Felix (The Ninth Inning #1) (19 page)

“Then I think it could use some more breaking in.”

With a smile, I lift my head. “Take off your shirt.” She sits up and swiftly removes it. I drag a finger over the skin above the waistband of her shorts as I kiss her collarbone. “Tell me what you want to do, Abigail.” Her inhale is shaky when I take her breast into my mouth, flicking my tongue over her nipple.

“I,” she starts. My hand slips into her shorts, quickly finding her wet. “I want,” she begins again. Slowly and with a bit of pressure, I rub her, moving my finger up and down, teasing her entrance. I kiss across her chest to her other breast. Abigail shifts her hips, the tip of my finger pushing inside her. “That,” she finishes. Lifting my head, she corrects herself. “I want you.”

This time, I don’t say no. A man only has so much restraint. Instead, I kiss her once before leaving the bed to grab a condom from the top drawer of my dresser. I toss it to Abigail, pull my shorts off, and get back in bed, lying on my back. She shimmies out of her shorts and thong before climbing onto my lap.

She tears open the wrapper and then rolls the condom on me, a small smile on her face. I groan when she strokes me. It’s been awhile since I’ve had sex and there’s no telling how long I’m going to last.

“Abigail.” I grab her hips, bringing her closer. She hovers over me before lowering herself and guiding me into her entrance. “Damn, you feel good.” Her grin widens as she begins to move. Her hands are flat on my chest, her movements slow and teasing. “Come here.” I reach for the back of her neck and pull her down to me, so I can kiss her.

We both moan as our tongues caress one another. “You’re beautiful,” I whisper. Her hips stay at the same pace. I lay a hand on her lower back, pushing her down faster. “You’re going to kill me, Abigail.” She laughs softly, pressing her lips hard against mine. Finally, she goes faster, rolling her hips. Fuck. My stomach tightens already.

I move my hand between us, vigorously rubbing my thumb over her clit. Abigail moans into my mouth, her fingers digging into my chest. If I’m going to come this fast, so is she. I brace my feet flat on the bed and lift my hips up to meet her. My hand moves from her neck to her lower back as I push her down hard as I rise to meet her again.

My hands move to her hips, holding her still. Abigail grabs my shoulders, kissing my neck, and I thrust into her hard, hard and fast.

“God, Felix,” she groans into my neck.

She tightens around my cock. “Damn it, Abigail,” I manage to mutter before my muscles tense and I come. I clench my jaw, as I keep moving. “Touch yourself,” I tell her. She quickly brings her hand between us, rubbing her clit hard. Within a few more thrusts, she shudders, shouts my name, and collapses onto my chest, both of us breathing hard.

“Good thinking to have me spend the night, Felix,” she says after a moment, causing me to chuckle.

“And we’re not done for the night.”

I SHAKE OUT my hands as my chest tightens more. I pace my living room and there’s sweat on my brow. I can’t do this. I can’t do it at all. There’s no way.

“Abby-bear, you called us over here for a reason and I’m hoping it’s not to watch you walk because we’ve seen it already.”

I turn to LA and scowl at her. Annie pats LA’s knee to have her be quiet.

“I...I...can’t...there’s…no... way.” I choke out each word and hot tears from my eyes are almost burning my cheeks. Annie goes to reach for me, but I pull away from her and pace again.

“Just tell us what happened.” Annie’s voice is soft.

I’m not able to say the words that are swimming around in my head. I hear them, but I can’t force them out. I shake my head vigorously and Annie keeps saying my name, but isn’t touching me.

“Abigail Harris, you tell us right now what the fuck is going on.” I stop at LA’s demand and my knees shake.

“She wants me to drive.”

There, I said it. Today at my therapy appointment, she gave me a homework assignment of driving the car fifty yards just one time. She even went as far as to give me addresses for empty parking lots in the area where I could do it.

“I thought this was about Felix,” LA scrunches her face.

“Felix? God, no. He’s great and I’m great and we’re great together,” I tell her.

“Well, that was descriptive.” LA rolls her eyes. “So, get in the car and let’s hit the road.” She grabs her keys and the jingle of the metal makes me fall to my knees.

“Whoa.” Annie wraps me in her arms and rocks me.

“I can’t do it,” I say it over and over again as Annie smoothes my hair.

“Hey,” LA bends down to me and she makes me focus on her. “It’ll be okay, Abby-bear. I promise.” Her tone isn’t as harsh as it usually is.

There’s no way in hell I’m ever going to get back into a driver’s seat. No way. I haven’t been behind a wheel of a car for six years. I can’t put anyone else’s life in danger or my own for that matter. When the therapist told me about it today, all I could hear was the crunching metal and the gurgling of my dad next to me. And the blood. There had been so much blood all I saw was red.

I won’t be responsible for anyone else’s life. Ever.

I’m not sure how long I sit on the floor, sobbing in Annie’s arms, but when I’m cried out, LA hands me a bottle of water.

“It took me almost a year to get into a car to ride with someone. How can I possibly drive?”

“You get into a vehicle, turn it on, and go,” LA states.

“Shut up!” I scream at her. It feels good to raise my voice. “Don’t you think this is hard enough on me without your fucking mouth?”

LA narrows her glare at me as I stand up to face her. LA is only a couple inches taller than me, but her stance is off putting.

“I’m not in the mood to hear about the poor-Abby-bear pity party.” LA’s voice is low. “You’re not the only one who lost someone in that accident, Abigail.” Even though her voice is calm, it’s not what you want for Leigh Ann Harris. “I lost my parents, too. Annie and I sat in that hospital room with you every day for two weeks, waiting for you to wake up. I missed my wedding and I didn’t get to have Dad walk me down the aisle, but I never blamed you for that. I know it was an accident. That semi-truck driver blew the light and it could have been any one of us. However, don’t fucking start thinking I’m going to feel sorry for you. You’re alive and have a lot of life to live.”

My lip is trembling and I know LA is right, but I can’t drive.

“Abigail.” Annie walks over to us. “Do you think Mom and Dad would want you to move on with your life? LA’s right. It’s been six years. You could at least try.”

I swallow back the lump of emotions that’s choking me. “I don’t know. What if‒”

“Stop it,” LA cuts me off. “Any one can have an accident. You’re not going to play the ‘what if’ game. I won’t allow it.”

“I can’t‒”

“Enough!” LA’s voice rises. “I’m not listening to this shit anymore. I’m going home.” She turns to leave my apartment, but she hesitates at the door for a brief second before turning to me. She comes back and hugs me tightly. “I love you,” and then she rushes out the door.

I stare in the direction she headed out and let her words hang in the air. LA’s right. Mom and Dad don’t want me to be this way, but there’s no way I can be in control in a vehicle again.

“I’m going to go, too. Are you okay?” Annie rubs her hand up and down my back.

I nod. “I’m fine.”

“I know you don’t want to hear it, but she’s right. You need to do this.” Annie kisses my cheek and leaves me alone in the apartment.

I close my eyes and lie on the couch. I try to process through everything I went through today. The therapist thinks this is the next step for me, not only to gain independence, but to get closure on my parents’ death. She’s glad Felix and I had sex, too. That made me smile. She thinks since I’m in a serious relationship, driving will be easy for me. Even though, I don’t think I’m in a serious relationship.

I roll my eyes. This is far from a simple task for me. It took Annie almost a year to get me into her car without having a breakdown. Can I get behind a wheel again?

Before I can think about how I’ll explain I’m not doing this assignment to the therapist next time, my phone rings
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
. It’s Felix.

“Hey, beautiful.” His smooth voice settles my nerves a bit and a smile makes an appearance on my face.

That night in his apartment had been perfect. The kissing was mind-blowing, and the sex is something I’m still sore from. Oh, it’s a delicious sore and I can’t wait for him to be home in a few days to do it again.

“Hello. How’s your day?”

“Long. We just got off the plane a little bit ago and I’m trying to take a nap, but I’m having a
hard
time.”

I giggle at the pun. “I could help you out if I was there,” I say seductively.

“I have no doubts in my mind that you could,” he groans. “Tell me about your day. How was school?”

“Felix, I didn’t have classes today. I told you I had a therapy appointment.”

“Right. I knew that.”

“Liar. You don’t remember shit, except baseball stats.” If he remembers the day of the week, I would be impressed.

“All right, I lied. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know how your day went.”

“True.” I take a deep breath and tell him what went on in therapy and with my sisters. I’m shocked I don’t cry when I tell him everything, but I remain calm.

“So, you don’t want to drive at all?”

“No,” I say.

“Abigail, I don’t want to push you or anything, but you should at least try.”

“You sound like my sisters,” I mumble.

“How about when I get back you and I head to one of places on the list and try?” He sounds hopeful that I will agree. Maybe if Felix is there, it’ll be different. I wouldn’t have LA yapping in my ear or Annie being all motherly. He might be what I need to steer me in the right direction.

What the fuck am I saying?

Am I really considering this?

No. I’m not. I shake my head as if he can see me.

“That’s a nice offer, but I’m going to decline.”

“Give me one reason.” Damn, he doesn’t give up.

“I could…”
Think, Abigail.
“Wreck your car. We both know I can’t afford to pay you back.”

“I made sixteen million dollars last year. I’m good. Besides I’ve been thinking of upgrade the Black Beast anyway. You’d help me out if you scratched it up.”

“The black beast?”

“Stop avoiding the subject, Abigail. Now, give me an excuse.”

“Um…” Shit, nothing is coming to my head.

“And time’s up ladies and gentlemen,” Felix says in a fake game show host voice. “I’ll be home in three days and we’ll do it then.”

“I do want to
do it
.” I laugh and his throaty chuckles fills my ear causing me to shiver.

“Trust me when I say I want that, too.”

“Do you?” I dip my voice low.

“Very much so. I keep thinking of you riding me and I can’t get that beautiful imagine out of my head and it’s really, really hard right now.”

“Really, really?” I bite my lip and my body clenches as I think about his lips on my breasts, ramming himself inside of me. “I’ve thought about you naked a lot.”

“I keep thinking about...hang on.” He stops and I hear him shuffling about and another male voice. “Abigail, I’ve got to go. The pitching coach wants to talk to me. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. We’ll take later.”

“Bye, beautiful.”

Before I can say it back, he ends the call.

THREE LONG DAYS, but my sisters don’t bring up me driving after the day at my apartment. I thought LA would hound me about it, but she hasn’t said a word. She’s mainly talked about Harry’s new promotion and all of us taking a vacation this summer. I wondered if Felix would come with, but considering that baseball will be in full swing—pun intended—he wouldn’t be able to make it.

The four quick knocks on my door make me run toward it. I jump into Felix’s arms and kiss him hard on the lips.

“I missed you,” he tells me and my heart beats faster.

“Me too.” I lock lips with him again. “Congrats on the team winning every road game.”

He smiles. “Yep, the boys did good. Now, tomorrow night will be the test.”