“Takes after her mother. Her father is a troll,” I say, and Hannah giggles.
“Why are your eyes red?” she asks.
“Allergies,” I mumble.
“Inside this gorgeous house? What are you allergic to? People?”
“You didn’t know that about me?” I sigh. “And Maverick and I were having a heart-to-heart.”
“Yeah?” Her fingers rest on my neck, playing with the ends of my hair. “Is everything okay?”
“It will be. We talked about his next steps. What the future looks like for him now that he has all of this.” I glance down at Murphy closing her eyes. “It’s hard to find other things important when you already have everything you need.”
“That’s a good sentiment. We have to enjoy the moment we’re in, right?” Hannah laughs when Murphy sneezes. “Did you ever think you’d wind up here?”
“Where? In Maverick Miller’s living room holding his baby? No fucking way.”
“Yeah, that.” Her fingers dip lower, to the collar of my shirt. “But also with twenty guys who look up to you. A team who respects you.”
“I’ll tell you a secret.” I glance over at the dining room table filling with people. Laughter, jokes. Someone passing the butter and Ethan tossing an almond in the air and catching it in his mouth. “If I had a chance to do it all over again, I’d pick them every time.”
“It’s nice to see you open up. Spending time with the people you love is important.”
“Yeah.” My attention moves to her. I give her knee a squeeze with my free hand, not letting myself linger for too long, but this next part is for her. “It is.”
Hannah inhales softly, and I hope she understood my message.
Professing my love for her in front of my players—including her brother—is not what I have planned, but I do want her to know I think she’s special. I do want her to know she has a place here—with me, with the team.
“Do you want me to grab you a plate?” she asks, changing gears. “Since your hands are full.”
“I’m going to get up here in a second.” Murphy holds a fistful of my shirt while she sleeps. “Do you want to hold her?”
“I’m terrified I’ll hurt her. And you look so attractive right now, it’s nice to look at you.”
A throat clears, and we spring apart. My hand falls from her knee. She scoots away so there’s distance between us. Riley’s eyes move from Hannah to me, pausing to look at her leg.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he says.
“You’re not interrupting anything.” Hannah tosses her hair over her shoulder. “I’m going to get some food. Good to see you, Brody.”
“You too,” I offer, staring at the floor instead of her ass while she walks away.
“That was interesting.” Riley takes a seat on the couch. He adjusts his prosthetic leg and looks at me. “Anything you want to talk about?”
“You didn’t see anything,” I warn him. “And if you did, do Ilooklike I want to talk about it?”
“No.” He taps his fingers on his thigh. “I’m going to be honest with you, Coach. I don’t remember a lot of the days after my accident. The first couple of months are a blur, between the pain, the medications, and the general feeling of not wanting to exist anymore.”
“Are you feeling that way again?” My eyes cut over to him. “I’m here for you if you are. No judgment.”
“No. I’m so fucking happy, man, I keep waiting for someone to wake me up. I don’t remember a lot of my life after losing my leg, but I do remember the conversation you and I had. You told me I had to find something that makes me feel good. And… I found it. Through playing again. Through helping you coach. Through Lexi.” He fixes his glasses and smiles. “Maybe you need to hear it for yourself.”
“I do plenty of things that make me feel good.”
“If, hypothetically, you were hanging out with someone’s sister, he wouldn’t care. I mean, he’d care at the beginning, because he doesn’t like being left out of things, but after he cooled down, he wouldn’t care. He’s a lover.” Riley shrugs. “He wants the people in his life to be happy.”
“You think so?” I ask.
