Page 22

Micah

S eeing Raeann’s store never ceases to amaze me. The cute awning, the flower boxes along the windows, and the water bowl that’s always outside for people walking their dogs down the busy streets.

Inside, I spy Jace at one of the racks, and my mood immediately dampens. I can’t get out of the car quickly enough. It’s all better when Raeann turns to see me, and her whole face brightens.

“Hi,” she says, her cheeks blossoming a pretty pink. It’s as if she still can’t get used to the idea of us, even though I’ve been balls deep inside her multiple times since we became intimate a couple of weeks ago.

“Gorgeous,” I rasp, holding out my hand. She moves into my chest, and I kiss the top of her forehead.

The too-happy, penis-having employee of theirs that I still haven’t adequately punished Joey for speaks up. “Hi, Mr. Freeman.”

I nod at him, and Raeann squeezes my side. “Be nice. He thinks you don’t like him.”

“I don’t,” I remind her.

She chuckles, shaking her head at herself. “This is Katya.” Then just loud enough so the two of us can hear, she tacks on, “The no-dick-having employee you found us.”

To be fair, Joey found them both, but I selfishly needed her to have more free time. “Nice to meet you, Katya.”

The young girl’s eyes widen. “Nice to meet you, too, sir.”

“Please, call me Micah.”

“Can I call you Micah?” Jace asks.

“No,” I bark.

Raeann pinches me, but at least the guy can take a clue. He shrugs before going into the back.

Maybe there’s hope for him after all.

“Where’s Tab?” I ask.

“Took the day off,” Raeann says, grinning from ear to ear.

“Jace and Katya are fantastic. We can get so much more work done and focus on growing rather than only maintaining what we have. It’s incredible.

I’ve been able to source a cheaper factory to make the designs, and believe it or not, they’re even better quality.

We implemented Jace’s idea about the Pet of the Day, and sales exploded. ”

I was right with her until she added that nugget in there.

“Behave,” she says, moving closer. “Oh, and Katya has taken an interest in our socials. She posts the sales, the new releases, basically everything noteworthy, while Tab and I still do the personal stuff. You know, in case I might want to make a fool of myself again.”

“I’d say it worked out pretty well for you the last time.”

“Except I got this weird stalker who hasn’t left me alone since.”

My smile widens, and Katya coos. “Aww, y’all are adorable.”

I squeeze Raeann’s hand with pride and tell Katya goodbye while I lead my girl toward the door.

She yells out some last-minute instructions that she’s probably already told them a few dozen times before calling Athena over, putting her on the leash, and then stepping out onto the sidewalk while I open the door for them.

“I’m nervous about them locking up by themselves.”

“Katya seems pretty smart.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she says. “Should I tell Joey you’re having second thoughts about his ability to hire good people?”

“You wouldn’t do that to me. I need someone who matches my energy and won’t quit every time I go beyond the line.”

“I don’t know. I could just pop him a message.”

She takes her phone out and side-eyes me.

I narrow my gaze at her. “Are you telling me you have Joey’s contact info?”

“Well, yeah,” she says, lip quirking into a teasing grin. This girl knows exactly what she’s doing. It’s like she wants me to show my crazy.

Kind of refreshing, actually.

“Delete it.”

Her eyes sparkle. “He thought you would say that, so he texts me every day to make sure I still have it.”

“I’ll delete it off his.”

She sucks in a breath, grimacing for show. “Don’t think that’s going to work with how good of a memory he has.”

“I’ll throw his goddamned phone into the Cumberland.”

“Believe it or not, he can go buy another one.”

I cage her against the car. “I see what you’re doing.”

“Me?” she asks innocently.

“You’re trying to get me all riled up.”

She bites her lip around a smile. “Would I do that?”

“It would work, too, if we didn’t have to be somewhere.” Leaning over, I give her an urgent kiss that’s just enough to make me want to do more, but not long enough that I get lost in her.

“You didn’t tell me where we’re going.”

I have a tease of my own. I help her get Athena into the back seat and then open her car door for her before sitting in the driver’s seat and pulling away from the curb.

“Well?”

I peer over at her, taking cues from her body as to whether she can handle the element of surprise or if it’s best to tell her now. “You’ll enjoy it. Trust me.”

She spends the next fifteen minutes trying to guess. I’m pleased with how relaxed she is. Athena never shows any signs of worry, and a deep-seated feeling of accomplishment comes over me. Finally, Raeann trusts me. She’s comfortable around me, and that’s the greatest gift I could’ve asked for.

I pull into another luxury area known as Brentwood and stop in front of Reid Parker’s house. Ever since he joined the team, he’s acted like our leader both on and off the field. People gravitate toward him, and he never hesitates to welcome us into his circle. The more the merrier.

“Where are we?” Raeann asks, staring up at the house.

“This is Reid Parker’s place.”

“Get out of here!”

I chuckle. At this point, a part of me might have wanted to classify him with Jace considering her excitement, but the fact that Reid is head over heels for his high school sweetheart means I have nothing to worry about. “A few of us were invited for a barbecue.”

She places her hand over her stomach then, and Athena moves to a standing position. “It’s okay,” she says offhandedly to the snout that’s come to rest on her shoulder.

I reach over and place my hand on her thigh. “It’ll be fun.”

“Who else is coming?”

I tilt my head, surveying her. “Why? Is there someone I should be worried about?”

“Oh…” she mocks. “Did I forget to tell you about that teammate I hooked up with last year?”

My blood runs cold. I’m not gullible enough to fall for her teasing, but my body doesn’t like the idea of it anyway. It makes me want to crawl into the back seat with her and prove to her that she’ll never think about another man again.

“Kidding.”

“I know,” I say through clenched teeth.

“You’re absolutely irresistible when you’re jealous like this.”

“I’m glad you think so because it’ll never go away.”

I get out of the car and walk around it to help her out. “It’s okay if Athena is here?”

“That’s the first thing I asked him.”

“Before you even invited me?”

I laugh. “If you think they don’t know about you, you’re mistaken. In fact, I get texts on the daily.”

“Can I read some of them?”

“Yeah, no.”

She sticks her chin in the air defiantly, as if she’s going to figure out a way around that. She keeps eyeing me as she takes Athena out of the back and holds tightly to her leash.

“Come on, they all want to meet you.”

“When you say all?”

“I mean an appropriate amount of people.” There’s no way I’m going to tell her that I asked Reid to keep the crowd to a minimum so that Raeann wouldn’t be frozen all day in a state of panic. I want her to enjoy herself and to be introduced to this part of my life.

I slip my hand in hers and lead her toward the side gate. I can already hear the murmur of voices on the other side. Athena keeps pretty close to Raeann while we walk up and she absentmindedly strokes the cute pup’s fur.

When I grab the handle to the gate, I wait as Raeann takes a huge breath of air and lets it out slowly before pulling it all the way open. As soon as it closes behind us, a female pokes their head around the side of the house. Briar. Reid’s girlfriend.

“Hey, Micah,” she says, waving. “And you must be Raeann. Hi!”

“Hi,” Raeann responds, her voice a little too peppy. She laughs nervously. “This is Athena.”

“Oh my goodness,” Briar squeaks. “I keep telling Reid we need to get a dog. Can I pet her?”

“She’ll love you forever,” Raeann says.

Briar kneels down, giving Athena a good head rub. “She’s so cute.” She gets to her feet then, beckoning us forward. “Well, come on. Let’s get you introduced to everyone.”

Raeann turns to me with wide eyes and mouths, Everyone?

When we turn the corner, however, she relaxes. A small gathering, just like I promised, and she’s already met most of them, albeit briefly.

Briar reintroduces everyone, and a few of the guys give me knowing smiles.

It’s not hard to guess why. We don’t bring just any girl to these intimate gatherings with teammates.

If it’s a party after a game, sure, everyone is invited.

You could be seeing the girl casually or a hook-up.

But once you start getting wives and girlfriends involved in get-togethers like this, they are keepers.

We’re a family like that. Pro teams all have their own feel and level of family, and it so happens that the Wildcats aren’t only a bunch of guys who play football at the same time.

We’re more like cousins coming together to play for one another.

When one of us gets traded or retires, we feel it.

Athena is a big hit among the guests. She soaks up all the love from everyone. Cade Farmer and his girl, Charley. Davis and Levi. Then there’s Tipper and his wife, Jo. True to his word, Reid kept the group small. I pat him on the back while Raeann and I find chairs to sit at the dining table with.

Reid opens the grill and a plume of smoke lifts and dissipates into the air. We chat casually, Davis talking about how his restaurant is doing.

My phone buzzes, and I take it out of my pocket to read a text from Cade under the heading Gridiron Gods.

Gridiron Gods? This fucking tool.

Cade: Yo. She’s out of your league, 34.

Me: Watch to see if I block for you next time, and I’m fully aware.

I peer up to find him smirking down at his phone.

Cade: Someone had to tell you.

Cade: Should I tell her?

Tipper: Jesus, Farmer. You want to give him a stroke? I’d like to keep up our winning season.

Tipper, as always, coming in with some sense.

Me: Who the fuck are the Gridiron Gods?

Cade: Us. It took me a long time to come up with that name.

Cade and Reid are made of different stuff.

They could make friends with a rock. Before Reid, I hadn’t seen a guy come into our dynamic and make friends so easily…

and then Cade came in and did the same exact thing.

Fitting that they’ve been friends since grade school, but they don’t treat the rest of us any differently.

“So, Charley,” I speak up, “how are you adjusting to Tennessee? Must be hard.” I look pointedly at Cade who laughs.

“I like it here,” she says. “I wish we could find a house already, then I might be able to settle in more.”

I don’t know everything about Charley, only that she has to go home frequently. Or at least she did. When they first moved down here, I didn’t meet Cade’s girlfriend for a few months. In fact, there was a rolling joke with the team that he completely made her up. I think Reid actually started it.

Things seem to be settling in more for them, and knowing what I know now that Raeann’s by my side, I’m happy for them.

“Are you, um, from around here?” Charley asks Raeann.

It’s the first time a question is directed at her in front of the whole group, and I hold my breath for a few seconds. When I look over at her, though, she’s at ease. “Tennessee but not Nashville.”

“Ah, I hear it now,” Charley says. “The accent.”

“It just sticks. You’ll have to pry my accent from my cold, dead hands.”

The group laughs, and it’s then that Raeann realizes that everyone was listening to their conversation. Her cheeks flush red, but then Athena barks and everyone laughs even louder.

My girls , I think.