The Daddy Box Set Read online

  “No, that’s not true. You come first, Gabrielle. Why do you think I’m trying so hard to make you see that not taking the bar exam is a mistake? But I can’t exactly stop working until you come to that realization. So yes, the players, who are part of my work, have access to me while I’m here. At work.”

  “Stop saying work.” It dawned on a small part of me that he was right. About the work thing and the fact that the players were a part of it. It didn’t mean that I had to like being kept waiting and having to schedule appointments with him. But he wasn’t entirely in the wrong.

  “I’ve been thinking about taking the bar, Dad,” I blurted out.

  His eyes widened in surprise and a slow grin spread on his face. “You have?”

  “Yeah, I have. I was talking to, uh, a friend about it the other day, and it got me thinking.” Thank God that he missed the slight hesitation before the word friend.

  “Well, I’m happy to hear it.” He really did look happy. Or maybe it was relief that I wasn’t throwing his dream away. Who knew? “If you need anything, just contact my office, and I’ll have Olivia take care of it.”

  Nice. Of course, he would ask his receptionist to take care of it. I wanted to get out of there, so I didn’t call him on it. “Thanks, Dad.”

  We said our goodbyes, and I breathed a sigh of relief when his door clicked shut behind me. Olivia was back in her seat as I walked through the reception area and surprised me by motioning me over.

  She leaned towards me and lowered her voice, checking that no one was around before talking.

  Weird.

  “I hope the surprise is going well.” She whispered like we were part of some conspiracy before she got distracted by a ringing telephone.

  I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, so I just shot her a smile and headed to the parking lot.

  As I clicked the button to unlock my car, it dawned on me that James must have told her something about a surprise to get my number.

  So that was what he meant when he’d said that he had entered into some unspeakable alliances to get my number. It was pretty sneaky of him.

  I liked it.

  Chapter Thirteen

  James

  I fucking hated lunges. I loved a good workout. I knew what it took to keep my body in the shape it was in, and I knew how important it was that I did. I loved pushing my body to its limit, and I loved a good burn. But I fucking hated lunges.

  Unfortunately for me, they were a necessary evil, and I’d had to endure a couple hundred of them that morning. I was in a piss poor mood by the time that I’d finished them all.

  Ryder clapped me on the back as we finished and jogged towards the showers. “Later, bro.”

  “Yeah, man,” I called to his retreating back and rummaged through my bag for my phone. My mood lifted slightly when I discovered a missed call from Gabrielle.

  We’d been talking a lot lately, but we hadn’t seen each other since the beach last week. It had been a busy couple days for both of us.

  Harper had gotten the flu, and a sick kid was no joke. Gabrielle was seriously considering taking the bar and had been catching up on a lot of study sessions with her friends.

  “Are you finally done being a stereotype?” she teased as she answered her phone.

  “Abs like mine don’t come for free, babe.” I knew that she loved my body. She checked me out thoroughly every time I saw her, but I knew better than to say it.

  Besides, I worked hard for it. It deserved to be appreciated. There was also the fact that I did the exact same thing to her, so I kept my mouth shut.

  “Babe? I thought we’d talked about that.” She hated the term. I liked using it, so she was going to have to learn to deal with it.

  “We did. We agreed to disagree.” Not really. She’d hung up on me, but she’d texted me later anyway.

  I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “I don’t remember the conversation going down like that. If fact, I’m quite sure no agreements had been reached. And I’d know. I’m studying the law of contracts as we speak.”

  “Well, then I think you need to study harder.” I respected that she’d been studying, even though she hadn’t made a final decision about taking the bar. She wanted to be ready in case she decided to do it. I liked that. “If I’m not mistaken, ours was what is known as a tacit agreement.”

  She groaned at the other end of the line. “Don’t even say those words to me right now, but no, it wasn’t.”

  “Implied?” I tried again. That was about the extent of my rudimentary knowledge of contractual law.

  “Nope, not an implied agreement either. Trust me; there was no agreement to my being okay with being called babe. I have a name. Use it.”

  “Fine, Gabrielle. You at another study group?” I doubted it since she wouldn’t have been talking to me if she was, but I wanted to check. I needed a pick me up, and Gabrielle was about to be it. Hanging out with her was fun.

  Unless she was studying. I wasn’t enough of an asshole to get in the way of that. If she was, I would wait until she was able to take a break.

  “Not really, I’m at the library reading over some stuff, but I’m nearly done. For now, anyway.” She stifled a yawn.

  “I’m coming down there. Sit tight.” I took a quick shower, slung my gym bag over my shoulder, and made the short drive to the public library.

  My mom had tried to get me into reading as a kid, but it never quite stuck. I had always preferred to throw a ball around outside or play touch football with the other kids from the neighborhood in the park. When it was raining, I found other shit to do.

  I’d done my assigned reading, of course. I’d read the classics, and more recently, I’d read a ton of children’s books to Harper, but I wasn’t one to spend much time in the library.

  It was a surprise to find it so empty.

  The musty scent of old paper hit my nostrils as I pushed my way through the double doors. Dust particles floated in the rays of sunlight that shone through the stained glass windows. It was like stepping into a quieter, forgotten world.

  A gray-haired, bespectacled lady hunched over a desk that housed a computer that looked like it had been outdated before I was born, but that was it. There were no other people that I could see. The stacks were empty, and the rows of tables with rounded lamps on them sat unused.

  The librarian took no notice of me as I took the stairs to the second story two at a time. I made my way past row upon empty row, following yellowed paper signs that read ‘LEGAL’ to the back corner of the library.

  Gabrielle was seated at a table just off the darkened rows of books that must have been the stacks that housed the law books. Her golden curls were piled on top of her head, held in place by a pencil. Earbuds dangled from her ears as her head nodded in time to whatever it was that she was listening to.

  She wore faded light blue jeans and a loose-fitting shirt that slid off one shoulder, revealing a bright red bra strap. My cock stirred.

  Engrossed as she was in her reading, she didn’t notice me until my shadow fell across the desk that she’d taken over. It was piled high with books that were thicker than my biceps and had titles that threatened to bore me to death.

  She smiled as she looked up to find me standing over her and tugged her earbuds from her ears, letting them fall to the desk. The faint sounds of alternative rock filled the air.

  “Hey, stranger,” she greeted me without rising.

  “How am I a stranger? We’ve been talking on the phone practically every day.” I strode over to her seat. “Don’t I even get a hug for driving down here to save you from having to spend your break poring over more books?”

  “Who said I was taking a break?” She stood and walked into my arms. Her vanilla scent was slowly becoming familiar. I wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug but released her quickly.

  “You did, actually. You said that you were nearly done for now.” I repeated her earlier words back to her.

  “I me
ant that I was nearly done for today, not that I was just taking a break. I’ll carry on tomorrow. I have so many Latin terms swirling around in my head that I’m just about ready to pass out.” She sank back into her seat.

  “How’s the studying going?” I took the seat opposite hers and made myself comfortable.

  A faraway look entered her eyes. They were slightly red, and there were small dark smudges underneath them. She was tired. More so than I had thought she was. She was always so upbeat on the phone. She was still hot as all hell though, tired or not.

  “It’s going okay, I guess. It’s a lot more work than I remember it being, but I just have to get back into the swing of things. I’ll be fine.” She was confident. I had to give her that.

  “Yeah, you will. If you decide to take the exam. Which way are we swinging today?” She would get no judgment from me. It was a big decision for her. One that she had to make for herself.

  Personally, I was team ‘take the damn exam,’ but she had enough pressure from Richard telling her what she needed to do. I was not getting on that bandwagon. I did point out how passionate she became when she talked about it, though.

  “Today, I’m thinking I should just take it. Studying with Heather and the others again has been good. Fun even, at times. Listening to them talk, arguing with them. I’m remembering what I liked about law, but I’m still not sure if it is what I would have done if there were other choices.” It seemed reasonable to me.

  “Whatever you decide to do will be the right thing for you, but I don’t think you’d have been studying this hard for it already if some part of you didn’t think that taking it was the right thing.”

  I liked that she was that dedicated. I was proud of her for the way in which she had thrown herself into her studies in trying to decide if law was her true passion, the way football was mine.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. We’ll see, I guess. Time will tell.” She cast her eyes over the leatherbound book lying open in front of her and then folded it closed, setting it on top of the large pile to her left.

  She toyed with a simple band around her index finger and then locked her gaze onto mine. “So, what have you been getting up to? You know, except for the obvious.”

  I smirked as she gestured to my body. “Well, there’s been a lot of that. I have to keep in shape for next season, and we’ve been running some training drills with some of the younger guys.”

  “Aren’t you one of the younger guys?” Her brow furrowed.

  “Agewise, yes. Gamewise, not really. One of our coaches identified some stuff in the last couple of games that he wants to sort out while it’s all still fresh.” I kept my answer purposefully vague. I didn’t feel like getting into the fucking rookie mistakes, not all of which had been made by actual rookies, that had cost us the season.

  “That makes sense. Here I thought all that you did over the offseason was laze around drinking beer and chatting up girls at lavish parties while you waited for your chance to chase after your beloved ball for your adoring fans once more.” Light danced in her eyes, and she wore an easy smile.

  She was already starting to look more relaxed.

  “We know how accurate your assumptions have been so far. Maybe it’s time to wipe the slate clean and start all over.”

  “Isn’t the offseason for you guys like Christmas break for other people? You know, when you spend time with family and just recover and stuff. I swear that’s the way it’s always been. Unless I’ve been living under a rock.” She folded one long leg underneath her and drew the other up to her chest as she tilted her head at me, waiting for my answer with genuine interest.

  “No, you’re right. The offseason is like our ‘most wonderful time of the year.’ We’re just coming off a tough season this year. We’re gonna have to make some changes if we want to do better next season. It’s not like we’re seriously training or anything. We pretty much still come and go as we want to. We’re just smoothing some things out when people are available.” There, that was honest and not totally depressing.

  “So, in a way, you’re kind of doing exactly what I am?” Well, shit. I hadn’t thought about it that way. “I mean, you know that you’ll be playing football next season, so it’s not exactly the same, but there are some similarities.”

  Her tired eyes were sharp as they bore into mine.

  “In a way, yeah. Exactly that.” Something else dawned on me as I drew the mental similarities. “Isn’t this time of year sort of your preseason? Why are you the only person in the library?”

  “I guess it is, yeah. But the people who will be testing in the next session have mostly got their books and stuff sorted and are studying at home or in study groups at someone else’s. In the month or so leading up to the actual exam, the place will be packed again.” That made sense.

  A sexy grin spread on her lips as her eyes lit up in realization. “Wait, we’re the only people in here?”

  “Yeah, except for the librarian, I didn’t see anyone else on my way back here.” Mischief glinted in her eyes as she stood up and sauntered over to me.

  “You know, we haven’t really done anything since our first date.” Her hands played with the edge of her shirt.

  My eyes were pinned to her hands as she lifted her shirt just enough to reveal her hipbones and the bottom of her flat stomach. “That’s not entirely true; I seem to a recall a pretty sexy phone call over the weekend.”

  “That doesn’t count, not really.” She lifted her shirt higher and then tugged it completely off. My breath caught in my throat as she revealed the bright red bra that the strap had hinted at earlier. It had black lace trim and pushed her responsive tits into perfectly heart-shaped cleavage.

  I was semi-erect, and she hadn’t even touched me yet. I just wasn’t so sure about doing what we both wanted to do in the public library, though.

  “Don’t worry about the librarian. Mrs. Dunn hasn’t been up here in years. She has bad knees.”

  Her fingers slid down her sides as they danced to her waistline. She dropped her hands to her button and let her jeans slide to the floor as she stepped out of her sandals. Her boy-cut panties matched her bra as she stood before me. Her hair was still tangled on her head, held in place by her pencil, and her lips were slightly parted.

  Your move, Skye.

  Fuck it, public library or not, I couldn’t stop myself from pushing out of my chair and pulling the pencil from her hair as I claimed her mouth with mine.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Gabrielle

  When I’d put that underwear on that morning, I hadn’t for one second imagined I would be putting in on display for James. In a public library, no less. I’d simply wanted to feel good about myself. A fact that I was infinitely grateful for as James devoured my body with his eyes.

  He sat in a threadbare chair and somehow made it look like he sat on a throne. The sunlight filtering in through the window behind him revealed flecks of gold in his dark hair that I hadn’t noticed before.

  The corded muscles in his arms rippled as he gripped the armrests of his chair, seemingly considering my offer. He rose slowly and strode towards me like a predator stalking its prey. His hazel eyes burned with lust and pinned me in place.

  My breathing hitched. For a guy who could be so easygoing and fun, he was an alpha all the way when he got like this. Though, I had no doubt that he was dominant in every aspect of his life. I wasn’t intimidated by strong men and even appreciated his cocksure presence. Give me that over meek and mild any day.

  I had asked one of the guys in Heather’s study group about James, and the guy had practically started purring as he sang James’s praises.

  The other guys had quickly chimed in, even some of the girls had started raving about him, albeit for completely different reasons than the guys had been. It seemed that James Skye was something of a hero to his loyal fans. The guys wanted to be him, and the girls wanted to be with him.

  In the end, Heather had climbed on the coffee ta
ble and whistled to regain everybody’s attention. “What are we studying for here? The wills and estates section of the bar exam or a quiz about the hottest Dolphin around?”

  It was kind of surreal that the lips pressed to mine and the tongue sweeping at my lips belonged to said hottest Dolphin around.

  The James Skye I was getting to know was so much more than what those people had made him out to be: a hard-partying playboy who was notoriously private about his personal life and made fans, scouts, and coaches cream themselves during the season.

  My hair cascaded to my shoulders as he pulled on the pencil that held it up, falling in a soft wave to the tops of my breasts, tickling them slightly.

  James tunnelled his hand underneath it and gathered a handful of my hair to tug my head backwards. It was a gentle tug that didn’t quite hurt, but communicated his intentions clearly.

  The 5 o’clock shadow he sported brushed against the sensitive skin of my neck as he pressed his lips firmly to it. He breathed in against my skin, causing my nipples to pucker and sending a bolt of anticipation straight to my core.

  It was a powerful feeling to know that this veritable superstar was breathing me in, that he was attracted to me or affected by me in any way.

  His free hand gripped my ribs, brushing the underside of my lacy bra with his thumb. My skin tingled where he touched it, explosions of goosebumps forming where his thumb traced the underside of my breast.

  Heat pooled between my thighs. At this rate, my panties would be soaked through before he even touched me. He was that good at kissing.

  The man kissed with a single-minded focus that made me feel like the only thing in the universe. It was easy to understand why he was so good at his job if he could apply even a fraction of that focus to his game.

  At the sound of my moan, he snaked his hand behind my back and unhooked my bra. He lifted both hands to my shoulders and slid the straps of my bra from them, letting it fall to the floor. He sucked in a breath as he stepped back to admire his handiwork. My breasts stood pert and proud, nipples tightly beaded.