False Start: A Fake Dating Sports Romance (Red Zone Rivals)

Kyle’s face didn’t look promising when he came through the front door a week after our engagement, a heavy sigh leaving his chest and that massive hand of his running through his hair. It was a bit longer than when I’d met him, and he looked worn from the week of training camp. The first pre-season game was this weekend, and he’d been pushing hard to get ready for it.

From what he’d explained, these pre-season games would be his chance to seal his spot — and, hopefully, be named as a starter on the team. I hadn’t seen him play yet, but if he was anything like he had been in high school, I had no reason to worry about him making it.

Then again, when he was in high school, he was just a kid. He didn’t have a care in the world other than football.

Now, he was newly engaged to a train wreck of a woman with a crazy ex-husband and a six-year-old kid.

Boxes littered every corner of my home as we prepared to move into the new house Kyle had purchased for us.

And for reasons I wasn’t sure I even understood, he wanted this life. He chose it. He chose me.

I was trying really hard not to be so surprised by it all. I wanted to be confident, the way I used to be. I wanted to hold my head high and shrug like, “Of course, he wants me. I’m amazing.”

But the truth was I hadn’t felt that way in a long time — not until Kyle looked at me the way he did, and touched me the way he did, and loved me the way he did.

Slowly, he was bringing back a bit of who I used to be while simultaneously helping me slip into who I would be in the future. He was showing me what it was to feel safe and cared for, how just those two truths alone allowed me to be more of a human and less of a mess.

He was showing my son how a calm, warm, loving household felt.

He was showing himself that he was nothing like his father, that he had more to offer the world than what he ever imagined.

Still, my stomach was in knots as he stepped inside the house, and I felt a wave of nausea wash over me when he slid his hands into the pockets of his joggers and lifted his eyes to mine.

Those bright blue pools were shielded by furrowed brows and a tight-lipped smile that told me we were in trouble.

“Well?” I asked, hoping he was playing a joke on me even when I knew he wouldn’t — not in this situation.

Kyle swallowed, shaking his head just marginally.

I deflated.

“We’re fucked,” I said, falling onto the couch and burying my face in my hands. I actually thought I might throw up.

A warm hand slid down my back as a heavy body sank down next to me, and Kyle kissed my temple, exhaling a long, sad breath against my shoulder.

“I tried to reason with him. I promised we would happily drive Sebastian to him when it was his days, that we would never try to switch up holidays or weekends — no matter what my game schedule looked like. I assured him the school Sebastian is transferring to is far better than the one he’s attending now, and that everything monetarily would be taken care of.”

“But he didn’t care.”

Kyle sighed. “I think he feels like he’s lost control of the situation.”

“Of me,” I corrected, letting my hands slap against my thighs as I looked up at Kyle. “He can’t stand the thought of me being happy without him.”

“Well, that’s just too damn bad for him.” Kyle’s jaw was hard then, his eyes sliding from sympathy to rage. “He wants to take us to court? Fine. Let him. He’s going to regret it.”

“He has a lot of connections in this city.”

“Well, I have the ability to make connections in this city,” Kyle said firmly. Then, he took my face in his hands, leveling his gaze with mine. “Listen. He’s lazy as fuck. He’s going to take his sweet time getting things in order.”

“I don’t know, he might be motivated now…”

“Even still, it’ll take a while before we’re in front of a judge. And when we are, rest assured, we will be represented by the best attorney I can find. And we will not just argue our case for split custody to remain.” He licked his lip like he wasn’t sure he should say what he wanted to next. “I think we should take him down.”

I frowned. “Take him down?”

“Madelyn, when I saw his handprints on you…” Kyle swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. “I’ve never been so close to committing murder in my entire life. I didn’t even think twice about it. The only thing that stopped me was that speech you gave me, when you reminded me that you’re strong, and capable, and that you can handle him — can handle yourself.”

Pride beamed in my chest as much as despair. He was right — I had handled Marshall. While we were married and after.

But I hated that I had to.

And I knew Kyle hated it, too.

“But what has kept me up at night lately is the thought that one day, he could hurt Sebastian.”

I started to shake my head, frowning, but Kyle spoke again before I could.

“I know you don’t think he ever would. He loves his son, I know that. He hasn’t shown any signs of physical aggression toward him. But he has shown signs of aggression toward you when Sebastian is around. He has raised his voice and thrown tantrums. He has toed the line. And as someone who grew up in a household just like that, let me tell you, Mads… there will come a day when that pencil-thin line becomes invisible. The first time he hurts Sebastian, he’ll apologize and say it was a mistake. The second time, he’ll say it’s Sebastian’s fault, that he did something or said something to make him do it. And the third time…” Kyle’s jaw ticced. “He’ll say Sebastian deserved it.”

My eyes welled with tears so fast the first one slid free and ran down my cheek.

Just the thought of that made me want to march down the street to our old house where Marshall still lived and slit his throat.

“I would never make you do anything you didn’t want to,” Kyle assured me. “But if you’ll agree to it… I think we should go for full custody. I think we should expose what he’s done to you in the past, and how he’s behaved recently, and show the court that he’s not safe for Sebastian to be around.”

“I don’t know that I can take him from his father like that,” I admitted on a wobbly voice.

“What if he was getting another father in his place?”

I blinked. “What… what do you mean?”

“I haven’t done all the research I need to,” Kyle started. “But there’s this process. Stepparent adoption. If we can get Marshall to relinquish his rights, or if the judge revokes them… I would adopt him. We would be his parents by law.”

“You would do that?”

“In a fucking heartbeat, Mads.”

I nearly started bawling. The image of it, of us as a family and Sebastian being able to call Kyle Dad the way he told me he sometimes wanted to…

But what about Marshall?

He was a piece of shit, but he was still Sebastian’s real father. I knew Sebastian loved him.

Then again, lately, all he’d been showing me was that he was scared of his dad, that he didn’t want to be around him.

I was speechless for so long that Kyle started talking again.

“Maybe we work out that Marshall can still see Sebastian, but only in supervised situations. You and I need to be present with him, or something, I don’t know. We can talk to our lawyer about it. But Madelyn,” he said, folding his hands over mine. “I know this isn’t my decision. I would never ask you to do something you don’t want to. Sebastian is your son and I support whatever you want to do. All I want you to know is that in the past couple of months, I have come to love that little boy like…”

His throat constricted, and when his eyes watered, too, I nearly broke into pieces.

I threw my arms around him and squeezed tight, loving the way his arms shielded me, how I felt so safe there.

“You love him like your own,” I finished, my voice tight with emotion.

Kyle nodded into my neck. “I do. And I love you. And I want both of you to be safe and happy and to never have to walk on eggshells again.”

“I’ll think about it,” I promised him when we released the hug. “And thank you… for trying to reason with him. I didn’t have much faith it would do anything, but I’m glad we tried.”

“Anything for you,” Kyle said easily.

And I knew he meant it.

For a while, we just held each other on that couch, Kyle kissing me and soothing me with a hand on my back. When I fell back into the cushions and scrubbed my face, preparing myself to get up and go get Sebastian from camp, Kyle reached for my feet and pulled them into his lap, rubbing the arches with just the right pressure to make me moan.

“Why don’t you take a nap,” he suggested. “I know this week has been a lot on you. I’ll go pick Sebastian up.”

“This is your one day off. You’re the one who has training camp and a game this week.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” he promised.

“I’m not even working.”

Kyle sucked his teeth at that, tickling my feet a bit until I was writhing and giggling. But it was true. As if Kyle hadn’t given me enough already — a new home, a safe and healthy relationship, a love like I’d never experienced…

He was also giving me time.

He was making space for me to figure out what I actually wanted to do with my life, with my career.

It was so hard for me at first, to relinquish my control and walk away from my job. So much so that for a small moment, I wondered if I actually did like the career I’d started out of necessity. And I suppose a part of me did like it — I liked helping other women, other moms in trouble trying to make it on their own.

But at the end of the day, real estate wasn’t my passion. It didn’t fuel me. It had just been a way to make ends meet, to do what I had to do for me and my son. I was so used to taking care of everything, of everyone…

Now, I had the precious gift of time, space, and security — of a man who loved me and took care of me for once.

“Don’t pull that shit,” Kyle said. “Being a mom is a full-time job in itself. And the only reason you’re not working is because your brute of a fiancé has seen how tired you’ve been lately and is forcing you to let him spoil you for a bit.”

“And because my brute of a fiancé is giving me the first opportunity to think of what I actually want to do for a career.”

“My money is still on bestselling author.”

I laughed at that, digging my toes into his ribs. “I’d have to finish a book first.”

“You will,” he said without doubt, and then he lifted my ankle to his lips and kissed it. “And I’ll be first in line for a signed copy.”

I was still swooning over this man who I was absolutely certain had to be a figment of my imagination and wildest fantasies at this point when he stood, grabbing his keys and wallet before bending to press a kiss to my forehead.

“Rest,” he said. “I’ll be back in a bit. Maybe Sebastian and I can stop on the way home and get stuff to make homemade pizza.”

“He would love that.”

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t, too. I know how my girl feels about pizza.”

He winked, heading for the door, and I smiled long after he’d shut it and I heard his car leave the driveway. The strange thing was that I usually did love pizza, but for some reason, the thought of it now made me want to…

I bolted upright on the couch, my heart hammering in my chest.

Puke.

It made me want to puke.

I blinked, breathing more and more erratic the longer I let that fact sink in. Alone, it wouldn’t have been anything. I would have chalked it up to my nerves being a wreck from the week.

But then I realized how exhausted I’d been, how I’d needed a nap almost every day since the engagement.

I tracked through the week, how I hadn’t wanted my tea like usual in the morning, how I had been averse to foods I usually craved.

I thought I was just a mess from everything that had happened — Marshall showing up at the house, Kyle proposing, the offer on the house, going under contract, suddenly not working, my whole life changing…

But now, I was blinking rapidly, doing math in my head after a quick glance at my phone to confirm what the date was.

I was late.

Nine days late, to be exact.

My stomach fluttered violently as if it had been waiting for me to put the pieces together.

And as I ran to my car and drove like a bat out of hell to the store, I felt like a mad woman.

Because while I did feel a tinge of worry, a bit of uncertainty, and a dash of holy fuck, oh shit…

What I felt most was pure, undulating excitement.

Oh, God.

Am I pregnant?

The short five-minute drive to get a test felt like the longest journey of my life.

I couldn’t wait to find out.