We danced, swaying to the music. It wasn’t until one song faded into the next that she looked up at me again. “Aren’t you going to deny the man-whore part?”
She glanced away, pressing her cheek to my chest again before I could read her expression. “No, I can’t deny that,” I admitted. “Especially lately. Being in the majors is still new to me, and there are a lot of women who enjoy seeing how many baseball stars they can sleep with.”
I felt her nod. “It must be difficult to resist all those beautiful women.”
Blowing out a breath, I ran a thumb down her spine, and she shivered. I did it again. “I have a confession that you’ll probably hear about anyway. The night before I met you, I was with a woman. It wasn’t until the next day, when I saw our picture in a tabloid, that I realized she was a porn star. That, in itself, wasn’t the problem. I’m not going to judge anyone on how they make their living, but it didn’t look good for my reputation or the team’s, and I caught some shit from the team owner. What bothered me the most was that she played me. Bragged about how our tryst landed her some new gigs.”
“Thank you for telling me. That explains the porn star reference from Mommy Dearest earlier.”
“In case you’re worried, I went that same day to a doctor and got a full STD panel done. The initial results are clean, and I’m always careful. There are some things that take a while to get back, so… if you want to wait to—”
I wasn’t able to finish because she was pulling my head down for a kiss.
The kiss was hard at first, a harsh pressing together of our mouths, then it softened into something that I’ve only before experienced with her.
“I want you to make love to me tonight,” she said, her breath warm on my lips. Couples danced around where we stood, but I didn’t move us out of the way. “Bring condoms. Lots of condoms. I need you inside me. I need to see you naked. Taste your skin. I need to know if what I imagine it being like in my head is real.”
Pulling her even tighter against me in order to hide my erection, I looked down into her sweet face. “There’s something else you need to know. I don’t make love. I fuck — hard.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Did you just fifty shade me?”
I threw my head back and howled. “The guys in the locker room talked about that damn book a lot, not because they read it but because their wives or girlfriends dragged them kicking and screaming to the movie.”
“Seriously?”
I nodded. “Yep. They are always doing something stupid to mimic the characters. I fuck — hard is a favorite and gets exploited often.”
She grinned up at me. “How often?”
“Just yesterday, Calvin Malone said, ‘I pitch — hard,’ after striking out the side.”
She cocked her head. “What does ‘striking out the side’ mean?”
“He struck three batters in a row out.”
“Oh, cool. Who else says it?”
I gave it some thought and remembered. “In the next inning, Ace Newman hit a homer. When he got into the dugout, he yelled—”
“Let me guess. He yelled, ‘I bat — hard.’”
I held out a fist, and she bumped it. “Exactly. Then, one of the guys yelled, ‘You change diapers — hard.’”
Eliana laughed. “What did Ace do?”
“Pounded his chest and said, ‘Hell yes I do.’”
“So, I’m guessing he has a baby.”
“And your guess would be right. A cute little boy, in fact.”
Her eyes were shining, and she looked so happy. “Do you want kids someday?”
I didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, I do. You?”
“Yeah. I can’t wait to tell Alize she’s going to be a grandmother.”
I laughed and bobbed my eyebrows. “Well…?”
She gaped at me. “Don’t you dare suggest a fake pregnancy. I can’t take much more of this.”
“More of what?” I kissed her, long and deep and slow. “More of that?”
“Yes, please.” She pulled my head down to kiss her again.
Someone cleared their throat loudly, and I raised my head. “I think we’re being inappropriate.”
She blinked the passion away. “We can be inappropriate later, right?”
I pulled her tighter against me so she could feel my erection. “As soon as my current level of inappropriate shrinks back down, we’ll go do that. Right now, I’ll get arrested for indecency.”
“My, isn’t someone really full of himself. Are you really that big?”
I choked at her frankness, and she patted my back as we resumed swaying to the music. “Let’s see, first basemen need to create a huge target for the guys to throw to and be able to stretch out and catch the shit they toss at me. I’m six-four, and my hand is this big.” I hold it out for her to look at and she presses her palm to mine.
“That’s pretty big. Should I be scared?”
My erection wasn’t going down anytime soon. “Very.”
She smiled. “Good.”
“Is there anything you’re not willing to try?” I asked her, my hand caressing the soft skin on her back again.
She bit her bottom lip, giving it some thought. “Like from the movie?”
I grinned. “Sure, let’s start there.”
She blushed. “I want to try everything. Well, except the spanking with the belt. I’ll pull an Anna if you do that, or maybe make a butt plug for you out of your nana’s ring.”
She looked serious.
God, she was adorable. And goofy. And sweet.
I had to remind myself that all of this wasn’t real. She was going to school, I was gone half the year. I’d be heading back to California and big business meetings once baseball was out of my blood or I got injured and my glove was taken from me.
After Nana died, we’d probably go our separate ways or maybe even remain friends. I could see her as a friend. Someone I could hit up for lunch on occasion. Hang out with. Talk to.
Dammit all to hell. That wasn’t what I wanted. Maybe I just needed to fuck her and see if that got all this feeling shit out of my system.
“Want to get out of here?” I asked her.
She pressed tighter against me and looked down. “I don’t think you’re quite ready to go anywhere.”
I growled. She was right. The front of my pants bore a close resemblance to Pinocchio.
She batted her lashes. “You really want to fuck me hard, don’t you?”
So freakin’ adorable.
“You’re not helping.”
She rose up on her tiptoes. “What else to you want to do to me?”
I rolled my eyes and focused on the ceiling. “Not playing fair here.”
“Do you enjoy oral sex?”
That was it.
She yelped when I turned her around. “Stay directly in front of me.”
I followed a trail of giggles as I ushered her to the door. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to your parents and Nana?” she asked, and I stopped.
Dammit.
“That’s good. Say Nana’s name again.”
She laughed. “Nana. Mom. Dad. Family reunions. Sunday brunch. Parents having sex.”
I looked down at myself. “Hey, it’s working, but don’t ever say that last one again.”
When I was finally presentable, we made our excuses and confirmed brunch for ten in the morning. I had an afternoon game and would need to be at the stadium by noon.