12. Shane
Twelve
Shane
T he past eight days have been the longest of my life. Not because the road trip wasn’t a success—it was, with the Thunder winning three of our four games—but because I missed my girl so fiercely that there was a constant ache in my chest. It didn’t matter how much we texted, talked on the phone, or video chatted. Not having her with me caused actual physical pain. I need her the way I need air. It’s only been a month, but she’s become the center of my world. My everything.
Which is why when the team’s chartered plane lands in Toronto late in the afternoon, I don’t head to the office or the arena. I head to the university campus to pick Sadie up because I need to see her. I need to hear her voice, smell her skin, get my hands on her as soon as humanly possible.
If I’m not inside her within the next hour, I might lose my goddamn mind.
I park and shoot her a text, and a few minutes later, she comes bounding out of the library and straight to the car. The daylight is fading quickly, painting the sky a soft purple and casting long shadows on the ground. Sadie looks like positively angelic in the dusk in her cream-colored parka, red toque and the cute boots that I bought her.
A feeling more intense than satisfaction and more primal than ownership charges through me when I see her in those boots. I want to buy her every single thing she wears. I want to give her the entire fucking world.
“Hi,” she says brightly as she slips into the passenger side of my car. Her cheeks are pink from the cold, her curls a little wild from the winter wind.
“Hi,” I say, and then I’m kissing her. I can’t get my mouth, my hands on her fast enough. The need inside me takes over as I haul her across the center console and into my lap. “It was torture being away from you, sunshine,” I rasp against her mouth, and she whimpers softly.
“Absolute hell,” she agrees. Her little mouth on mine is everything right now, and for several long minutes, we just kiss, drinking each other in. But soon, the kiss turns dirty and hungry, and she’s writhing in my lap as she clutches at my shoulders. My cock is dripping, my balls throbbing, and if we don’t leave, now, I’m going to fuck her right here in this parking lot.
“Take me home, Daddy,” she whispers, and I groan, pulling away. “I missed you so much. I need you. Please.”
Her lips are swollen from my kiss, the skin around her mouth pink from my stubble. “Missed you too, Sadie girl. So fucking much.” I kiss her again, and by the time we break apart, the windows are foggy. I want inside her, but not like this. Not here, where anyone could see. No one gets to see my girl like that except me. So, with every single ounce of willpower I have, I move her back into her seat, then reach across and buckle up her seatbelt. Her fingers tangle easily with mine over the center console, and we talk as I drive from the campus to my house. I ask about her mid-terms, she asks about the road trip. We talk about anything and everything, conversation flowing easily. Easier than it ever flowed with my ex-wife.
Because Sadie’s my soul mate. I know it deep in my bones. I know it like I know my own name. I used to think the concept of soul mates was ridiculous, but now I know how wrong I was.
The sun has fully set by the time I park the car in the garage, and all I can think about is getting Sadie inside and naked, as quickly as possible. I don’t even bother getting my bag out of the car, just jog around to her side and open her door for her. As soon as she’s out of the car, I haul her against me, kissing her again. The taste of her heats my blood to boiling, and I slide my hands down her body, squeezing her perfect ass.
“Gonna put my handprints here, Sadie,” I growl, licking into her mouth. I knead her ass and she makes the sexiest little mewing sound. “Need to see my marks on you.”
“Please, Daddy. Remind me who I belong to.”
“Fuck,” I groan. Christ, I want her. I want Sadie right now more than I’ve ever wanted anything.
I break the kiss and then tug her into the house. The second our coats and boots are off, she’s back in my arms. I lift her up, her legs winding around my waist, her arms around my neck. We’re kissing again, hot and frenzied, and I back her against the wall in the foyer.
“Oh, god, Shane,” she moans, arching against me.
“Sadie,” I pant, kissing her again. I can’t seem to stop kissing her.
“Oh my god!” comes a very familiar voice from the direction of the living room. “Dad? Sadie? ”
Sadie and I both freeze at the sound of Lilah’s voice. My blood has turned to ice in my veins. Still pinning Sadie against the wall, I slowly turn my head to see my daughter standing several feet away, her hand over her mouth and her eyes wide with shock. Kincaid hovers a couple of feet behind her, frowning at us.
“Oh. My. God.” Lilah says again, her words muffled against her hand.
I set Sadie down gently and then slide my arm around her waist, keeping her close. I don’t want her to think for a second that I’m pulling away or putting distance between us.
“Lilah,” I say, clearing my throat when my voice comes out ragged. “I didn’t realize you were here.” I was so caught up in Sadie that I must’ve missed Kincaid’s car parked in front of the house.
“Clearly,” she says, dropping her hands. Hurt shines in her eyes, and guilt washes over me, thick and heavy. Her finding out this way wasn’t the plan. Maybe we should’ve told her earlier than we initially planned. I thought I was doing the right thing, insulating Sadie from any blow back about her being my intern, but I see now that I fucked up by keeping this from Lilah.
Sadie curls into me, and when I glance down at her, she’s pale. “I’m so sorry, Lilah,” she whispers. “We were going to tell you as soon as my internship was over. I swear.”
Lilah shakes her head, glancing between the two of us. “How long?”
I squeeze Sadie gently, trying to comfort her, because I can see how upset she is. “About a month.”
“We started…seeing each other not long after my internship started,” Sadie says quietly. “I…have a confession to make, Lilah. Do you remember how you’d tease me about my secret crush? The one I’ve had for months? And that you thought it was someone on the team?”
Lilah nods and then wrinkles her nose. “You’ve been crushing on my dad ?” she asks, a note of incredulity in her voice. “No offense, but…gross.”
Sadie bites her lip and looks down. For the first time, fear slices through me. What if Sadie choses her friendship with Lilah over me? Over us? What if hearing Lilah call our relationship gross makes her reconsider?
As though she can sense what I need, she lays a hand on my chest, rubbing in a small, reassuring circle.
“Yeah, Lilah. The secret crush I had was on Shane, so you can understand why I didn’t tell you. And I get that he’s your dad and this is super, super weird for you, but I don’t think he’s gross. At all.”
A tense silence hangs in the air, and Lilah huffs out a breath, crossing her arms over her chest. “I figured it out, you know. You were acting so weird at Roasters. You clearly didn’t want me to know who you were dating, and you freaked out when I tried to look at your phone.”
My eyebrows inch up my forehead. I hadn’t heard about this.
“So then I started thinking who you wouldn’t want me to know about. It had to be someone connected to your internship, since you said you couldn’t tell me until your internship was over. And there was only one person I could think of who fit those criteria. My dad. But I didn’t think it could be true. At least, not until I started replaying the past couple of weeks and I realized that Dad had been in an exceptionally good mood.” She grimaces. “Do I even want to know what was on your phone?”
Sadie shakes her head. “No. You definitely don’t.”
Lilah makes a grossed out face.
“What happened, exactly?” I ask, glancing between my girlfriend and my daughter.
Sadie shakes her head. “Nothing. Lilah was curious about who I was dating. She was just playing around and tried to look at my phone, and I…made a bit of a scene at Roasters getting it back from her.”
“A bit of a scene?” Lilah asks. “It was embarrassing.”
“It was worth it to spare you from seeing your dad’s nudes.”
Lilah pales and Kincaid chuckles softly from behind her, his fist pressed to his mouth. He seems to be the only one enjoying this interaction.
“We always planned on telling you,” Sadie says softly, her tone imploring. “I’m sorry that we didn’t tell you sooner. And I’m sorry that this is weird for you. Please don’t be angry. Please, Lilah.”
Lilah sighs and rolls her lips inward. “I’m not…angry. I’m shocked, honestly. I’m hurt that you kept me in the dark. I’m your best friend, Sadie.” Her eyes cut to me. “I’m your daughter. You should’ve been straight with me.”
I nod. “You’re right. I should’ve been. We should’ve been. I just didn’t want anyone to think badly of Sadie while she was working for the team.”
Lilah’s expression softens slightly. “So the silence was to protect her?”
I nod again, glancing between her and Kincaid. “The intern dating the coach? Doesn’t look great, even though our relationship had nothing to do with the internship. I didn’t want anyone making assumptions about Sadie. The only reason we kept this between us was because I was trying to protect her from any potential fall out if our relationship became public.”
Kincaid exhales, shaking his head. “I get that,” he says. “Wanting to protect Sadie from gossip and rumors. But…” He crosses his arms, a frown on his face, and I know what he’s thinking.
“I’m a hypocrite,” I say, and Kincaid’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “I can’t deny that.”
“You are,” agrees Kincaid, and I can tell from the look on his face that whatever he has to say needs to be said so we can clear the air between us. “You gave me so much shit for dating Lilah because I’m fourteen years older than her, and yet here you are, doing the exact same thing with her best friend. Except you’re not fourteen years older than her, are you coach?”
I shake my head. “I’m twenty-four years older than Sadie.” I sigh. “And you’re right. I had a double standard, given that I was in love with Sadie while I was tearing a strip off of you for dating Lilah. I felt like I had moral high ground to stand on because I didn’t plan on doing anything about my feelings.”
“What changed?” asks Lilah, and I can tell from her slightly less tense posture that she’s not upset anymore, and that the shock of seeing Sadie and I together has worn off.
“I found out my feelings weren’t one-sided.” I glance between Kincaid and Lilah. “But I am sorry, to both of you, for the way I acted. I should’ve been more supportive and understanding when I first found out. If I could go back and change how that morning played out, I would. And I should’ve told you about my relationship with Sadie, and I shouldn’t have asked her to keep this from you. For the record, she wanted to tell you, Lilah.”
Sadie squeezes my waist gently, and while it’s a small gesture of comfort and support, it’s also everything. We’re facing this together, just like we’ll face any public backlash about our age difference, just like we’ll face however her parents react when they find out she’s dating a man only a few years younger than her father.
“I’m in love with Sadie,” I say. “This isn’t a fling or something casual for me. What Sadie and I have is deep and real, and I’m not planning on ever letting her go. And I know our age difference is…significant.” I shake my head, a rueful smile on my lips. “I tried to fight how I felt about her for months. But I couldn’t, not when I found out she had feelings for me too. She’s it for me. She’s the one.”
Sadie looks up at me with soft, bright eyes, her cheeks pink.
I need to start shopping for rings. I need to put a diamond on her finger as soon as possible. I make a mental note to clear my schedule tomorrow morning so I can visit a jeweler.
“I love you, Sadie,” I say, and she ducks her head into me.
“I love you, Shane.”
Lilah shifts her weight, biting her lip as she tries to process the bombshell we’ve just dropped on her. “I need some time to…to wrap my head around this, but I am happy for you,” she says tentatively, and I’m filled with gratitude that she’s trying. “For both of you. All I ask is that you’re honest with me in the future and that you keep the PDA to a minimum in front of me. Please.”
I chuckle. “Completely fair. We’ll keep it PG. Promise.”
Sadie looks at Lilah, a cautious smile on her face. “So…we’re okay?” she asks.
Lilah nods. “Yeah, Sadie. We’re good. Just no more secrets and lies, okay?”
“Promise.”
Lilah steps forward and then she and Sadie are hugging, leaving Kincaid and I to nod awkwardly at each other. I can tell he hasn’t fully forgiven me for how I treated him at first given that I’m now doing the same thing, but I hope that in time, he will.
Lilah pulls back from Sadie, glancing from her friend to her fiancé to her me. “Well,” she says, “I guess Kincaid and I will get out of your hair, seeing as we clearly interrupted something.” She makes a gagging noise, and Sadie giggles.
“Please, as if you’re not dying to get your man alone after eight days on the road.”
“She’s not the only one who’s dying,” says Kincaid, and we all laugh.
“Why don’t we all have dinner tomorrow night,” I suggest as we move toward the front door. “Might as well start moving forward, right?”
Lilah nods. “Okay. Dinner sounds good.” She pulls Sadie in for another quick hug. “And for the record, I am not calling you Mom.”
Sadie bursts out laughing, shaking her head. “Oh, god. Please don’t.”
With laughter still echoing in the foyer, Lilah and Kincaid head out into the night, and I feel as though a weight’s been lifted from my shoulders. It’s a little tenuous, but I have the feeling that everything’s going to work out just fine.
“Where were we?” I ask, hauling the love of my life into my arms. Sadie shrieks with laughter, and I kiss her with a completely clear conscience.