Page 42 of Delayed Penalty

“Sounds too good to be true, what do you get out of it?”

“I get to experience your pregnancy with you, something I’d die if I had to miss. I want to be there for every craving, every kick, every ache and pain, I want to be there. Then there’s also the little issue he mentioned about my fights. It’s true that my first year in the league I got into a lot of fights, way more than necessary. It was to the point they were considering trading me. My coach put a lot of faith in me, so I pulled my shit together. If he were to see two fights in a row… yeah, he’s going to be pretty pissed.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“If he knew you were pregnant with my baby, and all the shit we’ve gone through with Peter, even just today, he’d understand why I’m so short-tempered with him. Hell, it might just save me from getting traded out of New York if Peter gets his way.”

“So, let me get this straight. You’re saying that you want us to get married… then pretend it’s real so people around us believe we’re actually a happy family?”

“Basically. I mean… A. insurance fraud. Let’s not add that to the list of bullshit we’re dealing with so we sort of can’t tell people it’s fake. B. I keep my job and Peter gets to watch us have the happily ever after we should’ve had.”

“But it’s fake.”

“But he doesn’t know that.”

She sits quietly, staring down at her fingernails, picking at the hot pink nail polish she’s been slowly destroying since we saw Peter.

I make a mental note to make sure to get her an appointment to get her nails done. Toes too, if she wants it. She deserves to get as pampered as she’d like to for doing the hard work with the pregnancy.

The longer she waits the more I start to wrack my brain for any way I can change her mind, how I can sweeten the deal to where she doesn’t want to say no. All I want is for her to give me a chance, if I can convince her of that, I’ll just have to let my actions do the rest.

“Okay,” she says quietly, her voice surprising me, especially because it sounds an awful lot like she’s agreeing.

“Okay, as in…” I start to say, but she keeps going.

“As in, I’ll marry you. Hell, I agreed to marry Peter and he was a douche who couldn’t make me come. You’re a decent guy who has a nice cock, I could do worse.”

“Thinking about my cock now, huh?”

“Slow your roll, bucko, we are not flirting.”

“Whatever you say, Ave. Let’s go get that movie started before we all fall asleep on the kitchen floor. We can figure out the rest tomorrow.”

“Am I staying?” she asks, but I just look down at Luna who’s slowly moved her way further and further into Avery’s lap until she’s practically on top of her legs. “Guess that answers that question.”

“Come on, girls, let’s go get comfy.”

I could get used to saying that.

Chapter Sixteen

Avery

The feeling of being licked startles me away, and not in an exciting, orgasmic sort of way. Nope, this is in a wet dog tongue sort of way that isn’t pleasant when you’re not a morning person. Opening my eyes, I see it’s just starting to get light which means we still have hours before I need to be up, but Luna is already back to kissing me again, her tail wagging excitedly at seeing my eyes open.

Reaching down, I scratch behind her ears, her happy groan as she pushes her entire weight into my pets is adorable. I love that I’ve known this pup for less than twenty-four hours and already it seems I’ve made a friend; an achievement not many have received. “Good morning, sweet girl.”

Looking around, I realize we never left the living room last night, Luna and I curled up on the couch with a big blanket covering us. I've honestly never been more comfortable than right now. A soft puppy snuggling me, a big warm blanket, and a comfy couch… with Harris apparently as my pillow.

Looking back, I realize he’s leaned back, head against the couch letting me rest my head on his lap. The position doesn’t look comfortable at all, but I don’t think I’ve seen him look this happy or this peaceful in a long, long time.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he says, his eyes still closed, startling me. I jerk up, almost causing me to fall off the couch, but thankfully, his arm reaches down and catches me, saving both Luna and I from being a pile of limbs and blankets on the floor. “Jesus, you good, Ave?” He laughs out.

The sound of his laughter first thing in the morning is soft and warm, wrapping me up all warm and cozy like this blanket.

“Yeah,” I say, smiling. “You just caught me off guard is all. I thought you were still sleeping.”

“So, you thought you could stare without getting caught?”

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