Home Run Baby: A Sports Romance (69 page)

“Sorry, just habit at this point.” I keep my voice low. “Dr. Zach almost caught us yesterday.”

“Where were you?”

“In the TA office.”

She gasps. “You’re banging him
on campus
?”

“Daisy...”

“Bravo!”
she praises. “Such a dirty girl! Even
I’ve
never done it in public. Good for you.”

“Stop it,”
I say, barely glancing at the field. We’re on the defense right now. As much as I love football, I tend the zone out whenever Douglas is on the field. “I think I should call this whole thing off. It’s getting too risky.”

“But risky is what makes it
fun
.”

“I’m not disagreeing with that, but…”

“But
what
?” she asks.

“I think he’s…” I lower my voice,
“corrupting me.”

She laughs.
“Good.”

“Is it?”

“It’s about time, if you ask me. I couldn’t even get you to swipe a tube of lipstick in high school.”

“Well, that’s
illegal
,” I point out, “but this is just…”

“Dirty.”

“Yeah.”

The crowd boos and my attentions fly back to the field. The other team scored yet another touchdown, giving them a very considerable lead over us. Good thing we’re only in the second quarter.

The players shuffle around on the field and my chest flutters as I see John walking out there.

“Don’t think too much about it, Rose,” Daisy says. “Just have fun with it.”

“There
is
such a thing as too much fun, you know.”

“Not the way I do it.”

I bite my tongue as John gets slammed to the ground by a rather overzealous cornerback. Junior bends down and helps him to his feet as the crowd groans again.

“What’s up with your boy today?” Daisy asks me. “He’s playing like shit.”

“I don’t know…” The team huddles up on the field but I focus on him, craning my neck to see over the freakishly tall people in front of me.

“Well, did you guys have sex today?”

“No,” I answer.

“Last night?”

“… No.” I pause. “Why?”

“Because sexual intercourse is a natural performance enhancer,” she explains. “It temporarily increases testosterone levels, makes them more focused, more controlled. All that fun stuff.”

I shake my head. “That can’t possibly be true…”

“Dude, you’re the chemist.”

“Oh, man…” I look out at the field as the teams cradle the line of scrimmage. “Is this really my fault?”

“Probably.”

“Hike!”
Junior spins around and hands the ball off to John, who instantly bolts to the left to dodge a fierce defense as it pummels right through the offensive linemen.

I wince as John takes yet another hard tackle. “Ah, crap.”

Daisy chuckles. “
Or
, you can acknowledge that football is a team sport and he’s probably
not
the only one out there having an off day… if that makes you feel any better.”

“Right…” I chew on my lip and check the countdown timer. Three minutes left until halftime and we’re down twenty-one points. “I’ll give you a call after the game.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later,” she says, “you cock-hungry minx.”

I flinch. “Jesus, Daisy…”

“Sorry,” she says. “Got a little carried away there.”

“Ya think?”

“Bye, Rose.”

“Bye.”

I drop the phone back into my pocket and stand up to climb down the bleachers to get a better look. Even in a sea of uniforms all the same color, John stands out to me in the middle of everything with stains on his tights and his head down after taking one too many hits.

There’s still enough time to turn this around. Coach Bob most likely has a motivational speech to hand down during the twenty minutes of halftime in the locker room but what if that’s not enough? The team depends on John and his fast speed to gain yards and score touchdowns. If he’s not performing well, then…

Ahh, jeez.
I’m really doing this, aren’t I?

Chapter 15

John

I walk towards the locker room with my head down, feeling the hard pats from my teammates as they pass by around me.

This Rose situation has officially bled into my damn psyche. I can’t get her out of my head. Most of all, I can’t get the mental image of Douglas Floyd taking what’s mine out of my head. And I’ve got the worst imagination possible on that. Flashes of Rose on her knees, on all fours, on her back with legs in the air — if I’ve done it to her, you can bet your ass I’ve pictured Douglas doing the exact same things to her and I can’t do a thing to stop the images from flashing over and over again.

“Psst!”

I turn towards the sound behind me without thinking, instantly halting in my tracks as I see Rose’s face peeking out from behind a classroom door.

“Rose?”

She lays a finger across her lips to silence me and gestures for me to follow her inside as she hides away from the other players.

I linger back in the hall and wait for the rest of the team to disappear into the locker room before bolting into the dark classroom.

Rose stands by the desk with pink in her cheeks. “Hey, John,” she says.

I set my helmet down by the door. “Rose…” I look around the empty classroom. “What’s up?”

“I, um…” She bites her lip. “Fuck me.”

I raise a brow. “Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Now?”

She steps towards me and pushes up onto her toes. “Come on, Johnny…” She kisses me, flicking her little tongue against mine and I taste the desire on her breath.

I kiss her back and she guides me towards the desk with her. “Not that I’m not willing and eager or anything,” I say, “but what’s got you so revved up?”

“Well… I heard that sex is a natural performance enhancer, so…”

I grow even harder as she unties the strings on my tights. “You think a quickie will help me turn this game around?”

“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”

I smile, feeling a bolt of warmth from my head to my toes.

Rose Hawthorne. Once again surprising me. Once again making me feel more alive than anyone else in the world. I suddenly don’t give a flying fuck about what Douglas Floyd wants to do to her — especially considering what
she’s
willing to let
me
do to her.

“You’re fucking amazing, Rose.”

She twists a condom wrapper between her nails to tear it open. “And
you
only have ten minutes left in halftime,” she grins, sliding the condom onto my hard cock. “You better fuck me fast.”

“Bend over the desk.”

Rose turns around and I lean down to pull her skirt up over her ass. I force her panties down and they slide to the floor as I position my cock against her tight pussy.

“You gonna go deep for me, Johnny?” she asks, craning her neck back to look at me.

“Hell yes.” I slide inside, feeling her stretch out around me and she instantly moans as I plunge deeper.
“Fuck, you’re wet.”

She chuckles, tightly gripping the desk as I pound her harder. “I love watching you out there, owning that field,” she moans. “It makes me want you so bad…”

I grunt, leaning over to grind her even deeper as I kiss her. “Oh yeah?”

“I wanna see you score, Johnny,” she says, licking the sweat off my cheek. “Score for me.”

I grip her hair, feeling all of my blood fire south with every dirty word she says.
“More…”

“You gonna get that ball in the end zone?” she teases, tightening her muscles on the inside to squeeze me. “Give me a touchdown.”

I fuck her faster.
“Rose…”

“Ms. Hawthorne,”
she corrects, winking back as everything grows tense in me.

The tension breaks and I let out a hard groan as I come, continuously pumping her until I just can’t anymore. My knees wobble. My ankles buck. My entire body turns to warm jelly and I feel like I could topple over at any moment.

“Touchdown…”
I laugh, barely standing.

She cracks up, laughing hard with me as I slide out of her. “Five minutes…” she mutters, glancing at her phone. “You should get going.”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna need a second…”

I cup her face and kiss her as feeling returns to my limbs. Suddenly, I’m more alert, easily seeing the through fog in my head and my heart pumps fresh, warm blood all the way from my brain to my toes.

“Thank you,” I tell her.

She slides her panties back on. “No problem.”

I roll the used condom off and toss it into the trash by the desk. “I feel bad,” I say, fixing my uniform and tying my tights. “That wasn’t enough to get you off, too.”

“You can make it up to me tonight.”

“Yeah?”

“Meet me at my place after the game.” She pushes up onto her toes again and kisses me. “I’ll let you get in some extra credit.”

I laugh. “I’ll be there.”

“I know you will. Now, go kick some ass for me.”

“Wait…”

I stare into her eyes again, losing myself in her for just a moment longer. She steals another kiss before I can and I commit everything about her to memory. Her touch, her taste. Her scent. The way her lips vibrate against mine as she laughs mid-kiss. All of it. Everything about this moment is mine and hers and no one else’s and always will be.

I take a step back and grab my helmet by the door. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Rose waves at me and I step back outside to join the rest of the team as they make their way back onto the field.

Junior pauses beside me. “You okay, John?” he asks.

“Yeah.” I nod and slide my helmet on. “I’m fucking great.”

***

Victory has never felt so satisfying.

Well, maybe it will feel better next month when we take that championship, but so far,
this one
is the best.

I don’t want to jinx it but the momentum is real. We’ve won every game this season, just like last season, and we did it all without a famous football player coaching us. There’s no placebo effect happening here. Our team couldn’t be tighter or more focused. This is it. This is our year — especially with my good luck charm, Rose.

I twist the shower nob, blasting myself with a bit of cold water because I’m getting a boner just thinking about it.

We’re taking home a fucking championship this year.

I step out of the shower into the surging locker room, positioning my towel so Little John doesn’t make an accidental appearance.

“Hey, John…” Junior steps over to me as I reach my locker and pulls a square, white envelope from his bag. “For
you
.”

I feign a gasp as I break the heart-shaped seal. “Oh, Junior,
honey
…” I coo. “It’s too early for Valentine’s Day.”

He chuckles with rolling eyes as he throws his gym bag over his shoulder.

I slide the card out and read it aloud. “You are invited by Junior Morgan and Eliza Pierce to celebrate with them on their special day —
November 13th
?” I look at him. “Why so soon?”

“Well…” he shrugs, “Eliza took the fall semester off to take care of the baby.”

“Right,” I nod.

“Which she absolutely
loves
doing, but she’s also bored as hell and has spent the last two months planning this wedding from top to bottom.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, she wants it over and done with before she comes back to school in the spring and what Eliza wants, Eliza gets, so…
November 13th.
”

“Makes sense.” I slide the invitation away in my locker. “I’ll be there.”

“It’s all happening at her dad’s house and we’re inviting the whole team so, it should be pretty casual and fun.”

I laugh. “Doesn’t he hate you?”

“Eh…”
He winces. “I think he’s starting to get over the whole
I knocked up his daughter
thing…”

“That’s good.”

“And they’ve honestly never had that great of a relationship. This is his way of finally being there for her and I’m not about stand in the way of that.”

I nod. “I guess it helps that his granddaughter is
adorable
.”

He smiles. “Yeah, that helps, too.” He turns to leave but stops, tilting his head awkwardly at me. “Oh, also… make sure your plus one is…”

“Classy?” I suggest. “Sophisticated?”

“The term Eliza used was
not-whorish
and — preferably — someone that
I
haven’t slept with before.”

“Ouch,” I say. “That’s a short list.”

He blinks. “Yeah.”

I wave a hand. “Don’t worry. This ain’t my first dance-off, man. I have the perfect girl in mind.”

“Thanks, John.” He spins towards the door. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Junior.”

A classy, sophisticated,
not-whorish
plus one? There’s only one option I can think of and she’s waiting for me to meet her at her place so I can fuck her brains out tonight.

It doesn’t get much classier than that in my book.