Overtime Read online

  She’d love it.

  “I’ll be there this Friday. I promise.”

  “You better be! Penny and Philly would love to see you!”

  He nodded. “I do need to see the little man. I’m so happy for you guys.”

  “Thanks,” she said cheerfully. “We are so blessed. But I have to say, Tate told me where ya been, and I’m really proud of ya. I think everyone is. You seem so much happier.”

  He shrugged, bashful as he met her caring gaze. “I am.”

  “Good, now it’s time for you to settle down,” she said with a wink and he chuckled.

  “Working on it. Which reminds me, I gotta bring my woman some water. Excuse me, okay?”

  Leaning over, she kissed his cheek, and he smiled as she said, “Of course, see you Friday. Bring her with you.”

  “Promise,” he said, going around her to find Kacey. He didn’t have to go far; she was standing with Baylor and Jayden, watching him like a hawk.

  “That’s Tate’s wife, right?” she asked once he handed her her drink.

  “It is,” he said, taking a long pull of his water. His mouth was dry.

  “Good, because she has one hell of an ass, and I was about to get superjealous,” she admitted and Jordie laughed, rolling his eyes.

  “While you could be right, my eyes are glued to this beauty,” he said, taking ahold of one of her cheeks.

  “Please don’t sue the team for sexual harassment.”

  He looked over and saw Elli grinning at him as Kacey smacked his hand away.

  “Can’t sue if it’s my boyfriend,” Kacey laughed, but then she cut him a look. “Or can I?”

  Jordie scoffed as Elli laughed, her eyes bright as Shea towered over her, looking ever the doting husband. But even with how large Shea was compared to Elli, Jordie couldn’t help but appreciate how gorgeous she looked in a floor-length purple dress that sparkled at the top. In the dress, he could tell that Elli had lost even more weight.

  “I’m convinced you aren’t feeding this woman,” Jordie accused Shea, and he scoffed.

  “Please, I’m trying to get her to eat more. She’s on some diet, wanting to be thinner for our trip to Disney,” he said, rolling his eyes. That was, until Elli smacked him.

  “Do you know how embarrassing it is when you go to hug Mickey and he can’t get his arms around you? Shea ruined my body with all our blessings, and I’m getting my body back.”

  “If you need help, let me know,” Kacey suggested but Elli shook her head.

  “No, you’d kill me.”

  Kacey laughed as Shea and Jordie said, “Yeah, she would.”

  “No, I’d take it easy. We can do one of my workouts,” she suggested, but as Elli’s eyes traveled down Kacey’s beautiful, fit body, he could see the apprehension in her eyes.

  “I can’t fire you if you hurt me, can I?”

  “No, I’d make you sign a waiver,” Kacey said with a wink and Elli laughed.

  “Fine, I’ll come down after the boys train on Monday.”

  Kacey bounced on her heels. “Can’t wait!”

  Shea snorted with laughter. “Do I need to hire a sitter? Or call Grace?”

  “Shut up, Shea,” she snapped, smacking his stomach. “I’ll be able to walk…I hope.”

  But Kacey shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Jesus, what did I just sign up for?” she whined and Jordie laughed.

  “Hell,” was his opinion and that didn’t seem to please Elli.

  Rolling her eyes, she said, “Okay, I’m gonna go eat my feelings and prepare myself for Monday. Y’all have fun.”

  “Thanks for making sure I wasn’t drinking,” he called to her, and she shot him a grin over her shoulder as her fingers tangled with Shea’s.

  “I almost licked your cup to make sure, but instead I sniffed it when you were watching Kacey talk,” Elli teased and he laughed as she leaned into her husband.

  “Good people,” he declared and Kacey grinned up at him.

  “They love you,” she said, resting her head against his shoulder. “I do too.”

  “Good,” he said, kissing her nose.

  Smiling up at him, she cocked her head to Baylor. “We were talking about her dad, you know, River Moore.”

  “Everyone knows River Moore. Great player, scored two minutes into overtime, game seven.”

  Kacey nodded as Baylor grinned. “Yes, him. He’s looking for an assistant coach for the Bullies.”

  “Oh, really?” he asked with a grin.

  “Yeah, Baylor said she can get me an in.”

  “We like ins,” he noted.

  “I told her she should go for the head coach position for the girls’ team,” Baylor suggested and Jayden nodded, his arm snaked around Baylor’s waist. Jordie sometimes forgot they were together until they were near each other. They reminded him of two magnets, attracted through any barrier.

  “I think you should too. Those girls could learn a lot from you,” Jayden added and Jordie nodded.

  “Either is good, I feel,” he decided and Kacey shrugged.

  “We’ll see,” she said just as Lacey turned to them, her eyes wild with anger.

  Jordie made a face, his brows touching. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Blistering with anger, she burst out, “I’m gonna kill her. She closed my store! Closed it! For a fucking week! No pay for my employees or anything.”

  “Who?” Jordie asked, confused, while Karson shook his head.

  “Rachel did? Oh my goodness, what are you going to do?” Kacey asked.

  “Fire her ass!” she snapped, typing violently on her phone. “Karson, call your mom to see if she can keep Mena. I can’t take her, I might go to jail, and knowing them, this is a big ploy to get me home!”

  “Or we can keep her,” Jordie suggested, and everyone stopped and turned their attention to him. “What? It isn’t like we are doing anything. No reason to call Ma and Dad down. We can do it.”

  “Watch Mena? You two?” Lacey asked, pointing to the both of them, and he gave her a look.

  “I hope you aren’t implying that I can’t care for my goddaughter?” he asked sternly and she shrugged.

  “No, but…can you?” she asked and Kacey nodded.

  “Sure, no big deal. We’d love to. You two go, fire some folks, and maybe have a little night out, just the two of you. She’ll be great.”

  Lacey looked to Karson and he shrugged. “I mean, they are her godparents. If we die, they get her. Might as well give them practice while we’re alive.”

  “Way to think, bro,” Jordie laughed, smacking his arm, and Karson grinned.

  “I mean, just saying,” he said innocently as Lacey glared, but then she chewed her lip, deep in thought.

  Finally, she said, “Fine, thank you. I’ll plan everything tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good. In the meantime, I’m taking my woman to dance,” he said, taking Kacey’s water from her and handing it to a guy who was walking around with a platter. When he reached for her, she went willingly, smiling as they headed to the floor to dance. A few couples were dancing, and as he spun her out and back in, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as they swayed to some slow song he hadn’t heard before. Leaning his cheek to hers, he closed his eyes, dizzy from her perfume. It was a mix between fruity and floral, and it drove him crazy with need.

  “We’ve never danced before,” she whispered against his cheek. “Never.”

  “Yes, we have,” he said, pulling back to look at her.

  “When?”

  “Back in college, right before Karson locked you in the room, we danced to ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’ by John Mayer.”

  She paused for a moment and then smiled. “We did. You remember that?”

  He nodded. “I do, and I remember the Team USA shirt you wore, because your tits looked so good in it. And also the tight jeans, because of your ass—it was so juicy back then, unlike now, when it’s so strong. Oh, and how long your hair was. All the wa