CHAPTER 24 Penny Calloway
Manifest
The second I exit the secure area of the terminal, I spot him.
I try to remember a time when my husband picked me up from the airport, and I’m drawing a blank. He might’ve arranged a ride for me, but he never would’ve taken time out of his day to fight traffic and pick me up.
Liam is wearing a white T-shirt and khaki shorts, and he looks less like a pro football player and more like a tourist, or maybe a local greeting his girlfriend as she exits the plane on her way to visit.
He has a baseball hat on, and it’s pulled down a bit so he can try to avoid being recognized.
He’s never been the star of the team, something that grates on him given his brothers’ positions within the league, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get recognized when he’s in public. He’s from a pretty famous family, after all, and he does all right for himself.
And he’s hot as hell.
I rush into his arms, and the moment he hauls me into him and drops his lips to mine, I feel this sense that I’m home again.
Even though I’ve never actually been to San Diego before in my life.
I’m thrilled to be back in Liam’s arms, and there’s something so natural about being with him. I would never have guessed that I’d feel this way a few months ago, but here we are.
God, my life has fully changed in the last few months. I went from being married to finding out my husband was cheating on me in mid-October. Here we are less than eight months later, and I’m meeting my best friend’s younger brother in San Diego for a sex retreat.
Okay, so that’s not technically what we’re calling it, but it feels a bit like that in my mind. At least I hope that’s what’ll happen this weekend.
I was expecting just a quick kiss hello, but as I feel his tongue pushing at the seam of my lips, I find myself getting lost in the moment.
I’ve never been a make-out-in-the-airport kind of girl—or maybe I have been all along, and it just took the right guy to unlock that side of me.
Whatever the case, it feels somehow freeing to be away from home doing this here in San Diego with him.
I pull back before we get indecent. We have all weekend for that.
We walk hand-in-hand down to baggage claim, and he pulls my bag from the carousel. He drags my suitcase and holds my hand, and we wind up at his car a few minutes later.
“This airport is so much smaller than O’Hare,” I say as I buckle into his rental.
He nods. “It’s nice, right?” As he pulls out of the parking garage, I see the water. The airport is situated close to the waterfront, and while Lake Michigan back home offers nice views, it has nothing on the beauty of the San Diego Bay with the city as the backdrop.
“Where are you staying?”
“I’m at a resort ten minutes away. It’s about fifteen minutes from there to the practice center. Super convenient, and they have everything I need, though my teammates have been taking me out every night,” he says.
“How’s that been?”
He lifts a shoulder. “It’s been incredible, actually.
I guess I’ve been relegated to second string for so long that I never really felt like a part of the action in Pittsburgh, but here…
I don’t know. It’s a different feeling. Tanner is the starter, and he has never once treated me like I’m inferior to him even though by all accounts—”
“Stop,” I interrupt. “You’re not inferior to anybody.”
He clenches his jaw, and it feels like this conversation hits a nerve for him.
“You made it. You’re a professional football player. That’s nothing short of totally and completely incredible.”
He presses his lips together before he responds. “Yeah. As a career backup.”
“Maybe you just haven’t had your chance yet.”
He lifts a shoulder. “Or maybe my best days are behind me.”
I can relate.
“Manifest, babe. Manifest the good stuff.”
He glances at me with a chuckle. “I didn’t know you were all woo woo.”
“I’m not,” I say, holding up a hand. “But manifesting freaking works.”
He raises a brow. “Oh yeah? How?”
“Okay, so that night you walked into the bar, I was sitting there after a long day of work, and I manifested you.”
He glances at me again to narrow his eyes before they return to the road. “You wanted me to walk into the bar?”
I shake my head and giggle. “No, I told the universe I needed someone to pay for my dinner so I could use that money to pay for Sammy’s baseball uniform, and you showed up and took care of the bill.”
He barks out a laugh. “If you weren’t best friends with my sister, I’d think you had ulterior motives.”
Emboldened by the fact that it’s just the two of us in this town—plus his entire football team and one, maybe two of his siblings—I reach over and slide my hand up his thigh until I feel where his cock is nestled in his shorts, and I rub my palm over him. “Oh, I do.”
He shakes his head, a smile playing on his lips. “Admittedly, I have those same motives.”
“Good thing the hotel is only ten minutes away.”
“I’m not entirely sure I can make it that long.”
“Oh? Shall we manifest an orgasm right here in the car?” I tease, and I apply a little pressure where my palm still sits over his cock.
He groans. “Not if you want to get there safely.” He reaches down and grabs my hand in his, pulling it away from his now very hard cock and lacing his fingers through mine. “If you keep doing that, I’m going to come in my pants, and then we won’t get to have fun for two to three hours.”
“I can still have fun, Bradley,” I hint.
He chuckles. “Don’t you worry about that, Wade.”
My head whips over to him.
My last name is still legally Calloway.
But there’s something inherently sexy about him calling me by my maiden name—a name I didn’t even know he knew.
“That’s right,” he murmurs. “I’m not calling you by some other asshole’s name. Not when you’re mine.”
I melt right there into the seat of the rental car.
We pull into the hotel, and my stomach growls.
He must hear it, because he asks, “Do you want to get something to eat?”
As much as I’d rather have him make a meal out of me, I probably could use some sustenance before we get down to business. “Please.”
We walk toward the lobby of the hotel from the parking garage, where he drops my bags with the concierge. We head to one of the restaurants next, and we get a table right away. He sits beside me, close enough that I can smell him, building the anticipation between us after a week away.
“We haven’t had much time to really talk about how you’re feeling about things,” I say quietly after we place our orders.
He nods. “Yeah. It’s been…a lot. Izzy said she needed money, and it makes me wonder if she did all this on purpose.
” He lifts a shoulder. “I don’t know. I don’t honestly remember our time together.
I usually use a condom, but I guess they’re not always effective. Sometimes it’s hard being a Bradley.”
I twist my lips. “And then I made the joke about manifesting someone to pay for my dinner. I’m so sorry, Liam. I’ll pick up the tab here.”
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.
You’ve been friends with my sister for years.
It’s not like you’re taking handouts from her.
I know how hard you work, and I guess I’ve just been thinking about everything.
” He glances away from me, and I get the sense that he feels a certain way about what he’s about to say.
“I don’t want to burden you with my new situation. You’ve got enough going on.”
“Hey,” I say softly, and he glances up at me. “The whole idea of a relationship is shouldering those burdens together. And on that note, I actually have something for you.” I pull out a list from my bag and slide it across the table to him.
He glances at it and reads the title aloud. “Things Liam needs to get.” He proceeds to read down the list of all the baby items he’ll need for his place here in San Diego.
“I actually created an Amazon wishlist in your name so you can pick off what you need, or if you want to share it with your family, they can send you stuff.” I lift a shoulder. “It’s sort of just the basics, the things that’ll get you through the first few months. It’s not much.”
He blinks as he tilts his head and stares at me. “It’s not much? Penny, this is everything.” He shakes his head a little. “It was so kind of you to put this together.”
“Oh, it was nothing. Really.”
He closes his eyes and sighs. “See? This. This stuff right here. This is why I need you here, but I’m so torn between asking you to be here with me and wanting to leave you alone because you have your own shit you’re going through.”
“Liam. Stop. Like I just said, we shoulder this together.”
“So we’re in a relationship?” he asks, his eyes shining with what feels like hope.
I let out a small laugh as I nod. “Afraid so.”
“Thank fuck,” he says, and he leans over to press his lips to mine.
I guess all of this begs the very important question…if we are in a relationship, then we should be together. Right?
What if he gets his chance here? What if Tanner retires or gets hurt and the backup becomes the starter, and Liam decides he wants to set down roots here?
I can’t be the reason he’s tied to Chicago, but I’m also not in any way prepared to just drop everything and move my life here.
It’s a lot of heavy stuff to think about, but I relegate it to the backburner for now so I can enjoy my weekend with Liam.
And we do. We make love. We take walks on the beach.
We sit by the pool. He takes me into town.
He shows me where his practice facility is and where the stadium is.
We look at gorgeous houses up in the hills, ones with bedrooms for each of the boys and the baby on the way plus extras for guests or whatever the future might hold.
He doesn’t pressure me to move here with him, but instead seems to hold space for me and my situation for the times I might be able to travel here with the boys. It feels less like I’m being used for my motherly services and more like he wants a true partnership.
In short, it feels like one perfect weekend.
But all good things must come to an end…even perfect weekends.