writing me off for going against his wishes?
He wouldn’t do that. I know football is his life, but I’m his world…like my own baby will be for me.
But then there’s people in the world like Eddie Nash who abandon their kids and pay off their mother, and, oh my God, isAshergoing to be like that? Does the apple fall far from the tree?
I can’t imagine a world where he would be, but for a minute there, I couldn’t imagine a world where he’d walk away from me…and then he did.
“Areyouokay?” my mom asks, studying me.
“I’m getting over a stomach bug,” I say a little weakly.
“Still? I thought you were quiet at the game. Is that why?” she asks.
I nod. “Yeah, I think so.”
