Page 110 of Floored

Slowly pushing the door open with one hand, I peeked in and grinned.

Sprawled in the middle of bed with no shirt on and one hand on his beautiful, beautiful chest was Jude. And he was fast asleep. I wasn’t even too surprised. He’d been working himself hard since he started with Seattle. In the team, he’d found a supportive group of guys. Some, like him, used to play in England. Some were young Americans, and some from other parts of the world who just wanted to play, and were fine with a little less pay and not quite as many people in the stands.

Even though the stakes might not have been as high, Jude found a team that he was starting to love, even if it wasn’t Shepperton, a place that was home for so long. It probably always would be, given he decided to keep his house so we always had a place to stay when we visited.

Ninja-skills activated, I tiptoed into our bedroom and crawled onto the bed. He made a low sound, but his eyelids never opened. Even as I tucked myself up against his half-naked body, he didn’t stir. Lifting my head before I laid it down on his chest, I glanced at the clock on the wall of our bedroom. Our hour-long block was almost half gone, and I had plans that night to go wedding dress shopping with Molly, Isabel, Claire, and Paige. Big sister was finally getting hitched, and I couldn’t exactly bail on those plans because I wanted to bang my hot British baby daddy.

I sighed, laying my head against his shoulder and my arm over his waist. Even though my movements were gentle, it was enough to … rouse him, as it were.

“Oh, bollocks,” he murmured, turning to me, his muscular arms wrapping around me tightly. “I’m sorry I fell asleep.”

“It’s okay.” I lifted my mouth to his for a soft kiss. He went back in for one more, longer and a little deeper, humming when I pulled away. “You’ve been working yourself pretty hard.”

“I’m still not used to having a giant, crazy family and their giant, crazy plans keeping me busy outside of work.”

With a laugh, I slid my hands up his chest. “Oh, come on, building that treehouse for Emmett wasn’t your idea of fun?”

He gave me a look. “I’m quite sure whoever puts together those assembly instructions is sent straight from hell, and Bauer agrees with me. He almost lit the thing on fire when we realized we’d done the first half wrong.”

I cupped the side of his face, and he turned to kiss my palm. “Thank you for doing that. Emmett will love it. And some day,” I said softly, nibbling along the edge of his hard jaw, “Gabriel will play in there too.”

Jude hummed. “Maybe he’ll have a brother or sister by that time.”

His hand slid into the back of my shorts and started pushing them down my restless hips. I laughed into his mouth. “You looking to knock me up again, McAllister?”

“Someday,” he answered ruefully. “But not quite yet. I’d like to marry you first, I think.”

My head snapped back, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. “Are you proposing to me right now? I did not imagine this happening while I was wearing a nursing bra and granny panties.”

He grinned. “No. But make no mistake, future Mrs. Lia Ward McAllister, it will happen. And you won’t see it coming.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I bet I will.”

Jude slid down, placing sucking kisses along my neck, then the tops of my breasts. “No, you won’t. But it will be so fun to watch you try to figure it out.”

With a shove to his shoulders, I rolled us until he was on his back. My leg swung over his hips, and I held him down. His big hands slid up my thighs.

“I don’t think you’ll last another six months, mister.” I leaned down to kiss him deeply. He groaned into my mouth.

“I love you,” he said between kisses. “But I cannot wait to watch you squirm while you wait.”

“I love you too,” I returned, digging my hand down into his shorts, biting onto my bottom lip when his eyes rolled back in his head. “But I think you’re mistaken about who’s going to do the watching right now.”

He laughed, and it was perfect. Everything about the life we were building was. It was exhausting and busy and sweet and perfect. Just how I liked it.

Second Epilogue

Isabel

The gym was dark when I walked in, which suited me just fine. I’d memorized every inch of the place years earlier, so the weak light of the sunrise was more than enough for me to navigate back to my office. As it was my day off, I wasn’t actually supposed to be there, but my boss, Amy, was never too surprised when I came in. I took a sip of my coffee and stretched my free arm over my head with a wince. Went a little too hard in class the day before, and I groaned loudly when my muscles screamed in protest at the movement.

The groan is what had the door to Amy’s office opening, the light of her small corner lamp illuminating the space. The shades were drawn over the glass that looked out over the gym, which I hadn’t noticed earlier. Amy’s head popped out. “What are you doing here?”

I stopped. “Why do you look nervous about the fact that I am?”

I’d worked for her and known her for too long to tiptoe around anything.

Amy sighed, her face falling in a look that had my stomach falling too. This was it. As soon as she looked over her shoulder and spoke to someone in her office, I knew this was the thing I’d been dreading.

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