seems lost and she’s looking to me to help her. I’m not sure I can.
“Bird, I’m on the road a hundred days a year. I live in a shitty apartment with three other ball players and sleep in a bus half the time. I’m living my dream and I think there’s a solid chance I’ll get called up in the next year or so. And you,” I pause and cup her face with my hands. “Are not going to be tamed. I know you think you want that but I don’t know, you’ll have to figure that out.”
“Will you help me?”
“Figure it out?” I look up at the sky. “How, baby?”
“You grounded me more than you’ll ever know, Tucker. And I know you’re right, I don’t want to take any of that away from you, but do you think we can figure out a way to stay close?”
“Close?” I search her eyes for the meaning of that word.
“Friends?” she suggests. She looks to her feet. “Lovers?”
“So basically you want me for my body.”
Her hands find the hem of my shirt. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“Um…”
She pulls me down by my shirt and kisses me and it’s like I can breathe for the first time in a year. I wrap my arms around her and pick her up. “My hotel is across the street,” I say.
“Too far,” she says and I let her drag me down a dark, narrow alley beside between the buildings.
We step over broken beer bottles and I stop midway down, where it’s almost dark, and kiss her again. This time I run my hands over the soft cotton of her shirt, feeling her nipples harden under my touch.
Perfect.
With eager eyes and fingers she tugs at my pants, impatient. I’ve never seen her like this and it’s a turn on. Normally she’s composed and holding all the cards. Not now. I reach under her skit and find her ready and slick.
“I missed you.”
I lift her with my arms and press against her with my chest, angling my cock below. We fumble awkwardly in the dark and I slip against her and we both laugh. “See what you’ve been missing?” I tease, lining myself up again and sliding in easily this time.
Ahhh.
“You’d think those muscles would give you an advantage.”
I raise an eyebrow and push her against the wall with my cock. She takes my face in her hands and kisses me, moaning in my mouth with each thrust. God it’s been too long. She feels so good and tastes just right. Our bodies only take a moment to acclimate to one another and then it’s like we’ve never stopped.
Except for the fact I’m about to come in less than two minutes, like a fucking kid, because she’s so goddam beautiful. Gritting my teeth, I bury my dick into her as far as it will go. I reach my hand between us to help her along, but it’s unnecessary because I hear her breathy pants, and she scrunches her eyes closed tight.
Her body relaxes and I jerk into her, feeling lighter than I have in months. I lower her to the ground, pushing her skirt smooth. I tuck myself back in my pants, stopping to kiss her because really, who knows when I’ll see her again.
“You do that the best,” she says, brushing my hair out of my eyes.
“It’s one of my superpowers,” I declare.
“Obviously.”
We’re standing in a dark alley in Durham, North Carolina and I feel like two worlds have just smashed into one another. I have no idea where we go next.
“How’s this going to work?” I ask, linking my fingers with hers.
She shakes her head but looks hopeful. “We’ll figure it out.”
We slip out of the alley, heads close. I’m not ready to give her up yet but I’ve got a bus to be on in the morning. There’s no way this will work, I think, except I’ve got her hand in mine and she’s kissing my neck and I realize there’s really no other option than to make it.
Chapter 10
I pull my Jeep into the driveway and hop out. I pass the main house and wave to Mrs. Blackmon on her back deck watering flowers.
“How was the game?” she asks.
I smile and pump a fist. “We won.”
“Congratulations! Your