Full Count (21 page)

“No, not illegal this time. I just
had to bribe one of the groundskeepers. The guy is a real romantic so it really
wasn’t too hard. That’s why I told you to dress sort of warm since it’s still a
little chilly. Hopefully you like all of the food. I made everything with you
in mind. This is basically a fruit salad drizzled with honey and pieces of
crystallized ginger. Susanne helped me come up with the whole menu.”

“Wow Rookie, you really know how to
make things special, you know that?” He answered with a sexy smirk, devouring
all of the food on his plate before standing up again and disappearing into the
dugout. Every bite was delicious and I couldn’t wait for more. For someone who
had really never had a girlfriend before, he was doing a pretty good job.

The rest of the meal consisted of a
juicy pork chop with a sauce made using raisinettes with a side of mashed
potatoes that were rolled into balls, covered with powdered sugar, and stuffed
in the middle were peanut butter cups, sounds gross but was like a bite of
heaven in my mouth.

The grand finale was the biggest
piece of chocolate cake that I had ever seen topped with a scoop of vanilla ice
cream that we split even though I ended up eating most of it by myself. You
can’t beat a simple piece of chocolate cake. I knew Dylan was more of a meat
and potatoes kind of guy but he sat there the whole time watching me eat every
last bite.

“Oh my god Dylan, you probably just
made me gain about twenty pounds but that was the best meal I’ve ever had. I
can’t believe you made all of that.”

“I’m glad you liked it. That was my
plan all along actually, I wouldn’t mind a few extra pounds added to this,” he
answered back with a smirk, grabbing a handful of my ass that I knew he loved
so much. “Want to dance?”

“Um, sure but there isn’t any
music.” He motioned to someone and music started to flow from the speakers
through the stadium, echoing through the emptiness. He tugged on my hand and
pulled me tight against his body as we swayed to the music on the field.

“This was truly perfect. I mean who
really gets to have a date on a baseball field?” I could feel his smile against
my forehead and he moved down to place his lips on mine. “I knew you would
appreciate it, most girls wouldn’t.”

“Hey you know what would make this
even better?” He pulled back and looked in my eyes. “Seriously, I thought I
made it pretty perfect, what did I miss?”

“Well, I’ve never actually gotten
to play on this kind of field before. You up for a little one on one action,Rookie?”

“Of course Sparky, the real
question is are you ready to get that fine ass of yours kicked?” I kicked off
my heels and ran across the field in my bare feet as Dylan headed towards the
dugout, grabbing a handful of equipment. “If anyone’s ass is getting kicked
around here, it’ll be yours.”

“Here, wouldn’t want that pretty
little head of yours to get hurt.” He pushed a helmet on to my head and pulled
a baseball cap onto his head backwards. Hmm, maybe he could wear that later
with nothing else. Decisions, decisions.

“I should probably help with your
stance since ya know, I’m practically the professional and all.” I rolled my
eyes at him and made my way over to the batter’s box where he positioned his
body behind mine. “Just like this,” he whispered against my neck, grabbing onto
my hips and nudging my legs open wider with his feet.

 “Uh huh, I think that is perfect.”
He backed up with a finger to his chin, examining my stance and tilting his
head to the side as I looked over my shoulder at him and I couldn’t help but
roll my eyes. I bent down to grab the bat and I heard his intake of breath as I
slowly stood back up. Too bad I hadn’t braved the weather and worn a skirt
tonight.

“I know what you’re doing, Sparky.”
He came up and slapped my ass before jogging out to the pitcher’s mound.
“You’re trying to distract me, but that’s not going to work. Once my head’s in
the game that’s the only place that it stays. Even your fine ass can’t take my
mind off of it.”

“How ‘bout you quit running your
mouth and just throw the ball?”

“Alright, you asked for it,” he
answered back with a smirk and wound up to throw his pitch. The ball whizzed by
me, bouncing off the wall, and I heard his laugh echo through the stadium. “Um,
you actually have to swing the bat to get a hit, Sparky.”

I nodded my head at him, placing the
bat over my shoulder again, while he wound up and sent the ball towards me.
This time I did swing and I heard the familiar crack of the bat as it sailed
over his head into the outfield. “Holy shit!”

I headed towards first as it took a
minute for Dylan to realize I had actually hit the ball and he chased after it
while I rounded second. I started to run backwards to third base to taunt him
while I watched him chase after the ball and come barreling towards me before
he tackled me to the ground.

“You’re out.” I couldn’t help but
laugh at the expression on his face as he tagged me with his glove, how he was
taking it so seriously. His weight pressed into me as I took in big gulps of
air, trying to calm myself down.

“Did you actually think I wouldn’t
hit the ball?” A smile tugged at his lips and he brushed his mouth over mine.
“Well no, not really. I know you love baseball but I didn’t know you could
actually play.” I let out another laugh and I could feel his chest vibrating
against mine.

“I kicked your ass Rookie, what
would the team think if they found out your girlfriend got a hit off of you and
let me just add that it was a really good hit. Like a good enough hit to where
I should probably take over for you from now on.”

His eyes turned serious as he
pulled his head out of the crook of my neck, lightly running a finger over my
cheek.  My body was humming from the closeness of our bodies as we laid there
intertwined.

“You are seriously the perfect
girl, every guy on the team would be lucky to have you, but you’re mine. I love
you.” His brown eyes held such intensity as he spoke those last three words and
the teasing was put aside as the words he just said sunk in.

I could hear them over and over,
and they would never get old. I threaded my hands through his hair and pulled
his face closer to mine so we were just inches apart. “I love you too.” The
perfect moment was interrupted when I heard a whirring noise and felt a wetness
covering us and I peeked an eye open to see that the sprinklers had clicked on.
Apparently, Dylan hadn’t planned everything out.

“Oh my god Sparky, I’m so sorry, I
didn’t even think about this.” The water continued to drench us as he pulled me
to my feet, the dirt was caked onto them, instantly turning to mud. I stopped
him with a hand, pulling his body to mine again.

“It’s alright, it’s perfect.” I
pushed his hair off his forehead, water dripping down his perfect face and
matting his long lashes. Our lips met in a wet mess, memorizing every inch of
each other. This moment right here was the best part of the night.

Paige

“I am so not ready to get up.” My
eyes fluttered open as I heard Dylan groan loudly and slam his hand over his
alarm clock for the second time. He shifted his position behind me and I
scooted closer against his warmth. I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped my
lips. It felt so right waking up in his arms.

I felt his smile against my ear at
the sound and he pulled it between his teeth. His lips slid down to my neck as
he trailed open-mouthed kisses down it, pushing my hair aside as he went. “Mmm,
I really don’t want to leave,” he murmured against my skin and I reached back
to slip my fingers into the waistband of his boxers. Dylan jerked backwards and
flew off the bed.

“Uh uh Sparky, if you start with
that I definitely won’t be able to make myself leave. Now I’m going to take a
very cold shower.” I let my eyes shut for just a few minutes longer as I heard
the water turn on and off quickly and peeled them open again when I heard the
door open. I admired every inch as the towel dropped to the floor and he opened
drawers. “Enjoying the view?”

“Of course,” I answered back as I
stretched out my body, pushing myself up to my knees so I could throw my arms
around his neck. “Do you really need to leave?” I murmured against his bare
neck.

“Yeah, I don’t think Coach would
approve if I missed out on our first away series. I’ll miss you though.”

“I know, I’ll miss you too.” I
couldn’t imagine being Dylan. I was already busy enough as it was with classes,
studying, and work. On top of that, he had baseball and traveling added on. His
work schedule had basically been cut in half since baseball season started, so
my nights at work tended to drag on.

“Well, at least you’ll keep busy
while I’m gone, Claire mentioned something to Chris about a girls’ only
sleepover. What do you girls do at these types of things? Naked pillow fights?
Talk about how well-endowed your boyfriends are?” He twisted around to stare
down at me, his brown eyes twinkling with amusement. Ugh, I would miss those
eyes.

“If that’s the fantasy you’ve
conjured up in that messed up head of yours, believe whatever you want to
believe. Just don’t expect any pictures. And as far as the well- endowed part…”
I trailed off with a giggle when a faked hurt expression covered his face and
he tackled me to the bed.

“You’re lucky I’m about to be late
or I would be giving you a crash course on that right now.” His hips ground
against me, showing just how in the mood he was and he placed a single kiss on
my forehead. “I love you, but I gotta go. You better be waiting here naked when
I get back.”

“Oh of course,” I replied with an
eye roll. “I’ll just stay that way the whole time you’re gone, waiting for your
return.” “You better,” he snorted, slamming the door behind him.

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

“Hi Dad, how’s it going?” I
answered my phone after finishing up with classes for the day, hoping to make
it home to squeeze in a quick nap. After working late last night and then
having an early class this morning, I was in major need of one before our girls’
night. Especially since Kitty had planned the whole thing, I’m sure we would be
up all night.

“Pretty good, Paige. I wasn’t
feeling too great the past couple of days but today seems to be a little bit
better. I just wanted to check in with you and see how things were going. How’s
living with Dylan?”

This is what I seriously loved
about my dad, whatever decisions I made he always supported them. I was nervous
to tell him that I had moved in with Dylan, so Dylan actually called my dad to
ask for permission. Little did he know my stuff had already been there for a
week before he called. And my dad was surprisingly okay with it.

“Things are going good I think. It
took a little bit of time getting used to living with him, he is seriously a
neat freak when it comes to his room and you know I’m not exactly the cleanest
person. He’s out of town right now for an away series.”

His booming laugh echoed through
the phone and it was really a great sound to hear, even if he was laughing at
me. “I know about that all too well, Paigey. I was tempted on multiple
occasions to throw your stuff onto the front lawn when you didn’t clean up
after yourself. Any guy who can put up with your messes is A- Okay in my book.”

“Gee thanks, Dad.”

“Not a problem. So the reason I was
calling was that I checked the schedule and saw Dylan has a home series coming
up, I thought maybe MaryAnn and I could come up for a visit. She’s not a
baseball fan at all but we figured we could make a little weekend trip out of
it and maybe take you two out to dinner. I really would like for you to meet
her.”

“That sounds really great, Dad. We
have an extra room at the house if you guys want to stay here, I’ll just have
to check with Chris and Dylan to make sure it’s alright, but it shouldn’t be a
problem.”

I had been feeling guilty that I
hadn’t made it home since Christmas; I really wanted to spend as much time with
him as possible. But not having a car and Dylan being busy with baseball, made
it nearly impossible. He had offered to let me borrow the beater mobile, but
truthfully, I was a little scared to drive it.

“Okay Paigey, I can’t wait to see
you. I love you.”

“Love you too, Dad.” I dropped my
keys on the front table and collapsed in the bed, breathing in the scent of
Dylan that covered his pillows. I felt a little pathetic with how much I missed
him, he had only been gone for two days and I was miserable. Sleeping in this
bed just wasn’t the same without him.

I woke up to the doorbell being rung
over and over and over again. I glanced at the clock to see that I had been out
for almost four hours. After rolling out of bed, I opened the front door and
was basically run over.

“What the hell, Paige?” Kitty
exclaimed, dropping an armful of bags in the front entryway. “I have been
ringing that damn doorbell for like ten minutes. Of course, Christopher would
never agree to give me a key to this place, I think I need to have a talk with
Daddy about that.”

If that happened, we would
seriously have to change the locks. I had loved living with Kitty but she
tended not to knock. I could just imagine her whipping the door open on Dylan
and I. “Sorry Kitty, I was taking a nap and slept way longer than I expected.
Do you need help bringing anything else in?”

“No, no,” she replied with a wave
of her hand. “Maddie and Kylie are bringing the rest.”

“Excuse me, did you just say Kylie?
Please tell me I heard you wrong.”

Kitty let out a huff and began
emptying bags of food and liquor onto the kitchen island. “No you didn’t.
Maddie was packing things up to head over here and Kylie just assumed she was
invited. I’m not that big of a bitch to tell her no. Don’t worry, she shouldn’t
be too bad since none of the guys around.”