Fastball (Wilde Players Dirty Romance) (19 page)

Her throaty laugh doesn’t help either. But her hand does. Long, tight strokes leave me hungry for what’s between her legs, so I use my fingers to spread her lips and mark her in return. She’s still soaked from our lovemaking a few minutes ago, and it makes me moan. “God, you are so ready again. You feel like warm, wet silk.” I brush her hand off me and spread her thighs apart, wrapping them around me as I slide my cock deep inside her warmth.

“I’ll never get enough of you. Of this. Of us. I want us to go home and be together for the entire night. I’ve missed our nights together, with you next to me.”

She murmurs things to me, but I’m lost in her tight heat, her silky cunt, and all I want to do is fuck her.

“Harder, Ryder. I need it hard.”

“Like this?” I thrust hard, lifting her off the step each time.

“Yes.”

It doesn’t take long for either of us to find our release. Afterward, she lets out a long bellowing laugh.

“We’re like two teenagers. Look at us. My dress looks like shit.”

“Sexy shit.” Sitting back on my heels, I let my eyes roam her. “I love it when you’re messy after we’ve just made love.”

“So, we’ve gone from fucking to making love, have we?”

The question concerns me. Not for my feelings, because I know exactly where my heart is, but because I don’t want her running off scared again. “Can I be honest here?”

“Ryder, if you ever give me anything but honesty, I can promise you, you won’t like the outcome.”

“Fair enough. So then, being with you is an adventure. Every single time. And, yes, we fuck. Like crazy. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. But somehow, I believe my heart got wrapped up in you from the very first time, so even though we do fuck, and we do it right, we also make love right, too. I hope I’m making sense here.” I’m pretty damn sure I just hit a home run, because even though the light is so dim, her smile lights up the entire stairway we’re sitting on.

With her smile still in place, I say, “Come on.” I realize she’ll need the restroom to make herself look presentable, so I pull her up, kiss her one more time, and add, “I would stay here all night with you, but we can’t. So, let’s go back to the party.”

“One thing,” she says softly.

“What’s that?” I stare into her deep brown eyes.

“We didn’t use protection.”

I shrug, even though I hadn’t thought about it. Caught up in greed and need, I just went for her. “Maybe I just got you pregnant. Not like it matters. You’re mine, and the baby will be mine. And I’m clean.”

She narrows her eyes. “And that’s that?”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t ask my status.”

“I figured you’d tell me.”

Nodding, she says, “I’m clean. I’ve never…” She waves an absent hand. “Never without with anyone, ever. But I get tested anyway.”

“So we’re good.”

Shaking her head, I lead her to the restroom first. From her squeals, my swimmers were falling victim to gravity. She wants to get to the bathroom before it happens, panty-less and all.

I wait for her in the hall, surprisingly calm at the thought of her with my child, though she tells me she’s on the pill. When she emerges, she looks like a breath of fresh air wrapped around a warm summer day in the middle of winter.

“God, I love you. You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me, including baseball.”

She slants her head and stares. “Wow, that’s really some comment.”

I put my palms on each side of her face. “I am sincere in whatever I say to you.”

She rewards me by throwing her arms around my neck and kissing me.

“If I’d known that’s all it took to get a response from you like that, I’d have said it sooner.”

We head back and join the party, where the rest of my family is. I introduce Gina to Kaycee and chuckle about her thinking my cousin was my date.

“Gina, Kaycee just got back from Chile. She’s on the U.S. Ski Team and was in training for the upcoming season.”

“Oh, that’s cool. I never thought about where skiers trained in the summer.”

“Yeah,” Kaycee says, “we go to the other side of the equator. But in mid-November, we’ll start getting snow, hopefully, on our mountains here. So this is my time off.”

“Nice. What’s your event?”

“Downhill, giant slalom and super-G.” Kaycee is chirpy like a bird when she talks about her sport. I hadn’t seen her in a while, and all I can think about is that ten-year-old kid who was always a daredevil.

“This one,” I point to my cousin, “was never afraid of anything. If there was a tree, she’d climb it. If there was a hill, she’d ride her bike down it like her hair was on fire.”

“Yep, that’s me,” she says. “I like to go fast.”

Gina says, “You must to ski that kind of stuff. How fast do you go?”

“Very. The men go faster, though, because they weigh more. Honestly, I don’t really want to know. I think it jinxes me.”

“So, Olympics?” Gina asks.

“I’m hoping.”

“Gina, don’t let her fool you. She’s one of the top skiers in the U.S. If she doesn’t make it, it’ll be because of something we won’t mention.” When Gina looks at me curiously, I shake my head. It’s totally bad luck to talk about injuries in front of an athlete, especially one like Kaycee. The danger of being a downhill skier is incredible.

Riley runs behind Gina and pinches her butt. Gina spins around, but Riley has already moved next to me. When Gina turns back around, Riley stands there with an innocent look on her face, but she can’t hold it before she cracks up. Then the two women are hugging. They whisper some things to each other, but I have no idea what they are. And I won’t ask either. I’m only happy to see them with their arms linked together, chatting away as if they were best friends. I’m not sure what I would’ve done had they not gotten along.

Soon, we’re joined by the rest of the Wilde clan. My parents, my aunt and uncle, Fletcher and Cassie, Mark, and even Fletcher’s little brother, Chase, came in from Europe to see the game. I’m so proud when I introduce my girl to everyone for the first time.

The party is in full swing. The team is having a great time with each of their family members, and all of the coaches are present, the manager and so on, and I look up to see Cougar Whitestone walking in the door. I’m pretty sure my night is about to take a turn for the worse.

Spoons clink against crystal, and she steps up to the front of the room. A round of applause goes through the room, with the men chanting, “Whitestone, Whitestone, Whitestone.” I can’t bring myself to join in. She makes a few comments about what a great team we are and how she always knew we could win the pennant. She saw that magic in us early on and knew with hard work and effort we would do it. Blah, blah, blah. The cheers and shouts fill the room. The men are on a victory high. Not me. I know what drives this bitch, and it’s not this. It’s preying on people her money can control.

Gina’s small hand is in mine, and she gives mine a little squeeze every now and then. She doesn’t know what the cougar woman is all about because I haven’t told her. And I don’t plan on it unless I have to. But then when she opens up her next line, I know my road to victory was only a few minutes on the mountaintop. Whitestone doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the welfare of this team. She only wants what makes her happy.

“So,” she continues to speak, “I have the pleasure of announcing that we will be making a trade with the New York Yankees. Ryder Wilde will be moving from the Cougars and heading up to New York.” If ever there was a room where crickets chirped, it was here. The expression on Gina’s face tells me more than I care to know. Her home is North Carolina.

GINA

New York
, the name of the city keeps running through my brain as a ruckus erupts from the crowd. They, like me, aren’t thrilled with the news. I block out the words and shouts coming from the crowd. The smile plastered to my face is for Ryder. I don’t want him to know what I’m feeling. What am I feeling?

“Gina.” I glance up to my other side to find Cassie’s worried expression. “Are you okay?”

I blink a few times, and her face comes into focus. “Yeah, chica. What’s up?”

Her eyes narrow. The plastic smile I’ve managed to maintain blooms into something more real. My best friend, my rock, my family. She’s here. And everything else is good. New York isn’t that far, and I have access to a freakin’ plane now. Fletcher and Cassie have managed to do it. The world is a much smaller place now.

“You looked like something was bothering you,” she says, as Ryder is whisked away.

“I’m fine, really.” I take several steps back, distancing myself from the chaos, leaving her with it.

Swallowed up by his family, I watch as Ryder is bombarded with words and questions as I continue to melt into the background. Soon he’s totally out of sight, and I find a seat.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Riley stands over me. I nearly jump out of my dress because I thought she was with the others.

“You’re the second person to ask me that tonight. And I’m fine.”

“He didn’t know,” she says.

Tilting my head back, I realize that was the question that had been circling in my head. Then he’s there.

“Gina.”

I find the will to curve my lips. “Congratulations,” I muster.

“Are you ready to get out of here?”

As I nod frantically, he helps me to my feet. Riley still wears a worried expression. I really must look like shit.

Unfortunately, we pass the owner along the way.

There isn’t a thought when I tug my hand free from Ryder’s and march up to the woman who thinks she’s destroying his life.

I get so close my finger is a millisecond away from drilling into her nose.

“You are so stupid. You traded away one of the best players this team has.”

“She’s right about that,” a big guy, who I think is Robinson, says.

I ignore him and continue with my rant. “All because he wouldn’t fuck you, you stretch-faced old hag.”

“If that’s what he told you—”

She’s not getting the floor. It’s my turn. “He didn’t have to tell me anything. I saw those staged pictures of your lips on his. And when he didn’t give you what you wanted, you made good on your threat to trade him. And he’s too good of a person to call you out on your sexual harassment.”

“I’ll fuck you if Ryder can stay,” Robinson calls out from somewhere behind me.

“But he doesn’t need you. You’ll eat your trade when he wins the pennant for the Yankees. I’m only sad for all the great guys here that are stuck with you.”

I didn’t know I’d balled my fist until Ryder had me around the waist telling me not to hit his former boss.

Before I know it, the conversation melts away. Fresh air greets me before I’m in Ryder’s car.

In anticipation of leaving with Ryder, I hadn’t asked the driver of the car service to hang around.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he says, squeezing my hand.

“I’m sorry. She fucking smirked at me, and I just had to say something.”

“Thank you for saying what I couldn’t. It means more to me than I can say.”

“She deserved worse.” I try to smile, but it doesn’t last.

Ryder seems to understand my need for quiet. He doesn’t add anything else and lets me brood in my thoughts. I’m back to thinking about New York. It’s like the ground beneath my feet is shaky with the aftershocks of an earthquake. How much more change can I take before I break?

Eventually, we pull into a gated underground garage. I feel air lifted because I don’t remember leaving the car and making it to his floor, my mind is spinning. I thought the plan was made, and now everything is changing again. He opens the door, and the condo is large but not ostentatious.

“What a place,” I mutter.

“It’s more than what I need with two floors and over four thousand square feet. But it was the only place available in this building where I wanted to be at the time, which is why Riley lives with me.”

He escorts me around. My eyes travel to the open concept living room, dining room, and kitchen area. He could throw a party with maybe a hundred guests no problem, but what do I know. “Nice. Who decorated?”

“Don’t like it?” he asks.

The floors are dark wood, the furnishing tasteful and not the museum kind. It certainly differs from the palace my birth mother lived in. That place had a sterile quality that made me feel out of place. Ryder’s home is different. It has a homey feeling like you can put your feet up without fear of being yelled at. Creams and blues are the primary colors, and my eyes soak it all in.

“It’s pretty, but you didn’t answer my question. Who had an eye for decorating, you? Or was it Riley?”

“Neither of us. My agent hired a decorator who got the place ready for me.”

“Must be nice.”

He stops me halfway to the stairs. “Don’t,” he warns. “I see it in your eyes.”

Meeting his gray ones, I say, “See what?”

He studies me for a moment longer. “You look like you’re going to run.”

This time, he’s wrong. I’m not running away, but toward him. Looping my arms around his neck, I press my mouth to his. Slipping my tongue between his parted lips, I pour all my feelings into him.

Strong hands that can throw a ball faster than any starting pitcher lock on my hips with a bruising grip.

“I told you I’d never run again. Make love to me, Ryder.”

My back hits the stairwell wall, where he was taking me to see the second floor, and my dress disappears from my body in record time. His sister lives here, too, but I don’t care. I can’t wait a second longer to be closer to him.

“I’m not wasting time to find a bed to have you,” he says, voice gruff.

A zipper pierces the silence of the house before my leg is hiked up and I rise. The head of his cock takes position at my entrance a second before I gasp as he pushes inside me. His hips work, he slides in and out of me because I’m always wet and ready for him. The angle of his thrusts change, and I have the vague sensation of falling. My butt hits a solid surface. The stairs are beneath me as he spreads my legs, pulling out. I want to protest, but then his mouth is on me. Moans and cries of pleasure leave my lips and would be so embarrassing if anyone heard.