Chapter 25 Evan
We’ve been scandalous all evening. I took Flo back to the house, where we intended to shower, but ended up fucking again up against my living room wall. And after that, I brought her to another orgasm with my fingers on the bathroom counter while we waited for the shower to heat up.
I can’t get enough of this woman. She invigorates me. Makes me feel alive again. Makes me feel like I’m not just the single dad and NFL player, but a person—a person she actually wants to spend time with because she enjoys me. All of me.
But Bennett should be here soon with Leo. The film ends in around fifteen minutes.
“Alright, quick shower,” I instruct as I grasp Flo’s hand and step into the shower. Once I place her on the in-shower bench, I turn the heat up a little more. Flo likes it steaming hot—I’m secretly convinced she’s Satan in disguise who’s come to tempt me—so I make sure it’s scalding enough for her.
She’s exhausted, fluttering her long, thick lashes and smiling before saying, “I think you fucked my brains out.”
My body hums with a quiet chuckle, and I help her stand, and sigh with contentment when she rests her head against my chest. I waste no time in swapping us so she’s under the jets, and then I grab her heavenly apple shampoo and lather it up, delving into her hair.
Flo moans, and I murmur, “No more sounds like that or I’m going to be tempted to fuck you in this shower.”
Her eyes are closed and her face is tired yet relaxed, but she still encourages me by saying, “Maybe you should.”
“Another time.”
“Will there be another time?” Her eyes are open now, bold and staring up.
“I mean, I get it if this is just some kind of moment of weakness and you want to pretend it never happened after tonight. I’m not staying here, and Coach Darrell has got other nannies lined up for the job, but…
what happens now? Do we just go back to how we were before?
” Her face tells me she doesn’t like the idea of that.
I’m not the kind of man to fuck and dump. Sex is special to me, and I don’t give myself over to just anyone.
“I don’t exactly know what this means, Flo, but I care about you—a lot.
If you want this to be a one-time thing, you can forget about it tomorrow.
I personally can’t, but I would understand if it was what you wanted.
I know you’re leaving, and we don’t have much time left together, but you make me feel good, so I’d like to enjoy the rest of what we have left together. ”
Maybe I’m an idiot for developing feelings for this woman, knowing we’re going our separate ways in less than a month, but it just happened. No matter how hard I tried not to, there’s just something about Flo.
Her attitude towards people.
The smart and sassy remarks that come out of that mouth of hers.
How she feels so deeply. Cares for others so deeply.
That damn tempting smirk.
“I can’t forget about it, Evan.” Her words are heartfelt. Meaningful. And I’m not sure whether she’s referring to me talking about forgetting it tomorrow, or if she means beyond that.
“Me neither, trouble.”
I know what I mean.
“So does that mean you’ll fuck me tomorrow? And the day after that?” Flo’s flirtatious smile grows, and I roll my eyes. My lips find hers while I wash the suds out of her hair, my tongue exploring her mouth.
And instead of showering, I hoist her up in my arms, sink into her against the wall, and kiss her like my life depends on it. Because if we only have less than a month left together, we’re going to make the most of it.
“Surprise! Happy birthday!" Gracie stands on my porch, wearing that sly smirk of hers. “I didn’t get you a gift because I knew you’d hate it. Plus, you’re rich, so not like I could get you anything you don’t already have.” Strolling into the house, she chuckles at my confused expression.
“What are you doing here, Gracie?”
“What am I doing here? You’re really going to keep pretending that you’re not ageing, Evan? You can’t cancel a birthday, you know?”
Flo’s focuses on us, her neck twizzling from the space she’s taking up on the couch, tiny half-finished white Jersey for Donkey she’s inspecting in one hand, and a freshly made iced matcha latte in the other. “It’s your birthday?”
“God dammit.” I pinch my nose and groan. “Yes, it’s my birthday.”
She shoots up. “And you didn’t tell me?” Looking at Leo, she asks, “Did you know it was your daddy’s birthday today, Leo?”
My son shrugs. He doesn’t even remember when his own birthday is, let alone mine.
“Thirty-four… wow. You sure are old.” Flo sniggers, and I shoot her a look that does nothing but make her laugh more, and soon, Gracie and Leo join in too.
“Right, what torture do I need to endure today, then?”
“When’s the last time you went out somewhere?”
My eyes slice over to Flo, and she smirks, smug with my reaction over my teammate taking her for a date yesterday.
I open my mouth, but Gracie adds, “Without a kid,” and I clamp it back shut.
I mean, the last time would have been for Mae’s birthday party, but I’d spent the entire night thinking about Leo and trying to stop Flo from quitting.
I hadn't drunk a lick of alcohol, and I can probably count the number of times I’d smiled that night on one hand.
It was once, I believe—when Flo agreed to stay.
“Your silence is answer enough,” Gracie says as she sends Flo a wink and crouches in front of Leo. “Want a night in with Granny tonight, Leo?”
The kid’s eyes sparkle, and he nods just as my mother jumps out from her hiding spot behind the bushes to the left of the porch. A grin spreads across my lips when I see her. She looks so pleased. So proud that she’d—what she thought was—managed to hide from me.
I’d actually seen her shiny copper hair sticking out and saw her shoulder vibrate as she giggled mischievously the second I’d opened the door to Gracie, but I’m not going to burst her bubble and admit that.
Her warm arms embrace me. “My birthday boy!”
I peek over her shoulder at Flo, whose blues are warm.
“And you must be Flo!” my mother says once she’s peeled herself out of my arms, head tilting in my direction.
“Wow, aren’t you a pretty one? Evan, you didn’t tell us your nanny was this gorgeous.
No wonder you have her living here with you instead of in the cabin. ” She casts a suspicious smirk my way.
“It’s great to meet you.” Flo moves to shake my mother’s hand, but is surprised when she’s pulled in for a hug instead.
My mother—she’s a hugger.
“I knew he wouldn’t have mentioned anything about his birthday to you, and that’s exactly why we had to come and surprise him. My rule—no one goes without cake on their birthday, so I’ll have one whipped up for you by the time you three get home.”
“Three?” Flo seems surprised.
“You didn’t think you were staying here, did you?” Gracie shakes her head and orders Flo and me to get dressed before dragging her luggage from her car.
And I chuckle when Flo whispers to me, “You’re in big trouble for trying to get through the day without telling me it was your birthday.”
Gracie was kind enough to let me choose our destination for today, and with the sun shining so brightly, I thought it would be a shame to be cooped up in a bar, so I went with a farmer’s market just outside of Missarali.
Rows of tents line the path, each adorned with hand-painted signs, and behind them, sellers holler about the deals they have on today. Fresh fruit and vegetables. Sourdough bread. Crocheted children’s toys.
It’s loud, with people chattering, dogs barking, and a country band strumming their guitars and singing softly over by the sauce stand. It smells like rosemary, and the herb seller beside us attempts to wave a few people over to come and give her stock a smell to entice them into purchasing some.
My black cap covers my face from everyone, and although I stick out of the crowd like a sore thumb because of my height, nobody’s really looking at me.
There’s too much already going on. It’s something I’m thankful for when it comes to my sport.
Unless you’re a big fan of the team, you probably wouldn’t recognise my face right away.
“Okay, she drinks bourbon, is great with Leo, and has the sexiest legs I’ve ever fucking seen.
What is there not to love?” Gracie’s steel grey eyes, lit with a fire that looks like smoke from an open flame, stare straight into mine as we stand a few feet from the yarn stall, where Flo’s sifting through the products.
I just know I’m about to receive an earful.
My gaze zooms in on her as she waits in line, holding one grey yarn ball in one hand, and a plastic cup filled with bourbon she just bought from the stall over by the picnic benches in the other.
Half of her body is illuminated by the sun, giving her already tanned skin an even more golden glow.
She leans casually across the counter as she reaches for another colour ball of yarn, and my heart skips a beat, remembering how I’d bent her over in the shower last night.
And over my couch. And over the bench by the lake.
Fuck. She really is something.
Her now rib-length hair tumbles down her back, slightly wavier than usual from the windy car ride, and I wonder what it would feel like to have my hands running through the strands again.
“Still haven’t shaken that crush you have on her, then, huh?”
My eyes flick up in a roll at Gracie’s boldness.
But it’s more than a crush with Flo. That word doesn’t even cover it. A crush is fleeting. It passes as quickly as it appears, but my feelings for this woman won’t pass. They’re rooted, twisted into everything I see. Everything I feel.
“Oh, and I lied by the way.”
“About what?”
A set of keys is then placed in my hand. “About getting you a gift. Didn’t want to make a big fuss in front of everyone, in case you don’t want it and it makes you look like an ungrateful dick in front of your new girlfriend.”
Ignoring the girlfriend comment, I ask, “What are they for?”