My head is throbbing so fiercely that all I want is to fall into a bed and get a few hours of sleep when Kai finally walks outside, backwards hat and contacts replacing his glasses. Looking annoyingly handsome and put together while I feel like shit.
His son’s cry is a beacon, pulling his direction to us immediately.
“Come here.” Kai takes Max from me, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he tries to settle him. “You’re okay,” he whispers. “You’re all right, Bug. I’ve got you.”
Max’s wail softens to a sniffling cry as he melts into his dad’s shoulder.
“Did he not sleep at all?” Kai asks me, his tone a bit curt.
I simply shake my head, too tired to say much of anything, and too embarrassed that I couldn’t help.
Kai sighs with frustration. He’s gone three nights without getting a full night’s rest, so not only is he as exhausted as me, but I think he feels guilty that he’s putting his son through a grueling travel schedule during a sickness. Add that to the fact he kind of pitched like shit tonight and the Warriors lost due to a run he gave up while he was still on the mound.
Kai looks at me, and I can sense his fingers itching to pull me into him. I want him to. I want to say “screw it” to my dumb rules and fall into him because I need his comfort right now. I’ve become more and more reliant on it.
But as soon as the words are on the tip of my tongue, one of the team’s media coordinators taps him on the shoulder.
“You’re kidding me,” Kai states because he knows what he has to do without being asked. “My kid is sick. Let me just get on the fucking bus.”
He’s clearly frustrated. Kai rarely cusses in front of his son.
“Sorry, Ace.” The coordinator cowers a bit. “You’ve dodged fans after your last two starts. Unfortunately, I have to insist that you do your rounds tonight before we leave.”
Kai’s cool gaze is almost murderous, and my heart goes out to the poor media relations guy who is simply trying to do his job.
I hold out my hands. “Do you want me to take him?”
“No.” I’m not surprised by his quick answer. He’s been on edge for days, and maybe I deserve for him to be upset with me. I haven’t been any help.
Kai slips the jacket off his shoulders and uses it as a blanket to cover his son. “This is bullshit,” is the last thing he says before plastering on a smile and beelining it for the horde of fans whose noise level is growing with excitement as he gets closer to them.
The poor coordinator gives me a sheepish grin before he corrals more of the players and directs them to do their rounds. Luckily for him, none are as resistant as Kai.
Other players join the mass of fans, but through the crowd I see Kai putting on his handsome smile and using his only free hand to sign some autographs. There are male fans over there too, drooling over him, but all I notice are the women. Women who are fawning over little Max in his arms. Women with blatant signs declaring how much they’d like to wife up the single dad on the team.
I hate them all and I don’t care how childish that sounds.
I hate that eventually he’s going to meet someone who will give him the kind of commitment he needs. I hate that one day he’ll complete their family.
And I hate that the woman he chooses won’t be me because I’m simply a summer fling passing through.
“Millie,” my dad calls out, pulling my attention, and waving me over to the team bus. “You okay? You look like you might be sick.”
Spot on, Dad. That’s exactly how I feel.
He touches my forehead with the back of his hand. “Your head isn’t too warm.”
“I’m just running on fumes at the moment.”
“Why don’t you sit up front with me for this flight so you can get some rest?”
“No, I’m fine. Kai just worked all night. I can’t leave him with a sick baby.”
“Well, my baby is sick, and I’m worried about you.”
I breathe a half-hearted laugh. “I’m almost twenty-six, Dad.”
“And you’ll always be my baby.”
This guy is a walking juxtaposition, I swear. Tall, built like a tank, covered in tattoos, and the softest guy I know.
“Come on.” He continues up the steps of the bus. “We’ve gotta get to the airport.”
Instinctively, my attention finds Kai one more time before I get on the bus. He’s speaking to a woman with long auburn hair, and she’s of course gorgeous. Decked out in a jersey with his name on it. He says something to her and whatever it is causes her head to fall back in laughter before she tucks her hair behind her ear and looks up at him through her lashes.