“Okay, Daddy.”
My heart melted. She rarely called me that anymore—generally only when she was super tired or feeling unwell.
“Love you.” I dotted a kiss on her forehead.
“Love you more.”
I smiled as I backed away, turning off the overhead light. Once the door was closed, I took in a breath before slowly exhaling.
Exhaustion beat at me. Despite my drooping eyes, considering the craziness of the past few days, I was glad I was here. Sure, today I’d had to deflect a few calls and rearrange meetings, but doing so from Pearce’s house, a place I was comfortable, was kinda nice.
As I headed downstairs, I tuned in to Pearce’s voice. Since I hadn’t heard the door, nor did I hear another voice, I figured he was on the phone.
“… another time.” Laughter followed and a pause. “Just keep it in your pants.” Pearce snorted, and I hesitated from entering the room. “No. A couple of weeks probably. I can come to you.” He quieted. “We’ll see how it goes. Listen, I need to go.” And now I felt weird standing here like this, listening in. Shrugging off the weird discomfort that settled over me, I stepped into the sitting room, finding Pearce lounging on the huge sectional, bottle of water in hand and his phone to his ear. He offered me an up-nod when I entered. “Just stay out of trouble, and I’ll see you for the first game. See you, Tony.”
I tensed at the mention of Tony, resenting the fact that I did so since I had no right to react. After Pearce ended the call, his focus turned to me.
“Lottie okay?”
“Yeah,” I answered with a bob of my head, eyeing the couch and feeling weirdly out of sorts after listening to the tail end of his conversation with a man I knew he hooked up with. “I expect she’s already fast asleep.” My smile was more like a wince, and from the concern dipping his brows low, Pearce spotted it.
“And how about you? You doing okay over there?”
I remained hovering a few feet from the doorway. “Sure, yeah, just tired.”
“You want to watch some TV, have a drink, or anything?”
“If you have plans while we’re here, please don’t change them on my account.” The words rushed out of me, strangely formal. I internally rolled my eyes at myself, disgruntled that I was such a dickhead, but a touch of green settled in my stomach like a murky, heavy weight.
“Huh? What plans?”
“Uhm… with Tony or whatever. I just… Me and Lottie being here, I don’t want it to distract you or for you to change your routine, or hell, cramp your style or something.” Babbling was never a good look, but I couldn’t stop my messy, insecure words.
“I can catch up with Tony whenever. It’s no big deal.”
The truth of the statement did nothing to ease that tinge of green. Jesus H. Christ, I was too old to be jealous. Right? If not, I was surely too old to be chasing after a guy who could have any man he wanted. My time with Wayne had taught me several things. One of the major ones was that I wasn’t cut out for open relationships. Not anymore.
I needed,wantedstability. Craved a man or woman to come home to. Did I like the idea of Pearce being that person? Maybe a little too much and too eagerly. But I wasn’t sure he was in the right place to be there with me.
While we had chemistry and mutual attraction, I wanted the whole package. Asking Pearce to think about his future and know where Lottie and I fit in to it seemed crazy unfair of me. Hello, pressure much!
“It’s fine. You don’t need to explain yourself.” My words seemed to cause even more confusion from his deepening frown, but I rallied. “Honestly, your focus is the playoffs and carrying on your business as though we were never here.”
“But I—”
“I’m going to crash. Two nights in the hospital cot was not good for my back. If you need me to do anything around the house or pick anything up tomorrow while you’re at training, just drop me a text.” I nodded for good measure and forced a smile. “Night, Pearce. Thanks again for letting us stay.”
Without another word or giving him time to respond, I headed to my room, got washed up, and dipped beneath the covers.
Tonight had not gone as I’d hoped, but hearing Pearce rearrange things with Tony was the unfortunate reminder I needed that our lives, our situations were worlds apart. Maybe in a few years things would be different. For now, though, it would be sensible to bury my desire for wanting something more and instead focus on my healing daughter and being a good friend to the man I shouldn’t be getting a hard-on for, right?
Even as the question bounced around in my tired brain, I wasn’t quite sure I believed the answer should be yes. What I did know was I spoke the truth to Pearce. The last thing I wanted was for him to be distracted. Me getting on my knees and offering to suck his cock would be that for sure, so maybe instead, I just had to keep my dick and my heart in check for a little longer, before I distracted the man so damn good, he wouldn’t know whether he was coming or—
I snorted at the thought. Pearce would definitely know that.
CHAPTER10
PEARCE
