Bad Boy’s Baby(24)
“Do you regret it?”
I licked my lips, wishing he’d kiss me instead of making me talk.
“Absolutely not,” I said.
I heard Jack’s grin through his words, muffled in the sensitive hollow of my throat. “Did I hurt you?”
“Hurt me?”
“I took you harder than I planned.” He switched off the stove and lifted me up, setting me on the counter if only so he could move between my legs again. His blue-eyes flashed, mischievous, the gaze of a rogue looking to steal what he had already taken. “You turned me into an animal, Kiss. Couldn’t contain myself.”
“I survived.”
“Wish I had. Can’t stop thinking about you. If you knew how hard I was…”
I knew very well how hard he was. I felt it pressing against me. I arched an eyebrow.
“You still want more?” I asked. “Even after all of last night?”
“Fuck yeah, I do.” Jack’s fingers grazed my bare leg, tickling up to the hem of the jersey. “Tell me that wasn’t the best sex of your life.”
“Aren’t you a little smug?”
“I deserve to be. I rocked your world.”
I rolled my eyes. “Good Lord, Jack. You think everyone’s world revolves around you.”
“Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me you aren’t still weak in the knees and wetter than hell because of me.”
He knew the answer to that. I looked down, but my gaze fell only to the definition of his broad chest. The man was pure muscle, absolutely rock hard in every place his body had laid over mine.
“You’re not wrong.” I wasn’t afraid to be honest with him. “I’ve never had a night like that. Never had anything like that before.”
Jack frowned. “Not even with your ex?”
“Especially not with Wyatt.”
“What about before him?”
Tricky, dangerous territory. “There…wasn’t anyone before him.”
Jack took a step back. “You only had sex with one guy before me?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
I didn’t think he’d understand. “Because I had a plan. Wyatt and I dated in college, we were getting married. I plotted out the kids and the jobs and everything. It was going to work. I prepared for a perfect life, everything I ever wanted.”
Jack’s expression darkened. “Then he cheated on you.”
My stomach flipped. I still wasn’t over that pain, even after a year. “Yeah. He…wanted a bit of freedom. He didn’t like the plan anymore, and, instead of telling me, he decided to sleep with my best friend. They…they got married after she realized she was pregnant.”
“Sorry, Kiss.”
“It’s fine. I thought I could just…power through it. I’d take what I wanted anyway. I haven’t really trusted anyone since then.”
He nodded. “Makes it hard to get married and have all those kids, doesn’t it?”
I shifted, my fingers clenching the counter. “I had a plan for that too.”
“Doesn’t surprise me.”
“I was…getting information on sperm donors.”
Jack laughed. “Are you serious?”
“It probably sounds crazy, but I’ve always known what I wanted from life. I …figured I could do it without the marriage and husband.”
“Then I won’t feel so guilty for wanting to impregnate you.” Jack meant it as a joke, but I heard the desire in his words. “This arrangement worked out good for you.”
“That remains to be seen.”
Jack glanced over the jersey, my soft legs. I swear he saw right through the material to my bare flesh beneath. “I’ll take care of everything with this baby, Kiss.”
“I doubt that, but thanks.”
“I’m serious. I can handle the midnight feedings. Diaper runs. All that stuff.”
“Do you know the first thing about babies?”
“Not at all, but I can learn.”
I reached for a strip of bacon, nibbling on the end. Jack stared at my lips.
“Do you like kids?” I asked.
“Hell yeah.” Jack tucked three strips of bacon into a folded pancake and dipped the improvised breakfast taco into syrup. He took a big bite and looked surprised when I gave him a skeptical smirk. “Of course I like kids. They’re great. They like fun. They don’t have any expectations or responsibilities. They like to have a good time. So do I.”
“I figured as much.”
Jack swallowed, his smile fading. “My kid will have all the fun there is in life. All of it. The amusement parks and toys and vacations and everything. They’ll have it all, because not every kid gets a chance to do something as simple as throw a ball with their dad.”
I lowered the bacon. Jack’s eyes weren’t on me anymore. He focused only on a memory I don’t think he shared with anyone. It all started to make sense.
He gave money directly to McGrin Regional Hospital. The pediatric ward.
He didn’t want anyone to know about the donation.
There was a reason for it.
“Jack…” I drew his attention to me. “Why were you at McGrin Regional?”
He pushed from the counter. My body chilled without him between my legs. It only flickered, but already I missed his smile.
“My little brother died when he was nine,” Jack said.
Oh. My breath escaped in a mournful gasp. “I’m so sorry.”
“Leukemia. I was seventeen when it happened.”
My heart shattered for him. Jack tossed the rest of his breakfast away. His hand trembled, and he curled it into a fist. He glanced at me, jaw tight.
“He was one hell of an athlete. Or would have been.”
“Is everyone in your family athletic?”
“Nah. He was better than me. Did things when he was a kid I couldn’t do. If he hadn’t gotten sick, he could have done anything. Football, soccer, baseball. The fucking Olympics.”
“It sounds like you really loved him.”
Jack swallowed. “Yeah. He idolized me for some stupid reason. He loved going to my high school games. He cheered for me louder than my mom.” He paused, and I realized it was probably the first time he was telling anyone about this. “When he got too sick to come to the games, I brought in the recording, and we watched it together. The last time he smiled was while we watched a recording of the semi-finals. I forgot the snap count and ate a sack on the goal line. He rewound that play so many damn times I got pissed and broke the DVD. He thought it was hilarious.”
“What was his name?”
“Sam.”
Jack paced the kitchen. I hated how painful it was for him, but he was telling me anyway. That was a gift, a revelation I doubted he trusted many to know.
“Sam deserved a better life than that. I watched this little kid just…waste away.” He paused, a long moment while he remembered more than I felt right asking to hear. “The doctors did good though. They tried everything, and he was always taken care of. So I, uh…” He shrugged. “I figure I can give something back to the wing in his memory.”
Was it okay to hug him? I pulled him close, tugging his hand, returning him to my side. “I didn’t know you had a little brother.”
“I don’t tell many people.”
“We could share the story. Let them see you donate. It’d help your—”
“I don’t care about my image. That’s personal. He was my little brother. I’m not exploiting his memory.”
I squeezed his hand. “It’s not exploiting. You’re in the spotlight, Jack. It comes with the territory. People need to see that other side of you.”
“Why?”
“Just the way it is. You’re a public figure.”
“I never asked to be a role-model.”
I arched an eyebrow. “And if this works? If we have a baby?”
Jack stilled. He studied my body. “It will work.”
“You’ll have to be a role-model for your son.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because he’ll be my son.”
I didn’t expect such conviction. Jack held my gaze, edging close to me.
“Or she’ll be my daughter,” he said. “I’ll owe my kid everything, but I don’t owe the world some bullshit lie. I’m Jack Carson. I’m no fucking saint. What I do on my nights off, who I go out with, what I do, who I take home…that’s my business. I’m not going to let the league tame me because they think my reputation has anything to do with how well I play football.”
“You can’t party forever, Jack. You have to grow up someday.”
“And you can’t schedule your life down to the minute and hope that nothing knocks you off course.” He winked, brushing a hand over my belly. “Or hope that someone knocks you up.”
I poked his chest, but my hand tickled over the thick muscles of his pecs. “You better take this seriously, Jack.”
“I’m a serious as I get right now.” His grin charmed me even when I thought I could resist it the most. “Think it’s too early to take a pregnancy test?”
I laughed. “Oh, you don’t know anything about the female body, do you?”
“I know my way around it. No one’s complained yet.”
“It’s too early to take a test.”