Hard Fall by Brenda Rothert

Chapter Ten

Hadley

“The look on his face!” Drew threw his head back in laughter. “Ben hated having pranks pulled on him.”

“But he was the first one to laugh at the rest of us when we were on the receiving end,” Nash added.

There was a moment of silence at the table at Giovanna’s. Though there was sadness on many faces, there were also smiles. Hearing the story about the time Van had put a snake in a locker-room cooler and waited for Ben to open it in search of a drink had made me laugh. I liked finding out something I didn’t know about him—it almost made me feel like he was here with us. Or at least, his spirit.

“The rookies had it worse that year,” Wes said, shaking his head. “Van put the snake in bed with each of them, and we videotaped it.”

“Oh shit, that’s right!” Drew said. “Didn’t Rory piss himself?”

Rory glared at the team’s goalie. “I thought I was about to die, motherfucker. You guys are lucky none of us had heart conditions.”

Wes looked at me, his expression relaxed and happy. I was feeling the same way, both of us several drinks in and full of delicious bread and pasta neither of us had cooked or cleaned up after.

“I think the poor snake was more scared than anyone,” he said, giving my hand a little squeeze.

“I took him to the woods behind my parents’ house after,” Van said. “I’m sure he had a good life there.”

“Guys, I hate to do this, but we’ve gotta go,” Drew said, looking at Nina. “Our kids mercilessly wake up hungry and full of energy at six on the dot every morning.”

“Ugh.” Rory cringed. “I’d tell ‘em to grab a protein bar and let me sleep another hour.”

“Hadley,” Nina said as she stood up. “Can I come by tomorrow, early afternoon? I thought we could catch up and hang out with the kids.”

“Actually, I have both our nanny and Ben’s parents helping out right now, so I could do lunch out if you want.”

“That sounds great. Let’s text in the morning about a time and place.”

Wes leaned his face in close to mine and murmured, “Hope you don’t mind, but I texted Tori and told her she can have a few days off, with pay, while Patrick and Susan are here. I want them to get the full experience.”

“You’re ruthless,” I said, laughing. “And I love it.”

The others were starting to rise from the table, gathering coats and purses. I glanced at my watch and saw to my surprise that it was after midnight.

Wes helped me out of my chair and we said our goodbyes to everyone. I’d seen Wes pass Vicenzo a credit card from his wallet a couple hours ago, and he signed for the check and got his card back on our way out.

“We thank you,” Vicenzo said, putting a hand on Wes’s shoulder. “Your team is always so generous with us. Bring your lovely lady back for a date soon and I’ll reserve a corner table for you.”

Wes met my gaze for a second and said, “I’ll do that. And we’ll see you next time. Thanks for staying open late for us.”

“Anytime.”

We walked out into the brisk night air and I put my dark purple stocking cap on. Wes grinned down at me.

“That was nice of you, to pay the bill,” I said.

He shrugged. “Team captain’s job. Ben always picked it up, so now I will.”

“You’re the new team captain?”

“Technically. But Ben will remain our official team captain for the rest of the season. If we don’t start winning consistently, he might send me a message from the beyond telling me we need to get our asses in gear.”

“Let’s not worry about any of that tonight. It feels so good to take a night off of winning and losing and deadlines.”

“You’re right,” he said. “And you look cute in that hat.”

My heart kicked up as I touched the end of my stocking cap and said, “Thanks. Lauren made it for me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. She was just naturally good at things, you know? If she wanted to learn to do something, she just...did.”

“You’re good at things, too.”

I laughed lightly. “Like ballbusting?”

Wes sighed softly as we walked in the direction of his Range Rover. “You know, Hadley, if I could do it all over, I wouldn’t have made that lame crack about you liking wieners.”

I whipped my head around in surprise. “You remember that?”

“Of course I remember. Over the course of exactly three seconds, your face went from interested, to incredulous, to disgusted. I’d just…had a few beers and, to be honest, I still had some growing up to do.”

His humility about our first meeting caught me off guard. We reached his car, and before he could open my door, I stepped closer to him and put a palm on his chest.

“I overreacted,” I admitted. “I shouldn’t have let one stupid comment decide whether you were worth getting to know better.”

“Can I confess something?”

I smiled and said, “Of course.”

“I’d never been shot down before. I was kind of blown away when you rejected me, because I was so used to women falling at my feet no matter what I said. I once walked into a party after a game in college, drunk off my ass, and told a woman I’d just stepped in dog shit. She laughed and said I was cute. Anyway…” He shook his head, looked away and then met my gaze. “I thought you were sexy as hell. An absolute ten. And then, when you shot me down…I liked you even more.”

I warmed from head to toe, pleased with the compliments, but also trying to wrap my head around what I was hearing. “You liked me?”

“Always. I just knew I’d blown it.”

He cupped my cheek in his hand and brushed his thumb across my cheekbone, then across my lips, creating a flutter of excitement in my stomach. A small snowflake fell on his dark stubble as he slid his hand around to the back of my neck and leaned down, kissing me.

It was soft and tender. His lips slowly caressed mine before I grabbed the sides of his coat and pulled my body flush against his, intensifying our kiss. His sweet words, woodsy scent and hard, warm body made me forget everything else. I didn’t take the time to analyze or overthink it—I just lived in this perfectly romantic moment.

Wes groaned and pushed me against his car, his tongue brushing over mine in a kiss so passionate that I couldn’t think straight. I just knew I wanted more.

When Wes’s mouth moved down to my jawline, I gasped and closed my eyes, blissfully overwhelmed by his large frame and obvious hunger for me.

“Let’s go to a hotel,” he murmured in my ear as his lips grazed my neck.

“I want to.”

“You’re so goddamn sexy, Hadley. I can’t wait to show you what you do to me.”

Even through our coats, I felt his hardness pressed against me. I wanted to throw caution to the wind and stay in this moment, screwing Wes until the very last minute we had to return home in the morning.

The voice was back, though. That little, annoying thread of logic was telling me it was irresponsible to stay out all night, return home in the morning looking like we’d gotten drunk, fucked and come slinking back home in yesterday’s clothes. We hadn’t even run staying out all night by Patrick and Susan.

“I want to so much,” I repeated. “But like Nina said, we have to keep our ducks in a row. I don’t want to give Patrick and Susan any ammunition to strengthen their case against us. And they don’t know how to pat Benny’s tummy when he has gas at night. And if Annalise wakes up in the morning and we aren’t there…”

Wes sighed heavily. “I get it.”

“I want to.” I pulled on his coat and waited until his eyes met mine. “You know how much I want to, right?”

The corners of his lips tugged up in a smile. “Yeah, tell it to my balls.”

“I’m not sure a one-on-one conversation between me and your balls would be helpful at the moment.”

With a low laugh, he kissed my forehead and said, “Okay, not tonight. But soon.”

“Yes.”

He kissed my lips a final time before stepping back, pulling me with him so he could open the passenger door for me.

How soon was soon? I wondered as he drove us home, his hand on my thigh making me so hot I was squirming in my seat.

Not soon enough.

“So obviously,you and Wes are getting it on.”

My cheeks warmed as I laughed at Nina’s comment. We were sitting at a booth at a suburban deli, chatting over soup and sandwiches.

“We haven’t gotten it all the way on yet,” I confessed.

“Really?” She gave me a skeptical look. “I told Drew on the way home last night that with the way I saw you guys looking at each other, there was a one hundred percent chance of sex.”

“Well, we had to go home to the kids and Ben’s parents, so…no.”

“Yeah, I can see how that would be a buzzkill. But I love that you guys are so into each other. And I know Lauren would, too.”

I looked down, smiling sadly when I looked back up at Nina. “Lauren and Ben tried to fix Wes and I up a long time ago…like seven years ago, I think. It didn’t go well.”

“People change. Drew says he got all the partying out of his system quick when he went pro because it was so much more intense than he realized it would be.”

“But with Wes and I…I don’t know if it’s a good idea to go there. I mean, do I want to go there? Absolutely. But we still don’t know which of us will be raising the kids.”

“Oh, I thought you were going to be raising the kids together. Is that not the case?”

I shook my head. “I don’t see how it can be. My boss said I can work remotely for now, but she’s not happy with how it’s going. I’m the first to admit that I can’t keep up. Even with the new nanny. I used to work ten to twelve hours a day, and I just can’t do that with the kids.”

“You know the situation better than I do,” Nina said, “but it seems like it makes sense for you and Wes to raise the kids together. If you took them back to New York, you’d have to hire full-time help to continue working that much.”

“I know. I worry about all of this stuff all the time. And I feel like Wes and I getting involved romantically will only complicate things more. Especially if it doesn’t work out.”

Nina nodded. “It’s smart to think about that, even though it has to be hard.”

“Annalise and Benny have already lost their parents. Ben and Lauren were their world. And I don’t want them to lose me or Wes because we started sleeping together and things went bad. It’s not right.”

“Life is so messy sometimes, isn’t it?”

“Amen to that.” I finished my sandwich and moved the plate aside, putting my elbows on the table. “On a much easier subject, how do I throw a birthday party for a four-year-old?”

“Depends how elaborate you want it to be.”

“I want to do it like Lauren would have. Or as close as I can get to it.”

“Perfect. I’ve always liked the way she did her kids’ parties. They were fun, but not over the top.”

“I was thinking maybe a Frozen theme? Some ice-skating and a cake decorated with snowflakes in different shades of blue?”

“But doesn’t Annalise love the Avengers now?”

“She does, but I don’t know how to put together an Avengers party. I want to make the cake myself, like Lauren always did, but I’m not a professional cake decorator. Actually, I’m not even close to a professional. I can’t do any elaborate decorations.”

“I can help you. Oh! And we already know the perfect person to dress up as Thor and make an appearance at the party. It’ll be great and he can play with the kids.”

“We do?”

Nina grinned. “Lars.”

“Will he be willing to do that?”

She laughed. “For Ben’s daughter, trust me, we’ll probably have the entire Avengers lineup at the party. The team will always love those kids like their own.”

I smiled, grateful that Benny and Annalise were surrounded with such a great support system. Inside, though, I was more conflicted than ever. Taking the kids to New York no longer felt like the clear choice.

Nina was right—life was messy sometimes. There didn’t seem to be a way out of this that didn’t involve someone getting hurt. But it couldn’t be the kids. Neither Wes nor I would allow that.