Page 7 of Summer Affair
He didn’t know much about Jillian, except she was a single mom and best friends with his sisters-in-law, Darcy and Piper. She ran some kind of cake business and had an air about her that said both “single mom, back away” and “cougar in training.”
As promised, she’d dropped off his fresh-from-the-oven biscuits and whatever else was on the day’s breakfast menu. He’d told her it wasn’t necessary but, like clockwork, she showed up with a tray every morning at seven sharp.
Clay wasn’t a morning person, especially off-season, but he’d kept that bit of info to himself. The first few mornings he’d awoken to a heavenly smell from the kitchen only to find his table set and the room empty. By mid-week he’d figured out her stealthy ways and set his alarm to be there to answer the door, which seemed to fluster her. All things he found interesting.
It had been a while since he’d had the luxury of downtime to fluster a beautiful woman—and she was beautiful. Blonde hair, full B cups, mile-long legs, and these melt-your-soul, deep, caramel eyes. She was also a single mom—which automatically placed her in thenot going to happenpile.
Clay was single-minded, laser-focused, goal-oriented, and a do-or-die team player. Four traits that earned him an MVP title and two Super Bowl rings. He’d come back to Portland for one reason—to recover in time for the first game of the season so that some kid, who would have been in high school when Clay started his career, didn’t slide into Clay’s spot. Which was looking like a possibility.
Earlier, Clay’s coach called and moved up Clay’s timeline, which meant he needed to be more focused than ever. Reason one why he’d rented Jillian’s house to begin with. Reason two, it gave him a little distance from his family. Especially his mom, whose love was genuine and fierce, but her need to insert herself in her sons’ life was all-encompassing.
Finally, he needed a place he couldn’t be distracted from his goal. So, he was surprised when he caught himself doing an over-the-shoulder glance around the bar. No bikini babe in sight, but he did spot a team of brothers at the bar, huddled around a cell, likely watching the highlights of last night’s game.
Being the youngest, they were all his big brothers, and they never let him forget it. Which was irritating as hell.
“You watching the highlights from the Alabama–Ohio State game?”
Not one of his four brothers acknowledged him, just continued to stare at the screen. He shouldered his way through and had to blink twice. They were enrapt with a video of a bunch of three-feet-talls marching around the playground. “What’s that?”
“Kylie at her pre-school graduation,” Gage said, referring to his stepdaughter.
Gage was two years older and Clay’s sports agent. He was responsible for Clay’s move from the New England Patriots to the Seattle Seahawks, his first choice in teams, and securing him one of the largest earnings in the NFL. He was also responsible for bringing their deceased brother’s daughter into the family fold.
“They have a ceremony for that?” His heart clenched as he studied the close-up of his niece, waving at the camera in a clumsily made paper hat and gown, holding a certificate with little handprints at the bottom. With her two dimples, a smattering of freckles, and those Easton blue eyes, which were an exact match to Kyle, she stole his heart all over again.
It had been too long since he’d seen her. Between PT and training, he was looking at six months since his last trip home. It looked as if she’d grown a whole six inches since he’d taken her to seeThe Nutcrackerfor her birthday.
“It wasn’t a big ceremony. She walked around the playground with her classmates,” Owen explained. “Didn’t mean Gage here wasn’t bawling his eyes out.”
“I recall you had to ask Darcy for a tissue,” Rhett accused.
“You had on sunglasses, who are you to talk,” Owen argued.
“I had something in my eye.” Rhett shoulder-shoved Owen, who didn’t budge. While all the brothers were well over six feet tall, Owen was built like a bull. Big, burly, and tattooed to the hilt. He looked more like a boxer than a bar owner, but he was the biggest mama’s boy of the bunch—which everyone gave him shit for.
Owen had lunch with their mom three times a week, took her to appointments, and even partnered her in her weekly bunco game. Not to mention the guy ran a bar but only drank high-end herbal tea like some grandma.
“Wait. You all went?” Clay asked, an unfamiliar ache making it hard to breathe. It had never bothered him before when he’d miss family events because of his job, so why did it hurt now?
“Kylie made these invitations in class,” Josh, the eldest and recently elected DA, said. “They had her handprint on it and a ton of glitter. For weeks after, my car looked like a glitter bomb exploded.”
“Me too,” Owen joined in and then they were all laughing, like a handprint and glitter was some big inside joke.
“I didn’t get one.” He looked at the group. “Why didn’t I get one?”
The guys exchanged a confused look, then a few other expressions like they were holding a secret conversation that Clay wasn’t privy to. Assholes.
“Honestly? We didn’t think you’d be able to make it with your schedule,” Gage said.
It was true. The season might only be four months long, but between conditioning, pre-season, and other obligations, the Seahawks pretty much owned his ass year-round. So while he wanted to be mad at his brothers for leaving him out of the loop, he understood why they had.
Two years ago, he wouldn’t have had the slightest interest in coming home for some kid’s preschool graduation. Hell, even a few months ago he would have been a no-show. But standing there, watching his brothers laugh with each other, and looking down at his niece—the only living tie to Kyle, who died in a car accident six years ago—he was questioning his priorities.
Other guys on his team managed to balance family and ball. He’d never figured out the right equation. At least that’s what his ex had claimed.
Veronica knew what she was getting into, then changed up the game midway in. A year in, he was pretty sure he was in love, except her love couldn’t quite go the full distance. When things turned serious—nearly getting down on one knee serious—she’d dropped that, while he was the right fit for her, she didn’t think he was cut out to be a stepdad to her kids. Which wrecked him.
He’d loved those kids, would have done anything for them. But when Veronica walked away, she carted off her kids and never looked back.
