Page 18 of Nailed at Home Plate (Philly Sillys Baseball #1)

TAYLOR SWIFT

“J eez Jamie, you must have really gotten into those dance moves last night at the game. Cadence must finally be rubbing off on you.” The words filtered in through my open office door and I glanced up with a dry swallow. “You’re hella tense, old man.”

The trainer’s words were truer than he could ever realize. Considering that last night Jamie was the first man ever to make me squirt, I certainly did rub off on him, all over his gorgeous face. He gave me the kind of oral that had me speaking in foreign tongues. Languages I didn’t even know. I was surprised my neighbors hadn’t called a priest to exorcise the demons from my apartment.

My eyeballs still had trouble settling into their proper forward-facing position in their sockets after the man rocked my world multiple times last night. The fact that the man shot cum all over my face, without me having my hands or mouth on him at the time, unlocked a shiny, brand-new kink for me.

The sexiest man on the planet had been face-first in my cunt and climaxed because of the orgasm that he gave me . Jeezus fucking All-Star game, Batman. After last night, Jamie Rheems had officially ruined all other men for me.

I froze as Jamie’s eyes caught mine from across the training room. Thank fuck I was in my office. If anyone happened to look in my direction, they would have seen my cheeks erupting in red-hot flames of embarrassment. The man gave me a hell of a confident smirk from the trainer’s bench.

He wasn’t sore because of the game last night. I mean, maybe it started there. But it was definitely from the three different sex positions he twisted me into last night. Okay, technically two. I was at fault for the first round.

As mortified as I was, the man should be proud of himself. He was the reason I was walking so bow-legged today. Everything that happened last night had been well overdue for my downstairs. I shouldn’t be ruminating on our liaisons last night as much as I was. Especially at work.

This was literally the worst.

…or was it the best?

Things still remained to be seen.

Even if he was the man of my literal dreams, we were colleagues. Coworkers. I was pretty sure that this wasn’t at all kosher. To say that I was a little hesitant about this whole unexpected turn of events was the understatement of the year.

But damn that man could fuck .

It was difficult to concentrate on anything in my office when Jamie was being stretched out by one of the team's physical therapists. No wonder he had me bent like a Philly soft pretzel for most of last night. He probably got a few of those ideas from therapy .

My eyes strayed to the clock at the corner of my work computer. Time was ticking by at a glacial pace. I needed to get out of here just so I could sit at home, in private, and ruminate over everything that had happened in the last few days.

Jamie had stayed the night again, although we learned from our first night together. He left early to shower and change at his place before heading to the stadium before practice. If we kept showing up to work together, people would start to ask questions.

The guys had their usual morning choreography practice and were now winding down from their fieldwork with Topper. That meant time in the weight room, physical therapy, massages, and ice baths.

I was trying to ignore the fact that they were gearing up to go on the road for a week straight to three different cities. Due to this year’s budget constraints, only essential staff traveled with the team. Which meant I wasn’t able to go on the road with them this season.

Up until Jamie showed up, road games were a blessed reprieve of a break in the vigorous ELB schedule to have some peace and quiet from the Sillys. Travel games meant that we recycled old routines. If they played opposing teams that weren’t close to each other, they did the same set for each away game. They had anywhere from three to five routines each season to cycle through.

Being on the away team meant that there was less spotlight time. The home team had the advantage. Which was fine. The guys needed the break on top of all the hours spent traveling.

With Jamie traveling with the team, would things still be the same after he got back? Would everything we did in the last few days be forgotten? I did have his number now. We could text. Would he even want to text?

There was a subtle knock on my office door. I jumped before my head shot up only to find Jamie sexily leaning up against the door frame. His strong arm flexed as he braced it on the wood trim next to his head. Just like all those viral videos of women getting their men to do the “sexy door lean”. Fuck me within an inch of my life. The man was a constant fluster on my body.

Biting down on my lower lip, I pressed my thighs together under my desk. I was ready to soak my panties then and there. Which would have only made a rather awkward conversation when I headed home for the day.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” I breathed out as my eyes finally flickered back up to his face.

“I figured it was time to court you again.” A warm smile matched his overall swagger. I had to stifle back a laugh. He really was stuck on his C.O.C.K. guidelines.

But again? We’d spent every night together since that first one. At this rate, Jamie was going to court me once every 24 hours. And then have sex with me at double the rate.

“But you guys are heading out on the road early in the morning.” I bit my lower lip even harder to stop the pout that was desperately trying to break through.

“That’s why I’m asking you out to dinner. A week is a long time.”

Feeling the heat in my cheeks, I rapidly rose from my desk chair and walked over to him. This wasn’t a conversation that we should be having with teammates and staff being so close. I came to a halt as close as I dared without giving anyone a reason to ask questions. My eyes darted off to the side to see if anyone was watching. Thankfully the room behind him was clear.

“Dinner?” I murmured, afraid to make my voice any louder.

“Maybe a movie is more your thing?” He was toying with me. My body was tingling. Dammit, I wish he could kiss me. Hell, I wanted him to take me on my desk. Stop accelerating, Cadence. “Although, I was hoping we could talk more. I’d love to get to know more about you. In whatever method that involves some kind of intimate conversation.”

My face blossomed with a fresh blush. Over the last 48 hours he had more intimacy with certain parts of my body than my brain. But in between we managed some rather delightful pillow talk. My body wilted a bit. Okay, stay cool, Cadence. Your crush wants to get to know you better.

“Dinner would be great.” I breathed out.

“Are you good to go out somewhere?” His voice went much softer but damn his eyes were heated. “Because if we go back to either of our places, I think I’ll find myself a bit busy and accidentally miss curfew and report time.”

I did everything in my power to swallow back my fluster. The man exuded sexual energy. Or was it because I’d conditioned myself to only think about sex and baseball when I saw Jamie?

“N-No. I-I mean I’m fine with that.” I finally had the strength to breathe out. Shooting him a smile, I busied myself with tucking a loose lock behind my ear. “Actually, a night out sounds amazing.”

“Perfect. Pick you up at 6?” All I could offer was a nod as Jamie slipped me a smile before he wandered out of my office. It was too bad that I didn’t know any artists. Smart me would have commissioned a painting entitled “Jamie Against a Doorway” so I could always salivate over the utter vision it had been for decades to come.

It was smart of Jamie to suggest we go out in public. Without closed doors, we could concentrate more on each other, all while being fully clothed. Part of me was afraid that maybe we were only compatible sexually. But given our lighthearted and free-flowing conversation over dinner, this connection I’d been feeling was much more well-rounded. Hopefully, he felt the same way.

“Book lover, huh?” Jamie mused as he tipped back his beer bottle. We had settled on an Italian restaurant in Rittenhouse Square. The overall mood of the place was quiet, a bit more casual, given the upper-scale part of the city. There were trees outside the tall windows of the repurposed antiquated building with marble floors and gold trim.

“Guilty pleasure.” I shyly conceded. Jamie’s gaze turned a bit heated as my tongue rolled around the words. “I feel that reading gives my brain more of a workout instead of TV.” The tip of my finger absentmindedly danced around the curve of the lip of my wine glass. “But I do share your love of movies. Especially the same ones over and over again. ”

“Let me guess, romcoms?”

“Actually, no.” I laughed with a shy shrug of my shoulders. “I love plain old comedies. Romcoms are more for reading. For some reason, the romcom movies are infinitely cheesier.”

Jamie let out a warm chuckle as he nodded. “Yeah, I can see that. But you did say you liked Mean Girls .”

“It's a classic. A regular rotation in my movie watching. But I consider it more of a comedy than a romcom.”

“Interesting.” Jamie mused as he slipped a forkful into his mouth. Chewing it, our eyes locked from across the table. “So are early 2000s movies the only classics you watch?”

“Oh hell no.” I wiped my mouth with a napkin to hide my shy smile. So far, I haven’t done anything super embarrassing while eating. But the evening was still young. “I’m also a sucker for Molly Ringwald movies.”

The blue hues in Jamie’s eyes glittered. “Really? Me too.” For a moment I felt like he was sizing me up. Maybe there was some psychology as to which Ringwald movie was your favorite. If I picked The Breakfast Club , did that make me a psychopath? “How about on the count of three, we say our favorite?”

“I’m game.” I laughed. There hadn't been a dull moment yet. Of course, I’d been nervous at first, but Jamie made it easy for me to relax around him.

With a nod, Jamie counted down. As he mouthed each number, his smile grew bigger. I was so thankful that with each hour we were together, he withdrew from his grumpy, serious shell more and more.

“ Sixteen Candles !” My eyes widened as Jamie and I said the exact same thing at the same time. We both burst out in laughter, drawing a few eyes towards our quiet table in the corner. I took my humor down to a muffled snigger. “Really?”

“Well…yeah.” Jamie shrugged as he looked down at his plate. “I don’t know, the part where Jake shows up to Sam’s sister’s wedding, like a knight in shining armor,” His eyes shyly met mine with a smile at the corner of his mouth. “It gets me every time. And the car is pretty nice too.” Oh, sweet heaven on earth. That was my dad’s favorite part too. Was it a sign of something?

“Jamie Rheems, are you a romantic?” Please say yes, please say yes.

“Maybe a little.” A warm chuckle warmed me from the inside out. “I do enjoy a good grand gesture. But one that really means something. Something personal. Something that resonates with someone. Not all this bullshit with showering someone with expensive gifts that are pointless trinkets.”

Jamie easily had the means to spoil anyone rotten. And yet, with one line, he showed me that he was a down-to-earth guy. Love and caring for someone was so much more than earthly things. It was something you couldn’t touch or explain. You just knew . You felt it. You showed it.

I had no interest in money. Or fame for that matter. I just wanted to pay my bills and survive without worrying about keeping a roof over my head. Well, and have a few extra bucks for books and baseball tickets .

“I know what you mean. It's not something you can buy. It's what it makes you feel.” There was a sparkle of delight in Jamie’s gaze as he nodded.

“These guys in the majors, and the women that chase after them, it's like all they want is the spotlight. Between pressure from social media or greedy women, it's…it's not even about love anymore.”

I felt my cheeks light on fire. Jamie Rheems just dropped the “L” word in casual conversation. It's not like I hadn’t thought about it myself. I’d thought about it a lot and had the high heart rate alerts to prove it. But that was the last part of this entire insane delusion I was currently living through. The part that I was so certain I would never see. And yet…

“At least we’re alone here and not bothered by the paparazzi or public or whoever feels like invading my personal space on any given day.” Jamie’s additional words interrupted my thoughts. Brushing away the fantasies of forever, I leaned back onto the table instead of being adrift in dreamland.

“I take it you’re not a people person.” I teased. I already gathered that in our time together. This was only the second time we’d been out in public. Like him, I preferred the quiet of either of our apartments.

“Not in the slightest.” He busied himself cutting off a piece of his grilled chicken. “Well, I get along with my team just fine. But some days they are the max capacity of people I can tolerate.”

“I feel the same exact way. The Sillys…they’re a lot . As you now know.” I chuckled with a shake of my head. God love the guys, but they were always a bit much.

“I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to have someone say that.” Jamie’s steely gaze looked at me in earnest. Heat rose to my cheeks. I took a quick bite of my steak salad in a vain effort to quell it. “Aside from my family and some childhood friends, it seems that everyone wants a piece of the spotlight. It's like they see me on TV and automatically think it's their ticket to stardom. That I’m now their best friend.”

“That’s honestly the last thing I’d ever want.” The words came out a bit muffled as I swallowed down my bite of salad from behind my cupped hand. “I happen to like my quiet life. I don’t know how you guys do it. To go out in public and have someone chase you down because they recognize you. Sounds like my worst nightmare.”

Jamie let out another laugh as he speared a few sprouts of broccoli onto his fork and slipped it into his mouth. How the hell did he even make eating broccoli look sexy? It made my heart so happy to know that he was the down-to-earth guy I always suspected. He really was my dream, well… everything .

“And that’s just another reason why I keep falling harder and harder for you, Cadence Andrews.” The words were so soft and earnest that I honestly thought my heart would burst at the seams. My eyes darted over to him as I lowered my fork. How the hell could anyone eat at a time like this? “It's like…somehow the universe took every single beautiful thing that I ever loved and created… you .”

Blinking, I pulled my gaze from his. Tears of excitement and joy stung at the corners of my eyes. My heart soared in my chest. It took everything in my power to remain in my seat. Meanwhile, everything inside me was shooting off like fireworks all set off at once. It was going to take every ounce of strength I had left to not say something stupid and ruin the moment.

“I think you’re more than a little romantic, Jamie.”

I chanced a look across the table at him only to see him dip his gaze bashfully to his plate as he nudged some food around with his fork. How could we be so explosive in the bedroom and yet dance around each other like timid teenagers in public? Whatever kept us humble, I suppose.

“I think I’m just a simple guy. All I need is my girl wearing my jersey cheering me on and I’m content.” Immediate swoon.

Sir, I want that too. So much. You have no idea.

Chewing on my lower lip, I hesitated to share a personal story on the off chance that he’d think it was weird. But if I wanted this to be a genuine connection, Jamie had to like me. Me , me. Quirks, weird fantasies, and all.

“You know…back in high school, I wanted to date this one football player. He was so cute. Their girlfriends always got to wear their jerseys on Fridays for game day. I just wanted to…you know, be that important to someone.”

There was a long moment of quiet between us. I was worried that I made it awkward. But maybe we were getting way too close to a much more serious conversation for being only a few weeks into this. A soft smile danced across his lips.

“You a football fan too?” I let out a slow breath through my nose. Thank god he changed the subject. At least for now. We kept tiptoeing along the water of serious emotions even though I wanted to dive in, head first .

“Who isn’t? Go Birds!” I said a bit too loud and enthusiastically to cover my fluster. Jamie outright laughed. A few others in the restaurant echoed my sentiment right back. Fuck, I loved Philly.

“Go Birds.” He replied with a laughing grin. After all, it was the greeting and response in the greater Philadelphia area during the season. Or whenever you saw someone wearing team gear. It was an unwritten law as a Philly fan.

“I grew up with all the Philly sports. My dad has always been a big fan. I suppose I was reluctantly indoctrinated over the decades.” Our laughter mixed and danced in the air between us.

“Yeah, my dad is the same way. Although he’s more of an ‘all sports’ kind of guy. If it's a sport and it's on TV, he’s watching it.” Jamie added. More than anything I wanted an afternoon of us sitting with our dads watching football in the baseball offseason.

My cheeks were hurting from all the smiling I’d done over our meal. We talked about our likes, our dislikes, our families, and what we liked to do in our free time.

Like clockwork, his hand took hold of mine as he drove me back home. It was a reflex. I smiled to myself as I watched the sleepy city fly by. While the sexual attraction had been rampant the first few days, this was something more tender.

Being the gentleman he was, he walked me to my place. But what surprised me was that he stopped by the main front door instead of escorting me inside to my apartment door. I turned to invite him up, with only innocent intentions. Mostly . Instead, he silenced me with a kiss, the first kiss we’d had since he left that morning .

My toes curled in my heels. I was frozen in place from the sheer intensity of it. I felt my knees buckle a bit, but Jamie’s hands were right there on my lower back to keep me steady. How was he simultaneously my rock but also putting me on my knees?

“Good night, Cady. Thanks for going out with me.” Jamie murmured the words against my mouth as I tried to get my brain back in order after that kiss.

“Don’t you want to come up?”

Jamie smiled before trailing slow kisses from my mouth to tickle against my ear. His words sent a heated prickle down my spine. “As much as I would give up my favorite catcher’s gear to do so, I’m afraid I wouldn’t leave until you’re a… puddle in your bed.”

Pulling away, he sighed. “It's a 4 AM wake-up call to report for the bus. It's better…it's better if I cut the temptation off here before I throw you over my shoulder. Being away from you for a whole week is gonna be really fucking difficult.”

I stood there in my stupor for a hot second. Did my super-hot crush seriously just say that he was going to miss… me …? Thank fuck that he still had a hold on me because I would have wafted away with the summer breeze. It gave me a sudden burst of confidence.

“I’ll tell you what.” My voice dropped to a husky murmur as I pressed back in close to him. “I have an idea. A bit of motivation while you’re on the road. To make sure you stay on this hitting streak of yours.”

It was a rather devious idea, but perhaps it might continue this little streak of his even though I wasn’t there. My hands slowly smoothed their way up Jamie’s crisp dress shirt .

“Every base hit you get while you’re away, you get to go to the corresponding base.” His eyes widened as my voice turned sultry. “ On my body. ”

The way Jamie reacted to my words only empowered me further. His fingers curled into the sides of my dress, crumpling the fabric in his fierce grip. I was worried that his first few games had been a fluke. He was on the verge of being his old self again.

After that first night in my bed, Jamie had the best week of baseball since his injury. If I gave him something to look forward to when he got back to Philly, then maybe it would give him something else to fight for. A sexy motivation.

“If you get to first base…” Leaning back in, I brushed the barest hint of a kiss against his bottom lip to emphasize my point. My hands made their way down his arms to grasp ahold of him. It was like he was frozen there, hanging onto my every word, ravenous to see where I was going with this. I felt so nervous taking dirty to him, but I had to give him that extra little incentive. “You can cum in my mouth.”

“Second…” My lips hovered along his jaw, close enough that I could feel each of his heated breaths. Taking his hands into mine, I brought his palms to my breasts. There was a subtle groan deep in his throat. My breath hitched as he took the open invitation to touch me with suppressed glee. “You can fuck these.”

“Third…” My voice was almost nonexistent as I gathered all the courage I had to put on my sultry best. My heart was racing. I moved his hand to slip into the V of my thighs. With our bodies so close together, I could feel that he was already fit to burst through his dark dress pants. Hopefully, this was going to make a lingering impression. “Maybe we break out some toys?”

“And a…” With my now free hand, I teasingly danced along the waistband of his pants. “ …home run .” With that, I firmly cupped my palm around the tip of his diamond-hard cock that was straining against the unforgiving fabric. His hands shot to my waist and pulled my hips tight against him. “Or…runs.” I gasped out. He was nearly foaming at the mouth to hear what the final prize would be. “Feel free to stick your bat in any hole.”