Hardball (26 page)

“My God,” he managed to groan. “Baby, that’s unreal.”

Holly raised her eyes and oh-so-slowly drew her mouth back almost the full length, gripping the base of his cock in the ring of her fingers. Her heart thudded with excitement, and with the joy of pleasuring him so completely.

Nate had raised himself slightly on one elbow, peering down at her. He licked his lips and groaned when she swallowed his cock again, working it deeper down her throat. The taste—hot and musky, all male—drove
her
wild, and slickness creamed between her thighs. She loved doing this to him, pulling and sucking on him until he threw his head back and arched his strong spine. One leg drew up beside her head, and she rested against it as she worked her mouth up and down his length.

When he uttered a loud moan she glanced up. His face was contorted with an agonized lust, and he fisted the blanket in his hands. She held back a shaky laugh, thrilled that she could drive him so easily to the edge. Nate personified power and discipline, and yet she was clearly driving him insane. Giving the man she loved such pleasure, using her mouth, her hands, and her body to make him lose control, filled her with joy.

Again and again, she pulled back until the rosy head almost slipped out from between her lips, then plunged down on the shaft once more, her wet mouth gliding smoothly down his thick shaft. Then she would come off him for a tantalizing moment, just long enough to run her tongue around the base of the head and give the small slit a lick, before taking his cock again fully into her mouth.

Nate groaned and writhed beneath her, his hips coming off the blanket. She stroked his balls gently as she sucked him, feeling them tighten under her touch. She knew it wouldn’t be long now until he was ready to climax, and she wanted that explosion to be in her.

Holly lifted her mouth from him and clenched his straining cock in her fist. She pumped it twice, then held it straight as she straddled his hips.

“Holly, wait!” Nate jerked beneath her. “There’s a condom in my pocket.”

“Quick,” she moaned, as she rubbed herself along his shaft. She gasped, pressing her clit hard against his erection as he fumbled to pull the foil packet from his pocket. Delicious little spasms rippled from her womb. She could barely hold herself back.

She grabbed the packet from his hands. “Let me help you,” she panted.

Ripping open the foil, she rolled the ribbed latex down over as much of his length as it would cover. God, he was so big she got even wetter just looking at him. With a whimper of intense satisfaction, she finally sank down onto him. His cock stretched her more than she thought possible, so thick and hot and wonderful that it made her cry out.

He gave an answering growl. “God, Holly, you’re fantastic.” He reached up and pulled her head down to his, taking her in a ravenously deep kiss that stole her breath. Gasping, she broke free, bracing her hands on his chest. With urgent, rough motions, he pulled the straps of her dress off her shoulders and found the zipper. The dress fell down, pooling around her hips.

“Take your bra off,” he panted. “I want to see your gorgeous tits.”

Oh, God.
His sexy voice almost made her come on the spot, her body moving on him instinctively. He grabbed her hips, holding her still.

His smile looked feral and hungry, and she felt a thrilling, almost nervous shock race across her exposed flesh. He reached for her with both hands, running his thumbs over her stiff nipples and then gave them each a hard little squeeze. Holly shuddered for a second on the edge between pleasure and pain, riding his big cock while he massaged her breasts.

Again and again he tweaked and pulled at the rigid peaks, torturing them with delicious agony. She gazed down at him, captured by the intensity in his dark eyes. Helplessly caught, all she could do was rock against him, losing herself in the tantalizing friction of wet heat and need.

Finally, Nate slid his hands to her hips, holding her still. Then he lifted himself up enough to take one breast in his mouth. He sucked on it deeply and she cried out again, feeling the sensation in her womb. He answered with a deep, rumbling noise as he licked a circle around the pebbled, aching point. Her nipples had never been so hard, or her breasts so heavy with aching need. She arched her back as the thick base of his shaft rubbed against her clit, sending her even deeper into mindless pleasure.

But not totally mindless. This time, she was on top. She was in control. Tonight the game belonged to her, and she loved every second of it.

Holly put a hand on his chest—beautifully muscled and slick with sweat—and gently pushed him back down to the blanket. With a knowing smile, he let her, but then propped his good arm behind his head so he could gaze down at their joined bodies. Playing to it, she slid up and down on the shaft, slowly rolling her hips. From the look on his face, the sight of his cock spearing through her wet curls and into her soft flesh was driving him crazy with lust.

As crazy as it was driving her.

Each time she slid down on him, his cock felt harder. Impossibly hard. Every nerve in her body fired in an exquisite fusillade of passion. He grasped her hips, pushing her down as he strained for even more contact.

She threw her head back, staring up at the stars and the moon as she rode her man. The soft sea air slid over her skin, gentling and caressing, a stark contrast to the driving passion beneath her. She peered down at him, feeling wild and as free as she’d ever felt—physically, emotionally, sexually. Free to do whatever she wanted, thanks to what had been unleashed between them on this cloaking, magical night.

Teasingly, she slipped her hands across her breasts to play with her nipples. Moaning with pleasure, she tweaked and stroked them, sensing how much he liked that.

“Fuck, baby, that’s hot,” Nate panted. “You’re making me so crazy I’m gonna come.”

She gave a breathless laugh and pressed down, groin to groin, rubbing her clit on his shaft. Nate groaned and rolled his head from side to side. She recognized that sign. It meant he was about to explode.

Holding herself still, Holly squeezed her delicate inner muscles and Nate began to shudder. He stiffened and thrust up, momentarily lifting them both off the blanket. Then he came hard, his fingers digging into her hips and holding her tight.

One last thrust from him sent her tumbling over the edge. She cried out his name, mindless as the orgasm rocked her senses. Her joyous cries echoed off the deserted, silent dunes as she contracted around him in luxurious spasms. It seemed to go on forever until she collapsed on his chest and lay there panting, feeling like she’d melted into the hard surfaces of his body. She clung to him, his cock still stiff and deep inside her, her face gently riding his chest up and down as breathing gradually returned to normal.

After several wonderful, silent minutes with their bodies joined, Nate finally stirred under her.

“Holly, that was completely amazing. So amazing that I’d say it calls for a toast.”

Mercy.
She’d completely forgotten about the wine.

Holly lifted her head from his chest and gazed into his eyes. In the dim moonlight she could see they were wide open and full of mischief.

“There’s only one problem,” she said. “We’d have to move. Couldn’t we stay here forever, with you inside me, just like this?”

“I’d love nothing better,” he said with a chuckle, “but there’d be hell to pay with the joggers and their dogs in the morning.”

“We could just throw the blanket over us and ignore them. But I guess we’ve already taken enough chances for one night, haven’t we? Did you see anybody walking by on the beach while we were, uh, distracted?” Now that she was coming down from her sexual high, she was beginning to feel a bit embarrassed. Had she really made that much noise? Out here in the open?

“Not a soul. But, hell, I’m not sure I’d have noticed if a busload of tourists drove past snapping pictures.”

Holly giggled. “Well, I’m glad I had your full attention.”

“That’s one way to put it.” He kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Now, where are those wine glasses? That workout made me thirsty.”

She rolled off him and began to pull her clothes together, a task which turned out to be more complicated than she’d envisioned. The moon was partially hidden now by clouds, and the beach had turned even darker than when they’d arrived. The little flashlight came in handy at that point, and she finally located her bra in a thick patch of sea oats ten feet away.

She only vaguely remembered hurling it aside.

While she was searching with the flashlight, Nate scrabbled around in the dark and found the two glasses. He blew the sand off and then started to uncork the wine, cursing genially at the darkness. Holly grabbed the bra and turned the flashlight beam toward the bottle so he could see what he was doing.

The glow lit his upper body and face. It seemed strange to see him kneeling there in the sand, totally comfortable in his designer suit, barefoot and with his shirt hanging open to his waist. Strange but wonderful, and her heart contracted with a painful intensity. Nate was a beautiful man, if someone that strong and ripped and totally manly could indeed be called beautiful.

Please, God. Let it be so.

* * *

After showers and a nightcap, they had made love again that night in the Ritz’s plush bed—the fourth time they’d had sex that day. Nate’s shoulder felt strained and sore after his efforts on the beach, but when he’d awakened at three with Holly’s naked, curvy body molded against his own, he had the mother of all erections and it couldn’t be ignored.

Not that he’d wanted to ignore it, anyway. Making love to Holly was a revelation every time. While she had started out a bit tentative that first night after the golf banquet, she had blossomed into a skilful, creative lover, determined to please.

Holly’s lovemaking could be as refined and elegant as she was in the rest of her life. But she could also be lusty and hot and ready to try anything in bed. Or out of bed, as tonight’s impromptu beach party had proved.

In fact, he’d been thinking about asking her to bring her lab coat home after they got back to Philly. Fantasizing about her bending over to examine him, bare-ass naked under the pristine white lab coat, was one little reverie he had every intention of acting out one day soon.

The noise from the room service waiter rolling in the cart woke him up. Tantalizing scents of fresh coffee and bacon wafted out of the suite’s living room and filled his nostrils. “Good work,” he called out to her, hearing the door shut behind the waiter. “What did you order?”

“Belgian waffles and bacon for you, granola and fruit for me. Plus coffee and tea, of course,” she shouted from the adjoining room.

“Fantastic. I’ll be there in a minute.” He wrapped himself in the plush hotel robe and headed to the bathroom to splash water on his face. Terminal bed-head, he grimaced, seeing his reflection in the mirror. No wonder, after last night’s exertions.

When he joined her in the living room, Holly was relaxing in a leather easy chair, sipping tea and gazing out the panoramic windows toward the ocean. Nate kissed her twice, lingering over her soft mouth, then snatched up the remote and flipped the TV to ESPN. He wanted to catch SportsCenter, exactly as he did every day when he got up during the baseball season. Ignoring the food for the moment, he gulped down coffee as he scanned the crawl that ran across the bottom of the screen. It showed all the previous day’s baseball scores.

Washington Nationals 10, Philadelphia Patriots 2.
Nate banged his cup down.

Holly jerked in her chair. “Good grief. What’s wrong?”

His gut churning, Nate moved to the windows, fighting for calm. He stared out at the ocean, trying not to go ballistic for Holly’s sake. But it was all he could do not to hammer his fist into the glass. “The Patriots got the crap kicked out of them last night.”

Holly didn’t say anything, and the room was suddenly soundless. Nate couldn’t even hear the rumble of the ocean through the glass.

After a few moments, he managed to get his anger under control and sat down on the sofa. He knew he should shut the TV off, but something stupid and perverse made him want to watch the video highlights of the massacre his team had suffered the night before.

Reading him right, Holly didn’t speak a word. She obviously got that he needed some space.

Two minutes later, the highlights from the Patriots-Nationals game started to roll. The Patriots had started the young right-hander, Graydon Finn—the kid they called up to replace Nate. Barely twenty-one, and in his first season at the Double-A level, Finn definitely had a lot of promise. Someday he’d be a good one. But he wasn’t ready for the big leagues. Not yet. Not even close. Last night’s debacle demonstrated that, if anybody actually needed a demonstration. By the time the kid was yanked in the third inning, the Patriots were down 6-0 and well on their way to the blowout loss.

It was their fifth defeat in a row.

What a clusterfuck
. The Patriots’ management could be such dumb-asses. Calling up a green kid. Stupid head office decisions like that made the thought of a trade to L.A. more and more appealing.

“I know you’re really upset, but maybe it would be better if you talked about it,” Holly finally said in a tentative voice. It might help get it out of your system.”