Page 97 of Vegas Heat: The Expansion Team Complete Series
It seems like so much is hanging in the balance. Christine thinks she knows something about Gabby and me. Mackenzie and Joanie do know along with Nick, Rush, and Danny. It’s secrets piled on top of secrets, and it’s starting to feel like lies piled on top of lies. I’m ready to just get it out in the open so we can stop the madness and get a start on living our lives.
Between meetings with the Heat brass and player research, the next week both flies and drags. It flies because I’m so busy, but it drags since I don’t get to spend much time with my girl.
In fact, I haven’t spent the night with her since the day her mother arrived in town, and I haven’t had the chance to enjoy her naked body for even longer.
I’m getting antsy.
It’s not just the draft, and it’s not just the fact that we agreed to tell her father about us the morning after the draft.
It’s that I haven’t gotten my Gabby hit, and I’m struggling without it. Without her . It feels like it’s affecting everything.
So when draft day rolls around, it’s no surprise Troy calls me on it.
“What’s going on with you, man?” he asks as I pace Mike’s kitchen. We just finished a catered breakfast—Mike and his wife spare no expense to keep us happy, and we’ve spent the majority of our time at the GM’s house over the last week.
If we were at Troy’s, at least I’d have the chance of running into her. Here, though? Not so much.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow we tell him. Tomorrow the secrets and lies will end.
I can’t fucking wait.
The draft tonight is being held on a newly constructed stage outside a popular hotel on the Vegas Strip. I’ll be there along with Mike, Troy, a couple assistant coaches, and Pete, though Pete will be the one making the official calls. It’s being broadcast on ESPN, of course, because why the hell wouldn’t it be since the World Series just wrapped a couple weeks ago and there’s no new baseball news to cover at the moment.
I blow out a breath. “Just ready for the draft. Ready to kick off this whole thing,” I lie. “Ready to get our team in line and start running drills and winning games, man.”
He draws in a deep breath and nods. “I know what you mean. I’ve had this strange feeling since late last night.”
“What kind of strange feeling?” I ask, happy to deflect the attention from myself.
“Just nervous I think. Exhausted from all the planning. I’m not the young buck I once was.” He wipes his forehead with his napkin and tosses it in the trash. “And my back is stiff today. I think I just slept all wrong.”
“Deep breaths, Coach,” I say. “And lots of H-two-O.”
“I know, I know. Nothing to worry about here, but I have a gut feeling about our last three picks. I need to touch base with Pete.”
“I haven’t seen him yet, but you know he’s been skipping breakfast to sleep in.” I put air quotes around sleep in since he just got married a few weeks ago. We all know what he’s really doing with his mornings.
The same thing I’d like to be doing with mine, if I’m being honest here.
I think for a beat about what it would mean if we told Troy. Would he always assume that’s what we were doing if we didn’t show up to breakfast? Or if Gabby spent the night away from home?
Troy and I aren’t exactly shy around each other. Back in the day, we’d share stories about our conquests. But we’re both different men now. I’ve settled down…and he’s a father now. I guess he was then, too, he just didn’t know it.
And then there’s the whole sex club that isn’t really a sex club angle, where he does the things he does that are typically reserved for private, intimate moments in front of anyone who wants to watch.
So how would he really feel about his best friend sleeping with his daughter?
Would it make it any better to know that we’ve actually fallen in love? That there are real feelings here that go far beyond just sex?
I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.
Pete shows up and steals Troy away, and we hammer out the final details before we each head home. I take a quick shower since I need to get down to the Strip, and I’m shocked when I step out of the bathroom and into the bedroom wearing nothing but a towel only to find Gabriella Rose Grant lying on my bed.
And she’s wearing nothing but a smile.
“Hey there, Captain,” she says, and she’s holding the keyring I gave her on her fingertip. She drops it on the nightstand beside her.
I chuckle. “Well this is certainly a nice surprise.”
I drop my towel and pounce on my girl. She dissolves into giggles as I dive right for her tits, and she wraps her arms around my neck.
“I missed you, so I thought I’d rectify that,” she murmurs into my hair.
“I’ve missed you, too.” I suck one of her nipples into my mouth, and her body arches off the bed as she searches for friction to relieve the ache pulsing between us.
I don’t waste any time. I slide into her, and we immediately find the beautiful rhythm our bodies have become so accustomed to.
She cries out my name, and I murmur hers into her ear as my lips connect with the sweet skin of her neck as I drive into her addictive, tight body. I could do this all day. I could do this forever.
I want to do this forever with her and only her.
That wave of love that’s starting to become familiar to me when I’m around her flows through me, and it’s enough to cause my body to plow into the wall of pleasure.
I grunt out some curse words and her name as I come, and her body tightens around me as she flies over the edge right along with me. When our bodies start to slow, my lips find hers, and I kiss her with all the adoration and love I feel inside me. We kiss slowly, sensually, erotically with our bodies still connected, and eventually I know I need to stop. I need to get dressed. I need to get down to the Strip.
But I never want to leave this bed.
“You need to go,” she says softly as she collapses back, and I climb off her and slide in beside her. “I think I’ll just wait here for you.”
I laugh as I lean up on my elbow and peer down at her gorgeous face. “Aren’t you going?”
“Oh, yeah. I guess I have to.” She rolls her eyes with a laugh.
“I wish I could take you,” I murmur, leaning down to press a soft kiss to her cheek. “I wish you could walk in on my arm and we could go public with this.”
“Aren’t you nervous about that?” she asks, her earnest eyes on mine.
I lift a shoulder. “Any time someone like me goes public with a relationship, it’s a gamble. Most people out there will want to tear us apart, which is why growing this in private has meant so much to me. It’s why I loved how we first connected, when you had no idea who I was. It made me feel like I could immediately trust you, like you weren’t just saying shit because you thought it was what I wanted to hear.”
She reaches up and runs a fingertip along my jawline. “Even if I had known, I wouldn’t have done that.”
I chuckle. “I know. And that’s why I fell so goddamn hard so goddamn fast.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now get the fuck out of my bed before I take you long and slow.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Is that supposed to make me want to get out?”
I shake my head and grin. “Nope. It’s a promise for later.”
She winks at me. “I for one can’t wait.”
She heads home to get ready for tonight, and I fish a suit out of my closet, throw it on, and I’m ready to go in a few minutes. I head over to Mike’s since I’m supposed to arrive with the rest of the group I’ve been working so closely with over the last few weeks, and I find everyone else is already here.
“Why do you look so relaxed?” Troy demands when I walk in last. “You get laid or something?”
Oh Jesus. What the fuck am I supposed to say to that?
Yeah, by your daughter seems inappropriate even though it’s the truth.
“Fuck off,” I say instead. “Are we ready?”
Troy shakes his head and wipes his brow. Wasn’t he sweating earlier today in this same place? I wonder if he’s stopped sweating all day.
It’s a big deal, but I’m more excited than nervous. We’re guaranteed most of the players we want since we’re the only team taking part in this draft—except for the first two picks that Troy traded. It’s an historic occasion as the last time the league expanded, two teams were added. This time, it’s just us, which means we have our choice of all the men the teams in the league put up.
We’ve already talked to most of them. Most of them even know what position they’ll be drafted in. With the men we’ve already put on the team, we’re adding eighteen more to get to the forty-man roster—some of which will end up in the minors since the active team only has twenty-six men on it.
The resort sends a car that will deliver us right to the stage, and as it pulls up, the first face I see in the crowd gathered is AJ Winters, who agreed to play with us.
Excitement fills my veins.
I spot Gabby standing next to Joanie. They’re both clapping as they clamor to get a look at the car, knowing the men they love are waiting inside, excitement and anticipation on their faces.
Gabby’s mother stands on her other side. She’s still here, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is what tonight represents, and after that, tomorrow morning we’ll tell Troy the truth and then our relationship will be out in the open. I’ll be able to hold her hand in public. I’ll be able to kiss her in front of her parents. It’s more to be excited about even though it comes with a healthy dose of nerves.
There’s so much excitement, in fact, that I don’t even notice what’s happening in the car right beside me. The man who has spent the majority of the day sweating is now panting.
“Hey, man, you okay?” I ask Troy, my brows pinching together as I study him.
He nods. “Fine. Just nerves.”
It’s the same thing he’s said to me all day.
The car pulls to a stop, and Mike gets out first. We all file out behind him, and as we walk up the red carpet to the stage, Troy stumbles a little.
And then he grabs his chest right before he collapses.
TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK 4, GROUNDBALL