Ballers with Benefits (Double Play Series Book 3)

by Nicole Rodrigues

  “Ooookayyyy,” I say slowly.

  “Action, comedy or horror movies?” Damon asks.

  “Definitely comedy, you?”

  “What kind of man would I be if I didn't say action?” he says downing the shot.

  I follow his lead and the tequila slowly slips down my throat. God, that feels good. The alcohol floods my veins and a warmth spreads through me, relaxing me.

  “How old are you?” he asks.

  I scoff. “Not polite to ask a lady her age,” I say shaking my finger at him.

  “Oh, come on. You can’t be a day over 21,” he says moving close. “You...you are 21, right?” he asks feigning seriousness.

  I shake my head and laugh.

  “I'm twenty four, smart ass. How old are you?”

  “Too old for you, so don't get any ideas.”

  “I'm sure you are,” I say rolling my eyes.

  He laughs. “Kidding. I’m twenty eight. Family?” he asks.

  “A twin brother two minutes older than me and younger sister that's five.”

  “That's...strange. Step sister?”

  “Nope, same parents just.. it's a long story.”

  “Hmm middle child, huh? Ouch!” I hit his arm and he laughs. “Hey hey...I'm talking from experience, I am too. Older and younger brother.“

  “God bless your mama with a house full of boys,” I say laughing.

  “She is a saint.”

  “Job?” I ask.

  “I uh...athlete.”

  “That's all I get?”

  “Baseball,” he says looking away.

  “Ahh...Damon Johnson. I thought I recognized you.”

  “That's me,” he says, his mood instantly changing.

  Devin gets the same way when people recognize him, and I try to lighten the mood to show him I'm not like everyone else.

  “My twin is Devin Gavinwood. You won't get a swoon from me, Johnson,” I say poking his bicep.

  Shit it's rock solid. Okay, maybe a little swoon.

  “Full disclosure, I knew who you were. I have your calendar up on my wall in my closet. I wasn't 100% sure at first because...well you look different with your hair up and pants on,” he says sheepishly

  His smirk is devilish, and I feel a drop of sweat drip down my back.

  “I won't lie to you Bella, let's just say I got to January and it's been January since,” he smirks.

  I shake my head with embarrassment.

  “So you had a leg up on me, huh? Yeah, well that was uh...for charity believe it or not. All the funds from the calendar went to a veteran's foundation. We even sent them a handful, lift their spirits and what not.”

  “Well then I'm glad I contributed. I'm sure it lifted more than just their spirits.”

  He winks and I huff out a breath.

  “Yeah, I heard that one before,” I mumble.

  “You used to that sort of thing? Photo shoots like that and stuff? You’re pretty popular on that team, I can’t imagine Sports Illustrated isn’t knocking down your door.”

  “No, to be honest. I was pretty uncomfortable, but knowin’ it was for a good cause helped. Plus, I downed about four shots before hand,” I say laughing. “I don’t plan on doin’ that again, even if Sports Illustrated does keep knockin’ on my door,” I wink.

  The truth is they really only asked twice. I said no both times, that’s just not me. I think my father would have a heart attack, only to come back to life and murder the guy that keeps asking me.

  “What about you?” I ask trying to change the subject. “House full of boys. I'm sure y'all got into your own trouble. You were probably the worst,” I say eyeing him.

  “I'll have you know that I was the best behaved out of the three of us and 100% my mom’s favorite. She'll tell you so, even in front of my brothers.”

  He laughs taking the two shots off the bar and hands me one. He drinks his as I play with mine.

  “That was a different time. I was younger and stupid. I’m trying things a little differently now, but I guess I picked the wrong girl to start, or maybe I'm just not meant for this kind of life. Maybe the younger and stupider me is just who I really am.”

  I look over to him as he runs a hand through his hair. It's messy, like he ran his fingers through it one too many times. I would like to run my fingers through that gorgeous hair a time or two. His tight, black t shirt stretches across his broad chest and sculpted arms with the movement. Yum.

  “Age you lost your virginity?” he asks breaking me out of my thoughts.

  “Woah, okay, we're on that level already, huh?”

  He raises his eyebrow and nods for me to continue.

  “Nineteen.”

  “Late bloomer” he says smirking. “What's the story?”

  “I...I wanted it to be special. Didn't find anyone worth it in HS, got to college and I was the only virgin in my friend’s group. I got shit for it all freshman year so come sophomore year, I gave it up to the first schmuck that paid some attention to me. End of story,” I shrug.

  “Regret it?” he asked.

  “Every day,” I say looking down at my hands.

  “Why?”

  “I just wish I had more confidence in myself back then. More self worth to realize I deserved more than a five minute romp in the middle of the day in a smelly dorm room. He was a douchebag afterwards. He played baseball, bragged to his team that he slept with me. Apparently, it was a thing, who could take the star third baseman home, because I was ‘such a tease’ the first year. Of course, it was a bonus because I was a virgin.”

  I never let myself utter those words out loud before. The embarrassment, the shame of finally stepping outside my comfort zone, doing something daring only to get burned.

  “Damn five minutes? He was a schmuck,” Damon scoffs.

  I smack his arm playfully and he grabs it wincing.

  “How do you wish it would have gone?”

  “What?”

  “Well you must have had some expectations in your HS days if you held out all throughout. What did that perfect night look like?” he asks with genuine curiousness in his gaze.

  “I um..I don't know, I never really thought about it. I guess I would’ve hoped for it to be with someone I loved. He would know what to do with my body. He wouldn't make me feel embarrassed and he would obviously make me come.” I say smiling devilishly towards him.

  The mix of just being in Damon's presence and tequila shots is making me bolder.

  “Obviously,” he agrees.

  “I guess I pictured a home cooked meal, some wine, foreplay, some sexy lingerie, rose petals on the bed, maybe a warm bubble bath after and waking up together to breakfast in bed and maybe a morning repeat...I'm babblin’, I'll stop,” I say laughing.

  That was so embarrassing, I need to stop drinking. I can't believe I just said all of that.

  “That’s..don't be embarrassed,” he says putting his fingers under my chin to lift my gaze.

  Our eyes lock and I quickly avert mine and clear my throat.

  “What about you?”

  “Sixteen. Girl I took to junior prom. Her parents were out of town. Nothing too crazy. Typical teenage stuff, I guess, but I can tell you it was a little more than five minutes.”

  I laugh and he slides another shot over to me.

  “So, I’m guessing you’d be more of a relationship girl then a mess around girl, huh?”

  “Yeah. Well one really, the last one was for four years, like I said.”

  Fuck, I forgot how much it hurt. I shake my head trying to clear the fog and hold back the tears.

  “Four years of my life that I can't get back,” I whisper.

  “Hey, you're still so young, you have plenty of time to make up for it.”

  “Yeah well, I tend to attract assholes. Haven't found a decent guy yet.”

  Damon gets off the stool quickly and puts his hand out in front of him.

  “Here, give me your phone.”

  “What?”

  “
Your phone,” he says again.

  I reach into my purse and take out my phone placing it in Damon's hand. He swipes it open and turns the phone so I can't see what he is doing. He turns back around and has the camera open to selfie mode.

  He comes up behind me and puts his arms over my shoulders. One arm rests across my chest and he rests his chin on my shoulder, pushing his body against my back. I look into the camera and lock eyes with him and he smiles. He clicks the picture and then I feel his lips on my ear and I shudder.

  Shit what was that? Since when did my body do that?

  “Make that asshole wish he had the balls to handle this gorgeous body like it should be handled,” he whispers in my ear, his hand dropping to my waist. “You're more than settle down material Bella. He's too pussy to commit to just you and you deserve a real man.”

  My mouth opens slightly at his touch and his words, that were quickly turning me into a puddle of lust. He snaps a picture again. I turn my head to lock eyes with him. I want to look into his eyes and not through the camera. His gaze drops down to my lips and he moves closer. His lips brush mine softly and I hear the camera click again. He pulls away smiling, clicking things on my phone and then putting it back in my purse. I'm stunned in place because I just let a stranger kiss me.

  “What did you do?” I ask.

  “Connor, right? That’s his name?”

  “Yes,” I say with confusion.

  “Sent him a little picture letting him know you’re not gonna be home alone tonight,” he says winking.

  I cross my arms over my chest.

  “Oh, I ain’t, huh? A little ahead of ourselves, don’t ya think?”

  He smirks and my sex clenches around nothing. What the hell is happening?

  “Give me your phone,” I say quickly.

  He smiles again and types in his code before he hands it to me. I fist the top of his shirt in my hand and drag him to me on the barstool. I search through his recent texts and find it. Brynn Baby. Bingo.

  “Take it, your arms are longer than mine,” I command.

  I give him his phone back, making sure the camera setting it set to selfie. I pull him closer to me and kiss his cheek as he smirks and snaps the picture.

  “She’s not going to be jealous of that,” he says turning towards me quickly catching me off guard.

  He moves his body in between my legs and his hand slides slowly up my neck, cupping my jaw. His other hand goes under my thigh making my leg wrap around his waist. I feel his finger trace along the bone of my chin, and I flinch at the spark it ignites on my skin. He leans forward and our lips touch again, only this time I feel his tongue slide into my mouth, greedily taking from my own.

  I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling our bodies closer together and groan when I feel his hard length against my thigh. Our tongues wrestle for control and he suddenly breaks the kiss, handing the phone back to me, leaving me panting and wanting him to do it again.

  “Your call angel,” he says.

  I catch my breath, slowing my breathing down and glance through the pictures we just took.

  Fuck they’re hot. I want to send them to myself so when I wake up tomorrow, I know this was all real.

  I pick the sexiest picture out of the bunch, our kiss so sloppy you can see our tongues and send it to Brynn.

  Thanks for releasing this tiger, he’s coming to my cage tonight.

  “She’s gonna be pissed,” I say handing the phone back to him.

  “Hold on a second,” he says jogging away from me.

  I see him walk over to the band warming up on stage, getting ready to play. He says something to the guy in the middle and they both look at me. I look away, a furious blush creeping into my cheeks and play with my napkin on the bar.

  A couple of minutes go by and I look up, watching Damon walk back towards me like a lion hunting his prey.

  “Dance with me,” he commands.

  I laugh shaking my head.

  “Come on, I’ll dance by myself if you say no.”

  He walks backwards towards the empty dance floor and the patrons start watching, wondering what he is going to do.

  The band strikes up, a slow country song I recognize, and I smile.

  “Come on angel!” he shouts over the music, “Don’t leave your man to fend for himself.”

  I blush, mortified with the attention and hop off the barstool like it's on fire. I quickly walk towards him on the dance floor and slap his chest.

  “What the hell are you doin’, you’re bringin’ attention to us,” I chide.

  “Don’t worry, paparazzi don’t come to little shacks like this,” he laughs placing a hand on my waist and grabbing my hand in his.

  “People have phones Damon, knock it off.”

  “Angel, you need to learn something I’ve learned the hard way,” he says pushing a strand of hair away from my eyes. “People are going to talk, criticize you, hate you, all for no damn reason, simply because you are in the public eye. Don’t live your life in fear of what others think. Live your life the way you want because one day you are going to wake up and wish you could have done that.”

  I look into his eyes and see more emotion in them than I think he wants to let slip. He looks away quickly, squeezing my hand tighter.

  “Is that what you do? Live your life with the ‘fuck everyone’ attitude?” I scoff.

  “I used to live my life how I thought a young, rich, asshole baseball player should. Now I’m living it how I want. Fuck Brynn, fuck what the media wants to write about me and fuck whoever doesn’t like me.”

  I can’t help but feel like I know exactly what he is talking about. I’ve played it safe for a long time, trying to live my life the way I thought people wanted me to. Not straying away from the line for fear of getting hurt, or fear of letting people down. I was reckless one time and look where that got me?

  After that, I clung to Connor because he was “safe” and haven’t done anything remotely scary since.

  Why can’t I do what I want without the fear? What about me and what I want?

  “Don’t think about that asshole Bella. What do you want to do?”

  “I...I don’t know.”

  “I know what I want to do. Let's get the hell out of here so I can show you how a man should really worship you, if you want to angel. It can’t end here,” he says in my ear.

  I've been the good girl for so many damn years and what the hell has that gotten me? Never doing anything that would push me out of my comfort zone. Staying in my little bubble, not venturing out to see what the other side of the rules has to offer.

  Screw it. I want this guy and who the hell am I to deny myself?

  My cheeks heat and a jolt goes through my body straight to my core. The promise in his words instantly makes me wet.

  “Yes,” I said breathlessly “Let’s go.”

  He laughs as he pulls me back towards the bar, throwing a bunch of bills on top and pulls me towards the door to leave. As soon as we get outside, he pulls me around the corner of the building and pushes me against the brick wall.

  “Tell me to stop and I will, angel,” he says caging me against the wall with both hands braced above my shoulders.

  I lace my fingers behind his waist to pull him closer, his scent pulling me towards that line. The line separating good and bad, rule follower and rule breaker. It smells like sex and all man, woodsy and strong. I feel the bulge through his jeans, warm against my belly and whimper.

  “Not a damn chance,” I say pulling him closer and going up on my tiptoes.

  I kiss his neck, underneath his ear and trail kisses to the other. He growls and grabs my face with both hands and presses a hard kiss to my lips. It's punishing and I feel the emotion seeping through, his tongue tangling with mine.

  “Fuck Bella, let's forget tonight. Forget the other shit and just do...feel. Let's be reckless. I want you so badly. I need you so badly,” he says desperately.

  He did make me forget. He made me forget that I
wasted so much time on a man that never made me feel like this. Like I can't take my next breath until he kisses me and gives it to me. Like my pussy is aching and empty and only when it's filled with his cock will I feel whole.

  It's confusing because he’s a stranger, a stranger that had his ego busted and is clearly using me to numb the pain and prove he still has mojo.