Robert laughed, but there was no humor in it. “This is exactly what I’m getting at. You are a new teacher. You have a whole career ahead of you. But you need to strategize. You should learn from experience and the experience of your fellow teachers. You can’t come into this school and dictate how the curriculum should unfold or how things should be done.”

  Her hackles were raised now. He’d brought Angus into it, so all bets were off. “I’ve spoken with Angus’s teacher. She has nothing but positive things to say. So again, I ask you: Is this because of what happened last month with the media? Or do you truly believe that my son and I are so misaligned with Willow Christian Academy?”

  “You can’t take professional feedback so personally,” Robert said.

  “You brought my son into it,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “I’m doing you a favor by giving you a heads up, given the stringent standards of decorum for every member of the Willow Christian Academy community. There could be stricter consequences in the future, but I’ve chosen to give you the benefit of the doubt,” he concluded.

  She wanted to give him the bitterest thank you, but instead she nodded vehemently. “You’ve given me so much to think about, Robert.”

  And wasn’t that the truth? She stormed out of his office, her thoughts roiling.

  She had a lot to think about. Like where her next job would be. Because as far as she was concerned, she was quitting this one as soon as she had another position lined up.

  If nothing else, Robert had finally shown her that she was fighting for the wrong thing. Pouring her all into a job that was never going to be a good fit.

  She should have been fighting for something else the entire time. For a family that already fit perfectly, and had fit perfectly since the beginning.

  Money was a necessary tool in this world, but it wasn’t the only thing that mattered. Angus would love his school life, wherever he ended up. What really mattered above money was the support of loved ones.

  Robert had been right. She did need to get her priorities straight.

  And that meant getting her focus back on doing what was best for her family…including Mark.

  20

  That Tuesday, Mark was headed to the playground to meet with Angus like they’d been doing for weeks. He saw his son three nights a week, but he planned on upping the frequency once he was in the off-season and could bring Angus over for more sleepovers.

  He just hated how distant Tessa insisted on being. Like even making eye contact with him would somehow alert the paparazzi to their whereabouts. He was grateful they stuck to a schedule. At least they knew they could co-parent without their personal shit getting in the way. But he wanted more—so much more—from this arrangement.

  And he was finally ready to show Tessa that he was prepared to give her more than she’d ever gotten from him. Today when he rolled up to the playground, he had folders in his hands. Angus shrieked and hopped around when he spotted Mark, and the two of them ran around, chasing each other for a little bit. Once Angus was climbing the slide, Mark headed for where Tessa sat.

  “Hey,” he said, easing beside her. Something was different about her today, but he couldn’t tell what.

  “Hey.” A strange smile played at her lips, almost like he had something on his face and didn’t realize it. “I have news.”

  “I want to show you something,” he said at the same time.

  They both paused and laughed. Mark looked down at the folder in his hands and Tessa patted his arm. “You go first.”

  “Are you sure?” He grinned over at her, loving the playful look in her blue eyes. He couldn’t figure out why, but it felt like old times with her. Like it always had, before the weirdness of her work drama and the tabloids had gotten in the way.

  “Yes. You even brought supporting materials, so that deserves to go first,” she teased.

  He cleared his throat, opening his folder with a flourish. “Then please sit back and enjoy.” He took out a few papers first, handing them over to her. “I’ve been thinking a lot about our conversation. From when you broke up with me.”

  “I didn’t break up with you,” she said, pushing at his arm.

  “How many times have I kissed you over the past three weeks?” he asked, making a big display of checking his watch. “How many times have I spent the night? Oh. That’s right.”

  “I said it was a break, not a break up.”

  “Zero kisses,” he said, playfully stern. “Well, despite all that, I’ve been thinking a lot and doing some research. These papers are from my accountant. I’ve been setting some things up for Angus’s future. This is an education fund. We can both pay into it. I’ve gotten it started with enough money to essentially get him through two years of college. I figure if I budget well, he’ll have his college paid for by the end of my rookie year.”

  She blinked rapidly as she stared at the papers. “Mark…”

  “No matter what happens to our jobs,” he went on, “we can rest assured that Angus will get a great education. If we can actually keep our jobs long term, well, maybe we can even pay for med school or something like that. If he wants it.”

  She rolled her lips in, eyes shimmering.

  “So then I have this.” He pulled out a calendar he’d drawn up, even though it had taken him an embarrassing number of attempts to get it right. “This is a schedule just to make sure that Angus always has a family member available in an emergency.” He pulled something else out of the folder. “Here are some college brochures.”

  “Have you been planning his education?”

  “Yes. And my own.” When her eyes went wide, he added, “I mean, you were totally right. I’ve looked to football as the ultimate goal. But I’m a father now, so I need to have some backup plans. I’ve been talking with my parents and my grandad, trying to work out a plan. Like what will happen if I can’t play football anymore. And I’m pretty sure that I have options once my career is over. I loved zoology. Hell, I could host a nature show.”

  She laughed, but her eyes sparkled as if she was falling in love with his future as much as he was.

  “But with a little more education, I could get into research, or teaching. Wouldn’t I look good at the head of a college classroom?”

  “You’d be so good at it,” she gushed.

  “That’s what I’m thinking too,” he said with a laugh, relishing the way she watched him. Like he was giving her a gift even greater than he could imagine. “I want to start working on that in the off-season. I’ll figure it out soon enough.”

  “Mark, I wasn’t entirely right,” Tessa said suddenly, grabbing his forearm. “I might have been right about needing a backup plan, but I was wrong about something else.”

  “What?”

  “I was wrong to choose my reputation at my job over what we had been building.” Tessa searched his face, sincerity pouring from her. “I was chasing a job that wasn’t a good fit for me, because I thought Angus and our future needed it. But what I need is my family. You have always been my family. And I’m being stupid to try to push that away.”

  “You’re not stupid,” he said softly, squeezing her hand.

  “You’ve been there for me no matter what. And those people—I’ll never be their people. I need to stick with the people who support me and love me. I’m going to quit my job.”

  Mark’s eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. I don’t know exactly when, because I want to make the transition as smooth as possible for the kids and Angus. I would have quit last week if I could. But I’ve been job hunting, and I have some interviews lined up.”

  “Quit now,” Mark said. “And let me take care of you for a while.”

  “You don’t have—”

  “I don’t have to. But I want to. Because you’ve been busting your ass to take care of everything else. Let me do this for you. It will only be temporary. We’ll set a time limit, if we have to. But I know you’re going to find a new job quick, and you deserve to have some of this stress lifted from your shoulders.”

  She leaned in to press a grateful kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”

  He grinned, looking out at Angus as he climbed the slide for the tenth time. “One kiss. That’s an improvement.”

  “I plan on improving things a lot more,” she said. “Starting tonight. If you’ll give me another chance, that is.”

  Mark scooped up her hand, bringing it to his lips. “Babe. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t need one. I never gave up on you in the first place.”

  Tessa wrapped her arms around him, and he pulled her into his lap. Angus spotted them from the playground and ran their way, shouting happily. And when Angus threw his arms around both of them, that’s when Mark knew there would never be anywhere else he’d want to be.

  These two were made for him.

  And he’d do anything he could to prove to them how high he was willing to jump.

  Epilogue

  SIX MONTHS LATER

  It was April in Georgia, which was Tessa’s favorite month.

  The fact that she and Mark were moving into their first house together made it an extra-special April this year, too.

  “Ooh, Dad, can you leave that box in here?” Tessa poked her head into the empty living room, where boxes were being stacked up.

  “But it says kitchen on it.”

  “I know, but I mislabeled one of the kitchen ones, and I think that one’s it.”

  Her dad sighed, but he had a hint of a smile on his face. “All right. Just because you’re my baby girl.”

  She laughed. Things had gotten a bit easier between her and her father lately. Maybe it was because of Mark’s influence in her life—finally being able to share her burdens, her workload, her responsibilities. Or maybe it was because she’d opted to find a therapist in the down months between quitting her job and getting hired by a different school system in Savannah—the new school system where she’d already enrolled Angus. He was loving it, even if his new friends didn’t get VIP Sharks passes as birthday presents. She wouldn’t start teaching until the next school year, which meant that for now, she just got to play the parent role at the school district, and she was finally enjoying her “belated maternity leave,” as Mark called it.

  Angus hopped into the room. He was fascinated by this big, new house and couldn’t wait to decorate his room. “Mom, when does my bed get here?”

  “The furniture should be arriving in just a couple hours, bud,” she said, smoothing his hair down.

  “Okay, I think that’s everything,” Mark said as he came through the front door, his deep voice booming through the empty living room. To Tessa’s dad, he said, “Your car is good for another round.”

  “What do you say we head back to your old house and fill ’er up again?” her dad asked Angus.

  “Yeah, let’s do it!” Angus pumped his fist in the air and trailed behind his granddad as they left the house and shut the door behind them.

  Mark grinned at Tessa from across the room. He’d grown an off-season scruff, which she loved whenever it scraped along her thighs during their nighttime adventures. Whenever she playfully complained about the next-day consequences of his rough face, he reminded her that he’d earned the scruff, especially after his rookie season of working his ass off. And truthfully, she agreed. After he’d turned around his performance in a major way the second half of the season, Mark deserved whatever he damn well wanted.

  He stretched slowly from side to side, their gazes locked on each other, a whole conversation shuddering between them without words.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked suddenly, backing up toward the wide, wooden staircase.

  “Go bless the bedroom before anyone else shows up?” he asked.

  “I’ll race you there,” she called out, and bolted for the staircase. Mark whooped and followed behind her, but she was halfway up the staircase before he hit the first step. But it wasn’t wise to race a running back. Mark caught up with her at the top and swooped her up into his arms. She giggled the whole way, loving how easily he could toss her around. He hoisted her so that she faced him as he carried her down the long hallway. Their new place was a five bedroom, with plenty of space for all their visiting family members. And they’d opted to purchase, even though it was likely that Mark would be traded at least once, which would mean uprooting and moving elsewhere.

  But they stayed sensible about it. They and came to a decision together. Which, now that they were both in control of their finances and their future, was so much more than just moving in together.

  They were starting their joint, conscious life.

  Mark carried her into the master bedroom where sunlight filled every corner through the huge bay windows. He immediately pressed her to the wall, covering her mouth with his. Slow, thorough kisses emerged, each one deeper and more sensual than the last. Her panties were soaked by the time Mark broke for air.

  “Oh my god,” she said weakly, fisting the front of his shirt.

  “I’m hard as a rock, babe,” he said, his voice gritty. “I say we bless this damn bedroom.”

  She laughed and he gently lowered her to her feet, where she shimmied out of her denim shorts and panties. Mark pushed down his mesh shorts and then hoisted her again. She gasped as his cock slid into the crease of her pussy. They had sex nightly, and it still wasn’t enough. It might never be enough. Not when there was so much love, so much passion here.

  “I love you, Tessa May Black,” he whispered before nibbling on her ear lobe.

  “I love you, Mark Allen Coleridge.”

  He grinned and kissed her again. “You thought about names for the next baby?”

  They’d been talking a lot about giving Angus a little brother or sister. And over the past six months, they’d been playing it safe…until they signed on the house. Now, each month she waited with excitement to see if her period would come.

  “Mark Jr.,” she teased, clamping her thighs around him and bucking. His cockhead grazed her swollen clit, and she inhaled sharply. “Or what about Lettie, after your mama?”

  “You’re too sweet,” he said, and then dove in with another deep tongue kiss. When they broke for air, he hoisted her again and guided himself into place. Without breaking his gaze, he eased himself in with a controlled force that lit every inch of her body on fire.

  “Ohhhh, Mark,” she moaned, eyes fluttering closed. She’d never get tired of the way he stretched and filled her. Like he was made for her and only her.

  He pushed himself in until there was no more space to claim. “I want to have all the babies with you, babe,” he murmured, pushing a hand beneath her shirt to tweak a nipple. “And this time, I’m gonna be there to take care of your beautiful, pregnant butt the entire time.”

  She dissolved into laughter as he thrust into her. But the pleasure overrode everything else, and she clung to him, letting the bliss wash over her.

  Mark grunted softly as he focused on his thrusting, gripping her ass like it was all his. She arched against him, sending the friction to just the right spot, and it wasn’t long before she tumbled over the edge into her orgasm.

  Mark drilled into her, and a few thrusts later he stilled, a long groan ripping out of him. They stayed there like that for a few moments, basking in the pleasure, lost in each other’s gaze. And when he finally lowered her to the ground, she only pushed up on her tiptoes to seek another kiss.

  Because with this man, this life, and this future they had in front of them?

  She’d never stop wanting more.

  End of First Down

  First Down, March 25th, 2021

  Red Zone, April 1st, 2021

  Touchdown, April 8th, 2021

  Do you love sports romance? Then keep reading for exclusive extracts from Red Zone and Wired.

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  About Leslie North

  Leslie North is the USA Today Bestselling pen name for a critically-acclaimed author of women's contemporary romance and fiction. The anonymity gives her the perfect opportunity to paint with her full artistic palette, especially in the romance and erotic fantasy genres.

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