“Is that what happened to your parents?”
“Yeah.”
Michael took my hand like he cared about what I said and, for that moment, I was at peace. Then he said, “My dad explained a few things, like it’s healthy to tug the joystick, and I’ve had a lot of practice the last few years.”
“Joystick. Are you serious?”
He laughed at me like I was the one who sounded ridiculous as he shrugged and said, “I liked video games as a kid, and I have my own controller.”
He would consider his cock a joystick then. I rolled my eyes like I was offended when the truth was, I wasn’t, but I said, “I don’t need to hear this.”
He asked in a lower, sexier, deep voice that made my body get all twisted up, “So you don’t masturbate, Georgie?”
“No,” I said, but sounded weak. I never sounded like this. It was like Michael had some power over me I couldn’t describe and didn’t want to. No one would believe me anyhow.
“No pretend bat scoring in your bedroom nightstand?”
“A bat…no, I don’t have a vibrator.”
He scooted closer in his seat. “Do you have another man in your life I need to get rid of?”
“Get rid of?” I asked and played with the collar of my V-neck t-shirt as I needed to touch something.
He pressed his hand on my thigh. “I want you, Georgie. Seven years hasn’t quenched my desire for you. Time has actually enhanced it.”
The same. Not even childbirth pains had stopped the memories that had brought me pleasure for more than a few weeks. I avoided looking at him, but his hand on me just made me zap in ways I thought were dead. “I…should probably lie right now and say I do.”
His hand went up my body, from my waist to my chest to my face. “Better not to lie. I can see in your eyes you want me.”
I fluttered my eyes closed as I gave a weak sounding protest. “Stop this. I’m weak near you.”
“So am I, Beautiful.” He inched closer and I knew he stood from his seat as he said, “If I could stop wanting you, I would have, years ago.”
I stood, too. He wasn’t alone in this. I wanted to hate him. I’d wanted to forget him. But that hadn’t happened. He’d been the only man in my bed since we’d met. I stayed in his arms as I said, “We don’t know anything about each other. Whatever decision I make has consequences.”
He cupped my face. “I get that.”
“But you don’t care,” I said as my lips pressed together instead of arguing like I should. I should pick up my sleeping boy and run. I should have never been with him on that vacation either, but near Michael, all my ‘shoulds’ dissipated like the rules didn’t apply with him.
Michael’s warm breath and lips were a fraction of an inch from mine as he said, “Don’t put words in my mouth. Do this instead.”
He kissed me. I wanted to push him off, but my arms curled around his muscular shoulders.
I said, “Damn,” between breaths.
Tomorrow was tomorrow, but for a kiss, Michael hit a homerun. He still had whatever it was about him that made my veins crave him and only him.
All he needed to do was lead.
Chapter 4
Michael
My wood was hard and needy. I hadn’t been so wound up in a long time. Every other woman had tasted like I’d eaten rotten eggs if she’d kissed me, so I’d waited seven years for Georgie.
However, I’d wait more. I wasn’t in a hotel anymore. The sun was starting to rise out of her north windows. I’d driven both Georgie and my boy home. As he slept and I carried him in my arms, I realized he truly was an unexpected treasure.
He was like a small little angel when he slept, though he needed a better haircut. Longer hair on the sides blocked his peripheral view to catch the ball properly.
Now that I was in Jeremy’s life, I’d show him how to be a man.
Georgie’s conversation last night made me think she took care of the basics but needed better health insurance. She’d been an analyst and she’d probably priced out what everything in her life cost and probabilities that hadn’t. I remembered on our vacation how she'd said she had spreadsheets of math statistics to decide everything, including where she vacationed. She’d researched the hotel for crime statistics.
Last night though, she’d actively avoided planning a few things boys, in time, need to know, but I’d be here for Jeremy, too.
And to seduce Georgie into bed.
I took care of business in the basement bathroom and washed myself up and headed upstairs to her granite floor kitchen with all white cabinets and black marble counters. It was spotless, but I dug through drawers, found the waffle maker and the mixing bowl. And whipped up breakfast.
Georgie and I needed to talk. Bad. She had my son. This wasn’t about lust or just tossing her on the bed and taking her anymore.
And Jeremy needed to know he had a father. I needed to know him. My parents would want to meet him, and I needed to fucking act like a man.
Fast.
As I heard the sizzle of the machine, I found the coffee and made that, too.
However, it smelled bad and I stilled. I picked up my apps for morning delivery that I had in case any hotel coffee the team booked for us sucked. The smell of the coffee seemed off, but I waited till it finished percolating.
With one test, I knew I’d better use the app. And, coffee was ordered.
Jeremy came downstairs, and I silently made him a plate. He stared at me like I was some wonder as I held up the orange juice. He nodded and then came beside me and said, “Mom says I need to eat yogurt every morning.”
“Got it,” I said and grabbed the tub of Greek yogurt. He pointed to a bowl and I let him serve himself.
He was clearly a good kid. He put the lid on and grabbed his own silverware. After he finished, he said, “I need help catching the ball.”
“My son?” I said, with my hand pressed to my heart. “After school, why don’t you and I throw around a ball?”
“I’d like that.” He grabbed his phone on the table and tossed it at me. “Can you put your number in my phone so I can talk to you?”
I quickly typed my mailing address and phone number. I then asked, “Can I put my parents in there, too? They’d want to meet their grandson.”
His eyes widened like I’d just offered him some sacred relic in an adventure film, but he added syrup to his waffle and asked, “Where do they live?”
I passed the butter that he skipped. “Fort Myers, Florida. I see them a lot during spring training.”
He didn’t take the butter. Georgie must be all about health.
Jeremy asked, “Is that where you’re from? The cards say Chicago.”
“They moved there when they retired,” I answered fast. “And, it’s nice to have family around during practice.”
He still didn’t move for the butter but then turned his phone down on the table and said, “Before I talk to them or you, I’ll have to ask my mom.”
“Of course,” I said cheerily, like that was a non-problem. Georgie was mine and so was Jeremy. Now we’d figure out how to be a family. Last night was my token start when I carried the two sleeping people back to her house from the address she’d given me. I’d found the keys in her back pocket and driven them without waking them much, other than agreeing to stay on the couch, because I needed to take care of them. I jumped up from the table, eager to see Georgie again. “I’ll go wake her so she can join us.”
“Okay.” He sipped his orange juice as birds chirped in the backyard.
I then took to the stairs like I’d been here for years, though I’d spent the night on the couch without exploring much. The hotel had seemed far, and I’d known I'd miss my family. I’d brought slumbering people home in the early morning hours to sleep better and for my son to have a normal routine, not in a hotel.
As I opened her room, the light of the day already streamed in. Georgie’s brown hair billowed on her cream pillowcases. And her face without stress as sh
e slumbered was still the same girl that had bewitched my soul years ago. For now, I sat on the edge of her bed and juggled her feet as I said, “Good morning.”
She tossed for a minute and sat up, rubbing her eyes as she asked, “Where am I?”
“In your bed.” I winked. Today we needed to figure out how our lives melded. Last night, we’d ordered wine, and the sun of the day must have drowsed her as she'd passed out during the massage I’d given her as a way of getting her used to my touch again. And despite how I jiggled her in my arms as I carried her to my car, she hadn’t woken.
She’d trusted me enough with her body and our son last night to get them home, and I refused to mess that up. Now she ran her hand through her hair and asked, “What happened last night?”
I scooted closer to her and ran my hand through her soft locks. “I brought you and Jeremy home and had your car brought over an hour ago. I was sure the tow truck would wake you half an hour ago.”
“I never sleep this soundly.” Her face reddened as she came closer to me and then she pulled back and shook her head as she asked, “Did anything happen between us?”
Part of her soul must have some faith in me, and I’d earn more of that. I jumped off the bed. I was here to build trust. Lust had to take a back seat now. I needed to figure out how Jeremy fit in my life almost as much as I needed to keep Georgie, “You were exhausted and I prefer you awake, willing and open to me.”
Her face reddened, but she clasped my hand like she needed to hold me, but she didn’t look at me as she asked, “I passed out? That’s not like me.”
Good. She remembered how she'd asked me to stay and talk in the morning. I patted her hand and said, “It was late. And you were enjoying the massage.”
“Now, that I remember.” She glanced up and that sparkle in her eye caught my attention. “I told myself to relax because it was you.”
I had to live up to that faith she had at this moment. I didn’t move, but the butterflies in my stomach grew. She’d been the only woman I’d wanted for a long time. I sighed and said, “It was partly my fault but seeing you…trust me again…you’re worth waiting for.”
In the Bahamas where we’d been together, the night before she’d left the hotel, I’d stupidly drank too much, and some woman, Marsha, who didn’t matter to me, had flown in from Tulsa and acted like we’d been more than we were. In my inebriated state, I’d not had the chance to explain that well. If that was holding her back, then that conversation had to happen before I seduced her.
And that could be today as there was no reason to wait. Marsha was long gone and had never been important to me.
Georgie took her blue paisley blanket off, and I saw her naked legs. Last night, I’d peeked when I’d helped her to take her jeans off her for her to sleep better, but I’d stopped myself as she said, “We…look, you’re a professional baseball player.”
How did that come into this? I nodded as she scooted beside me. “I’m good at my job.”
“Jeremy told me.” She stood and walked past me toward the bathroom. “You and I…”
“Are complicated,” I supplied before she shut the door on me. A moment later, I heard her brushing her teeth. I needed to figure out how to steer this conversation when she came out, but then I heard the doorbell. I snuck downstairs, took the delivery, and brought the jug to her kitchen.
Jeremy watched me with those big blue eyes of his as I poured my coffee into the coffee pot Georgie owned and then hid the rest under the sink.
My boy laughed but didn’t say anything, but that smirk that reflected into his eyes was so my father. It was uncanny.
I made a silent return to her bedroom. I closed the door and she flung open the door. My heart raced a little like I’d been caught, “Baseball season isn’t all year.”
I needed a strategy to get her to agree to quench my thirst for her when we could and relive the pleasure we’d both had in each other's arms.
She rolled her eyes at me as she grabbed some clothes from her closet and said, “It’s pretty much a life. I’m not stupid. Your season is months long and then y’all practice for a few months. You probably get like two months off in the winter.”
“That’s true.” My lips pressed together. Life on the road wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t forever.
At least she understood some of my life. She came out in a winter white sweater and pants outfit I swear my mom would have worn to a PTA meeting. Georgie didn’t even blink as she said, “And, you probably spend it in warm places like the Bahamas.”
I helped her with the top button of her shirt though I wanted to rip it off her. The transformation to mother was uncanny and sexy in a new way that hadn’t ever crossed my mind. “You never came back.”
She lowered her head but didn’t step out of my arms. I smelled her rosy scent on me as she said, “I was in mourning, pregnant, and then a single mother. Going back to the hotel in the hopes you might be there was very impractical with low odds and, honestly, seemed like a fantasy life I might lead where I had no responsibilities.”
If she’d gone just once in the last six years at the time we’d met, we’d have been together faster. I held her close now and sparks raced through me as I said, “I was there, waiting for you on our anniversary.”
She stilled in my arms, then blinked as she asked, “Anniversary?”
I traced her spine up and down. She was even prettier now as she'd lost that girliness and was now all grown woman, fleshed out in all the right places. “Of when we met.”
Her face blushed red, and she paused her words, until she said, “Jeremy’s in school. Gallivanting off to hotels is for single women, with no worries. It’s not like I have parents who might babysit.”
We’d figure this out. Her life seemed pretty tame and simple, and we needed to make a deal. “What worries do you have?”
She sucked in her breath, like she didn’t want to say whatever was in her mind and then finally said, “Like what do I do if either of us gets sick? Doctors are pricy and my insurance isn’t good for more than colds and sniffles and, even then, it sucks.”
“Still keep spreadsheets and analyze your decisions that way?”
“Yeah.”
Jeremy had seemed healthy this morning. Had he skipped the butter for a reason? I sucked in my breath and said, “Relax.”
She met my gaze and massaged my back like she was comforting me over her fears as she said, “Look, I have a great life, but one health crisis can destroy us in a second.”
This was her fear? At least my boy was fine. This worry was something I could handle. “I have insurance for Jeremy.”
She lifted one shoulder like she wanted to flirt as she had the first time we’d met but then said, “Maybe that DNA test you want is good for something then.”
DNA tests don’t get him on my insurance alone. More important was us.
I don’t know what exactly she’d done since that day we’d lost touch, but I touched her and knew she was mine, forever. For now, she twirled out of my arms and said, “We’ll get that as soon as we figure out how to set that up. For now, I’ll get breakfast started.”
I widened my stance but didn’t follow her sexy curves as I said, “Jeremy’s eaten. I wanted to ask your permission to bring him to school.”
“What?” Instantly she came back to me, but her gaze was unreadable.
They were both important to me. I nodded and repeated as I said, “I want to bring my son to school and see the place.”
“My sister works there.” Her foot tapped the ground like she needed to put the request in order.
“I’d love to meet her and your entire family.”
She nodded and said, “Okay. Olivia is my youngest sister, so starting with her might be okay. We can go together.”
Perfect. School started in the morning and training wasn’t till late this afternoon. We had time to talk, and we needed to do that. We went down the stairs together. “Give me a minute to eat and we’ll head out, in my car.�
��
“Pour me a coffee?” I asked.
“Sure.” She took out two glasses.
Jeremy’s laugh was on his face, but he turned toward the window as he finished his plate.
I took a seat beside him and tossed a waffle on my plate and one for Georgie. I buttered mine up and waited for her. As she sat at the table with us, my phone rang. I saw my agent’s number and stood. Georgie had been an analyst, so she understood numbers mattered, and we’d talk about my own transition soon.
For privacy, I went onto the screened porch and noticed that some of her neighbors jogged the street. They slowed and stared at me, so I waved but didn’t go inside as Phil asked, “What’s going on?”
The neighbors moved and I took a seat on her swing. “Good. Some things might be changing for me.”
“Okay.” He needed to understand about Jeremy and Georgie now, but he continued, “The season is winding down and we’re looking at a few offers to weigh. We need to sit down when you get back to Tulsa as money is just one of the benefits to discuss.”
“Yeah, we do have to talk.”
Georgie had a fear of health care and her analysis of her son’s future was what she’d voiced. I could handle Jeremy’s insurance now, and if she married me, she’d also be on my plan. The thought hit me as the best deal I could broker. We satisfy our lust and ensure my reputation stays clean for the contract negotiations. I let the thought grow in my head and said, “Include health care in the list of items discussed.”
“Are you worried about something?” Phil asked.
I laughed. I was at the top of my game and had enough money in the bank to never worry again if something did, but I shook my head and glanced behind me.
Health was all she’d said she’d feared. It was a starting point for negotiations. Georgie and Jeremy seemed like a dream package as I said, “About my health, no.”
“Don’t scare me like this, Michael.”
Right. I picked at my hair and twirled the small piece as I whispered the truth, “I… I have a son I just found out about. I want to ensure he has health insurance.”
Rocking Player: Single Mom Second Chance Romance (Steel Series Book 2) Page 4