Merit slung both chairs in their carrying cases up over his shoulder, then grabbed the cooler from Mae’s hand so they could switch to a field on the other side of the complex for Ian’s second game. He was having fun, even though she’d avoided looking at him since he’d taken a quick trip to the bathroom to make sure he got rid of all the paint.
Orange fucking paint. On his face.
Dipshit.
Thankfully, Mae either forgot about it, or she didn’t care enough to resume the conversation. Then again, the thought of showing her what he’d worked on after leaving her place last night gave him an electrifying jolt of excitement.
Until he recalled her ex had been a musician with no job, and he’d mooched off her as he fucked around with other women.
Merit was still hunting for a job, his cash stash had dwindled as alarmingly as bills had rolled in over the past week, and though Loyal hadn’t called him Mooch in a while, the hated nickname was sure to slip out sooner or later. Mae was too gun-shy the way it was. The less she knew about the similarities between him and her ex the better, so there would be no baring of his soul or his secret retreat anytime soon.
As they passed the concession stand, Ian sprinted ahead a dozen yards, shouting, “Uncle Bryce! We won!”
A tall guy with light brown hair caught the kid for a hug. They each stepped back to do an elaborate handshake that ended in the universal hand explosion as Mae and Merit joined them.
“How many goals?” Uncle Bryce asked.
“Two.”
“Jinkies. You’re an all-star, Scoob.”
“Thanks.” Ian beamed. “I gotta go practice with Cory. You gonna watch with Mom and Merit?”
The guy’s blue gaze flicked up and locked with Merit’s for a moment. Then he ruffled Ian’s blond hair. “You betcha. Go get ‘em.”
He took off running, and Mae moved forward. “Hey, Bryce.” She gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. “I thought you were working this morning.”
“The boss knocked off early with the storms coming later. Said he had to get home and get some work done, so here I am.”
“Here you are.” She didn’t sound all that happy to see him. “Well...this is Merit. Merit, this my youngest brother, Bryce.”
Ah. She hadn’t wanted to make the introduction. Tamping down on a little jab of hurt, he shifted the cooler to his left hand. Before he could offer a handshake, the guy braced his feet shoulder width apart and crossed his arms.
“You must be the guy who knocked up my sister.”
Mae gasped and backhanded him on the arm. “Bryce!”
“What? Is this not the guy?”
“I’m the guy,” Merit confirmed, standing a little straighter as he squared his shoulders.
“Still, you don’t just say something like that,” Mae snapped at her brother in a low undertone. “What if it wasn’t him?”
“Did you suddenly start serial dating?”
She frowned. “Of course not.”
“Then it stands to reason, if you haven’t been with anyone since the jerkwad, and this guy’s here with you and Ian today, then he must be your baby daddy.”
“Oh, my God, shut up already,” she hissed as she cast a furtive look around.
Merit didn’t care she was worried about anyone overhearing them. He was stuck on the haven’t been with anyone since the jerkwad bit. Could that be true? He watched her face. If it was, then he’d been her first in over seven years. Because her and Ian’s birthdays were only a week away.
No way.
“Am I wrong?” Bryce asked.
“He already told you you’re not.”
Fuck. Maybe it had been seven years—
“What are your intentions with my sister?”
Merit flicked his gaze to her brother as Mae muttered, “Oh, God.”
He looked the guy right in the eye. “To not be a jerkwad.”
Bryce stared him down, then grinned and extended his hand. “Welcome to the family.”
The shake was firm and short, but friendly enough that a wave of relief caught Merit by surprise. He hadn’t expected to care what her family thought of him, especially a younger brother. In truth, he hadn’t even thought about her family beyond Ian. He didn’t know about her family beyond Ian. He was going to have to fix that.
“How old are you?” Bryce asked.
The question surprised him into an automatic reply. “Twenty-six.”
“At least you’re older than me, but still…” The guy arched a brow at his sister. “Cradle robber.”
Mae rolled her eyes and reached out to grab the cooler from Merit’s hand. “Three years difference is hardly robbing the cradle.”
He’d have to agree with her. A few years between them was insignificant in his mind.
“It’s gonna be four in a week,” her brother pointed out.
She glared at him before declaring, “I’m going to sit.”
“Too bad for her you got the chairs,” Bryce commented as she stalked away.
“I have my blanket,” she called back over her shoulder.
Her brother grinned again as they both followed.
“I’m already on thin ice,” Merit admitted in a low voice. “I’d rather not annoy her.”
“She’s been moody, I take it?”
He shrugged, not stupid enough to voice an opinion on that specific subject.
“She was like this when she was pregnant with Ian. A real pain in the ass.”
“I did not say that.”
Bryce chuckled. “Clearly, you’re not living with her.”
Hell, he’d only barely gotten her to start talking to him. Living together would be pushing it toward warp speed.
She’s pregnant.
Okay, yeah, moot point there.
“So, tell me, Merit, what do you do?”
He shot Bryce a sideways look to decipher if he was making casual small talk or playing detective. Either way, he wasn’t about to admit that he did nothing. “My degree is in structural engineering.”
“Oh. So you two met through work?”
“No. Her best friend married my brother.”
Bryce shot him a glance, then stopped abruptly. “You’re a Diamond? As in Senator Mark Diamond is your dad?”
And there it was. In less than a minute, he went from being himself, to being Senator Diamond’s son.
“Well, that’s definitely a step up from the deadbeat jerkwad.”
If he only knew.
It was a little before one when Ian’s third game ended in a loss of five to six. Merit had taken the blanket so Mae’s brother could have the chair, and when he got up to stretch, he noticed her smother a yawn.
Bryce stood and stuffed the chair into its carrying sleeve. “I’m going to say goodbye to the munchkin and then head out,” he told Mae. “Nice chatting with you, Merit. We’ll see you around.”
“Likewise,” he agreed with a quick handshake.
The guy gave his sister another hug, and after he left, Merit swiped the blanket from the ground and started folding.
Mae shot him a quick sideways glance while packing up her chair. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
“For what?”
“The knocked up comment.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he assured her. “Although, should I be prepared for the same from the rest of your family?”
“Bryce is the worst of ‘em when it comes to stuff like that. My middle brother Zach lives up in Boulder, and my parents moved to Phoenix, Arizona last year. They come back for the holidays mostly, and their specialty is the silent treatment.”
Sensing a bit of resentment against her parents, he turned it back to her siblings. “So Bryce is the youngest.”
“Yeah. And a real pain in the ass sometimes.”
Merit grinned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She planted a hand on her hip. “That smile isn’t for nothing.”
“He said you were a pain in the ass.”
She rolled her eyes. “I assure you, it’s definitely the other way around. Younger siblings are always—”
“So much fun,” he finished as Ian stepped up from behind her.
Mae’s eyes widened, and she mouthed a quick thank you while hugging her son close with one arm. “Nice job out there, Scoob.”
“We didn’t win.” The kid’s voice was substantially subdued compared to the two previous games.
“You win some; you lose some, hon. That’s how it goes.”
Ian shrugged.
“Did you do your best to win?” Merit asked as a boy with spiky, brown hair and a matching red and white jersey slid to a stop beside Mae and Ian.
“Yeah.”
“Then you did great. Come on. Put ‘er here.” He offered both boys a high five, and they smiled while jumping to reach his palms.
Mae slung her chair over her shoulder. “All right, then, let’s head home.”
Ian whirled around to face her. “Cory’s going swimming at the water park, and his mom said I could come with. She’s coming over right now. Can I go, Mom? Please?”
Her gaze shifted from his pleading face to a couple approaching with a baby strapped to the man’s chest. “Hi, guys.” She reached out to grasp the baby’s waving hand, and her voice rose an octave. “Hello, Elliott. Look at you, growing so fast.”
Merit couldn’t look away from the pure joy on her face as she interacted with the baby. The radiance in her expression was breathtaking.
“Six months already,” the woman said as she put her hand on Ian’s buddy’s shoulder. “Time’s just flying.”
“Yeah, I bet,” Mae murmured with a split second glance at Merit.
His pulse skipped as he realized their baby would be six months old this time next year. Holy shit. He looked closer at the guy holding the baby. One year from now, that would be him.
Little Elliott’s blue gaze locked on his, and when he smiled at the baby, he received a two-toothed grin in return.
Wow. Yeah. He really was okay with being in those shoes in a year.
He lifted his gaze and noticed the dad watching him with curiosity. He offered a smile just as Mae said, “Tom and Dawn, this is Merit. He came to watch Ian play.”
As hellos were exchanged, he fought a prick of resentment at the generic introduction. He hadn’t expected her to announce they were having a baby together, but she could’ve at least said he was a friend or something.
Except, they weren’t even friends, were they?
Not yet. He was going to work on that—among other things.
Dawn laid a hand on both boys’ shoulders. “I assume these two have already presented the grand plan?”
“I was told about a water park,” Mae confirmed.
“Yes. Ian can come with us now, and we figured it would keep them busy when it’s raining later.” The brunette glanced from her, to Merit, and back, her own curiosity on full display. “But I don’t want to mess anything up if you had other plans?”
Clearly the woman was fishing, but Mae waved off her concern. “Oh, no, we’re good. What time do you need me to pick him up later?”
“We were going to get a room and spend the night. We’d love to have Ian stay with us, if you’re okay with that?”
Both boys shouted in excitement and started jumping up and down, begging and pleading for her to say yes. Merit liked the idea so much, he wanted to join them.
“I’ll need to get him some clothes.”
“He can borrow some of Cory’s. And we have extra swim trunks, too. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, but I know Cory would love to have someone other than us adults and his baby brother to play with.”
Mae tilted her head down toward the boys. “Are you sure you want to go?” she teasingly asked Ian.
“Yes, I do, I do, I do! Pleeeeease?”
Merit grinned at his earnestness, as if that question had actually required an answer.
When she agreed, he practically leapt into her arms. “Thank you, Mom!” A second later, he let her go, and he and Cory took off running.
“Hey, whoa, get your little butt back here.”
He skidded to a stop and spun around. “Love you.”
“I love you, too. But you’re still forgetting something.”
Merit was surprised when she motioned toward him with her head. Ian grinned and ran back to stop in front of him. “Thanks for coming to watch me play, Merit.”
“Anytime. Thanks for asking me.”
After one more high-five and Cory’s parents arranging to drop him off the next day about three p.m., Merit and Mae walked to her truck, just the two of them. He was starting to fantasize about just the two of them back at her house when she waved goodbye to a woman and a couple of younger girls about Ian’s age getting into a car. The hair on the back of his neck prickled as he and Mae walked past their vehicle.
“You don’t bring guys to Ian’s games very often, do you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Never. I’ve only ever brought my brothers. Why?”
“Because it still feels like I’ve got a hundred eyeballs crawling all over me.”
She grimaced as she shot a glance back over her shoulder. “I know. Sorry. I didn’t even think of that until we got here this morning and I saw all the women eyeing you like a fresh piece of meat.”
“Jealous?”
“Please.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re here with me. They were the ones who were jealous.”
His pulse skipped at her words, but he tilted his head and lifted his brows. “Am I with you? Because I sure couldn’t tell when you introduced me to Tom and Dawn.”
Her eyebrows dipped slightly. “Well, what did you want me to say? This is Merit. He got me pregnant, and now we’re having a baby?”
“Whoa—I got you pregnant?” He flipped around and moved in front of her. She pulled up short as he said, “Uh-uh. It takes two to tango, Mae, and you were right there with me.”
She drew in a breath as if she was about to argue, and their gazes met and held. Merit’s pulse sped up as the memory of that night washed over him.
Her cheeks grew rosy as she averted her gaze. “You’re right. I’m sorry that came out wrong. It sounded like I blame you, but I don’t.”
“You sure about that?”
“Positive,” she insisted. Then she ducked her head and moved past him. “I totally agree that we are both equally responsible.”
“Good.” He fell into step beside her again. “And you can count on me taking fifty percent of the responsibilities. I told you before, I’m not going anywhere.”
She glanced at him, but didn’t reply as they reached her truck. He didn’t push it. He was going to go with the strategy of letting his actions speak for themselves. Plus, he didn’t want to piss her off and risk having her send him home the moment they got back to her house. He fully intended to hang out with her for the rest of the afternoon, into the evening, and Lord, God, please, the rest of the night, too.
In the middle of stowing all their stuff, he saw her reach to smother another yawn. When she moved toward the driver’s side, he suggested, “How about I drive? You’ve been yawning for the past hour.”
She paused with her hand on the door. “I didn’t sleep the greatest last night.”
“Well, with Ian off having fun, you can take a nap while I cut the lawn.”
“You don’t have to cut my lawn, Merit.”
“I know I don’t have to.” He held out his hand for the keys. “But I’m still going to do it.” He’d figured out how to fix the mower, mowing the grass should be a breeze.
She opened her mouth as if to argue, then shut it and dropped the keys in his palm.
“Smart,” he commented as she walked around to the passenger side.
“Tired,” she countered.
He laughed and drove her home—thinking about the tango the whole way.