by Anne Leigh
I’d never had sex without condoms.
But this man, the one whose voice was ragged against my skin, who was now pounding into me without logic, he deserved all of it.
My love, my trust, my everything.
He wasn’t perfect just as I wasn’t. He was willing to fight for me, and I for him.
He let out a final, strangled, “Yeah!” and the flood of fluid inside me let me know that he’d finally reached his orgasm.
His lips grazed my neck in a tender, loving kiss and then he said, “You’re incredible, babe.”
I felt a smile on my shoulder and I responded, “You too, Ice Man. You too.”
“I can’t believe you made Botox Lady smile,” Scott laughed as he settled himself on the slate grey sectional in his living room.
“She’s not Botox Lady,” I gave his abs a light punch and it bounced back. The man was hard all over, it wasn’t his skin that recoiled when abused, it was mine.
His green eyes mocked me, “Really sweetheart? Her cheeks didn’t move when she talked, she’s all plastic. She’d melt in front of the microwave.”
“You don’t melt in the microwave, unless you’re cheese,” I responded with a shake of my head.
I felt his fingers lightly massaging my scalp as I leaned back against his chest. Scott had an aversion to clothes when it was the two of us alone together. I was cool with it as long as he wore boxers. If I didn’t make the request, his penis would be greeting me everywhere I turned.
He was allowed to be naked in the bed, but outside of it, he had to cover his bottom half for my sake.
He said that I could be naked all day and all night and he wouldn’t mind.
‘Course he wouldn’t, we’d never get around to doing anything else if I was naked.
“Fine. Her eyes aren’t plastic, but everything else on her is,” he said, pretending to surrender. The man didn’t like to lose, not even in our little debates.
Right now, we, more like he, was trying to convince me that Claudine Yang, the third wife of Joe Hemlock, the owner of the Royals’, didn’t have a real body part anywhere on her. It was really a pointless, mindless discussion since she was alive, so obviously her heart was really beating and it wasn’t plasticized.
“You really surprised her when you started talking in Mandarin.” He couldn’t hide the amusement in his voice. “Sometimes I forget that behind all your hotness, you’re a genius.”
I chuckled at his comment, he was being ridiculous. “I’m not a genius. I just happen to speak a few languages.”
Ms. Yang was complaining in Chinese Mandarin about how slow the servers were during the event and when I said, “Not really. I think there’s just too many people here otherwise the servers are doing great,” in Chinese, her almond eyes almost bugged out of her head and she talked to me the whole night.
Her husband had team business to attend to so Claudine talked to me most of the night before she left with him after the awards were handed out to the funding recipients in the community, where the Royals gave out $20 million for charitable causes.
At first glance she was intimidating, she didn’t smile. It could be from Botox, but I didn’t want to give Scott further fuel to his muddled brain and really, he should lose at something, sometimes. I loved the man, but his ego was also bigger when he claimed himself as the winner during our mini-debates.
“You impressed her so much that next year they might add ten mil to my contract.” He busted out laughing. Again.
I slapped his leg that he’d interwoven with mine, engulfing me in his body heat. He didn’t like clothes because he emitted so much heat while I liked to be wrapped up in a bundle even when it was eighty degrees outside.
“Honestly, babe, thank you so much for coming with me tonight.” The kiss he placed on the top of my head made a loud sound around the quiet that surrounded us.
I loved times like these, nights when it was just him and me, cushioned against the noise of the paparazzi who wanted every tidbit about us, blanketed against the sports pundits who wanted a piece of him.
“I had fun,” I replied, rubbing the side of my leg then before his hand replaced it so he could rub the same spot. “I liked talking to your teammates and their girlfriends and wives.”
That was a partial truth.
“Really? Even Holder’s date, Danielle, Playmate of the Year?” His voice held a suspended disbelief.
I shook my head, “Hmm. The fact that you know her name should bother me.”
His strong arms wrapped around my shoulders in a hug, “Babe, she’s like everywhere. Plus, she introduced herself to me.”
He wasn’t lying. The minute Danielle spotted Scott, she’d made a beeline for him.
Forget that she was there with Scott’s wide receiver, Holder. She wanted to take a selfie with Scott, and Scott had a weird smile on his face when she pointed at me with her French-tipped nails and asked me to a picture of them.
“You were smiling the whole time I took the photo,” I said, remembering that I wanted to ask him why he had that weird smile.
He sighed and his hands massaged my legs, exposed by the light blue pajama shorts I was wearing. I’d left a few articles of clothing at Scott’s place since I usually stayed over when he was home. Now I didn’t have to think of bringing an overnight bag.
“She asked me if I could put my hands on her boobs and I told her, ‘Hell no’,” he said, his voice deflecting the burden that he carried. “It sucks. She’s there with my teammate for Chrissake, but she wanted me to put my hands on her. The fact that I was there with you didn’t even rattle her. I just don’t believe it, the way some women put themselves down. Like they have no value.”
“I’m not a saint. I slept with women who only wanted one night stands, but I made sure that they weren’t with somebody else. It doesn’t matter how sexy a woman is, if they’re with another person, they should be off-limits,” he said in a voice that held another undertone.
He was talking about Danielle, but now he was referring to Dex.
“He approached me tonight.” I didn’t want any secrets between us, especially about my ex-boyfriend. “Before you arrived, he just wanted to say hi.”
“I’m sure he said more than hi,” Scott snipped, letting out a whoosh from under his breath. “He knows the score between you and me, but he’s like an annoying cockroach that just wants to hang around.”
“Just focus on your game, babe,” I said, knowing that while Dex was on the team, he’d bug Scott. “He doesn’t matter. Just like all those women who want to get at you, they don’t matter. I love you and you love me, that is enough for me.”
Since his boxers were made of thin fabric, I felt his cock nudge against my spine, “How did you get to be so smart, Bridge?”
I slowly pulled my legs up and removed his hands from mine so I could turn around and straddle my legs around his waist.
When I was in a comfortable position, I looked into his beautiful green eyes, the pale iris’ surrounding the pupil, a convergence of blue and green, and as his hands reached up to cup my cheeks, he said, “Someday you’ll realize that you hold everything of me.”
I placed a soft kiss on his hard lips, and this was probably not the best time to tell him, but I had no choice. “I have an interview. My advisor e-mailed me that NASA wants to go ahead with the program and she thinks it would be good if I went in. I’m still an undergrad, and I don’t know how this will play out…”
“You want to go?” With me, Scott didn’t hold himself back. I saw the flicker of sadness in his eyes; I also saw pride and excitement.
I nodded my head. “It’s my dream.”
He closed his eyes for a second, and I felt pieces of my heart shattering when he spoke, “When you get in, it’s not a question of if because I know you, you’ll get in – how long will you be gone?”
To get into the astronaut program took years, but this new hushed-hushed program would let qualified candidates bypass experience requirements, fas
t tracking them to space.
“I’m not sure. Maybe six months. A year.” Before Scott, my plans were a two-way ticket to and from space. Now that he was in my life, I wanted to take as many stop-overs as I could so I could be with him.
His hands dropped down to his sides and I saw the muscles in his jaw tense, and as he lowered his gaze to the floor, I allowed myself to commit this moment to memory.
It would be painful if he broke up with me, but I’d find myself to understand.
He wasn’t going to wait for me. A man like him, he had the pick of women, and as much as he loved me, I knew that sometimes it wasn’t enough.
“I dreamed of football for so long,” he started, his expression morose, but his eyes were filled with so many different emotions. “I held onto that dream until the day I played in the NFL. I know what it’s like to look at something and want it so much that you dedicate your life fulfilling it, gunning for that dream. Now that I’ve reached it, I want a Super Bowl, I want the football records to hold my name. But I also want you by side when I reach them.”
His right forefinger circled my jaw, and tears fell from my eyes, “You’re allowed to dream, babe. You’re allowed to work for them and reach them. I’d hate for you to look back at your life and know that you could have but you didn’t.”
“I don’t want to leave you…us. I don’t know how it’s going to work out if I get in.” My uncertainties have now found a voice. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to stay with me when I’m going to be out of sight.”
He placed his right hand on my chest, where my heart beat to the same rhythm as his, “Bridge, I’ll be sad that you won’t be here, that you won’t be able to be free with your schedule as you are now. But don’t you see? I love you. That’s not going to change. I love you enough to wait for you, knowing that you’re out there, getting ready to achieve your dreams. And when you’re out there in space, I expect a call now and again.”
I laughed at his attempt at humor. “You don’t have to wait for me.”
“You silly woman, don’t you know how hard it is to find another Bridgette?”
“I don’t know,” I said, thanking him for providing a reprieve to what’s been troubling me since my advisor brought it up. “There’re a lot of Bridgettes’ out there.”
“Not with the same hazel eyes and dimples that always bring me to my knees.” He said, slowly closing the distance between our lips, “Not with the same fine ass that you have and let me tell you about the great rack that I love –“
I clamped my mouth to his, stifling a giggle while tears still rolled down from my ducts, “Thank you.”
“You better tell those astronauts that you have me as a boyfriend, and I will kick their asses from here to the Milky Way if they flirt with you.”
“They’re not astronauts. Not yet. And I don’t think there are cute astronauts anyways,” I chuckled as his lips lingered on my mouth.
He lowered his forehead to touch mine, “There better not be. You’re going to be sexiest astronaut out there. I’m gonna have a hard time keeping those men at bay when they see you.”
“You’re crazy.” My shoulders racked from laughter and in a serious voice I said, “I had a dream. Now I have two. You wanna know what my other one is?”
“Tell me it’s me making love to you.” He said, his ego knew no bounds, “Because, babe, I gotta tell you, you won’t find anyone like me even out there in space.”
A burst of giggles emerged from my mouth. Again, because Scott was too funny. He was always so intense that when he was being funny, it was such a treat. And it was much needed in a conversation like the one we were having now.
I looked deep into his eyes and said, “You. You’re my other dream. I want to get to space, but coming back to you is my tether to this world. It’s going to be crazy challenging, more than what both of us can probably handle, but knowing that you’re right here, waiting for me, winning Super Bowls – I’ll always come back to you.”
He was quiet for a few seconds, tapped his fingers on my cheek, and when he spoke he said, “Shit babe. If words had jizz, it would be floating everywhere right now. God, you make me so fucking hot.”
My eyes widened and I couldn’t believe he was joking when I was being completely serious.
He laughed and said, “Calm down, astronaut girl. I know what you’re saying and I understand.”
He guided my body down to the seat of the sofa, my back touching the soft cushion, and when he added two pillows to rest my head, I tried to get out from under him because I had to pee.
And if he was going to start this, I’d be peeing in my underwear.
“Lemme go.” I said in a stern voice, “Scott, lemme go now.”
His legs locked me in place, caging me in with his strength, and I let out another order, hoping he would listen this time, “Scott. No.”
I felt the first attack on my feet.
They were light touches, but I let out a shriek, “Stop! I gotta pee!”
His booming laugh was not a good sign, he was on his game. And he was in it to win it.
I tried to fight my way out of it, but he benched two seventy on a slow day and his mind worked strategically, “No I can’t –“
“You can’t pee on my couch, babe, it was hard to pick it out,” he said in a maniacal voice, his arms ready to deliver more torture.
I struggled to say the words as he started attacking my waist with the light tickles, tickles that would become harder and more frequent in a few seconds, “Liar! Your designer picked it out.”
“Now you’re calling me a liar – “ He was full-on laughing and the tears of sadness in my eyes were now replaced with tears of torture. “You’re gonna pay for that.”
His mouth covered my stomach and as he blew big bubbles of air on it, synchronized with the torturous tickles on the back of my legs, I screamed in surrender.
Scott didn’t heed my pleas though, he kept on and on and finally when we were both panting with exertion, his body hovered over mine and his cheeks were faint with a blush when he said, “When you said Super Bowls, not singular but plural, I just got really hard and I can’t help it that I may have wet my boxers with pre-cum.”
This man.
He was everything to me.
“Man must rise above the Earth – to the top of the atmosphere and beyond- for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.”
Socrates
Scott
Just got here. TTYL. Bridge’s text pinged on my phone, and I smiled knowing that she’d arrived safely in Florida.
The past month had gone by quickly. I’d been on the road, and this was her second time flying to Florida for the last set of interviews.
From the eleven hundred potential candidates, they were now down to thirty.
Out of the thirty, twelve would be picked for the first-ever program that allowed college students to enter the astronaut program early. Bridge had mentioned that NASA would still require them to get the needed post grad experience, but they’d be completing them while they were undergoing the astronaut training program.
Her being away from me was hard.
I missed her terribly.
Gone were the days when I could just call or text her on a whim and she’d respond ASAP.
She was knee deep in her classes and when her advisor told her that she qualified to go for the NASA interviews in Florida, she’d been gunning for it, preparing like a madwoman, and as much as I’d love to talk to her for more than an hour, she was just busy.
The light in front of me was red, so I sent her a quick love you and call me later text.
Missing her had become a constant weight on my chest, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
I couldn’t ask her to give up her dreams for me.
I would never put her in that position.
Loving her meant helping her reach her dreams, no matter how difficult it would be for the both of us.
Loving her meant
cheering her on when she was excited to go onto the next round of interviews even when my arms ached to hold her.
I’d always been a selfish guy.
I wanted things my way.
I’d lost Kara because of that.
I occupied myself with football without considering how she would feel. I’d put her on the back burner whenever I felt like it.
I wasn’t willing to compromise my relationship with Bridge because of my greediness to be with her.
Before me, she had these dreams. And I would do everything that I could not to get in the way of her achieving all of them.
My phone chimed with another text, “You’re going with Kianna then?”
I’d been ignoring Trayton’s text for a day, but he wasn’t having it any longer. I asked Bridge about it last night, in between her classes and running last-minute errands before she flew to Florida.
She was slightly taken aback that I was actually considering taking another girl to an event, but she knew that I had no choice.
Well I had a choice.
I could choose to go stag which I’d first suggested to Trayton, but he flat-out said no. The women he asked to go with me to events also needed exposure, and it would be great for them to be photographed everywhere.
The one thing I didn’t have to explain to my girlfriend was that on any given day, I’d rather have her in my arms than no one at all.
“They have a job to do too, Scott.” She’d said after I brought it up, “Models need exposure and being in your arms would be a great way for that.”
“Is it okay with you?” I asked, willing her to say hell no.
She’d sighed and said, “No, but I don’t want to be in your agent’s way, and these women use these events for their livelihood. I don’t want anyone else in your arms either, but I understand. My mom worked with a lot of models.”
She revealed that she was jealous because what normal girl wouldn’t be, but in a way she also understood.
When Bridge gave her trust, she gave it wholly, completely, implicitly.
She never asked if I was unfaithful to her, and I never wanted to be in a position where I had to explain if I was or I wasn’t.