CHAPTER 21 JOLENE

Moving into a coach's house in the middle of the season is not exactly the most convenient thing ever, but thankfully the team won over the weekend so he'll be able to spend a bit of time at home on move-in day.

The truck pulls away at the same time I do, and I beat them there. Lincoln answers the door in athletic shorts and an Aces t-shirt, clearly ready to help, and I'm carrying a box that he pulls out of my arms.

"You're not supposed to be lifting heavy things, Jolene," he scolds as he sets the box by the stairs.

"It's mostly Jonah's stuffed animals," I protest. "He was very specific about what could and could not go on the truck."

He laughs, and he lowers his lips to mine for a quick kiss hello. "So the truck is on its way here?"

I nod.

"How much time do we have?" There's a gleam in his eye that tells me exactly why he's asking.

I lift a shoulder. "Probably enough for a super quick quickie."

I barely have the last word out of my mouth before he's spinning me around and bending me down so my palms are braced on the stair in front of me. He pulls my leggings down along with my panties, and he smooths a hand over my ass. He dips his fingers down and feels how ready I am for him, and then he yanks his cock out of his shorts and shoves it right into me.

"Oh God!" I yell from beneath him, and he leans around me and cups one of my breasts through my t-shirt as he drives into me.

His thrusts are relentless, as if he took that whole super quick quickie thing to heart, and he lets go of my breast to reach down and rub my clit in time with his deep strokes.

I'm yelling out some noises incoherently as he gives me the sort of pleasure I've been craving for days, and he keeps rocking into me like he's desperate to get to the finish line. He leans down over me and murmurs in my ear.

"I'm going to come so hard into this sweet cunt over and over again all over this house."

His words have their intended effect. My body starts to clench over his as I think about all the super quick quickies our future might hold. Here on the stairs. In the kitchen. On the couch. In the closet. In the shower. In the laundry room.

We'll cover all the surfaces, and other times we won't rush it at all, instead taking all the time we have to explore each other in all the ways we've missed out on for far too long.

"I'm coming!" I scream as the orgasm plows into me, and I reach down to rub my clit right along with him, our fingers moving together over me as I ride out the wave.

"Fuck, me too," he grunts halfway through my bliss, and the circles he was rubbing turn erratic as he loses all control, too. He slams into me as he finishes, and we're both panting as he pulls out. He presses a soft kiss to the back of my neck before he pulls my leggings back up into place, and then he helps me to a stand. My legs feel a little shaky, so I sit for a beat, and he sits beside me. I rest my head on his shoulder.

"I really think I'm going to love living here with you," I say, and he chuckles softly.

"Me too."

I head to the bathroom to clean myself up, and I hear the doorbell as I finish. The movers are here, and that means the hard work starts now.

We direct them where to go, and it's mostly boxes. I didn't move into Sam's with a ton of stuff since she was already mostly furnished, and any furniture I had in storage is being moved into Lincoln's garage for the time being.

He takes the box up to Jonah's room, and I glance around at what he did to it without telling me.

"Are you serious?" I say, and I walk in. "This is amazing!" The room is now outfitted with a bunk bed, and the top bunk has a Minions bedding set while the bottom bunk has Minecraft. The room is decked out in a combination of both the yellow creatures and green creepers, and Jonah is going to flip when he sees this place.

I mean, just the bunk will be enough to keep him happy a while…as if that bottom bunk is ever going to get used.

We head to our room, too—which just so happens to be clear across the house from Jonah's, for his privacy. Or ours. Whatever.

And I can't believe that this is mine.

I've been up here. I've even slept in this bed.

But at Sam's place, I always felt like a guest. It was home for a few months, and she was more than welcoming, but this feels different.

This feels like forever.

At least…I hope it'll be forever.

He takes me downstairs to his office, and the room across from it has been transformed into a recording studio for our podcast. And then he takes me to the room next to the recording studio that formerly housed a treadmill and some weights but is now sitting empty.

"What's this for?" I ask.

"It's your office. I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I present to you this blank canvas."

Tears brim in my eyes. "That's so sweet." But it also pulses a revelation inside me.

For the first time in my life…I'm unemployed.

I have the podcast, but there aren't any guarantees that we'll be able to successfully monetize it in the way I'm envisioning. I still want to give money to charity through what we're doing, and I want that to always be the focus. But I need to pay myself, too. I have a son to take care of, and soon another baby…

"I can tell what you're thinking," he says softly.

"What am I thinking?"

"That you're not sure what you want to do with it because you're not sure what you want to do."

I nod as he calls me out. "Exactly. I want to interview players and go to games and try local restaurants and all that, but I also still need a paycheck."

He looks a little uncomfortable for a beat, and then he asks. "Do you?"

My brows dip.

"Look, Jo. What's mine is yours, okay? Now and forever. All of it."

"I'm not going to just mooch off you," I protest.

"That's not what I'm suggesting. I'm saying what's mine is yours."

I purse my lips. I don't really see that big a difference between what he's saying and what I'm saying. "I want to feel like I'm contributing. It's important to me."

"Then you draw a paycheck from the podcast. Simple as that." He shrugs.

"But then that's less for charity," I point out. I realize I can't have it both ways.

"Then we set it up when we monetize it so certain sponsors are yours and the rest go to charity. We'll figure it out, okay? It's not something I want you to have to worry about ever again."

I'm not sure what it'll look like. I blow out a breath.

"Look, you're carrying my baby. My baby. My flesh and blood. Your contribution is growing that baby and caring for him or her. I will do whatever I can when I'm here, but you understand me and you know there will be a whole lot of time when I can't be here. The very least I can do is take care of the three of you financially."

We stare off for a few beats, and then I smile. "Well, when you put it that way…"

He laughs, and he pulls me into his arms. His lips collide with mine, and I can't help but sigh softly into him.

I don't think it gets much better than this.