The Goal (Off-Campus #4)(108)

Hollis snorts. “No, Tuck’s got a smokin’ hot baby mama. Genes, bro.”

“Speaking of the baby mama…” Dean cocks a brow at me.

I frown. “What about her?”

“You two officially together or what?”

“We live together,” is all I can think to say.

“Okay. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

My gaze strays across the room. Sabrina is laughing hysterically at something Hope just said. With her bottomless dark eyes and flawless face, she’s hands-down the hottest woman in this bar. I fucking ache for her. And yeah, I love her. So much it hurts.

But damned if I’m going to say it again after she totally brushed it off the night she delivered Jamie.

“We’re together,” I finally say. “Is it serious?” I shrug. “I want it to be. But I’m following her lead.”

Dean wears a troubled expression, but he doesn’t say anything more on the subject. Instead, he changes it completely, turning to grin at Fitzy. “Hey, I keep forgetting to text you, but I should probably give you a heads up about something.”

“A heads up about what?”

“Remember Summer?”

“What about it?”

Dean laughs. “Not it. Her. My sister Summer.”

I hide a grin when I see Fitzy narrow his eyes. It’s no secret that Summer Di Laurentis’s visit last winter had freaked him out. I wasn’t there to witness it, but apparently Dean’s incredibly forward sister had all but thrown herself at the big guy.

“What about her?”

“She’s transferring to Briar next semester.”

Fitzy’s face turns as white as Jamie’s spit-up. Which is pooling on the sleeve of his T-shirt. He hasn’t noticed it yet, and I’m hoping someone else points it out so I don’t have to.

“Why?” Fitzy is clearly speaking through clenched teeth.

Dean sighs. “She officially got kicked out of Brown. Or rather, politely asked to leave, as she likes to phrase it. But yeah, my dad is friends with the head of admissions at Briar, so he called in a favor. Summer will be there starting January.”

“Does she still want to see Fitzy’s dick?” Hollis pipes up.

The owner of said dick passes my baby back to me, then picks up his beer bottle and chugs the entire thing.

My grin surfaces. Poor guy. The ladies go wild for Colin Fitzgerald, but in all the years I’ve known him, he’s been incredibly selective about who he goes out with. I think deep down he’s as old-fashioned as I am.

“Tuck!” Zeke calls from behind the counter. “Got a quick question for you about this drink menu!”

I slide Jamie back into the Bjorn and gesture to my friends that I’ll be a minute. Then I dart off to take care of business. My business.

*

“Hey,” Sabrina says hours later, smiling at me as I stagger into our bedroom.

She’s lying in the middle of the bed with a textbook in her lap, a sight that doesn’t surprise me. Sabrina takes her studying any way she can get it, and the best times for her to do it are when Jamie’s asleep. Most nights, she’ll have her nose buried in a book long after I’ve fallen asleep.

The good thing is, now that the bar renovations are done and I’m officially open for business, I’ll be able to take care of Jamie during the day while Sabrina is in class, and then we’ll switch off—she’ll be on baby duty while I go downstairs to work. We don’t have the easiest schedules, but we’re doing our best. And shit’s been a lot easier since she moved in with me.

Well, easier and harder. I’m still not sure where we stand. We haven’t had sex in three months despite sleeping in the same bed. One of us is usually pacing the nursery with Jamie while the other catches up on much-needed sleep. She hasn’t told me she likes me, let alone loves me. Sometimes I think she does, but other times it feels like we’re just two people who happen to be raising a child together.

But the one thing I know about Sabrina—pushing her gets you the opposite result of what you’re hoping for. I get it, though. She’s been on her own all her life. Her dad bailed before she was even born. Her mom abandoned her. Her grandmother, as much as she claims to love her, always acts like she did Sabrina some huge favor by raising her.

Sabrina James isn’t used to people loving her. Sometimes I wonder if she even knows how to love someone back, but then I see her with our daughter, the way her face softens with love and adoration every time she looks at Jamie, and I know she’s capable of feeling deeply.

I just wish she’d feel deeply about me.

“Why do you look so serious?” she teases, setting aside her textbook. “You killed it tonight. You should be grinning from ear to ear.”

I undo my jeans and let them drop to the floor. “I’m grinning on the inside.” I tackle my plaid button-down next. “I’m too exhausted to move my facial muscles.”

“Really? That’s a damn shame, because I’m not tired at all.”

The mischievous note in her voice makes my body roar to life. Oh fuck. Please please please tell me she’s saying what I think she is.

“Jamie’s fast asleep in the other room,” she adds, waving the baby monitor around enticingly. “Lately she can go for a whole two hours before she starts screaming her lungs out…”