I nodded at Jeremy and wished things had been different as I said, “Then we’ll stay.”
Michael put his Sooners cap back on. “I’ll see you both right after we win.”
“Boo.” The red-headed, overweight man behind us screamed. He had the Pirates logo painted on his cheeks.
I slumped onto the bench and Michael strutted away with that hard, muscular ass I’d once squeezed. He spoke with someone on the team and then they both stared at us.
My jitters were still inside me as I stabbed the ice with my straw in my soda.
Another man, skinnier, wearing a uniform like Michael but much younger than him, ran toward us as the team went onto the field to play. “The team wants to offer the two of you family seats.”
I grabbed Jeremy’s arm like someone might steal him from me. Family with Michael sounded permanent.
I trembled a little and squared my jaw when I said, “We’re fine here.”
The young man then backed away and said, “Well, at the top of the ninth, I’ll come to find you both.”
“Great,” I said and then slumped into my seat.
Jeremy stood and the second I heard the national anthem, I jumped up.
At the end of the singing, and someone in a wheelchair tossing a ceremonial pitch, we took our seats and the game began.
My son asked, “Mom, how do you know Michael Irons?”
Clearly, I was a liar. And a bad one. Maybe I should have at least looked at his baseball cards once or twice, but that wasn’t my interest. I bet I probably had seen his face in passing, but I'd never connected the dots. I’d been more into ensuring Jeremy had what he needed for school, clothes, and ate to stay healthy.
A head rush came from having to explain everything to a six-year-old and then to a sexy grown man right after.
I slumped my head down and didn’t care who was hitting what ball on the field and said to Jeremy, “I… we met at a hotel. I didn’t know he was a professional baseball player.”
Jeremy sounded like my father when he asked, “Where was this hotel?”
I'd been a financial analyst when I’d met Michael. I had gone on an adults-only vacation with some friends who I was no longer close to.
“The Bahamas. The resort was nice.”
Jeremy’s lips thinned and his bright blue eyes didn’t blink. “And you bumped into Michael then?”
“I’d been swimming in the pool when he came and joined me.”
Life had been so easy then. He’d joined me, bought me a drink, and whispered naughty ideas in my ear. My face heated when I remembered how many times his cock had made me writhe in pleasure. I hadn’t wanted anyone else since.
“Jeremy, remember when you asked me who your father was, and I told you I didn’t know?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Yeah.”
I'd read books about this on the off chance the situation arose on how to explain why I was a single mom.
“I didn’t know what happened to Michael or his last name. I thought it was better to assume I’d…we’d never see him again.”
After a long pause, Jeremy’s face brightened and said, “Michael Irons is my father?”
I lowered my voice. “Don’t say that out loud.”
His face lit up as if he just saw the gifts under the tree. “Maybe he can teach me to be a better shortstop like him.”
Maybe. He might be married, have children of his own, a girlfriend. And I didn’t exactly believe I’d ever marry. What if I transitioned into my mother, who’d accepted whatever my father had said without her own opinion?
A shadow came over me and there wasn't a cloud in the sky as I said, “We can’t assume he’ll even want to see us again.”
“Why not? He wants to see us.”
Out of the mouth of babes. Just because his sperm found my egg once, it did not mean he wanted a lifetime commitment. And I wasn’t exactly good wife material.
“Because he doesn’t know about us.”
Jeremy shrugged and ate some of his popcorn. “This game is better than I dreamed, Mom.”
Or the worst day of my life.
I closed my eyes and wished I’d have looked up more about my son’s interest in professional baseball, figured out Michael’s last name, and called the hotel for Michael’s name, or any number of crazy things I could have done but didn’t.
“That’s good for one of us.”
When Michael walked away from us, I’d be left to pick up the pieces of my son’s broken heart. I wasn’t sure how I’d handle it, but I had no choice. I needed to see him, too.
How could I ever imagine the man who rocked my world years ago would turn out to be a baseball player? All I remembered was sitting at a pool bar where he whispered naughty things in my ear and convinced me to go to his room with him.
Chapter 2
Michael
A fucking son. One that looked exactly like my dad, with those bright blue eyes that captured my attention. This was like a dream, or nightmare, that roared to life in my work hours.
I was absolutely sure and didn’t need to be told I had a son. That weekend in the Bahamas after my rookie year had been unforgettable because of Georgie.
Her kiss had left me reeling and no one else’s tasted right. And, from my quick view, Georgie’s body was almost the same, though her backside was rounder with sexier curves than I remembered.
Big Michael was already ready for her now that I’d found her again.
My mind spun. This wasn't fucking good.
I’d looked at her hands for a ring. I was clearly crazy, but my body
