“Just wondering. I’m twenty-nine,” I told her, wondering if she already knew that.
Shrugging, she put her spoon on top of a napkin and leaned back against the couch. “Do you run over kittens?”
Shocked by the random question, it took me a second to answer. “Uh, no?”
“Laugh when someone gets hurt? Think that world famine is amusing?”
“Negative to both.”
“Then what relevance does age have to anything?” she asked, sounding like it was a simple conclusion.
I loved how relaxed she was around me, and the fact that she was in my home now totally didn’t suck.
“You’re definitely a one in a million, Ashley Wilkes.”
Smiling widely at me, she winked. “And don’t you forget it. Plus, you’re not exactly normal yourself, Kip Sutherland.”
She had a good point there.
Deciding now was the best time to address the pink elephant in the room, I asked, “So, where are we going on our date?”
She didn’t know that I’d already paid the charity for her bid. There was no way I’d let her foot that bill, especially after she saved me from the she-devil. I’d also been raised to pay for dates. This was a different situation, but I’d bent the rules and paid anyway.
I had a good idea where I was going to take her, I just wanted to see if she had any ideas herself.
When she just blushed and shrugged, I said, “Leave it with me and I’ll make the plans.”
I knew just where to take her, and as luck would have it, we’d have access to wheelchairs there so she wouldn’t have to walk.
Three days later…
Glancing out of the corner of my eye at the simmering bundle of fury sitting with her arms crossed in the passenger seat, I drove toward the place I was taking her for our date.
Why was she pissed at me? Not because I wouldn’t buy her what she wanted, not because she didn’t want to go out, not because she wasn’t getting her own way or anything Missy-like, but because she’d just found out I’d paid the charity for her. It was the opposite to anything I’d experienced before, but I’d learned Ashley liked to pay her own way.
That said, fifty thousand dollars was a league of its own.
Something else I’d noticed about her—she wasn’t unreasonable with her anger. She might snap or react, but it wasn’t vicious, and she got over it quickly.
Which is what she did right then.
“I’m sorry,” she sighed, dropping her hands down into her lap. “I really appreciate you doing that for me, but it just seems like cheating, you know? Plus, I was meant to pay it for you, not you pay it for me for you.”
Grinning, I stopped at a red light and looked over at her. “I get it, but it was a lot of money. I donate to charities every year, and this one’s a huge deal to Seattle so it’s an honor to pay it.”
Seeing that the light was on green, I pulled away and indicated to turn onto the street that would take us to where our date was starting.
“I was going to ask Hayden to loan me the money,” she snickered.
Laughing, I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital Meg worked at and looked for a spot. “I’ll bet he’d have loved that.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to tell him for a while what the money was for,” she mumbled, realizing where we were. “Do you have an appointment? I can stay in the vehicle if you need me to.”
Pulling into a space that was close to the entrance, I shut the engine off and turned sideways in my seat.
“Nope. This is where the date starts. This is Seattle Children’s Hospital and Meg works on the cancer care floor looking after teens. There was an issue about a year ago where our PR rep received a request for us to visit the kids and ignored it. Will found out, and five of us came down to meet the kids and hand out stuff. We met a great kid called Nicholas who was a footballer and totally into Meg,” I chuckled, feeling the sadness I always felt when I thought about the young man who’d died way too early. “Anyway, meeting the kids is important to us, so we schedule visits in our free time and alternate floors each time we come. We’re back on Meg’s floor today along with six other players.”
I watched as she pulled her trembling lower lip into her mouth and bit down on it slightly. “I lost a friend to cancer when I was sixteen. She got leukemia and her parents were always away doing things, so she hid how ill she was and wasn’t diagnosed until it was too late,” she swallowed audibly. “I love that you guys do this.”
A knock on the window behind me showed Will standing there with a huge grin on his face.
“You ready to help us out?” I asked her, hoping she’d say yes.
“You bet your big bad ass I am.” It wasn’t until I was lifting her out of the car, that her predicament occurred to her. “Uh, how am I going to get around the hospital?”
Her right foot had healed quite well, but she still needed to be careful putting weight onto it, and her left foot still had another four days before the stitches came out, so I’d arranged for a wheelchair for her.
Not saying a word, Will jogged to where he’d stashed it, shook it to open it up, and then wheeled it back. Before she could sit down in it, though, we put a Seahawks blanket over it.
“Hayden would spit nails if he saw this,” she giggled, wiggling to get comfortable.
“Well, he’ll love this even more,” Will drawled, pulling a jersey over her head before she could stop him. As soon as she had it on, I took a picture on my phone and sent it to him.
His reply came as we were entering the elevator.
Hayden: I was thinking of getting a puppy. Now I’ve got something to clean the shit up with, thanks!
Bursting out laughing, I showed them both what he’d said.
“You stole my idea. I was going to send him that photo,” Ashley said through her chuckles.
“I like you, Wilkes,” Will patted her shoulder. “I wasn’t sure I’d get along with someone who’s got Sounders blood in her veins, but I’m making an exception for you.”
“She’s also got Miami Dolphins blood,” I pointed out, referring to her dad.
Miming zipping up his lips and twisting a key in a lock at the side of his mouth, Will went back to watching the numbers light up in the elevator as we passed floors.
Crouching down beside Ashley, I laid the plan out. “Okay, we never bring PR or press with us to these visits. They’re between us and the kids only. If the kids, their families or the hospital decide to publish photos to their websites or social media that’s cool, but it’s not a press opportunity for us.”
“I love that,” she breathed.
Smiling at how genuine she sounded, I continued, “The other guys brought some merchandise with them. We’ve also got a standing order with a bakery near here that delivers special cupcakes when we visit, and we order sandwiches and chips so that we can sit down and really spend time with them all. Meg’s waiting for us and will direct us to different rooms for kids who can’t get up and spend time in the lounge. After we see them, we’ll head to the lounge and chillax with the rest of them. You okay with that?”
Her grin showed exactly how great with it she was, but her, “Totally,” sealed it.
Glancing up at Will, I saw his mouth twitch as he looked down at Ash, and then read the look clearly in his eyes when he looked back up at me.
Yeah, she was fucking awesome!
Chapter 6
Ashley
I was having a blast! The Seahawks were some of the nicest guys I’d ever met in my life, and what they were doing for the kids today was amazing.
After we’d arrived and Will had kissed Meg senseless, she’d shown us to where the other members were waiting for us with a cart full of stuff to hand out.
Apparently, last week, Meg had sent them a majority of the kid’s sizes, and then they’d added an extra ten in each size for siblings and adult sizes for the parents. There were also notebooks, pens, teddy bears, miniature football helmets, footballs… it was a
wesome.
What made it amazing for me, though, was how much it meant to the kids and their parents. They deserved it!
An eleven-year-old called Liberty had caught my attention. She was losing her fight with leukemia quickly and reminded me of the friend I’d lost. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, and the injustice of a child who had their whole lives ahead of them dying from the disease was overwhelming. When the guys came in to join us, they all sat down and spoke to her like they’d known her their whole lives.
After they put their pile of goodies at the end of her bed, Kip asked her what she wanted most in life. Her answer was, “For my parents to not be sad when I go. I want them to enjoy life and remember me, but not to cry because I’ll always be there with them.”
Then she’d asked the players if they’d wear a glitter arm band with every color possible on it for her during a game to raise awareness of the disease. I’d offered to make the bands for her, so I was going to bring some in for her to hand out in a couple of days.
Not one of us had been able to hold back the tears, and those men had agreed without even needing to think about it.
“Do you think we could hold a fundraiser?” I asked them quietly as we left Liberty’s room. “Like, what if we sold the bands at games and the funds went to supporting young leukemia patients and their families?”
“We do that for some other things,” Will mused, and then leaned against the wall to write an email on his phone to the team’s manager and their PR representative. “I’ll forward the email onto the rest of the team and ask them to put their names on it when they send it in to them, too. The more pressure we apply, the more successful it’ll be.”
A small hand gripped mine tightly, and when I turned around, Meg was staring at me with tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”
Shrugging, I looked around and saw the men looking at me with respect. “I’m always available to make bands and items that can be sold to raise money for the kids. Just shout and it’s done.”
Three sets of arms wrapped around me creating a really awkward huddle in the hallway of the hospital, with me in the center sitting in my wheelchair, trying to find a gap in the arms to breathe. I’d almost succeeded when the rest of the guys decided to join in and squeeze us all as hard as they could.
Given the height I was at in my chair, this made it slightly awkward. Which of course I pointed out to them all.
“Are you sure they’re okay with us using this wheelchair outside the hospital?” I asked nervously as Kip pushed me behind the group of football players making their way through the throng of people walking around us.
I’d asked him this question at least five times, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to be arrested for theft of a hospital vehicle or device or whatever it was called. He could get away with his name, but I couldn’t even run from the police if I wanted to right now.
“Yes,” he snickered as he jerked it around a little kid who was throwing a tantrum. “You were there when we signed it out and agreed to have it back by six.”
Then we stopped in front of the last place I’d have expected him to go to, but the one that I wanted to go to the most—Seattle Aquarium. We’d driven behind the others after we left the hospital, and not being that familiar with the area, I’d assumed we’d go to Starbucks or Pike Place Market. But this…
“Oh, my God,” I squealed, clapping my hands excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to come here.”
Stopping behind the others who were getting tickets, he replied smugly, “I know, Hayden told me.”
“When we heard where he was taking you, we all decided to come,” Will said over his shoulder. “Training’s on hold this week because of the flu taking out a few of us.”
“Including Coach,” one of the others called Stan added with a grin. “Bet he’s loving that.”
“Right?” Will nodded. “Anyway, we’re bored and want to bug Kip, so consider us your new besties.”
Bursting out laughing, I waited eagerly for us to move forward into the Aquarium. I loved going to places like this.
When I was a kid, it’d been my dream to become a marine researcher and do deep dives in the Mariana Trench. I’d watched James Cameron dive down to the Titanic and had decided there and then that it’s what I’d do. Obviously I’d messed that dream up seeing as how I didn’t end up doing that with my life, so aquariums were the next best thing for me.
“What time are you diving with the sharks?” Will asked Kip seriously. “I still say it’s a bad idea what with the open wounds on her feet, but…”
I swear for a second I was so excited at the prospect that I almost jumped out of the chair, but when he brought up my feet, all I could think was a bloody scene out of Jaws or something.
“Stop messing with her, man,” Kip growled, putting his hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t organize that today, but if you want to do it in future—alone—then I’ll make it happen.”
Just as I was about to reply, a man dressed in the Aquarium’s uniform walked past with a balloon shark that he was navigating with a remote control.
“Sweet Poseidon’s trident,” I breathed, watching as it floated around like it was swimming through the air. “I want one of those!”
“I think they also do clownfish versions,” Craig, one of the players, said as I looked around us for the gift shop.
“The shark version is cooler,” Will muttered, pointing at the sign that had what I was looking for on it. “Although, you could get both and make them chase each other.”
That was the best idea ever!
“We’ll get you your shark and clownfish on the way out,” Kip chuckled. “Where to first?”
And that’s when six professional football players started arguing while they pointed at the map on the wall. It got bigger when a group of twenty six-year-old’s who were there for a birthday party joined in, unaware of who they were fighting with.
It was also how we ended up going around the Aquarium with them while they encouraged the guys to tap on the glass and shout, “Here, fishy-fishy!”
Throughout it all, Kip didn’t leave my side once or return the flirting glances that women walking by threw his way. He posed for photos, signed autographs, and was friendly, but that’s where it ended.
But if anything could change my mind about professional athletes, it was when they took the kids to the gift shop and gave them all a twenty-dollar gift card each.
We also all got the air swimming sharks after deciding they beat the clownfish.
And it was the best day and date of my life.
I was nervous which wasn’t unusual for me, but why I was nervous was.
There had been a lot of touching between me and Kip today—some of it accidental, a lot of it not—and he’d driven us home one handed, seeing as how the other one was holding mine.
The constant touching was driving me insane. Not a bad type of insane, but a good one that wanted even more, but I couldn’t figure out how to go about making it happen. It was considered bad to just jump on a guy, right?
“What do you want for dinner?” Kip asked as he walked back into the living room from the kitchen.
Able had needed to go potty, but when I’d reached for the crutches to open the door for him, Kip had jumped up to do it and told me to “keep your injured hiney on that couch.” Able being the little attention whore that he was, had lost his shit and demanded to be carried to the door—something Kip hadn’t even blinked at doing. Some women think a man holding a baby was swoon worthy, but a pro-footballer carrying a little blind dog had totally done it for me.
I was about to answer, when he sat down next to me, causing the cushion to sink and my side to fall into his. It was torture, pure hellish torture!
Taking a deep breath and deciding I needed to get a grip, I turned my head toward him to say whatever food I could think of, just as he turned his at the same time.
Somehow our lips just kind of locked together and then we both bu
rst into movement. He lifted his hand, gently grabbing my hair and making me gasp, and his tongue began softly licking into my mouth. His moves were slow and careful, but hot as hell.
With a moan, I pushed up onto my right knee and lifted my left leg over his thighs so that I was now straddling his lap. It was fair to say at this point that if I could find a way to crawl inside him, I would have.
Wrapping his arm around my waist, he pulled me closer to him, while his other hand supported the back of my neck, angling me so he could kiss me more deeply, but it wasn’t enough.
I’d never felt this desperate need with someone before, but with Kip everything was different.
Without even thinking, I ground down into him, and the feeling of his hardness pressing against my core made my breath stutter slightly. It must have felt equally as good for him because he tipped me to the side so that I was lying on the couch, and moved to lay down on top of me without breaking the kiss once.
The new position gave me the opportunity to explore him, so I took full advantage of it, skimming my hand up under his t-shirt. I could feel the hard muscles moving under the silky soft skin of his back with each pass, and when I skimmed my hand a little lower, I got a handful of his muscular butt cheek.
At the back of my mind, I considered what he’d feel when he got a hold of mine—i.e., no muscle in it whatsoever, and with a few dimples that I’d rather didn’t exist at all—but before I could pull back to warn him, he closed his hand around my left breast. His thumb pressed down on the side of it, and then it slowly moved up and over my nipple, dragging the lace of my bra with it and making sparks fly in areas I’d never had sparks before.
Pulling my mouth a small distance away from his, I gasped, “Do that again.”
With his eyes watching my reaction, he did as I asked, but this time he did it more firmly, making me arch my back inadvertently, and then pinched it between his thumb and forefinger.
Out of Bounds: A Quick Snap Novella Page 4