Page 48 of Power Play
Maybe.
Chapter twenty-six
Scott
Ianswer the door to my house with a beer in hand. Craig doesn't even get through the doorway before I've thrust it into his hand. He grumbles but takes it and walks past me into the house, toeing off his shoes at the entry.
Lacey and Ben are cuddled under a blanket on my couch, and both look up to see him. Lacey's eyes widen and her shoulders tense.
"We'll head out to the pool for my formal dressing down," I announce to them, snagging my beer from the kitchen island and ushering Craig out the back slider.
We collapse onto Adirondack chairs that surround my fire pit. I like seeing people in my house. It gives it a warmer, alive feeling I didn't know I was missing. They've turned my massive mansion into a home, and I liked that very much.
"Go ahead," I order, taking a swig of my beer.
"What the fuck were you thinking?"
I chuckle. Craig may come off as an asshole, but I know it all comes from a place of worry.
"I was thinking I had a gorgeous, driven, sexy and wonderful, willing, woman in my arms. I wasn't going to pass up on that opportunity."
"But pregnant? You're too fucking old to not to wrap your shit."
I shrug. "She was on the pill and taking antibiotics for a sinus infection. It was an honest mistake."
I can feel his glare on the side of my face. I level him with a glare of my own. "If you want me to apologize for sleeping with a woman I'm insanely attracted to, I won't. If you want me to abandon her when she's possibly pregnant with my babies, I won't."
He looks over my shoulder as if he can see her from out here. "But how do you know she didn't do it on purpose? You know how some women are, Scott."
"She offered to raise the babies on her own. Working full time on a PT's salary. In a one-bedroom apartment. If it was a trap, she'd be very dumb to give me an out."
"And you believed her?"
"You didn't see her, Craig. She was terrified, shaking, and crying, but she looked me dead in the eye and told me I didn't have to help at all. What woman does that?"
He's silent for a beat.
"And you don't know Lacey like I do. She doesn't have a dishonest bone in her body."
He seems to consider my words before nodding.
"She's a child, Scott. You're old enough to be her father."
"I'm only daddy in the bedroom," I tease.
Craig groans.
I chuckle. "You're right. I'm twenty years older than her, but when I'm with her, I don't see age. I see a beautiful woman I admire. One who makes me happier than I've been in ages." I shrug again. "Maybe it's wrong, but there's nothing about our relationship I'll apologize for. We're both consenting adults, and I'm really fond of her."
"You like her."
I nod. I do. I like her a lot. I love her bravery and strength. I love her insecurity and vulnerability. I love how she makes me feel. I love how she's not perfect. She's damaged in some ways, but still so strong that she shows up every day and faces her sister. Her twin sister, who is her bully, her stalker, her worst enemy. But she shows up to work, every day, putting in her intelligence and hard work to make the boys faster, stronger.
She's incredible. The most incredible woman I've ever met.
I’m definitely infatuated with her. Borderline obsessed with her.
And I can see that like turning into love, with just a little bit of time sprinkled into the equation.
