All of a sudden, the door was flung back.

Sam turned around.

There stood Roman holding a little girl in one arm. He took a step toward him. “What the—?”

Sam stumbled back and put up a hand. “Listen, I’m just here to talk.”

Roman snorted and his nostrils flared like a bull’s. “I heard a rumor that you were on a plane to Utah. I figured you’d be coming after me, Dumont.”

The blood pounded in Sam’s head. Crap, Roman looked bigger at this moment than he had on the field. His biceps looked like tree trunks. He willed tranquility into his mind, trying to remember anything his shrink said that would help him deal with this confrontation. “I’m not coming after you.”

Roman snorted again. “Yet here you are.” He got even closer to Sam.

Without retreating down the stairs, there was nowhere to go but to stand his ground. Sam had been angry when he’d heard he was being traded to Miami and when that reporter had interviewed him, he may have said he would have words with Roman, but this was not that. “I’m not here to fight you.”

Roman still had a suspicious look in his eye. “Then why are you here?”

Sam took in a long breath. “C’mon, man, you’re holding a baby.” Sam gestured to the little girl.

Roman grunted. “I only need one punch.”

Sam sighed, but didn’t relax. Roman was too close to relax. It looked like he’d have to address this issue before he could get to the real reason he was here. “All right, let’s deal with the elephant in the room.”

Roman glared. “Which elephant?”

Sam swallowed, carefully choosing his words. “I did hear that it was because of you that Legend James will be taking my spot as quarterback for the Destroyers.” His words were calm, clipped.

Without warning, Roman quickly scooted the baby to his hip and then punched Sam hard and fast to the eye. “Not the elephant I was thinking about.”

Sam stumbled back and reached for his face. He’d expected something. Foolishly, he just hadn’t expected the punch to be that hard. “Maaaan.” He got dizzy for a second and reached out for something to steady himself.

But Roman’s hand shot back to his shoulder, steadying him. “Ya okay?” The words were flat.

Sam recovered quickly and then stood on his own, ready to take another hit. He scoffed, “You always got the hits in fast, didn’t you?”

Roman grinned. “You deserved that.”

Grunting, Sam touched his eye. “Yeah, I did.”

They looked at each other and then both of them burst out laughing.

Roman let out a small woot. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for a clear shot at you?”

All things considered, if he got off with one punch, he would consider this a success. “I have a pretty good idea.”

Roman turned to the little girl he was holding in his arms. “Did you see that, Maddy? Daddy got to hit a friend that he’d been wanting to hit for a long time.” He spoke in a high, pitchy voice and held her hand up. “Yay.”

Sam grinned, but stayed back. Babies weren’t really his thing. He’d been an only child and had never even had any cousins. He looked at the little girl, not sure what she understood. “Hi,” he said formally.

Cocking an eyebrow, Roman turned his attention back to him. “This doesn’t mean we’re even, not even close.”

It never alarmed Sam that Roman was so direct. “Would you just let me apologize?”

Letting out a breath, Roman gestured for both of them to sit on the two white lounge chairs on the porch. He put the baby down on a blanket covering the wood slats. Letting out a sigh, he turned to Sam. “Go for it.”

“I’m sorry. I was a fool. A complete idiot. Sheena came to me, and she—”

A look of distaste crossed Roman’s face. “Don’t.”

“But I take responsibility for my choices.” He said promptly. “I do. I was weak and it was wrong. I’m truly sorry for hurting you.”

Roman snorted, shaking his head. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d show up here.”

“Well, now you’ve seen it. I was so stupid.” Sam broke off for a second, emotion unexpectedly piercing into his chest. He blinked, trying not to let himself get all weak. He looked back to Roman. “I mean it.”

Roman looked him up and down, seeming to measure him. He leaned back into the white whicker and frowned. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad.”

Sam continued to rapidly blink and then roughly mopped his face and let out a sigh. “I still remember that day he came to the training field. Do you remember that?”

Roman’s face turned sober. He gave a quick nod.

More emotion welled within him and a traitorous tear leaked out. Sam wiped at it. “I never got a chance to tell you thanks.”

Lifting a hand, Roman shook his head. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Right.” Sam wiped his face, again, the emotion starting to dissipate. “You paid him off.” Roman had been one of the only people that knew the whole story with his dad. When the managers had come to Sam, telling him someone was there claiming to be his dad, Sam had refused to go, unable to deal with it.

Roman had done the dirty deed. He’d gone and paid him off. If there had been anything that should have earned Sam’s loyalty, it was that moment. To his credit, Roman had never mentioned it or used it against him.

This was the thing that had come out the most with the shrink. Sam had betrayed one of the only true friends he’d ever really had. Biting back the anger that started to surface when he thought about his father, Sam shrugged. “Let’s face it, he wasn’t a huge loss to the world.” He scoffed. “Probably as much of a loss as I would be, right?”

Leveling him with a stern look, Roman shook his head. “I wasn’t thinking that.”

Sam nodded. Of course Roman wasn’t thinking that. He was a real friend. Not the kind that Sam seemed to accumulate all too easily—the kind that hung out by his pool back in Dallas or always wanted to hit the clubs. Friends with no last names because it never got that personal. No, Roman got personal. Sam had wondered, time and again, if he could ever be good enough to be Roman’s friend again.

Roman put a light hand on the baby’s head and grinned down at her.

The baby made a gaw-ing sound.

Sam let out a puff of breath. “I couldn’t talk to my dad then. I couldn’t talk about the fact he was an alcoholic. But I want you to know, what you did for me meant a lot.”

Roman looked back at him, then nodded.

Sam held his gaze. “I was going to go on ahead to Miami, but then I found myself buying a ticket here.”

Roman watched him for a second. “I get it. I remember when my uncle died. Granted, it wasn’t the same kind of relationship you had with your dad, but it’s hard when anyone dies. It changes you.”

All his self-loathing surrounded Sam, pressing down on his chest. No. No. No. He couldn’t break down right now. Not here. He would not give Roman something else to pity him over. He wouldn’t. He stood. “Hit me again. I deserve another one.” He backed up a step.

Roman let out a breath, not moving. “Sit back down,” he said in a resigned tone.

Hesitating, Sam moved back to the white wicker chair and sat. Even though the side of his face was throbbing, being invited to stay made him feel better than he had in a long time.

Roman reached for a plastic ring that was sitting on a different chair and then gave it to the baby.

She balanced successfully in a sitting position. She was cute with her patch of red hair and big blue eyes. She pushed the plastic ring into her mouth.

Roman crossed his arms and stared directly at Sam. “Okay, now that all that crap is out of the way, I’ll tell you why I wanted Legend.”

Relieved, Sam leaned back in the chair and picked up the conversation. “Why? I didn’t take you for the vindictive type in regards to the Destroyers. But it was quite clear you wanted Legend to replace me. I mean, c’mon, did you have to sit down personally with Legend for that interview?”