Page 5

Landon

“ Safe!” the umpire behind me yells as the third baseman slides into home plate a second faster than I can tag him with the mitted ball. I grit my teeth and shake it off, lobbing the ball back out to Mason on the mound. He’s shaking his head because he can see I’m not on top of my game tonight. I am all in my head. We just need one more out then it’s game over. We’ll win. I cannot allow another one of those moves.

“Focus, Brooks!” Trevor yells from third. He’s right, but Mason and I both shoot him daggers anyway. We both know he’s still pissed at me for screwing with his pass at Kate the other night at Swig’s Bar. It’s been nothing but little digs and shoulder checks the past few days. I don’t regret it though.

I get my head back in the game, and even though the other team manages a few more hits, we don’t let them get near home. Jace out in right field catches the ball, and even though the game is done, he lobs it to second for good measure. After coach gives us his post-game spiel, we hit the showers, and I drag my butt home.

I drop my gear in my designated spot in the closet by the door and trudge to the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge.

I’m wiped.

Thankfully, I’m all caught up on my studies, so I can just chill. I’m moseying my way down our hallway when the bathroom door opens and Kate runs smack dab into my chest, hair just combed but all wet, in nothing but a tiny ass towel.

I can’t breathe when I reach my hand up instinctually to steady her shoulders and my fingertips skim nothing but smooth, velvety skin. She has this sweet little freckle on her right shoulder that I can’t help but trace a circle around. I have stared at that freckle for years, yearning to reach out and smooth a finger across it, and holy crap, I’m doing it.

Yeah, dumbass, you look weird doing it too. I shake my head at my inner thoughts as Kate clears her throat timidly, and my eyes fly to hers, embarrassment clearly evident by how red her face is right now.

“I am so sorry.” She looks down at my fingers still on her shoulder. “I thought I’d be done before you got back.” She looks back up at me expectantly like she’s waiting for something.

Oh...you know, probably like waiting for your lingering hands to move. Yeah…that. I pull back and stutter out an embarrassed laugh, apologizing.

She smirks, calls me a weirdo in a teasing tone, steals my beer, and sashays off toward her room, sparing me a sideways glance and a slow sip.

In a towel.

Naked under that towel.

I have no words, but the strong urge to chase her down and get my beer back takes root, along with many, many naughty thoughts that include ripping off that towel.

Shit. I can’t move. Still no words. I must look like a damn fool. Pretty much...Smooth, Brooks. Real fucking smooth.

Alrighty then, cold shower it is. I step into the bathroom and lock the door behind me. The mirror is still all fogged up from the steam of her shower. Hibiscus scented shampoo surrounds me, and I can almost picture her in here. After stripping, I turn on the shower and step in, feeling the immediate prickles of icy water.

Screw it. I turn the handle so the heat kicks up. I don’t want another cold shower.

I want her .

I lean one hand on the wall as I let the water cascade over my hair and down my back until it’s starting to steam up the room a bit. Kate is messing with my head so bad, it’s starting to affect my game. I have almost opened my mouth three times alone this week, and it’s only Thursday, to tell her that she means more to me than a best friend. Every time, I choke. She knows something’s up. Hell, with the glance she gave me before slinking into her room with my ice cold beer made me wonder if she already has an idea of how I’m feeling.

Those blue eyes... I fist the base of my hard cock and stroke nice and slow, root to tip, and imagine her wet, slick body kneeling in front of me. I brace my hands against the shower wall, looking down while I fuck that pretty little mouth, whispering what a good girl she is as she looks up at me from under her lashes. Damn. I then picture pulling her from her knees, telling her to lean against the shower wall and spread those legs as far as the shower will allow. Rivulets of hot water stream down her spine and I happily trace the droplets with my tongue. I can just visualize her round, firm ass cheeks reverberating off of me as I surge into her from behind, strong and deep, eliciting the sweetest moans from her plump, swollen lips that I just fucked with my cock mere minutes earlier.

I fantasize about Kate gasping for air and screaming my name as I make her shatter around every inch of me. Before that thought goes any further, lightning streaks up my spine, spreading through my thighs and lower belly, and I groan, spilling myself all over the shower wall.

Damn. She will be the end of me. I clean up and turn off the faucet. I hear her door down the hall shut quietly. She probably went to grab a snack. I really hope she couldn’t hear me.

Kate

Oh. Fuck.

I cannot believe I just heard Landon fucking himself in the shower. I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s not like I intended to stand there and listen. I ran to grab a handful of pretzels to go with the nice cold beer I lifted from his hands just minutes ago. I heard an interesting sound when I walked by. I stopped to make sure he was okay and almost knocked to ask through the door, but I froze when I heard a soft moan and just knew.

I should’ve left then, and it’s not like I was out there long or anything, but that sound was hot. I sneakily leaned my ear to the door like a child eavesdropping on their mom and dad chatting about Christmas gifts behind the bedroom door. I could literally hear the water tinkling faster and faster as he must’ve been fisting himself more rapidly, and then a quiet but deep, satisfied groan. I’ve never heard a guy jacking off before besides the time my girlfriends and I were giggling over a hilarious porno scene that one decided to group message in the middle of the Mexican restaurant.

He went in there because of me. He didn’t need to shower. I could smell his freshly showered skin from after his ball game. I touch my fingers to my lips as I giggle by my door. I totally knew he would be home from his game soon, and my plan to test the theory worked all too well. I just wanted to know what kind of reaction he’d have if I flaunted a little extra skin.

His face was priceless. It was the deer in headlights look that had me blushing, but then when he noticed the feel of my skin under his fingers, his eyes looked soooo hungry. My insides practically liquefied right then and there. The beer that I made a getaway with was an impromptu touch. Part of me felt playful and almost hoped he would chase after me to get it back. He looked like he thought about it, but he was just frozen there. So how do I play this next?

An hour later, I come out of my room to catch up on the latest season of Bridgerton . This season is all about Colin and Penelope, and she is my absolute favorite character. She has been best friends with Colin all three seasons while secretly being in love with him. This season, he finally catches on, and boy do sparks fly?! I want someone to want and love me that fucking hard.

I stop as I round the corner at the sight before me. Landon is stretched out in his light gray sweats and white t-shirt in the corner chair with his bare feet crossed on the ottoman. He’s bathed in soft lamplight wearing glasses and reading a book... Oh man, glasses on a guy whose face is buried in a book does something for me in the best of ways. I’ve only seen Landon in his glasses a couple of times over the years; they suit him. This time though, the sight of him wearing them hits me with a deep, tingling, “UNH”, with all the extra emphasis.

His thumb grazes his bottom lip, and suddenly, I want to be that lip. He turns the page, completely oblivious to my presence. This shit right here, this is my version of porn. His forearms are tan and muscular. His biceps are bulging under the tight edge of the sleeves, and he’s not even exerting himself in any way except to shift his weight slightly in the chair. It makes those smooth hard muscles shift spectacularly underneath that shirt. That’s when he notices me. I gulp and walk to the kitchen for a glass of water.

“You thirsty for anything?” Ha, ha, ha. Maybe a long sip from my neck or lips?

“Nah. Thanks though,” he says roughly, eyeing me at the fridge in my baby blue sleep shorts and white tank. He gulps when he notices that I left off the bra.

I make sure to put a little extra hip into it when I make my way to the couch. Bending over at the waist a little more saucily than I typically would, I snatch the remote that fell off the couch at some point. Not like a crazy show of it, just a little “extra”. I don’t want to look like a complete idiot. I plop down, pop the top off my Sprite, and flip the tv on.

“Will I bother you if I catch up on an episode of one of my shows?” I crook a brow at him questioningly while taking my first sip. Mmm, that’s good. He clears his throat then looks back down at his page again.

“Go right ahead.” Curiously, he looks back up at me. “Umm, which show? Please don’t say Outlander . I don’t think I can deal with listening to Jamie and his “dreamy” accent tonight telling Claire all of the things he wishes to do to her.” Landon adds the air finger quotations to make his point.

I giggle because I never realized just how much he actually paid attention to what I said about the show, much less the actual show itself.

“You’re in luck. It’s Bridgerton tonight.”

He groans as if that’s just as bad, resulting in more giggles from me. He thought he was sly, but on more than one occasion, I caught him watching scenes here and there, captivated by Colin’s reactions to Pen.

“So, they’re best friends, but she’s totally in love with him? How can he not see it? It’s so obvious.” He side-eyes me, and for once, the glaring truth of our situation is not lost on me. I smile.

“She’s too scared to lose him. He’s too scared to take that step and make her his. Or is he?” I ask casually with another crook of my brow at him.

He clears his throat. He can’t help himself now. He’s fully into the episode with me. Standing up from the chair and stretching, Landon makes my tummy flip flop when that tiny sliver of skin on his lower waist shows beneath his shirt.

So hot.

He walks on over and plops down next to me, taking my soda from my fingertips, leaving me gaping there like a fish.

“Payback. Although, I think you still outdid me.” He blushes a little, looking cute as hell and sexy as sin at the same time, considering that panty-melting smile spreading across his cocky face. Time for me to clear my throat and refocus. Is he going to make a move? I’ll throw him for a loop.

“I’d say. You made yourself scarce in the bathroom for a while.” I grin. Ha. Top that. Is he going to play it off like nothing, or will he catch on that I know what I heard?

He blows out a forced, “Ha…,” and he blushes because he is a terrible liar. “Shit. Um, I’ve got nothing.”

I burst into laughter, and he can’t help but embarrassingly laugh back. I lean back and make the universal jacking off hand gesture and goofily moan in manly fashion, effectively sending us both into a fit of giggles.

He covers his face with a hand while basically dying, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably with his elbows on his knees as he realizes just how loud he apparently had been. He then reaches over and mercilessly begins tickling my ribs, but when his thumb grazes the underside of my breast through my thin tank, my breath hitches and we both go still.

He sits back up and I fix the disarray of my shirt while we both look back at the TV.

“I couldn’t help it. Seeing you like that fucked with my head.” He sighs out a forced dark chuckle. “I’m grabbing popcorn.”

Pretty sure you could probably pick my jaw up off the floor right now. He just fully admitted to it. One point for Landon.

He makes us a buttery bowl of popcorn. We side eye each other every time our fingers touch in the bowl over the next two episodes, unsure of what to say to each other, or if we should say anything at all. We ultimately decide to stop after episode 3 and watch the mid-season finale ball episode another time. We both have an early morning between his practice and my exam. I also have to finish up my landscape sketch for art class.