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I’m seething as I pour a cup of coffee, and fuck this. I’m not hanging around the house all day watching her get closer and closer with some other guy as she flaunts it in my face.

Close the goddamn door. At least have some respect and close the door so people walking by don’t have to see.

But no, she’s lying there on his chest all cozy, and it should be me holding her in my arms, and I’m completely out of sorts after the shit I witnessed.

I can’t do this.

I can’t live here, I can’t watch her move on, I can’t fucking even enjoy this new adventure in my life because she’s right fucking there marring all of it.

I text Kaylee.

Me: Are you going to the game today or are you watching at home?

It’s Ben’s last preseason game before the regular season begins, and last I checked, the Aces were going to Los Angeles for the game.

She writes back nearly immediately.

Kaylee: Home with the girls. Come hang out, everyone else went to California but I wanted to get a jump start on the SFK ideas. We can watch the game and talk ahead of your meetings tomorrow.

She texts her address, and I chug my cup of coffee before racing out the door to get away from Gabby and her new lover before they come down for breakfast.

Did she really move on so quickly? Did I ever mean anything at all to her?

Those are the questions that plague me on the drive over to Kaylee’s house.

Two baby girls are crawling around on the floor when I arrive. One is using the coffee table to help her stand, and the other is attempting to pull herself up onto the couch.

“Holly, no!” she says, and clearly the rambunctious one trying to climb the couch is Holly. Holly jumps at her mother’s tone, and she falls to the floor in a heap of tears. “God, I’m really dreading the teenage years with the dramatics of nine months.”

I laugh. “May I?” I ask, and Kaylee nods while she picks up Hailey. I reach down to quiet the now screaming Holly. “Hey, baby girl,” I say quietly, soothingly. “You’re okay. Take a deep breath with me.” I suck in a dramatic breath of air and let it go, breathing my dragon coffee breath right in her face.

Tears turn to giggles.

“Jesus, how are you still single?” Kaylee mutters.

I shoot her a look. “You really want to get into that right now?”

“If I wasn’t married to the hottest tight end in the universe, I swear to God my ovaries would’ve just exploded. That whole baby girl line in that sexy gravel tone? Good Lord, Coopsey.”

“I thought we nixed Coopsey.”

She shakes her head. “You thought wrong.”

We play with the babies as a twinge of something pulls at my chest.

This is what I want. Maybe not with Kay—definitely not with Kay—but with the right woman. Kaylee and I were a non-starter. I found her attractive, and it was mutual, but she was pregnant when we met, and I was still reeling from my break-up with Stacy. We fell into a brother-sister type relationship, and over the last few months, we’ve gotten closer and closer.

It never would’ve worked between us, anyway. She’s from a football family. They never would’ve let her get with a ballplayer like me.

Although athletes are athletes, and while our games are different, our dedication is not.

Somehow Kaylee tamed the wild Ben Olson, and they’re living their happily ever after. He went on record hundreds of times spouting how he never wanted kids…and now he’s blessed with not one but two perfect girls, and he’s gone on record twice as many times proving what a family man he’s turned into.

I’m happy for Kaylee. I’m glad they worked it out. I’m not jealous, exactly. I’m just wondering when my time will come.

We watch the game, and we chat about SFK during commercials while the girls nap. It isn’t until the fourth quarter when the starters are benched and the Aces are ahead by three touchdowns when Kaylee mutes the television and turns toward me.

“The girls will be up soon, and we need to talk.”

My brows dip. “About what?”

“About you , Cooper Noah. You’re acting like your best friend just died, but I’m right here.”

I laugh. “While you are my best friend, Kaylee Olson, you’re wrong. I’m fine.”

“You are not, you big dumb idiot. You’re clearly broken up over Gabby, and I need to know what you’re going to do about it,” she says.

I blow out a breath and keep my eyes on the screen. “My hands are tied. What choice do I have?”

“You choose love. You always choose love,” she says, reaching over and squeezing my forearm.

“Like you did when you ran away from Ben?” I mutter petulantly.

“Hey,” she says sharply enough that my head whips in her direction. “That was different.” Her tone gentles.

“It’s fine, Kay. I don’t need the distraction right now anyway. It’s just…that dopey intern kid that walked in, he’s been hanging around her. He spent the night last night.”

“Oh, God. You don’t think…”

“I don’t know what to think. I think she’s playing games. I think she’s flaunting something in my face but I know her, and I know she’s not the type to just jump into something new when she’s hurting over the end of us. I fucking hate it, but what can I do?”

“You can fight, Cooper. You fight for her. You fight for what you know is right.”

“But what if it isn’t right? What if it was exciting and thrilling and steamy for a few weeks, and it was going to sputter out anyway? What if there’s too wide a gap and the fact that I want kids yesterday scares her off because she’s not even out of college? What if she doesn’t want to be with a ballplayer who just signed a three-year contract and will be gone half the year when he was the one who wanted to start a family in the first place?” I blow out a breath at the end of my rant, collapsing back on the couch as the confession drains me of everything I have left in me.

“Hey, Coop,” Kaylee says gently. “It’s all going to be okay. It’s all going to work out.”

I press my lips together and nod as I keep my eyes trained on the television and push down the emotions welling up. I won’t let them spill over, but I’m also not sure I can trust what Kaylee’s telling me.

I want to believe her, but I just don’t know how it can work out…unless I allow feelings to overrule logic, something I’ve never done before in my life.