“In the kitchen,” I call out to him.
“How are my girls today?” he asks, stopping to kiss the top of Evie’s head before he stops behind me. He slides my hair off my shoulder, exposing the side of my neck. He drops his lips just below my ear, sucking lightly, which drives me fucking insane. His hands rest on my hips as he holds me still against him. I can feel his hard ridges against my back as he presses against me.
“We’re good,” I say a little breathlessly all of a sudden. “Went to the zoo for a little while this afternoon with Jillian and the girls. I got some cute pictures of Evie! I’ll Airdrop them to you in a few minutes,” I tell him as I finish prepping the chicken to go on the grill for dinner.
“Sounds like a good day,” he replies.
“It was. How was your day?”
“Practice like normal. Derek was on my ass about why I’ve been so happy lately. I think he’s getting suspicious.”
That stops me in my tracks. The last thing that I want to happen is for my brother and Justin’s friendship to be affected by our relationship.
“Justin,” I sigh his name. “We’ve got to either stop this or tell him.”
“We’re not fucking stopping this, I’ll tell him. Just give me a little bit. Okay?” he says, grabbing my hands in his after I’ve washed and dried them off.
“Okay, but make it soon. I hate feeling like I’m sneaking around. Plus, Jillian knows now. She promised me she wouldn’t say anything, but she guessed, and then I couldn’t deny it if I tried. And then, on top of all that, she saw that picture you snapped of us this morning,” I tell him.
Justin pulls me until my front is flush with his. He’s leaning against the counter, which helps some with our height difference. “That was a pretty epic picture. I could still taste you on my lips,” he says as he brings his lips to mine in the softest kiss I’ve ever experienced. “You were still blissfully relaxed from the orgasm I’d just given you with my tongue,” he says as he drops kisses along my jawline. “And another one with my cock.” He sucks my earlobe between his teeth, scraping them along the sensitive skin.
I melt into him, loving the way he can wake my body up in a matter of seconds. Between the way he touches me and his dirty words, I’m wet and ready for him to take me to bed.
“Bawww, yaaaa,” Evie babbles, pulling our attention from each other and to her. She’s in her jumperoo that I pulled into the kitchen for her to play in while I prepped dinner.
We both watch as she entertains herself between bouncing and all the connected toys on that thing.
“Think you can go get the grill fired up?” I ask him, stepping out from between his legs.
“Sure can,” he says as he takes his ball cap off his head, flipping it backward. I don’t know what it is about him in that hat that makes my knees go weak, but damn does he look hot in it, especially when he turns it backwards.
“Don’t hurt yourself staring at me like that,” he says, swiping a thumb across my bottom lip. I almost flick my tongue out as the pad of his thumb slides across it, but hold back. We need to get dinner made, and then he needs to spend time with his daughter before it’s time for her to go to bed. Then, and only then, can we do whatever it is that we want to do to one another.
“I wasn’t staring,” I insist.
“Mhmm,” he hums. “And I wasn’t balls deep inside you twice this morning, making you scream my name.”
He gives me a smoldering look as he grabs the platter of chicken and the vegetable basket to place on the grill once it is warmed up and ready. “What, no comeback?” he asks once he’s out of my reach.
I hold up my hand, waving it as if I’m telling him to go away. “No need to get all cocky,” I call out at him once he’s outside.
“Last I checked, you liked my cock.”
“Justin!” I whirl around, facing the door, my eyes bulging out a little bit. “Little ears, remember?” I ask him, looking down at Evie.
“It isn’t like she can repeat me yet,” he says, giving me a slightly sheepish grin. “Can you, baby girl?” he says, his voice morphing into the cutest damn baby-ish voice I’ve ever heard come from a grown-ass man as he talks to his daughter.
“She might not be able to now, but it is coming sooner than you think, and it’s going to bite you in the ass one of these days.”
“I guess I’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there,” he says, then turns his attention back to the grill. I finish up with the pasta salad I was putting together, taking it out to the table on the patio. I set the table, getting everything out just as he pulls the veggies and chicken off the grill. I bring Evie outside and place her in the highchair, setting a few things on the tray for her to pick at. JJ and I both dig in to the food we’ve made until our bellies are full.
Justin takes Evie from her highchair once we’re finished with dinner. He plays with her for a little bit before it’s time for her bath and bedtime. I take care of the dishes while he spends time with her then retreat back outside with a small glass of wine. When he’s home in the evenings, this has become our regular routine. He wants to spend as much time as he can with her, and I think that it's essential that he has some time with just the two of them.
I hear some shuffling in the house, so head inside to see what he might be up to. “Hey, babe?” he calls out from down the hall, just as I round the corner and run right into my brother's chest. Fuck.
“Babe?” Derek barks out.
“Oh, shit,” I hear Justin swear as he comes out of his room and finds Derek and I standing toe to toe.
“Justin, why the fuck are you calling my sister babe?” Derek asks, then sucks in a deep breath as he looks up at the ceiling.
“Derek, please.” I say his name, my voice steady, but I can hear the wariness in it, so I know that he can, as well.
He whirls around, facing off with JJ. “Talk. Now. Johnson,” Derek barks out, calling Justin by his last name.
Derek tracks Justin's movements as he comes to stand next to me. He pulls me into his side, his arm coming around me as he rests his hand on my hip. It's possessive. It’s a statement without words. One that my brother doesn’t like one bit, if the look on his face tells me anything.
“What do you want to know?” JJ finally breaks the silence between the three of us.
“I want to know why the fuck you’ve got your hands on my sister. Why you’re calling her babe. I could have sworn that I’ve told you to keep your fucking hands to yourself and that she was off-limits,” he growls. He’s getting madder as each word passes his lips.
“Why don’t you calm down,” I interject, not wanting Derek to lose his cool.
“Calm down. Really, Riley?” he scoffs at me.
“That’s enough,” Justin barks. “We’re together, seeing where things go. We fought it but decided, as two consenting adults, that we wanted to see where this went. We didn’t want to hurt you or keep it from you forever, but we also didn’t feel like you needed to know right away. We wanted to make sure that it was more than just two people being around each other all the time, scratching an itch,” Justin tells him.
Derek’s eyes bounce between the two of us. I can see the war raging in him. He wants to be pissed off, but I can also tell that he wants me and Justin to be happy, even if that means that we’re happy together.
“And how long has this been going on?” he asks.
“About a week,” I tell him. “But honestly, we’ve been dancing around it since right after I moved in,” I tell him. We might as well be honest with him, without spelling out every single detail about our relationship.
“I knew something was up with you this week,” he says, shaking his head. “Never did I think it was you fucking my sister.”
“It isn’t like that, man,” JJ states, “I care about Riley. I’m not out there chasing every woman who looks my way anymore. I see the value in what this could be, and I don’t intend to fuck it up.”
“You better not,” Derek tells him. “I
f you hurt her, I’d have to hurt you, and I don’t want to have to do that.”
“I’m not saying I won’t mess up, you know better than anyone that sometimes we do stupid shit, but I don’t intend to ever hurt her on purpose. She’s too important to Evie, to me,” JJ says, looking down at me. I can see the sincerity in his eyes. I can read between the lines of what he isn’t saying. Not that I’d expect any declarations this early on, but with the friendship we’ve built over the last few months, the trust that he has in me to basically raise his daughter as a stand-in mother, takes a lot of trust and love, on some level. “So, you can either get on board with us being together and support us, or the door is over there, don’t let it hit you on the way out. I’m not going to stop this just because you don’t like it.”
I’m a little shocked that JJ was so straightforward with Derek. We’d never explicitly talked about what he’d say when he finally told Derek about us, but we also didn’t expect Derek to walk in on us. Thank god he didn’t walk in while we were making out or having sex. That would have been embarrassing and he would have been so pissed. I can only imagine what Derek would have done if that had happened.
Derek grunts out. I’m not sure if it’s an approval? Or maybe just him conceding to JJ’s statement.
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what did you need from us tonight, big brother?” I ask Derek as sweetly as I can.
“Was just coming over to have a beer.”
“Well, don’t let me stand in your way,” I tell the guys as I step back. JJ grabs two beers from the fridge, and I watch as they both head outside to the patio. I decide to give them this time to grunt it out between the two of them. I grab my Kindle and curl up on the couch, quickly getting lost between the pages of the book I’ve been sucked into.
Fifteen
Justin
“You’re sure you are okay with this?” I ask Riley again. “I know it messes with Evie’s nap schedule.”
“Of course, I’m fine with it. We wouldn’t miss the family day for anything,” she says, bouncing Evie on her lap. Riley has dressed my baby girl in my jersey, well, a tiny version that has ‘Daddy’s Girl’ where my last name goes. It was a present from the front office, one that they give all players when they have a baby.
We’ve been successful in keeping Evie out of the spotlight, for the most part. Having my PR company send out a press release just as my attorney filed paperwork with the courts worked well. I ended up answering some questions a few days after that, but since then, the press has left me alone when it comes to my daughter, and for that, I’m grateful.
“I have a surprise for you,” Riley says as she pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth. She’s come out of her shell so much since moving in here, but I can always tell when she’s nervous about something, as she bites her bottom lip.
“Do you now?” I ask, quirking a brow up in question.
“Close your eyes,” she says, and I can feel her stand up off the couch. She places Evie on my lap, and I put my hands on her torso to hold her still. “Okay, you can open them,” she says. I do just that, looking first at my daughter, and not seeing anything different, then I look up at Riley. She’s standing with her back to me and is looking over her shoulder, a nervous smile tugging at the edges of her lips. I take in her back, and the vision in front of me has my dick hardening. Riley has my jersey on. One that fits her like a fucking glove. Seeing my name and number across her back has me thinking all kinds of crazy things. Long-term, permanent, put a ring on it, have more of my babies, kind of thoughts.
“Fuck,” I murmur under my breath.
“You like?” she says, biting that lip once again.
“I more than like,” I tell her, holding my hand out for her to grab. I move Evie to my left leg and pull Riley onto my right. “Seeing you with this jersey on makes me want to do very naughty and dirty things to you,” I tell her as I nuzzle my nose along her neck, following it with sucking kisses. I can feel the goose bumps as they break out on her skin at my perusal. “You just wait until tonight. I’ll be fucking you while you wear nothing but this jersey.” I suck her earlobe between my lips, nipping at it before I slide my tongue over it to calm the sting left from my teeth.
“Mhmm…” she hums. “If I’d have known wearing your jersey would have gotten this kind of welcoming response, I would have done it a long time ago.”
“Is that so? And how would you have played off having my number on your back and not your brother’s?”
She shrugs her shoulders at me then gives me better access to her neck. This isn’t the most natural position to be making out in, nor is it the best time, seeing how I have my daughter in one hand. Thank fuck she’s usually a pretty calm and chill baby and goes with the flow most of the time. “When do you have to go?” she asks, pulling away from my wandering lips.
“Soon,” I tell her, running a hand through my hair. “What time do you plan to head to the ballpark?”
“Jillian is going to swing by around twelve thirty. I’ll plan to feed little miss, here, around noon, that way she’s got lunch before we go. Then maybe she’ll get a little nap in during the drive over. I plan to pack the carrier so that I can hold her hands-free, if needed.”
“Okay, and come down by the dugout. Security will know to let you pass, and then you can come out onto the field.”
“Got it! I’ll have Jillian by my side, and I know she’s a pro at this, so I plan to just follow her.”
“Are you going to let them include you in the pictures?” I ask, curious as to her answer. We talked about making our relationship public now that it is out in the open amongst our family.
“I guess so,” she says, that nervous tell coming back. I reach up, cupping her cheek as I slide my thumb along her bottom lip, pulling it from her teeth. I lean in, bringing my lips to hers. I gently suck her bottom lip, razing it with my own teeth.
“Needed my own taste.” I smile against her lips. “You’re worrying this lip down to nothing.”
“I don’t even realize when I’m doing it.”
“I know. That’s why I stopped you.” I flash her a wink.
Evie starts to squirm in my arms. She must be tired of not being the center of attention right now.
“Come here, baby girl. Daddy has to go to work,” Riley says to her as if she can understand everything that is going on.
She stands up, Evie in her arms now. I sit back and take in my girls standing in front of me. Evie looks so comfortable and perfect in Riley’s arms. I can tell she’s relaxed as she rests her head against Riley’s shoulder, burrowing her little face into Riley’s neck, almost the same way that I do it.
“If you don’t get moving, you’re going to be late,” Riley reminds me.
“I know,” I tell her, still looking at her and Evie. “Just enjoying the view of my girls together. Both of you with my jersey on. It’s going to be an exciting time, I’ll have both of you in the stands cheering for me, not that Evie will remember it.”
“She might not, but I’m sure you will,” she tells me sweetly.
“Yeah,” I say as she slides a hand along my cheek. I turn my face and kiss the center of her palm before I stand up and then drop a kiss to my daughter's head. “Love you, baby girl, see you later,” I tell her before I give Riley one last chaste kiss. “I’ll see you later, as well,” I say as I smack her ass.
“Watch it, mister,” she calls out as a laugh escapes her lips. I know she isn’t mad one bit about the slap to her ass. If I’m not mistaken, she was asking for me to spank her last night when I was buried balls deep inside of her.
I shake all memories of the two of us naked together from the forefront of my mind and head for the field.
“Stand here and look that way,” an older woman calls out, pointing at a camera set up a few feet away. “Adults, keep looking at the camera, we’ll do our best to get your child’s attention and looking at the camera,” she says as they fidget with getting Riley and I situated just h
ow they want us for the family day picture. I was elated when Riley told me she’d participate today, not as Derek’s sister or Evie’s nanny, but as my girlfriend. It is still strange to refer to her like that. I feel a little old to be using a word that feels so childish, but alas, that is what she is. My girlfriend, and Evie’s live-in nanny.
“Great job!” the woman calls out a few moments later. They must have gotten the shots they needed right away as they let up and call over the next family that is ready for their picture.
“Justin!” another voice calls out, this time from someone within the press group that was invited to be down on the field with the players and their family members before the game. “Can we get a picture of you with your family?” the young reporter calls out. I vaguely recognize her from one of the online sports blogs. They tend to toe the line between trash and real. They love to really twist things around from the way they really happen, so I’m not super interested in giving her much, but a picture we can do, I guess. It isn’t like there aren’t going to be a thousand cell phone pictures floating around of me with Evie and Riley by the end of the game.
“Sure, a quick picture is fine,” I tell her as I shift Evie up higher in my arms. I drape my free arm around Riley’s shoulders and pull her into my side. She rests her hand against my chest, and I look down just as she looks up at me. I realize that we’ve got matching goofy smiles on our faces.
“Keep it clean,” Derek mumbles from a few feet away from us, and I can’t help but laugh at his grumbling.
“Of course,” I lobby back at him. “There are small children here, after all. Wouldn’t want to scar them,” I tell him, giving him shit just because I know I’m under his skin, and he’s still a little pissed about the whole dating his sister thing. After our beer on the patio a week ago, when he found out about us, things have been okay between the two of us. He didn’t punch me in the face, which, if I’m honest, I really expected him to do.
The Curve Ball (Indianapolis Lightning Book 2) Page 13