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Levi had just returned from his away games, and we were planning on taking Mia down to the waterfront festival. I quickly showered and then ran up to his unit. The moment he opened the door, he pulled me against him into an enormous hug.

“Fuck, I missed you,” he whispered, meeting my lips with a tender kiss.

“I missed you too.”

“Is Mia ready to go? It was getting busy down there.”

“She’s just over at the park with Mrs. Fletcher,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the empty apartment, a mischievous grin coming to his face. “Which means we have the place to ourselves, at least for half an hour.”

“Is that so?” I said, giving him a knowing look.

He placed his arm around me, closed the door, and we took off down the hallway to the bedroom.

I watched Levi and Mia climb onto the teacup ride and took a seat, both waving in my direction. I smiled and waved back just as the ride started.

I looked out over the water, thinking about our afternoon quickie.

I could still feel his hands gripping my hips as I sat on his face.

I could still feel my orgasm rip through me as he relentlessly sucked my clit into his mouth while I gripped the headboard, screaming his name.

He’d barely allowed me to come down from that orgasm before he was on his knees taking me from behind until we both collapsed on the bed, breathless.

“What are you thinking about?” I heard Levi say.

I turned my head to see him and Mia standing beside me.

“Not a thing,” I said that, fully aware my cheeks were flushed. “How was the ride?” I asked Mia.

“It was AWESOME!!!! I want to do it again, but Dad says he is going to be sick,” she said, covering her mouth as she giggled.

I looked at Levi, who shrugged his shoulders at me. “It’s true, can’t take the spinning.”

“Please, Dad, just once more.”

Levi looked at me again, then shrugged his shoulders.

“We’ll be back.” He sighed, getting back in line and handing over another few dollars to the attendant to allow them back on the ride.

“Have fun!” I yelled, laughing as they climbed onto the ride, this time choosing a different colored teacup.

This time as I watched them, I couldn’t help but realize that Levi really was an amazing father.

He gave Mia the world, and even though he wasn’t always around, when he was, there wasn’t a thing he wouldn’t do for her.

I watched as he did up the belt to secure her in and then tickled her tummy, causing her to break out in a fit of laughter while she tried to push his hands away.

Then he wrapped his arm around her, pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.

Levi and I took turns taking Mia on all the rides, finally ending with a stop at the cotton candy stand where he got her and me a large bag of blue and pink colored sugary treat. We then walked hand-in-hand down the boardwalk while Mia walked in front of us.

“Thank you for today,” he said, gripping my hand in his.

“You are welcome. I honestly couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend an afternoon.” I smiled.

“What was your favorite part?” he questioned, giving me that perfectly sexy grin of his.

I felt my cheeks heat at his question and could tell from the grin on his face that he already knew the answer.

“God, I love you,” he said, then looked over at me with a shocked expression.

Immediately, I stopped walking, as did he, allowing the words he’d just spoken to sink into my mind.

I’d waited forever to hear him say those words to me, even though I knew it had always been something that had gone unsaid between us.

“I love you too,” I replied, meeting his lips, sharing a tender kiss. Those words were the easiest words I’d ever spoken, rolling off my tongue like they were supposed to.

One week later

Mia sat on the couch curled up between us as we watched Finding Nemo .

We had spent the morning at the furniture store, looking for a new living room set that we both liked, then we stopped for breakfast where we began talking about moving in together again.

Of course, we hadn’t told Mia yet, but we were getting closer to finally settling on a date.

I had just put my phone down from reading an email when Mia told Levi and me to look at the TV because her favorite character was on the screen.

Levi glanced up and then went right back to staring at his phone.

He’d been catching up on his sports news since Mia had wanted to watch the movie instead of the Sports Channel.

I glanced over at him to see him shift uncomfortably in his seat, the color in his face draining. I knew something was wrong when his hand dropped away from the back of my neck where he’d kept it the entire evening while we’d been watching TV together.

“What is it?” I questioned, watching him with concern.

He looked over at me. Something was wrong, I could tell from the look in his eyes.

“Levi? What is it?” I asked.

I swore his eyes got darker as he looked at me, and then he glanced down at Mia, only to look back at me.

“We’ll discuss it later,” he gritted, looking back to his phone just as someone knocked on his door. Without another word, Levi left his phone on the couch, got up, and made his way to the kitchen.

My curiosity grew as I reached over and grabbed his phone, looking down at the article he’d been reading. There, in black and white, was the article header Carol had wanted me to use; Levi Anderson: Reliably Unreliable, written by Scarlett Green.

Panic filled me as I read through the article.

It wasn’t the article I’d submitted. As I continued reading, my mind raced as I realized every word I’d submitted was gone.

Carol had rewritten the entire article, or she had someone else do it for her just as she’d threatened, only she attached my name to the article.

My stomach turned as I stared at his phone, the words blurring. There was information and snippets from my notes from my conversation with Skylar in there. She must have gone into my computer and read the notes I’d made.

“Can we watch it again?” Mia shouted.

I looked up to see the credits rolling on the TV.

“Not right now, maybe in a bit,” I said, moving Mia off my lap. I got up, flipping the TV to the cartoon channel for her.

“Mia, you stay here and watch some cartoons, okay? I’m gonna go find your dad,” I said, putting on one of her favorite shows and leaving her on the couch with Potato.

“Okay, don’t be gone too long,” she sang and then giggled, throwing Potato up in the air.

Mia talked to herself as I made my way into the kitchen to see the door to the condo ajar. I could hear Levi talking. His voice wasn’t loud, more like a mumble, but I could tell whoever was at the door had aggravated him.

I pulled the door open, and that was when Levi whipped around and glared at me.

His shoulders were tense, his back straight, even the muscles in his forearms were taught from the pile of paperwork he held in his hands.

Whatever was going on out here wasn’t good.

The tension was so high you could feel it in the air.

“Go inside, I’ll be right in,” Levi grumbled.

I was about to turn and go back inside when I heard a woman’s voice. “It’s you.”

I poked my head back around the doorframe to see Skylar standing there, her arms crossed in front of her, a manilla envelope in her hands.

So, this was the legal issue she had to take care of. Was she here to get custody of Mia? Surely, she couldn’t take her away from Levi, could she? I tried to pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about, but then Levi grabbed my arm and looked at me.

“You know one another?” he questioned.

“No,” I quickly said and went to head back inside, trying to get away from what I already knew was coming.

“Yes, we know one another. She just did an interview with me about what happened with my job at the New York Enforcers. She works for the Ice insiders .”

I could feel my stomach turn. This was all wrong, and I wanted to shout at Levi and tell him everything. We hadn’t even talked about the article he’d just seen, now this.

“So, let me guess, you’re the reason Skylar is in town?” he growled, the look on his face one I’d never wanted to see.

“No.”

“You’re the reason she’s here trying to get custody of a child she’s barely laid eyes on. What did you promise her if she did the interview?”

“Levi, believe me, I didn’t—”

“Just go inside!” he yelled.

I could feel Skylar’s eyes on me, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and die. I stepped back into the apartment and closed the door, making my way down the hall to the bedroom, where I sat down on the edge of his bed and looked at the floor, praying he’d give me a chance to explain.

“Scarlett…” I heard Mia’s voice say as I got up and folded my clothes, placing them in my overnight bag.

It was probably best if I gave Levi some space, at least for a couple of days, I thought to myself.

“Yes, Mia?”

“Where are you going? I thought we were going to the park today?” she asked, coming into the bedroom and crawling up onto the bed with Potato in her arms.

“Not today, sweetheart.”

“But you promised.”

Yes, she was right, I’d promised, but that was before my world blew up.

“I know, sweetie, but something has come up and I need to go.” I sniffled.

“Daddy says when you promise someone something you should follow through.”

I looked down at her face, brushing her hair behind her ears.

“Why are you so sad, Scarlett?” she asked.

“Mia, go to your room,” Levi barked, causing both of us to jump.

“But, Daddy, Scarlett promised to take me to the park and now she is sad.”

“Mia, to your room now!” Levi yelled, raising his voice.

Mia looked up at me, tears now streaming down her face, and slid off the bed, crying as she ran past Levi and slamming the door to her room. I could hear her cries in the distance as I looked at Levi.

“Levi, please, let me explain,” I cried.

“Reliably Unreliable, that’s what you think of me?”

“Levi, I swear to you I never submitted that article,” I cried, moving toward him, wanting to hug him and apologize for what Carol had done.

“Don’t come near me.” he said, backing away. “I should have fucking known better than to get involved with you again. I found it odd you were out here to begin with, and that was why I guarded myself and acted like an ass. Apparently, I had been wise to do so.”

“No, you weren’t. I didn’t do this, believe me,” I cried, my throat getting tighter as I stood there. “I wrote about your career, highlighting all the amazing moments.”

Levi ran his hands through his hair, turning away from me for a moment, before he turned back to face me.

“I allowed you into my life, into Mia’s life. I let you into our world, to have you do this? You’re going to find out just how reliably unreliable I am. Now, because of you and the shit you’ve caused, the interview you ran, I have to fight Skylar for custody of Mia.”

“Levi, please, let me explain. Let me prove to you I didn’t do this.”

Levi was quiet as he glared at me while Mia cried in the distance. I hated hearing her cry, and I hated the way I felt right now. She was crying because of me. My chest hurt, my head felt fuzzy, and I felt sick to my stomach thinking about how much hurt I’d caused the pair of them.

“I don’t want to hear your bullshit. I think it’s better for everyone if you just take your shit and get the hell out.”

Tears flooded my eyes as I stood there looking at Levi. “You don’t really mean that, do you?” I sniffled.

Levi turned away from me, not saying anything.

“Levi?”

“I’m taking Mia to the park. We’ll be gone for an hour.

When we get back here, I don’t want to see anything that reminds me of you in this apartment.

Don’t call me, don’t text me, don’t talk to me at games, and if you don’t have that article retracted, not only will the Ice Insiders be hearing from my lawyer, but you will be as well. ”

Immediately, he made his way to Mia’s bedroom and went inside.

He was in there for a few minutes before I heard her sobs stop, and then they appeared in the hallway, Mia looking over Levi’s shoulder at me.

She lifted her little hand and waved, wiping at her tear-filled eyes as he carried her away from me.

Then they were gone.