Daniel
Three Weeks Later
It had been three weeks since the shit went down with Terra, and I knew I needed to resolve it, but ignoring her felt better. Fear held me captive where she was concerned. It was just me I needed to worry about. It was Lyndsay too. I had a little girl to protect from heartache, as if I had a fucking clue how to make that happen.
"You gonna eat that?" Jeremy reached over and poked at the burger on my plate.
"Naw. Go for it." I pushed it across the table and glanced up. The game wasn't set to start until a little later that night, but I wanted to get out of the house, to breathe a little. "You think there's such a thing as true love, or do you think we're all just fucking kidding ourselves."
"This about Terra again?" He took a huge bite out of my burger.
"Maybe." I shrugged and glanced across the road to the field. My favorite burger joint always seemed to be open, and it was so close to the ballpark that I haunted the place often. "My mom and dad have been together forever."
"Yeah. My folks too." He wiped his mouth and picked up his beer. "I don't know, man. I think if you want her, just go after her. Ignoring her and trying to get away from her is a pussy move."
I laughed, loving how honest the guy was. "You're a bastard for taking steroids. You know that?"
"Yeah. I know." He shoved more of my burger into his mouth.
"What are you going to do now?"
"Come back." He licked his fingers. “I'm meeting with Terra or Miss Harmon here in about twenty minutes. Come with me. Plead my case with me."
"No fucking way, man. I'm not asking Terra for a damn thing." I lifted my hands and shook my head. "I fucked up big time the last time I had her close enough to reach out and grab her. I'd only mess things up for you."
"Stop crying and go after her. She's not seeing anyone else." He reached into his back pocket and threw a couple of bills on the table.
"Fuck you too." I leaned back and pulled my phone out as it buzzed. My mom. "Hey, I gotta take this."
"Alright. You going with me over here?"
"Nope. You're on your own." I got up and walked out as I pulled my phone to my ear. "Hey, mom. What's up?"
"Daniel. Your father isn't feeling too good again. I think I'm going to take him to see Dr. Miller on Monday. Can you help me find someone else to keep Lyndsay that day?"
"Of course." Worry raced through the center of my chest. "What's going on with Dad? He overdo it again?"
"I don't know, but you know his father died of a heart attack. I'm just scared." She let out a soft sigh.
"Nothing to be worried about, Mom. He's as healthy as a horse, and he still chews like one too."
She laughed. "Okay. Well, I love you. Good luck tonight at the game. We'll be watching. Or I will. Your father is lying down."
"Alright. Tell him not to watch tonight. His blood pressure always gets so damn bad when he watches." I smiled and glanced up to see Terra getting out of her car. Without thinking about it, I moved across the road and picked up my walk to a jog.
"Be safe, son."
"Alright. Talk to you soon." I slipped my phone in my back pocket and moved up beside her. "Terra."
"Oh! Shit, Danny. You scared me." She pressed her hand to her chest and offered me a shy smile. "You done avoiding me now?"
"I'm sorry." I slipped my hands into my pockets and glanced around, wondering if I could let my guard down just for a fucking second. The world could see me as an asshole bad boy, but I wanted my woman to know there was a different side to me. One that would protect her and love her the way she wanted to be loved. The boy she'd pledged to keep herself pure for was still very much alive inside of me, and he craved her in ways that didn't make sense.
"No. It's okay." She reached up and brushed her hair off her shoulder. "No harm. No foul."
"No, that's not true." I glanced over my shoulder to see Jeremy walking our way. "Have dinner with me on Monday night."
"Um... let me think about it?" She moved around me and extended her hand. "Jeremy. Good to see you again."
I turned and pursed my lips as Jeremy made up an excuse that he'd left his phone in his car. He promised to be right back, winked at me and jogged back toward the players’ parking lot.
She turned and laughed. "You paid him to do that, right?"
"Maybe." I smiled. "It's just a meal. I won’t push anything, but I want to talk about what happened the other night."
"Just the other night?" Her eyes pulled me in deep and my body reacted violently to her. Never in my life had I wanted someone so fucking bad. Crazy how she was just out of reach.
"No." I pulled my hand from my pocket and reached out to touch the side of her face. "Though I haven't stopped thinking about the other night since you walked out pissed at me."
She pulled my hand down carefully and nodded. "You didn't understand seven years ago, Danny. You're not going to understand now."
"What if I want to try to?" I closed the gap between us as I fought against myself. Jeremy needed to hurry the fuck up, or the bastard alpha in me was going to rear his ugly head again.
"I don't need you to." Pain moved across her expression. "I'm happy being single, and I don't need us to heal the wounds of the past."
"Maybe I do." I took a chance and reached out to slide my fingers in her hair. When she didn't protest, I moved closer and pressed my body against hers, loving the softness of her feminine curves. "Maybe I'm the needy one."
She rolled her eyes. "Stop it. Let's just work together and forget everything that-" Her voice caught in her chest.
"Not happening." I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, kissing her like I had a million times before. She opened her mouth, and I accepted the invitation and rolled my tongue against hers. We worked each other's mouths until we were both panting and needy.
"I hate you sometimes," she murmured against my lips.
"I hate you all the times." I leaned back down for another quick kiss. "Forgive me for being shocked that a woman like you still had her virginity. I'd forgotten how strong and brave you were. I imagine a million men have tried for it."
"Not that many, but something close to that." She reached up and touched my face. "I'm not dating you, Danny. I'll have dinner with you, but my heart isn't ready for another round where we're concerned." She brushed her thumb over my bottom lip, and I moved forward just a tad, just enough to suck it into my mouth. I gripped her hips tightly and stared down into her face while I rolled my tongue over her finger and sucked on it gently.
The ecstasy on her face let me know that she might not be willing to give me another chance just yet, but her body was primed and more than willing. Could I win her back with lust? It's what drove her my way in the first place.
Seven years ago, for fuck's sake.
"Sorry about that." Jeremy walked up behind me.
I released her and reached up to brush my fingers over my lips. "No problem man. Terra. He's a good guy and just got caught up in some shit. Help me out?"
"I'll do what I can." She glanced between the two of us, her face flushed and beautiful. Jeremy hopefully didn't notice the vein on the side of her sexy neck beating like crazy, but I did. She wanted me as badly as I wanted her. Maybe dinner would help us work through how to make both of our fantasies come true.
20
Terra
"Danny might be leaving us tonight." Alan walked into the owner's booth just after the game started and dropped down next to me.
Fear pierced the center of my chest. "What? Why?" I stood up. "He can't just leave. He has a contract."
"No. Not like that." Alan reached up and gripped my wrist, pulling me back down to my seat carefully. "He got a call that his dad isn't doing too well. I guess his mother called earlier from what Joe said. They're thinking about taking him up to the ER."
"Oh no." The horror inside of me grew worse. I turned in my seat to watch Danny move up on the pitcher's mound. "We should just move the rotation and bring in anothe
r starter."
"Not happening. You know how committed Danny is."
"Yeah, but how well is he going to be able to keep his head in the game?" I got my answer as he put the first three batters down with ease.
"We just need to be ready should something happen." Alan crossed his legs and glanced over at me. "Some of the press is asking questions about the two of you. What you do is, of course, your business, but you need to be prepared to answer them. A response of silence is more condemnation than just letting them in a little."
"I hate those bastards." I stood again and pressed my hands to the glass. "There's nothing to tell them. Danny and I were together as kids, and we've been working through some of that old shit, but that's it." I shrugged and glanced over my shoulder at Alan. "I don't understand why someone's personal life has to be strung out in front of the world. It's none of their goddamn business."
"I agree, Terra, but we live in a different world than when I was growing up. People nowadays crave reality TV and the media slaughtering various influencers in the limelight. It's fun to watch someone else fuck up their lives. It takes you away from your own messed up existence for a while."
"It sucks." I wrapped my arms around myself and stood stone still for the next few innings. Danny seemed to be doing good until he wasn't.
"Top of the forth and it looks like Daniel McAdams might have lost his Midas touch early tonight folks. I don't think I've seen him walk a batter in more than a year." One of the announcers’ voice filled up the booth.
"Yeah, but nothing compares to three years ago. Remember how horrible he was? It was like he'd given up on everything."
I walked over and turned the volume down, growling loudly. "He lost his sister, you cocks."
Some of the guys around me laughed and agreed. I was slowly but surely winning them over.
I hated to admit it, but my dad knew what he was doing putting me in charge of the team instead of my brother. I belonged there and had all my life. I loved the game, the challenge of meeting new people and breaking down barriers. My thoughts quickly moved to Danny. I knew the dinner would be good for us, but it terrified me to think about letting him into my heart again. As if I had a choice. He was already there.
"Oh shit." Alan jumped up and moved to the window. "Looks like Danny hit the batter with the ball."
"On purpose?" The drama pulled me from my thoughts.
"No. Of course not." One of the older guys moved up beside me.
The scene below was a bit of chaos. The batter tossed his bat and helmet and instead of running or walking to first, he charged the mound. Danny held his own, and the officials and coaches had the two players apart pretty quickly, but the damage was done. Danny flipped off the ump after getting in his face and walked toward the dugout.
"Well, shit." Alan walked to pick up the phone beside the door. "Joe. Put in another pitcher. Did Danny-"
"I'm going down." I walked out without thinking about it. Something was wrong with Daniel, and I wanted to know what. Did he get another call from his mom? I jogged down and took the private entrance into the locker room, assuming that I'd have to go up to the dugout to check on him. That or grab Joe to see what the fuck was going on. I yelped as I bumped right into him. He was in nothing but a tiny towel.
"Terra. What are you doing down here?" His eyes were stormy with too many emotions.
"I came to find out what's going on." I licked my lips and moved back as my heart raced to get out of my chest.
"I fucked up and hit the asshole. He and I have had it out for each other for a long time." He shrugged, pulled the towel off and walked toward the showers. "Coach told me to get out of there."
"What's going on with your dad?" I followed him and let myself covet the sight of his naked ass. It was beyond beautiful, perfectly sculpted.
"He's not doing too well again." He leaned in and started the shower before turning to face me. "Come here."
"What? No." I lifted my hands and took a step back, losing my balance thanks to my heel going down into a drain.
He reached out and caught me, pulling me close to him. "It wasn't a request, angel."
"Who is this guy?" I pressed my hands against the thick muscles of his chest and tried hard to talk myself out of turning around and walking away.
"He's me, Ter. He's who I became when the world beat down my door and there was nothing left to do but turn and face them." He ran his hands over my sides. "Come in the shower with me. No one will be headed this way for another hour or more."
"Someone will check on you, Danny." I took him in, his handsome face almost too much. "Don't ask me to do this with you."
"Why? Because you will?" He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. "I need a release and I'm not going to find it with another woman."
"Why not? There's so many that want to be close to you."
"No. They want my money or my dick, but it's irrelevant." He licked my lips, and I moaned. My body throbbed to feel his thick erection buried deep in some part of me. Fuck, any part at this point.
"Why is that?" I whispered, breathlessly. The man had way too much power over me.
"Because all I want is you." He picked me up and carried me to the shower as he consumed my mouth. My head was spinning with lust as he helped me strip down and pulled me into the shower with him.
I jerked the curtain closed and gave him a look. "You're so fucking corrupt."
"Shhh... you like it." He pulled me against him and ran his strong hands over my back and cupped my ass, kneading it roughly. "I love everything about you. Don't deny me tonight like you did the last time I almost had you trapped beneath me."
"That was your fault." I turned and slid my hands up the wall, arching my back. With any luck, if someone came down to check on Danny, they'd assume he was alone, or he has some random woman in the shower with him.
"You look so fucking good." He moved up and slid his hands up my sides before cupping my breasts and squeezing. The thick press of his dick against my ass was too much.
"Please don't stop." I rolled my hips and whimpered as one of his hands found my clit and pulled on it.
"I want in your ass." He kissed the back of my neck. "Tell me you want me there too."
I nodded and reached back to grab the back of his head. "I want you anywhere. Everywhere."
"And you hate yourself because of it?" He smiled and kissed me as he repositioned.
The pressure of him pressing his thick cock into my ass was almost too much. I turned from him and reached back up the wall, flattening my upper body against it as he groaned low in his chest.
"God, Ter. I've imagined taking you a million times, baby, but this is almost too much." He ran his free hand down my back and pulled out only to force himself back in.
I moaned loudly and reached down to grab his fingers. I pressed them tightly to my clit before forcing him down farther to dip his digits into my aching heat.
"You want me in your pussy?" His voice was rough and deep as he spoke between kisses to the side of my neck.
"Not tonight. I want it to be special." I pressed back and moaned as he forced the full length of his cock inside of me.
"I like that." He rolled his middle finger around my entrance and pressed in a little as he fucked me nice and slow from behind. "Once you let me in, you know I'm not going anywhere right? I'm addicted to everything about you already. You’re sealing the deal by offering up your gift to me-"
"Is it a gift?" I pressed my hips forward, fucking myself against his fingers and mine. "Feels like a curse." I panted loudly as my orgasm rode hard on me. "I need to come."
"Good. Wet my balls with your release, angel. Let me feel it as you remember who owns you." He pumped his finger into my slit and his cock in my ass in fast thrusts.
He covered my mouth with his free hand as I screamed my release against him and thrashed about. What the fuck was I doing naked in the players’ showers? I was the owner of the team. I ignored the logical side of my brain and ro
lled my hips, massaging his huge shaft in long, slow strokes until he joined me in orgasm.
The sound of him coming woke up every fantasy I could remember having.
Why was I running from him? From us?
Nothing made me feel more alive than him.
Nothing.
21
Daniel
A smile touched my lips as I thought about how good Terra was in the shower the weekend before. She had been fearless and beyond hot. We were lucky no one walked in to steal our fun. It seemed to me that the universe was against the two of us getting together and putting a padlock on the closed door of the past, but maybe I was over-thinking it.
"Are you smiling cause of me, daddy?" Lyndsay leaned over the table we sat at in a small coffee shop in town. "Cause you like this new dress Mimi bought me?" She pulled the edge of her dress out and almost toppled over. I reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Be careful, Peanut." I let my eyes move over her pretty little face. The need to protect her from guys like me was almost overwhelming. Martin's last words to me spread like wildfire inside of me.
Terra was his princess, his peanut just like Lyndsay was mine.
"Promise me something." He leaned forward, pressing his forearms to his legs.
"Yeah. Anything." I pulled my hands-free and reached up, gripping the bars above me. He'd been like a father to me most of my life, right alongside my own.
"Don't leave for at least one season after she gets here, okay? I know you two have a past-"
"Martin."
"I'm serious. You walking off the team would be hard for her to come back from, with the players and within herself."
Did he know what we were together? What she meant to me.
"You don't know what you're asking me to do." I pleaded with him with my eyes.
"I do, and I'm sorry for asking, but you're like a son to me, Daniel. Do this thing for me and help my baby transition. She's going to come in screaming and kicking."
Captain Hotness: A Single Father Bad Boy Novel Page 41