“She’s never asked about him?”

“She did.” Addison breathed in deeply, remembering the day not so long ago. “That’s how smart she is. She asked once way back when she started pre-school and realized most of the kids had dads. She was so young and her attention span so short I gave her a lame excuse that he lives too far to visit, and she quickly moved on to another subject. But I think she’s always sensed there’s more to why we don’t speak of him, so she hadn’t asked again until earlier this year. It was more of a curious inquiry out of the blue. ‘Is my dad still alive?’” AJ’s brow lifted, the severity in his eyes ever present. “Then came the dreaded one. ‘Why haven’t I ever met him?’ I told her what I’d always planned to tell her: the truth. Just because someone can physically make a baby doesn’t mean he has any business being a parent. He didn’t and that’s why he never has been. Then I told her I’d explain it to her with more detail if she still wanted to know when she got older. She let it go and she hasn’t asked again.”

“On that note,” he said, nudging her legs further apart and leaning in to lick her lips, “I think I’ll let it go too. I can think of a much better way we could be spending our time than talking about someone who doesn’t exist.”

Addison smiled against his lips, feeling her insides heat immediately. “In case you didn’t notice,” she said, feeling her face flush, “it’s been a while, AJ. I may be a little rusty at a lot of things. I guess I’m gonna need some practice before I’m up to speed.”

That made the new kind of spark in his eyes even sultrier. “I’m your Huckleberry.”

Laughing out loud at the Tombstone reference, she let her head fall back, and in an instant, his mouth was on her neck.

Chapter 10

AJ

AJ didn’t even know why it surprised him anymore. This wasn’t the first time his family had heard something about his personal life from the media before he’d had a chance to tell them. Apparently, the array of photos taken last night at Galaxy Pizza had made it onto the Internet, and the tabloids were already speculating about Rage and the coach’s daughter and coming to their own outrageous conclusions.

Of course, he didn’t know any of this since his night with Addison had gone on much longer than he’d anticipated and he’d gotten home in the wee hours of the morning. They’d made good use of that laundry room and then the garage when she’d finally walked him out and their goodnight kiss got a little carried away. He’d be paying for it today. But it’d be worth every single yawn he’d be squelching all day. AJ walked into the kitchen to his brother’s and Sabian’s staring faces. “What?”

“Something you wanna tell us?” Isaiah, his oldest brother, asked tapping on his phone’s screen.

“About what?”

AJ walked over to the coffee machine and started setting up a cup just under it. “Coach’s daughter,” Nathan said.

“I didn’t say shit,” Sabian said, holding his hands up when AJ turned and glared at him.

“So it’s true?”

The alarm in Isaiah’s voice was almost annoying. So what if it were? Though he wasn’t sure what exactly they were all talking about. Given the near riot they almost caused at the pizza place last night, he had an idea how it might’ve gotten back to them that he’d been out with Addison last night.

“Is what true?”

Remembering Addison’s adamant request to not go public with this until she’s was ready to tell Clair, he laid on the indifference and prepared to tone his night out with her way down.

Isaiah nudged him then showed him his phone. AJ felt his eyes widen as he read the headline on the phone screen.

Is AJ “Rage” Romero a secret Padre literally?

AJ went on to read the rest of the article and now understood why Isaiah sounded so alarmed. The article speculated that the mystery of who the elusive father of Coach Lara’s only grandchild might finally be solved. AJ’s jaw locked more than once as he continued to read. The probing article stated that it’d been long rumored that the father could be a player—someone the coach and his daughter decided to cover up because of her age at the time she got pregnant. She’d been a minor and this could’ve easily ruined said player’s career. It would make sense if Rage was the father and now going public since the statute of limitations on any statutory rape charges would already be up.

“This is bullshit,” he said, handing the phone back to Isaiah, disgusted and hoping Addison wouldn’t be upset about it. “If I was that little girl’s father, the whole world would know it. They have Clair’s and Addi’s ages wrong, mine too. It’s all over the place and completely false.”

“Addi?” Nathan asked. AJ wasn’t even facing him, but he could hear the smirk in his smartass brother’s voice. “I thought her name was Addison?”

“It is,” AJ said without further comment as, thankfully, his sisters and their husbands arrived.

They were all going to the game today. AJ had reserved a suite for them. But they were going out for breakfast first. By the time they were all done saying hello, AJ thought any talk of him and Addison was over. But Nathan just had to go back to it. “So there’s no truth in any of those stories?” he asked, bringing everyone’s attention back to AJ. “Like you two aren’t romantically involved or anything?”

“Nope,” AJ said simply as he sipped his coffee, feeling all eyes on him.

“Who?” Livi asked curiously.

“AJ and the coach’s daughter were out last night,” Nathan annoyingly offered, a little too eager, “like real late.”

“Yeah?” AJ asked, feeling himself get hot. “I didn’t know I had a curfew you were keeping tabs on.”

Nathan laughed; then his younger sister Em added, “I saw that when I checked my email today. Oh c’mon, Nathan, you know all those stories are a bunch of lies.”

“I’m just saying whenever I stay out as late as he did I usually don’t bother coming home.”

Sabian was grinning from ear to ear. No doubt the idiot thought AJ was going to fold under the pressure and admit what he was sure his smug teammate already knew.

“Well, I’m not you,” AJ said, trying not to sound as agitated as he already begun to feel. “Clair invited me to go with them. So I went. But we’re just friends.”

Nathan smirked, still looking completely unconvinced but turned back to Emi. “Did you see the other article? The one that counters the lies about AJ being Clair’s dad because they have proof that the dad’s the very married Barsetti from the Cubs.”

“What?” AJ was too quick to jump on that, and his brother brought his hand to his mouth and laughed out loud at AJ’s louder-than-expected reaction. “You lying sack of shit.”

“Oh.” Nathan laughed even more now. “You’re gonna get all crazy eyes on me over that when you and Addi are just friends. But I’m the lying sack of shit?”

“I’m not the one making shit up.”

“I’m not either,” Nathan said, shaking his head adamantly. “There was an article that said that. And weren’t you the one who said she and her little girl just moved out here from Chicago?”

The coffee went down hard as AJ stared at his brother, still not convinced he wasn’t making this up.

“I read that one too,” Emi said, making AJ’s head jerk in her direction. “And I almost believed it, until I read the other headlines on that same site: the one about the first lady having an affair with the secret serviceman and the one with the ultrasound of the octuplets some lady is having after being abducted and impregnated by aliens. It’s one of those outrageously ridiculous sites, AJ. The story’s as false as you being her little girl’s daddy. So relax.”

Relax? God damn it! Had they all noticed how completely incapable he was of keeping his cool about this?