Player (A Secret Baby Sports Romance)(26)

“Whoa! Hang on, Buckley’s not always the friendliest to new-”

The door pops open, Buckley comes flying out, and…

And he stops, wags his damn tail, and flops over onto his back panting - fucking putty in her hands.

Wait, what?

“People,” I finish, raising a brow at Buckley, who’s now on his back, belly presented for rubs, and wagging his tail - happy as a fucking clam as Natalie lavishes him with love.

She turns, shrugging. “Well he seems like a sweetheart to me.” She crouches down to scratch Buckley’s ears. “Yes you are! Aren’t you Buckley!”

The little traitor licks her hand.

What the fuck. This dog hates anyone coming too near me - women especially for some reason. Buckley’s cock-blocked me more than literally anything else ever, because he can’t stand when I bring a girl home and ignore him for her.

And he’s loving Natalie.

Man’s best friend, huh?

Natalie stands and steps into the house, and Buckley trots over, as if suddenly remembering he should say hi to me too.

“So much for loyalty, huh pal?” I mutter, giving him a quick ear scratch before I head in after Nat.

“Jesus Christ, where the fuck have you- oh.”

Kyle - my best friend and the only person in the world I’d be okay with being in my house when I wasn’t home - comes to a halt as he storms around the corner from my kitchen. He blinks quickly behind his glasses as he notices Natalie.

“Well hey,” he grins, pushing hair out of his eyes and adjusting his glasses as he squares his shoulders a little more.

Yeah, it’s a little eye-rolling, but at the same time, I’m proud of Kyle. Six years ago when we met as freshmen roommates, the kid hadn’t ever even seen a pair of tits that weren’t on the internet. He had the confidence of a damn kitten, and the social skills of the Unabomber.

I’d like to think I changed that.

Because for some reason, despite being the most opposite people in the world, we clicked. He kept me grounded, reminded me I was a person and not some campus deity, and more importantly, he was there when shit with my dad started to get rough again back home. I got him out, got him laid, and helped him find the pair I knew he had.

Loyalty means a lot to me.

He’s grinning at Natalie, looking downright cocky now.

Watch it, pal.

I can’t take all the credit, of course. The guy turned his life around. Started playing a tad less video games, started getting out more, started working out and eating right, and started actually talking to girls.

This recent boost of cockiness comes from him being a goddamn genius and selling some facial recognition software thing to the Army. A little multi-million-dollar government check never hurts in the confidence or pulling-tail game, I’ll say that.

I cough, yanking his attention away from Natalie, and he raises an eyebrow at me as he darts his eyes between the two of us.

“Right, yeah. Nat, meet Kyle, my butler.”

“Dick.”

I grin. “Kyle, meet Natalie-”

“Hey Natalie, nice to-”

“-My wife.”

Kyle stops in his tracks and jerks his head back to me. “Uh, what?”

I frown, bringing a hand up to rub my still sore temples.

“It’s a long story,” Natalie mutters.

“Yeah, no, it sounds…”

Kyle scratches his head as he slowly nods, raising a brow at me. “Well, what happens in Vegas, huh?”

Natalie groans.



“So, it’s all a sham?” Kyle gives me a look as he leans against my fridge, crossing his arms over his chest. “Or are you actually married?” He shakes his head. “I’m confused.”

We’re all sitting around the island range in my kitchen - Natalie and I sucking down Gatorade to chase the lingering demons of our post-wedding hangover.

“How have you not heard about this yet?” I hold up the cell phone I’ve just been dumb enough to turn back on, the screen flashing with something like four-hundred text messages and probably triple that in emails.

Kyle shrugs. “Hey, I’ve been coding here at your place all day while they finish the flooring at my place. Been on media blackout.”

“Well, surprise.”

“So much for that whole ‘keeping it a secret’ thing,” Natalie says flatly.

I shrug. “It’s Kyle, we know all each other’s dirty little secrets. I mean I was there when he punched his v-card.”

“Dude!” Kyle glares at me and I grin.

Natalie arches a brow at the two of us. “Oh, that’s, uh-”

“No, not like, there there, just, you know, I helped.”

“Will you stop talking?” Kyle groans. “He means he fed me enough alcohol to sleep with Erica Hopewell, the campus…uh, you know.”