Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CAM
“Hey guys, come on in!” Olivia grins as she stands to the side to let me, Riley, and Ethan into her house. “Brian and Zoe and everyone are out back. We got lucky with the weather, so we’re getting one last grill day in.”
“Hey, Liv.” I bend and kiss her cheek as my kids go flying out the back door, familiar with the house after having been here for a few of these Saturday afternoon lunches. “Thanks for having us.”
She rolls her eyes. “So formal. We’re family, Cam.”
I raise an eyebrow at her. “But are we really? You’re kind of married to my boss.”
She waves that away. “We’ve been over this. Work is work. This isn’t work. Besides, I’m the boss of this house and I say we’re family, so we’re family. Also, if I get my way and you and Maddy get married one day, you’ll be actual for real family.”
I cough, her words catching me off guard as my brain struggles to contain the images they painted.
Images of Maddy and me and my kids and a future I’ve been thinking about almost nonstop since the night I met her.
Images it’s way too soon to be focusing on, but my brain is going rogue.
“Jesus, Liv. No one is getting married. I can barely even get her to acknowledge that there’s something between us.
Sorry,” I mumble. “That was probably too much information.”
Olivia gives me a dazzling grin. “There is no such thing as too much information. I’m a slut for gossip, and I love a secret love affair.
I also love you and I love Maddy, and I think you would be amazing together.
” She winks at me. “I’m on your side, big guy.
Come on out back and let’s get you a drink. ”
I follow her outside, and as soon as I step out onto the deck, I freeze, my heart slamming against my ribs because standing by the pool, laughing with Riley, Ethan, and Zoe, is Maddy.
Her red ponytail is bright under the sun, her freckles standing out against her flushed cheeks.
She’s wearing tight black leggings and a green tank top that hugs her perfect tits and makes her eyes glow.
She’s so beautiful that all the air backs up in my lungs, and when she puts an arm around each of my kids and squeezes, I have to rub a hand over my chest to make it easier to breathe.
“Surprise,” Olivia says, amusement in her voice. “Thought you and your girl could use some family time away from the stadium.”
Family time.
I watch as Tyler and Sophie, who I didn’t see before thanks to my tunnel vision when it comes to Maddy, walk up to her and my kids.
Tyler ruffles Ethan’s hair and takes a few running steps back, tossing him a football.
Sophie wraps Maddy in a hug and does the same to Zoe and Riley.
Brian runs over and mock-tackles Ethan, stealing the football and laughing when Ethan chases him around the yard.
My heart squeezes even tighter, because right here is the big, sprawling family I’ve dreamed of since I was an only child growing up with a single mom.
The big family I thought I would make with Lainey.
The dream that fell away when she died, lost in the complex grief of losing a partner and the loneliness of single parenting.
In the sheer effort it sometimes took to put one foot in front of the other and keep us all from drowning.
My gaze lands on Maddy again, and as if she senses my eyes on her, she turns and looks at me, a smile spreading over her face and her eyes full of fun.
And as my gaze travels between her and my kids, I feel the roots of that dream take hold again, burrowing somewhere deep inside of me, just waiting for their time to grow.
“You still with us?” My head whips around at Olivia’s voice, and she’s giving me a wicked grin. “Damn, Cam, you’ve got it bad. I didn’t realize quite how bad until I saw your face just now.”
“Fuck off,” I mutter, and she just laughs.
“This is my favorite thing. I love it so much.”
“Does Brian know?” I ask. “That would be…not ideal.”
“Nah, this one is in the vault,” she says.
“Eventually, if it’s something, you and Maddy can tell him yourself.
But he’ll be happy for you, Cam. Both of you.
Maddy and her parents, along with her brother and sister, are Bry’s most important people.
They gave him a family years ago when he didn’t really have one of his own anymore, and he just wants what’s best for all of them.
” She eyes me consideringly. “I think Maddy Wright is what’s best for you. ”
I blow out a breath. “I’m pretty sure she is too. Now if only I could convince her of that.”
Olivia scoffs. “You’re a hot single dad professional athlete who is also a really, really good guy. My money’s on you, pal.”
“Wait, seriously?” Riley laughs, looking at Brian and Olivia. “You guys got snowed in, and that’s how you got together?”
Brian grins at her. “You bet. I crushed hard on Liv for, like, three years before that, but her brother—Sophie’s dad—is my best friend, so I never did anything about it.
Then there was a snowstorm and she got stuck at my house overnight, and I found her in the kitchen baking cookies at two in the morning.
” He looks at Olivia with an intensity in his gaze that I feel deep in my bones.
I know what it’s like to feel that way about someone, because now I’ve felt it twice in my life. “The rest is history.”
Sophie smirks. “My dad still talks about finding out about you guys. He acts all affronted, like he couldn’t believe you deigned to keep your relationship a secret from him when everyone knows he’s the most protective human on the planet.
” She rolls her eyes. “Last month, my mom needed a new car, and he did, like, two weeks of research to make sure she would have the safest car in existence. I swear if he didn’t find one that met his standards, he would have manufactured it himself. ”
Laughing, Olivia reaches over and laces her fingers with Brian’s. He immediately brings her hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “My brother does have a tendency to be a little…overbearing about the people he loves. It’s part of his charm, and we love him for it.”
“This whole thing is like a movie,” Riley says, looking between Brian and Liv. “One day when I’m older, I want to write your story but in movie script version.”
“You thinking about getting into screenwriting, Ry?” I ask. “I thought you wanted to be an actress.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “I’m writing it and starring in it. I’m going to be a double threat. Triple threat, actually, because I can sing too.”
I feel Maddy’s body shake with laughter beside me, and I move just a little closer. My body presses up against the side of hers, and I hear the little catch in her breath, loving that she’s as affected by our proximity as I am.
“That’s so awesome,” Sophie says from her place across the table from me. “I thought about screenwriting once upon a time.”
Maddy snorts, taking the last bite of her hamburger and pushing her plate away. “You thought about everything once upon a time. You don’t decision well.”
Sophie shrugs with a grin. “My bestie tells no lies. Why make one single decision when there are so many awesome things you can do?”
“You’re one of a kind, Soph,” Tyler says with a chuckle, stretching his arm over the back of her chair.
“That’s why we love you.” Sophie’s face goes bright red, and she looks down at her plate as if to hide it, except her feelings for Tyler are obvious to anyone who’s looking. Which Tyler isn’t. Yet.
“Is it dessert time yet?” Zoe asks. “I convinced Mom to make her monster cookies, and they’re so good you could die.”
Olivia stands, grabbing a couple of plates. “Let me clean up and then we’ll do cookies.”
“No way, Liv,” Brian says, standing and dropping a kiss on the top of her head and taking the plates out of her hands. “You cooked and set up. I’ll clean.”
“Sold.” She plops back down and takes a sip of her beer.
“Neither of you is cleaning up.” Maddy stands too. “I’ll take care of it.”
“I’ll help!” I say immediately, seizing the opportunity for a few minutes alone with her. She narrows her eyes at me, but I just give her a grin and a wink, loving the way she rolls her eyes just a little, muttering as she grabs some plates and heads into the house.
“I’ll help too.” Tyler starts to stand, but Liv puts a hand on his shoulder to keep him in his seat.
“They can handle it. You and Sophie stay. I haven’t seen you guys in a while, so I need a ten minute catch up of everything you’ve been up to over the past month.”
Liv gives me a guileless smile, and I see Sophie snicker as she leans back in her chair. Sending Liv a silent thanks, I pick up a couple of platters from the middle of the table and make my way into the house.
When I get to the kitchen, Maddy is standing with her back to me, water running in the sink as she rinses plates and stacks them in the dishwasher.
“I Drove All Night” is playing from her phone, and her hips are shaking from side to side, her ponytail swinging as she moves to the beat.
The whole scene is so endearingly hot, I have to tighten my grip on the platters I’m holding to keep from dropping them to grab her and ravish her right against the sink.
“You afraid to be alone with me, Wildcat?”
Maddy yelps, the plate she’s holding clattering into the sink as water flies everywhere. She spins around, pointing at me. “Jesus fuck, Cameron, don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?” I ask, taking a few steps forward and setting the platters down before reaching back to flip off the water.
I crowd her against the sink, a hand gripping the counter on either side of her.
“Don’t…talk to you?” Unable to resist, I lean in closer, watching as her eyes flash with a kind of heat that has my cock twitching in my pants.
“Don’t…touch you?” I lift one hand off the counter and graze my knuckles down her cheek, grinning when she swallows hard.
“Don’t…kiss you?” I lean in closer like I’m going to take her lips with mine and Maddy sucks in a breath, but then I drop my head and press a light kiss to her bare shoulder, lingering there for a second and breathing her in, filling my senses with the scent of her hair and soaking in the way it feels to be close to her.
“This is so complicated,” she says in a low voice as I stand up straighter, ghosting my thumbs over her hips and then leaning in to kiss her cheek.
“I know. I wish it weren’t, but I fucking know. Doesn’t make me want you any less though. Especially when you’re shaking those gorgeous hips to Celine.”
“Fucking same,” she mutters. “Not the Celine thing, although…” She trails off. Giving me an appraising look. “That would be pretty hot. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone the way I want you.” She looks away, her cheeks flushing again like she didn’t mean to say that.
Getting a glimpse into her unfiltered thoughts has my heart lifting. I know she’s attracted to me. That we’re explosive together. But her giving voice to what’s between us sends warmth careening through me, making my heart pound, like it’s reaching out to her, looking for its other half.
“Me too, Wildcat.” I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I feel it too.”
She blows out a long breath. “I know. I also know that Brian and Liv’s kitchen is absolutely the wrong place to have this conversation.”
I smile, running a finger over her hand. “Sure is. Although, Liv already knows, and she’s solidly Team Maddy and Cam.”
Maddy shakes her head and laughs. “I know. She won’t tell Brian though. She’s good like that.” A shadow passes over her face. “Brian can’t know. At least not yet. I mean, I don’t know if there’s anything for him to know, but if there is, he can’t. Not now.”
I nod, understanding her reasoning even though I’m dying to tell everyone.
To claim her so that everyone knows she’s mine.
“Then he won’t. And Maddy…” I lay one of my hands on the side of her neck, skimming my thumb over her jaw.
“There is definitely something here. A big, important something here. Something that we’ll get to tell everyone about, when you’re ready. ”
I have the fleeting thought that I should be more hesitant about this.
That I should be wondering what this means for my kids, thinking about the importance of my first major relationship since Lainey died and being slow and careful about it all.
But nothing in me feels even a little slow or careful about Maddy.
Everything inside me feels wild. Impatient.
Like the rest of my life is standing in front of me and all I have to do is reach out and grab it for it to be mine.
“So, what now?” Maddy asks, and I realize I’ve probably been silent for a little too long.
I shrug, taking a step to the side and turning on the water just as the song switches to “River Deep, Mountain High” and I smile, thinking of Maddy driving her Jeep just a little too fast, this song pouring out of the open windows. “Now we do the dishes, and we eat cookies.”
“That simple, huh?”
I study her for a second and realize that, despite all the complications, it can be as simple as that. Dishes. Cookies. Family. Life. Her. Me. Leaning down, I kiss her cheek and grin when she flushes again. “Yeah, Wildcat. That simple.”
And for the rest of the day, it is.