Page 41 of Secret Love (The Single Dad Playbook #2)
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
SUBMERGED
HENLEY
I’m finishing up with Dr. Grinstead when Coach Evans knocks on the door and pokes his head in.
“How’s it going?” he asks, looking between Dr. Grinstead and me.
“I’ll let Henley answer that,” Dr. Grinstead says.
“I’m feeling stronger all the time, but there’s more inflammation than we’d like,” I tell him. “Jimmy is ready to up the intensity of my workouts soon, but we’re waiting to see if this knee starts looking a little better.” I lean forward.
Coach Evans sighs. “We’re in trouble, Ward. We can’t seem to get back on our feet without you.”
“I’m sorry, Coach. It kills me that I left the season hanging, believe me. I’m willing to do whatever I can on the back end, though…if that means working one-on-one with Cal or being at the practices. I don’t know if that would help or not, but we can try it.”
“Yeah, I think that would be good. Both of those options,” Evans says.
As I drive home, I decide I’ll bring it up with the guys tomorrow. We’re having Friendsgiving—dubbed by Sadie and Tru—at our place this year. Thanksgiving still isn’t for another couple of weeks, but the game schedule got in the way since the Mustangs have a game that day.
The guys have avoided talking about football with me. I can understand why—I’ve been a moody bastard since the accident. I’ve been dealing with my own shit, trying to work through the reality that things are going to be different for me now. I haven’t been ready to say it out loud just yet, but I don’t think I’m going back to football.
I don’t know for a fact that I’m done, but I’ve got a strong feeling that’s the way this is going, and I’m trying to listen to my body and do a better job of taking care of it.
My headspace is getting better, slowly but surely, and now I want to do what I can to help my team.
Even if I’m not playing with them anymore, I’ll always care about what happens to them.
“How did it go?” Tru asks when I walk into the kitchen.
Stephanie walks in and waves at me happily.
“Hey, Stephanie. You two haven’t stopped cooking, have you?”
Stephanie turns and goes back to the garage, probably to grab something from the fridge out there.
“No, we missed you though,” Tru says, laughing. “We’ll let you pick up where you left off.” She winks, and I swat her backside.
We’ve been cooking a ton, getting ready for tomorrow.
“I’ll get right to it.” I nuzzle her neck until she squirms.
“What did Dr. Grinstead say?”
“That there’s still more inflammation than he’d like, but he’s glad my mobility is so much better.”
“You proved that last night when we had sex right here on this island,” she whispers, turning to kiss me. “And this morning when you had your way with me in the shower.”
“I loved every second of both of those times…but I also miss you being on top,” I say, kissing down her neck.
“We will revisit my top positions very soon,” she says.
“Since you don’t call me Mr. Football Player anymore, I’d like to put the nickname Oh, God, Right There into consideration.”
She giggles but then puts her hands in my hair and looks up at me.
“Does it make you sad that I don’t call you that anymore?”
“When you say my name with such heat in your voice, nothing else matters. You know I’m yours, right?”
“Yes. And I’m yours,” she says.
She stands on her tiptoes and I kiss her, only pulling back when I hear Stephanie coming in.
Later that night, we’re exploring more positions. I thrust deeply into her, dragging her thigh around my waist, when I turn and pull her on top of me.
“Fuck me like you mean it, tiny dancer.”
“I mean it, I mean it,” she pants.
“I love you so much,” I tell her.
“I love you too. It’s so good, Henley.”
“I know, baby. I want to spend the rest of my life doing this with you.”
”Oh, God, Right There, harder!” she cries.
I laugh, but it quickly turns into me groaning out her name as we both sail into oblivion together.
We did Friendsgiving last year at Weston’s and it’s become a tradition. I’m riding high in the gratitude department right now, and these people are the reason why.
Cassidy, Audrey, and Gracie are watching a movie with Becca and Sam. Caleb keeps going back and forth between the movie and seeing what we’re up to.
“Where are Rhodes and Elle?” Bowie asks.
“They said they were coming an hour ago. I’m not sure what happened to them, but I’ve texted to see if they’re okay,” Tru says, reaching past me to pick up her phone.
“Maybe they were coming…” Penn says, wiggling his eyebrows.
“In our dreams.” Calista laughs, clinking glasses with him. “Bernard has been sniffing around Elle again, and I’m so over him it’s not even funny. He wants her back and he just can’t let it go.”
When Rhodes and Elle show up about ten minutes later, the tension is thick . If there was any action going on between them earlier, it’s over now. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’re fighting, which is maybe a first in the history books.
None of us know what to do with an angry Rhodes and Elle. They’re both as easygoing as it gets. And in all the years I’ve known them, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them angry with each other.
Tru, Sadie, and Calista get up and hug Elle. I watch Tru lean toward Elle. Tru says something that makes Elle laugh and Elle’s shoulders lose some of their stiffness. Tru feels my eyes on her and smiles at me. God, I love her.
“What’s going on with you and Elle?” Weston asks Rhodes.
He sighs and runs his hand over his face. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m so fucking worried about the game this weekend and now Elle is…” He shakes his head. “Yeah, I can’t talk about it.”
“It’s okay,” I tell him. “Tonight’s about being grateful and having fun and not being so fucking serious.”
Rhodes nods. “I can get behind that.”
The girls wander back over and find places to sit. We’re spread out in the living room, and I love having everyone together, talking and laughing. This is what life is all about, this right here.
“Hey, can I say something?” I say, clinking my water glass with my dessert fork.
Everyone turns to look at me.
“I wanted to let you all know that I couldn’t have gotten past these last couple of months without you. I’ve been a lot to deal with, but none of you have ever made me feel that way. You’ve dealt with my moods and hauled my ass to appointments and tried to fill any cravings—” That gets a laugh because they’ve all tried to think of things to feed me. “I might still have bad days, but I think I’m coming out of the tunnel. And there’s no one I’d rather do life with than all of you. You’re my safe place. Everyone in this room has become my family, and I just want all of you to know I appreciate you.”
I lift my glass and they lift theirs back to me.
“We love you,” Bowie says.
“I love you too. Every single one of you.”
When everyone’s gone home for the night, it’s just Tru and me. We hold hands as we walk to our room. After we’ve brushed our teeth, she turns on the shower and I follow her in there.
She looks at me, eyes shining so bright.
“Come here,” I tell her.
She grins and I put my arms around her.
“Thank you for an amazing day,” I say.”
She turns and points at the bench. She pushes me lightly, so that I’m sitting and then she straddles me, not putting her weight fully on me, but so her slit slides over me. I’m already aching for her and she gasps when she feels just how much.
“You like that?”
“So much,” she says.
She rubs against me, and I dip into her slick heat. She’s on birth control, so we stopped using condoms a while ago, and I love the luxury of fucking her without any barriers. It still takes my breath away when I enter her without anything between us.
I lift her off of me and set her back on the seat, grinning as I stretch my leg out and sit in front of her. Perfectly lined up with her goodness. The water pounds on my hair and I go in with everything I’ve got. Her moans get louder as I lick her. I don’t have the patience to make her wait for it tonight. I’m relentless, barely coming up for air. My fingers do some of the work along with my tongue, but when I suck her tight bud and don’t let go, I get the reward I’m after. She bucks against my face and I think I’d be happy drowning if it meant I’d go like this.