by Croft, Rose
Rose threw an arm over her breasts as she bent over trying to find her bra. “Um, the dress has a slight tear now, so…”
“I know. I was going to buy it regardless, but you can only wear it when you’re with me.” I sounded like a dumb caveman, but I was quite serious. I stood staring at her as though watching her undress was normal.
She tugged the dress up to cover herself and gestured to the door. “You wanna wait out there while I change?”
No, I didn’t want to do that. But, what I wanted wasn’t happening. “Uh, sure.” I leaned in and kissed her again. “I’ll be outside the door if you need me.” I stepped out contemplating finding an open dressing room to jerk my dick off, but that was the ultimate in my fall into depravity. I could wait, at least until I got back to my hotel room. Or look for the nearest bathroom around here.
As we pulled away from the Galleria, John pulled out a taco from the bag, “I’m fucking starving. You want one?” He held one out to me with eyes raised.
“Sure.” I was hungry, and still a little shocked over the events of this morning.
We nearly had sex in the dressing room. And, I had been okay with it. Just seeing his large athletic figure even fully clothed in close proximity to me had driven me crazy. And his kisses were mind-boggling and don’t even get me started on the bulge in his shorts. I knew we were in a public place, and yet, my rational side shut down. I had fantasized about him for so many nights taking care of myself, but having him do it was so much more gratifying.
I took a bite of my taco, and a piece of potato fell out, landing in my cleavage. Typical, my boobs were a food catcher. Before I could get it, John’s long finger slid in and picked it out. “You’re making a mess,” he chided and drew his finger to my mouth. I closed my lips around his finger and drew it in slowly.
“Fuck, Rose, you’re killing me.” He nipped my ear as I released his finger.
I grinned and glanced down at his lap. You’d have to be blind not to see his very, very pronounced erection tenting the fabric of his basketball shorts. He shook his head, and mouthed the word “evil” before taking another bite of his taco. I knew he probably needed to find release, too, but he didn’t pressure me to go any further. Find release? Was I writing a historical romance? Who said things like that?
I could tell he was trying to be patient with me. I wasn’t even that annoyed with him for acting jealous this morning, which was strange because I never thought of myself as the girl that was into a big strong possessive alpha. I was having a lot of “firsts” with John. I was more upset over having to mention Carlos and his untimely death. It was still tough to talk about. John was clearly remorseful when he knew the truth.
I wanted to tell him about it and I would soon. I was still a little skeptical of whether John would be “relationship” material. So far, he said all of the right things. It was difficult for me to trust him basically because he was a professional athlete, who was sex on a stick for women. I certainly could not do a casual relationship. Not to mention, being in a long distance relationship would be even more challenging. However, I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
As the car stopped in front of my hotel, I faced John. “Thanks for the purse and the dress.” I had never owned items this expensive. The whole purchase totaled over six thousand dollars. Luckily, the small tear in the dress was in the seam so it could be easily altered.
He pulled me close, until we were nose-to-nose. “My pleasure.” He brushed his lips over mine. “Thank you for modeling your dress.” He was kiss-talking me and I knew the double meaning of his words. As we ran our lips over each other, the kiss grew more intense as our tongues got involved.
Finally, John groaned in frustration. “I have to go. I can’t wait to see you tonight.”
“Me too.”
After the game Andrew, Loren, and I exited the stadium to find John. They won again, thank goodness. This time we waited outside the visiting team’s clubhouse. We hung around making small talk as we waited. Finally, John walked out and saw me. He smiled and drew me into a big hug and kissed me. “I see you’re wearing the shirt I sent. I like it.” Earlier in my hotel room, I had received a wrapped box with the note:
It was his jersey, a small replica of it. I was worried that it might not fit, but it did. Should I be concerned that he appeared to know how to pick out the right size in women’s clothing? As if this wasn’t his first rodeo.
Since the game ended earlier than usual, we had almost an extra hour of free time. The pitcher on John’s team had pitched a no-hitter tonight. Andrew asked what we wanted to do.
“Could we go back to your hotel and order room service?” John suggested eyeing me for approval, apparently wanting a little time alone with me.
“Sure. If that’s what everyone wants to do.” I was almost certain that Loren and Andrew would be fine with it, too, since they could barely keep their hands off of each other as it were. Of course, they agreed.
As we made it to our hotel, and valeted, John said, “Hey, Andrew, I’ll find an Uber to take me back to mine.”
We exited the elevator on our floor, and John hugged Loren and Andrew, and said he would see them tomorrow. Their room was across the hall from mine. I slid the key card into the door and stepped in. John followed.
I was slightly nervous because of being alone with him for the first time. Okay, we were alone in the dressing room, but it was still a public place. Now, we had privacy and a bed. I wondered if he was thinking about that too? Was he reliving this morning in the dressing room? I sure as hell was.
“Are you hungry?” I grabbed the menu off of the desk in the living area.
“I’m always hungry.”
After we ordered, he sat down on the couch in the small living area. “Hey, com’ere,” he said and patted the spot next to him. He was casually sitting with an arm slung across the back of the couch and one foot perched on his knee.
I joined him with my hands folded on my lap, glancing around the room, not knowing what to say.
“What’s wrong?” He leaned forward brushing his shoulder against mine.
“Do you realize this is the first time that we have actually been alone?” I asked, not counting the dressing room.
“I know. I can’t believe it. Are you okay with this? I don’t want you to think I’m up here so I could….”
I laughed. “I don’t.”
He laid his hand on my thigh. “I’m serious Rose, I don’t want to do anything that you’re not comfortable with.”
I nodded and squeezed his hand reassuringly. “We’re good.”
“I mean I’m not gonna lie. What we did this morning was hot, and I’ve thought about it all day.”
Okay, I get it. I wanted to say something teasingly back to him, but it was easier to do so when I knew that he was several zip codes away. Why was I being so shy after what we did this morning?
There were a few moments of silence. His nose nudged my temple. “How do you like your room?”
“Very nice, thanks.” My heart sped up and I sounded like Marilyn Monroe singing the birthday song to the president.
“How’s the bed? Is it comfortable?” His mouth trailed my jaw, and I felt his hand skim over my thigh, kneading, driving me insane, again. My core clenched.
“Yes.”
He kissed my cheek, and his lips nibbled at the side of my mouth. He brought his other hand to my face turning me to him as he engaged me in a slow kiss. “That’s good because it’s so important to get a good night’s sleep.”
The slow kiss sped up quickly until my tongue was in his mouth, and he was devouring my face. The next thing I knew, I was in his lap, straddling him, and he was gripping my ass pressing me into him. Feeling him against me, there was no doubt he had a lot more on his mind than food. Food wasn’t exactly on my mind either.
A loud knock on the door startled some sense into us both as we disconnected our mouths. “That must be dinner.” I almost fell off his lap as I stumbl
ed to my feet.
John stopped me with his hand on my arm. “I’ll get it, Rose.” He stood up adjusting himself with a cocky grin and sauntered to the door.
After he tipped the man who had set our food at the table in the living area, I went to the mini bar to get a couple of drinks at John’s insistence. Normally, I never touched the drinks in there because they were ridiculously expensive, in my opinion. Five dollars for a bottle of water seemed insane.
“What do you want?”
“I’ll take a beer.”
“Oh, you’re splurging tonight,” I teased opening the mini-fridge.
“Yeah, I’m celebrating because I feel like this is our first real date. Actually it’s our third date if you count last night and this morning. Or hell, maybe our fiftieth if you consider calls, texts, and our PlayStation sessions.”
I giggled like a schoolgirl (he always seemed to make me laugh), grabbed a beer, and spotted a mini bottle of Moet Chandon seizing it. Why not? I brought the drinks to the table.
“So…we’re dating now?” I grabbed my fork and stabbed at my Asian salad. John had ordered a Kobe beef burger, so I knew he was definitely fudging on his food regimen.
“Well, yeah. What did you think?”
“Exclusively?”
He had his burger halfway to his mouth and paused as anger flashed through his eyes at my question. He set it down. “I would hope so, Rose. Why?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Because of the whole professional athletes can’t stay in a committed relationship thing, right?” He still seemed clearly annoyed.
“Yes.” I shrugged sipping my champagne. In my mind, it was a legit concern. I mean, the guy was worth millions and was so flipping gorgeous that Zac Efron would’ve been jealous of him.
“I already told you that you’ve been the only person I’ve thought about since I first saw you. And the more time I spend with you, that feeling only grows stronger. I hope you feel the same.”
“You know I do, but I can’t do casual relationships, John.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. I can’t do a casual relationship with you either. You know, Alex basically threatened to kill me if I messed this up.”
I smiled when he mentioned that. “Alex is like a big brother to me and has always been very protective.”
“I can tell,” he agreed and took a big bite of his burger and washed it down with beer. He stared at me thoughtfully like he was debating asking me something. I guess his curiosity won out. “When you said you hadn’t been in a relationship for a long time, did that mean since Carlos?”
I supposed talking about Carlos tonight was as good a time as any. Besides, the champagne I had consumed made it easier to speak. “Yes and that was over six years ago. It was really difficult…” I faltered, searching for the right words to explain this without having to discuss the depths of my depression post-Carlos. I shook my head. “It took me a few years before I could date again. And, when I did go out on dates, it never really led to anything more serious. I don’t know if it was because I just had not found the right person or if I wouldn’t allow myself to let a relationship develop—probably a combination of both.”
He continued to watch me, studying me. The intensity made me uneasy. I glanced down and forked a piece of my salad.
“How long were you and Carlos together? If you don’t mind my asking.”
“Three years. We met in college. He asked me to marry him in our final semester.” I took a sip of my champagne. Somehow this talk wasn’t as painful as I had thought.
“So that was your only serious relationship?”
“Yes.” It was my only relationship.
“I assume you and Alex went to get those tattoos together?” Although he knew the truth about Alex and I, he sounded a little jealous about the same tattoo thing.
“Yeah, after the funeral, we were at his parent’s house, and everyone had come back to visit. When I say everyone, I mean there were probably fifty people there. Carlos had a big family. Alex and Carlos were the oldest siblings and the closest. They had an apartment together when we were dating. Anyway, I was still in a haze of denial about the ordeal, and I couldn’t deal with one more person giving me their sympathy. Alex was taking tequila shots with his brothers Andres and Cesar and cousins in the kitchen. As I passed by them, he offered me one and then we did another. Of course, it didn’t take much until we were trashed, and all of us decided to get tattoos dedicated to Carlos.”
He nodded. We both finished eating our food.
“So, you’ve never had a serious girlfriend?” Surely some girl had captured his attention.
He shifted around like he was uncomfortable and sipped his beer. This was interesting. “I had a girlfriend in college for a couple of years.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I met her my freshman year in a sociology class. Her father was a minister, and she had grown up in a strict household. Needless to say we went out for several months before I could even get to second base. And she told me she would never have sex until marriage. She wore one of those purity rings that her parents had given her in high school. I respected her belief. As we were rounding out year two of being together, we were very serious, and I was considering asking her to marry me. Unfortunately, I found out that she wanted to have sex, but I guess it just wasn’t with me.” He scowled taking another swig of beer.
“Oh no. That’s terrible.” How could anyone cheat on him?
“I was devastated initially, but as time went on I realized that it was a good thing that I found out before I proposed or we were married. She was fucking one of my teammates, actually. Talk about some awkwardness for a while.” He laughed but it wasn’t a funny ha ha laugh, more like a pissed off laugh. “The bitch of it all was the guy she was with was the biggest manwhore on the team and quickly grew tired of her. When he dumped her ass, she came back to me saying she was sorry, and that he’d coerced her into having sex. Okay, maybe one time I could’ve almost felt sorry for her. I don’t know. But the twenty other times…uh sorry that’s hard to believe at that point. And, the reason I knew is because that fucker would brag about it to the players.”
“John, I’m sorry. Did you confront your teammate?”
He nodded. “When I found out the first time, we went at it. We both ended up with broken noses and bruises. I think I cracked some of his ribs too. It happened in the locker room one day after practice. Other guys on the team pulled us off of each other before one of us ended up in the hospital. We both got in trouble and were told to put the team before our personal issues. It was difficult, but I managed to do that since I had at least been able to extract some pain on that asshole. Luckily, he graduated that year.”
“So you’ve never had another girlfriend?”
“No, not really. Not until I found you.” He reached out and gripped my hand pulling me over to him. “I guess, like you, I was a little skeptical of getting into a relationship again.”
As I stood next to him, I touched the bump on the bridge of his nose. “Is that because of the fight?”
“Yeah.” His green eyes darkened like they did earlier today in the dressing room.
I had finished my mini bottle of champagne, so I was free to blame it on the alcohol again for anything that might transpire. But, I knew that I wasn’t drunk. I leaned in and kissed the bridge of his nose. He groaned and pulled me on his lap and ran his lips over mine.
“That girl was stupid. I’d never do that to you.” I palmed his cheeks and licked the faint seam of the scar on his lips.
Then the kiss went from zero-to-sixty in seconds. John’s tongue was moving around inside me, and it felt magical in my mouth. I wanted to take it on a test drive with my other body parts.
He ran his hands up my stomach to my boobs. I knew he really liked my boobs, and I liked that he really liked my boobs, too. His large hands cupped, massaged, and played with them like they were Play-doh. Apparently, he was a hands-on learner, and I sn
ickered at my teacher-like thoughts.
He paused and one devilish eyebrow shot up. “Why are you laughing?”
“I’m guessing you were probably a hands-on learner in school.”
“You’re damn right, teacher. I’m also very visual too.” His deep voice was sensual vibrating over my skin almost as wickedly as his mouth.
“So you weren’t an auditory learner?” I was fighting to get the words out in between his demanding lips. My skin quivered when his fingers moved over the buttons of my shirt. My senses were already buzzing with overstimulation. Lord help me when we were actually naked.
Without missing a beat, he leaned back and answered as he continued undoing my shirt, “It depends. Maybe if you were whispering the elements of the periodic table in my ear, I would’ve been more interested in chemistry. I mean, I’m interested in our chemistry.” He reached the final button and pushed my shirt apart. “Baby, your tits are awe-inspiring.”
Some of the crap that came out of his mouth made me want to slap his face. It was so over-the-top stupid and cheesy. I was a good Catholic girl or at least, I used to be. But, his words grew on me. “John, can’t you come up with another word for my chest? I know you have a better vocabulary than that,” I challenged, even though I was silently beaming that he thought my girls were awe-inspiring.
He stared at me surprised. Was this an act? “You didn’t like the word awe-inspiring? How about magnificent, fantastical, glorious…”
“No. I mean the word tits.”
His brows drew in while he stared at my boobs as though drawing inspiration. I had on a light pink lace bra that was practically transparent. He placed his hands around them as if measuring the circumference, studying like an artist placing his thumb in front of a blank canvas. “Okay…I have four choices, so this is a multiple-choice answer. You pick.”
This should be good. Or not. “Tell me.”