Page 62 of Power Play
His eyes fall down. "You don't know that."
I yank his face back up to mine. "Yes, I do. You gave me your safe space that day when I ran into Tracey and never even considered leaving me or hiding it. You stuck with me after the pregnancy announcement..."
"Well Coach kind of made me."
I chuckle then. "Yes, Scott kind of made you, in the beginning, butyou’veshown up every day since then, even though you have yourown demons to work through. I get it, and I appreciate all of the effort you've put in. Don't think it goes unnoticed."
He lowers his head again to my shoulder, clearly not wanting to deal with outright approval.
"And you've been working hard to prove yourself as a good boyfriend. Tell me, Garrett, what kind of man does that? What kind of man wants to be a good boyfriend to the woman they may or may not have impregnated when I clearly gave you an out?"
"Coach didn't give me an out," he grumbles miserably against my shoulder. I pull him tighter.
"He would have if he thought it was the best for both of us." I kiss the side of his head. "But I think he knew we needed each other. Whether you're the biological father or not, I need you and you need me. Well, I think you need me and Ben and Scott. I think that's why he fought so hard for us to all be together."
He sags against me, and I take his weight. I always knew there was something more to Garrett. His normal, cocky, antagonist attitude was the armor to a deeply feeling and deeply hurt man.
Chapter thirty-five
Garrett
There's a knock at my hotel room door and I look at the time, curiously. It's nine o'clock. Most of us are in bed. I look to Ben who gives me the same quizzical look back. Clearly, he's not expecting anyone either.
I swing the door open to see Lacey, in her pajamas, bouncing from side to side. Her belly is really starting to show and there's a part of me that fucking loves it.
"Marry me," she says.
"What?" I reply, intelligently.
"Marry me. At the little White Chapel. We can even put your name as the father of one of these babies. I don't care. It's all just paperwork."
I'm stunned. In three sentences she's sacrificed everything for me so that I can secure my mother's legacy. With no benefit to herself. She'd marry me, put my name on the birth certificate of one of her babies, just so my dad doesn't reap the benefits of my mother's hard work. She'd sacrifice so that I could be happy.
I've never met a woman like her.
Ben steps up behind me, and her eyes reach his.
"You... you'd really do that for me?"
"We're a unit, so we'd have to talk to the other boys first, but yeah." She looks at Ben, fear that he'll be hurt evident on her face. But she's strong, and she pleads her case. "You're a good guy, and I'm sorry you've been treated like trash for so long. We'd have to talk to Benand Scott, but I'm happy to play your wife and put your name on a birth certificate if it means you get to keep your mom's legacy out of that asshole's hands."
What I'm not expecting is how moved I am by her sacrifice. I'm well aware it may not happen. Ben could say fuck no, and I'm pretty sure she would side with him, but the fact that she's willing already has done things to my heart. I reach down, cup her face in my hands, and kiss her. I try to transmit all the love and appreciation and adoration I have for her into that kiss.
Holy shit. I love her.
This feeling I've never known.... I think it's called love. This deep need and appreciation and attraction I have for her is love.
It's not the right time to tell her, in a hotel hallway with Ben looking over my shoulder. But I know without a shadow of a doubt that I love this woman.
I pull back slightly, to study her eyes and make sure there's no hesitation there.
"Do you want this, Garrett?" she asks softly. She’d asked me that in the quiet of our bedroom, but I hadn’t answered her. I hadn’t been sure. I knew I wanted to try, but I hadn’t known I wanted them.
But I know now.
"At first, no. I wasn’t sure that I did. Because I didn't know what it meant for me, personally and professionally. I feel like I've failed everyone my entire life, so the idea of failing a little baby, or two, or you, was too much for me. But now...now that I've had a minute to think about it, and the guys' help, I can't wait to do right everything my dad did wrong. If you let me, I'll love the shit out of these kids. There won't be a baby who was more loved."
She holds the sides of my face.
