Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 27 TRISTAN

My chest relaxes a little as I watch Tessa chat comfortably with Ellie. Ellie can make conversation with just about anybody, but I feel like Tessa needed this. She needed to see that we’re just a group of normal people who happen to play a televised sport each week in season.

I catch snippets here and there of their conversation—mostly stuff about being pregnant. She tells Ellie about our scare last night, about the pelvic rest…about all of it. I’m trying to stay engaged with the story Cory is relaying to us about some chick he hooked up with last week, but my ear catches on something Ellie says to Tessa.

“You’re more than welcome to move in with us a while if you decide to come to Vegas. It’s becoming a house of chaos, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

A look of relief seems to pass over Tessa’s face at the offer. I know she’s worried she’ll move to Vegas with me only to find herself completely alone, but I’d never allow that.

I want to get us a house, but I need to hold out for confirmation that I’ll be in Vegas another year. I even thought for a brief moment that if I could just get her out there with me, she’d want to move there.

Palm trees, mountains, bright lights, warm weather in the winter, views for days…there’s a lot to love about the little desert oasis. When I first moved out, I felt like I was always on vacation. Savannah managed to ruin that for me, but when I get a minute to take a deep breath of desert air (provided it’s not June, July, or August), it still feels that way for me, too.

I don’t have a place, and I’m certain Travis won’t want me to move in if I’m bringing not just a girl but a baby with me…so maybe this is the perfect solution.

“What do you say, Higs?”

“Higs?”

“Tristan!”

Somewhere in my periphery, the male voices at my table turn back to full volume and I realize Cory’s trying to get my attention.

“Huh?” I ask, turning back toward my friends. Cory rolls his eyes while Austin and Travis laugh.

“I asked where you’re staying the weekend of the Big D Bash,” Cory says.

“Is that what Olson is calling it?” I ask, and Cory nods. I laugh. “I haven’t thought about it. I turned my keys in to my landlord, so my house isn’t an option. I’ll probably just get a suite at Caesar’s.”

“Get it quick because it’s booking up fast,” Cory warns. “The only reason Ben got the pool reserved when he did is because there was supposed to be some wedding that weekend and the bride decided the groom’s brother was a better fit.”

“Jesus,” I mutter.

“Kind of funny that it went from a wedding party to a divorce party just that fast,” Patrick says.

Funny in an ironic way, I guess.

I’m starting to think I don’t really want this party at all. My life feels so different than it did not so long ago when I asked Ben to throw me a party once my divorce was finalized. I don’t want to be the center of attention. I don’t want bikini-clad women hanging on my every move for two days straight.

It sounded good when I was married to the devil and the woman I loved was just a distant memory.

But now she’s back in my life, and I just want to soak up every second I can with her. I just want to get ready for our baby’s arrival. I just want to take care of her and make sure she’s okay, the baby’s okay, we’re okay.

Instead, I’m heading to Vegas under false pretenses. I’ll get wasted, sure—but all the hook-ups I was expecting at my Big D Bash will be reserved for my friends. I’ll be heading back to my suite alone, wishing my girl was with me.

It sounds so dramatic, but my life changed the second I spotted Tessa Taylor in the window across the yard a little over two months ago.

A divorce is a huge, life-altering event.

Falling in love is a huge, life-altering event

An engagement is a huge, life-altering event.

A baby is a huge, life-altering event.

And these events are things I’m going through all at the same time.

In the car on the way home, I broach the topic before she does. “I heard Ellie mention we could stay with them a while. What do you think about that?”

She clears her throat, and then she glances over at me. “I’m not sure why I worried for even a second that I’d be alone. You found a way to make me feel like a part of Fallon Ridge when I first moved here, and I know you’d do it again in Vegas. It’s just…different this time. I’ll have a baby, and I’ll be a new mom, and it’s all so scary to think about.”

I nod. “I get it. Having your mom close would be helpful for sure. And my parents, too.”

“Yeah,” she murmurs, and then she pauses before she glances over at me. And then her words come tumbling out in a blur. “Or having Ellie around to bounce ideas and questions off of since she has two little kids, not to mention her nanny who takes care of the kids and their cousins while the moms work, might be pretty incredible, too, you know, while I’m planning more events for the TNT Higs Foundation.”

My brows knit together as I try to process everything she just said, and I find I can’t.

We’re on the highway doing eighty, and I pull off at the next exit. I pull off on the shoulder and put the car in park.

“Can you break that down for me one more time?” I ask.

She laughs a little nervously. “Well, for starters, I want to move to Vegas with you.”

My chest feels like it’s been tight for weeks, but her words make the weight lift. I relax back into my seat.

“I think it might be nice to stay with Ellie and Luke a while. I don’t know her that well, but I feel like she could become a good friend. I feel like it’s someone I immediately trust, someone who could help guide me through this motherhood thing so I don’t feel so alone.”

I nod. “Luke doesn’t play anymore, but they’re both still involved in the sport. Kate is over there all the time, and so is Kaylee, and all of them have newborns. All girls, now that I think about it.”

“Kate and Kaylee?” she asks.

“Kate Dalton is Jack Dalton’s wife and Ellie’s sister-in-law and best friend forever. And Kaylee is Ben Olson’s wife and she’s Luke and Jack’s little sister,” I explain.

She nods as she figures out the puzzle in her head. “Ellie was telling me she works from home and she has a nanny that watches her kids and her nieces and nephews during the day, so that must be who she was talking about.”

“Are you sure you want to live with them and not just get our own place?” I ask.

“I do want to get our own place eventually, but for the initial move, I think it might be nice to stay with somebody we know. What if it doesn’t work out?”

“What if what doesn’t work out?” I ask. The thought that we might not work out never even crossed my mind.

“Moving to Vegas. What if I hate being away from my mom, or if I have post-partum depression, or if I just feel all alone with a newborn? There’s so much change, so many variables, and I just want to make sure Vegas is a good fit before we invest in something as expensive as real estate.”

I nod, and I wipe my forehead in jest. “You scared me there for a second.”

“I did?” she asks.

I nod. “When you said what if it doesn’t work out, I thought you meant us .”

She’s quiet a beat, and then her eyes move to mine. They’re full of heat, but they’re somehow soft at the same time. “I never doubted us for a second.” Her voice is soft.

I lean over the console and press my lips to hers, and then my palm comes up to cup her neck, drawing her closer to me as I deepen the kiss. She tastes like cinnamon and syrup, and the sweet combination mixed with our fiery kiss only makes me want her more.

Pelvic rest, Higgins , I remind myself.

I begrudgingly back off, slowing the kiss before pressing one more soft one there since I can’t get enough.

“I never did, either,” I admit. “I knew there’d be obstacles, and it wouldn’t be easy, but I knew somewhere down the road, we’d find our way back. It was inevitable.”

She draws in a breath then releases it in a contented sigh, like she’s letting go of whatever fears remain. “And the TNT Higs thing?” she asks.

I can’t help when my lips tip up into a smile. “You know, I need a foundation director. You know anybody who might be up to the task?”

She raises her hand. “Me?”

I chuckle. “You’re hired. We’ll figure out the pay and all that later. I’ll need to get my lawyer and CPA involved because I have no idea how foundations work, but I do know you can draw a salary.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not worried about a salary. I can always run the foundation separately and work another job, too.”

“Nursing?” I ask, and I rush to add, “If that’s what you want, that’s what I want for you. But you don’t seem all that excited to return to nursing, and running the foundation would allow you to work at your own pace and work from home.”

Her eyes light up. “Not nursing. Ellie mentioned that she could use some extra hands at her PR firm. She specifically said she’d love to work with someone who already has some experience planning an event for a foundation.”

I raise my brows. “So she offered you a job and a place to live over breakfast?”

She laughs. “Yeah, I guess she did.”

I lean in and kiss her again. It feels like it’s already working out and we haven’t even left the Midwest yet.

And that’s the whole problem. I’m so blinded by the excitement of it all falling into place that I never even saw the blindside coming for us.