Fourth Down Baby: A May-December Romance (16 page)

“He scared me too,” I tell her, entering the house. “Whit, uh, we can talk about you later, but where's Patricia?”

“Cory?” Patricia says from the back, half-sleepy. “What are you doing here?”

She comes out in a Wildcats t-shirt and some cotton shorts, still rubbing at her eyes. “I went to put Laurie down and—”

I close the distance between us, taking her in my arms and holding her tightly. “Oh, Patricia . . . thank you, thank you so much.”

She hugs me back, and I feel warmth and amazement flood through me as I hold this precious woman in my arms. “Cory, you're not upset?”

“How could I be?” I ask, letting go just enough to look into her eyes. “I should have said this long ago . . . I love you.”

She blinks, tears quickly forming in her eyes, but she smiles. “I love you too. I've loved you for months, and was too . . . I don't know, too worried or hung up or—”

I kiss her, partly because she doesn't need to apologize and partly because I have my own long, long apology that I need to get out. It evaporates when her lips touch mine, and I know in that moment that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I have a deeper, more immediate hunger too, and as our kiss grows warm, I'm caught off guard when I hear a cough behind us.

“Uhm, well, I think Troy and I will get Laurie and head over to our house,” Whitney says with a small smile. “No offense, Cory.”

“Whitney, you don't have to,” Patricia says, blushing.

“Yeah, right, Mom,” Whitney says, chuckling lightly. “Knowing that you're in a sexual relationship is one thing, and I'm more than cool that it's Cory. On the other hand, I don't want to listen as it happens. You two do what you need. And Cory?”

“Yeah?” I ask, trying to hide my tented shorts from Whitney's gaze, sliding behind Patricia, where she pushes her hips against me, and I can't help it—I gasp slightly, feeling her ass against my cock.

“We'll talk tomorrow about me, but congratulations. How about all of us get together for brunch?”

Troy goes to the back and gathers up Laurie, who sleepily hangs onto her father's neck as they leave, and I look at Patricia, who's smiling shyly. “You came all the way up here just to tell me you love me?”

I pull her close, picking her up. “I came up here to tell you that I love you, I'm ecstatic that I'm going to be a father, and that no matter what, we're going to have this baby together. And last but not least, enough of this long distance relationship stuff. I want you by my side.”

Patricia smiles and wraps her legs around my waist, and I carry her to the bedroom, setting her down on the rumpled surface before we stretch out side by side. “I love you too, Cory. I don't know about moving to San Francisco just yet. Can I think about it for a little while?”

“As long as I get to have my way with you this weekend,” I tease, kissing her neck, tasting her soft, wonderful skin. “Then I can wait.”

“Mmm, good,” she moans in reply, kissing me back and pushing me onto my back. “Actually, I have something now I can't wait any longer to try.”

“What?” I ask, my breath catching when she cups my cock through my shorts and rubs lightly. “But I like the way this is going so far.”

“Good, because I want to . . . explore,” she says, getting to her knees and pulling her shirt off. Her breasts are perfect teardrops that are capped with delicious pink nipples, and they shake a little from side to side as she shifts to the side of the bed. “Can you please get up and take off your clothes?”

“Well, at least you’re polite when asking me to strip butt naked,” I say with a chuckle as I roll up and do as she asks. “You can order me around if you want, you know.”

“Not tonight,” she says, sliding off the bed and getting on her knees. She reaches out, taking my cock in her hand, and pumps slowly. It's amazing torture, each soft stroke sending a wave of pleasure through my body. “Remember when I said I wanted to explore slowly?”

“Of course I do,” I whisper, my voice tight with anticipation. “Are we exploring now?”

She looks up into my eyes and smiles, and I’m thrilled as I look down at her beautiful brown eyes.

I watch with my breath caught in my chest as she leans forward, her tongue hovering so close to the tip of my cock that I can feel her breath on the sensitive skin, her eyes wide as she looks up at me. She takes a deep breath and reaches out and licks carefully, the first touch of her tongue on my cock causing me to groan deeply.

I watch as her tongue licks again, a broad, wonderful taste that swirls around the head of my cock, tickling the underside before she kisses her way down my shaft, her lips silky and amazing. Reaching the root of my cock, she licks up the underside before repeating the mind blowing massage of my cockhead with her tongue. Sitting back, she licks her lips and looks up into my eyes. “Good?”

“Perfect,” I reply, my cock aching. It's so hard. Part of it is the hotness of knowing that for the first time, this angel on her knees in front of me is tasting a man's cock, and the gleam in her eyes is because she likes what she's doing. I'm watching the sexual awakening of a woman who's been repressed for far too long, and I nearly come as she kisses the tip of my cock and slowly opens her mouth, sucking me in and wrapping her lips around my shaft.

When I feel myself brush against the back of her throat, she pauses, her eyes still looking into my face, intent and focused. Finally, she pulls back, her tongue dragging over my skin and lighting me up with electricity.

Wave after wave of sensation courses through my body as Patricia sucks, her tongue never stopping, her lips tight and massaging my shaft. I'm washed away in the feeling as she pumps my shaft and sucks the head before plunging herself down again, swallowing as much as she can each time, her tongue finding the spots which light me up more and more. She pauses, my cock buried as deep in her mouth as she can get it, and reaches around, grabbing my ass and mumbling.

I understand and nod, carefully grabbing her head and pulling back. I go slowly at first, letting her adjust before I speed up, pushing faster and faster. She keeps up, and I look down, another jolt going through me when I see that she's reached between her legs and is rubbing herself while I fuck her mouth, her eyes closed in pleasure and ecstasy written on her face.

I pump faster, abandoning myself to the wonderful sensations, until I feel my balls pull up tight, and I know I can't last much longer. “Patricia . . . I'm going to come soon.”

“Mmm,” she moans, her lips and tongue vibrating on my cock, sending me over the edge. I shudder and explode, and she sucks greedily, not wanting to miss a single drop. With a deep, groaning squeal, she comes also, her fingers a blur on her clit before my cock pops out and she cries out softly, her eyes staring sightlessly into mine.

* * *

I
wrap
Patricia up in an embrace, pulling her on top of me and kissing her throat in that special place she likes so much. She sighs happily, and I kiss her neck some more before letting her sit up.

Patricia's hips start moving back and forth on my hips slowly, so slowly that I don't think she's even aware. My cock is nearly fully hard, and without stopping, she lifts her hips just enough to slide me inside her, both of us moaning as she slides down.

Teasingly, I reach behind and smack her left butt cheek, and she gasps, her hips starting to move faster as she grins. “Do it again.”

I spank her other cheek this time, and she jerks, riding my cock hard and fast. She gives herself over to the desire inside her, plunging herself up and down on me, her hips dropping onto mine with sticky, wet smacks that fill the room. Reaching up, she pinches her nipples, her head thrown back and her throat working to get enough air into her lungs. “Good . . . oh, so gooood.”

“Perfect,” I gasp, thrusting up into her. We find the right rhythm, my hips rising to meet her just as she comes down before I pull back, just the head of my cock still inside the warm, wet tightness of her body as she starts back down.

I give myself to her with every hard slap of our hips, and the ache that builds in me starts to drift toward painful. I don't care. I love her, and looking at the ecstasy etched on her face as she fucks me, totally given over to the sensations in her body, I find the strength to thrust harder and faster.

She gasps in happiness, her eyes dropping to look into my eyes, but she's blinded by the electricity shooting through her body, her pupils so big they nearly swallow the brown of her eyes. Sweat rolls off our bodies to soak the sheets underneath us, but still, she keeps riding me, her legs starting to tremble with the effort.

“Patricia . . . come for me,” I beg, and somewhere deep inside her, she hears me. She starts grinding back and forth as she rides me, her clit dragging over my cock with every upstroke, and soon, she's there. I can see it in her face and in the way she clenches around my cock, and she's trembling on the edge. “Now!”

She screams breathlessly, her orgasm crashing into her like a tidal wave. I feel my balls clench, and I'm there too, both of us coming, our bodies rising together to dangerous heights before plunging over the edge of the cliff, and I cling to her, desperate for something to hold onto. It's too strong, too powerful, and my heart stops in my chest for an agonizing eternity before the blackness drops its curtain over my vision, and the last thing I feel before I go all the way out is Patricia's breath in my mouth, breathing life back into my body even as I breathe life back into hers, and we descend into the blackness together. It's not as bad as I feared, with her there with me.

“
O
h my
, look at that walk! That's a look that I know well from your daughter,” Dani says with a wicked grin as I sit down gingerly outside the Cafe Italiano. “As John Cougar Mellencamp said, hurts so good, don't it?”

“How in the world do you know Mellencamp? That's even before my time.” I laugh and hiss as my aching butt settles onto the metal seat of the chair. I sigh in relief when my body adjusts, and I remember the pleasure that created this dull ache.

“Mellencamp? That's because I have a very finely developed taste in music.”

“So how's life, Dani?” Whitney asks.

“Honey, knowing what I've just found out, you two made my fucking year!” Dani says, then blushes. “Sorry, Patricia. I get excited, you know.”

“Don't mind me. I've come to . . . appreciate direct language in certain situations,” I reply, thinking of some of the things Cory had me moaning and asking for last night.

Dani sees me blush and smiles before looking over at Whitney. “So should I ask her the details? Because you know I have ways of dragging it out of her.”

“You know what?” Whitney says, then stops, chuckling. “I'm glad. Mom, I'm serious about that. I don’t want every little detail, but I told you before that I wanted you to have a man who made you happy, and I meant it.”

I laugh and sip the glass of water the waiter brings by, shaking my head. “It's okay, Whitney. No details, just generalities. Cory is amazing, and it's even better because I love him and he loves me, and we're open with that now.”

“Where is Wonder Boy, anyway?” Dani asks. “And Laurie?”

“Actually, they're together,” Whitney tells her with a smile. “The whole reason Mom had a problem getting in contact with Cory is because he broke his phone. Apparently, he sat on it in the office. So, he's going over to the store today to pick out a new one, and he asked me if he and Laurie could have some getting to know each other time. With Troy in Seattle with the team until after the game, I figured it'd be cool, and Laurie was fine with it.”

“She'll like Cory, I think. So that means we can all get together with Pete later, if you're up for it,” Dani says. “And I guess that means Cory's going to the game with you guys?”

“You know it,” Whitney says, grinning. “Actually, I get to introduce him to Carrie too. She's working the sidelines, but after the game, there's some time for everyone to hang out and relax before the team has to get packed up and ready to go back home. You'll have to catch the next one, or when we fly you down to Jacksonville for the playoffs and the baby.”

“I can't believe you two are both pregnant at the same time,” Dani says, shaking her head. “Patricia, could you have planned it better?”

“It definitely is a blessing, though it looks like Whitney gets to go first.”

Whitney rubs her belly, which is still flat at just over three months, humming happily. “Good. Troy was so excited, and it'll be nice that I'm not alone this time. Mom, I so wished you could have been there for Laurie. This time, though . . . I'm totally stoked!”

“Well, this time, we can be right there for each other. And Dani too?” I ask, and Dani nods. “Thanks. Do you have a due date, Whitney?”

“Right about the end of January, beginning of February,” she says, shrugging. “My next appointment with my OB, they promised a better target date. What about you, Mom?”

I shake my head, laughing. “I just found out yesterday, Whitney. Best Doc Baker could figure, with my missed cycles, it probably happened when Cory came up for the Fourth of July.”

“You two had some fireworks for sure,” Dani teases, and we all laugh. It's this that I've missed for so much of my life. My daughter and her best friend are two of my best girlfriends, and I love it. “Come on, let's get some food.”

We order a late lunch, Whitney's original idea of brunch tossed out the window when Cory and I woke up at ten in the morning and made love one more time in the shower, this time tender and slow, gentle. He's the perfect man for me, that's for sure. “So can I ask,” Dani says after our dishes get to the table and she starts on her carbonara, “are you two looking at living together?”

“God, I miss Italy sometimes,” Whitney complains lightly as she holds up a forkful of her farfalle with pesto. “Seriously, Mom, maybe we should talk our husbands into opening a decent Italian joint in this town.”

“Husbands?” Dani asks, raising an eyebrow. “Slow down, Whitney, she ain't married yet. I just asked if they're moving in together.”

Still, at the idea, I blush, and Dani gives me a knowing look. “Then again, it looks like we're only one question away. But first, are you going to move in?”

“I don't know yet,” I admit, secretly thinking that Whitney's still hanging onto a bit of her European pasta snobbery. Cafe Italiano isn't that bad, really. Especially since if you want authentic Italian, Seattle's only an hour away. Then again, Whitney is her own woman, and I love her, pasta snob or no. “I'll admit, San Francisco's got a vitality, an open spirit that Silver Lake Falls doesn't. There's a love of life, a sort of carpe diem attitude that I can't find here, or even Seattle, I think. But at the same time, I’ve been a small town girl all my life. I've always thought I’d live here in Silver Lake Falls forever. This town is where I raised Whitney, and she's turned out . . . remarkable.”

“If my opinion lends any weight to it, Mom, I've dreamed of Troy and me coming back here when he retires too,” Whitney says with a smile. “It's why we're keeping the house in town, and in talking with Troy, he feels the same way. So go to San Fran with Cory if you want, but you'll always have a place here too.”

“Aww, you two like me that much,” Dani teases, faking a big sniff and wiping away a tear in her Harley Quinn voice. “Can't just leave me behind to go off into the big, big world, can you?”

“What're you talking about?” Whitney teases back. “It's all part of my master plan, don't you know? I have two or three kids, at least one of them a boy. That way, when you and Pete get around to having your own, then your kids and my kids can fall in love and that way, you and I will be real sisters and not just soul sisters.”

“Hey, don't forget,” I add, pointing to my tummy with my fork, “Dani's kids could fall in love with your little brother or sister here. Then Dani gets to be your aunt.”

Whitney and Dani gawk at me for a second, then break out in laughter. “Oh, Aunt Dani . . .”

Dani blushes, and I feel the love between us all. “Aunt, sister, or best friend . . . I don't care. I love you both, you know that?”

I stop laughing, looking over at Dani. “Thank you, Dani. I know I was kind of a coldhearted bitch for a long time to you. I even blamed you for Whitney's pregnancy.”

“I know. I blamed me some too,” Dani says, “but look how it's all turned out. Send me back in time, and I'd do it all again without changing a single thing. Well, maybe I'd change going to that Phi Lambda party my sophomore year at State, but that's not related to this.”

My Chevy pulls up in one of the open parking spots in front of the café, and Laurie and Cory get out, Laurie sauntering over in an eerie imitation of Troy's relaxed gait. She still charges off at full speed most of the time, but she's learning to relax some too. “Hi Mom, hi Grandma, hi Aunt Harley.”

I can't help it. I lean back, laughing hard as Dani and Whitney join in, confusing my granddaughter. “Sorry, sweetie, just . . . Aunt Harley . . .”

“What, Grandma? Cory said that calling her Harley was okay, right?”

“It's not that, sweetheart,” Dani says, pulling her into a hug. “Just a grown-up joke that you just missed.”

“Oh, Cory told me all about the baby while we were phone shopping,” Laurie says nonchalantly. “I don’t know how this all looks on my family tree for school, but who cares? Babies are cute.”

“Wisdom from the mouth of children,” Dani says before greeting Cory. “So Cory, how're you feeling with all this?”

“Like the luckiest man on the planet. After I got my phone turned on and my messaging and everything caught up, I called Mom and Dad. They're happy. I think they're a bit worried, to be honest, but they're still happy,” he says, coming over and giving me a kiss.

“So your phone is okay now?”

“Yep, and I didn't get any high tech slimline cased thing that'll break easily,” he says, taking out his new phone. “This sucker will take getting tossed out the window of a moving car and still survive, I think.”

I look it over, and I have to admit, it's kind of a brick, especially with the protective case. “Never miss a life-changing phone call again,” I tease, patting the area next to me. “Grab a chair. We're just having girl talk.”

“Uh-oh. Dani's telling stories, I take it,” Cory groans, making us all laugh. “Where's Pete? At least then I can share in the misery.”

“He'll be here in a bit. He had an issue at a pump station out by the lake,” Dani says, shrugging. “He's looking forward to getting together with everyone later. When I told him the news about Whit and Patricia, he started smiling and hasn't stopped yet, most likely.”

“You realize something though, right?” Cory asks, and Dani gives him a questioning look. “You're next.”

Dani laughs and gives us a smile. “All in good time, my pretties. All in good time.”

I take Cory's hand and pat his arm. “She has to finish raising you and Troy first, I think.”

Cory chuckles and gives me a warm look. “If Dani has to wait for us to mature, she's never going to have children.”

“Well, if it takes too long, I'll just let Laurie take over for me,” Dani teases, looking over at Laurie. “What do you say, kiddo? Think you can help me make sure Cory and your Daddy grow up right?”

Laurie nods and gives Dani a cockeyed smile. “Sure thing, puddin'!”

It's not a half-bad accent, and Dani sits back, satisfied. “Ah . . . sweet success.”

* * *

T
he reception
for Troy as he's introduced to the Seattle crowd is mixed, but loud. He's still a hometown boy, and the fans still remember his hard work and amazing play during the season and a half that he was with the Hawks.

But he's a Wildcat now, and they're in the way on the Hawks' road to redemption. After going 2-14 last year and losing not only their head coach but also getting a new general manager, they've tried to rebuild. Of course, the disastrous trade that sent Troy to the Wildcats still hurts the Hawks, and the fans let the team's management know it when Duncan Hart is introduced to a thunderous wave of boos. “Ouch, that's a rough introduction to the League.”

“You should have heard some of the crowds we had back at Western,” Carrie Hart, his wife and one of Whitney's new best friends in Florida, says from her seat. She's tall and beautiful, a blonde Valkyrie with golden hair, a still slightly shy smile that Whitney told me on the way to the stadium is something she's still getting over, and a nicely swollen belly. “Some of those crowds
loathed
him.”

“He did earn it,” Whitney says, handing Carrie a drink. “How's the little one?”

Carrie, who's six and a half months pregnant herself, pats her stomach and smiles. “Cammy's behaving today. How about you?”

“No morning sickness, which I'm glad for, since Laurie had me so ill, but so far, I'm good. By the way, I'm not the only one who's pregnant in my family.”

Carrie, who already knew Cory by sight from the video calls he'd done with both her and Duncan, gives me an appraising look, then smiles. “Congratulations, Miss Nelson. I'd get up to give you a hug, but Cammy's decided that I get to sit
here
for a while. Got a due date yet?”

“Just found out Friday,” I say, taking Carrie's offered handshake. “But thanks. And congratulations on getting married, Whitney kind of filled me in some on the drive over.”

“Thanks. Hey, Cory?”

Cory, who's been playing around with Laurie next to the windows of the luxury box, looks over. “What's up?”

“Do right by her, or else you'll find that Troy isn't the only one who can kick your butt.”

Cory grins and whispers in Laurie's ear before coming over and kissing my cheek. She nods and runs over to the window, opening it a bit and letting in more crowd noise while she sticks her face out. “You don’t have to worry about that. Besides, I think you and Duncan would probably have to get in line after Troy, Whitney, Dani and Pete. By the time you get to me, there wouldn't be much left.”

Carrie chuckles and offers her hand, and she shakes with Cory too. “Okay. Congratulations.”

The game starts, the Wildcats kicking off first, and we watch Troy lead the Wildcats defense onto the field. “He's looking good,” Carrie notes. “He's got lots of EC.”

“EC?” I ask, and Cory laughs.

“Back in high school, Troy and I had a talk during some of the Whit drama. I quoted to him a line from a Bruce Lee movie.
We need emotional content
. He really took it to heart, and since then, it's become his playing mantra. So . . . EC.”

“I remember that,” I say, taking Cory's hand and interlocking fingers. “Seems like you were smart even before we met.”

“Not very, but sometimes, I guess happy accidents happened,” Cory admits.