Page 76 of Game On

ME: Cute! Glad you could make it.

LILY: Me too. I better get to sleep. I have a meeting with a potential client tomorrow. I’ll see you around, Logan!

I set my phone down and put it on the charger, making sure to set my alarm. ‘I’ll see you around’ was code for her setting a boundary. What we did together was fun between two single parents who didn’t have time for something more. And that was perfectly fine with me. It was nice she was on the same page. I wished her sister and our mutual friends would understand that.

I turned off the TV and flicked off the lights, engulfing Liam and me in darkness. This little boy was my entire world. I had to remember that. All the sacrifices I made weren’t in vain because it was all for him.

Chapter Twenty-Four

LILY

My phone kept buzzing on the desk, but I ignored it while I finished up this line of expenses. I had been so busy the past few weeks, taking on more clients and getting more freelance work since I opened my website. I was still struggling, but after meeting with Dinah, three more of her author friends became clients, and I had a list of people needing annual tax filing.

I could do this. I’d hustle my way to owning my business, and then I’d give Rosie everything she ever wanted. Lord knew her dad wasn’t doing it.

The sounds of the bar behind the office door rang through every once in a while, and it penetrated my thoughts as I worked. I was almost done, and I was debating grabbing a drink afterward. Hal offered me one when he brought me dinner while I worked through the expenses, but I needed to focus.

I sighed when my phone buzzed again, and I picked it up. I gnashed my teeth at the text message on my screen.

SETH: Can’t get Rosie tomorrow.

ME: K.

Was it passive-aggressive? Yes, but there wasn’t a point in asking for excuses anymore. I hated more than anything that Rosie would grow up without a father. Or rather, one who only wanted to be in her life when it was convenient for him. I hated that my mom was right.

Seth put me in a foul mood, and I was at a good stopping point, so I shut down for the night. I swore when I saw what time it was. My sister had Rosie and Liam all day today since the Bulldogs had played tonight. As much as I wanted a drink, I had to go get my kid and relieve my sister.

Logan and I had been texting a lot, and we played Dragonspire last night, but we mostly saw each other in passing. We were both so busy that it didn’t bother me. He was one of the few people in my life that understood how hard it was being a single parent. If he was someone I found comfort in here and there, I’d take it.

I shrugged on my light jacket over my blazer and walked out to the bar. It was packed, as it should be on a Friday night, especially since the game was over. I wrestled through the crowd, but as I was making my way out the door, I heard someone call out my name.

I turned around, finding Logan staring me down like he was trying to tell me something. He had a beer in his hand, and there was an attractive dark-haired woman beside him drinking a cosmopolitan and looking at Logan like she wanted to eat him up.

Oh.

A spike of jealousy shouldn’t have clawed up from my stomach. He could see whomever he wanted to see. We never made promises to each other.

But before I could even say hi back, he reached out, pulled me flush against his chest, and kissed me. Instead of shock, I let him angle my head to kiss me better, letting him devour me like I was his. Heat pooled between my legs as the kiss went on for far too long.

I had to push him away to catch my breath, and by the time I did, the brunette was long gone.

Logan brushed my hair behind my ear. “Sorry, princess.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “For kissing me like that?”

He chuckled. “For ambushing you. That chick wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Ooh. So I was your excuse?”

A guilty look spread across his face. “Sorry. Let me buy you a drink.”

I pulled away and shook my head.

God, that kiss had been an amazing toe-curling reminder of how he could work my body. Kinda nice to have his lips on mine again, even if it was just so that woman left him alone.

“No worries. I gotta go get Rosie.”

Logan frowned. “Sorry, that was a dick move. I shouldn’t have used you like that.”