CHAPTER 38
Graham
It had taken me a month to convince Lauren that she needed to move in with me, but it was worth every moment of that time spent convincing her she could trust me.
Was she there yet? Did she have complete faith in me?
I had no idea, but if it took years, I’d happily give her all the time she needed until she was ready to marry me.
As long as she was mine in the meantime.
I’d used the excuse that her think-tank job was a lot closer to my condo, but I knew that wasn’t why we wanted to be together.
For me, nothing felt quite right without Lauren around. I fucking loved being with her, and I wanted to see her gorgeous face every night when she arrived home from work.
And I made damn sure she went to work every morning smiling.
“Take your hand off my nachos,” I growled to Ty.
Lauren laughed as all three of us sat around the table in my condo having a birthday celebration. Since Lauren’s birthday was two days after mine, we’d picked the day in between our birthdays to celebrate both of them. Now that Lauren was settled in with me, it made sense to have a small party in the condo.
Ty had invited himself.
And Lauren had asked Kelley to stop over. We hadn’t seen Kelley yet, but Ty already had his hands all over the food.
“I don’t get a chance at junk food very often anymore,” Ty protested. “Not now that I’m following your diet. But it helps me to avoid energy spikes, so I’m rolling with it. But today is a cheat day.”
I glared at him, daring him to touch the heaping plate of nachos in front of us. He had a decent burger, minus fries, but Lauren had made the nachos for me because she knew I missed them.
“Eat the chicken wings,” I suggested.
He reached for the plate again. “Not the same. Lauren didn’t make them.”
“Suck it up,” I demanded as I snatched the plate and put it safely in front of me.
Lauren was an amazing cook, even though she didn’t like doing it that often, and I was okay with that. We generally did something simple when she got home from work, or she had to put up with something I made.
Things would shift when I started training camp in a couple of weeks. I knew I’d be dragging ass home every day instead of working more casual practices with my offense. But we’d figure things out as we went along with our careers. Lauren and I were good at adapting to different situations. Things just seemed to flow into place without us really noticing the difference. I knew most of our silent communication was due to the fact that we’d known each other for so long.
Lauren seemed to know what I needed even before I did.
And I sensed what she wanted the most.
We were still getting used to the fact that we loved each other so much that we had initiated every surface in my condo by having sex on it.
The intensity of our relationship just seemed to keep getting stronger.
And our love just kept on growing.
But I wasn’t afraid of those emotions anymore. In fact, I was grateful that everything had happened the way it did. I hadn’t completely forgiven Jack, but I’d told Lauren to invite him over. I might have to grind my teeth for a while, but he was Lauren’s brother. There was no way I could continue to hold a grudge. Maybe we’d never have the same kind of friendship we’d had before, but for Lauren, I’d tolerate the bastard.
The doorbell rang just as I tore into my nachos, and Lauren sprang to her feet. “I’ll get it.”
She looked at me hesitantly.
I met her eyes and nodded, letting her know I was okay with whoever walked through the door if she was good with who was outside it. The condo was our place now, and I didn’t want her to ever feel uncomfortable with inviting anybody she wanted into our home.
She gave me an encouraging smile that melted my damn heart before she hustled to the door.
As long as it wasn’t some dude who looked at her like he wanted to fuck her, I was determined to be nice to any of her guests.
Ty looked at me as he took a break from inhaling his burger. “You okay with Jack being here? I did slug the guy pretty hard.”
Honestly, I was glad that Ty had put Jack on his ass. It might’ve created less tension between me and Jack. “He deserved it,” I said unapologetically.
“He’s definitely not going to like me,” Ty warned.
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” I liked Ty, and I knew Jack, even though we didn’t spend any time together anymore. “He’s not the type to hold a grudge. I think he knows he deserved it, too.”
“I can’t see you being with anybody but Lauren,” Ty observed.
I grinned at him. “Me, neither. But I have no problem making Jack squirm, so no worries.”
Ty had been the type of male friend I’d never had in my life, the type of guy who either liked somebody or he didn’t. There was no bullshit with him. He either accepted somebody unconditionally, or he steered away from them. We got along with all of the rest of the offense, and I’d actually gotten to like some of them during our practices. Our offense was starting to gel, but Ty was the only one I’d let completely into my life.
I heard two distinctive male voices joining with Lauren’s, and stopped shoveling food in my face to stand up and greet my guests.
Ben walked through the entrance to the kitchen first, followed closely by Jack.
I was happy to welcome Lauren’s dad.
Jack was a little bit harder to get excited about.
Ben and I had come to an unspoken agreement: I’d treat Lauren with love and respect, and he’d trust me with his daughter enough to stop warning us both about condoms.
It worked.
I greeted Ben with a handshake, and then looked at Jack.
It was painful to see the friend who had betrayed me. But I also saw good memories when I saw his face, times when we’d stood by each other no matter what. Jack was part of my past, and he’d be part of my future. I wasn’t sure when all of the betrayal stuff would go away, but I was grateful for the fact that I had Lauren now. I hung onto that fact as I finally offered him my hand.
“Jack,” I acknowledged out loud. “Glad you’re here.”
“Thanks for inviting me,” he said quietly.
“I didn’t,” I stated bluntly as we quickly shook hands. “Lauren asked you to come, and I love your sister more than I dislike you.”
Jack grinned, a mischievous look that I’d seen so many times before. “I guess that’s something,” he answered.
I introduced Ty, and then I watched as the two men seemed to size each other up.
Jack offered his hand to Ty. “You have a mean right hook.”
Ty accepted Jack’s greeting grudgingly. “My dad was a boxer.” Ty’s warning to Jack was pretty clear, although it looked like he was willing to get along with whoever we welcomed into our home.
As I watched the exchange between my former friend and my new one, I wondered if there would come a day when we could all forgive and forget.
Ty might be tolerating Jack, but he’d be the first one to stand up and defend anybody he cared about. That was one of the things I liked about him. There was very little that wasn’t black and white with Ty.
“I wonder what happened to Kelley,” Lauren said with a frown as we all got ourselves seated back at the table.
I could tell she was worried. Kelley had just moved back to Denver from California. I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to meet Lauren’s friend yet, and Lauren hadn’t seen Kelley since she’d arrived in the city the day before. “Text her?” I suggested.
Lauren dashed to get her phone in the living room, and she came back with a look I knew well on her face. She was upset. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I got up and went to her side.
I could hear Ben asking Ty about his football career, but I was focused on the unhappy look on Lauren’s face.
“Her rental car broke down,” she informed me. “She texted that she’s going to be late.”
“I can go pick her up,” I offered.
“I’ll go,” Ty said enthusiastically as he got eagerly to his feet.
I smirked at Ty. I was pretty sure Lauren’s dad had started his lecture about using condoms with my friend, and I couldn’t blame him for wanting to avoid that subject. I guess I needed to give him a break.
Lauren texted back and forth with her friend, making arrangements for Ty to pick Kelley up while Ty—the sneaky bastard—managed to swipe some of my nachos.
“Move it,” I told him as I pushed him toward the door.
Ty was still chewing as he got Kelley’s cell number and the information from Lauren.
“I’ll bring her back safe,” Ty assured Lauren with a smile.
I gritted my teeth as Lauren put a hand on Ty’s arm and thanked him before he left.
Lauren’s sweet nature was something I’d have to get used to, but I didn’t have to like seeing her close to another guy, even a friend.
I was pretty sure Ty loved every moment of Lauren’s attention. He seemed to get off on seeing me off-balance when it came to my girlfriend. I wasn’t sure whether he was a sadist, or he just wanted to help me feel more comfortable with her showing innocent affection for other men.
I knew he was safe. Rationally, I knew he wasn’t lusting after my woman.
But it still pissed me off.
“I’ll wait until you get back to bring out the cake,” she shouted at Ty as he left the condo.
I wrapped my arm around Lauren’s waist, just wanting to feel her beside me. She melted into my body like she belonged there, which she did.
“I love you,” she murmured in a low voice meant only for me.
My heart stuttered as I tightened my arm around her. She knew I had possessive instincts, and her first inclination was to reassure me that she’d always be mine. “I love you, Peanut,” I said huskily in her ear. “But I wish you’d stop touching other guys.”
She laughed, a carefree sound that calmed my ass down in a hurry.
Lauren wasn’t laughing at me; she was trying to make me laugh at myself.
It worked.
As I looked at her radiant expression, I grinned back at her.
What was a little discomfort when I had a woman like Lauren?
Compared to what I had with her, it was pretty much nothing at all.