Mom gone young, a dad left alone to raise his only daughter?
Yeah, I think it’s fair to say I’ve heard this song before.
“I’m so sorry, Landon.”
He glances up, his eyes finding mine.
Just then, Emily comes dashing back down the hall, pushing past the two of us as she darts across the room and hops back into her bed.
“All ready for sleep, kiddo?”
“Yep!”
The smile that spreads across his face as he moves to his daughter’s bed simultaneously lifts me up and breaks my heart.
“Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Goodnight Dad.” She looks past him. “Thanks for watching a movie with us, Serena.”
“Anytime,” I say with a smile as Landon tucks the blankets around her. “Thanks for the delicious cookies!”
She beams at me.
“It was a long time ago, she doesn’t remember it.”
We’re standing in his kitchen later, after putting Emily to sleep. Landon pulls a bottle of beer from the fridge and twists the cap off before offering it my way. I nod, bringing it to my lips as he pulls out a second one for himself.
“There was a crash.”
I nod, chewing on my lip. My eyes follow him as he moves across the kitchen and leans against the kitchen counter beside me. He takes a big sip from his beer.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
He looks up, a wry smile on his face. “Nah it’s okay. It was just one of those shit things that happens. It was quick, she didn’t suffer. Emily was two, a friend of ours was watching her.” He sighs loudly, taking another big pull from his beer. “Things just happen, Serena. I lost my wife, and my career as a player. But I got Emily, and I got a job I love even more than I ever loved playing ball. He shrugs. “The world works in fucked-up mysterious ways, I guess.”
“Believe me, you don’t have to tell me that.”
He smiles at me, his eyes locked on me as he nods. “This is why I love the team and why I’ve been hard on you, just so you know. The team and Sam’s legacy is my family. It’s my everything right now, aside from Emily.”
“I understand,” I say quietly. He looks up. “I mean, the whole single dad working in sports with a daughter thing. Believe me,” I shrug and take a sip of beer. “Been there.”
Landon nods, taking a drink from the bottle in his hand.
“Well, so there it is. There’s my deal. My dirty secret.”
We stand in silence for another solid minute, just drinking quietly and letting the revelation sink in.
“I can’t have children.”
The words come out faster than I ever thought they would - so fast that I don’t have time to even consider whether or not I should be telling him this.
Landon looks up sharply, and I swallow the lump in my throat as I nod, looking at the floor.
“My secret.” I shrug before glancing up at him. “It’s why David left. He wanted a family, and so did I, but I can’t.”
Landon’s brow crumbles as he slowly shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Serena.”
“It’s fine.” I force a smile to my face as I meet his eye. “I wanted to adopt, but David was against raising a kid that ‘wasn’t his’. Then he left me for this girl he worked with, and now they’re married with a kid together.”
A shadow crosses his face as his jaw tightens.
“So, there’s mine.”
He nods. “Guess we know each other’s secrets now.”
“Looks that way.”
We stand like that for a minute, side by side against the kitchen counter, looking at each other in the silence of the kitchen.
His hand moves to mine.
Neither of us speaks a word as our fingers slip together. His thumb brushes across the top of my hand, my fingers tighten within his. I swallow, feeling my breath come quicker as we hold each other’s eyes with that single point of contact between.
Landon puts his beer down as he turns his body towards me, and I’m moving against him before I can stop myself. I set my own drink down as he moves in front of me, his other hand finding mine.
I look up into his eyes. No words are spoken out loud, but there aren’t any needed.
It’s the last thought that slips through my mind before he leans down, brings his lips to mine, and kisses me.
Chapter Seventeen
Serena
Landon’s kiss is punishing and demanding, his lips searing into mine as his tongue finds my own. A hand slides to my waist as he pushes me against the kitchen counter, and another slips up and into my hair.
My hands move to his waist, pulling him into me before sliding up his chest. I’m searching for something to hold onto; wanting this. This is escape, and release, and a breaking of the storm that’s been building up to a frenzy inside both of us since that day in the lawyer’s office.