A neighbor?

A… friend of Zac’s?

The woman had dark blonde hair tipped at the ends in a dark green. The baby had dark hair and rich brown skin. I waved through the glass, and it took the woman a second to see me before she lifted her hand almost hesitantly in return.

Oh God. Please God don’t let this be some woman Zac hangs out with. I didn’t want to have to leave right that second. But I would. I would, I would.

I had planned for this, thought about it during the empty spaces in my day since I’d moved in. I’d mentally prepared, or at least I liked to think I had. But I accepted in that moment that I wasn’t prepared for shit.

And that terrified me.

Unlocking the door, I tried to smile as I stood in the doorway, keeping the door about as close as possible to my side as I said, “Hi.”

The woman looked a little older than me and had a wary expression on her face. “Hi,” she responded in an equally careful voice I wasn’t sure what to do with.

“Can I help you?”

Yeah, her smile went straight-up tight. “Is Zac here?”

This was what I’d been ready to dread. I pressed my lips together, not sure whether to agree or not because… what if she was a fan? What if she didn’t actually know him and had just gotten lucky she’d found his address somehow?

“Zac?” I asked slowly, still holding out hope that this wasn’t what I thought it was.

“Yeah. Zac,” she answered warily, her gaze going from me to the little girl and back. She seemed uncomfortable. “I’ve been trying to call him, but he won’t answer.”

None of that meant anything to me. She could be making it up.

“I’m Vanessa,” she said, extending her hand out toward me. “You are…?”

Vanessa.

Why did that name sound familiar?

Oh. The Vanessa I’d seen that didn’t need a description in his phone. I’d seen her texts a handful of times coming through. And I’d seen Zac grin when he responded to them. He’d mentioned once how much she’d been there for him years ago, but that was about all I knew.

My stomach dropped a little as I took her hand and shook it. “Hi. Bianca.”

The smile that rose up out of her caught me completely off guard. “The Peewee?”

I wasn’t sure if her knowing about me was a good thing or not.

Had she dated Zac too? Was she here to do it some more? It wasn’t like I’d be surprised he’d date a mom. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d done it plenty of times before.

And oh my God, did I hate that fucking thought.

I needed to get used to it, and I knew it.

But it still took the breath from my lungs.

“Yes,” I told her and tried not to feel bad that it sounded like I was getting an anal probe without lube.

She was still beaming a bright smile at me, and I was still trying to picture her pretty face right in front of Zac’s, loved and appreciated and just Vanessa.

And I was wallowing in that thought when a deep male voice called out, “Is he here?”

A massive figure came walking up the path, coming from what I realized was an SUV I didn’t recognize parked in the driveway. But it wasn’t his huge, hulking body that caught my attention. It was the two little boys each holding a hand that interested me the most. Both of them were wearing jerseys. One was in an Oklahoma Thunderbirds jersey. The other in a San Diego jersey.

And even though their faces looked like they were supposed to be little boys, they were huge.

The closer the man got, the more familiar he started to get. Was he an old teammate of Zac’s? All dark-haired with a short beard, massive and muscular, and attractive in a way that wasn’t Zac’s Disney prince quality but more medieval warrior. He was bigger than Zac, CJ, and Amari.

“I don’t know….” The woman trailed off, casting me a quick glance because… well, she didn’t know. I hadn’t said yes or no.

“Is he still not answering his phone?” the big man asked as he lifted each of the boys by their arms, earning happy-boy shouts—and the man smiled down at them.

I knew I knew him from somewhere. I just wasn’t positive it was from his days with the Three Hundreds or the Thunderbirds.

“No—”

“Bibi, nobody’s tryin’ to kidnap you, right?” Zac’s familiar voice called out from the hallway.

All I managed to say was “uh” before the big man I was pretty sure was an ex-teammate of Zac’s called out, “You got time to answer your phone now?”

I heard Zac’s footsteps falter behind me.

Then he said, “Aiden?”

The oldest of the two little boys let go of the big man’s hand and went charging forward, screaming, “Uncle Zac!” at the top of his lungs.

Uncle Zac?

“Sammy?” I heard Zac say. The other boy kept clinging to his dad’s hand, but the little girl tried peering into the hallway too, her eyes bright and interested as she asked, “Uncle Zac?”

“Yeah, your Uncle Zac, Fi. You remember him?” the woman, just Vanessa, confirmed.

The little girl nodded.

A moment later, Zac touched my hip, balancing a little boy on his shoulders. He winked at me before going straight for the woman with the toddler, blatantly ignoring the big man who rolled his eyes in exasperation. “How’s my sugar and how’s my mini sugar?” he asked before hugging the woman—Vanessa—and the holding his arms out to the little girl. “Do you remember me, Fiona? I’m your uncle Zac.”

The little girl hesitated for a second before nodding and reaching out her own little arms so he could take her too.

And in less than a minute, Zac had two children on him—one on his shoulders, the other in his arms, giving him a kiss on the cheek. If that wasn’t cute enough, he was grinning wide.

God needed to have mercy on my soul.

I needed to get away from him. Recharge. Get my mind back on track and remember my expectations.

Remember that I didn’t want to be hurt in the future if I let my heart go too wild.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to understand what you did to become the child whisperer,” the woman named Vanessa muttered in slight surprise but mostly exaggeration as Zac gave her another hug. “But we’re all good. We’d be better if you answered your phone for once, Zac.”

He laughed as he tickled the little girl. “I was just about to call you back, honey. I was on the phone with my agent, and Bibi hadn’t come back, and I was worried somebody was tryin’ to steal her from me.”

Like someone would kidnap me.

Zac straightened, turned in my direction, and said, “One second, darlin’. Forgive my manners. I got one more very important person to say hi to, and then I’ll introduce you all.” He winked at me a second before he dropped down to a knee, still balancing both children in his arms and shoulders, and grinned at the other boy. “How you doin’, bud? You got a hug or a high five for me?”

The littlest boy, who had to be… I had no idea since he was so big he could have been three or fifteen, shrugged then held out his hand. Zac smacked it. Then he stood up and tilted his chin just a little higher to look at the man maybe an inch or two taller than him. They stared into each other’s eyes, and then Zac snickered and leaned in to pat him on the back. “How’s it goin’, Big Guy?”