Daddy's Home (Firebacks Book 1) Read online

  “Ma, that’s my wife.”

  “Boy, don’t Ma me.” Even without seeing her, Zain could imagine Nadifa’s lips curling in derision as she said, “That’s no wife. She’s just an empty shell who’s sucking all your money up into her childless womb.”

  “Ma,” Lucky started but then kept quiet.

  Zain expected him to come to her defense, maybe say that she was doing everything the fertility specialist had said they should do. He could’ve said that they just needed more time to try, but he said nothing more. Feeling tears gather in her eyes, she turned on her heels and rushed out of the house.

  “Ma, you forgot our lunches again!” Maari reminded her as she started the car.

  “I’ll buy you something.”

  “Burgers?”“Pizza?” She let the kids suggestions eclipse her disappointment in Lucky.

  CHAPTER 2

  Was it rude to stare at your own husband?

  Probably not, but the way Zain was staring at Lucky was the kind of stare that’d send a nun directly to the penance box. It was a sex stare. She hardly realized that her sunglasses had slipped to the edge of her nose again.

  Lucky stood on the other side of the room, manning the grill along with some of his friends unaware of her scrutiny. It was hard to look away, especially when he only wore white swim trunks that sat low on his hips and sat out in stark contrast to his toffee colored skin.

  “…Zain? Zain? Zain!” Tasha Nelson pestered in an attempt to gain Zain’s attention, but Zain remained enraptured in Lucky-land.

  Mm mm mm! My man is fine!

  From his lean, chiseled, strong features to his tall, muscular body, Lucky was the representation of a fine male specimen, and for the last week he’d made a point of showing her just how much of a man he was and just how much he’d missed her. Zain could still hear the deep timbre of his voice break the hush of their lovemaking as he whispered her name.

  She pressed the cold glass to her left temple in an attempt to cool herself. It didn’t work. She could still feel tingles rush from her head to her toes as his kisses whispered against her skin in concert with his hands as they wandered her naked body. She could still feel the stretch as he…

  “Ow!” The slap at the back of her head caught her unaware, but the sting in its aftermath was quite real. She swiftly turned and threw daggers with her eyes at Chryssa Williams, her other friend and the one who’d managed to sneak up behind her to give her a rapid slap back into reality. “You can be such a-”

  “Bitch. I know.” Chryssa settled elegantly back into the wicker chaise lounge next to Tasha, “You need to go tell your man to put on a shirt…bony ass walking around like he think he on the cover of GQ or something.

  “Saaaaaalty,” Zain sang as she pushed her sunglasses back up her nose. “Lucky is so fine, he deserves his own KING cover. Every woman wants my man.”

  “Please!” Chryssa kissed her teeth as she picked up a towel and aimed for Zain. The heavy white cotton flew over Tasha’s head and landed with a plop beside Zain’s lounge chair. “You know I’m more a Victor kind of girl. He’s got them big muscles, and I just know he’s got some big things going on underneath those navy trunks.”

  “Ew! Nasty!” Tasha wrinkled her nose in distaste.

  Chryssa rolled her eyes. “Like you didn’t think the same thing!”

  After ending the season in style by beating the Atlantic Scorpions on their own turf, Victor Zickel, the Firebacks team captain, had decided to throw a team party at his house – if you could call the pseudo-five-star hotel that – for all the players and their significant others.

  The room was a reflection of the opulence that covered the rest of the house. An oval swimming pool dominated the room, its pale blue depths sparkling beneath the ornate chandeliers that hung high above their heads. The room was encased in floor to ceiling windows, providing a breathtaking view of the snow covered lawns outside.

  Contrary to the bitter winds on the opposite side of the glass, the room had been heated to a warm summer temperature. The guests milled around in their designer swimsuits laughing, chattering, and enjoying the brief respite from winter’s responsibilities. Zain, Chryssa, and Tasha had carved themselves a place by the edge of the pool where they could sip mojitos and be pervy.

  “You should talk to him,” Zain suggested to Chryssa in reference to Victor. As one of the few white players on the team, he already stood out in this crowd. Add in the blond hair, towering height, bulging muscles, money, and the recently divorced label, and it was no wonder every single woman was either next to him or watching him.

  Of the three friends, Chryssa was the only one without a man. Zain had no doubt that Chryssa would beat the competition if she put her mind to it. Very few men could resist the package she presented. It wasn’t every day you came across a high profile attorney who was loyal to a fault, beautiful, and towered at a good six feet without heels – and she always rocked heels.

  Chryssa pushed her glasses up her nose, her gaze on Victor. After a moment she sighed deeply, “Nah!”

  “Why?” Zain prodded.

  “Because…” Chryssa started, but changed the subject instead. “I’m not the one you should be worrying about. This bitch is staring at your man like she wants to eat him for dinner.”

  “I am not!” Tasha protested, her eyes focused in the same general direction. It could be argued that she was looking at her own husband, Polo, a linebacker for the Firebacks, but Zain had always got the sense that something wasn’t right between the two of them. She wasn’t surprised considering Polo was notorious for playing the field and had illegitimate babies coming out of his ears. What surprised her was that Tasha continued to stay with him.

  Tasha may have been reserved but she wasn’t stupid. Zain couldn’t imagine being married to that. Just the thought that he and Lucky were even friends irritated her to no end but it wasn’t like she could tell Lucky who he could and couldn’t hang out with.

  “Then why can’t you keep your eyes away from him?” Zain teased. She wagged her finger at Tasha in mock reprimand. “Tasha, Tasha, Tasha… Should I be worried?”

  “You don’t need to be worried about her.” Chryssa laughed. “You know she can’t work that pussy like you.”

  “Ew!” Tasha slapped Chryssa’s arm. “Why do you always have to be so crude?”

  “Touch me again and I will cut you,” Chryssa warned though the small smile tugging at the corner of her lips belied the angst in her words. She put her now empty glass on the table behind them and asked, “Okay Miss Bourgie, what do you want me to say instead of-”

  Tasha cuts in before she could finish the sentence. “I don’t know. Dip it down low or something?”

  “For real?” Chryssa cut her eyes at her. “Dip it down low? How old are you again?”

  “Waiter!” Zain lifted her arm, gesturing to one of the waiters who stood to the side of the room. The young man walked towards them, his demeanor alert. Zain rattled her order, “Can we have some pompoms to go with our virgin Tasha.”

  The waiter didn’t even blink. “We’re not serving those today, but if you would-”

  All three women laughed, even Tasha. Perhaps it was their laughter that drew Lucky’s attention. He handed the tongs to Polo and headed the ladies’ way, a smile on his face.

  “Why is he coming over here?” Chryssa complained.

  “I heard you,” Lucky said as he made a beeline for Zain.

  “I wasn’t whispering.” Chryssa was unrepentant.

  Zain hadn’t asked Lucky about the conversation she had overheard between him and his mother. Her inability to provide him with children was not something she liked to talk about, especially because she blamed herself too.

  Lucky bent down as if to lie next to Zain on her lounge, but she jumped to her feet. “Hell no! You’re still wet.”

  “Baby, you’re wearing a swimsuit.” His eyes lingered over the off-the-shoulder, see-through cover-up that she had over her pale blue bikini set. “It�
��s meant to get wet.”

  “Nigga, that’s a Tasha original,” Chryssa took the words from Zain’s mouth. These events were about showing what you had – not swimming.

  “You designed this?” Lucky asked Tasha. She nodded but didn’t speak. Tasha’s silence in the presence of men was nothing new. Lucky nodded approvingly and started to reach for Zain. “Let me see how pretty it is.”

  Zain took a step back, but the abruptness of her movement jerked the drink in her hand. In an instant, a pale streak of yellow began to seep through the almost non-existent threads of her cover-up.

  “Look what you did!” she complained.

  “I didn’t do anything.” Lucky accepted the glass Zain handed to him as she held the cover-up away from her body to stop it from staining her swimsuit. He added, “You’re the one who doesn’t want to cuddle wit your man.”

  “I need to go fix this,” Zain grumbled, her brow furrowed in irritation. After getting directions from one of the servers, she made her way to the plush guest bathroom. The rush of water as she dabbed at her cover-up masked the sound of the door opening behind her. However, the loud snap of the lock was enough to attract her attention.

  “What are you doing here?” Zain snapped, turning the faucet to stop the flow of water. She was still a little pissed at him for ruining her cover up. Lucky didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned against the door with hooded eyes, his unwavering gaze locked on her. He flicked his tongue against his upper lip…. her small teeth dug into her own bottom one.

  “What do you want?” Zain tried again. He didn’t speak, but the thick erection straining against his trunks was enough of an answer. Her body came alive and the heat began to build. She wanted to slip out of her bikini because it was constricting the blood making its way to her lower half. Her response was, “No, not here.”

  Ignoring her protests, Lucky stalked toward her, a predatory grin on his face. “I saw you.”

  “Saw me what?” Zain took a step back, but her butt bumped into the sink.

  “Looking. At. Me!” With each emphasized word, he took another long step until he stood in front of her. Compared to her, Lucky was almost a giant - he topped her by more than half a foot. His size should have intimidated her but it didn’t. It made her wet. Spinning his arms around her waist, he lifted her to his height with only a slight hitch in his breaths. “You think I missed the sexy eyes you were throwing me by the pool?”

  “Everyone will know!” Zain protested. That, however, did not prevent her from locking her arms around his neck or her legs around his waist.

  “They won’t know.” He turned with her in his arms, backing her against a wall and crowding his muscular length against her curves. He slid both of his palms down her back to cup her ass and caressed the firm flesh.

  “They’ll know.” She shook her head but didn’t stop pressing her lower body against his still-growing shaft or grinding against the head of his cock in slow figure eights as he encouraged her with rhythmic squeezes of her ass.

  “They won’t,” he insisted, his lips searching for hers. When they did find hers, the explosion sent her wits spinning out of control. His tongue sought entrance; he advanced, she retreated; she resisted, he coerced until finally she opened up to him, their tongues meeting in a furtive mating.

  He moved one hand between their bodies; first skimming her breasts, shaping their heavy fullness in his large palm and flicking their pebbled tips then lower, much lower. The first touch of his fingers against her clit, over her bikini bottoms, set her senses on edge. He captured her open mouthed gasps with his lips as he plucked the pulsating nub.

  She now stained more than her cover-up, but it didn’t matter. All that counted was how good Lucky could work her body. Her mouth went dry as he pushed the gusset to the side and finally touched her skin. Her keening cry filled the bathroom as his thick fingers brushed her moist slit.

  “You like that, don’t you?” he murmured against her temple as he pushed a finger in and out of her. She whimpered in protest as the pleasure abruptly stopped.

  “Easy baby. I gotchu.” Before he could drop his trunks completely, Zain was bearing down on him. He stopped her just as her pussy touched his tip with a firm squeeze of her ass.

  Forgetting that she’d just been protesting this very thing, she moaned, “Lucky stop teasing. Put it in!”

  ‘Tell me you love me,” he demanded.

  Unlike the previous night, she was too desperate to be proud, “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” He tucked his head into the crook of her neck and pressed his hips forward. His entrance was slow and thorough; inch-by-inch until he fully possessed her. Once her body relaxed over his, he lifted his head, locked his gaze to hers and pushed deeper.

  “You like that?” he asked.

  “Yes!” Her hissed word was his cue and soon he pounded into her, spearing her with long, smooth thrusts. The mirrors around them vanished, the cold ceramic pressing into her back disappeared, the slapping sound of their skin meeting faded…every sound and sight waned until there was only Lucky and his long strokes.

  “Lucky.” Her fingers dug into his closely shaved hair as her body began to quiver and the muscles of her pussy began to contract over the hard cock inside her. A few more strokes in and with a loud moan, she came.

  “Fuck!” He slammed his mouth over hers, speeding into faster, shorter and sharper strokes. Hardly a minute later, he spilled his seed inside her.

  Lucky held Zain against the wall, kissing her neck as they both caught their breath. When he finally spoke, there was an amused lilt to his words. “Damn! Look what you made me do.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Zain protested as she slid back to her feet. She watched Lucky tear off toilet paper with a small pout. “I told you we shouldn’t do it here.”

  “But you liked it,” he teased.

  “Maybe I should stay behind and come back out later,” she suggested as they cleaned up and righted their clothes. They already had a rap sheet for having sex in the locker rooms and she didn’t want to add to it.

  “Nobody’s gon’ know anything,” he persuaded, leading her out of the bathroom. “Your man’s got you.”

  He was right. No one had a clue about what they’d been up to.

  By six p.m., the party still hadn’t died down and there had even been suggestions of running it into the night. As much as Zain was enjoying herself, she had children to think of. After changing into warmer clothes, she made her way to the screening room where Lucky and some of the other players had disappeared to watch a game.

  Pulling him to the side, she said, “I need to pick up the babies from your mom’s house.”

  “Let me just get my clothes so we can leave.” Lucky started to move but she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

  “No, you stay,” she said, “You’ve been working too hard and need to have some fun.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Thank you.” He dipped down to for a small kiss. “The car keys are in my pants. I’ll get Victor or Polo to drop me home.”

  Zain left after saying her good-byes to everyone else. Contrary to the heat inside Victor’s house, it was freezing as she stepped outside. Hood over her head and nose buried in her mitts, she rushed to the black truck. She cleared the windows of snow before backing out of the driveway, headed for Nadifa’s home. By the time Zain weaved through the identical brick houses that characterized Nava Heights - each packed closely together with only picket fences to separate them - it was dark.

  Nadifa must’ve been watching for Zain at the window because before Zain could even park the car, the children were shuffled out of the house and the front door was slammed shut. Nadifa wasn’t interested in talking to her. Message received.

  “Freeeeezing!” Maari’s teeth chattered as he settled in the front seat.

  “Faster Mommy!” Iris whined as she tried to help Zain buckle Lily into her car seat. “Faster, faster, faster!”


  Zain was subdued on the ride home. The children didn’t seem to mind much; Maari drifted off into sleep as the twins entertained themselves in backseat with Lily’s book, and only drew her attention when they needed help with a word. With the snow coming down fast and heavy, it took a while to get home and by the time they did all three children were deep asleep, their necks cocked at odd angles.

  Her headlights reflected off the imposing gates that led up to the house. The security guard stood outside the gate but wasn’t alone. In front of him was someone huddled in a large overcoat. His agitation was obvious from the way he was flinging his arms about as he spoke.

  The moment the guard spotted Zain’s car, he rushed to open the gates while the person stepped to the side. Whoever it was was tucked deep into the overcoat. With the scarf wrapped around their lower face that it was impossible to identify them. Instead of driving up to the house once the gates were open, Zain rolled down her window, “What’s going on?”

  “Ma’am, I’m trying to tell her that she can’t see Mr. Ford without an appointment,” the guard explained, “but she won’t go.”

  Because of Lucky’s crazed fans, the Fords had a strict ‘no entry unless by appointment’ rule for anyone who wasn’t family or friends. Still, Zain felt bad for the woman – whoever she was. Only someone with something very important to say would bother slogging through all the cold and snow.

  “Let her in.”

  The moment Zain parked the car outside the house, their housekeeper Marilyn rushed out to help carry the sleeping children from the car. By the time Zain came back downstairs, Marilynn had already directed the woman to the den. The woman stood by one of the settees, her back to the door, her jacket gone and replaced by a black jumpsuit and ankle high boots.

  Zain drew her attention. “Hi, I’m Mrs. Ford.”

  She turned, abruptly startled by Zain’s voice. It was then that Zain noticed the very obvious bump the woman was sporting. She was as pregnant as the Virgin Mary. Her first thought was: Who the hell wore a jumpsuit when they were that pregnant?