The Curve Ball (Indianapolis Lightning Book 2) Read online

  “Tired,” she says on a laugh. “This gestating another human is no joke, and I always forget just how tiring it is. I feel like I could take a nap for the next three days, and I’d still be tired.”

  “I can only imagine,” I tell her. I don’t have the expertise on what it’s like to grow a tiny human inside of me; I can only imagine from when I’ve experienced friends or family that have been pregnant around me.

  “How are things going with JJ and Miss Evie?” she asks. The guys are outside drinking a beer on the patio. Evie is sleeping in the swing in the corner of the living room. I look over at her, peaceful, as the machine sways side to side.

  “Good. I’m glad that JJ got the results today. I think that knowing for sure that she’s his lifted a weight from his shoulders. That, and he was so damn cute with her this afternoon.”

  “He’s taken to her a lot faster than I expected him to,” Jillian says.

  “You should have seen him introducing his parents to her over FaceTime. It was the best thing ever. I almost felt bad for being there for such a personal moment.”

  “You have nothing to feel bad about. You’ve helped him out of a big bind. Without someone that can step in and basically be a surrogate mother for Evie, especially with JJ’s work schedule, he’d have to take a leave of absence or retire completely, and we all know that he isn’t ready to do that, he’s still in the prime of his career.”

  “He’d also be miserable if he retired now. He’d resent having to do so, well before he needs to.”

  “That’s for sure. Everything between the two of you going okay?” she asks, a raised eyebrow accompanying the question.

  “Yes…” I say, drawing out the word. “Why wouldn’t it be?” I ask.

  “Two consenting adults, a lot of time alone together…” she says, trailing off.

  “God, no!” I practically shriek at my sister-in-law. “JJ would never look at me that way,” I tell her, shaking my head side to side. “There’s no way I’m his type, even if I wanted to be.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “A few reasons,” I say, blowing out a huge breath. “First off, he’s my brother's best friend. Isn’t there some unwritten rule against that?” I ask.

  “Rules are meant to be broken,” Jillian states. “And think of all the books you’ve read that are about brother’s best friends falling for the younger sister. One of the best damn tropes, in my opinion. But I digress, continue with your reasoning why the two of you can’t be a thing.”

  “I’m his employee. Absolutely, not the usual one-night stand he’s used to. Kind of hard to be that type when I’m still a virgin,” I admit.

  “Oh, honey. Don’t sell yourself so short. None of those reasons that you just gave me should be anything to stand in your way. If something develops between the two of you, I say go for it. Will Derek be pissed? Probably, for a hot second, but I’ll be here to help calm him down and remind him that you’re a grown-ass woman who can make her own decisions. Even if they’re not the ones that he’d make for you, and then I’d remind him that JJ is his best friend, and yes, the man was once a manwhore chasing anything in a skirt, but people can change, and I think that little girl over there has already started that change in him.”

  “I still don’t see anything transpiring, so I’m not going to dwell on it. He’s got a lot on his plate right now, and I don’t think a relationship is on his radar.”

  “Just give it some time. He’ll realize how good he’s got it with you there, cooking all his meals, taking care of his daughter. Think of how easy it would be for you to just slip into taking care of him as he takes care of you,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

  “You suck,” I say, busting out laughing as I toss a throw pillow across the couch in Jillian’s direction.

  “Or I just like to tell it how I see it. I’ve only been around the two of you together a few times, but I’ve already witnessed him tracking you with his eyes when he thinks no one is paying attention. Something is stirring in his mind. He’s maybe not come out and admitted or tried to act on those thoughts and desires, but they're running through his mind.”

  “Are you sure?” I ask, not believing what she’s saying. Does JJ watch me?

  “Positive. That man has got it bad for you, he just doesn’t know how to act on it, or is waiting until the right time to act on it.”

  “I don’t know,” I say, biting on my thumbnail.

  “Oh, before I forget. Do you think you can come over on Thursday for a couple of hours and watch the girls? I have an OB appointment and don’t want to drag them with me. Derek will, of course, be out of town that day on the road trip.”

  “Sure,” I tell her as I pull my phone from where I have it tucked between my leg and the couch. I open the calendar app and add in a note so that I don’t forget. “What time is your appointment?”

  “I think at ten, but I’ll verify that and let you know for sure. My phone is just in the kitchen plugged in, so I can’t check at the moment.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll just put in to plan to come over by around nine, that way, you have plenty of time to get out of here and arrive on time.”

  “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”

  “Of course,” I tell her, and I mean it. I’d do anything for family.

  Nine

  Justin

  I head into the house to check on the girls and grab a glass of water. The beer went down smooth, but I don’t need to be overindulging when I’ve got to drive home soon. I can hear Riley and Jillian talking from the living room, and stop dead in my tracks when I hear just what they’re talking about.

  “Rules are meant to be broken,” Jillian states. “And think of all the books you’ve read that are about brother’s best friends falling for the younger sister. One of the best damn tropes, in my opinion. But I digress, continue with your reasoning why the two of you can’t be a thing.”

  “I’m his employee. Absolutely, not the usual one-night stand he’s used to. Kind of hard to be that type when I’m still a virgin.”

  Virgin. Fuckkkkkk.

  All I can think of now is touching her and being the only man to do so. To know that she’s perfect, completely untouched by another man, has my cock swelling in my pants. I shake my head, trying to shake those thoughts from my mind, but all I can think about is her on her knees, those plump lips wrapped around my cock as it slides in, hitting the back of her throat until I’m coming down it. I can also picture pinning her up against a wall, dropping to my own knees as I devour her pussy until she’s screaming my name and limp from her orgasm.

  “Dude, what are you doing?” Derek’s voice breaks my trance as he opens the door.

  “I’m just grabbing something,” I tell him, forcing myself to walk into the kitchen and stop listening in on the girls' conversation. I grab a glass and fill it with ice and water from the fridge dispenser. I down the water in one tip of the glass, refilling it before I go back outside to join him.

  “What was that all about?” he asks once I sit back down next to him.

  “Nothing, just thought I heard Evie,” I lie to him, hoping that he doesn’t call me on it.

  “I’m sure the girls got everything under control.”

  “Yeah,” I tell him as I drop my head back and close my eyes. I’m so fucked. All I want is to fuck my best friend’s little sister. The one woman who’s definitely off-limits to me, and it isn’t like I can talk to him about it. She’s his damn sister.

  “What’s got you all tied up all of a sudden?” he asks, obviously picking up on the change in my demeanor.

  “Everything,” I tell him, trying to be as honest as I can without blurting out that I can’t get Riley out of my thoughts. “My life has literally been tossed upside down in the last few days and it’s finally setting in.”

  “I’ll give you that one, for sure,” he agrees, tipping back the beer bottle in his hands as he finishes it off. “Just give it a little bit of time, and it will be your
new normal.”

  “What if I fuck it all up?” I ask him, looking him in the eye for the first time since I came back out here.

  “We all make mistakes, it’s how we move forward and learn from those mistakes that allows us to grow as people,” he tells me. “And just remember that kids don’t come with owner’s manuals. What works with one doesn’t work with the next. I won’t lie and tell you it’s all puppies and rainbows and carefree days, but it’s all worth it. I wouldn’t change anything about my life, and you’ve seen me at my worst. I’d take all those bad days over again if it got me right back to where I am now. Knowing that I’ve got that woman inside there by my side makes life worth living. Knowing that I’ve got two of the best little girls calling me Daddy and another one on the way is the best thing in the world. Just wait until Evie is old enough to call you Dad for the first time, or tell you that she loves you. It will bring you to your fucking knees, brother.”

  “I just don’t want to fuck it all up,” I state mindlessly.

  “We won’t let you,” he says confidently. “Those two women in there will keep you and me on the straight and narrow.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I muse as I squeeze the back of my neck, attempting to relieve the tension that has built up.

  We sit in silence for a few minutes, and my mind races as everything that has happened is on a constant loop. I can’t believe I’m sitting here while my daughter is inside sleeping in a swing.

  “I should probably get going,” I tell Derek as I stand back up and turn to walk back into the house so that I can get my girls home. Just as I reach the door, the thought slams into me that I just thought of Evie and Riley as my girls. The scary part of that thought was how right it felt. How right this could all be if she could be mine. If we could make something between the two of us work. But I know that will never happen, not unless I want to lose my best fucking friend in the process.

  “Yeah,” Derek agrees. “I’m ready to take my wife to bed.”

  “I’m sure you are. You know you can’t knock her up again right now, right?” I give him shit.

  “All I can say is pregnancy hormones, especially now that she’s in the second trimester, are fucking crazy.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it,” I tell him as I push the door open. I’ve never spent much time around a pregnant woman unless you count Jillian, and it isn’t like I’ve ever tried to get her into my bed.

  Derek follows me inside, both of us heading for the living room where the girls are relaxing on the couch. Thankfully, their conversation has moved on from what I overheard just a little bit ago. I couldn’t imagine hearing any more, especially with Derek by my side. He’d be pissed if he knew Jillian was pushing Riley toward me.

  “Hey, you ready to get out of here?” I ask once there's a break in the conversation between Riley and Jillian.

  “Sure,” she says, pushing the throw blanket off of her legs. She arches her back in a stretch before standing, and my mind goes right into the fucking gutter, thinking of many other ways I could get her to bend like that for me, off a bed, the wall, a kitchen counter. Any surface will do, in my opinion.

  I grab Evie’s car seat and ready the straps to slide her in. I can only hope that dealing with my daughter will help the blood flow redirect where it is headed, so I don’t embarrass myself with a raging hard-on in a matter of seconds. I turn the swing off and stop it from swaying side to side so I can take my sleeping daughter out. I’m starting to feel more comfortable with her with each passing day. She’s not as fragile as I thought she’d be. She can easily hold up her own head. I successfully transfer her into the car seat from the swing, all while keeping her asleep. I snap her in, no longer struggling with the buckle like I did just the other day when I first attempted to place her in the seat.

  “Ready?” I ask Riley as I turn in her direction, the car seat already hanging from the crook of my elbow.

  “Yep,” Riley agrees. “Thank you for dinner,” she tells Derek, lifting up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. He wraps an arm around her, pulling her into a hug.

  “Anytime,” he tells her before releasing her from his grip. “Don’t let this punk give you any shit,” he tells her, then flashes a shit-eating grin my way.

  “I can hold my own,” she tells him, her backbone firmly showing in her confident answer.

  “I know you can, still doesn’t mean I won’t give you some sound advice every once in awhile.”

  “Okay,” she says, and I can see the eye roll she gives him as she moves over to Jillian. They pull each other into a hug. “See you later this week; don’t forget to check the time of that appointment.”

  “Will do. I’ll text you tomorrow, sound good?”

  “Sounds perfect. Good night. Love you both,” Riley says to Jillian and Derek.

  “We love you, too,” Jillian tells her as we start walking toward the door. It doesn’t take us long to get loaded into my car. I’m getting faster and faster with snapping in the baby seat to the base in my back seat.

  We stay quiet on the drive back to my house. The sun has set, so things outside are just illuminated from the lights that line the street. I pull into the driveway, hitting the button to open the garage door. It fully opens by the time I make it up the driveway and am able to pull right into the garage. I sneak a quick glance at Riley as I shut the engine off and can tell that she’s tired. I quickly get out of the car and get the car seat from the back seat, carrying Evie inside the house.

  I take her straight into the nursery, removing her from the car seat and setting her on the changing pad Riley placed on top of the dresser today. I snag a clean sleeper from one of the drawers below, and a diaper from the bin at the end. She stirs as I start to strip her out of her outfit and is fully awake by the time I get her stripped down. She lets me know just how much she hates being changed when I have the audacity to wipe her with a cold wipe as I change her. “You’re just fine,” I coo at my daughter. “Daddy’s got you,” I tell her as I fasten the diaper and then slip the lightweight sleeper on her. It takes me a few seconds to get her arms and legs into it, but thankfully it just zips up, so no buttons for me to fiddle with and ultimately snap together wrong.

  “Need any help in here?” Riley asks from the doorway.

  “I don’t think so. Why don’t you head to bed? I’ll stay up and give her a bedtime bottle in a little bit. You look like you’re exhausted.”

  “Are you sure? You’ve got a game tomorrow and need to be well-rested.”

  “I’m positive. You’ve been a huge help these last few days, and you’re going to have her all by yourself in just a few more when I’m out of town.”

  “Okay, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to wake me up.”

  “We’ll be fine, go to bed, Riley,” I tell her, giving her a determined look. I might not know all there is to raising a kid, but I’m damn well going to figure this shit out. I obviously have to rely on someone else to help raise my kid, but I don’t want her to ever feel like I wasn’t here for her when I could be. Things won’t always be like this. There will come a day that I can no longer play the game I grew up loving, and still love with a fiery passion, and I want to be here for my daughter.

  With Evie in the crook of one arm, we make our way into the kitchen. I place her in the little bouncy seat contraption that sits on the counter. I make sure that she’s buckled in before I step away. I snag one of the bottles and mix it up for her. Another thing I’ve picked up quickly how to do. I’m slaying this dad shit. With a bottle for Evie and a glass of chocolate milk for me, I collect Evie from the seat and take her out to the living room. I get us settled on the couch and flip the TV on, landing on an old James Bond movie. I only have it on for some background noise as my attention turns to my daughter. I observe her, drinking her in as she lies on the couch between my outstretched legs. She’s so content, looking all around. She must see something she likes, as her little legs start kicking in excitement.

&nb
sp; “What’s got you all excited?” I ask her, my voice taking on an ever-so-slight baby voice. I roll my damn eyes at myself. I must sound like a fucking idiot talking to her. Evie’s little arms flail as her legs kick around even move as I speak to her. I wipe a small line of drool from her face, and she grips my finger as I start to pull away. I allow her to keep her grip on my fingers, even though I know she’s going to pull them right to her mouth. “You sure create a ton of drool for such a cute baby,” I tell her, bopping her on the tip of the nose. She makes a squealing noise that almost sounds like a laugh, but I don’t think you can describe what I heard as a laugh just yet.

  Evie and I sit here, taking each other in as the time passes. She starts to get fussy about twenty or so minutes later, so I settle her in my arms and offer the bottle. She accepts it immediately and starts sucking it down fast. I hold the bottle, Evie’s little hands still gripping my fingers firmly in hers. I watch her as she greedily sucks the formula down. As she nears the end of her bottle, the suckles become almost nonexistent, and her eyes flutter closed. I keep the bottle in place, wanting to make sure that she’s asleep before I pull the bottle from her mouth. With the loss of the bottle nipple, she sucks a few times on her tongue before that stops, and she thankfully stays asleep.

  I watch her sleeping peacefully in my arms for a little while longer before eventually taking her into the nursery and laying her down in the new crib. She didn’t even flinch when I transferred her into it. I make sure nothing is in the crib that could hurt her while sleeping. That was something that Riley schooled me on yesterday when I attempted to place a teddy bear in the crib.

  I finally pull myself away from the side of the crib. I’m starting to feel like a creeper on my own daughter. I make sure the baby monitor is on for Riley, and I head out of Evie’s room. I shut everything off in the living room, making sure to clean up the few dishes I dirtied, then head for my bedroom. I close the door and immediately pull my T-shirt off over my head. I toss it toward my laundry basket that sits just inside my walk-in closet. My jeans follow the shirt, and I pad into the en-suite bathroom in nothing but my boxer briefs. I take care of business, stopping to wash my hands and brush my teeth before I slide into bed. The coolness of the sheets hitting my skin helps relax me. They don’t stay cold for long as my thoughts drift back to the conversation I overheard that was definitely not meant for me to hear. I feel slightly guilty about listening, but not bad enough to have made my presence known. I think it would have embarrassed Riley had she known I was there, hearing what she was telling her sister-in-law. The knowledge that she’s a fucking virgin has my cock standing at full salute again.