by KB Winters
“Guilty as charged.” With his other hand, he traced a gentle line over my cheek and down along my jawline. “I can’t help myself when it comes to you. You make me want… things. I want you.”
My stomach flipped over, and I bite at my own lip to keep myself from lifting them up to Trey’s.
“Josie…” he whispered, his fingers trailing down my neck.
Oh God.
I fumbled with my key card but managed to swipe it into the slot and a green light flashed, distracting him for a split second.
It was all I needed to break the spell he was casting over me. I twisted the door handle and pushed the door open. “Goodnight, Trey.”
He stopped the door before I could close it. “Tomorrow night, I’m gonna hit a homer, just so you know that I’m thinking about you.”
I grinned. “Just one?”
He reeled back, a look of shock on his handsome face.
I shrugged. “Just seems like a five-time home run champ could give a girl more than just one measly home run.”
He chuckled softly, the sound drawing me back in. “All right, for you, I’ll hit two.”
I smiled. “I’ll remember to put my money down on the Warriors.”
And with that, I closed the door, locking it right away, before I did something extremely stupid and irresponsible—no matter how bad I wanted to.
10
Josie
All night, I dreamed about Trey—and me—together. It was like I couldn’t escape from him. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to. Even before I fell into bed, I thought about our conversation in the bar. I couldn’t figure out how he’d managed to change the damn conversation from me railing against him, to him walking me home, flirting with me, and then I went to bed with a head full of steamy thoughts of us together—like really together. Super sexy hot fucking together. In fact, when I woke up, I was achy inside. Achy for Trey. And dammit it was still dark outside! A quick glance at the clock on the bedside table showed it was only a little after five am!
“Why am I awake?” I groaned; my throat scratchy from breathing in the air conditioning all night. I pressed my eyes shut again and rolled to my back. Trey was waiting for me as soon as I settled back into the pillows. What would’ve happened if I’d let him inside my room last night? Would we have hooked up? Would I have had the willpower to keep things from getting that far? I snorted with a laugh. “Yeah, right, Jo.”
He was too much. Too charming. Too smooth. Too devil-may-care. Too tall. Too broad shouldered. And too fucking sexy.
I knew exactly what would’ve happened, right there in my dingy little hotel room. With my eyes still closed, I snaked a hand down between the sheets and toyed with the elastic band of the boxer shorts I’d worn to bed. I played it over in my mind. I knew once Trey’s lips found mine—I would’ve lost all control.
My fingers slid under my shorts and I rocked my hips, tracing my fingertips across my aching pussy. I bit my lip and desperately wished Trey’s fingers were the ones stroking me. I gasped when I realized how wet I was. With a moan, I closed my eyes tight and teased myself, imagining Trey’s strong hands touching me. A rising urge gripped me and I panted his name, picturing his face between my thighs. Damn, he’d look good. I’d scratch at his strong back muscles and play my fingers over his smooth skin where I marked him with my nails.
One night with him would be worth the humiliation of letting him know he’d won our flirty little game of tug-of-war that had started before we even spoke for the first time. It started the minute we locked eyes across the runway and wouldn’t be over until he had his way with me.
My resistance was already gone.
With a frustrated sigh, I ripped my hand away from myself, straightened my shorts, and flopped over to my other side, forcing all thoughts of Trey Delgado out of my head. I had a job to do and laying there fantasizing about him wasn’t in the job description.
But it was so much more exciting.
What felt like a few seconds later, my phone went off, and my eyes popped back open. I struggled to shake away the last clinging remnants of the vivid dream I was tangled in and realized my tank top was drenched with sweat. The clock read six forty-five. I’d fallen back asleep. I sat up and peeled my tank top off. I balled it up and chucked it across the room, in the direction of my open suitcase, before reaching over to silence my phone. Instead of finding my alarm ringing, I realized with sleep clouded eyes, that it was actually an incoming call. My dad.
I tapped at the screen and pressed it up against my ear. “Daddy?”
“Good morning, baby girl. Were you sleeping?”
Heat grew in my cheeks, struck by the awkwardness of my dream and being woken up by my daddy. I was pretty sure Daddy still thought I was a virgin. Or at the very least, he hoped to hell I was. My mom knew the truth. She took me to get the pill when I turned seventeen and was dating Dustin, our high school’s track star. Dustin was my first. After that, there were a few guys in college, but after finishing school, I vowed to stop myself from jumping on the dating merry-go-round until I got my career settled.
Hell, after two years off the market, maybe I was some kind of re-virgin.
“Sleeping? Um, no…” I slapped a hand on my warm cheek and scrubbed the thought from my mind. “Well, yeah, kinda dozing.”
“I’m sorry, baby girl. I didn’t mean to wake you up. But don’t you have to be to the station soon?”
“Normally, yes. I’m not in Oklahoma City though. I’m in Denver.”
“Denver? What the heck for? Big story?”
I wish. “Not exactly…”
My dad sighed. “Are you in trouble, JoJo? Do you need money? I can send some money.”
I groaned and grit my teeth together. I knew he meant well, but the fact that his first inclination was that I was in some kind of financial trouble insulted me. “No, Daddy. I’m on assignment. I’m following the Warriors on the road.”
“The Warriors? Good heavens, Jo. Why?”
I sighed and flopped back against the flimsy pillows. “My boss wants me to get an exclusive with Trey Delgado. I’m sure you saw the Coyotes traded him to the Warriors.”
“I read about it. Pretty damn shocking if you ask me. What are they thinking?”
“Who? The Warriors or the Coyotes?”
He laughed. “Both!”
I shook my head. “Well, I don’t know that part. I’m just here to get an interview with Trey.” I flushed again at the sound of his name rolling off my tongue, flashing back to how I’d dreamed of panting it in between…well…never mind. “Anyways, I’m in Denver tonight for the game and since I have a few hours to kill, I was giving myself the morning off.”
“I see.” He still sounded highly skeptical. “Well, baby, I just wanted to call and see how you’re doing and to let you know what’s going on around here.”
“I’m good, Daddy. I miss y’all, of course.” I smiled sadly. It had been nearly six months since my last trip home and I was getting antsy to go back again.
“Miss you too, JoJo. Your mama is already making up your room. Dusting and changing the sheets.”
“Even though no one has slept in the bed since the last time I was there…” I giggled. “Oh, Mama…tell her I love her.”
That was so like her. First of all, my room looked exactly as it had the day I moved out to go to college. Nothing had been moved or replaced. My parent’s ranch house was on a five-thousand-acre plot of land and was a massive, four thousand square foot home. There were plenty of guest rooms available, so when I moved out, my parents just closed my door and left it alone. At first, I’d told them to change it into a gym or a library, but they refused. Now, it was comforting to go home and have it be the same, still filled with sweet memories of my almost innocent teen years.
“Yeah,” Daddy replied, the smile evident in his voice. “She’ll have everything all ready for you. I got the pool guy coming out as well to make sure everything is just right.”
I laughed. “Tha
nks, Daddy. That sounds perfect. Especially after the hot weather in Oklahoma City. Denver is a welcome change, but tonight I’ll be flying off to Seattle and then on to LA.”
“Sounds exciting, baby girl.”
I nodded and toyed with the edge of the comforter. “What about you? How’s work?”
“Good, good. Can’t complain. Your mother is after me to take some time off, slow down, all that bull spit.”
I laughed at his hesitancy to curse. He was about as straight laced as they come. “Maybe you should, Daddy. Take a vacation.”
“Meh. I’ll relax when you’re here. I thought we might take a tour of the back acreage and see if there isn’t a place you’d like to stake out as your own…”
I groaned and pressed my fingers together over the bridge of my nose. Here we go. “Daddy,” I whined. “I haven’t even had a cup of coffee yet. I’m not prepared for this argument right now.”
“It doesn’t have to be an argument, Jo. All I said was maybe we could go take a look…”
“Ugh. Daddy, you know that I don’t have plans on moving back to Texas anytime soon. There would be no point in you having a house built.”
“JoJo listen to me, I know you’re not happy up there in the city. Your mama said they got you fetching coffee like some kind of secretary. You didn’t go to school for all those years to be a damn secretary! And now, traveling all over the country, chasing a sports team? When was the last time you even watched a baseball game?”
“More recently than you might think,” I argued, granted that was only because I’d been digging up intel on Trey. He didn’t need to know that part. “Regardless, Daddy, I also didn’t go to school and get my degree just to come home and settle down with some man from church! I don’t want that life. At least not right now. Please. Understand. It’s not like I’m out here strippin’ or something!”
“Josephine Crawford!”
I winced. “Well…I’m just sayin’…”
“Listen, baby, I just want you to be happy and healthy, and I don’t think that running around, kissing up to your boss, making coffee runs, and praying for your big break will make you happy. Now, on the other hand, finding someone you love, getting married, and having a little family of your own. That there’s some happiness. That’s all I want for you.”
“I know, Daddy,” I replied softly, my voice getting thick with emotion. “I just wish you could support me…”
He sighed and I could picture the pained look in his eyes, the way his weathered skin would crinkle in around them. “I do, JoJo. But you’re my little girl. My princess. I want more for you.”
“Well, if I nail this story, then Mr. Jones said that he’ll put me on air. Like, my own segment, Daddy! I’m so close to everything I’ve always wanted. I can taste it. And I’m not giving up now. Not in the last stretch. Can you please try to understand that?”
“All right, JoJo. I didn’t mean to upset you. We can talk about it when you’re home.”
I rolled my eyes. Talking to my daddy was like talking to a brick wall. He was old school and couldn’t imagine his baby girl actually wanted to have a career and make a name for herself. Most people would throw themselves at the chance he was offering. My own house, custom built, on my own patch of the family acreage. It would be a dream. I wouldn’t need to work or worry about money. But that didn’t hold any appeal to me. I imagined that if I took him up on his offer, I’d spend my days ambling around a massive house, wishing for something to do, and go chasing after a man just to have something to keep me occupied. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be a wife and mother. I wanted those things as well. Just not now. I was waiting for the right time, after my career picked up, and I could balance between my own life and passions and building a family with the right man.
As of right now, my career was nowhere close to stable, and the only man on my radar was Trey—and he was hardly marriage material.
“Okay, Daddy. We’ll talk. Tell Mama I love her and to stop fussing over my room.” I laughed, hoping to break the tension and get him to smile before we hung up.
“All right, JoJo. I will. I love you.”
“Love you too, Daddy.”
We ended the call and I tossed the phone onto the bedside table again. There was no way I’d be able to go back to sleep, and after the talk with my dad, I had a lot of extra anxiety to burn off. So, I hauled my butt outta bed and pulled on some workout clothes and hoped that my shitty hotel at least had a gym somewhere.
If I had any hope of staying away from that long-legged ballplayer, then I was going to have to find another outlet for my frustration.
11
Trey
“You ready for tonight, Delgado?”
I glanced up from lacing my shoes to find Robby Brown and Cody Wright hovering over my shoulder. The three of us hadn’t exactly been BFF’s since my arrival on the team. Cody was still butt hurt about the grand slam I smashed on him the night he debuted as a pitcher for the Warriors. And since Robby was his best friend—he was also not a fan of mine.
“Fuck off, guys. Of course I’m fuckin’ ready. You might remember that this isn’t exactly my first rodeo. I was playing this game while you two were still dickin’ around in college…or the minors…” I added, flashing Cody a dark look.
Cody’s top lip curled up but Robby pulled him back.
I grinned at Cody as he was tugged back. “Smart move, Brown. Get your little bitch back on her leash.”
Cody growled and broke free of Robby’s hold. He lunged at me and I ducked—effortlessly. I might add—out of the way. “You know, Wright, I’m pretty damn sure I got a few years on you. Pounds too, if you didn’t lie on your bubble-gum card. Why the hell are you so slow?” I laughed and ducked again as he took a swing at me.
“Gentlemen!” a booming voice echoed through the locker room and the three of us snapped around to find Coach Robinson in the doorway, clipboard in hand, snarling in our direction. “Wright and Brown, suit up. Delgado—over here.”
“Fuck,” I groaned. I kicked my duffel bag under the bench and stalked over to the coach. “What the hell is wrong with that guy?” I asked, glaring at Cody as Robby dragged him away.
Coach sighed. “Delgado, listen to me.”
I tore my eyes off Cody and his pussy ass wing man and turned my attention back to the coach before he lost his shit on me too. “Listening.”
“Tonight is a big game. You go out there and play your hardest, leave your guts on the diamond, and these guys will see that you’re here for real. If that doesn’t put a stop to this shit, then we’re all gonna have a nice little chat.”
Something in his tone told me he wasn’t talking about a tea party.
“Yes, Coach.”
He slapped my shoulder and held up the clipboard in his hand—Robinson is old school—and started talking lineup details and overall strategy. I listened intently, appreciating that he didn’t rip me a new one for fighting with his two main players. Most of the team had accepted me with open arms. But Cody and Robby were clinging onto the grudge and pissed me off. I knew eventually the shit storm would die down, but it was pretty fuckin’ irritating to deal with in the meantime.
Coach Robinson got to the end of his spiel, answered a couple of my questions, and then dismissed me. I hurried to finish getting ready and then turned all of my attention to the two homeruns I was gonna slam out of the park in Josie’s honor. Her little challenge had me all fired up, and I wasn’t going to let some stupid, sophomoric shit with my new teammates wreck it for me.
Last night at the bar, I was hard up for her, but she was bobbing and weaving and I was willing to play along—for a minute. The last time I had to chase a woman I was knee high to a grasshopper. But I had skills—and not only on the diamond.
This was it. I’d have her screaming my name before the night was over.
I grinned and hopped up from the bench and followed the rest of the team out the locker room doors.
Game on.
The second home run was just as easy and tasted twice as sweet. The opposing team, the Cougars, all groaned and booed as I made my way around for the second time—this time with two other Warriors—and I smiled a little wider at each of the basemen I passed.
They were hatin’ hard and I loved every frickin’ minute.
So, when we neared the end of the game, and I went up to bat, I glanced up at the stands, tipped my hat, and knocked the damn ball way the hell out again. The announcer screamed in anguish and the fans jeered so loudly that it was a deafening roar. I laughed and made for the first base, cracking myself up on each base. I didn’t care if I looked like a douchebag on Sports Center. The point was…I’d be there. There was no way they could ignore me—or keep running the same old shit about my failed career, baby mama drama, and bar antics—when I just hit three mother fuckin’ home runs in one night! My first night as a Warrior.
Damn, Trey Delgado was back!
In the ninth inning the Cougars pussied out and walked my ass. They didn’t want to risk me going off a fourth and final time. I still grinned like a cocky idiot as I headed for first base.
Even Cody and Robby were grinning.
“Hell of a game, Delgado,” Cody said, standing to offer me his seat. We shook hands and I tipped my head. “You keep doing that and we ain’t gonna have any more problems.”
“Deal.”
12
Josie
I wasn’t going to have any voice left the next day, but I didn’t care. I was screaming my heart out for the Warriors as they smashed the Cougars into the ground. Mostly thanks to Trey and his three home runs. Each time he knocked it out of the park, I went crazy and jumped to my feet, dancing in my seat. I knew the first two were for me. The third…well, that was Trey showing off—also for me. I couldn’t help but notice that right before he got into position, he’d scan the crowd, and then he’d search again as he rounded the bases.