Chapter 6

SIX

I exit the private penthouse elevator and greet the doorman. “Hey Lewis. How’s your day going?”

He gives me a warm smile, but there’s something in his eyes that has my steps pausing. “It’s going good, Mr. Russell. Thanks for asking.”

“Everything okay?”

His smile dims a bit. “I know you value your privacy, but I thought I should warn you that a young woman tried to get in to see you today.”

Now he has my complete attention. “A woman? Did she give her name? Was it Lexi?”

His eyes widen at my rapid-fire questions. “Uh, she didn’t that I recall.”

My brows furrow. “Did she say why she was here?”

“Just that she needed to speak with you.”

I glance up at the cameras in the lobby and then back to Lewis. “Can you pull up the security footage?” I need to know. If it was Lexi, then maybe I’m not the only one who hasn’t been able to stop thinking about our night together. I can’t imagine it would be anyone else—I haven’t hooked up with anyone since her—but I have to know for sure.

I may have put my search for her on hold after my talk with the guys a couple of weeks ago, but if she sought me out, then I’ll do whatever it takes to find her. To see if our chemistry is still as explosive as it was that night.

He quickly focuses on his security system, and I round the desk so I can see what he sees. He pauses the video, and my heart starts racing as an energy I haven’t felt in a long time pulses through me. I couldn’t stop the smile that forms on my face even if I tried.

It’s her. Lexi came back.

Hope and excitement fills my chest so completely, but then like a leaky balloon, it disappears the longer I watch the tape. Her expression falters while she stares at Lewis. His back is to the camera and there’s no sound, but it’s clear that something happened—that he said something that bothered her—when her mouth turns down into a frown and her shoulders sag with defeat. Even from the slightly grainy video, the heartache is written all over her beautiful face.

“What happened? Why does she look so upset?”

“Uh…” His hesitancy turns any excitement I feel into pure dread and anger.

“Lewis,” I say, my tone sterner than I knew I was capable of. “What did you say to her?”

He licks his lips, not making eye contact with me as he stumbles over his words. “I…uh, I might’ve told her not to come back.”

“You what ?!” I shout. It’s impossible to stop the way my body is itching for a fight in this moment. She was here . She was so close, while I was right upstairs, and he sent her away.

“Why would you do that without consulting me?”

His only saving grace is the remorse that’s clear as day on his face. “I’m sorry, Mr. Russell. I thought she was another of those jersey-chaser women that have come here over the years trying to get to you. You always give me a heads-up if you’re planning for company. You didn’t have anyone on your list, so I figured you weren’t expecting her. I thought she was just an overeager female fan. I’m so sorry, sir.”

I don’t look away from him as I point to the screen. “If she ever comes back, you let her up, no questions asked. Do you understand me? She is never to be turned away again.”

“Yes, sir.”

My phone beeps, and I pull it out of my pocket more forcefully than it deserves, but I’m seething and barely keeping my anger restrained.

“I gotta go, but I mean it, Lewis. If she’s given any more trouble, you’ll be out of a job. Am I clear?”

I don’t know that I can actually get him fired, and I’ve never thrown my weight around like that in the years I’ve lived here, but the look on her face is already haunting me, and I refuse to let her feel like she doesn’t belong here.

“Crystal, sir.”

Jaw clenched, I move back around the desk and out the side doors leading to the garage. By the time I get to Gabe’s house for our family barbecue, I’m still riled up and righteously pissed off.

She was there. Right there. I was in the building. I could’ve talked to her, slid my hands through her silken black hair I’ve dreamt about since our night together. I could’ve asked her to come to this get-together and meet the guys and their women. They might not be family by blood, but they’re my family all the same. I’m as close to Gabe, Dom, and Romel as I am my own brothers, Tanner and Taron.

Fuck. I wouldn’t blame her if she never wanted to come back again. The stricken look on her face from today is seared into my memory just as clearly as the feel of her body underneath me and the way she cried out my name as she squeezed my dick so tight I saw stars.

No woman’s memory has stayed with me as long as she has. Not even my ex, and I thought I could be falling in love with her. But maybe subconsciously I always knew she was just using me.

But Lexi wasn’t.

Maybe that’s why it seems so easy to feel this way after one incredible night. I was real with her in a way I haven’t been able to be with other women since I got drafted.

There’s a loud banging on my driver’s side window that nearly sends me into cardiac arrest, and I glance out to see Dom, bent over laughing his ass off. I open my door and get out.

“Hardy har har, asshole. Hey Alayna,” I say to his wife.

God, that’s fucking weird. Never in a million years would I have expected that Dom, of all people, would get married before me, but sure enough, the fucker realized his best friend was the love of his life—about damn time—and they didn’t want to wait. I was honored to be invited to their small beach wedding they had this summer before preseason started.

“Hey Ty. How’s it going?” she asks. She’s too sweet for Dom, but it’s clear they love each other. And I can’t deny she’s brought out a softer side to him. I have to admit, I like this version of him a lot better than the party boy he was before.

“Could be better,” I admit, and that stops Dom’s laughter instantly.

“Everything okay?”

And this is why he’s one of my best friends—my brother from another mother. He might be an asshole sometimes and a jokester, but I know when shit goes down, he always has my back.

“Let’s head in. I don’t want to have to keep telling this story over and over cause it’ll just piss me off more, and I know Gabe and Romel will want to hear it.”

We enter the house without knocking because Gabe always leaves the door unlocked when we’re coming over. It was only awkward once when we walked in probably less than a minute after he and Danae had clearly had sex because her hair was a mess, their clothes were in disarray, and they were both still panting. None of us asked any questions, but we all gave him high fives later because that’s the kind of supportive friends we are.

“Yo, anybody home?” Dom calls out.

“Out back,” comes the reply, so we head through the vast living room out to Gabe’s back patio. It’s surrounded by tall trees and thick, well-manicured green shrubbery which gives it a very private feel.

Gabe and Dom give each other a quick handshake and then a pat on the back before Gabe moves to me and offers the same. Alayna and Danae, Gabe’s wife, curl up on the lounge chairs by the pool and start chatting away.

“Where’s Romel?” I ask.

“He should be here any?—”

“I’m here,” Gabe’s cut off by Romel’s voice behind me, and I spin around to find him carrying a half-asleep Kaylee in his arms.

“Want to put her in the guest room?” Danae asks, standing from the lounge chair and walking over. She’s got a soft spot for Kay. All the women do. So do all the men for that matter.

She may have lost her mother before she ever got to know her, but she’ll never lack for female role models in her life. Or men willing to go to battle for her if necessary. Her future boyfriends will piss themselves when they come to meet her dad and see the four of us ready and waiting to interrogate them. Poor kid.

Romel shakes his head. “Thanks, though. She’s been pretty needy for daddy time since the season kicked off. This last away stretch was rough on her.”

His voice is rougher than usual, and he’s made it no secret that every season gets harder now that his wife is gone and he’s Kaylee’s sole provider. I think all of us are just holding our breath and waiting for him to announce his retirement. It would be the end of an era—no more Fierce Four—and I’m not sure any of us are ready for that.

We all take a seat at the round table set up near the barbecue while Gabe grills up some burgers.

“Okay, time to talk,” Dom says to me.

“Talk about what?” Gabe asks.

“Something’s up, and he didn’t want to spill it all in your driveway, so now he needs to share. I suspect it’s about a woman.”

Gabe shakes his head. “Not unless it’s about that one from…what, a couple of months ago now? I’m pretty sure he’s still hung up on her.”

“It has been a long time for you, hasn’t it?” Romel adds. “Normally you go out when we’re in other cities, but you’ve called it a night like the rest of us.”

“It’s no fun going out without my guys, but yes, she’s been a big reason.” I lean my elbows on the table. “I found out she came back to my place today, and my doorman sent her away.”

“Why the hell would he do that?” Gabe asks.

“Because he thought she might be a jersey chaser just trying to get to me. Don’t worry, I chewed him out for not checking with me first. But you’re missing the point. She came back. Maybe that means she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about me either. Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped looking for her.”

“Damn. Do you think she figured out who you are?”

I chew the inside of my lip. I hadn’t considered that. I was so excited to see her on that security camera, I hadn’t thought what the driving factor was for her coming back. “I don’t think so,” I say slowly. “But I suppose it’s possible.”

“She’s not like your ex, right?”

“She’s nothing like Emily,” I state. My ex was a piece of work. She was shallow but hid it well for the first six months we were together. Over the last six, her cracks started to show, and then when I found out she just wanted to marry me so she could be a trophy wife and spend my money, that was the deal-breaker. My brother Tanner told me the first sign that it wasn’t going to last should’ve been when I refused to bring her home for the holidays because I was ninety percent certain my mom wasn’t going to like her.

He’s not wrong.

I want a partnership like my parents have. I want a woman who can be my best friend and my lover. Emily was never going to be that partner for me, but ever since her, I’d started to wonder if I’d ever find a woman who wanted me just for me instead of what I could provide for her.

And then I met Lexi.

Maybe it would’ve been better not to sleep with her that first night, but there was no going back after that first kiss. I craved her the way I’ve never craved another person.

I still do.

“Is it too stalkerish if I hire a private investigator to find her now? I’m worried after what happened with my doorman, she won’t come back on her own.”

The guys all look around at each other before Dom and Gabe say no while Romel says yes.

Well, that’s helpful.