Page 88 of Play the Game
“Do you need more time to decide what you want?” Jordan’s voice doesn’t hold any judgment, only curiosity.
I shake my head. “Definitely not. What I want is her. Right here in this apartment, in my life, all of it. I want to love her the best way I know how and raise this baby with her and have more of them if that’s what she wants.” I blow out a breath, feeling the relief of saying the words out loud. “But she’s not ready yet. She’s not ready to uproot her life and make this big change when she’s still trying to adjust to the biggest change of all. She’s trying to figure out what having a baby means for her life and her career, and she’s not wrong to think that this could derail her partner aspirations when it wouldn’t even touch mine.”
Not that I really have any partner aspirations anymore, but that’s a conversation for another time. “It’s totally fucked, and I hate it, but that’s BigLaw.” I take a sip of my beer, feeling every ounce of the gravity of our situation. “She’s a planner at her core, and I think all the unknowns are keeping her from taking the leap. The one where she can talk to me about what it’s going to look like when the baby is born and how we’re going to do this. Hell, the one where she’ll go to sleep here and wake up here in the morning instead of going to her apartment at the end of the night.”
“You want more.” Noah says it matter-of-factly.
I laugh a little. “I want everything. But I won’t push her. She’s dealing with enough. When she’s ready, I’m here.”
“You have always been the best of us,” Jordan says, an emotion flashing over his face that has my chest tightening.
I clear my throat to try to get a handle on myself. “I don’t know about that. I love her. She’s it for me. If it means I get to have her, I’ll wait as long as she needs.”
“Fuck, look at us,” Noah says, his voice a little rough but his lips curling in a grin. “All grown up and in love and everything. We are adulting so hard right now.”
Elliot tilts his head, eyeing Noah. “Could have sworn I heard the song ‘Let it Go’ coming from your apartment last night, andI’m almost positive you were singing along. That doesn’t feel very much like adulting.”
Noah scoffs. “Frozenis the shit. Elsa built a whole freaking castle out of nothing using her powers, saves Arendelle twice, is brave and loyal, and doesn’t need a damn man to do any of it. I dare you to listen to ‘Let it Go’ andnotsing because it’s not freaking possible. It’s all about accepting who you are without fear or intimidation and being unapologetically yourself and it freaking slaps. Being aFrozenfan is adulty as fuck.” Noah looks at me thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, Evan has real Elsa vibes. Not just the hair. The wholeI can do fucking anything and I dare you to try and stop mething. It’s so hot.”
“Don’t call my girlfriend hot,” I practically growl. “Don’t you have a girlfriend of your own?”
Noah shrugs, grinning unashamedly. “Not a girlfriend, pal of mine. I’ve got myself a wife. A super-hot wife who straight up told me she thinks Evan is the most beautiful human she has ever seen in her life. I was offended for a second because, I mean…” He trails off waving a hand in front of his face as if to sayLook at this. “But I’ll allow it because she’s not wrong. Badass Elsa vibes, man. Evan was, like, made for you.”
I smile at Noah’s words that echo my thoughts exactly. “I know she was. I think I’ve known for a long time. Maybe always. I think maybe the hate was never really hate. At least not for me. It took me a minute to figure it out, but now that I have, I’m never letting her go.”
Jordan claps me on the shoulder. “Love looks good on you, Coop.”
I drain my beer, sliding it back across the island for Elliot to grab and toss in the recycling bin. “Feels good, too. Even with all the weird unknowns.”
“You’ll sort them all out,” Elliot says, flicking off the stove and grabbing plates from my cabinet. “I’m sure your big lawyer brain has some plans for that.”
“I’ve got some ideas,” I say with a smile.
“Care to share?” Noah asks.
I push up from the island. “Maybe it would be better to show you.”
I tilt my head in the direction of the hallway, and my brothers follow me to the guestroom. I make a quick trip back to the kitchen to save my bread dough from its exile in the dishwasher, and then join my brothers, flopping on the bed for the rest of the night eating dinner and talking about my plans, dreaming a little of a future that feels almost close enough to touch.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
EVAN
FEBRUARY
“Ev, do you have Milo’s deposition transcripts?”
I glance up from my chair, where I sit with my torso bowed and my hands pressed to my lower back, to see Cooper standing in my doorway. His loosened tie and unbuttoned top button, the way his dress shirt sleeves are rolled up to showcase perfectly muscled forearms, all combine to have me practically panting in an almost Pavlovian response to him. I would jump him right now if I didn’t think the sudden movement would kill me.
“Over there.” I nod to the table in the corner of my office and wince as the ache in my back turns into a sharp pain that shoots up my spine.
Cooper’s eyes sharpen as he looks me over. “Something is hurting you.”
It’s a statement, not a question. But I nod anyway. “Some kind of weird back pain. I could feel the baby literally roll over acouple hours ago, and I guess she’s laying on a nerve or something? I’m not sure, but it’s really fucking painful.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cooper asks, his eyes full of concern. “I’ve talked to you, like, ten times today and it’s only noon.”
I roll my eyes. “We’ve been over this. I’m pregnant, Cooper. Weird things hurt all the time. I’m not going to take out an ad in the newspaper because I have a little back pain.” Shifting in my seat, I let out a little yelp when the pain radiates down my leg.
