Page 21

TWENTY-ONE

PARKER

“ W hy are you being so twitchy?”

My eyes sliced left, I couldn’t see him properly, but I knew Ace was staring down at me with a deep frown. A deep frown and his dick hanging out. “Dude, can you get dressed?”

“What’s the rush? You know I like to air dry,” he replied, though humored me by covering himself with a towel. “Have you been on the Red Bull again?”

“What?”

“You’re super twitchy. The entire bench is shaking.”

I eased my hands under my thighs to stop them tapping. “I’m not twitchy. I’m tired.”

“You don’t seem tired. You seem twitchy.”

“I want the debrief to be over so we can all go to bed. Why’s everyone taking so long? Where’s Coach?”

He raised an eyebrow; I couldn’t tell whether he bought my explanation.

To be honest, I didn’t really care.

The only thing I did care about was getting the fuck out of the locker room and back to the hotel, but it didn’t look like the meeting was going to start any time soon, given half the guys were still in the shower, and Coach was nowhere to be seen.

I thought if I ran off the field, showered, and dressed at lightning speed, it might encourage everyone else to move their asses, but evidence pointed to the contrary.

Ace stopped drying himself, or whatever he was doing, and frowned again. “We’re not having a debrief.”

“What?”

“We’re not having a debrief. And Coach is talking to ESPN.”

“We’re not having a debrief?”

“What did I just say? Seriously, why are you being so weird?”

“We’re not having a debrief?” I jumped up, making no effort to contain my outrage. “Then what the fuck are we hanging around for?”

Ace pulled on a pair of briefs—fucking slowly, I might add, but at least we were heading in the direction of being fully dressed.

“Dude, no one’s hanging around, we all came off the field and got showered just like we normally do. You’re the only one who left dust behind. We’re all getting ready at the same speed, and the bus is leaving in twenty.”

I peered around the locker room. Perhaps Ace had a point, though I still didn’t understand why everyone was behaving like they had all the fucking time in the world. It was past eleven p.m., why did no one want to go to bed? At this rate it would be after midnight before we got back to the hotel.

I let out a huff and sat down again.

“Come to think of it,” he continued, “you were also twitchy in the dugout. Quiet too.”

“I was watching the game.”

“Nah, I think it was more than that. You didn’t find my joke funny, and you always find my jokes funny.”

I pulled my phone out, so tempted to message Scout and tell her I’d see her soon, but I didn’t want to do it with Ace peering over my shoulder. I hadn’t told him about this morning, I hadn’t told anyone. I knew that the second I opened my mouth and spilled my secret I’d make it that little bit less special.

And I kind of wanted at least twenty-four hours of having Scout to myself before it became public knowledge.

Or at least before the boys knew.

I wouldn’t be able to go longer than twenty-four hours before they guessed. My face would give it away, plus all the jumping for joy at finally sealing the deal with Scout that I’d be doing.

“Parker, did you hear what I said?”

“Um…” My eyes flicked up to his.

Nope. No chance I was even lasting twenty-four hours. I couldn’t focus on anything. I could barely remember the game we just played beyond knowing we’d won and I’d racked up two RBIs. I definitely couldn’t remember him telling any joke, and it was a toss-up on which would be received as worse news—that I didn’t find his joke funny or I didn’t listen in the first place.

I was saved from making any admissions by the arrival of Lux wearing one of his neon sweatpants and hoodies. I’d lost count of how many he had, but I knew I’d never seen this one before. That I’d remember. It was so fucking bright, if the power went out, we’d just use Lux to guide the way.

“Dude, that color is enough to make my eye tic. You need to warn people when you’re going to wear it. Or provide sunglasses.”

He chuckled but said nothing, opting to pull out his phone, no doubt to message Radley. Maybe I should message Scout.

Nope. Someone would see. Fuck, I wanted to get out of here.

“Where’s Tan?” asked Lux.

“Dunno. Probably still showering.”

“We’re never leaving,” I grumbled, my head falling back onto the locker with a thud.

“What’s with you? We only got off the field fifteen minutes ago.”

I checked my watch. Huh. Lux was right, it had only been fifteen minutes, even if it felt like an hour. It was official, Scout made me lose all concept of time. Lux and I were the only two ready to leave.

Maybe if I headed for the bus, everyone would grasp the sense of urgency and hurry the fuck up.

“What’s up with you?”

“NOTHING! I just want to go to bed.”

His expression was the same one Ace was wearing, and I ignored that one too.

“Okay…”

I stayed silent. My bad mood would only get questioned further, which would lead to a place I didn’t want to go. And I wasn’t in a bad mood per se. I mean, I was definitely impatient to the point of exploding, but that’s all. Who could blame me? I had the most perfect girl in the world waiting for me back at the hotel. At least I hoped she’d be there; I hadn’t spoken to her all day. I hadn’t even seen her. Not since she’d left my room in a post-orgasmic daze.

I adjusted my shorts before I started getting hard at the memory.

Even in the depths of my fantasies I’d not conjured up the image of her watching me jerk off, but holy crap, the look on her face when I turned around and saw her…chest heaving, cheeks flushed, jaw slack. She was exquisite.

No one had ever looked at me the way she had been looking at me. I’d had to consciously stop myself from sprinting across the room and picking up from where I’d finished.

I was on the verge of drifting into a fantasy about Scout when Tanner returned from the shower, dripping wet.

“Who’s coming to my room to unwind with some Call of Duty ?” he asked, shaking himself everywhere.

“Tan, Jesus!” griped Lux, probably because his brand-new sneakers now had a water spot on them.

I was much less annoyed, because it appeared that during my time dreaming about what I was going to do to Scout later, everyone had gotten dressed. Or mostly dressed. My mouth was open, ready to tell Tanner to hurry up when Coach walked into the locker room, wearing a scowl.

“What are you all still doing here? The coaches are waiting, get a move on.”

Fucking finally. Someone talking sense.

T wo minutes after I arrived back at my room, cleaned my teeth, and took a piss, I was standing in front of the connecting door.

I’d always figured the first time Scout and I had sex would be following a proper date, where I’d picked her up at her place, taken her to dinner in the best restaurant New York had to offer, and walked her home. A world away from right now, yet a connecting door during an away series did seem kind of appropriate, if unconventional.

The performance anxiety attempting to creep into my brain, however, was all new and it would absolutely not do.

I was not about to fuck it up.

This was my dream girl, the one I’d thought about virtually nonstop for the past twelve months. And assuming I didn’t fuck this up, it meant that I’d get to take her on a proper date another time. I’d take her on all the dates.

I could only pray she hadn’t fallen asleep, given how long I’d taken to get here.

It was hard to believe that less than twenty-four hours had passed since I’d found her sitting outside her room and rescued her from that seagull. If I ever met him again, I’d take him out for a fish dinner, or set him up with a hotel suite of his own—for that seagull had done more for my sex life in five minutes than I’d managed in a year.

Here goes nothing.

My knuckles had barely brushed the door before it was opened. Every single worry I’d had about her falling asleep vanished as I laid eyes on her.

It might have been midnight, and time for bed, but from her fresh face, and wide-awake expression, I’d hasten to bet she wasn’t planning to sleep for hours. That and her pajama pants were missing, revealing the stretch of smooth, golden legs I’d had my face between at the start of the day.

And I planned to finish my day between them too.

A smirk curved her lip. “If it isn’t tonight’s MVP, powering his team to victory.”

Reaching out, I tugged on one of the buttons of her shirt. “Hey, I think your lucky jammies can take the credit.”

“I told you they worked.”

“I never doubted you,” I replied as Scout stepped back for me to follow. “It looks significantly different in here without bird shit everywhere. Smells better too.” I leaned closer, slowly, my nose gently brushing along her jawline to breathe her in. From the angle her neck tilted, I could see the frantic hammering of her pulse. “On second thought, that’s you.”

“I smell good?”

“You smell edible.”

“Yeah?”

Craning back, my gaze locked into hers and I nodded slowly, pausing only to soak her in. I knew for a fact she had no clue how momentous this moment was for me. A million thoughts spun in my head. I wasn’t about to rush it, and I wasn’t about to rush her.

“Parker, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m perfect.”

“Then why are you just standing there?”

“Because…”

“Because?”

“Because…” I reached for her hand, suddenly overcome with what we were about to do. I’d had sex a thousand times, but this wasn’t sex .

This was Scout .

I didn’t want to tell her I’d paused because she looked so perfect to me I almost couldn’t cope. That now I knew what she looked like when she came, the scent of her arousal, the taste of her, I would never experience anything better. And it fucking terrified me.

“Because…this is going to change things between us. And I’m a thousand percent ready for that. But if you decide you don’t want that at any point, starting right now, I will walk out the door and we can go back to being just friends.”

I could do that. I think I could do that. If I moved to Canada, I could do that. No, Canada was too close. England. I’d move to England. Australia?

My thoughts swirled, air lodged in my throat while I waited for her to answer.

“Do you think we’re just friends, Parker?”

I shook my head.

“Me either,” she replied softly. “I’ve thought about you all day.”

“You have?”

“Yes. I know things will change, and I’m okay with that.”

“You sure?”

She stepped in closer, her hands running across my chest, I’d never noticed before how tiny they were. “Yes. I want to finish what we started this morning.”

My dick twitched. He knew how she felt.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” She peered up at me through fluttering lashes. “Plus, you scored today, it’s only fair that I get to even the field and score too. Or maybe the MVP needs his prize.”

My head fell back with a loud laugh, and just like that, all the tension broke. The air unclogged itself and made way for the insane electricity crackling between us.

“You are so cheesy.”

“Yeah, but I think you like it.”

“I more than like it.”

Scout stepped out of my arms, her fingers slowly working the buttons on her shirt until she eased it over her shoulders, and it billowed to the floor. And she was left wearing only a pair of tiny, black lace panties. Totally different from the white cotton briefs she’d had on this morning.

“Show me how much.”

Saliva pooled in my mouth. My dick was so hard it was almost painful.

Her nipples were the shade of pink her cheeks turned when she was nervous, pale rose and standing to attention—pointing right at me. In less than a second I’d scooped her ass into my hands, carried her over to the bed, and laid her down. As I did, the final golden strands of her hair fell out of the tie, and using the tip of my finger, I brushed it away from her face.

“There you are.”

Even in the minute since we’d been standing near the doors, her pupils had dilated, turning the blue almost navy. Full peachy lips I planned to spend the rest of the night kissing, parted as she gazed up at me, and the goose bumps marking her chest had nothing to do with the AC.

“Hey.”

I didn’t know where to start.

Where to touch her first.

How to make her feel the very best I could.

The pressure of Scout watching me, waiting to see what I would do, was almost more intense than game day against the Yankees. More intense than I’d ever experienced.

Reaching behind, I eased my shirt off. Her gaze tracked the movement. The mattress dipped as I knelt between her legs, while she soaked me in. And I made my decision. Slowly, like unwrapping the present I’d saved for last, I hooked my fingers under the loosened elastic and tugged them down.

I hadn’t seen her properly naked this morning, but now, staring down at her, I was kind of thankful.

I’d been distracted enough all day as it was, if I’d known this would be waiting for me, I’d have never made it.

She was incredible.

Her skin, already beginning to tan from the early summer sun, looked like it was glowing gold in the dimmed uplights around the room. The shadows they cast made her legs look seven feet long, ending in the rounded curve of her hips, and sweeping into the dip of her waist.

If I’d been correct when I said she smelled edible, she looked it too—soft and delicious.

“Oh man, I was right. You are better than any dream I’ve ever had,” I whispered, slowly crawling over her body until I hovered above her.

Before she could respond, my mouth dropped to hers. Her tongue darted out as mine licked along her fat bottom lip, before my hunger took over. This wasn’t the kiss we’d shared last night, sleep filled and languid. This was the starter pistol, lust fueled and preparing us for what was to come. Tongues collided hot and heavy, she moaned so deeply it vibrated through her chest to mine, and she took exactly what she needed.

Until it wasn’t enough.

Tilting her neck back, she arched into me as I licked a path along her jaw, nibbling her earlobe, slowly traveling down her throat to her shoulder, and lower. Her moans intensified as one pebbled nipple found itself surrounded by my lips.

“You like that?”

“Hmm.”

My mouth slid across her belly, and my hand slipped between her thighs. She dripped into my palm. Somehow I could almost still taste her from this morning, sweet honey bursting on my tongue, and by the time I found myself back in the same spot I’d left thirteen hours earlier, my dick was harder than my bat.

This morning had been about me. I’d wanted to show her exactly what I was capable of beyond jerking off in the shower.

Right now, was all about her.

Pinning her thighs open, I took one long lap.

Up to this point in my life, 95 percent of the girls I’d had in my bed put on a show. Screaming, thrashing, panting. I enjoyed it, even when I’d known it was as natural as their tits, but Scout was quieter. Even this morning, her body did all the talking, flushed pink and bowing off the mattress with each flick I took of her clit.

Sliding a finger into her slick, hot pussy had her bunching the sheets. If I hadn’t been so distracted with licking up every drop of her, it would have been the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

Adding another finger, stretching out her tight, slick muscles, I built up the pace. The trembling in her thighs turned violent, I was in very real danger of having my head squeezed like a watermelon.

“Fuuck, harder. I need it harder,” she breathed out, grinding her pussy into my face, desperate for more.

“Because you asked so nicely.”

Sucking hard on her clit, I flicked the tip of my tongue over it one last time.

She exploded just as ferociously as she had this morning. Her entire body shattering from the force. Unlike this morning, I had no intention of sitting back and letting her go.

My pants were in a heap on the floor, and I’d sheathed up before she’d even come down to earth.

The sensation of sliding my dick through her soaking wet slit tightened my balls so severely I almost blacked out.

“Scout?” I murmured against her lips. “Look at me.”

Her eyelids flickered open, revealing eyes so glazed with desire it punched me right in the chest.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

The first squeeze of her pussy and I knew I wouldn’t last. Red hot pokers shot down my spine with each inch I gave her. If I didn’t think it would finish this before we’d even started, I’d get it over with and drive myself into her until I wasn’t sure where I ended and she began.

“Jesus, Scout…”

Her eyes flicked up to mine. “Parker, this is…you feel…” she stuttered, and I would have laughed if I wasn’t exactly the same.

She’d robbed me of words. The ability to think. Everything.

This moment.

This exact moment, holding her gaze as I filled her to the hilt, was everything I didn’t know I’d been waiting for. I stilled, staring down at her, so completely aware of every single sensation. The feel of her, the smell of her, the way her lip caught in her front tooth. Only the sudden clench of her pussy got me moving.

It was better than I’d ever dreamed.

Slowly rocking inside her, I built up the pace and she met every thrust of mine with one of hers, lifting her hips until I was grinding against her swollen clit with each drive forward. It didn’t take long until perspiration slicked across her body, making it look like she was sparkling.

This morning I’d missed her orgasm, too busy stretching out her climax with my face between her thighs. But I wasn’t about to miss this one. I wanted to know everything that happened when she exploded under me.

Right now her cheeks glowed pink, and her nose scrunched as she tried to hold on.

Gathering her hands in one of mine, I hooked a leg over my hip and kicked up the pace until Scout’s thighs shook uncontrollably. Or maybe they were my thighs trying to cling onto a shred of control. Her pussy clamped down, squeezing the life from my dick, and it was all it took.

Control lost.

Every fantasy I’d had, every lonely moment wondering what it would be like to finally get Scout— if I ever got her—was silenced as we exploded together. My mouth fell on hers, molding together as I gave her every breath she ripped from my lungs until I finally collapsed.

I was running on five hours of sleep, a full game of baseball, and if you counted the time difference, it wasn’t far off my usual morning wake-up. It was all power to Scout that I was still awake.

“Parker…wow…”

Easing off her, I fell down on the pillow and turned to her, lifting a strand of blonde hair soaking up the sweat on her forehead to tuck behind her ear. “Just think, Davison, if you’d said yes to me the first time I asked you out, we could have been doing that weeks ago.”

“Well, I’ll just have to live with the regret.” She chuckled.

“It’s okay, you can make it up to me.”

She scooched closer, her lips pressing against mine. My eyes were so heavy as I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into me.

For the second time in as many days, I fell asleep next to Scout Davison.

Only this time when I woke up, she was still there.