“You’ve been great to me these past few months. It means a lot.” She paused at the light and rested her head against him.
“I like you, Holly. It’s been hard watching you go through this alone. I don’t know how he just left you.” Tanner’s voice was soft and sincere and she stared up at him.
“Like like?” Holly asked in shock as he nodded.
“I was going to ask you out before, but you told me that you were seeing someone. After that, you seemed to have stopped and you looked so wrecked over it. I wanted to give you time.” Tanner shook his head. “Then you told me about the baby.”
“What did that change?” Holly asked as he led her across the street by taking her hand.
“It made me want to take care of you and the baby. The father has never stepped up to the plate and you need someone, Holly.” Tanner told her and she felt tears in her eyes.
“Tanner, you’re so good.” She sniffled as he held on tight as she started to cry.
“I want to date you. I want to be there for you when the baby is born.” Tanner told her, making her cry harder as she stopped walking. Looking back over the past few months, she realized that he’d liked her for the entire time that she’d known him. It was so obvious but she’d been too obsessed with her affair with Aaron and she fell against him. Had she chosen the wrong guy?
Tanner got her to her apartment and helped her inside, setting her down on the couch before he got her some water. “I wasn’t dumped, Tanner. I ended things when I realized that I was pregnant.” Holly admitted as she stared down at the floor. “I was scared to tell him and I just told him that I wanted to end it.”
“Is he in your life?” Tanner asked, and she shrugged.
“I see him sometimes, yes. He knows about it now…someone told him. I don’t know what will happen.” Holly admitted, falling into silence for a moment. “I kind of wish it had been you now, but this is a big bag of luggage to take on.”
Her phone chimed and she blinked as tears filled her eyes. “Shit.”
“Take the call. I am here for you for whatever you need.” Tanner assured her, kissing her hair with a firm press of his lips before he stood up. She watched him leave painfully, knowing that he could offer her a good, steady life but it wouldn’t be one that she really wanted. The phone sounded again and she bit her lip as she looked to see that Aaron was calling her.
“Hi.” Her voice was breaking as she tried to answer calmly, crying harder.
“I need to see you. I couldn’t even focus at dinner tonight.” Aaron told her huskily, making her heart beat and her hormones kick in.
CHAPTER FIVE
“I…I want to see you too.” Her willpower was faltering, and she didn’t think she could lie about the baby anymore. It wasn’t in her and Tanner’s confession had only made Holly realize how much she loved Aaron. “I know that you’ve moved on, I do. I just want to talk.”
“Where are you?” His voice was demanding and she sat up straighter.
“My apartment. Lisa is staying with Walt tonight so I’m alone.” She told him the address and he ended the call abruptly after telling her that he’d be there soon. Holly went to wash her face with some cold water and freshen up, changing into a cotton dress that draped around her curves and dragged on the floor. She heard the knock at the door as she stared at herself helplessly in the mirror, not knowing what to do as she ran her hands through her hair.
Holly walked out barefoot to answer the door, watching him stride past her into the living room. “Hi.” She closed the door and walked over to the couch to sit down, absently stroking her stomach. “There’s so much I want to know, Holly. I’m so angry that you never told me.”
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, feeling every bit of his pain as she pinched her eyes closed. “I was scared that you’d quit your job and leave the sport. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” Aaron asked, making her jump as he sat next to her. “How could this hurt me? I think I’m more pissed off that you hid it. Why? Isn’t it mine?”
“You know I was never with anyone else. You know how special you were to me.” She told him, looking over with flashing eyes. “I was protecting you. We both have good jobs, and I don’t want you to give up the game. You love it.”
“I love you more than any fucking game.” Aaron told her, making her choke for a moment. “I don’t have to leave the job. I can take care of you and…what is the baby?”
“A girl.” Holly admitted, feeling everything that she wanted to in that room with the monitor as tears filled his eyes. “I found out today. I didn’t want…I don’t know what I wanted.”
“I can’t believe that I’m having a daughter. Holly, I’ll be here for her as a dad but I want to be here for you too.” Aaron promised her, as she started to cry again.
“I love my job.” Holly told him, her shoulders shaking. “I love the team and I love caring for them. I was going to tell you that this was another man’s baby and just forget about you.” She tilted her head up to look at him. “You have someone now.”
“I ended it tonight. It never felt right but after seeing you, I just couldn’t be with her anymore.” Aaron told her, making her heart stop for a moment. “Marcy was a nice woman and my family really liked her but I didn’t feel it. I have always wanted to be with you.”
“You ended it for me?” Holly asked him and she felt him tuck her hair behind her ear.
“No, I needed it for me and I ended it for her. She deserves someone that really cares about her.” Aaron told her as she nodded. “I thought that you were with Walt. I was so pissed off and jealous and then I hear he’s with Lisa. You really know how to fuck with a man’s head, Holly.”
“I didn’t mean to.” She looked at him with a long stare, revealing her current state of desire. “I was trying to do what I thought was the right thing. I was jealous too when I saw the pictures of you with her. I tormented myself most of the night thinking about it and feeling fat and insecure.”
“Hardly.” Aaron looked down her body with a hungry gaze. “I knew that you looked different and even more beautiful than ever, but I didn’t suspect this. You were on the pill, weren’t you?”
“There was a bad batch prescribed. There are probably a lot of pregnant women out there right now.” Holly smiled and shook her head.
“Tell me how the pregnancy has been for you. I want to know everything.” Aaron told her, sitting back as she described all of the odd feelings that came along with it, showing him pictures on her phone that Lisa had taken along the way. She also went into the kitchen to get the sonogram pictures from the kitchen to show him, cutting one off for him. “Look at that.” His voice was filled with wonder and she smiled with tears in her eyes.
“I wanted you here for all of this.” Aaron looked up at her and met her eyes. “I have an appointment every month until the due date is closer. Then it will be more often.”
“When is she due?” Aaron asked, resting his hand on her stomach as the other one clutched the picture.
“April. They keep changing the date with every sonogram so I am just leaving it up to her.” Holly replied, shrugging as she sat down beside him. “Want to see her room?”
She took him into the small den and he looked around with a half-smile. “It’s nice but small. Are you planning on moving?”
Holly blushed as she heard the words and he closed his eyes. “Shit. I think I know the only place that you’ll be moving.”
“Do you want me to someday?” Holly whispered, staring into his face as he nodded slowly.
Aaron stepped closer to her, lifting his hands to cup her face. “More than anything.” Holly sucked in her breath as he kissed her softly, closing her eyes as she memorized the feeling. She’d missed him so much though she was scared to hold on too tight, frightened that he would disappear. “I love you so much.”
“I love you.” Holly told him, finally slipping her arms around his neck. “I never want to live without you again.”
“You won’t have to.” Aaron told her, kissing her between sentences. “Will you be my girlfriend, Holly? I always fought it before but now I know what it’s like to be without you.” He kissed her again. “I’ll talk to the league. I’ll figure this out.”
“Aaron…I don’t care about my job. I’ll quit if I have to. I can work somewhere else. It doesn’t matter…I just want to be with you.”
He kissed her harder this time as she clung to him, giving back all of the passion that he feeding to her as he slipped his arms down her body and tugged her closer. “I want you, Holly. I want to see you.”
“Bed.” Holly told him, feeling him grab her ass and tell her to wrap her legs around him. Aaron carried all of them as she protested, telling him that she was too heavy.
“I’ll never put you down again.” Aaron promised her as he kissed her and pressed her back onto the bed. Holly shuddered as he lifted the dress from her body, taking her in with a lascivious gaze and tossing it to the floor. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.” He ran his hands over her stomach gently, leaning down to kiss her skin as she felt another tear slide down her cheek.