Full Count (18 page)

“I dunno, something fruity
delicious. Kitty handed it to me and took off with Grant. Their probably off
having crazy wild sex right now,” she whispered out, at least she meant to
whisper it out.

“Um, ok-ay. I really didn’t need to
know that. Here, this smells fruity you should be good.” I shoved a cup towards
her and took a sip of my beer. “Slow down, Sparky. I need you a little coherent
before the end of tonight. I have plans for you.”

“You always have plans for me,
Dylan Turner,” she grumbled out, even though I saw the corners of her mouth creeping
into a smile. “C’mon let’s dance.” She drained the cup I just gave her and shot
it towards the garbage can, missing of course.

I let her lead the way so I could
get a nice view from behind. She had ditched the usual dress and cowboy boots,
but I wasn’t minding one bit. The way those tight thingies were hugging her ass
should be freaking illegal. At least it was all mine.

She threw her hands up in the air
the minute she stepped into the living room and swayed her hips seductively.
Her eyes were squeezed shut and her head thrown back for a few minutes, while I
just stood by and watched. She normally wasn’t this confident with her body,
even though I told her she was sexy as hell all the time, and I was enjoying
this side of Paige.

She finally realized I wasn’t
moving and leaned forward to tug on my hand. I twirled her around so she was
flush against my body and wedged her legs open with my knee. Her hands moved
around to the back of my neck, pulling my head closer. I pushed aside her hair
to reveal her bare neck and smothered it with warm kisses.

She let out a moan when I licked
the sensitive spot behind her ear, which caused her to grind her ass back into
me. I grasped her hips to move her a few inches forward. If she kept doing that
right there, I wouldn’t be able to control myself.

I leaned down to whisper into her
ear when she tugged my head closer. “Let’s take this to my room or I’m gonna
fuck you right here.” I swear she practically orgasamed right in the middle of
the room when I said it. I knew she secretly liked when I talked dirty to her,
it always got her wet.

She practically ran to my room and
I followed closely behind. I managed to reach the door first and twist the
knob. “Fuck,” I pounded my fist on the door but it didn’t budge. Either someone
managed to get in there or Chris locked up for me, but I didn’t have a key on
me and no one was answering. Great.

“C’mon,” Paige said with a giggle,
tugging on my hand. “I’m sure we can find somewhere else.” She pushed her way
through the crowd of people, waving at Chris and Claire, who were wrapped together
on the dance floor. I had no clue where she was taking me, but I knew I would follow
her wherever she went.

She walked through the patio door
and I slid it closed behind us. Now I knew what her plan was, she must be really
drunk. She had a little bit of a wild side to her, especially with everything
we’ve done during work, but there we normally didn’t have to worry about
someone catching us in the act.

She pulled me down to a darkened
corner of the deck and tugged at the button on my jeans, fumbling with my belt.
“Slow down Sparky. Are you sure you want to do this? Out here?”

“Live a little, Rookie.” The sound of
my zipper filled the night air and she tugged my pants down. I decided to take
over control and twisted her around, so her back was up against the house.
“Jesus Paige, you have me so fuckin’ hard right now.” I ground into her leg, through
the thin material that was covering me and she arched her hips into me, panting
into my ear.

“Dylan, fuck me. Now.” she demanded,
dragging my lip in between her teeth. She helped me along with her pants, fumbling
the whole time. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I easily slid into her
wetness.

 Her lips found mine and she pushed
against me so hard, showing how much she love me. Nails dug into my back, as I
thrust harder and deeper, never getting enough, never enough with Paige. I’m
always wanting more, needing more.

I knead her nipples through her
shirt and she groaned into my neck, arching against me and wildly licking up my
neck, landing on my jaw. Within minutes, I felt her clenching around my hardness
and it instantly sparked my release. We moaned together with our foreheads
resting against each other until our breathing became normal again. “I love you,
Dylan Turner,” she said through half- lidded eyes before letting her legs fall
limply to the ground.

Paige

“Do you think this thing will make
it all the way to my dad’s house?” Dylan slammed the door shut behind him and
narrowed his brown eyes at me that were twinkling with amusement.

“I’ll have you know that just
because this is the beater mobile, it still runs like a gem. Don’t worry your
pretty little head, Sparky. Why don’t you sit back and take a nap? You’re
probably drained after this week.” He was right. Finals week almost killed me
with all of the study time put in. I had actually put the library to pretty
good use this week, when it came to school. I still preferred my times with
Dylan any day.

“Fine. I’ll zip my lips for now.” I
squeezed my eyes shut, pretending to sleep while I listened to Dylan quietly
hum along to the music and tapping the beat against the steering wheel. I knew
the real reason he wanted me to sleep. His tough guy front that he always kept
in place, had slipped just a bit, and I knew he was nervous to meet my dad. He
would never admit it though.

I must have finally drifted off
because I woke up and checked the clock when I felt the car come to a stop, and
saw that we had been driving for about three hours already. “Here Sparky. I got
these for you.” He dropped a 20 ounce pop in my lap, along with a bag of candy.
“Mmm, Sugar Daddies are my favorite.”

Dylan snorted, slamming the door
behind him and sticking the key in the ignition. “Oh I get it, that’s why you’re
with me now. You love the Sugar Daddies.”

“Oh yeah cowboy, you are such a
Sugar Daddy, especially with this car,” I teasingly replied before kicking the
door open with my foot. “I have to pee, be back in a sec.”

The next two hours flew by and the
excitement at seeing my dad kept building. By the time we made it into the
driveway, I practically flew out of the car. I instantly felt at home when I
laid my eyes on the beige and brick house that I grew up in that had a mix of
colonial and cottage style, that made it so unique and stuck out on a street
that was made up of all boring box houses.

My dad opened the thick oak door
just as I hit the front step and I flew into his arms. This teddy bear of a man
had always been the one there to comfort me and I breathed in his Old Spice cologne
that he’s always worn.

He stroked my hair before setting
me back down on my feet and cleared his throat, puffing out his chest to bring
himself to his full height, which really was maybe only an inch taller than
Dylan. “Well Paigey girl, introduce me to your young fella here,” he said in a
stern voice, never breaking eye contact with Dylan.

I resisted the urge to roll my
eyes. I guess he’s had nineteen years to prepare for this day and he’s pulling
out all of the stops. He’ll probably be pulling out a shotgun next, having
bought it especially for this occasion.

“Dylan Turner, sir.” Dylan stuck
out a hand and my dad roughly shook it, I saw Dylan’s hand begin to turn white
from pressure, but he just covered any pain with a smile, never breaking eye
contact.

“Well come on in, you two. Paige
can give you a tour of the place and then she can show you to the guest room,
which is on the other side of the house. Away from her room, where you’ll be staying.
Understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Dylan answered back and
I swear I heard a little bit of shakiness to his voice. I walked Dylan through
the large family room with the oak floors that I used to always glide around on
in my socks, pretending I was ice skating. The French doors led to a screened-
in patio that overlooked the terrace that was my mom’s pride and joy when she
was alive. Dad had kept up on the landscaping after she passed away and he took
the same pride in it.

The kitchen was next in the tour
and I noticed Dad had done some remodeling in the months that I was gone. The
old countertops had been replaced by sleek granite countertops, but he had
still kept my favorite feature of all, the pop out table with bench seats that
gave it kind of a retro style.

“And here’s your room.” I walked
into the guest room, letting my feet sink into the thick pink carpet and Dylan
tossed his bag on the flowered comforter. “Your dad was serious when he said
I’m on the completely opposite side of the house from you. Do you think he’ll
lock you in at night?”

“I dunno.” I wrapped a hand around
his neck to pull him closer and traced my tongue around the outline of his
lips. “But I’m sure I can find a way to sneak out.”

“Nu uh. No way, Sparky. That’s
where I draw the line. I’m going to be on my best behavior while I’m under your
dad’s roof. Consider me off limits.”

“Oh, really? So you can resist
this?” My hand found the front of his pants and of course, I already found a
hard bulge. He let out a groan when I gave a light squeeze and his hips
twitched into my hands. “C’mon let’s get back to the kitchen, I’m starving.”

“You are such a tease.”

                                                 *************************

The days leading up to Christmas
went by quickly. I pulled all of the decorations that my mom had gathered over
the years, carefully unwrapping them, and putting them into place. My dad took
a liking to Dylan, especially once he found out he was a baseball player. I
think after that, my dad practically had us married off.

I woke up early Christmas morning
and was surprised when I found Dylan already awake, rifling around in the
fridge. “Hey, I figured I would get an early start, I know you don’t like the
kitchen much.”

He pulled out the ham that was set
out and placed it in a roasting pan. The rest of the morning we worked quietly
together, making all of the fixings for Christmas day for the three of us. “I
think you really chose the wrong career path, you totally should have gone to
culinary school.”

He let out a snort, pulling a
homemade apple pie out from the oven. “I’ll think about it if the whole
baseball career doesn’t work out.”

We exchanged gifts before digging
into the big meal that we had prepared. “Here, Paigey girl. You know I’m not
the best at shopping so…” I opened up the envelope, already knowing what would
be inside. Gift cards galore. Kitty would be giddy when I informed her of our
upcoming shopping trips. “Thanks Dad, I’ll put ‘em to good use.”

I handed him a small stack of gifts
that consisted of his favorite cologne, socks, and three different baseball
shirts. “Ah thanks, Paige. These will be great especially when baseball season
starts up.” The past few years my dad had been purchasing tickets for the Tampa
Bay Rays, attending every home game, even though it was almost a two-hour
drive.

“The Rays are looking pretty good
for this upcoming season, don’t you think, Max?” Dylan rubbed the back of my
neck from where I sat wedged between his knees.

“That they are. Should be pretty
interesting. Are you a Ray’s fan?”

“No, I grew up in the Midwest so I
became a Tiger’s fan after a while. They’re shaping up pretty well too.”

“Sure are, should be a good
baseball season. Paige tells me you have aspirations for the MLB, I’ll have to
try and make it up to a couple of games this spring to see you in action.”

Dylan and I exchanged gifts after
that. We had agreed on a set budget that we could spend on each other since
money was tight for the both of us. I found a few vintage framed baseball
pictures for his room and he gave me several picture frames, which held
pictures of the two of us.

After we finished up with our gift
exchange, we all settled down to a big meal. I watched Dad and Dylan polish off
every scrap on their plates, going in for seconds and even thirds. I managed to
finish off most of my first helpings, but I was saving room for Dylan’s
dessert. And of course his apple pie hit the spot, practically melting in my
mouth with the most buttery, fluffy crust I had ever eaten.

“Paige, I need to talk to you about
something,” Dad cleared his throat, calling out to me from the dining room where
I was rinsing plates in the kitchen. “Sure Dad, what’s up?” I sat down next to
Dylan and he gripped my hand under the table, drawing small circles on my wrist
with his thumb.

I watched as his Adam’s apple
bobbed up and down in his throat and I could tell he was trying to find the
right words to say, which was shocking for Max Brinton. He always knew what to
say, no matter what situation. Finally he spoke.

“Paige, I lied about not being home
for Thanksgiving. I just didn’t want you to be here,” he paused when he saw my
face drop and reached across the table to pat my free hand.

“That’s not what I meant, Paigey
girl, of course I wanted you to be here. I just didn’t want you to see me how I
was. I found out shortly before you chose which college you were attending,
that I have cancer. They’ve tried a few different treatments. That’s why I
didn’t want you to come at Thanksgiving, I had just gotten a treatment and it
did me over like a Mac truck, I didn’t want you to see me like that.”

I felt my bottom lip tremble, as I
pictured Dad here all alone, not wanting me to come because he didn’t want me
to think he was weak. I would never think that about him, he was the strongest
person I knew. “But you’re better now, right? I mean you don’t look like anything’s
wrong with you. So the treatments worked?”

My dad cleared his throat and
looked down at his hands that were tightly entwined. “No, they didn’t. It was
too late, the cancer had progressed too far. Some days I feel as fit as a horse
and other days I can barely make it out of bed. They think I only have a short
time left baby, maximum of probably a year.”