“I couldn’t tell my parents or Clair for a while. You have to understand—”
AJ kissed her softly before she could finish, tasting what he’d been dying to since that first day he ran into her. Her mouth was as agonizingly soft and delicious as he’d imagined. It made him want so much more.
He pulled away with a smile, barely able to contain himself. If he didn’t need to get this absolutely straight and she hadn’t just finished saying she didn’t want Clair to know, he’d be all over her already. “How you handle things with your dad and Clair is entirely up to you. I’ll go along with whatever you ask. We can keep it on the down low as long as you want. It’s the other part I won’t compromise on. You don’t have to tell anyone you’re with me until you’re ready. I just need to know you’re in agreement with this being more than just a friendship.”
An expression of sheer relief came over Addison’s face, and she smiled, her gorgeous dark eyes sparkling. “You know when my father started training you full-time and he began telling me about you, I could hardly believe it. Everything else about you seemed so perfect. And then on top of it all, here was my dad calling you a class act.” She continued to smile with a small shrug. “Class act with a short fuse.”
Addison laughed softly but quickly went serious again. She still hadn’t agreed to anything, and the hesitation in her eyes made AJ anxious. She took a deep breath and squeezed AJ’s hand. “It’s not that I’m not attracted to you or that I don’t think that something more than a friendship with you would be anything but amazing,” she said, and he hung on her every word. “I’ve just always been terrified as it is to disrupt or complicate Clair’s life. She’s not your typical little girl. Like you said earlier, she worries about things she shouldn’t, and with her being so close to you and all, this could be even worse if things don’t work out between you and me than if you were just any other guy.”
Clenching his jaw, AJ stared at her, hoping he wouldn’t sound as agitated as her response was making him feel. “Maybe we should think a little more positive then. Why assume things won’t work out? I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I wouldn’t be suggesting this or even be here right now if I didn’t think they could.”
That last statement wasn’t entirely true. Up until tonight’s game when he’d hardly been able to concentrate, knowing he might get to spend time with her again, he still wasn’t so sure about taking this risk. But after spending the evening with her and especially after tasting those lips, he knew he was a goner. He wanted this bad now.
A sudden twinkle in her eyes gave him hope. Then she closed them for moment, making AJ hold his breath. “Gosh,” she finally said as she opened her eyes again with a slight smile. “If there’s anyone I’d make an exception for because I swore I’d never date a baseball player again, it would be you.” AJ searched her eyes but dared not say anything until she was done. “You have no idea how tempting this is,” she whispered.
“Then say yes,” he whispered back, unable to hold his silence any longer.
“Yes,” she said then quickly added. “But . . .” His brow rose as his eyes glanced down at the finger she held up then back to her eyes. “You’re going to have to be patient with me. I don’t want anyone to know yet. Not for a while. Not until I’m certain it’s all going to work out and that Clair’s ready to know about this. It’s my biggest hesitation about this.”
“You have more than one?” he asked, searching her eyes.
“Well, yeah,” she said as if that were a given. “Getting my heart broken is the other. It’s been a long time since I’ve opened my heart to anyone, and I can already tell falling for you is going to be just too easy.”
“Well, it’s too late for me now,” he said, his eyes going from her eyes to her lips and then back again. “I’ve already fallen for you.” He kissed her softly then closed his eyes before adding with a whisper. “I’ll do this however you want. No one else has to know as long as we do.”
He opened his eyes and was pleased to see the hesitation in her eyes was gone and that twinkle he’d seen in them earlier was back. “Okay.”
AJ kissed her again, feeling a mixture of bliss and disquiet. He’d been so glad that he finally seemed to have a handle on his short fuse. It really did feel like a weakness, and it felt more important than ever that he didn’t come across as weak. Suddenly, he had two very important reasons to continue to be a class act—minus the flaw. There were two people in his life now who he knew he’d have to prove he was worthy of being a big part of their daughter’s lives. And rightfully so. Only he could already tell that fuse would be extra short when it came to anything that involved Addison and Clair. He didn’t want to blow this.
He had his work cut out for him, but she was worth it. They were absolutely worth it. Addison and Clair were a package deal, a precious package he now felt she’d bestowed a rare opportunity to try and win over.
The kiss was supposed to be a soft one: a sweet, harmless, getting-to-taste-the-lips-and-tongue-that-belonged-to-him-now kiss. But the longer he kissed her, the more frenzied it got. Like the irrepressible rage that often overtook any self-control, the hunger he was feeling for Addison now overwhelmed him. He had to pull away. Catch his breath. Calm his pounding heart—his throbbing cock. “So the just-between-you-and-me stuff,” he said breathlessly. “Exactly how slow did you want to take that?” He traced her lips with his tongue slowly. “No pressure,” he said, sliding his tongue into her very willing mouth. “I’m just wondering.”
Chapter 9
Addison
Shameful was what Addison would have been feeling if this were anyone else. The moment they closed the door to the private bathroom in her bedroom, he’d pinned her against the door and devoured her mouth. His eager tongue explored every inch of her lips and mouth feverishly. It wasn’t long before she was lifting her leg around him, making him automatically scoop her up by her ass, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck. Between panty-soaking kisses, she’d told him she wasn’t sure how slow she wanted to take this but whatever they did tonight they had to do somewhere they could lock the door, even if it was just to make out. As crazed at it made her to finally be able to run her hands all over those muscled arms and chest—something she’d been fantasizing about doing for years—it was highly improbable that this would stop at just making out.
Clair was a deep sleeper when she was this exhausted, but there’d been a time or two Addison remembered her getting up and crawling into her bed in the middle of the night, even when Addison had been sure her daughter was completely knocked out. The last thing she wanted was for Clair to wake and find them making out in the front room where this started or, worse, in her bed if they took it there.
So she’d suggested the bathroom and AJ hadn’t hesitated. Now he had her pinned against the wall, her legs wrapped around him as his bulging erection pressed against her aching crotch. She wanted him inside her more than anything. Maybe if her father hadn’t called him a class act more than once. Maybe if Clair didn’t gush about her best buddy on a daily basis. Maybe if he hadn’t made such a compelling argument about wanting more than just a fling—demanding that anything that happened between them would be serious and exclusive—maybe then she wouldn’t feel ready to rip her own panties off and spread wide for him. But who was she kidding? This wet dream come true was one she never imagined ever actually happening.
Even as she sucked those luscious lips she’d always known she could easily get addicted to, holding his face with both hands, and reminding herself that this was only the third time she’d been around him, the voice in her head pleaded its case. She wasn’t a virgin. She wasn’t a young innocent thing that hadn’t been around the block a few times. The man was impossibly sexy, and she was only human for Christ’s sake. She hadn’t been touched like this in years, and it’d been even longer since she’d had a man inside her. If that weren’t argument enough, this was AJ Romero!
Feeling his hands squeez
e her ass under her shorts, as his kisses traveled down to her neck and sucked hard, she swayed her hips against his erection, making him moan against her neck. “You tell me,” he said breathlessly as he nipped her neck, “how far you wanna go.”
On that note, she brought his hand down to the top button of her shorts. He undid it and slipped his hand into her shorts and under her panties. Addison gasped when she felt his finger slide over her clit and sink into her. “Oh my God,” she whispered loudly as she sucked his neck.
With one arm around his neck, she brought her other hand to her shorts and started pulling them down. He pulled away to look at her. “You want them off?”
“Yes!”
In the next instant, he had both her shorts and panties off her and two fingers fucking her deeply. She sucked his neck even harder, moaning softly, mindful of Clair just a few doors down.
“I can get you off, but you have to be quieter, babe,” he said against her ear.
“Fuck me,” she said, making him freeze.
He pulled back and stared at her breathlessly for a moment then unzipped his pants. She’d begun to worry she might have to convince him to, but almost from the beginning when he’d made his “no pressure” comment, she could feel how undone he was becoming. She’d been right about his intensity spilling over to everything else he did. Within seconds, he had his pants down, condom on, and plowed into her without hesitation. She muffled her moans against his neck as he fucked her fast and furiously, slowing at only the most perfect moments. His timing was impeccable. Clearly, he knew exactly what he was doing. Her grateful already trembling body was devouring it.
“Yes,” she gasped. “It’s happening.”
He lowered his mouth to her neck again, sucking in the same rhythm he swayed his hips into her, and began to moan too. “My dick feels so good inside you. Come, baby.” He said the strained words as he continued to suck her neck and drive into her harder—deeper. “Come, Addison!”
Just as he said the words, she did so explosively she didn’t even realize what he’d done until she was moaning into a towel. It was by far the most powerful orgasm she’d ever experienced. Addison wasn’t sure if it was because of how long it’d been since she’d had sex or because this was AJ. But it was beyond any experience she’d had with a man. Not that she had a vast assortment of partners, but she’d had enough sex with Clair’s dad to know the difference between good sex and the kind of experience she’d never forget. This was something she already knew she’d never forget.
It wasn’t until she pulled away, still gasping for air, that she realized he, too, had come. He was still squeezing her ass cheeks as he leaned his hard body against hers, breathing just as hard. It was also then that she realized he’d pulled a towel from the rack next to them so it’d muffle her irrepressible moaning. A towel he now used to wipe them both clean as he slipped out of her and her feet hit the floor again. Her mother’s uber-expensive Egyptian cotton white towel.
“Oh my God.” She gasped when he tossed it onto the sink “We’re not even supposed to use those to dry our hands.”
She knew it sounded stupid, even as she bent over, still breathless, to put her panties and shorts back on. It was just one of those things people are into and her mother had always been into these types of things: outrageously expensive decorative items, hard-to-find stuff, and in some cases one-of-a-kind stuff. Like these towels for example.
Addison knew exactly how much they cost because, just last year, her father had Addison go on a wild-goose chase, trying to track down the manufacturer, who was considered more of an artist. He was one of the few towel manufacturers that still silk-screened their prints by hand. The double-rolled scalloped edges were also sewn by hand. This was her father’s birthday gift for her mother last year.
The moment she was all zipped up she hurried to the sink to assess the damage. “Oh, this is bad,” she said.
“I’ll buy new ones,” AJ said without a care as he wrapped his arms around Addison’s waist from behind and kissed her nape then rested his chin on her shoulder.
Addison could feel how hard his heart beat as he pressed his hard body against her back.
“No, you don’t understand,” she said, running the towel under the water in the sink even as the string of kisses he was now trailing down her neck made her shiver. “You don’t just replace these. This is one-of-a-kind.”
She glanced up, meeting his eyes in the mirror, getting caught up in those eyes, and staring at those lips. Jesus, he was gorgeous. Addison, on the other hand, looked all disheveled and flushed, very much like she’d just gotten laid. At least it was obvious she’d enjoyed it because Madre de Dios! If it weren’t for her mother’s damn towel, she might still be basking in the afterglow. Certain body parts hadn’t even completely calmed yet.
She remembered the liquid detergent she kept under her sink so she could hand-wash her delicates and bent over as she searched for it. Her still-tingling body parts suddenly clenched when she felt AJ’s hands at her waist and he rubbed his new erection against her ass.
“Damn, Addison,” he said, his voice just as strained as earlier when he was burying himself in her.
“Sorry,” she said, smirking at him through the mirror again. “I didn’t mean to get you going again.”
She straightened up, inwardly cursing the damn towel again. If it weren’t for her need to get it cleaned up fast, she might spin around and have another round of the ecstasy because she, too, felt ready for it again.
“Why would your mom keep towels in a bathroom if you’re not even supposed to use them for drying your hands?”
“I knew you’d ask that,” she said, turning back to look at him. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but since this is technically one of the master bedroom’s bathrooms, she doesn’t anticipate many guests using it. The ones who do are duly warned, and the rest of us know better. They’re purely for looks, almost like a work of art she’s displaying.” He kissed her when she gave him an apologetic face. “But I think I saved it,” she said as she held it up.
“Looks good to me,” he said, wrapping his arms tighter around her and kissing her neck.
Her entire body quivered again as he sucked a little harder. Addison wasn’t a short girl by any means. Growing up, she’d always been the tallest in her class. It was just another reason she’d been so drawn to baseball players. Most of them were taller than average. But AJ was huge. He made her feel tiny and delicate in his big arms. She took a deep breath then froze when she thought she heard something out in the hall. “Did you hear that?”
Instantly, his hands and lips were off her, and he backed away from her. “Your parents?”
She couldn’t help but giggle at his response. The expression his face was that of a terrified teenage boy whose girlfriend’s parents just got home early. Visions of this huge guy jumping out the back window made her giggle even more.
“No,” she whispered. “I told you they’re not coming home tonight. My dad doesn’t drive at night anymore. But wait here.”
He nodded, his eyes still looking completely alarmed. Addison left the towel in the sink and walked out quietly. She was nearly out the bedroom double doors she’d purposely left wide open when Snickers ran into the room and began jumping up at her knees.
“Oh, it’s you,” she whispered, feeling completely relieved.
She’d forgotten he wasn’t in Clair’s room when they got home. He must’ve been napping on the back porch and made his way in through the doggy door. Snickers was another heavy sleeper. At almost eight, his hearing wasn’t the greatest anymore. She hurried to Clair’s room so his barking when he saw AJ wouldn’t wake Clair. The sight of her daughter sleeping so soundly made her smile.
“Go night nights,” she whispered to Snickers, who ran straight to his little bed next to Clair’s and circled around until he dropped his body down into it.
Addison closed the door, rushing back to her room and to her private bathroom. A nervous-looking AJ p
ushed himself away from the sink where he’d been leaning and stared at her anxiously. “It was the dog,” she said, and the relief washed over his face instantly. “I put him in her room so he won’t bark when he sees you and wake her. But I have to get this in my mom’s dry cleaner machine.”
He gaped at her as she walked over to the sink to retrieve the towel. So she explained about her mom’s state-of-the-art in-home dry-cleaner system. She hadn’t thought of it until after she washed it gently and wondered how best to dry it without wringing it out.
AJ had slipped his hand in hers before they even walked out of the bathroom. The whole way to the laundry room they’d stopped every few steps to kiss. Addison giggled, feeling like a schoolgirl. She’d never experienced anything like this her entire school years, not even in college. She still couldn’t believe she was going to let this happen.
The electrifying excitement of this all was just too surreal. Her heart had been working overtime from the moment Clair told her AJ would be taking them to Galaxy Pizza. Not even when she’d gotten out to escort Harrison to the door of his house and spoken with his mother briefly had her heart taken a break. She knew Clair would very likely not make it home awake, and after AJ’s comments back at the pizza place, she wasn’t sure what the night would bring. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected this would happen.
When they reached the laundry, room her already overworked heart practically jumped out of her chest when he turned and closed the door behind him. “Does this thing lock?”
Feeling her face flush, she shook her head. “It doesn’t,” she said, her lady parts already alive. “But I just checked on Clair and she’s sound asleep. I can tell she’s gonna be out until morning.”